Halloween FCS Style

I teach kids.  Kids love holidays.  I decided Halloween was the perfect excuse to have fun at school.  

Caramel Apples in Foods 2...

A Halloween Party for 2nd Graders in Child Development...

Complete with Mask Making 

Halloween Snack Mix...

And squash bowling.

Yep, it's all for the kids.  

Obvously ;)

Halloween Visitors

Guess whose Kindergarten class got to visit Mrs. Boyds Foods 2 class this week for a Halloween Party?

You guessed it!  Spider Oreo's, pumpkin stories...

Halloween music and flubber.

Working at the same school as my kids definitely has it's perks.

Isn't It Ironic

It's truly ironic.  The exact week I assigned the annual chocolate chip cookie contest for my Foods students (a test on Function of Ingredients), Maisie became obsessed with baking a cake without a recipe.  She's got a passion for baking.

This is her list of ingredients....

 Wednesday after school, with an apron and a hat, she gave it a whirl. 

 I didn't my darnest to shut-up and let her figure this out...

She reminds me so much of myself.  I want to push her to be better.  She ended up with a batter.

I was exhausted from a long day a work.  Had 6 mouths to feed and get to bed.  I certainly didn't want anyone experimenting with cake in the kitchen.   But it turned out she would also need frosting.  

Good Lord.

But she did it.  And decorated it with a rainbow.

I wasn't expecting it to have descent texture; let alone texture.

Lets just say by the time she reaches my Foods class, she may as well be teaching it. 

Apparently, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Family Wish

Mike celebrated turning 40 this week.  Granted, he is blessed with an incredible wife who shares our life in a blog, but beyond that he has co-workers who treated him to the ever-famous Gusto Pizza for lunch at work.  He paid for it throughout the night and I paid for it in the morning.  Getting ready for work in the same bathroom has never been so nauseating....

BUT.... He is 40 now and apparently he's all grown up.  I'm also completely jealous of him right now.  Why?  Mack calls him 'Dad' and absolutely adores him.  I have yet to be called anything by Mack, but know the mom-connection will take a while longer given his history. 

I've got time.

We brought out the 'Flying Wish Paper' this week.  This is the tissue paper you write wishes on, roll it up and light on fire.  It floats away as you pray it doesn't catch the house on fire before it turns to ash. 

Mack even wrote a wish.

However, it was in Chinese.

Luckily for me, I have a resource for situations like that.

Turns out Mack wished for one thing.

It say's "Peace". 

God Love Him Forever and Ever.

After School

Ross didn't have football practice, nobody had homework, it was too cold for an outdoor fire...

The situation called for a living room football game.

It was Mack and Maisie...

Verses Ross and Moo

I don't know how it ended or who won... but nobody cried or fought.  So I'm counting it as a win.

Who'da thought my first photo of my 4 together would take place during a game of living room football... blurry and all, I'll take it.

Us Country Bumpkins

I'm a little behind with pictures.  These were actually taken over a week ago when GG and Papa came for a visit.  No, we haven't moved into a red trailer, Mike got himself a couple storage containers to hold some of his cargo.  We're classy like that.

My little fashion queen strikes a pose.  Wrist brace an' all.

Meanwhile, this is how us country-folk entertain ourselves on Saturday nights.  We don't get out much.

That's probably a good thing.

My fire building fans...

And Mack seems to be a natural out here.  We need to get that boy some boots.

Luckily for us, Aunt Kelly has a knack for knitting.  She's passing it on to Maisie, who is already way beyond her mamas knitting skills.

It's an American Girl Doll pot holder!

Fire

Lo and behold, we found something that distracts Mack from his Ipod....

The boy LOVES building fires.

I knew he was ours.

For the first time he actually 'asked' us a question.  We were on the porch when he came outside, pointed to the backyard and said, "Fire?"

The same thing happened the next night.

Apparently in China they don't make fires often.

But you'd never guess by Macks passion and skills at gathering, stacking and encouraging the flames to breathe.

Ross even had him on the 5-wheeler for the first time.  I don't think I've ever seen him smile so big- from either of 'em.

Meanwhile this little stinker models he new shades.

I often find Maisie 'petting' Macks hair and telling him how much she loves him.  She just loves Mack and the feel of Asian hair.  I've got to admit, Asian hair is totally foreign to us. 

I'm sure Mack's annoyed, but doesn't show it. 

I kinda think he's starting to like us.

Incredible People

Maisie and Molly have been playing a lot of dolls.  They often tell me their baby is 'adopted from China'.  

Of course I encourage them and tell them how beautiful their babies are.

However, I wish there was an easy way to tell them how important having an incredible partner fits into the equation....

I Kinda Wana Punch Someone in the Face

On Wednesday Mack was scheduled to take his state-required English Assessment test.  We have been prepared for him to score a 1 or 0 on the test, which is the lowest possible score.

Wednesday Mack was sick.  Thursday his ELL instructor was gone and therefore, Friday was the day of testing as the test needed to be completed by the end of the week.

Friday at 3:30, the ELL instructor came into my classroom with Mack in tears.  The testing did NOT go well.  The writing and listening portion of the portion was fine, but when it came time for the speaking portion, frustration won.

This is the point I wanted to punch the person who makes this test mandatory for non-English speakers within 2 weeks of entering school in the face.

My heart broke in a way I've never felt.  The ELL teacher was even teary eyed as he told me what happened.  For the first time, I couldn't just make a phone call, I couldn't tell Mack what to say or do, I can't write a strongly-worded letter to someone.  I can't just FIX it. 

Meanwhile, Ross' Ipod chipped Friday afternoon after he dropped it on the way to the van after school.  Lets just say there was a moment I was forced to pull the Transit off the road for safety reasons.  Ross and a jar of spaghetti sauce (don't ask) were on the gravel edge of the road as school busses flew by.  Mack eventually got out and shoved Ross and the spaghetti sauce back into the Transit so we could finish our commute.  If there's such a thing as rock bottom, I think we may have touched on it.

At the same time, nobody EVER said raising kids was easy.  It's taking more patience, alcohol and love than I ever imagined it would.  But we're in this 100% and not to sound like Donald Trump, but we WILL win this.

Saturday afternoon Mack and Ross threw the football around, rode the dirt bike and started a fire.  Mack is comfortable at home, he sleeps well, eats well, is trying his hardest, misses China and has a heart God has prepared for him to overcome the challenges he is, and will continue to face.  So blessed I get to be the mom to witness him do it.