Halloween 2016

We jumped right back into things when we got home last Sunday. Andrew went to the office while I unpacked, did laundry and went to the grocery store. While I went to the store, Andrew and the kids worked on carving their pumpkins. They find the designs they want and he free-hands the cutting with the jigsaw. I was pretty impressed with his work.

The kids didn’t have school on Monday so they got to sleep in and then enjoy some Halloween donuts. We watched Hocus Pocus while I worked through all the different pictures and videos from Disney. I downloaded pictures that others had taken and edited the ones I had taken. It took a lot of the day, but I just wanted to get it done. There were several lightsaber battles going on throughout the day too. I told them they have to go outside or down in the basement. Evening finally rolled around and the kids got ready for trick or treating. I had their costumes laid out on my bed and they put them on all by themselves when they decided they were ready to go. It was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed going around our neighborhood. Besides one Halloween where we went to a few houses in our neighborhood before we went to my parents’, this was the first year we full-on trick or treated in our neighborhood. Lincoln got ahead of us and ended up going around with Ty most of the time. We ended up heading out the same time as the LaBeth’s so Ellie and Grace got to go together and the twins got to ride in Mike’s Gator for a little bit. We saw lots of friends and the kids were good to go even though we didn’t go around the whole neighborhood. I had the kids unload the candy they didn’t like (and Jackson went through his big bag from Disney) and we put it in the candy bowl. Ellie made a sign asking people to take just one piece and we sat the bowl out on the front porch and went to my parents. We ate dinner at my parents and planned on going out in their neighborhood but it looked like so many houses didn’t have their lights on, so we didn’t even bother. It was really kind of sad when you think about how busy it used to be.

Tuesday was back to school which was kind of hard for everyone. I took a ride out to the lake while the twins were at school. The twins got to play outside while I worked on repainting our siding by our front door. While they were working on our remodel, they also fixed our gutter so that water wouldn’t run down the wall. So, I scraped and sanded the flaking paint, put on some primer and then painted. It looks pretty good for now. I also had the pleasure of starting to sort through our taxes to get everything sent off to our accountant to see where we stand before the end of the year.  Jackson had basketball practice and it is hard to believe it is already almost half way over. We also finally got a dodgeball team together for Jackson and they decided on The Rebels for a team name and found some cool shirts on Amazon that we could get before the weekend. The forecast for Wednesday showed a decent amount of rain but the chances went down in the morning so I went on a run. I did my 5 mile loop and it was the hardest run I have had in quite a while. I have no idea why. Later, I picked up the twins from school , picked up some lunch for them at McDonalds and went to the YMCA playground. It was overcast, so it wasn’t as busy and they had fun playing for a while before we headed home.

 I had to get the house cleaned and work on our women’s study. The rain finally came that afternoon a little before we had to head out to pick up the kids from school. Ellie and Lincoln still had soccer practice that night though but we ended up skipping it and enjoyed dinner at home without rushing through. I did end up staying up late though to finish the questions for our study. I wanted to review everything since we were doing two weeks-worth. But then I had to get up early since I wanted to get a ride on the trainer in before taking the kids to school. Our study that morning went well. We talked about the persecution of the early church and how it compares to today. Then I made a mad dash to Aldi and Walmart and was actually checking out in time to pick up the twins when Andrew called to see if I wanted him to pick them up. After lunch and some playtime, the twins wanted to watch Paw Patrol and this is how I found them.

Little K was after school, so we just picked up Jackson and he had to get straight to his homework since he had his first small group and K-Life that night. His friend, Joe, came over before small group so they could go together since it was Joe’s first time to K-Life. So, they rode with Zach there while I got Ellie to dance. Then Andrew picked them all up later that evening. I was so glad to hear that the small group went well. They had around 9 6^th grade boys there for the first one and the ones we talked to enjoyed it. I had been praying for the group that it would be successful and a jumping point for a great group throughout the year.

