Last night was the annual Halloween carnival.

This year we took Elsa. We actually made bets in the car on the way to the carnival about how many Elsas we would see there. We lost count after 20. I never saw one prettier than this one though!

Two Elsas!

And Little Sister Anna with "Baby Anna."

Dave, the Minion (from Despicable Me) also came with us.

After an extensive photo shoot, they were ready to hit the road, play some games, and eat some candy...

We ran into some friends while we were there. Jenna borrowed Hannah's Strawberry Shortcake accessories from last year so it was fun getting to see her!

The swings were a new attraction this year.

The night before the carnival Ellie face planted onto the asphalt outside. After stitches with the other two kids and Ellie's chipped teeth a few weeks ago, I was SO thankful it was only a scraped chin! Whew!

All the kids loved the carnival, but Ellie was just over the moon about the whole thing. This morning the kids were sorting through their candy, and Ellie kept saying to no one in particular, "Gank (thank) you, gank you, everyone."

My favorite story of the night is when this girl about our age came up to us. She recognized us from Grove City College! She was a year younger than me, but I knew her brother who was my year (Matt Hall, for all my Grover readers). Her brother's wife was Andy's year. In fact, Andy and her sister-in-law were in student government together. It was so funny running into a fellow Grover all the way across the country. Turns out her dad moved out to southern California years ago to be the pastor of outreach ministries at the church where I've gone to Bible study for years. She came out after her parents did and married a guy from around here. I love small world stories!

 Nothing major has been going on around here, so it's time for a camera dump to document all of the little things we have been doing.

 On Tuesdays, Ellie and I come straight home from Bible study, pack lunches, and then pick up Hannah and two of her friends for a play date at the park with her classmates.

This is the goofy bunch that usually comes.

  Hannah's soccer team with their handsome coach.

 A team meeting with the coach and assistant coach.

I hosted a baby shower for my neighbor and good friend Amy. Her baby boy is due at the beginning of November. Hannah keeps telling her friend Chloe, who at this point is an only child, how much fun it is to have a little sibling. I love how excited she is for her friend!

 One night Ellie woke up crying and was really out of it. She was awake, but not really awake. We tried to calm her down, and finally I just snuggled with her while we watched TV. Andy thought it was a good time for a photo op.

 I'm not sure why we are both standing awkwardly, but this picture is from Hannah's field trip to the pumpkin patch. She had such a great time on her first field trip!

Grandma time! Andy's parents came for a visit for a few days so Ellie got lots of time with two of her favorite people.

 Mutual admiration society!

 There's a new family in our neighborhood with a 2 1/2 year girl named Sophia. Ellie loves playing with her so we had her and her mom over for the morning. The girls spent almost an hour trying on different dress up clothes.

 I brought my full-length mirror downstairs. Can you tell Ellie is more than a little pleased by her own reflection?

While Joey was picked for "Student of the Month" for September, Hannah was "Star Student" for Mrs. Prescott's class last week! Just like when Joey was star student in kindergarten, every day she got to do something special. On Tuesday she got to bring in something to share. The previous star students had brought in their pets. Since we don't have a pet, Hannah decided to bring in Ellie!

 Look! Ellie is doing her best impression of a puppy!

 Ellie got a little shy so she didn't talk much, but Hannah told the class that they like to wrestle together and play babies.

Mrs. Prescott told Hannah she could walk Ellie around the circle of students. I chimed in, "Yeah, and they can pet her." Mrs. Prescott laughed and said, "I was about to say to not pet her." I joked back, "Oh, they can pet her."

After Hannah talked about Ellie, the students could raise their hands and ask questions or make comments. Hannah called on a few students who said, "She's cute," and one boy said, "I like her curly hair."

The next day, Hannah got to invite someone to come to her class to read her favorite book to the students. 

She picked Joey!

Hannah had him read Sergio Makes a Splash.

 

Can you tell Hannah was a little excited to have her big brother in class?

