This has been Red Ribbon Week at the elementary schools here in Clover – every day at each school they have a different theme. It is really cute – Monday when we went to eat breakfast with June and Mason it was Support Your Favorite Team Day, and they were decked out in their Panthers attire – as were many, many people at their school. Then Wednesday was your favorite college, so they both had on their Duke shirts. Yesterday when I picked the girls up it was Crazy Sock Day (Sock it to Cigarettes, as a matter of fact), but I forgot to get a picture of them until Clara had already changed into her dance clothes. So here is Mal sporting her crazy sock.

The younger kids get to wear their Halloween costumes to dance during the holiday week, and get candy when they leave class.  Our pirate really was happier than this all day 🙂

Wednesday when June and Mason got here after school, they were excited to find that as Papa was dismantling the Haunted Trail, he’d left a few creatures around the living room to keep us company.

We tried making another Halloween craft/snack:  pretzel pumpkins.  The stems were to be green m & m’s, so Mason had the job of separating those out.  The pumpkins didn’t turn out at all – but luckily the candy was still good snacking.  Which is exactly what they need this time of year – more candy snacking.  Still a good day.

Yesterday evening was this annual event, when all of the 4th and 5th grade choruses from all of the elementary schools in town come together for a concert.  They have been working since school began on the same songs, so yesterday they all came & spent the day at the high school working together, and then last night was the concert.  It really was amazingly good.  Luckily for us, Bethany Elementary was on the end, and Mallory was on the end of her row – second, in the glitter boots, so we could see her really well.  We were so proud.

Afterwards, with her other grandpa.  Rick works a lot of long hours, so he doesn’t get to come to just a ton of the girls’ activities, so Mallory was so excited to have her PawPaw there.  It was a good evening.

Most Mondays I don’t have many pictures to share – it’s a work day for me, and really, not much happens in the evenings.  Yesterday, though, was Grandparents’ Breakfast at Larne Elementary School, so Jeff & I went by and picked up June & Mason at their house, & they showed us the ropes at school.  It was also the Book Fair, so we got a little bit of shopping in, too 🙂

Then last night the U8 soccer tournament kicked off in Clover, so we headed over to sit out in the cold and drizzle, and watch Clara and her fellow Wizards claim a victory in the first round :-).  That’s Clara in the pink cleats, defending right in front of the goal.  I hope she never doesn’t wear those cleats, because a lot of times that’s the only way I can pick her out of the crowd.  Now it’s on to the semi-finals!

Yesterday afternoon Andrew brought Adam over to walk around the trail one more time, and a little later Lindee brought the girls over.  The night it was over Jeff, Jackson, Mallory, & Clara had brought in all the cardboard things, and the electrical & battery operated items, but most of it was still up, so Jeff & I went out before dark to enjoy it one more time.  There were a lot of things Jeff had done that you really couldn’t see in the dark, like all the snakes that were wrapped around trees 🙂

This was a little vignette he’d set up across a gully, which was very cool. When we were actually walking on the Haunted Trail Saturday night I was with Mallory and Charlie, among other people, and they both really LOVED the pirates’ graves. AND now Jeff told me last night he was already starting to make plans for next year. Great, great weekend.

Here are a couple of more pictures from last night, including this one of our favorite Hazmat Zombie 🙂

The little kid group in the Witches’ Lair…

Our grand finale for the evening was a birthday cake for Lee’s mom Bennie, who was celebrating her 60th birthday that evening.  A great end to a great day.

What an absolutely awesome day we had yesterday.  It started out at the soccer field, with Clara’s last regular season game.  Here she is getting after it – in the maroon with the yellow headband.  She was playing U-8, and they came so far this year.  We were proud!

Then last night was our annual Haunted Trail for the kids and friends.  Here’s a shot we got of everyone in their Halloween attire.  Front row is Mason the pirate, Adam the HazMat Zombie, Clara the pirate, June the Native American Princess, Charlie as Darrell Dixon, Mal the genie, and my friend Charlotte’s granddaughter Brenna the cat.  Back row are Lee, Charlotte’s grandsons Aidan the monkey and Jordan in the skeleton shirt, Lindee as Black Widow, and Charlotte’s husband Bob, also in a skeleton shirt. 

The trail really was bigger and better than ever.  Jeff built an entire new section called Pirate Island, and even built a stockade for the prisoners.  Here is Charlie giving it a try.  It was just such a fun evening.

Yesterday when we were at Momma’s after we took Clara to dance, Mallory didn’t have any homework to take up all her time – Clover schools are out today for Parent- Teacher conferences – so Mal got to take her guitar inside & give Gran & me a little concert :-).

October is Pastor Appreciation Month, so yesterday while June and Mason were here we made pies for Tommy, Meg, and Brandon.  Here is June hard at work spreading on the whipped cream.  Also yummy!

Then last night was BIG at church, and were the kids ever excited when we got there and there were musical instruments, so we could start our children’s band.  Talk about making a joyful noise!  Mason is right in the middle in the darker green shirt, and June with the flowered dress with her back to the camera.  It was a fun, crazy evening.