Halloween 2011

We had a fun time trick or treating this year. The girls were dressed up as...uhhh well, something with wings and a tu tu. That's really all that is neccessary for a small girl. I put glitter in thier hair and they were happy as clams!

We went to the mall to trick or treat a few days before and the highlight was defindatley the Jessica McClintock store, where all of the teenage sales girls were dressed in JM formals, handing out candy. My girls were like, "ohhhh Princesses!" It makes me just a little bit apprehensive about how over the top crazy they may be if we ever make it to Disney World!

On Trick or Treat Night we went out to our neighborhood and the girls got huge amounts of candy. Seriously, they still have half a bucket each, a month later. Our friends from church, came over and brought thier little ones to go with us. They have a little girl, Zoe, who is just about Grace's age, and a little baby girl, who was dressed up as a sweet little bear. But she wasn't too into the candy thing this year!

Fall Fun

We have thorughly exausted all of the beautiful Autumn days in Ohio. The leaves changed and stayed lovely for weeks...seemed like more than usual. Now we are entering the dark, naked, days of winter, but I can't complain because we sure had a wonderful Indian Summer!

One of our favorite things to do is the Pumpkin Patch. No Fall is complete without a visit to one! We played in the hay barn, pet animals, went through hay mazes, and took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick our own pumpkins. Fun Stuff! Not much to say, but lot's of pictures!

First Day of School: Take Two

Well, things certainly have been interesting here at the Michael House. As some of you might have read, Isabelle started school at our local Christian school in August. Things were not easy. She spent most nights in total meltdown mode and that lasted over two months! She is a pretty young five year old, but we thought holding her back for another year of preschool wouldn't be a good idea for her either. To make a long story short, after several conversations with her teacher, we decided to put her in public school. Our Public school Kindergarten only goes every other day, as opposed to the Christian school that was all day, every day. The conseseus was the five days a week was too much for where she was at.

When I bought our house (before it was "ours" it was just mine) I wasn't thinking of school districts, and come to find out, when we had children, our elementary school is...ummm..scary. At least, is sure seemed that way. It's in a pretty undesirable part of town, and it's not even in our town, but in Columbus proper. We called all around to try to get her admitted to other elementary schools in the district, but every one was FULL! Finally, we went and visited our home elementary. We met with the principal. Found out the school is nearly half internationals, or English as a second language students. They have students from Somolia, Latin American, Lithuania, China, and Russia, to name a few. They speak over 17 different languages and have 44 different nationalities...at THIS midwestern elementary school. The call in the United Nations of Elementary Schools.

Well, in spite of our best efforts, we have felt like a pin ball in a game. Every time we try to go this way with our kids education, we get knocked over to the other side. Apparently, this is where God wants us. I can't say that I am surprised. I have always had a love of different cultures and nations. And I'm kind of excited to see where this leads!

Isabelle started school there about three weeks ago and it has been a 180 degree turn. She loves school. She loves to learn. Everything got immediately better. One thing that we suspect could have been a stresser was the fact that Isabelle was the only kid with brown skin in her class at the Christian school. She started saying things like, "I wish I weren't so brown!"(Or "I wish my skin was blonde!") In this school, she's certainly only one of many shades and colors. We love that!

Now, Thanksgiving is officially upon us and we are gearing up for a busy Christmas season. Thanks for keeping in touch with us. We love you!