Joey did a great job reading to the class. In fact, Mrs. Prescott made sure to point out that she is the one that taught him how to read. :-)

Hannah absolutely loved being star student and all the perks that came with it. I love that she wanted her siblings to be involved in her special week.

Since we went to Legoland last Thursday, I checked our zoo pass and found out that is was going to expire on Tuesday. Thankfully my mom was available again to pick up Hannah (this time they had lunch at McDonald's!) so Ellie and I headed down to the zoo on Monday.

Animal-wise, we saw some pretty cool things. Usually I consider it a win if we see one animal doing something neat or unusual. This time, we hit the jackpot. The tiny baby orangutan was out and about climbing all over until her dad started aggressively swinging all over the branches, and the mom quickly grabbed the baby to keep her safe. The gorillas were right at the glass so Ellie had quite a close encounter with them. The flamingos were the loudest I've ever heard. It was like a chorus of squawking! The gibbons were loud and active. We saw a monkey standing on the back of a pygmy hippo trying to reach a tree branch in the water. The polar bear, who usually just sleeps way in the back, was swimming in the water right in front of us. So many fun things!

While I enjoyed all of the animals, Ellie was much more impressed by the Skyfari.

And the fake seal.

She would only go in the helicopter when she was sure it wasn't going to go up and down.

She was also a fan of the fake koala bear.

Bye, San Diego Zoo! We'll see you in a year once Hannah is in school all day.

Last Friday Joey was named "Student of the Month" for his class.

There was a morning Flag Salute where all the students of the month were announced and called to the front. The lady in the sunglasses is their new principal, Mrs. Geldard.

After the Flag Salute I went back to Joey's class where his teacher (his long-term substitute, Mrs. Apple) presented him with his certificate and said some very sweet things about him in front of the class.

For posterity's sake, I wanted to post what Mrs. Apple wrote on his certificate:

Joey is a motivated student who is helpful, outgoing and focused on doing his work well. He volunteers for most tasks and any teacher is lucky to have him in their class! Good job, Joey!

After he got his certificate, the students of the month had a little popsicle party on the picnic tables. They could invite a friend, and Joey wanted Hannah to join him so I got her out of class. Too bad I didn't get a picture!

The reason Joey is wearing his Phillies uniform is because Friday was also "Twin Day." Joey's friend Adler, who was on his baseball team, called Joey earlier in the week and arranged to be twins.

Hannah's teacher sent out an email that said she would be wearing her Discovery shirt if anyone wanted to be twins with her. Hannah was thrilled to get to match Mrs. Prescott!

With Hannah in school half days for kindergarten, it makes it a little hard for Ellie and I to use our Legoland pass. Thankfully my mom came to the rescue. She offered to pick Hannah up from school so that Ellie and I could go to Legoland all morning. I'm not sure who was more excited about this plan, Hannah or Ellie. Hannah got to go to Chick-fil-A for lunch with Nana, and Ellie got to do all of her favorite things at Legoland.

 Ellie really likes hanging out in Duplo Play Land, and when the older kids are with us, we don't spend as much time here.

This picture reminds me so much of the one we have from Joey around this age.

The Duplo train is probably her favorite ride at Legoland. The best part is that it usually has little to no line so she can go on it as much as she wants.

She was especially excited to get the front seat!

Ellie really liked pushing this button and talking to the scarecrow. She answered his questions about her name and how old she is over and over again. 

Confession: I sneaked her on this ride even though she's not quite three yet. Turns out there's a reason three is the minimum age. I'm not sure she made it ten feet.

Last time we came to Legoland, Ellie wasn't too interested in playing in the water so I didn't come prepared with her swimming suit. When she saw the water area this time, she was all about getting wet. Thankfully I have no problem with two year-olds running around in their underwear.

She absolutely loved getting drenched!

Legoland is all decorated for Halloween already. This ghost was impressively large!

Ellie is already asking when we can go back to Legoland. Turns out the answer is tomorrow since Hannah is going home with a friend!