Thankful in November

November always seems to be a month of few pictures. The weather has gotten cold and it is dark so much earlier. We don’t have the fun colors of fall anymore because all the leaves have blow off the trees.

We have been up to a lot of Girl Scout stuff this month. The Thursday before Veterans Day we had a sleepover at a local church. One of my scout’s dad is the pastor at the church and let us “lock in” for the night. We are working on a cooking badge, so they had to do all the cooking! They had fun playing games and watching a movie.

The cold weather has warranted trying some new soup recipes. I made a fantastic broccoli soup that the girls liked and Mike made a French onion soup from scratch! It was SO delicious. I can’t wait until he makes it again! I LOVE soup!

This weekend I went to an all day training for Girl Scouts. This time I was taking “Encamporee Director” training. That means now I can organize a weekend camp for our Service Unit. I’m planning a “She and Me Encamporee” in the Spring. At the event I attended they had a display old Girl Scout uniforms. Here’s the one like I would have worn as a Brownie. I remember the little coin pocket!

Then, yesterday we had a troop meeting with a guest speaker. She talked about the watershed and how we pollute and how we can take care of our waters. It was fun, hands on interactive.

Today I took my Junior/Cadette troop to the middle school cafeteria so they could volunteer to help prep for the community Thanksgiving dinner. However, they didn’t have enough work for us to do. They let the girls peel oranges and that is it! Oh well, they got the chance to help a little bit.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. We’ll be watching the parade and making a pecan pie. This year everyone is healthy, so we should be able to go be with the Wright family. Last year we had to do it at home alone.

I have plans to go shopping with a friend for all the sales. I’m just going for the company. Don’t plan to buy much…since I had the bad timing of wrecking a car near Christmas time! The van was totaled. Then, I found a great replacement van from a local guy on Craigslist, made him an offer, and bought it…only to find out in the next few days that it was leaking coolant! I should have taken it to a mechanic before buying, but I didn’t. I had to put $450 into it. It has all the bells and whistles like stow and go seating and automatic doors, but it is probably just stuff that will go bad. It is a pretty van at least and a 2005…seven whole years newer than the last one! I’ll have to take a picture.

Anyway, all that made me decide to get my paperwork done at the school district so I could be on the classified substitute list (teacher aide, food service, and secretarial) so I could maybe make a little money. On Tuesday I turned in everything and Tuesday night I already got a call to come into work! I didn’t take the job at first because I didn’t know if I could do it, but I called back and said, “Okay, I’ll give it a try.” I ended up working with two special needs boys in a regular classroom setting. It was fun. I enjoyed myself.

Now we enter the holiday season. Hopefully things won’t get too hectic around here. I’m hoping to keep things fairly simple….because there is no time for anything more!

I missed my Grandma and Grandpa’s 50th wedding anniversary! [I’m so sorry. I hope you guys had a special day and get to enjoy the whole special year! That is a huge milestone. We love you and are so amazed at your love and perseverance together!] Isn’t that amazing…50 years!

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone has a safe and happy and thankful day!

Bye bye October!

We started out our delightful October with fun on the farms, and more importantly, with Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory caramel apples! We hit the “Festival of Family Farms” again. This time I got to come along because I didn’t go to my annual scrapbooking retreat.

The next weekend was our last opportunity to go camping. The girls had a three-day weekend. We went to Lone Fir on the east side of our mountain range to find some sun. It was chilly, but still sunny.

Gramma Debbie and Grampa George joined us on our trip. We relaxed and enjoyed a nice hike. Then we had a nice campfire.

Gramma made her special popcorn for us.

The next day we all went for a hike up to Blue Lake. It was a beautiful day for it!

Michael  and Kelby went fishing up there and caught a bunch of little ones.

We love camping in the fall. It keeps us all cozied up in the trailer playing games.

Debbie and George only stayed one night, but we stayed two. The next morning it was a little wet and we kept hoping it would get nicer. Instead, it just got wetter. We played games and relaxed.

For our second Girl Scout meeting of  the year we took off and went letterboxing…looking for treasure boxes in the woods. Fun! Everyone had a good time, but it was pouring on our heads!

