Ear Piercing

Amelie hatched a plan last weekend and called me from school to ask if her two friends could spend the night (that night). I said OK & they slept over with only minimal interference from James. Then the next day, they wanted to go to the mall and walk around & eat lunch there. I said that was okay with me as long as it was okay with the other parents & one of the girls informed me that she already told her mom yesterday! Ha!

While we were there, they came up with yet another plan to get their ears pierced at Claire's, but as I was the only parent present, Amelie was the only one who could go through with it. 

Here she is looking nervous: 

Marking the location: 

All done!

She spent a ridiculous amount of money on stuffed animals - excuse me, squishmallows - this one was 20% off with the coupon we got from the ear-piercing.

Then the girls wanted to ride the carousel, which turned out to be free because the machine wasn't working for cards & it wouldn't take our wrinkled bill so the attendant just waved them on. 

I did make a video of the procedure, but I'll refrain from posting it - at least at this point. 

Halloween!

 I never made a Halloween post!!

I bought a last-minute costume at Walgreens & Sam found his skeleton shirt. 

Leah wanted to be an elephant & I found a too-big homemade elephant costume for her on facebook marketplace (I guess we're in luck if she wants to be an elephant next year, too, or the year after! At least she didn't trip over the feet!)

Nana Jana took Amelie costume shopping and they bought this witch outfit, which Amelie kept hacking pieces off of so that it would be easier to walk in. She went trick-or-treating with her friends (and not us!!) for the first time, but we at least got a few pictures first. They didn't get home until almost 10pm! On a school night!! 

And James wanted to be Mug Man, who's a character in the videogame Cuphead. His straw is a pool noodle wrapped with duct tape & his mask is a poster board & the eyes are some of the black see-through fabric we used on the hollow knight costumes last year. 

The only problem was that he kept taking off his head & then he looked like he didn't have a costume on! I was telling this to my coworker at the library, and she pulled out her phone to show me a picture of her grandson, who went as Cuphead himself & wore a very similar homemade costume. Too bad they didn't run into each other out on the street! That would have been epic! 

Here's an inspiration photo:

And the lovely group all together: 

As is longstanding tradition, our friends came over & had vegetables for dinner & walked around with us WITH THEIR BABY! Sam stayed home and passed out candy this time & Aunt Holly babysat Spark at her house. 

Sadly I got no true picture of the very impressive giant squid costume as it wouldn't inflate all the way inside the house & might have run out of batteries by this point - & her adorable lobster sidekick & original Aqua Man. 

Jack O Lanterns from Left to Right: My pumpkin, Leah's, James's, Amelie's (lightening bolts). James and Amelie did theirs all on their own but then Amelie let me widen up some of her cracks at the very end so that the candle light would shine through better. 

And I picked this decoration up at the $1.25 store when I was looking for my last-minute costume. 

Here is the Link to last year!

School Pictures 2022

 Well!

These are certainly pictures!!

Leah is in Kindergarten (Unit A!) with Ms. Blades. She's the only one who made it to school with her picture order form on picture day, and hers was inexplicably delayed several weeks after the other two. But it came home in her (bent) Friday folder this week! What a great smile!

James is in 4th grade (Unit C!) with Mr. Gray. I filled out his order form & found it unopened with the check after picture day in the bottom of his backpack. They helpfully sent a digital order form after the fact. 

& Amelie is in 7th grade (Middle School!) at Jefferson. If she even had an order form, it never made it home! But they sent the same reminder/digital order afterward that I got for James. I think they take these on the first or second day of school in middle school anyway. 

Amelie continues her trend of being 100% totally unimpressed with whatever lame joke the photographer's just told. 

Here's the link to last year!