Virginia Film Festival

 Lydia waiting for PIXAR shorts to start. 

Each year Virginia holds a Film Festival and Charlottesville hosts it and it's kind of a big deal. I heard about it last year but didn't think much of it but this year I found out that they do a family day and was really excited.  There were a few events that caught my eye and so we made plans to attend.  I love that Charlottesville hosts this festival every year that is free (for family day I am not sure about the many many films they show) and focuses on fine arts.  The Family Day events (Saturday) were at UVA.  Mark had registered to attend the Family History Conference so he would not be joining us which was a bummer but he was really looking forward to the conference.  I was grateful that the events were held at an area of UVA I was familiar with. Finding parking really stresses me out.  We got to UVA found parking easily (and free too) and made it with abut 20 minutes to spare. The first event we were planning on attending was a showing of PIXAR shorts from 2007 - 2012. I knew this would be well attended and was glad we go there when we did.  The theatre quickly filled up and had people waiting to see if there were any spare seats. I was worried about finding three seats together as I did not want to be away from Jared or Lydia and am glad it worked out. About 15 minutes into the viewing Lydia asked to sit in my lap and then this guy came and stole her seat. It worked out fine but clearly there was a good turnout. It was not a small theatre.  While we waited for the shorts to start members from the Charlottesville Symphony were on stage playing music.  They took turns talking about different sound effects they can make with their instruments, like a cello making a tractor or a flute sounding like a siren.  They played some well known scores from movies and talked about how music can set the tone of a movie.  It was really enjoyable and I am glad Jared and Lydia could be a part of it.

After the showing we headed over to the "instrument petting zoo" and enjoyed trying out all kinds of instruments.  The Symphony members were there and were so patient as they explained how to use instruments and taught the kids what to do.  Jared's favorite was the clarinet.  He liked it because he could make a really loud noise with it (basically he was good at it in his mind) and Lydia seemed to really enjoy the cello.  There were some cool classes you could sign up for (for free like stage directions, stage make up, music in movies and some others) that I may look into next year and some fun art projects.  It was really a great event.  I am sure we will be regulars in the coming years. How I love this city and can't believe how we lucked out when Mark got his job here!

Bus riding, bouncing and Little House

Jared has been wanting to ride the bus home from school for a good while now.  There were a couple of times when we planned on him riding it but then it didn't work out.  At first I thought I would have him ride it a lot because then I would not have to wake Lydia up from her nap but then she pretty much stopped napping (or rather I stopped her from napping because she was staying awake till 9:00 or later at night if she napped) so I just got in the habit of picking him up.  The main reason I haven't been having him ride the bus is because it takes so much longer if he does.  He is the last stop on the route and gets dropped off at 3:00.  The bus leaves the school around 2:30 so that is a 30 minute drive when I can get to the school in 7. It just seemed unnecessary for the bus driver to make the stop when I can easily pick him up and we like to go meet up with friends for a little while after school so it made sense to get him. Well, on Fridays I watch our neighbor's daughter for about 30 minutes until her mom gets out of her school.  We (her mom and I) have been talking about having them ride the bus together to our house on Fridays (it is tricky to fit a third carseat in the back seat of our car) and they finally got a chance to do it last Friday and they loved it.  It was really odd when 2:10 came around and I was not leaving to pick up Jared. I walked to the top of the driveway to meet them and saw the bus pass by (they have to go down a few houses to turn around then drop him off) and waved at them. The bus driver (her name is Alma) seems very nice, we met back in August at Back to School night. I asked Jared if it was loud and crazy and he said it really wasn't so that is nice.  The sit kids by grade so all the kindergartners are at the front and so on. Jared said his favorite part was when they were the last kids on the bus.  I am sure they will look forward to it each Friday. I do not think he will be riding the bus in the morning anytime soon as it would stop here at 7:10 and we are rarely ready by then.

