Finally, Fall Fun

Normally I love fall, except for the fact that it precedes winter. This year though, I've been feeling kind of "meh" about the whole fall thing. All of a sudden I feel like I'm too busy, it's too cold and it's getting dark too soon. October flew past in a blur and I'm already stressing about Christmas. We hadn't picked apples, gone for any hikes, made any leaf piles, put up Halloween decorations or carved jack o' lanterns. Thankfully today ended up being the kind of fall day I was looking for.

We started off with two chilly windy soccer games. Sasha had her last soccer game of the fall season and scored several goals. She has a great team and loved every minute of the season.

Jordan had another great game as well. Only two more games to go for his fall soccer season and then it's on to basketball. After soccer it was home for lunch, a quick clean up, and a quick cat nap for me. Then the kids and I got out the Halloween decorations, woke Justin up from his nap and we all drove up the road to pick out some pumpkins. The "you have to be able to carry the pumpkin you pick" rule was strictly enforced and we drove home to do some carving. Justin helped the kids with that while I cooked supper - roast beef, baked potatoes and stir fried vegetables. Yummy!

 After supper I finished sorting out pumpkin seeds from pumpkin pulp and roasted them while the kids cleaned their messes, took showers and did homework. Then we lit the jack o' lanterns and started a game of Sorry.

In summary, this morning I was CRABBY. Tonight we have jack o' lanterns on the front step, Halloween decorations in the (relatively clean) living room, a yummy roasted pumpkin seed smell in the air (and an entire quart of roasted pumpkin seeds in the pantry), a half finished game of Sorry on the basement table and clean kids sleeping peacefully in their beds. And I am HAPPY!

Your Daughter Is A Rock Star!

A few weeks ago Jordan informed me that he's in the highest reading group in his class. Last week he told me that he'd moved up to 6th grade spelling. And this week we received the following email from Sasha's teacher.

Your Daughter Is A Rock Star!

Hannah - I forgot to mention this to you when you were in our room today. I told Sasha I would email or call you both to let you know that she did a great job working on kidblog today. I took my whole class to the computer lab today to write about their favorite fall activities. Sasha ended up being my hero. She listened well to directions because getting to kid blog and logging on can be tough. She also started walking around and helping everyone who needed help. She did it in such a nice way and was really patient with everyone (when I was about ready to pull my hair out lol.)

I pulled her aside afterwards and told her I just had to tell you both about how I appreciate her leadership in our classroom. She is an awesome kid! :)

Totally made my day. I love Jordan and Sasha's schools. They have such amazing teachers - fun, funny, creative and positive. I love that the kids are doing so well in school; it sure makes life a lot easier for me, and more enjoyable for them. And most of all, I love, love, love that Karlye, Jordan and Sasha love to learn. I hope and pray they retain that quality throughout their lives. It truly is a wonderful gift.