church night

Ezekiel had a lovely event this evening.  The confirmation kids hosted s family fun night.  The kids played games and got a lot of candy.  A was one of the game hosts so didn't get to eat much candy.  I think he will survive...he is going trick or treating tomorrow night.

pumpkin carving

Brad and I have been busy carving pumpkins--actually, Brad has been carving, I have been doing some scooping and also pumpkin seed roasting.  The kids don't really enjoy the insides of the pumpkin and K announced that she will make her kids do it when she is a Mom.  I thought that was pretty funny...

my pumpkin--really hard to carve

Brad's

A's

O's

K's

lucky

Lovely Abby Rae Blomgren has just celebrated her lucky #13 on October 24.  Happy birthday sweet girl.

chicago

On Friday evening, I hosted twelve ladies at our home for a pre-play glass of wine and hors de vours.  We went to the play Chicago on the UWRF campus.  It was a really nice evening and it was wonderful to have Grandma Betty make the food, the kids to go out to dinner with her, have Julie and Sarah stop by early to help get prepped and for the onslaught of women to come and enjoy one anothers' company.  The play was fun, but the pre and post play was even more enjoyable. 

pheasant hunter

Brad just called to report that pheasant hunting has been a little lean this year.  The birds are hanging out in the unharvested corn, so I don't know how many pheasants will be in our freeze, but I know he is having a restorative trip with his buddies. 

partay day

Yesterday our family attended two Halloween bashes.  The Mitchell's had a great party at their lovely home in the country and the Harer's had a great party at their welcoming home in town.  O made it through the first party and then stayed home with Grandma Betty while A, K and I dressed up and went to the Harer's.  We stayed until about 9:30 and returned home and retired shortly thereafter. 

The wind, the cold and the excitement tuckered us out!  It was a grand old day though.

leaves hanging on

I'm not positive, but I think the late Spring is making the trees hang onto their leaves this year.  It has been windy, but the leaves are just clinging to the trees and some of them are still green!  We feel like we should be raking, but with all the leaves still up there, I believe we will wait until there are more leaves on the ground than on the trees.

activity Friday

Middle School is much more challenging as far as academics goes.  Pretty rigorous rubrics, hard numbers and accountability increase.  Last Friday, A was able to enjoy Activity Friday.  He loved playing video games in the afternoon but there were rootbeer floats for sale, basketball games and dance to enjoy.  I think he is starting to really enjoy the change. 

calm to home

I brought the new theory gleaned from the classroom to life at home and it's pretty exciting to see the productivity of our family today on a day of chores, relaxing and recharging.  K has been super productive and is looking forward to a little pampering from Grandma and Mom at 2pm.  Great times.

calm

The coordinator of the school came and observed our classroom last Thursday morning during morning meeting.  It was really great to have a Montessori trained person come in and make suggestions.  I am a pretty animated person and can be quite loud at times.  Nate had great insight into being more calm and having a more modulated voice. 

I practiced on Friday and it was miraculous at how much calmer the class operated.  I don't think it will always happen, but I think if I keep it in mind, we won't have as many challenging loud behaviors. 

struggling team

The Vikings are having a very tricky year.  Last Sunday was another day of lean playing.  Hopefully we can pull something together today and find a win.