This year I am thankful for...

...a fearless girl

who hasn't required stitches or a cast; yet.

...the sweet rewards of summer reading, even months later.

...a husband who fixed the toilet and installed kitchen storage because I bought the supplies.

...silly games at mutual that stuff as many teenagers as possible into a box.

...books.

 ...and more books;

and Harry Potter books.

...cousins to read books with.

 

...other cousins to read books with

 even if they occasionally lick the page when the story gets really exciting.

...Sam's art.

...my kids who still love a thrift store art easel we found years ago.

...Grace's art.

...Grace's unique spelling.

 ...little girls who want spending money so badly they will mate socks for ten cents a pair.

 ...the work three dollars saved me.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Halloween!  I bet you were thinking Christmas.  You were wrong.  Christmas does not start until after Thanksgiving.  Heathens.

Halloween is perfect.  The weather is gorgeous, no one has huge expectations that fall flat, there is not a big dinner to prepare then clean up from, and hardly anyone gets hurt feelings over Halloween arrangements.  Throw in free candy and costumes, and you get the perfect holiday.  And I'm not biased because it just happens to be my birthday, too.

Libby was rocking her costume (I love a bad pun) of a rock star.

Grace was a sweet innocent Little Red Riding Hood while her dad was an excessively hairy Granny/Big Bad Wolf.  I made him cover his real chest fur with a fake ruff.  You are all welcome.

At the church party Sam was Batman (the same as the previous year) but on Halloween night we could not find the mask.  He did not want to be Batman without a mask, so he settled on a fireman.  Thank goodness for lots of hand-me-down costumes.

Ethan got the most comments on his costume.  With some glow strings, an umbrella, and some battery operated Christmas lights he was a glorious jelly fish.  He was also a hit at his school dance.  He wasn't able to dance much with his costume but it was pouring rain when all the students exited.  Several girls took shelter under his umbrella and he didn't look too heart broken about it.

Just Moments

We went on a family walk to pick up Michael's rental car for work.  The kids decided to ride their scooters as the trip was just over a mile and a half.  Three-fourths of the way there Sam was getting pretty tired.  He got to an intersection and just about gave up.  Instead of letting him get hit by a car, I picked up his scooter to cross the street.  Once across I looked back to see him removing his helmet and thanking me for carrying his scooter.  I responded, "Oh, no, Sam.  I was just helping you across the street.  I would hate to deprive you of the joy and satisfaction of finishing a hard job."  I managed to use only a little sarcasm.

We made it the rest of the way to the car rental place and Sam scootered up to the car Michael was picking up.  He looks up at me and earnestly says, "I do feel joy, Mom!"

***

Michael and Sam got out of the car on a dark, rainy night.

Sam looked up at the sky and said, "The rain is blessings from Jesus! I'm so happy!"

After thirty seconds of standing in the rain, Sam announced, "I have enough blessings" and ran inside the house.

***

Libby made Grace's bed for her.  I went to tuck Grace into bed.  She refused.  She didn't want the bed messed up.  I decided not to argue.  I figured she would eventually crawl under the covers.

I underestimated her desire to keep her bed looking pretty.

Athletic Supporters!

Actually, the kids did more than support: They joined.

A Thursday in September Libby burst into the house to announce, "I signed up for basketball.  It starts on Monday!"

Friday Ethan slouches through the door, "I signed up for tennis.  It starts on Monday."

Oh, wow.  Okay.  We can do this.  I can be an athletic supporter (cue immature giggling).  The first week wasn't bad.  I just had to pick the kids up from practices that finished within fifteen minutes of each other.  I could juggle church activities and sports.

Then the second week hit.  Each kid had at least two games a week.  Sometimes at the same time, sometimes at different times and different ends of town. The girls basketball team only had seven players and I gave several of the girls rides to away games (thankfully no more than a mile or two away) so I had to be at those, otherwise there wouldn't be enough players. I became the soccer mom I never planned to become.

Libby's team started with seven players, but by the end of the season they were down to five.  They also don't keep score in elementary games, but it was pretty obvious our little ragtag team was wiping the floor with the other teams, some of which we played twice because they had 40 players!

Unfortunately our girls weren't able to compete in the tournament because we were down to five players and needed twelve to compete. 

Here's Libby with the only other sixth grade girl.  All the other girls came from the fifth grade. 

I took pictures of Ethan playing tennis.  I know I did.  I remember taking them.  Unfortunately, my phone does not agree with me.  My phone wins this fight.

Ethan's season was the exact opposite of his sister's.  His team didn't win a single game.  I was still so proud, though.  Ethan had never even held a tennis racket before and he went out there and played his heart out.  He improved so much from the beginning of the season and plans on playing again next year.  I think Libby is planning on playing tennis, too.

Hopefully next year will be a little easier with them both at the same school, but I doubt it.

Farmstead 2016

We love going to the Farmstead Corn Maze.  Michael couldn't join us this year, as he is incredibly busy at work, so the kids and I took a Friday afternoon and headed out.

They had a new ride called the Bee Line this year.  My kids were pretty stoked.  I may have even gone on it a time or four.

We didn't know the purpose of this giant ball game. The kids tried to play a volleyball-type game and lots of people ended up knocked over.  It was fantastic.

Libby gave her all to the tug-of-war game.

Grace and Sam put forth all their effort as well.  Ethan was still able to beat them all.
It's important to note I can still beat him, though; very important.

The kids humoring me with a photo op.

You never are too big to ride the cow train.

Never too big.  Ethan now stands taller than me even when I am wearing heels.  But he managed to cram himself onto this toddler size ride.  He wouldn't look at the camera though. 

 Gunny sack slide!

Kids can I please get a nice picture of you on the hayride?  The answer is "Nope!  I will lick my sibling."