One of the women in our neighborhood was collecting shoeboxes to fill for Operation Christmas Child. Her goal was to collect 150 shoeboxes to fill and send to children in other countries who have very little. We collected some boxes and left them on her porch. After she collected the boxes she invited everyone to attend a party and help her fill the boxes. You could shop for items on your own or use the items she was collecting. We decided that we wanted to shop and buy items to fill three boxes.
The kids and I had a fun time visiting Dollar Tree and Walmart to find things for a child their age in another country. We bought toys, school supplies, and a toothbrush for each box. The kids then wrote letters and added a picture to the recipient. We took our boxes to the party where they were wrapped and collected. While there the kids helped Miss Stephanie stuff some of the boxes and items she had collected too. It was a great experience and I think it is something we will definitely do in the future.
Since we were in Kansas City for Ella's soccer tournament, that is where we went trick or treating. After her last game the kids put on their costumes and headed to Scott and Becky's house. AC and Al brought pizza for dinner, the kids were so anxious to trick or treat though I am not sure they ate that much. All four of them headed out at first to trick or treat on Emma and Aiden's block. Then they came back to the house where AC and I went back out with Ella and Aiden while Emma and Sam went trick or treating on their own with some of Emma's friends.
The neighborhood was packed with kids and many adults had televisions set up outside or in their garages to watch the Royals World Series game while they handed out candy. Ella and Aiden did a lot of trick or treating. Their favorite house was on a quiet cul-de-sac that not many kids were taking the time to visit. They had a lot of games set up and many chances to get candy. Ella and Aiden played all the games and I think would have liked to stay there even longer. Sam and Emma got back to the house about a half an hour after we did. Sam had urged the girls to come home, I think they wore him out. Then it was back to Grandma and Grandpa's to watch the end of Royals game and sort candy. Both kids got a lot of wonderful treats, the Royals won game four and we all had a fun evening.
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| Ella as Anger |
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| Colonel Sanders! |
Ella's team played in a soccer tournament over Halloween weekend in Kansas City. They didn't come away with any wins but I think their team is improving. Ella played goalie half of the time and midfield the other half. She really enjoyed herself, she loves soccer and spending time with her teammates.
The other big perk of playing in Kansas City is that you get a lot of people to cheer for you. Grandma and AC were at all three games, Uncle Al made it two games and Grandpa, Scott and Aiden came to one. It was fun to have such amazing support to watch Ella play!
We were going to Kansas City for Halloween so our jack o' lanterns would not be on display Halloween night, but we wanted to make them anyway. We decided we would just display ours a night early. It is nice that the kids are old enough now to clean the pumpkins themselves. That is definitely the worst part of the job.
Sam did his pumpkin all on his own this year. He decided to make a Minecraft inspired jack o' lantern and I think it turned out well. He took his time making the design and then cutting it all out carefully. Ella and I worked on her pumpkin together. She and Sam found a soccer ball design on line and that is what we used to make her jack o'lantern. It was my first time doing some scraping and I think it made the soccer ball look great! We were all pleased with our creations and really enjoyed making them.
Ella's class had a mummy theme for their fall party this year. My friend Christi was the party planner and she did an amazing job. Everyone is always excited when she is in charge of parties because they are always so fun and well done. Christi was also in charge of her daughter Whitney's fifth grade party though so that left me to run the mummy party.
We ate mummy themed snacks, made mummy chocolate bars, played mummy bowling and wrapped the kids up like mummies. Everyone had a great time and enjoyed the theme! I would say wrapping everyone up in toilet paper was probably the class favorite. I enjoyed getting to spend the time with Ella, her classmates, her teacher and other parents.
