Emmett's Character Award Assembly

Emmett has transitioned to Kindergarten this fall as smoothly as I could have imagined.  He absolutely loves his teacher, his class, and everything about his day from learning to playing at recess to eating the school's hot lunch (that is free this year).  He runs off to school every morning after I drop him off and never looks back.  After meeting with his teacher a few weeks ago for parent-teacher conferences, I learned Emmett is doing an amazing job in class.  He teacher said that he is an excellent listener, follows directions, works hard, and is an excellent example to the rest of his class.  In fact, his teacher even went on to say that Emmett is the class leader in everything they do, and that he can tell an immediate difference in the class' overall behavior when Emmett has to leave 15 minutes early once a week when I check him out of school to take Ella to gymnastics practice.  I was so proud of him after hearing all of this positive feedback from his teacher.  

As a result, it came as no surprise to learn a few days ago that Emmett had been selected by his teacher to receive one of the character awards at their first assembly of the year.  Ron and I made plans to meet at his school at 3 pm so that we could cheer him on as he received his award.  In addition, Logan and Ella were also able to join us since Logan was already out of school for the day and Ella had stayed home sick with a bad cold.  Emmett looked so happy and suprised when he saw the four of us sitting on the front row of the chairs at the back of the gym as he class entered the room.  He was so cute when he went up to receive his award for the character trait of responsiblity and just kept on flashing us the biggest grins until the assembly was over.  Way to go, Emmett!   We are all so proud of the amazing, little boy that you have become!

Emmett walking up to the front of the gym after hearing his name called.

Emmett standing at the front after receiving his award.

A close-up of my cutie.

All six children who received an award for responsibility posing for their families after the assembly was over. 

Emmett posing with Logan and Ella before heading back to class.

This is the message from his teacher found on the back of his certificate:

'Emmett is always quick to follow directions and always demonstrates responsibility by putting his best foot forward.  He is attentive and follows directions quickly and is a role model to his peers."

Celebrating Ron's Birthday

After working Monday through Wednesday, it was just as busy of a second half of the week with Halloween on Thursday, Lia's Homecoming dance on Friday, and Ron's birthday on Saturday.  But I managed to summon all the energy I needed to get through a very busy Saturday with multiple children's activities and then host Ron's birthday dinner that evening.  Par his request, we had a delicious dinner with ribs and all the fixings.  We then sang "Happy Birthday" to him and enjoyed eating a homemade, pistachio cream pie for dessert, before watching him open up a few gifts and cards afterwards.  It was nice way to spend the evening together as a family and celebrate the life of our favorite guy!

Ron posing with the kids before we sang to him.

A funny picture of the children teasing him after the candles were blown out.

All four kids crowding around their dad before opening his first gift.

Ron showing off the toy that Emmett wrapped for him last minute with Ella's help.

Girls' Night Out to Hoco

Although Lia is no longer running with her high school, she and several of her running friends decided to go to their high school's Homecoming dance together like they did last year.  Luckily, Lia's Mama Mia rehearsal was cancelled after school today so that everyone could go home and get ready for the dance.  So Lia raced home to curl her hair and get dressed before meeing her friends at the abandoned bridges in Orting at 5:30 for a photo shoot.  The rest of the moms were happy to leave the job to me, so I was the lucky one that got to pose these darling girls numerous times on both bridges to take several pictures of them in their tiny dresses in 50 degree weather.  Since it had been raining all day long, we were all just so grateful that it had stopped raining about an hour earlier so that we could do this photo shoot.  After 30 minutes, we finished taking pictures as the sun was setting.  All five girls piled into Ani's car to drive back to Puyallup to eat dinner at Olive Garden before heading into Tacoma to attend their school's dance at the beautiful, Tacoma Convention Center.  Lia had a great time dancing with her buddies until they all left early around 8:45 to go home to get to bed since they had to run in the big, District's race the next morning.  Lia spent the rest of the dance with her good, theater friend, Jared, who had come to the dance alone.  The two of them then drove back to his house together to watch a Harry Potter movie before he brought Lia home at midnight. 

The girls posing in front of some of the beautiful, autumn colors.

From left to right:

Esley, Lia, Erika, Ani, and Willow

The girls standing in front of the first bridge.

The girls posing on the other bridge.

A cute, action shot.

A fun pose that Lia suggested they do with the girls making hearts with their hands.

