*HALLOWEEN INTERVIEW*

*TRICK-OR-TREATING FINALLY*

After the numerous times of dressing up, they are officially going trick-or-treating. Technically they have been several times, but this time was the final time.
We first went down to the village for their trick-or-treating at the different shops. Then we all met up at the tree to take a neighborhood picture. After that we finally we trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Aunt Rachel met up with us half way through.
The girls collected so much candy through all the different trick-or-treating places! Our whole bottom drawer was filled.

*3 HALLOWEEN PARTIES IN 1 DAY*

We had 3 parties to go too! First stop was Grandma Marilyn's house for a pizza party. Grandpa and Grandma Burhans was there too. The girls got a ton of treats from them all. Alexa played the piano for us.
Next stop was the Sweeney's house. Each year they have a block party. We all get on a tractor and ride up and down the street trick-or-treating.
Last stop was our neighborhood block party. Every neighbor comes together to eat and hang out.
On our way to our last party, I asked the girls if they were tired. Alexa quickly replied, "I still have a ton of party in me!" It was the funniest response that she could have said.

*OUR PUMPKIN*

The girls decided to carve a monster in our pumpkin this year. I noticed the monster didn't stand out after carving him, so I spray painted him white.

*MAREN'S 1ST HALLOWEEN PARTY*

Maren's preschool had their Halloween party. The kids came out in a parade and walked around the playgound. At the end, each class stopped and did a couple of songs. You can tell she is really loving preschool.

*ALEXA'S HALLOWEEN PARTY*

Alexa's school always does a parade through the gym with all the kids dressed up. Alexa was super cute at how she held her skirt when she was on stage. She wanted to make sure that everyone could see her poodle! Afterwards, the class has a party where they ate treats, did crafts and played a few games. This class was a lot calmer then last years class. They all did their projects quietly and ate their treats until it was their turn to play the game.

*2 FOR 2*

Did I ever mention how fantastic both my girls are? They made me so proud today! Both of them had teacher conferences (*Maren's first one*) and both of them went better than I could imagine.

Maren's was first. Her teacher told me that the class of kids that she has is so smart that for the first time she is doing sight words with the kids as well as the rest of the curriculum. She also said Maren was so enthusiastic and loved art. (She is really good at art, but it kind of shocked me since she never really liked to sit down and color - even though she's really good at it.) She said Maren excelled at the learning part and at the social part of pre-school. I knew she loved school. When you drop her off, she runs excitedly to the door. The only thing to work on for her is her number 15. So anytime you see her have her count to 16 and make sure she doesn't skip 15. Way to go Mare-Bear! You had better keep it up for another 16ish years - counting college.


Maren drew this on the first day of school.

Alexa's was in the evening. Her teacher, Mrs. DeVault, just explained how much Alexa has a love of life. She says every lesson she teaches she sees how Alexa is just as excited to learn it as her last lesson. She also commented that teachers weren't allowed to have favorite students, but if she could, Alexa would be right up there. I asked if there was anything I could work on with Alexa and she said there was nothing she needed help on and she was one of the top students in class. She does need to memorize her multiplications facts, but I know she's been working on it. Alexa is doing really well and it will pay off when becoming a doctor/veterinarian! Good job sis!

Both girls are doing great and I really hope they enjoy school for a long time. As parents, I know it's my job to stay on them and make sure that they have the basic foundation of the fundamentals to make high school and college easier. I know the areas that my children are maybe doing above average in class, but they still struggle when they are home and need my help to build their skill set. I just hope that in years to come it stays easy and enjoyable for them to learn!

*TRUNK-OR-TREAT*

Every year Alexa's school hosts a trunk-or-treat. The kids get on their costume and go trunk to trunk in the school parking lot collecting candy from the cars. The cars all get decorated too. This year they ran out of candy pretty fast (we made our loop), so we got in and got out pretty early.

*ALEXA'S SCHOOL PICTURE*

*ALEXA'S SOCCER PICTURE*

Her team is undefeated this year! They are doing so great.

*PUMPKIN PATCH IN WESTON, MO*

It was the most beautiful day to go to the pumpkin patch. I of course over dressed the kids, but they could have worn just plain t-shirts and had been fine. The weather was the best, but at the same time it scares me it may be the last weekend like this.
We started out the day by going to eat brunch at a cafe in Weston. They had all of these people with Hand crank music boxes. Which the girls liked. We went to a couple of shops too.
Then we headed to the pumpkin patch, which was pretty packed. The girls loved running through the corn maze and looking at all the farm animals. At the end, both girls got to pick out two mini pumpkins to keep in their room.

