Happy Halloween!

October was a busy month with soccer games and basketball games.  So it took us up until the last week before Halloween to go out and let the kids pick out pumpkins to carve.  We went to a local farm and everyone picked one out (except Xiao Yu, who had already picked one previously from a school field trip to another farm.)

And then it was time to carve.  We've reached the age where the older kids are able to mostly carve by themselves.  

And they are responsible for taking out the guts by themselves.  The pumpkin that Gabe picked out was a sideways one, which made for interesting carving.

Eventually things got too messy for him, so the shirt came off!

And here is the result, with the kids' costumes.  Gabe dressed up as Iron Man, Karina wore her dress from China, Xiao Yu was a puppy from Paw Patrol, and Eliana dressed up as a businessman.

The kids went trick-or-treating around our house with some friends.  It's amazing how much candy is collected in just 2 hours!  The parents were happy that the rain held off!

And here they are checking out their loot, and trading candy with their friends.

And then another round of trading occurred after they got home.  Since Karina doesn't like chocolate, she traded most of those away in exchange for things like Starbursts and Skittles.  We hope you had a Happy Halloween!

Back to School!

As fall came around again, our kids headed back to school.  Even though Eliana is homeschooled, she also participates in a program with our local school district where she attends school one day a week. They do a lot of project-based learning and other activities.

She seems to like it ok.

Karina also participates in the same program, but on a different day of the week.  She is our sleepy head, so getting up at 7am to get ready for a 7:25am bus pick up is hard for her!

And on the first day, the bus is late.  She is not happy about having to wake up so early only to sit around and wait!

And finally it arrives.

Xiao Yu is in full time kindergarten at our local public school.  He is a social butterfly so enjoys the interaction with the other kids.

His classroom has a pet cockatiel (bird) as well as an aquarium.  He seems to be enjoying his school and is learning a lot!  He has learned almost all the sounds for the letters of the alphabet and is starting to sound out and read some words!