kindergarten volunteering, chilly weather, pumpkin carving

it was a busy week around here....

monday i had my first volunteer shift in ashford's class and it was super fun. i helped groups of kids at their "literacy stations" and all the kids were really sweet and funny. it's so fascinating to watch his teacher manage a classroom of 19 five and six year olds. she's amazing! 

tuesday i made my first soup of the season, minestrone! i'm hoping to make soups more often because they are so easy to throw in the slow cooker and make great leftovers. 

on friday i got to chaperone ashford's kindergarten field trip to "thistle theater" in our neighborhood to see a puppet show. it's actually the first elementary school field trip i have chaperoned because it never worked for me to go on azalea's field trips with ashford's preschool schedule. it was a wet and windy walk there, but the show was cute and the kids did great.

after school on friday, we went to my friend kay's house to meet her new 8 week old kittens. they were so cute and the kids were thrilled to get to play with them. she has a son in ashford's class and another son in 2nd grade, so the kids got to have a little play date too. i'm allergic to cats, but not to kittens (because they haven't developed enough allergens yet), so i love getting to see kittens. 

azalea is wearing her pajamas because they had pajama day in her class. 

saturday morning we hung around the house. our landlord and a handyman came to look at the ceiling leak, but they are still a couple weeks out from fixing it :/ at least no more water is coming in. azalea and i went to the library and got groceries. then she had a soccer game at gilman park. the ref was the high school boy, benny who lives in our duplex, so that was fun. azalea's team lost, but they played well. it was windy and freezing there! her last game of the season is next saturday. 

we grilled turkey burgers for dinner and thatcher baked a pumpkin cake with maple frosting - so good! then we watched "casper" (circa 1995) for movie night. 

sunday morning i went to the gym and thatcher and the kids hung out at home. after lunch we carved our pumpkins! we did the goop clean out in the backyard, which was brilliant! 

 thatcher has a new iphone 11 and it takes the nicest pictures! i'm jealous. 

in the afternoon, azalea and i dropped off ashford at a play date and then walked through the farmers market and hung out at cafe umbria for a bit. we made pizza for dinner and relaxed the rest of the night. 

happy halloweek!!!