Happy Halloween!

Hello Everyone,
Happy Halloween! It's been a couple of weeks since we've posted. Anyways, I want to say thank you for all the birthday wishes and wonderful gifts from friends and family! I felt very loved on my birthday! :) As I was leaving to go to school on my birthday, I noticed it had snowed the night before. I knew it was going to be a great day! Ben made dinner and baked a cake. He is the best! The day after my birthday....the 27th, it started to blizzard. I could not believe it. The wind was blowing a gazillion MPH, there was snow everywhere. I walked home for lunch that day and was walking through drifts up to my knees. Ben came home for lunch a little later with a big smile on his face. We love it here! Yes, teaching is difficult as it is our first year and we are still trying to adjust to the new culture, teaching, and being married. However, we love it here and are learning everyday!

Last week I carved pumpkins with my kiddos. For the majority of the kids, it was their first time carving pumpkins and boy did they dive right in. I carved the top and emptied out the pumpkin guts onto the ground in groups for the kids. They went through and sorted all the seeds. Previously we had estimated how many seeds were going to be in the pumpkin. A lot of the kids guessed 6, 8, 12. When we finished we counted every seed and there was 320 pumpkin seeds. The kids were astonished and a bit sick of counting. :) I took the seeds home over the weekend and baked them. I brought them back to school on Monday for the kids to try them out. The kids loved them.

Last Friday we had our Halloween party. The kids all brought treats (sugar, sugar, sugar) just what a Kindergarten teacher dreams of. :) We had Halloween relays in the gym, played Halloween Bingo, did some art, and told Halloween stories. At the end of the day the kids got to get into their costumes and have a Halloween Parade. We started off in our room, got in a line and walked to first grade...first grade then got onto the back of our line and we proceeded to the third grade etc. Our parade finished in the gym where the children's parents were waiting anxiously to see their child in their costume. Did I mention Halloween is a big deal here? Well it is, and I got a little taste of that on Friday. Rumor has it that even the adults and elders go trick or treating. Hey, free candy right? Val and Kevin are going to come over and hand out candy with Ben and I tonight.

I feel like I'm jumping around a bit but last night we had a little birthday get together at Karen and Melanie's. Melanie and I share the same birthday. Anyways, one of our friends asked Mel and I what we miss from the lower 48 to eat that we don't get up here and she would try to make it. I requested boneless buffalo wings as I had been seeing Applebees commercials on tv. Melanie had requested hush puppies because she is from Arkansas. Well, let me tell you, Donni fulfilled our cravings! :) She also went on to make oreo cheesecake, cupcakes, apple bars. Karen, my fellow Twins fan baked me a cake that had a Twins logo on it. It was pretty awesome!

Anyways, I better get home before the trick or treaters start coming. Have a great week everyone! Welcome November! :) 6 more weeks and Ben and I will be flying back to civilization!

Much love,
The Harvey's.