Halloween

It’s no secret that Halloween is not my favorite holiday!  I eat all the candy(because zero self control), pumpkins are messy, and costumes are expensive and yet cheap looking.  However, I must say this year was quite smooth. 

We got Boo’d and Boo’d back.

We carved pumpkins with the cousins, and everyone was quite independent.  Also, isn’t pumpkin carving a dad job?  Why do Em and I have to yell at the men folk EVERY year to supervise and help?  And why do the kids still come to us for help?  That’s a rhetorical question that I obviously know the answer to.  BECAUSE THE DADS ARE NOT HELPFUL!

Sof knew what she wanted to be months in advance.  However, when she said Miranda Sings, I had no idea who/what that was!  Turns out she’s a Youtuber with a very distinct look.  I actually got a little into this costume because 1. Sof was so excited and set on it, and 2. It was doable and practical.  I ordered some basic sweats on Amazon, got some iron letters, ordered the official Miranda Sings t-shirt and cut out the picture to iron on the sweatshirt.  Behold, I give you the closest I’ll ever come to “making” a costume.

In case you, like me, do not know who Miranda Sings is, trust me-this is pretty damn good.

Our neighbors invited us to the Halloween party at their club.  It was fun because a lot of Sof’s friends go there!

Sof’s teacher creates 3 groups of kids and lets each group plan one party.  Parents head up the groups and help guide their choices and make it happen.  I was the Halloween party parent and Sof was on the committee.  I missed the first planning meeting because I forgot.  I’m reliable like that.  I made up for it later though and the party was a success!  The kids loved being in charge and running games for their classmates!

Trick or treating was kinda a blast.  The weather finally cooperated and the kids aren’t so needy this year! 

We started with a few neighbors, but picked more up along the way!

We ended the night like usual (with John and Jill), the kids examining their haul.  All in all, it was one of the more relaxing years!  Until next time…

October

Opening thoughts…the first 3 pictures in my October file are of drink glasses.  We had a good time October, kinda sad to see ya go.

“The good thing about water is that you can have it in your workplace.  Now, what’s special about vodka is that it looks like water.” –Unknown

October brought some big changes for us.  We quit cheer.  There are as many reasons as there are feelings about this.  I do not believe in quitting, and I have NEVER let my kids walk away from anything.  However, cheer consumes all of our expendable income and time, so it needs to be making us happy.  It wasn’t.  So with LOTS of thought and discussion, we decided to walk away.  Sof misses her team.  Not sure what the future holds for her in this sport, but she is tumbling with a private coach and working through her mental blocks, so we’ll see.  In the mean time she is trying a lot of other things too!  Lexi has more time for studying and got a job as a hostess at a very nice restaurant our friends own.  It is amazing to have the freedom to do other things, but we will always wish the season turned out differently. 

Sof’s new hairstyle of choice is soooo cute in person.  I’m not sure about it in pictures.  Nevertheless it will live on forever in her fourth grade school pic. 

The before school pictures show clearly the ever changing weather of October in Michigan!

 

This day she was all ready for the school color run!  Grandma Linda and Papa Curt were there to represent because Mark and I were conveniently on our way to Nashville.  Of the 5 years she’s done this, I’ve only made it to one.  I think we can just consider it a special thing Grandma and Papa can do.

  

Her school had a spirit day and wear pink for breast cancer awareness on the same day!  We managed to do both!

Sof is following in Kaitlyn’s footsteps and trying her hand at volleyball.  It’s just a short session through our community ed, but so far she loves it!

She’s also doing Girls on the Run.  At first she was not happy about that, but I had already agreed to coach so it wasn’t optional!  A few weeks into the season she really started to get into it! 

She earned an energy award for setting goals and working to meet them!  She even started participating in mileage club at school.  She was super motivated to earn her “big foot” which signifies 100 laps!

Adrienne was home for a weekend and lucky her…it was the Friday Sof got to bring home her recorder!  Now I have been through this twice already, so I get the excitement that is the rite of passage of 4th grade recorder playing.  But what kind of sadistic music teacher sends them home on a Friday?  She clearly hates us.

There is not enough vodka.

We played some cards.

And then Sof presented Adrienne with a contract to rent her room back for the night.  At some point this fall Sof took over Adrienne’s room.  She likes her bed better and has just moved right in.  This is not a problem unless Adrienne is also home and would like to sleep in HER OWN room.

I feel like it shows impressive potential business skills if you can get someone to pay a dime to rent the room that is already theirs.  Go Sof!

We love our new front room and use it for all the things I dreamed we would.

Sof has really gotten into reading this year.  Finally she found a book series that has her attention and she’s obsessed!  She reads a couple books a week from the “My Weird School” series and I love it!  It’s so fun to see her with her nose in a book!

She also rejoined Girl scouts this year.  Last year it fell on the same night as cheer, so we had to take a year off.  She bridged up to juniors with her troop!

Lexi needed some new clothes for her job(she has to wear all black dressy) so we had a little shopping and dinner girls night!

Now that the computer is set up in the front room, Sof spends lots of time printing coloring pages and activities.

Sof and I went to a neighbors house to support our team!  Go green, go white!

We celebrated my coworker Melissa’s 40th bday!

Sal had her brother, kid, and grandkids in town.  We met up with them for lunch and a fall festival.  It was super cute!

Sof had a Fall Fair at her school.  Unfortunately, lucky for us it fell on the Friday night we were headed up north for adult weekend.  Grandma and Papa took Sof and Natalie, and Em and I happily paid for the wristbands.  If I play my cards right next year, I may never have to go to another school event. 

Gosh we were sad about not being there.

Our adult weekend added some new faces, Alison’s friend Tess and her husband Scott.  It was the first time Steve couldn’t make it because of work.  That was a bummer.  Friday night was the traditional Little Fleet.  If someone says I did a cartwheel and fell on my ass, make them prove it.  In this day and age if you didn’t capture it on your iPhone it didn’t happen.

Em and I wanted to do some shopping in downtown Traverse so we headed out the next morning.  We spent an absurd amount of time in this little bookstore that we love.

Some of the gang joined us later for lunch and we had the yummiest noodle bowls.

It’s not adult weekend if we don't end up at Hop Lot.  Man it was cold, and busy!  We had to work hard at snagging a bench by the fire!

We love our people.

Two adult weekends in one month makes October the winner for the year!  We loved you October!  Please come back next year with just as much enthusiasm!