Caramel Apple Party

This year my kids wanted to make caramel apples. With their friends. All of them. My house is not big enough, nor my patience long enough, to host 15 or so kids at once working with hot syrup and candy.  Grace and Sam each invited a couple friends to make a practice batch.

They made a lot of apples, ate a lot of apples, and had a fun time.

A week later Libby invited over three friends and we did it all over again. The girls enjoyed the apples thoroughly.

Then two weeks later it was Ethan's turn. He had four friends over, which I have no photographic proof of. One of his friends was even a boy! He brings over female friends on a fairly regular basis, but the male variety is a lot rarer. They stayed for hours and ate most of the apples before they even got them home.

We made thirty-ish apples, made my floor crazy sticky, but managed to not burn anyone! I count the caramel apple parties as a total success!

So Much Music

Once again, Ethan and Libby are active in music. Ethan is in three (two audition) choirs at Borah, while Libby is in one audition choir and orchestra. That means that we go to a LOT of concerts. I have lost count of the number we have already gone to this year. I would guess it's close to a dozen, and we haven't even hit the Christmas concerts yet.

This looks like a picture from Boise Music Week, but it was this school year. We remember going. Libby sang, we don't remember why. So many concerts. They just blur.

Ethan had a concert with the Yale Whiffenpoofs, You can barely see him on the top row; look for the swoopy hair.

Libby is playing first violin for her orchestra this year. She not as in love with orchestra as previous years, but she still enjoys it.

I'm pleased our kids have found something they enjoy!

Action Shots are Hard

This fall, Grace's first in public school, she decided to join the basketball team. Years ago when Libby was on it, it had seven players. This year there was about fifteen. The girls didn't get as much play time, but they worked hard and had a lot of fun.

She started the season with no idea how to play, but she quickly caught on, and was excellent at defense.  She is still working on getting the confidence to play a more aggressive offense. 

The last game of the season, Grace reminded me she hadn't made a basket all season (and had only attempted one). She was hopeful and prepared to finally make a basket for her team. I mentioned her wish to a few of the moms I sat with. We watched as Grace took the ball down the court, and then instead of passing, she shot! All the moms (including Grace's) lost their minds when the ball hit the rim and fell through the net! Grace was very pleased and embarrassed by all the attention.

After the last game of the season, she asked when track and field began. Looks like I might have one who actually enjoys team sports.

More Changes in the Wind

Michael has been with St. Luke's for nearly twelve years now. He has gone through many changes of job title and changes of department. He has loved each shift and we are thankful for all the good that has come our way. One of the only parts of his job that has stayed the same is his annual trip to Sun Valley to serve as tech support for a medical conference. This is his tenth year supporting the conference. The first year we brought all the kids with us (Sam was only a couple months old), but since then just Michael and I have gone.

He has worked and I have been able to just take a break from being mom. We've eaten tons of wonderful food, taken hikes, and enjoyed just being a couple. It has been a wonderful weekend and the conference organizers frequently tell me how much they rely on Michael. Unfortunately, this is likely going to be Michael's last year supporting the conference. His latest job shift has made his job much more about photography and videoography. Doing tech support no longer falls under his job description.

We will be sad to see this weekend go. Michael enjoys hosting it, but I think he also enjoys giving me a weekend were I can just relax and enjoy the beauty that is here. We have enjoyed our years up here and we made sure to enjoy this weekend as well. 

We even managed to play some pool and air hockey. I crushed him at pool but he destroyed me at air hockey, so I guess we are even.

I will miss our Sun Valley weekend, but now that the kids are older and less needy, I don't need it as much. I'm so thankful that we have got to do this for the last ten years. I'm excited to see what the coming years bring.

All My Free Time

With all the kids in public school, I've been worried about how I would fill all my free time. Between sick kids, weird days off and watching this guy several times a week, I've been just as busy as ever. The first three weeks of school I still had someone at home almost every day. Now that the school schedule has settled and kids have gotten healthier, I did get a few days off. 

For several days I just fixed things. Little things that have broken over the years and no one had the time to fix.  Things like replacing the toilet paper holder that has been prone to falling off the wall for the last couple years.

I've worked in the garden, helped install a new peep hole, fixed a broken wheel on our bench and helped Michael fix the broken wheel on the computer chair.  I've set about poisoning my neighbor's trees that refuse to die. And yes, I have her permission; I haven't gone completely loopy. I installed a doorbell. I'm going to replace some bathroom fixtures. Basically, I have been fixing all those little things that I could never concentrate enough to fix before.

The few days I've had with no kids or husband around I have enjoyed the feeling of having a complete thought process, such as: I need to fix this toilet paper holder. I'm going to check if Amazon has one. Now I am ordering one. This is a process that has taken me days to work through, but without a person interrupting, it takes ten minutes. When Amazon delivered it, it took me 45 minutes (I'm being generous) to find the correct tools and install it without having to referee a fight or have someone asking to picked up from wherever they are. It's been amazing. I don't think I've had a complete thought process in the last fifteen years!

I still have a few items on my to-do list, but I can't fix everything at once. We still need money for food and housing! Amid all this fixing chaos, I've come the realization that we may not be able to afford for me to stay home. I'm eyeing new flooring for the patio, new paint for a couple rooms, new paint for the kitchen chairs; I just keep adding to the master list. There are so many projects that I keep finding that I might just bankrupt us.

So in the interest of earning a bit more money and curtail my home improvement projects a bit, I also signed up to be a substitute teacher. I finished the training and my fingerprints are cleared. I'm hoping to be able to start next week. The girls have begged me to never sub for their classes. The boys couldn't care less if I teach them; at least some of my kids love me.

With my free time I even took a quick girls' trip to Baker City with my friend. We posed with every animal sculpture we found. I love these things. I want some smaller scales ones for the front flower bed (me staying home without kids to chase gives me much too much time to start projects that then cost money).

I'm enjoying having moments to myself with all the kids in school. Grace and Sam are enjoying public school, although Sam still has some doubts. He is asking to come home because school is so long. He loves his friends though and has discovered playing Pokemon with friends. I think he will survive. I think we all will. This is going to be a great new chapter for all us.