Hot Chocolate Season Begins!

The other day the kids played outside for a bit in the cold weather! When they came in, they all wanted hot chocolate. It immediately reminded me of last winter. EVERY TIME they played outside, they wanted hot chocolate to warm back up!

What else is new with the McKellars? Bryan and I went to conferences for Rylee and Travis on Wednesday night. Miss VanderVeen said that she and Mrs. Cole just love Travis to pieces. He has already shown tremendous growth since school started. He is well-behaved, smart, cute, and just doing great overall! Rylee is also doing very well in first grade with Mrs. Pitsch. Her reading is FABULOUS and her writing is also great. Apparently Rylee has made a close friendship with one girl in the class, so she just needs to work on making more friendships and not being so "cliquey." Here I go with the drama of having a girl!!! But Bryan and I are both very proud of our kids. Tyson even got a mini-report card from his teacher! He is also doing very well in school. He participates appropriately in circle time and other class activities, he enjoys playing with his friends, and he is speaking in full sentences now. Most of his words still don't have beginning sounds though! But he is really talking so much more now. The other day he said, "Never mind!" when Bryan and I could not understand what he was saying. It is so cute to see all those little expressions that he picks up on.

And the last exciting news to share is that our basement is now complete! Last week we had the refrigerator delivered, and it added the last touch to our basement bar. Our grand opening party for our basement bar is scheduled for NYE 08.

Trick-or-Treat!!

Tyson had to try on Brandon's Michigan helmet!

Bryan tried it on too!

Here is Bryan pulling the boys in the wagon.

Tyson has got to the the cutest Winnie the Pooh ever!

Rylee was so excited to find her friend Alexia from school! They ended up trick-or-treating together the whole night!

We stopped by to say "hi" to Auntie Ann and Uncle Ernie!

Here is Travis enjoying apples and caramel dip at his school party!

Rylee is decorating a sugar cookie at her school party!

We also stopped by Grandpa Jim's and Grandma Jean's to get some candy! Aunt Maria was there too, along with Uncle Carl, Aunt Jess, and Aaron. Notice Aunt Maria as the preggo zebra! haha!!

This is Rylee in the school costume parade.

And there's Travis as Batman!!

Rylee and her friend Megan.

Travis and his friend Gabriel.

What a gorgeous Halloween we had! It was just perfect! We started the fun with Rylee and Travis' school parties. Then we came home and got ready for trick-or-treating. Rylee decided at the last minute that she didn't want to be a koala anymore (it was too "boring"), so we dug through our dress-up box and she ended up being a bride! Travis was Batman, and Tyson was Winnie the Pooh. We went with a big group of friends to trick-or-treat in the Cannon Farms neighborhood. This was the best year we have ever had with our kids and trick-or-treating! They are finally old enough now to enjoy it! The past few years, we went to about 4 houses and the kids were done. But this year they ran from house to house and just loved it! Bryan and I could even wait on the sidewalk and the kids went to the doors by themselves! I brought the wagon along, so they rode some and walked some. After over an hour of trick-or-treating, we went back to Abby's for a party. She had yummy food, GREAT cookies, and a delcious spiked apple cider labeled "NOT FOR KIDS!" It was a wonderful day and just loaded with fun!!