Kelby has been busy with Cross Country every Monday through Thursday. I tried to go to practice one or two times a week and then we went to all the meets. She does great…coming in in the middle even though she starts out in the back. She has a steady pace and keeps running even after the other girls start slowing down and walking.

The next weekend in October I was gone the whole time at a Girl Scout camp training. I took a Quantity Cooking course. It was just a weekend spent cooking, but it was great fun….except when I cut my finger. I met some great new ladies.

Anika’s Girl Scout Troop had a Halloween party….and started off the costume season.

Then we went out to visit the pumkin farm we always do every year. Just love the pictures from there!

What a cute family I have!

The next weekend we got to go to a Girl Scout event sponsored by Dove about self esteem. They had a great time doing their crazy hair and Zumba!

Then we got to celebrate Gramma Debbie’s birthday by going out to dinner with the whole family! We had a great time with all the cousins.

The older Girl Scout troop had their Halloween party this last Tuesday. The girls planned it all and had a blast.

Then on Wednesday Kelby’s band had a special concert. They played some great spooky songs. She kept whacking people with her wings!

Then there was all the pumpkin carving. This year the girls did a lot of it themselves. They are getting so big.

Then, of course, there was the fun at school. Anika had a Halloween party.

We went to visit all the family to show off our costumes. The girls are getting so grown up now. I don’t think we’ll have too many more years of this sweetness.

The girls all went Trick-or-Treating for awhile and then I took Anika over to a nearby church for some “Trunk Or Treating”. This cowboy was the trunk we voted for...mostly because he gave Anika a whole handful of candy.

That is the fun part of the end of October.

The bummer part, in the last few days, was our water heater was acting up and I wrecked my car! I’m still waiting to hear what has become of my car. I have full coverage, but it is on the edge of being totaled. I’m so sad. (It was my fault too, so that is a major embarrassment. Luckily the water heater is still under warranty and we got a part shipped overnight to us. Mike got it replaced and now we have hot water again…mostly. The pilot light seems to go out every now and again still.

Cross Country is over now and I missed Kelby’s last meet because I wrecked on the way there. Very sad!She doesn’t seem to think she’ll try Cross Country again next year. I’d love to see her do it again, but I understand not wanting to do it.

On the bright side, I got a job as an AVID tutor helping 8th graders and I LOVE it! I might even go out for more jobs in the school district as a classified substitute (not a teacher, but as a teacher’s aide). I’ve also been working on a new website project, but I’m not sure how that’s going to go, so I save that for next month.

 

Love you all!

September Recap

At least I already mentioned the beginning of the school year since it happened in August. Now we have the whole month of September to revisit.

The very first day of September brought a great gift! The girls went to their second day of school while I drove down to Seattle to get my mommy!

We had such a wonderful visit with her! We played games and talked. She even bought them an ice cream from the ice cream man as he made his last ditch goodbye-summer efforts around the neighborhood.

On Friday, Mom and I went out to LaConner to do some window shopping and go out to lunch. We had fish and chips and my favorite, Fire Cracker Shrimp. We wish we had more of the shrimp!

We got home before the girls got out of school and then took a drive up to Fairhaven in Bellingham. My favorite stop. We had fish and chips there too at the Double Decker bus restaurant. We were taste testing to see who had the best.

Then we went for a little walk along the water before we just “had” to stop by this “one store” for some coffee syrup…but really I was trying to be sneaky to get to the airport to pick up my Dad. Dad’s working out of state and doesn’t get to see my mom much, so he decided to meet her up here for the weekend. Surprise!

On Saturday we decided to go out on a ferry ride to the San Juans. It was a beautiful day for the ride.

We played games along the journey…a big favorite was Farkel.

When we got to Friday Harbor we enjoyed yet another lunch of fish and chips. They were beer battered and mighty tasty. We walked around the quaint town and even saw a bunch of jelly fish off the pier.

We even got to have a little birthday party for me while my parents were in town. Mike made me an ice cream cake!