The last picture I took of the girls before they left for dinner with the beautiful sunset in the background.

Halloween 2024

After eating a quick dinner right after school, the kids got dressed and were out on the porch by 5:50 for Halloween pictures.  Since it has been a very rainy week, we were just grateful that it was raining lightly as we headed out for trick-or-treating at 6 pm.  We went with Ella's good friend and nextdoor neighbor, Poppy, on our regular loop around the neighborhood.  Since Lia has been fighting a really bad cold the past 10 days, she decided to head back home after just a few doors since she had homework to do and didn't want to get ever more sick before her two weekends of Mama Mia performances that start next week at her high school.  So Ron and I continued trick-or-treating with our three younger children and Poppy until about 7:30.  Like in previous years, we returned home to answer the door, eat candy, and watch our beloved, old-school, Disney version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  Since I just had the chance to visit the town where this story takes place during my trip to NYC with Lia last summer, it was even more fun to watch it again and picture what this quaint town looks like in person.  We all enjoyed answering the door while laughing our heads' off at the antics of Ichabod Crane. It was another fun and memorable Halloween evening for the books!

Emmett dressed as a darling pirate in Logan's old costume.

Ella dressed up as a cow wearing the Snuggie hoodie that she got last Christmas from Aunt Austin and Uncle Robbie.

Logan was supposed to wear the Poseidon costume that we bought him last spring for his Greek Mythology report that he had to present to his 6th grade class.  However, he changed his mind last minute, and only wore the robe we bought him along with the cool, light-up mask he got the previous year.

I requested that Logan remove his mask for a second picture of his face.

Lia wore her strawberry, Snuggie hoodie that she got from one of her friends last year at her Sweet 16 Birthday party so that she and Ella could be...

Strawberry Milk together!

Unfortunately, since Lia left early to go back home, Ella went back to being a cow for the rest of the evening.

All four cuties together and ready to head out into the night!

Mama with her kiddos.

Taking our annual picture in front of Donna's awesome, pumpkin statue that she makes every year out of corn stalks.

The kids about to ring another doorbell.

Emmett, Ella, and Poppy posing next to the hilarious pumpkin that Poppy and Ella carved the night before Halloween.  Since Poppy had such a large pumpkin, Ella suggested that she carve it like a hilarious picture we had seen online a few nights earlier when we were carving our pumpkins as a family.  Ella carved one of our little pumpkins to put inside the mouth of Poppy's large pumpkin to look like it was being eaten.  The finished product turned out to be so funny!

Carving Pumpkins as a Family

At the end of a busy weekend, we gathered around our kitchen table after Lia and Logan returned home from a ward fireside to carve and paint our pumpkins.  Ron opted not to carve his own this year so that he could focus on helping Emmett with his.  Lia stuck to painting her pumpkin again, and Logan carved most of his own pumpkin for the first time in his life.  So, I was able to just sit back and enjoy painting mine while helping Ella with hers from time to time.  As our children are getting older, this family activity is slowing becoming more enjoyable and fun instead a mad and frantic evening trying to help multiple children carve their pumpkins.  We put on music and spent a funfilled two hours painting and carving away.  Everyone was quite pleased with the final outcomes and we can't wait to put them on our porch to display for Halloween this week!

Lia hugging Emmett while he pretends to carve the face on his pumpkin.  Although Ron did all of the carving, Emmett helped scoop out the guts and did most of the painting of his Frankenstein face by himself.

Ella making a funny face as she scooped out the seeds and guts from her pumpkin.

Logan carefully carving the teeth on his pumpkin's very large smile.

Lia painting her emoji pumpkin.

Mama painting her autumn branches and seeds.

The pumpkin line up!

From left to right:

Lia's emoji face, Ella's fairy house, Logan's grinning maniac, Emmett's Frankenstein, and mom's artistic, autumn pumpkin.

