Halloween

Our 3 younger kids are a bit obsessed with this computer game called Baldi's Basics. The setting of the game is an empty school. The goal is to find 7 notebooks in the school and answer the 3 math problems in the notebook and then escape from the school before Baldi, the math teacher(in the green shirt), gets you. The catch: some of the math problems are impossible to solve...as in they use symbols like $%^^$## instead of actual numbers. Oh, and when you get the math problem wrong, Baldi gets angry and chases you faster. And he gets more angry with each problem you miss. Oh, and as you go through the halls, you sometimes face obstacles like the girl in the red shirt that makes you stop and jump rope with her, or the principle(in black) who sends you to detention. The robot thing with big hands pushes you back if you run into it in the hallway. The broom pushes you out of a room if you open the wrong door. I'm not quite sure what the other things do, but the kids thought they were important and included them in their costume theme. If you look closely at their group picture, all of the things they are holding represents a character. 

Their cousins are in the picture and not part of the theme, just their to have fun trick or treating.

Ashley was Baldi

Tyler was the Bully - He steals your candy(which I think is supposed to stop Baldi from getting you).

And Camden was Principal. 

Alyssa did all of their make up. We didn't get a picture of Alyssa, but she dressed up with her friends in an 80's theme.

the kids had fun carving their pumpkins this year, too.

I made jack-o-lantern pizza's on the 30th before the kids went out trick or treating.

The kids got a lot of candy and were sad when the fun was over. 

More Puppy Pictures

Lula's puppies are getting big and are almost ready to go to their new homes. It is bittersweet for most of us. It will be nice to have Lula home full time after next week, but it has been fun to go and play with her puppies. Fortunately, we are friends with the breeders and they will continue to breed their dogs and have puppies at their house to play with(2 litters are due in about 6 weeks). But it will still be different not having them be Lula's puppies. Not that we have any plans to breed her after this. 

We wore the pups out when we went over to play with them one day. The one next to Lula's paw is the funniest. Not sure why he found that position comfortable. He is kind of a crazy, energetic puppy though so I guess it makes sense.

We are looking forward to having Lula home again and to have Ashley around a little more than she has been over the past 2 months.

Zoo Field Trip

I got to chaperone Camden's field trip to the zoo. This was my first time going as a chaperone at the public school. It was a different experience since we had to ride on the bus with the kids, instead of driving them in our cars. And the bus was crowded(3 to a seat) with very little leg room. It was a long 45 minutes there because I was by the window. On the way back, I snagged an aisle seat and it was slightly more comfortable. The weather was cool, but not to bad with a coat and hat on. We were just happy that we didn't get rained on since it was pretty stormy looking that day.

Here is a picture of Camden's class. His teacher is quite short but he seems to really like her.

We got a nice close look at the lions as they napped near the glass.

And the polar bear was pretty close, too, lounging on the rocks near the glass. These were the 3 boys that I was in charge of for the day. They were well behaved and pretty easy to keep track of. The boy in the hat has become a good friend to Camden this year since they are in the same class and they are also on the same basketball team. Plus, they only live a few streets over from us in our neighborhood.

The only disappointment of the day was not being able to find the penguins, that one of the boys said they have at the zoo. I don't know where They would have been since we went in every section and building in the zoo. 
 

Soccer and Basketball

Camden finished up his soccer season towards the end of September and went straight into his basketball season. He had fun playing soccer. He wasn't the most talented player on his team. but he got in there and had some good kicks in every game. 

He is enjoying basketball, as well. We try to get him to practice shooting outside, but he hasn't quite picked up the habit of doing it on his own. He will go out with Danny and shoot. I pointed out to him the other day when I was picking him up from a play date how his friend was practicing shooting the basketball all by himself. this friend is one of the best shooters on their team. I tried to explain to Camden that practicing a skill is what makes you get better at doing stuff. He has done well with basketball, though. He makes a shot or two in each of his games. It is nice that the kids aren't allowed to steal the ball while dribbling at this age. It gives him a chance to shoot the ball occasionally.