On Friday, I ended up spending most of the morning working on Christmas gift ideas. It wasn’t what I had planned so then I spent the rest of the day playing catch-up. After lunch, the twins and I went downtown so I could vote and get new license plates since mine were falling apart. The twins thought we were getting a boat when I said vote, so they were a bit disappointed to see that we were just standing in line at the courthouse. They did know that Andrew sometimes worked there, so they were initially excited to go inside. They were a tad bit embarrassing though as Miles yelled out, “Bennett hit me in the nuts.” Lovely. Thankfully we were done in time to run by the license office and get the new license plates and then get to the school to wait in line to pick up Ellie. When we got home, Andrew was there and he had decided last minute to go camping. It was later modified to just going out to the ranch, fishing, building a fire, hanging out and possibly camping. I still had to make cookie and Rice Krispie treats for the dodgeball tournament the next day, so I quickly worked on those while he and the kids gathered supplies. He took the three oldest out to get a site ready, cut some wood and go fishing and I brought the twins later after I was done. We made a trip by the gas station and picked up some snacks and drinks for the evening. Andrew met us once we got into the pasture and they had just finished setting up an area and were getting ready to go fishing. It took a little bit to get going but then they started catching some. Lincoln caught the two biggest.

We got to the “camp site” and Andrew started working on fileting the fish while the kids explored a bit. He worked so hard on the fish, cooked it over the fire and the kids were excited to eat it. Until Ellie took her first big bite and spit it all out. I guess it wasn’t as good as they remembered last time. But we did enjoy our snacks and the fire. There was a hollow log on top that the fire would shoot out of which was neat. The decision was made to not camp and head in since I still had quite a bit to do and Ellie still had to get ready to leave the next morning. It was a good little break though and the kids had fun.

When we got home, I bagged up all the cookies and Rice Krispie treats for the tournament. I also had to wash the t-shirts that just came in that evening that were for Jackson’s team. Ellie got her bag packed to head to St. Louis the next morning. Then she left with my parents a little after 8 on Saturday. I took the boys to the dodgeball tournament around 8:45 and Andrew brought the twins a little later. It was a good day of dodgeball. Jackson’s team ended up being a good group of boys-not all the usual boys we are used to, but we are trying to get Jackson to branch out a bit and it went well. They had fun together and after 6 3-set games of dodgeball they ended up in 3^rd place out of 5 teams. Jackson also had to go play a basketball game in the middle of all of it and I believe he was tired by the end of all of it. Lincoln’s team was so cute. They were ready to play and were so excited about it. They were intense and fun at the same time. Their age group just had three teams so they only played twice and won one set and lost the other. Jackson’s group finished up around 2:30 which was also the same time I started working the concession stand. Since we got there around 8:45, I was grateful I was able to run home for a few minutes in between Jackson’s games to switch some laundry and do fun stuff like that. The concession stand wasn’t busy as the tournament was winding down, so we spent the time cleaning stuff up and packing up all the leftover food and drinks.

When I got home, Andrew and the kids were gone, so I took advantage of the couple hours of day light left and put up Christmas lights. First, I got the strands for the house out and replaced bulbs and fuses. It seemed to take more time getting the ladder in good positions to put the lights up than actually putting them up. Then I had some issues getting them on the peak and was on top of the ladder with our branch cutting pole trying to get the lights onto the hooks. I got it all done but I sure hope no one was watching me as it could have been embarrassing. I just did the lights on the house and will do the lights on the tree, the greenery, nativity and bows closer to Thanksgiving. Andrew and the boys got home a little after I was finished, so I turned them on for them and the twins were so excited…and then they pointed out the one blue light bulb that was out. I checked them all several different times, so I don’t know how that happened.

I picked up Mexican to eat for dinner that night and then we decided to watch Dodgeball. We did it through VidAngel and were able to filter out most of the bad stuff but didn’t get it all. So even though Jackson thought it was funny, it was kind of a parenting fail. Sunday morning we went to church and then I went grocery shopping. Ellie got home a little before noon. They went to a lantern festival Saturday night and she loved it. It did look really neat. They were out in the middle of a big field and everyone was given paper lanterns. Lissy brought markers and watercolors for the kids to decorate their lanterns. They also had fires and supplies for s’mores. Then when it got dark, they all lit their lanterns from tiki torches and let them go. The pictures looked so neat of all the lanterns going up in the sky.

Andrew and I went for a bike ride that afternoon out to the Lake. He got his best time going up the hill by the dining lodge, which was awesome. When we got back, he and Ellie went to the office. My dad came by and picked up Jackson so that he could help put up Christmas lights. Then they all came back over that evening for dinner.