Mother Daughter Luncheon

Last Sunday was Dawson's school Mother Daughter Luncheon.  It was much more than I ever expected.  The theme this year was "The Nine Muses."   Everything was based on all different artistic areas.  There were orchestra instruments to try, pottery to make, poetry to write and stories to be told.

A few girls from her class!

The DJ had all the girls dancing the day away!

Look at her go!

This story teller was FABULOUS!  She will be a must at a birthday party some day soon!  Every child was listening attentively!  She was telling a child version of Harry Potter!

Our favorite art studio was at the luncheon helping the children make fall hangings.  So cute!

We both had a great day exploring the arts and spending time together!

Trick or Treat

Some friends, a clam bake and some rain was what our night was all about!  Nothing held us back!

The gang heading out! 

 Everyone had an umbrella in hand to weather out the rain.  A few adult umbrellas even broke.  Looks like the aftermath of hurricane Sandy is going to hit us tomorrow!

 When we got home, the girls went upstairs to try and scare the trick or treaters that came in the front door!  They were so funny!

Hauntaquarium and Carving

Cleveland opened a new aquarium this past summer and we've been waiting to go!  When we heard our friend was going to be the DJ for the night, we headed out to join in the fun.  Children were dressed up and there were a few stations with entertainment throughout the aquarium.  We saw a magician, jugglers, fire eaters, and pirate sword fighting.

Many of the fish tanks had carved pumpkins in them.  It was interesting watching the fish go in and out of the pumpkins.  We saw a conch shell with a live snail in it and made a stingray puppet.  At the end of the night, we did a little dancing as our friend DJ Beatboy played some happening music!

As we headed home, Dawson reminded me I promised we would carve pumpkins tonight!   That was fine but, she fell asleep!  Never fear, she woke up when we got home to do some carving.

She cleaned, scraped and carefully drew her face!

AND the FINAL PRODUCT!

Fall Fun

 My favorite time of the year...FALL.  It was a perfect day for an outing to a local farm and then to a nature center.  The weather was about 60 and the lighting for fall pictures couldn't have been better!  

Lots of running and pumpkin climbing gave me some good photo opportunities!

 This farm had some HUGE pumpkins!

We like to pose these days!

 We found some bird seed.  At this nature center, you can put some bird food in your hand and the birds will come and eat it.  Such an amazing experience if you have never done this before!

 It was fun to run through the herb garden and head towards a small waterfall.

 If there is something to climb on, we will find it! 

Right before we left, I was lucky to catch a perfect reflection in the pond.  Beautiful!

Apple Picking

 Enjoying the beautiful day picking apples!  My favorite time of the year!

Cartwheels for Crohn's

Our gymnastics teacher had a fundraiser with another family for Crohn's Disease.  She had the kids collect money for doing cartwheels down a bike path.  It was funny to see all her student's working hard to get 200 or more cartwheels before the finish line.  Honestly, I quit counting at 10! 

 Great cartwheel...the only hard part was putting her hands on a gravel like path!  

 Even her teacher's were doing cartwheels.  Dawson is on the far left.

 And everyone finished off by walking across the finish line!  

What's Your Goal for Kindergarten?

At school, all the kids were asked what their goal was for kindergarten.  Keep in mind, Dawson's dad has "begged" her to play soccer and her answer is always NO.  

This goal made us laugh!