On Monday's my good friend Tara and I try to met up and do something fun together.  Her daughter Lainey and Lydia are becoming really good friends.  Lydia is about 5 months older than Lainey and they really have fun together.  Lainey is also in my preschool class and I love getting to visit with Tara.  It has been a fun experience to have this one on one time with Lydia since Jared has been in school.  In Colorado I had Tanner and Lydia while Jared was in preschool so no one on one time and last year Lydia was still pretty young.  Now she is older and she is really so pleasant to be around.  She is helpful and sweet and silly.  This week we headed over to Bounce-n-Play for "Monday Funday."  It has quite a few fun inflatables and climbing structures, a cool art room and great dress up clothes.  I had never taken Jared or Lydia as I personally think its way overpriced ($12.50 per kid) but on Mondays and Wednesdays they apparently do toddler time so its half price and parents don't have to pay. We headed over and Lydia had a great time with Lainey and playing somewhere new.  We had gone to a similar place a few times in Colorado for their birthdays but it had been almost 2 years since we had done it.  Lydia can get in for that price until her birthday in January so we will be going a few more times at least.  We most often try to go walk the Monticello Trail but it hasn't worked out as much this Fall.  I hope we can go a few times before it gets too cold.

We started reading the Little House books a few weeks ago (I really needed a break from Magic Tree House) and I have been surprised at how much Jared and Lydia love them. I expected them to like them but they are pretty enthralled.  Anytime I try to stop (lately I have been reading right after we get home from school) they beg me to read more. I know I enjoyed reading them when I was younger and it has been fun to read them to my kids. It's amazing how different their lives were, how hard they worked. I am not sure how many books I will read in the series right now but it has been a great experience.

Soccer Season

Saturday (Halloween) was the last day of soccer for Jared. I think that overall he really enjoyed playing soccer.  It was more like half a season because practice and games got rained out so much. The "owner" of the soccer fields (Forest Lakes development) is very protective of the field so anytime there was any moisture soccer was canceled and we had a really rainy September, like 6 inches rainy!  Mark enjoyed coaching and felt like the team did improve this season. I know Jared did. The games got a lot closer the last weeks which was fun. I am incredibly uncompetitive and really want Jared to be a good sport so I have a hard time with his desire to always want to win.  One Saturday before the game I asked him "What do you do if you don't win the game" and he replied completely serious, "Cry."  Totally not what I was hoping for.  He was fortunate that his team won each game they played (even though there was no official score). I am not sure what would be the best way to approach this.  It is fine to be competitive (even though I don't understand it) but I really don't want him to be a bad sport.  I want him to learn how to play and not be irritated or dislike it if his team doesn't win.  We will see how it goes with time I guess and keep talking/modeling the appropriate response.  Yes, its okay to be sad/disappointed to not win but don't be a jerk to other teams or your own.  I don't want him to have his whole experience ruined if he doesn't win.

 Pre Game speech

 Action shot! I lucked out when I got this picture of him kicking the ball out of the goal. 

Will they score? 

 GOAL!!! 

Jared was thrilled to get his trophy.  

I got an email email at the beginning of the week that said they would be receiving them Saturday but I couldn't remember if they were getting a trophy or a medal so all week long Jared would say, " I can't wait to get my trophy!" and I would add, "or medal".  Thankfully it was a trophy. 

They also had Chick Filet biscuits and Dunkin Donuts Donut Holes. It was fun that they made the last day such a celebration.  We all met together briefly to thank parents and coaches and then did individual team trophy presentations. Mark did a nice job coaching and would probably do it again. I am glad he could do it with Jared. 

Lainey and Lydia.  

Lydia did a good job going to the games. We only went to 2 practices.  About half way though the season she asked us why she wasn't playing and we reminded her that she said she did not want to.  She has since decided she would like to play in the Spring so we will have 2 soccer players next Spring. 

Halloween!

We had Jared sort and count his candy from UVA too. 

Gotta do some work to eat all that candy. 

About half way through the week I realized we had not carved our pumpkins yet and realized that the only day to do them with Mark would be Halloween.  He thought this was pretty silly but it worked out beautifully.  Jared originally wanted a Pirate pumpkin but then changed his mind and chose a Ghostbusters one.  At his school the PE teachers do a sort of warm up with the students and they use the Ghostbusters song so Jared is humming it all the time.  Lydia picked a kitty cat pumpkin. You can guess which on e I chose to help with.  Sadly when we went to carve the pumpkins one of them had rotted. The back side was all caved in.  While Mark cleaned out Jared's pumpkin I drove over to a store to get a replacement pumpkin. Our kids are not quite to the helping stage yet when carving pumpkins so they happily watched the Curious George Halloween special while Mark and I did the work.  We had a bowl to put all the pumpkin guts in and while I am not sure Jared ever touched it Lydia loved it and had at least one hand in it almost the whole time.  Our pumpkins turned out great and I was glad Lydia picked such a simple theme. 

