One of our favorite holidays is Halloween. The girls and I plan for months and months what we'll be. In recent years we've spent time looking for different pieces of our costumes at thrift stores. This year was particularly fun since we all dressed up this year. Check out my 365 Photo blog for the details of our characters.
The girls ate the last of the Fuji apples in their lunches yesterday and insisted we go back to the orchard today. Quite a different scenario this time! Still so much fun, but in a very different way. Normally I wouldn't participate in an activity where I knew I'd be soaking wet for a long period of time - too uncomfortable, but we NEEDED the Fujis. We were soaked to the skin even though we used our umbrellas. The wind on the mountain made it impossible to keep the rain off of us.
Maddie is applying for the IB MYP program. She attended a Montessori kindergarten program and then was fortunate enough to be a part of the IB PYP program in Westlake, Texas, for 1st-3rd grades. Once we moved to Richmond where there was no IB program for elementary students, she quickly realized the difference in the teachers and the way the material was taught. She had only one teacher from whom she was actually learning (pictured above with Maddie). The others were merely throwing information at the students and hoping some of it would stick. She decided during the SOL (state assessments) cramming sessions at the end of the school year this past May that she was going to apply for the middle school IB program. This application process includes state assessment test scores, acedemic report cards, four teacher recommendations (4th or 5th grade teachers), a family statement, and a counselor administered student writing sample (90-minute timed assigment). The only part of this process we're concerned with is the writing sample. She hasn't had much writing exposure so we hired her 4th grade home room teacher to help. They've been working a couple of days a week for three weeks and have made great progress. When I drove into the school parking lot yesterday to pick Maddie up, I found them in the courtyard hard at work. I tried to sneak a few pictures, but Maddie saw the camera lens hanging out the passenger-side window and started giggling. Hopefully, all will go well for Maddie and after all of her hard work she will be accepted into the program.
The girls had Columbus Day off from school so we drove up to Charlottesville Carter Mountain Apple Orchard. We intended to pick Braeburn and Red Delicious apples. But once we arrived at the information counter, we found that most of the trees had already been picked clean. The only apples left were Jonathan, Golden Delicious, and Fuji. We ended up going for the Fuji apples upon recommendation from the information guy. As we were picking, we determined that we might want to taste these apples since we've never had Fuji apples before. The three of us shared an apple and found them to be VERY good. We picked eight pounds of apples - a full bag. Before we left the mountain, we bought a half dozen apple cider donuts. I really wish we would have tasted the donuts before we left because they are so melt-in-your-mouth-good that we should have purchased more. After the beautiful drive back down the mountain, we stopped at Michie Tavern to check out a few of the buildings we weren't able to get to last time we were in Charlottesville. In the Blacksmith Shop we found some Civil War ammunition and were told a neat story about how the soldiers wrote letters using the ammunition since it was made from lead and was easier to use than quill and ink. I wrote a little more about the story here. Before we headed home we drove through the historic older part of town and were struck at the beauty of the older buildings and the charm of the "little" town. Several times throughout the day the girls said "What a fun day this was". 
We had a great day for the JDRF walk on Sunday. The weather was perfect. Jordan had her friends and Maddie had hers to keep them company for the three mile walk. What a great group of girls. The this group raised more than $4200 for juvenile diabetes research. Jordan set out writing letters to friends and family and raised $3,500 herself. Maddie watched this happen and decided to forgo gifts for her birthday party and instead asked her guests to donate to her walk campaign. She ended up raising $350. I am a very proud Mother!! I didn't expect the other girls to raise anything, but just to support Jordan by walking with her, but they all raised money for the cause. I am very happy with the friends my girls choose to surround themselves. They are so supportive and giving and just fun to be around.
The first day was a rainy day - all day. I couldn't get any head-to-toe fashion shots that looked good because of weather. All of the best shots are usually taken outside at our house since the indoor lighting on a sunny day is awful. Regardless of the weather both girls had good days. Jordan likes all of her teachers (so far) this year and didn't mind homework on the first day. Maddie liked her first two days because they haven't really done anything yet as far as class work goes. I just wish Jordan didn't have to carry such a heavy backpack all day. The few lockers available are not very practical - the school has an open campus (like a college campus). I guess I'll look at the bright side - she gets a six minute workout every 90 minutes.
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