October 2017

We had a fun October! This year, since we changed tracks, the kids had their annual school jog-a-thon in October. Mary was sick that day, Daniel was still recovering from a respiratory illness, and Anna was super excited to run in her first jog-a-thon. She ran 14 laps (.1 mile per lap)! And Daniel ran 12.

We harvested our peanuts! It's an experiment we'll probably try again. We got enough to make it worth our efforts, but not as many as we expected. We dug them up, then hung them to dry for 2 weeks, then pulled them off the plant and roasted them. Yum!

We went on a witch hunt at Gardner Village, and Anna got kissed by an alpaca!

We drove up in the canyon to see the pretty Fall leaves, but we were a little late. We found the leaves...on the ground. It was still really pretty.

For Pack Meeting this month, the Bears put on a carnival. Daniel's game was "Guess the Puppet in the Cup"! For FHE one night, we all worked together to fold dozens of oragami finger puppets. Daniel taught us how. Then for his game, he put a puppet he thought the contestant would like under one cup, and they had 3 guesses to try to find it. We thought it was an awesome idea he came up with. The carnival was a lot of fun.

Mary and Daniel both entered the Reflections Contest this year. The theme was "Within Reach". Daniel took a picture of his hand on the piano, and talked about how playing the piano is hard for him, but he wants to get better. And Mary drew a picture of herself as a dance teacher, and talked about how she wants to teach dance someday. Mary's picture won at the school level.

We had fun carving our home grown pumpkins. Scott's parents were here for Halloween, which made the carving a little easier, and more fun!

Anna wanted her pumpkin to have angry eyes.

Peter wanted his to have ears.

Daniel made a storm trooper.

You can't really tell by the picture, but the pumpkin's teeth are as scary as hers.

And here are the kids' costumes. Daniel was Harry Potter, Mary was Princess Anna, Anna was Elsa, and Peter was a worker.

We also had Parent Teacher Conferences this month. The kids are doing awesome. When we were filling out our track request form for this school year, I requested A as usual, but really prayed that the kids would get teachers that would be good for them, as last year we really struggled. We were put on B track, which has been an adjustment, and it's been hard on Daniel not having any friends in his class. But I really feel like my prayer for good teachers was answered. They are all doing really well. Mary is an amazing student, and is thriving with her teacher. Daniel is learning to be more responsible and take pride in his work. Anna is learning to read. Sometimes she knows all her letters and sounds, and sometimes she doesn't, but she can blend and read many simple words. We're really proud of all of them.

Scott is still recovering from his surgery, and he is still losing weight. He is close to having lost 30 pounds! His first goal is to "lose a Peter". Peter currently weighs about 32 pounds. Then he's going to work at losing an Anna. He is also looking for a new job. Century Link is in the process of merging with another company, so things have been weird at his current job, and he's not sure what to expect. He's had some good interviews, and we're hopeful that the right job will come along without too much effort or worry.

And I've just been busy getting the yard ready for Winter and the garden cleaned out and stored. I bottled lots of tomato sauce, juice, and diced. I also made salsa, roasted pumpkins, and made more apple butter and raspberry jam. We love having such a great yard and garden, but it's a lot of work!