Then on Labor Day we had to send them home. It was a short but sweet visit and we can’t wait until they can come again!

On my real birthday I spent the morning by getting a huge apple fritter and coffee and sat in the sun to read a book. It was wonderful. That night the family took me out to dinner at Asian 1. Yumm!

This was right about when we got our summer. It had been a chilly wet season, but after the pool came down, the sun decided to come out. We had to make due with the sprinkler to get cool.

On Saturday the 10th, we got to attend the Blue Fox Drive in Oak Harbor for a Girl Scout camp in. We set up tents and got to watch a double feature of movies that night. Then we went to bed and got up to a tasty pancake breakfast. We had a blast! They even all got coins for the arcade and glow-in-the-dark tshirts.

Then there was Open House at school. Anika was first placed in a 1st/2nd grade split class, but after making an appointment to change it with the principal, he let us put her in a full 2nd grade class. She is much too bright to be with a teacher that has to split her attention between those two age groups. Now she is thriving. Tegan started out in a 5th/6th grade class, but they hired another teacher and now she is in a regular 5th grade class. Things seem to be going well for her now.

Kelby’s Open House wasn’t until later, but we got to meet all her teachers and find our way around the class. She got to march in a small parade at the beginning of the year. She loves band!

One day in there, Mike got to take the day off and he and his dad got to go fly fishing for salmon. We had bought the guided fishing trip on Groupon earlier in the year. They had a great time with an expert that taught them what to do. The whole boat of men each caught 5-6 fish. I guess they [the fish] are quite difficult to wrestle in. They[the guys] had a great time!

Then we had a nice day at the Pumpkin Pitch. They have a contest here where grown men build machines that huck pumpkins across a field. They are called trebuchets. Janicki (Mike’s work) had an entry in the contest this year.

This was the BIG weekend for me. All that hard training I’ve been doing all summer was about to pay off. We drove up to Bellingham that day to pick up my race packet. I got a map and we drove the course. The Bellingham Bay Half Marathon had arrived that Sunday morning.

Mike took me, but we left the girls at home. The weather was looking to be awful and didn’t figure they would be up for running around town as I raced through. The race started at 9:30 in the morning. And I was off…

Mike rode his bike around to get some pictures of me. The other ladies near me commented on my "entourage”. I ran and ran for a blustery 13.1 miles. It was only windy at least and not rainy. I finished in 2 hours and 17 minutes. That was under my goal of 2 hours and 20 minutes. I didn’t have to walk too much…up a long hill and to take drinks. Otherwise I ran the whole way.

I was so relieved when I was done. We just got a new restaurant in town, so I saved it until after the race so I would really deserve that Burger and Fries…from Five Guys. So we picked up lunch and went home.

However, the celebration was cut short as my guts didn’t agree with my running…even before I ate my burger. I was out of commission for the rest of the day!

But like after giving birth, I’m still willing to do it again. I signed up already to do it again next year!

Kelby has been doing Cross Country all September. They run four days a week and just had their first meet. It was a huge race with 11 schools competing. She does great. She has a really good attitude about practice and really knows how to hold her pace. She is behind as the girls first start up, but as the rest of them start walking, she passes them right up and comes in somewhere in the middle. We are so proud of her!

I have been volunteering with the team a couple times a week. They let me run with them! I love getting to know these kids and having them know me. Kelby doesn’t seem to mind having me around, so I’m happy for that. She has three more meets and then the season is done at the end of October.

On Friday, I had a little tea party with the girls after school. I just wanted to take a minute to slow down enough to just talk. We have been going a mile a minute. Now Anika wants to have a tea party everyday!

Well, that is about it for September…even though we are already well into October! We are doing great and I’m getting used to the school schedule. There isn’t a lot of down time, but I’m figuring out how to use the time I have well. I even got a mini-job! I will be working two days a week for 2 hours each day as a tutor for a special program at the middle school called AVID for students that want to aim for college. I am excited to work with middle schoolers and to have my first real job in a decade!

Hope everyone is doing great and enjoying the change in weather. We hope to go camping this weekend for one last hurrah!