Happy Halloween...

...and may the force be with you!

Pumpkin Show 2011

We had another successful, fun Pumpkin Show week. The kids entered their decorated Pumpkins. Here is Drew with his. As you can see, the week started off rough with lots of cold wind and rain! Daxton's pumpkin took third place in his age group!

The kids rode on our church float this year. Here is how Dax ended every parade he rode through--sound asleep!

Delaney was in the Little Miss Pumpkin Show contest. She had fun even though the rain made it pretty miserable!

Drake was in the baby contest. He didn't win anything, but we think he is the cutest!

Dawsyn was in every parade for her Festival float. Her float took 2nd place in the float contest!

Team Adams Strikes Again!

Another Family Cake Decorating Contest at Indian Trail Elementary School! So--another night of staying up late cleaning up frosting in colors that you didn't know were possible, and wondering yet again-"how the kids possibly got frosting there"!

But-as always, seeing the pride on Delaney's face when she comes out with her little blue ribbon and a big smile on her face because we won a prize and all of her classmates loved it, was totally worth it!

The kids also got good news at school this week--Drew got Student of the Month for Music and Delaney got student of the month for her first grade class. Of course, in the Adams' household, there is never a moment when all 5 kids are happy. So, Dawsyn immediately falls apart because she didn't get it for her class! Drew tries to make things better by explaining that the odds of all three of them getting student of the month at the same time are "way out there". This did not help the situation. Drew explaining this to her was equivalent to a few days earlier when she was trying to explain to him what he should have done when a "secret admirer" gave him his first "check yes or no" letter.

Dawsyn was all into this, while Drew acted totally disgusted. He said that, first of all, this girl obviously isn't the "brightest crayon in the box", since she had her friends bring it to him and say it was from a secret admirer, but then she signed her name to it! I asked him if he circled yes or no. He said he circled "or". That's Drew! I tried to tell him he better be careful. He doesn't want to burn bridges he may someday want to cross! The days he does start crossing them will be the days that I'll wish we were back to cleaning frosting off our walls at one in the morning!

Where did September going?

September was a busy, but productive month for Team Adams! Drew turned 10, Shawn turned 34, Shawn and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary, and everyone accomplished great Progress Reports to start school!

Dawsyn and Delaney both finished their reign as Little Miss and Little Miss First Attendant. They crowned the new court and we thought we were getting a break.


Then Dawsyn decided she couldn't stand the thought of not being a Queen, so she tried out again (when asked if she also wanted to try out again, Delaney cried out-NO! NEVER AGAIN!--She did say that in her thank you speech, she was going to say-Thank you for never making me wear itchy dresses again!). So, Dawsyn asks if she can run again. We agree because she moved up an age group (third through fifth graders). We fully expected that she wouldn't win and we would get that break. I had even prepared what I would say to her if her heart was broken. Then the contest started. The first few contestant walked up and said their name into the microphone and then sat down. Dawsyn's turn came. I felt that familiar nervousness I get when the girls get on stage, Drew goes in for a score in soccer, or they perform in a play at theater class. Dawsyn walked to the front of the stage, grabbed the microphone, welcomed the crowd to the festival, introduced herself, including her age, parents names, school, activities and then told a joke about how training her dog isn't going so well. She smiled and said thank you, then primly walked to her seat. Shawn and I both looked at each other and thought--she just won, didn't she?

And she did! She is now the 2011-2012 Amanda Firefighter's Festival Princess. So-- another year of travels! But it's worth it because she really loves it!

Delaney is getting to do her girls scouting and they both started another year of Irish Dancing. Drew, Dawsyn, and Delaney are all playing piano. Dax just finished his soccer season, but Drew still has a few weeks left and Drake is giving us all a run for our money and keeping us on our toes!

No wonder we blinked and it is October!