The Mac Kinnon Family

We carved pumpkins last night, just in time for Halloween!  The kids loved it, Mac still doesn't like the feel of the pumpkin guts!  Were looking forward to costumes and trick or treating tonight!

We have two beautiful apple trees in our yard, John picked three boxes last weekend, the rest of them had to get picked today.  John and I climbed the trees to get them all, I got stuck coming down out of one, everyone thought it was funny...but me!  We ended up with about 400 pounds of apples, yes that is alot of apples.  We gave some away and are making applesauce, apple butter and who knows what else with them!  We used about a bushel tonight to make applesauce.  We don't know what type of apples they are but they are pretty good. 

At the Nutcracker rehearsal today the kids were fitted for their "mouse" costumes for the show.  Since Emily is one of the smaller girls they had a really hard time finding a costume for her.  They worked it out and she looked cute, although the mice costumes aren't as cute as I thought they would be, they've got red eyes!  It will be priceless none the less!

Emily's preschool has a little Halloween party Thursday, it was cute.  Mac was out of school for conferences so he was able to go too, they played a few games and ended the party with cupcakes!

Emily was showing off some of her ballet moves today.....

The kids and I went for our flu shots today. Mac got the mist but Emily and I had to get the shots.  Emily was nervous, I went first, then Mac.  When I found out Emily vaccine wasn't themerasol free, I insisted on a preservative free one.  It took a while to get it all worked out, by them time it was time for the shot she was pretty nervous.  Of course she cried but seemed to get over it quickly. Once we got home she started limping on the leg she got the shot saying "my leg hurts". She walked like she was 100 years old.  After about an hour she came into the kitchen, still limping....she really is milking it!

Emily wanted to try to go without a pull up, so we agreed and tried a few nights.  She isn't ready and was wetting and not waking up so we told her she needed to go back into pull-ups since she wasn't ready yet, she says "I only pee when I'm feeling crabby......."

Saturday Mac received a special surprise in the mail.  Uncle Mike sent an awesome photo book all about "Sammy", Mac's new snake.  He took pictures of where he found Sammy's mom, pictures of her, of all the eggs, his siblings, various growing stages and a bunch of pictures and history/info. on some other snakes he has.  He also sent the shell that "Sammy" came out of which was awesome.  Mac was so enthralled with it all, he just loves it.  He is really enjoying "Sammy", he's gotten very comfortable with him and holds him everyday. Thanks Uncle Mike (and Miss Sarah!)!

Mac had his first school project to do, it was all about spiders.  He had to complete 2 sheets with questions and do one other project from a list of several choices.  We were going to spray paint spider webs and put them on paper but couldn't find a web far enough away from the house to spray so we opted to take pictures.  Mac enjoys the camera and took all but two of the shots for his project.  He did a pretty good job getting it together and was excited to turn it in today.

Mac has always enjoyed putting puzzles together, Grandma Jan gave him this one recently, it was a 150 piece puzzle.  It sat in the box for a while, then he pulled it out a few days ago and would work on it off and on.  He finished it this morning, he did it entirely by himself.  Guess we may have to find a place to have a "puzzle table" and start getting puzzles with more pieces!

We've got two beautiful apple trees in our front yard and the apples are ready to be picked.  Emily helped John pick some yesterday!

 Mac's cub scout troop had a "raingutter regatta" today.  The boys all built and painted their own boats and "raced" them.  They also got to build boats out of foil and see how many washers they could put on them before they sank. Mac had alot of fun!

Emily brought home this picture yesterday from preschool.  She said she drew it for Mac....it's a snake, she did a pretty good job!

Mac's school had a family reading night tonight with a "super hero" theme.  Mac wore his batman costume from last Halloween, all the kids were cute.  The librarian was awesome, she was dressed in a costume, sang and read 3 fun stories to the kids.  Emily was so excited to be there and was so cute to watch, she was very into it too.  I wish we were closer to have gotten a great picture of her and Mac.  We'll do it again next month!

Mac' school did their annual "ready relief" today which is where they bag meals for the school should there be a disaster where they need to stay at the school.  Once a year they make new meals and the old ones are sent to Africa.  I volunteered this afternoon, it was fun to help the kids.  2 classes at a time came in, they were given aprons and hair nets.  After the learned what to do, they bagged "lentils, spice, beans and rice" a chant I'll have in my head awhile!  It was alot of fun, Emily helped too, she was so good and a big helper!

Emily found a dandelion and she was trying her hardest to blow the white puff ball off if it but it wasn't budging.  She tried her hardest, it was too darn cute!

Mac had his last week of soccer this week, he has really loved it.  John coached the team and did a great job with the kids, it was a great season. 

After our experience this summer with "Jake" the snake, who ultimately we had to let go since he wouldn't eat, I agreed Mac could have a snake from Uncle Mike.  Uncle Mike had some eggs getting ready to hatch so Mac had to wait a few months until the snake was born and eating well on his own. "Sammy" arrived today, he is a king snake.  John came home from work to let him out of the box.  He has a nice home in the garage, I still won't let a snake in the house!  He seemed to settle in nicely.  Mac was super excited when he got home and saw him, I love his expression.  When John got home from work they got him out, Mac was a little nervous at first since he is a bit wiggly but did great with Sammy!  Emily even wanted to touch him.  I'll still keep looking at him through the camera lens!