Halloween Trunk-or-Treat

I had been watching the weather all week long to see what was predicted for Saturday evening's Trunk-or-Treat in our church parking lot.  Sadly, it ended up raining on and off all day long today and began to sprinkle as we left our house and drove to the church.  Luckily, we were able to grab a few umbrellas as we headed out the door.  Although we could tell that less people showed up due to the rain, there was still a decent amount of people who came to hand out candy from their car trunks.  The six of us still had a good time wandering around our church parking lot in the rain, checking out all of the decorations people put on their cars in addition to the kids filling up their bags with candy.  As we were finishing up visiting the last few cars, the light rain turned into a downpour, so we quickly headed to our car and left 40 minutes after it started.  Ella sadly commented that they didn't get to do their second loop around the parking lot like they have done in previous years to double their amount of candy.  As sad as this was, I pointed out how lucky we were to be able to finish one loop before it started pouring.  We will take what we can get!  The kids then enjoyed coming home and eating some candy and watching one of the Harry Potter movies that Lia considers to give off the most Halloween vibes.  Overall, it was a fun way to kick off the Halloween festivities this week!

The kids lined up outside of the church before the trunk-or-treat began.

All six members of the Hartland fam.

The kids standing in front of one of the decorated, pop-up tents that many people used to protect themselves from the rain while handing out candy.

The kids visiting another tent where a scary looking man stood and blasted kids with smoke from a fire extinguisher.

The kids posing in front of a trunk decorated with Chinese Lanterns owned by the man who always hands out packs of Top Ramen soup every year.

Emmett's Last Soccer Game of the Season

Emmett wrapped up his first outdoor season of rec soccer by playing in his last game this morning in a total rain storm.  Since Ron was in Seattle with Logan for a XC meet, and Lia was at a play practice, and Ella was at gymnastics, I went alone to cheer on our boy.  Like every other game this fall, Emmett was amazing and just went after the ball every single time he was on the field.  In addition, it was amazing to watch how the rain, cold, and mud didn't affect him at all.  While other kids froze and cried and were miserable due to the weather conditions, Emmett wasn't phased by it and played his heart out, making several goals.  

Emmett has been an incredible soccer player this season.  It simply is amazing to watch his natural talent out on the field.  He made several goals in every game he played in and outran all of the kids on both teams every single game.  Two of my favorite memories this season was watching him kick the ball from one end of the field so hard that it flew down and went into the goal at the other end without anyone even touching it.  My other favorite memory was when he had to throw the ball back into the game after it was kicked out of bounds by the other team.  After trying to find a teammate to pass it to, he decided to just throw it back in to the field towards his goal where no one was standing.  He then ran back onto the field so fast, that he passed everyone else, and kicked the ball into his goal and scored.  Needless to say, Emmett has had a fantastic season and we can't wait to cheer him on from the sidelines when he plays soccer again next year.

Emmett chasing down the ball with an opponent at his side.

Emmett and a teammate kicking the ball down the field.

Emmett smiling at me after making a goal.

Emmett getting ready for a big kick.

Thowing the ball back into the game.

Sprinting down the field as the rain poured down.  I just love this action shot!

Emmett leading the pack.

My drenched soccer playing giving me a big smile after his game was over.

Way to go, Emmett!

Disney on Ice: Magic In The Stars

As Dinsey on Ice tickets were about to go on sale this fall, I checked in with the two middle kids to see if they were still interested in going again after so many years.  Logan gave me an enthusistic "yes" and Ella agreed to go if she could buy an overpriced snow cone with her own money.  Since this would only be Emmett's second time going, I knew that he would be all over it.  So, I went ahead and bought tickets for the four of us when they first went on sale at the beginning of September.  Since Ella now has gymnastics on Thursday and Friday evenings and we had our church trunk-or-treat planned for Saturday, the four of us piled in the van and drove up to Kent to see the show on a school night for the first time ever.  We got there with plenty of time to peruse the souvenirs and buy Ella's treat before settling into our seats that ended up being a few rows closer to the ice rink than in previous years.  We ended up having a great time as this show turned out to be one of our all-time favorites.  They added several special effects and extra stunts that made this show so entertaining to watch.  It was also so fun to watch Emmett's reactions to so many of the numbers that the skaters performed.  Overall, we spent a wonderful evening together, singing along to some of our favorite Disney songs while watching many of our beloved characters skate and twirl around on the ice. 

The three kids standing in front of some of the many Disney souvenires for sale.

The kids and me inside the venue before the show began.

The kids in their seats waiting for the magic to start.

Asha, from the movie Wish reaching out to touch the star.

Rapunzel giving us a cute pose during her skating number with Flynn Rider.

Lightening McQueen and Mater on the ice!

Isabela from Encanto stepping down from her floral swing.

Moana and Maui waving as their boat sailed past us on the ice.