November

We were around in November!  Sylvie did a turkey photo shoot.  Jens must have been the photographer. 

We loved going to 6 Flags for Intel day.  Intel rented out the whole park and we got there right at the beginning.  There were no lines in the kid area until the late afternoon.  Both kids were old enough to ride most of the kid rides themselves, which was awesome.  We watched a few of the shows--the dolphins are always my favorite.  Mike took Jens at the end to ride a couple of roller coasters while Sylvie rode a few more kid rides.  The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time. 

I was very glad I missed out on the swings--Mike was the hero on this one.  Just watching made me queasy. 

 Mike and I did realize that our kids don't know any of the Loony Toons characters, but that didn't stop Sylvie from being interested. 

 Sylvie did not understand why Mike was having a hard time with this. 

 All of the 2nd grade classes did a special Thanksgiving program.  Jens's class performed their "Turkey Trot" first, and it was very cute.  Jens did every move and sang along the whole time, however, this picture appropriately captures his enthusiasm for the whole performance:

 Jens and Colby--best buds.

 Jens finished the soccer season.  He had a great time playing this year, and nothing spells a successful year like an awesome soccer trophy.

 Jens and Sylvie had a "sleepover."  Our sleepover rules have changed.  They start at 8:00 pm and end at 8:30 or 8:45 pm when everyone goes and gets in their own bed and goes to sleep.  It is perfect because around 8:30 they start bugging each other and screaming.  Sleepover Over!

Happy Halloween!

Our day started with Music Makers in costume.  The kids sang their Halloween songs and felt fancy. 

 That night we had dinner and went trick-or-treating with the Littles.  Sylvie, unbeknownst to me, worry her dress up shoes, which have a heel and are NOT made for walking.  So she got frustrated about halfway through because she couldn't run to keep up.  She also decided she had enough candy (she did) and was happy to walk with/be carried by Mike.

 The best part was coming home and passing out candy to other trick or treaters.  Jens and Sylvie raced to the door every time the bell rang.  Then they stood with the door open, watching for trick or treaters. Then they stepped out onto our front walk and started calling to trick or treaters to come to our house.  After each group, no matter what they were like or how scary their costumes, Sylvie would come in and say "They were nice, weren't they?"  It was very hard for them to go to bed!

 Also, plenty of candy was eaten.

October 28-29

On Sunday after church, Jens locked himself in the bathroom and styled his hair using detangling spray for about 20 minutes.  Then he popped out, brought me the camera, and requested that I take his picture.  His hair was very slick!

 Then he did a photo shoot with Sylvie downstairs,

 Then they both locked themselves in the bathroom while Jens styled both of their hair and requested more pictures.

 They sure are cute!

 For family home evening on Monday we carved out pumpkins.  Jens did almost everything himself this year.  I had to help him scoop out the insides a little, but he did most of it and designed and carved his own pumpkin.  He carved a number 10 into the side and called it a racing pumpkin.

October 26

On Friday, Jens had wacky hair day at school.  We did our best to make it crazy, but I knew he was going to put a bike helmet on top of it, so it didn't stay this good.  I saw him at school while I was teaching FAME and it had lost a lot of volume.

Friday night was trunk or treat.  The kids were very excited to wear their costumes and get candy.  Sylvie felt very glamorous as Cinderella.  I loved her "fancy" poses.

Jens was a scary ghost.  I also like his scary face.

He is a cute friendly ghost, too.

So happy together:

Then I told Sylvie to be scared of Jens.  She got very into it.

We only walked around the cars one time during trunk or treat, and the kids still ended up with quite a bit of candy.