*WE GOT A NEW CAR*

Ok, by "we" I really mean "Jay" and by "new" I really mean "in great used condition."
Jay loves Infiniti, so we went with a 2005 Infiniti G35X sedan with only 42,000 miles on it. I knew he did his research on it and he liked this body style better then the newer style. (I think I do too.) However, it is really hard to sign a paper for a car I will only ride shotgun in.
I originally went to the dealership the car was at (Jay went earlier in the morning and test drove it) and I told him what I wanted to pay and he simply responded "No." After awhile of speaking to him, it ended on these terms:
Mr. Carsalesman: "You have my number in case you change your mind, right?"
Me: "I think so, but you have my number in case you want to actually talk numbers, right?"
And off I went. A little nervous my husband would be mad at me, because I was really only suppose to be there to give him my information to see what rate he could finance us at. Surprisingly, he wasn't.
That night Jay was looking again for a car similar to the one I walked out on and found the exact car listed at another dealership (the dealerships are owned by the same person.) Jay decided to email that dealership and offer the price we wanted to pay. After a little back and forth (Jay had to throw me under the bus saying that I won't budge, which throw away, I have no shame when it comes to talking money), we finally got it! We got it for $3,495 less then what the Kelly Blue Book suggestted. Go team Adams!
Oh, I cleaned out my car as well. I figured I would try to make myself feel like I am in a brand new used car. It didn't work.
I also offered to make Jay a brand new mix cd for his car (unlike my car, his car is not IPod capable - who has the better car now, Jay.) Plus who wouldn't want a new cd to rock out to in a new car. I always say New Car = New CD.

*FIRST COLLEGE AND NOW A RESUME*

Alexa asked me awhile ago how you get to be on stage in plays. I told her by taking classes and going to auditions. So she decided to quit dance and take acting classes. I figured I would track down an open audition (usually they for union only.) Unfortuanetly, he wrote back and said all audition slots were booked. Which was fine, we weren't quite ready, I just wanted her to see what it was like and go to her first one.
Then I got an email that said this:

Hi Niki,
I know it may be last-minute, but we would LOVE to see your daughter for auditions tonight. You may come down anytime between 6:30pm & 10pm. Feel free to call me to confirm. My cellphone is 816-XXX-XXXX. Auditions are at the address below. Let me know! Thanks!
Chad Gerlt
Musical Theater Heritage
Marketing Director / Associate Producer
www.MTHKC.com

So I called him and he said for us to bring 2 different style songs for her to sing. I said, "Oh we just started looking into auditioning and I can't say that she has any songs prepared." He said not to worry about it and to just bring her in.

Once Alexa got home from school, I called her and told her about the audtion. She was super excited and asked a million questions (trademark for Alexa.) I just tried to explain that she was just going to go and see what it's like.

Lucky for us, she had piano that night prior to the audition. He also is a voice teacher, so Alexa mentioned she was auditioning for a play and what songs she knew from her acting class. He actually had the music and a practice cd of her song. (Dites-Moi from South Pacific) I came to pick her up and she ran through the song and it sounded great. I was surprised she knew it that well.

We signed up for her audition time once we got there. We had a couple of people infront of us, so we had sometime to talk. She said she was getting nervous, but excited at the same time. Then right before she was to audition, she said "Mom, I forgot the sound on one of the parts of the song." I told her it was no big deal and as soon as the piano started playing she would know exactly the sound she forgot. I've been through it a million times. It never fails that as soon as you are about to perform (dance in my case), you try to go through it in your head and you always forget something! I knew she was going through the same thing and once in there, she would do fine. They called her name and she went through the doors.

I sat there waiting for her while she performed. Once done, she came out and seemed excited. She said that they said she did quite well and that she did the song in French and then in English.

No matter what I am pretty impressed. Boy does this girl have confidence! Not many kids her age can walk in a room and belt out a song without being scared to death. She's always been a natural infront of audiences.

Now we have to wait a couple of weeks to see if she gets a call back. However, this was a great experience to know exactly what is needed in an audition. The next one won't be so scary.

*MAGIC WOODS 2010*

We made it a family tradition to go to the Magic Woods at the Lakeside Nature Center in Swope Park each year.
Radio Disney was DJing for the first time this year, so when we first walked up the girls got to play a game. They stood in a circle and passed a pumpkin around until the music stopped. Once it stopped the one holding the pumpkin was out. Alexa got out before Maren. Maren would have won it if she realized exactly what to do, but I think she hesitated to pass it.
This time all of the kids decided to get their face painted. Of course it couldn't be a cute tiny bug on the cheek, it had to be the full blown face paint. I am surprised it didn't get everywhere, but somehow it stayed put on their faces for the most part. The girls went over to Angie's to eat pizza and she had make-up remover to get it off easily.
The weather was amazing too. We have had to come with huge coats, hats and gloves on in the years past, so to be able to wear short sleeves was pretty great.
We all have each portion of Magic Woods memorized. They always switch up the animals that we see, but they always have Eco-Elvis and Katie the Mule at the end. I think I like standing back and watching the kids reactions more then watching the different skits. Maren's face was by far the funniest to watch. She looked so excited seeing the animals talk. All the kids were really into it and paid really close attention (not counting Audry - who kept wanting to take off.)
This was one of the best years of going. It's much more enjoyable with the weather being nice out.