October
We celebrated our 17th anniversary on October 4th. We didn't do anything fancy, just lunch out at Cheddar's and things around our house that Sunday afternoon. But, let me tell you, we are BLESSED, and we are HAPPY. Finding someone who loves you unconditionally, would do anything for you, and makes you laugh everyday is EVERYTHING! He is mine and I am his.
We haven't seen our spent any quality time with our family friends in quite awhile so dinner out one Friday evening in October at the Olive Garden, for our whole crew, was time well spent.
Silas has been enjoying school so far this year. There is a lot that is different about in-person school, but being there in the classroom with his friends and having one of the best teachers in the history of ever, sure can make a boy happy. He has gotten to do some fun things despite the Covid restrictions and regulations that the district is trying to follow. Below are some pictures from a Nature Hike, a Pumpkin Patch, and online Break-Out boxes...all things he has gotten to be a part of the last couple months.
We had a weirdo ice and snow storm in mid-October, which caused some slick roads and led to a surprise "SNOW DAY" off from school. The kids and I worked on cleaning the house that day and of course, playing out in the snow.
They even had enough packing snow that they worked together to build a small snowman.
Eric's Mom came to visit us the last weekend in October. She got to watch Silas play in his last football game.
The girls and I had fun shopping for fall and winter clothes with Grandma.
Silas really wanted to carve a pumpkin this year. I twisted Eric's arm to help him out. Phoebe helped with scooping the seeds out of the pumpkin.
Halloween night we attended our church's Fall Festival. We each dressed as an animal Beanie Baby. Eric was a Tiger. Sharon was a Lion. Sarah was a Deer. Phoebe was a cat. Silas was a Fox. And, I was a Zebra.
Below, Sarah and her friend, Brooke at the Fall Festival.
The next day the girls and I enjoyed a little more shopping and pedicures with Grandma.
November
Basketball was in full swing as November rolled in. Sarah had two games a week and both Silas and Phoebe started practicing two days a week. Eric is coaching Phoebe's 5th and 6th grade girls basketball team, and assistant coaching Silas's 1st and 2nd grade coed basketball team.
Our family enjoyed an afternoon at Tanganyika Wildlife Park, and Phoebe and I did the Sloth Experience/Encounter.
Phoebe had a her good friend, Haylee, spend the night. They all enjoyed playing outside together.
We spent a fun afternoon painting ceramic Christmas trees with our friends.
We celebrated Phoebe's 11th birthday in early November.
Our district make the decision that all students 6th through 12th grade would go to remote school (online) on Wednesday, November 18th and would continue online through the end of the second nine weeks. We knew this would be a big adjustment for a lot of the kids. We volunteered to have a couple of Sarah's friends come to our house for some of the remote days. This would allow them to still have social interaction amongst themselves, allow them to help each other if need be, and this would help some of the parents with transportation and time constraints.
We stayed at home this Thanksgiving. Eric cooked a delicious ham and the kids and I made the sides. Other food we had with our meal was, mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade creamy corn, rolls, sweet potato bake, and pink salad. Everything turned out great! For dessert we had three pie choices: dutch peach, strawberry rhubarb, and pumpkin.
Eric had never been Black Friday shopping before, so I convinced him that he and I should go this year. We went to Academy Sports, Cabela's, Mendard's, Walmart, and Atwood's. We had fun together and got a lot of Christmas shopping done. We had a memorable moment at Walmart when a worker tried to tell us an item that was out for Black Friday was an online only item...but we still were able to use our teamwork skills to make the purchase happen.
