We've been busy and having fun. The kids were all sick one week, and that was a trying time for all with fevers and all that goes with it, but we made it through.
There have been three outings this month so far: Pumpkin Patch, Disneyland and Safari Park (Zoo). I have my pictures up on Picasa, but I don't have the posts done on my outing blog. I'll catch up someday and backdate the posts so that it looks like I'm on the ball.
Fenna has been busy with high school. She had a colorguard/marching band competition where they won first place in three catagories! Awesome! There are performances or competitions every weekend for a while; the next one is at her school so we will all be there with cameras charged up and ready to go! She is looking forward to a fun night at Knott's Scary Farm with her friends soon and she has a birthday coming up! Lexie put bright blond hair extentions in her hair and now she looks like a California teen. It is fun having a teenager in the house.
The little kids are gearing up for Halloween. We are busy preparing costumes and shopping in the Halloween decorated aisles in the stores. Very fun to see them having some Halloween fun. We've already eaten all of our Halloween candy, and by "we" I mostly mean me. Gracie gets to dress up like an animal for school, she picked dolphin. She decided I could sew a dolphin costume for her and she gave me specific instructions for the shape of the nose and fin and all, plus told me what kind of fabric to buy. She wants to be the Little Mermaid for trick-or-treating though. Libby wants to be Minnie Mouse and a pink princess. Charlie has a Mickey Mouse costume and a monkey costume. Fenna is the only normal kid around here, she will only have one costume! She's going to make it herself too: a woodland fairy. The girls think she will look like Tinkerbell, but she wants to be more earthy and less Disney. I think it'll turn out great! We're sure to have the cutest Halloween ever!
Gracie switched schools. She was doing just fine at the school where she was, but it was overcrowded which causes problems that I was uncomfortable with. So I looked into a charter school and decided to move her over. She is now at a Montessori/Homeschool hybrid school where she goes three days a week to Montessori Kindergarten and has two days a week of homeschool. So far, she is really enjoying it but she misses her little friend with the pretty hair at her other school. We'll have to arrange some playdates. On her first day of Homeschool, the school had a field trip to the Safari Park (zoo), so we went. Since it was her first day, we didn't know who was with the school and who wasn't, but the homeschool families were all on their own anyway. We had fun and she could talk about it at school with her class too. Off to a good start!
Gracie's word of the month has been "Awkward". She says it 20 times a day at least. It's getting old fast! Awkward!
I'm getting excited for my friend's baby's first birthday party this weekend. I'm only excited because my friend also has a little boy and he is a devoted Cars fan, just like Gracie and Libby. Lightning McQueen is like a Disney God to these kids! I figure his one year old little sis is also an avid fan since she was immersed in her brother's Cars world since birth. I picked up the same Cars fabric that I made my girls' Cars dresses with and I am making a Cars dress for the birthday girl! It is impossible to find girl things that have Lightning McQueen on them, so I know her mama will be pretty excited to have a dress for her little girl. I might even ruffle some Lightning McQueen socks if I can find some red ribbon that will work well. I have a few pair of new Cars socks that I haven't given the girls yet. I can't wait to see Lisa's face when she sees the Cars dress for her little girl!
I should get back to sewing. My serger is difficult to thread, but I have it running with red thread in it right now so I can make the Lightning McQueen dress and the Minnie Mouse costume. Not sure if I can rethread it for the dolphin costume, and then I need to get busy on some baby blankets for a friend who is having a baby shower the first weekend of November. Good thing my trusty sewing machine never lets me down.
With all this sewing to do, I'm not reading much. I read almost half of the Grapes of Wrath. I fall asleep every time I pick it up. I do enjoy the book, but it's never ending when I fall asleep after every page. I might have to switch to something with more action than dust blowing.
I'll leave you with a quote from my husband's facebook page. A former student (aprox 10 yrs ago) wrote to him with a very nice comment. It was great timing too, because my poor overworked husband was all kinds of crabby after working two jobs and ending his long hard day with a two hour traffic-hell commute home. He was not a happy camper! And then he read this which melted his heart and made all the stress of the entire day worth it:
"Do u remember u and jo esther gave me a ride home after i was expelled? u gave me some good advice thank you sincerely. Well u said that my todays create my tomorrows no matter how small a
decision is... And Jo Esther didnt have to say anything!!! She juss had
to look at me and that was enuff... U brought out the smile in me i
fought so hard to conceal u saw the diamond way inside of me and i thank
you Mr.Schumacher."
