Tea Party Pt.2

Linda is 11! Tea Party

Our sweet Linda turned 11yrs. old today! We love her. We celebrated yesterday with a tea party/brunch. She had so much fun with her cousins and friends.
Grandma & Grandpa Thompson stopped by that night to wish her happy birthday too.

Meeting Evylin

I took the kids to Palm Desert, CA last weekend to meet their newest cousin, Evylin Gray Suitor. They seriously loved her and couldn't believe how tiny she was. They loved holding her and watching her. I'm glad they can experience a newborn. On the way home they all said they missed her already. Welcome to the family, Evylin! You've got four babysitters ready to go. :) 

Jane's First Campaign

Jane is now in 4th grade and can run for student council offices. I was secretly hoping that she'd have no desire to run because it totally stresses me out for some reason. But, she was really excited about running to be 2nd Vice President. All of the 4th and 5th graders vote. She would assist the 5th grade president and vice president and be acting president next year until the new elections. 

The only thing they could do to campaign this year was to put up 3 signs around campus. After the signs were up a few days there was a vote to get the top two candidates in each category. Jane made the top 2 out of 11 kids running for her position! 

Today the top two candidates gave a speech in front of parents, teachers, and the 4th & 5th grade students. She really did a great job. She was very confident and I was so proud of her! After the vote the kids went back to their classes to vote. 

After lunch they gave the kids the results and.......
She did it!! Vice President Jane Thompson!
We're so excited for her. She'll do a great job.

Halloween 2015

Halloween was really nice this year. I took the kids to the elementary school carnival, we all went to the church Halloween party on Friday night, then Robert took them out trick-or-treating in Carlsbad on Halloween. It's hard to trick-or-treat in Oceanside because there are a  lot of hills and very few sidewalks. We have our Carlsbad area all set now for the coming year. We will have candy for months!

Here are the costumes this year.

Bruce is getting older. He didn't want to dress up as something too dressed up. We found this referee costume and he was all about it. Simple, but would still get him a lot of candy. Perfect.

 Jane has always refused to be any kind of princess or fairy. This year SHE came up with the idea of being Cinderella! Of course I jumped at the chance. She really does look like her. My beautiful girl. She loves animals, she works hard, she really is a princess!

 Claire has gotten in to the Harry Potter movies. This costume is just right for Claire, simple and comfortable. She had a wand as well and there have been a lot of spells cast in this house recently.

 Linda has always dreamed as dressing up as Belle, and let's face it, she IS Belle. She loves to read, find adventures, and she always sees the good in people. 

Middle School So Far

Linda is enjoying her first year in middle school. She adjusted really quickly and likes that there are no more recesses. Getting up early has been the biggest adjustment.  It's been interesting to have been able to see things through a boy's eyes last year and then this year through a girl's eyes. Very different. She was a little surprised about all of the boy talk going on. There is lots of "dating" and "going out" and a lot of talk about who likes who. Linda already has an admirer that leaves notes on her desk. Luckily she has a good head on her shoulders and doesn't get swept away by all of it. Sorry kid, Linda won't be dating until she's 16. :) And of course there's the typical girl drama all around her. She manages to stay out of all of that silly stuff and has never felt any pressure to fit in with the crowd. She is a good girl.

She's gotten really involved in the extracurricular activities. She has a different club to go to at lunch nearly everyday. She's joined Chess Club, Marine Biology Club, and Polynesian Club. She joined the after school volleyball and made it on to the team.  

She is keeping up really well in her classes. She has all A's except for a B in PE. Curse that darn mile run. They get a grade based on how fast they run it. I don't think it's really a fair way to grade, but I'm not up for the fight. :) She still enjoys her orchestra class as well.

We're so proud of her. She has continued to be a wonderful girl and we're so happy that it's been a good year for her so far.