Boomerangs & Tea Party

The weekend of November 11-13, Jason and I hosted the US Boomerang Team Trials at the International Horse Park in Conyers. This event was three days of throwing that decided who will represent the US in the 2012 Boomerang World Cup being held in Brazil. Jason and I were both supposed to throw in the event, but I sprained my ankle the Wednesday before and was on crutches for a couple days, so I did not end up throwing. (For inquiring minds, Jason finished as part of the second team of six. The US is planning to send three teams of six to Brazil.)

Since Conyers is about an hour from our house, we decided to stay at the hotel in Conyers with everyone else. There were 22 competitors from across the country and a few others to run the event. It was a fun weekend with friends and it provided some rest (for my ankle and me as a whole) and down time that I really needed.

While we were out at the boomerang field, our girls were with Grammy & Papa. They went to a craft bazaar in town and got to see a parade. The highlights of the parade - according to the girls - were bands, heroes (military personnel), and the Chick-fil-A cow! :-) While they were at Grammy & Papa's house, they got dressed up and had a tea party with milk, cookies & muffins. Looks like they had a great time!Well dressed men can be invited to the tea party too.Both the tea party and the boomerang tournament were a success!

Halloween

Ariel, Ladybug & Pumpkin

Our neighborhood Halloween Party was the Saturday before Halloween in our cul-de-sac. It was a good time and a lot of new neighbors came - which was really great! It's a potluck event and the kids dress up. We had Emma Ladybug...Heidi Ariel Mermaid...And Rachel Pumpkin.Rachel was so excited about being a pumpkin. She talked about it constantly 'til Halloween. She was so cute when someone would ask her what she was going to be for Halloween, she'd give a cute little smile and say, "punkin."

Heidi's was allowed to wear her costume to school for their class Halloween party. Rachel insisted on wearing her pumpkin costume all day too.
Since Halloween was on a Monday this year, Jason and Emma went to BSF and I came home with Heidi and Rachel and took them trick-or-treating. They had a good time and collected a lot of candy which got dumped in to one bowl and was shared with Emma. When I dumped their pumpkins in to the bowl, it included about 30 acorns. I knew Rachel had been picking them up along the way, but I didn't realize she'd collected so many. :-) It was a happy Halloween.

The Pumpkin Patch

About a week before Halloween we went to a local church pumpkin patch. The girls enjoyed walking around all the pumpkins. Heidi & Rachel decided to fill up a wheel barrow with as many pumpkins as they could. I think they wanted to get them all, but in the end they each got one little one and we bought a large one to carve.This pumpkin patch added some fun to searching for the perfect pumpkin - they had a purple glittery pumpkin that was hidden in the pumpkin patch. If you found it, you got a treat! Heidi found it...and then Emma found it.They each got to pick out a baked good as their treat.

A couple days before Halloween we finally carved our jack-o-lantern. Heidi asked day after day when we were going to do it. She wasn't interested in getting her hands gooey, but she intently watched as Jason and I carved it up. She was proud of the finished product.Jack and our three little pumpkins.

School Projects

Heidi's class has a "Superstar" each week. It's a great way for the kids to get to know each other better and for the kids to introduce themselves. Basically they put together a poster about themselves - things they like to eat, pictures of friends and family, favorite animals, etc. Heidi's Superstar week was the week of her birthday. She enjoyed picking out what to put on the poster and gluing everything on.She also liked putting on extra decorations - glitter foam flowers and princess stickers. Here's Superstar Heidi with her poster.The same week Heidi had her poster, Emma had a project due - to decorate a pumpkin to look like the main character in a fictional book. She picked Curious George. Yes - this is a mommy done project, and Emma was sure to tell her teachers that. Apparently when she took it out of her backpack, her teacher commented on it and Emma said, "yes, it's Curious George - my mommy did it." :-) (Sorry, I'm not going to let her loose with a glue gun.) So here's Curious Pumpkin George.

Heidi's Birthday

Heidi's birthday was October 24 (yes, I'm a month behind on my blog). When I asked her what she wanted to do for her party, she said she wanted to play games. She had in mind board games. However, I was not interested in tackling board games with 10-15 four and five year olds (sometimes it's hard enough with just one). So, the idea turned in to a carnival in our back yard.

Thankfully it was a gorgeous day and everyone seemed to have a good time. Fourteen of Heidi's friends came to the party. When they arrived they were given a bag with their name on it that had 10 tickets in it. They were to use these tickets to play the different games. Once they played the game, they picked a prize and put it in their bag - this became their goody bag. It seemed to work pretty well.We had a ring toss, stuffed animal basketball, hopscotch, bean bag toss, and our carnival ride was our Little Tikes "roller coaster." Here are some friends doing the bean bag toss.Grammy was gracious enough to come and paint faces.We did a "cupcake walk" with no cupcakes, just candy.And our trampoline and swing set were enjoyed by everyone too.The last planned activity was a pinata. Heidi took the first few cuts at it.
After 8 or so friends had tried, the baseball player (straight from a game and still in his uniform) got his chance.Michael beheaded the pinata and everyone came scrambling for the candy.Finally it was time for cake and ice cream. Heidi requested a Cinderella cake again this year. This time I decided to go the easy way out - just stick figurines on top. :-)
It was a really fun party but I have to admit, I was COMPLETELY exhausted when it was all over with. Heidi really enjoyed all the games but most of all she enjoyed spending a couple hours playing with so many of her friends.

The evening of her actual birthday, we took her to her favorite dessert place - Pinkberry.
One tired birthday girl...
The Cinderella balloon she is holding in the car is what we tied to the mailbox the day of her party. She carried this balloon around with her for over a week - in and out of the car; she'd take it outside and play with it (she tied it to an empty wrapping paper tube so it wouldn't fly away).

So now she is 5 years old!!! She is growing up fast. We love you Heidi!!!