 Side note:  I am so happy my hair is getting longer! I feel so much more like myself. I am actually liking its current length more than I thought it would. I haven't cut it since June, slowly but surely. 

Originally we thought we would head over to Forest Lakes a well planned out neighborhood near our house (our neighborhood is not really a neighborhood and not conducive to trick or treating at all) but then our friends the Shaw's decided to have a Fall Fun party at their place so we decided to skip trick or treating and dressing up and go play with them.  Very untraditional of us but we had already gone twice and did not need any more candy. 

We headed over there around 3:00 and had a great time with the Shaw's (Julie, Chris, Sam, and Tyler) and the Wooter's (Ashley, Stuart, and Harrison). These 5 kids get along really well and had a great time.  Lydia is the youngest at almost 4 and Sam is the oldest at 8 so really good ages.  We enjoyed their zip line, had a yummy BBQ, made mini caramel apples ( a melon baller is now on my Christmas list), and then played a round of "donuts on the string" which I totally won.  Possibly because 1/2 of my completion had never done it before. The Wooter's had brought some glow sticks and we had fun playing with them outside while doing the zip line a few more times. We went inside to visit for a little while which was great because I see Julie and Ashley a fair amount but Mark doesn't get to visit with them or their spouses much.  It was so nice that our kids all payed together so well.  It was a really fun night. Their son Sam planned a raffle where we put our names in his Halloween candy bucket and whoever he drew out got a piece of his candy.  It was cute.  Jared had his name drawn first and he told me later that the raffle was his favorite part.  Winning is really important to Jared which is kind of worrisome to me.  

 Mark's first time down

We are so lucky to have such fun friends here in Charlottesville. 

Halloween fun at UVA

After our quiet morning at home we headed over to UVA for some Halloween fun. Mark had a teacher work day so we picked him up at 2:45 and got to spend an early afternoon with him.  It gets super crazy at UVA for trick or treating on "The Lawn" so I was glad Mark could drive.  I saw that there was a "Spooky Music" organ concert at a church right by UVA and thought it would be a fun and different Halloween activity.  It was scheduled for 3:30 and the trick or treating started at 4:00 so it worked perfectly.  It also so happened that the UVA Marching Band was having practice that night for their football game the next day and we had not been able to go yet this year so we decided to hit that up after tick or treating since we were already down there.  It was a fun busy afternoon/evening. It sounded a little crazy but it all worked our beautifully. All of these things were at UVA within walking distance of each other so we parked at the garage near where the band practiced since that is where we would finish the night. I was worried about finding parking because so many people head over there but we got there early enough that we had no problems.  The weather was beautiful and it was less than a 10 minute walk to the church.  We got there in plenty of time and had some fun running around in the sunshine.

The concert was great.  Short and fun.  The organist dressed up in a Phantom of the Opera outfit and started the concert with the famous song from that show.  He then played Pink Panther and finished with a fun piece where he only used his feet!  It was great.  After he finished playing he invited people up to learn about the organ and ask any questions. I didn't think Jared would be that interested but he wanted to stay for it all.  I hope we can do it again next year. We met up with our friends the Farnsworth's at the concert and then headed over to the Lawn.

We did the Lawn last year and had a fun time but it seemed way more crazy this year. I don't know if they were trying to be more organized about it this year and it made everything take longer but it just felt like all the lines were slower but Jared and Lydia enjoyed themselves and we saw a lot of friends from our old ward which was nice.  They got so much candy and when we were close to finishing Lydia was done. She said her bucket was "too heavy and can she please be done?"  Their buckets were heavy! I am glad we went.  The Lawn is beautiful and I think its really fun for the students to see all these kids in costumes.

 Lydia and Jared (but mostly Lydia) loves minions so she was thrilled to see these students. 

She has been drawing them on every scrap of paper this past week. 

 She was so happy to not have to hold her pumpkin anymore. 

That is the famous rotunda behind her. I am excited for them to finish it one day. 

 These guys were there making balloon animals/objects for fun. 

