Memorial Day Parade

In the days leading up to the Memorial Day holiday, I was anticipating the big girls having a 5 day weekend, the little ones having a 4 day weekend and Billy having a 3 day weekend!  

However, on Wednesday, Emily was like "Mutti, I think we have school tomorrow.  None of the teachers said anything about it being a holiday."  So, I break out the school calendar and it has 'graduation' marked the same color as a holiday, so that's how I added it to my phone last August.  = /  So, the big girls had one extra day until their break, but we made it.

Monday morning, Alice got up early and made patriotic blueberry muffins for breakfast!

We dug out our red, white and blue to walk down to the parade!

Grace was a big fan of her red, white and blue outfit!

It was a nice day for a parade, and we found one of the twins' friends, who is also our neighbor, so they were walking home together!  It's awesome, because everyone on our street walks down (since there is nowhere to park) so we get to see all of our neighbors!

When we came home, Billy cooked up a weeks' worth of meat, first time this year, and grilled food is just so good!!

It was hard to go back to school after such a wonderful weekend, because it felt 100% like summer!  We survived though, since the following weeks were filled with fun, and now it's summer for real!

later days

edit: written 6-16-23 backdated for continuity.           

Memorial Day Parade

 We walked down on a beautiful, sunny day for our town's little Memorial Day Parade.

Alice and Emily ended up sitting with some friends, so Billy and I just had the little 3.

At the grocery store after the parade.  I thought that the twins looked a little like an American flag. = )

It was a nice parade and good day to remember those who fought for what we have now.

later days

Fourth of July

Our fourth of July celebration was spread over two fun days!  On Sunday, the actual fourth, the kids got flags, cookies and headpieces.

We also decorated the driveways with chalk!

Once it finally got dark enough, we went out and played with some sparklers.  The ones we bought this year only had 5 in each box!

Alice didn't want to participate, so she isn't in the pictures.

The next day, everyone suited up in red, white, and blue to walk down to the parade!  They threw out tons and tons of candy this year.  They had tractors and bikes and even a live band on a float! 

Happy Birthday America!

later days

Halloween & First Snow

Halloween was celebrated over the course of several days, since the school celebrates it the Friday before and this year it fell on a Wednesday.

I bounced around for an hour or so between 4 classrooms, helping with costume changes and setting up for parties.

When they made an announcement to head outside, I waited in my nice warm car for my little ones to pass.

Grace declined my jacket when I offered it to her on the outbound path, but accepted it when she was on the return trip. brrrr!

After the parade were class parties.  I spent more time bouncing around, then hurriedly collected my crew for a quick run home for homework & dinner.  Then it was back to the fall fest once Billy got home!

Inside was just to exciting to pose for a picture.  They enjoyed the trick or treating, trips to the book fair and dancing in the dark. = )

Grace and Juliet might be a bit small for the favors they got from their party. = )

Alice decorated her pumpkin with the wooden/metal stick pieces.  Emily took a more classic approach and carved hers out.

For Halloween, they each got a glow stick for trick or treating, some robux and a new toothbrush.  And of course some seasonal cereal!

By the time we were heading out, it was raining/snowing. In October. Ew.

We left Billy on the porch to pass out candy, while we braved the weather with Abby and her family.

About halfway through the night, everyone was cold, and wet, and miserable.  We started to head back through all the tears and puddles. = (

So here it is, the first snow of the year, on Halloween night.

At least it went away quickly.

later days

Memorial Day Parade

For Memorial Day, my mom and her friend Lisa joined us for our small town parade.

We were also able to meet up with Alice's friend and her mom, and ran into our neighbor, one of William's old classmates and the twins' teacher!

The snow cone truck was in town, and the kids (and Avia) enjoyed a cool treat while we waited for the parade to begin.

The band marched through first (I don't know for sure, but I think they go march in the Holt parade too.)  Followed by some local organizations and floats.  They came home with lots of candy, some new books and even popcorn!

Billy fired up the grill, and we had a nice cheese burger buffet.

We spent the day remembering those lost for our freedom and appreciating the sunshine.

later days

School Halloween Parties

Emily started making personalized Halloween cards for her friends the first week of October.  She drew a tree, traced a pumpkin and wrote the name of each friend.  She finished them the weekend before her class party.  The night before, she and Juliet packed up a goodie back for her to pass out to each friend in her class!

When I signed up for things to bring, in Emily's class I picked napkins.  I thought she would enjoy helping me make them, but she was busy with her own party things, so we just sat together and crafted. = )

For Alice's class, we signed up to bring cookies.  I was so pleased when she came over and helped me from start to finish!  We rolled the dough, cut out cats and pumpkins, and once they were cool decorated them.

All the parties overlap a bit, so I had to make myself a schedule so that I could attend each party and help get everyone ready for the parade.  My game plan:

Took a picture of Emily turning her lips purple before the parade. = )

William was the first one that I helped get changed.

Alice was already changed into her dragon get-up by the time I made it to her classroom, so I went to help Emily before heading outside.

I walked down to the corner, so the I would be able to cross the street and seem them pass by twice.

William has his priorities in order, because it was cold out without a coat, but I'm glad I snapped a picture of him in costume inside.

Once they were back inside, Emily was so happy to pass out her goody bags to each classmate.

The twin's party and parade was on the day before Halloween.  They were both very excited to see me, and Avia was able to come too which made them even happier.

In the classroom, they had activities planned with a balloon and cup catch, candy corn relay and the pop a pumpkin by number.

After the activities, they had their snack, but we had to take it to go.  I took them home early with me, but we had to make haste to be on time for the big kids. = )

I'm glad everyone was healthy enough to attend their parties this year.

later days