Halloween 2011

Halloween is here again

Fun for girls and boys.
Little pumpkins, ghosts and goblins
Dressed up all in fun.
Waiting for the time to come
To go out door to door.
Doing all their little tricks
And getting all their treats.
Then rushing home to see their loot
Eating until they're full.
Then they yawn with their sleepy heads
And off to bed they go........
For Halloween is gone once more.


~ Darlene Arsenault ~

Our sweet friends may have moved but we still ventured 30 minutes up to Woodstock to spend Halloween with them and other friends. It is bittersweet every year to see how much all of the kids have grown but yet oh so sweet to see the girls grow in their friendships with each other. So blessed to have wonderful friends.

Abby and Bria

Emma, Ari, Maddie and Lizzie Grace

Abby and Lizzie Grace

The little goth cheerleader and our tall gypsy queen

Goth cheerleader, Monster High, Gypsy

Sisters

My sweet girls

All my girls. The oldest one tried to tell me she was a lawyer

Getting tired of walking

Absolutely exhausted

And a quick walk down memory lane from last year's Halloween festivities.

My soldier girl 2010

The 5th grade line up. Mary Katherine, Abby, Bria and little Lizze Grace 2010

Emma, Maddie and Ari 2010

Homecoming 2011

Homecoming Weekend this year was made a bit more exciting by the fact that for the first time Abby was cheering for the school program that she and her sisters will attend in high school.

While we missed the Friday night high school game so that Bud and I could go to dinner and celebrate his birthday, nothing would have had us miss the middle school game on Saturday morning. The weather was absolutely beautiful and there is no where I would have rather been.

Start of the game

Taking the field

Abby and her Bucs poster that we worked so hard on.

Abby flying high with a little help from her friends

We didn't win this one but the boys did absolutely phenomenal. Following the game all of the six grader cheerleaders and football players adjourned to the end of the field for Homecoming festivities.

The boys got to watch the cheerleaders who have watched them all season

Abby cheesing it up down front

2011 six grade football players and cheerleaders

Abby got two different roses from two different players, Hunter and "some other boy."

It was funny to watch them. They are not little anymore but not quite big. There was a bit of awkwardness as the girls handed out candy bags and the boys handed out roses. I stood there thinking, "let this last forever." I love this girl!

Wicked!!

My love for plays and musicals come from my mother who used to take me all the time to the Civic Little Theatre at home in Pennsylvania from the time I was a little girl. I can sing all the words to Fiddler on the Roof, have cried my way through Steel Magnolias and even know what the Rockette's look like doing their high kicks in the annual Radio City Music Hall Christmas Show.

I did not however, marry a man who loves plays or musicals. Nor does he really feel the need to go with me. Don't get me wrong. He would if I insisted but it wouldn't be his first choice of things to do. I don't get mad because I hate sporting events and he doesn't make me go to those.

I remember when I first had Abby that I thought, "Finally, someone to go to the theatre with me." Never mind that it would be quite a few years before that would happen. We have done little things over the past few years. Several trips to Disney on Ice shows, a children's theatre production on High School Musical and even the Nutcracker this past Christmas. But never a "real" musical until now. And it was well worth the wait.

Through Girl Scouts we were able to get tickets to see Wicked at the Fox Theatre, one of my favorite places in Atlanta. Abby and Maddie went with me. Wicked is based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. The story is told from the viewpoint of the witches of OZ, Elphaba, the poor misunderstood green girl and Galinda, later named Glenda, the beautiful ambitious and popular blond.

Getting into the city on a busy Sunday afternoon is an adventure in and of itself but we made it, found parking and made our way quickly to the beautiful old theatre. Imagine my surprise when I found that our seats were not on the balcony but actually on the floor and in row O. Fantastic seats that would allow the girls to see the very expressions on the actor and actresses faces.

As the curtain rose and the musical began I found myself watching the girls faces as much as I was watching the stage. I saw them fall in love with the magic of the theatre much as I had at their age when my mom took me. I am looking forward to many more years of theatre with them.

Our date was capped off by heavy snacks and dessert at the Melting Pot. The girls agreed that we had to do this again.

The beautiful entrance into the Fox

The girls after the show

The Fox Theatre

The remnants of our cheese fondue pot

Despite warnings about how to behave, they still acted up a little bit

Chocolate Fondue to die for!

The remnants of our dessert place. Only a few lonely marshmallows left!