Lydia and Jared were so happy to get one.  Jared got a sword and Lydia got a puppy.  

After trick or treating we headed over to marching band practice and wrapped up our time at UVA.  We stopped by our car and had Lydia and Jared change out of their costumes and then let them run around.  I love marching band practice. The music is so fun and its really cool to see their formations.  
We ate some healthier snacks while we watched a kicked around a soccer ball. Jared and Lydia practiced walking up this slope (it was fun to see Lydia concentrate) and rolled down various hills.

His balloon later broke and he was pretty devestated.  We did try to warn him not to take it to marching band practice but his love was too strong. Lydia actually ended up with 2 puppies and kindly offered one to Jared and he was so thrilled and then it broke in the next 5 minutes so it was like instant replay.  He was so sad and is convinced that all balloon animals hate him. 

I am glad we could do all the fun events and it all worked out.  How I love this time of year!

Trunk or Treat and Halloween fun at home

Jared wanted to be a Pirate again (no surprise there).  He had outgrown his costume from last year which was a bummer because it was really cool. Costco had one he loved but they did not have a size big enough for him. Luckily I found this one at the clothing swap our Relief Society put on back in September. Its actually a Jack Sparrow costume and Jared doesn't really know anything about the movie (I did show him this CLIP which is pretty much my favorite part of the whole movie and he loved it) but it worked just fine.  I am not sure where Lydia got this idea but she decided early on she wanted to be a witch.  I made her little skirt and decorated her hat and she was good to go. 

Jared's school hosted a Trunk or Treat the Thursday before Halloween. I was not that interested in going but Jared and Mark really wanted to go so off we went.  It was a fun easy way to kick off our weekend of Halloween fun. And it was fun!  A friend had told that parking was always crazy so we go there pretty early and parked in the neighborhood near the school. We walked over and met up with the Shaw's.  We chatted for a bit then Jared actually wanted to go see another friend we had passed on the way in so I went over with him. I was shocked and (happy) that he initiated it.  Typically he just wants to be with Tyler which is not a problem exactly, he is a very nice kid but I would really like him to have other friends in his class  too.  He still has a hard time when he does not get to be with Tyler in centers/activities so I would really like to help him move past that. So we visited with Jordan (girl) and Carmen.  There was a really good turnout. There were some definite bottle necks but it all worked out and Jared and Lydia enjoyed themselves. I had to laugh because Mark wanted to go so he could meet Jared's friends and their families and he ended up staying with our friends the Shaw's while we waited for it to start.  I was way more social with new families.  We hadn't attended any school functions so it was good to go.

Jared has a sort of "Fall break" this weekend.  There was no school Friday and there is no school Monday or Tuesday. We spent Friday morning at home doing Halloween activities and had a great time.  We counted our candy and sorted it and did some science experiments. It made me realize how much Jared is gone during the week.  Before he started school full time we were always doing fun learning actives and art projects but we have done way less now because he is gone all day.  I do them with Lydia in preschool and while Jared is gone but I really miss that time with Jared.  I still try to plan a few for when he gets home from school but it is not the same.  I am so glad we could do some this weekend.

They LOVED this experiment.  Jared was so scared/surprised when it started inflating he literally fell out of his chair. It was hilarious. Look at those cute faces! We did a Frankenstine and then a ghost.

 I had them guess how many pieces there were then we counted them.  After that they had to sort it by the beginning letter and I had them guess which letter would end up with the most candy.  I guessed M Jared guessed S and Lydia guessed A.  Jared was right by a long shot.  It brought back somany great memories of years past.

Lydia's favorite candy this year are Lollipops and they both got a lot of them.  Jared loves Tootsie Rolls. We taught them a little bit about trades and they seemed to do pretty well with it but mostly just wanted to keep what they had.  Mark has 2 nephews currently serving missions.  One in Germany/Ausria and one in Pittsburg, PA area.  We had them pick some candy to send them and then had them go it all and pick out the candy they didn't like. It made me feel better to get rid of some of this stuff!  There is a dentist doing candy buy back so I think we will go tomorrow to drop off the stuff they passed on. I hoped Jared would be willing to take all his candy because he loves money so much but apparently he loves his Halloween candy more.  Same with Lydia. Maybe next year.  We had a great start to our Halloween.