Monday, November 9, 2026

October extras

October was a full month! It consisted of field trips, school projects, Halloween events, closing out the soccer season, and hanging with friends.

Bonnie had an exciting surprise mystery reader in her class, 'Auntie' Mollie (her cousins' actual aunt). 

We went to the Chapel birthday party at church which was a great time.

The kids helped Benny make his annual scarecrow.

Friends have come over for pizza Friday.

Riser made a friend at the bus stop and was invited to his first birthday party - dino themed.

We've had fun playing outside enjoying the fall weather.

We continue to get pictures from Riser's preschool where it looks like he's having fun!

He helped me wash the dishes one day. Need to do this more often.

We celebrated mom's birthday!

We did some art projects outside.

Riser has also helped me make bread.

On one particularly rainy day we went to a new indoor play place and the kids had a blast. We stayed for hours and they still didn't want to leave (it helped they ran into friends to play with). 

Bonnie has been reading so well! We went to the library one day for their monthly 'PAWS to read' event where kids can go read to dogs. Bonnie absolutely loved it. She read to as many dogs as she could.

She also did a pumpkin book report and chose The Rainbow Fish. 

We went to a friend's softball game.

Riser's class lead chapel one day so I got to go watch.

Bonnie has been loving her class.

We went to Busch Gardens for Howl-o-Scream one day. It was super crowded but a lot of fun. 

Bonnie and I have crafted together. 

Benny taught Riser how to fold when he was packing for his trip. He went to San Diego to surprise his sister for her 40th. 

I took the kids to use their pizza coupons from the library.

We carved pumpkins. Riser wanted a dinosaur and Bonnie wanted to do it all on her own. She made a couple small pictures - a heart, a witch, and a pumpkin.


It was a great month!

Thursday, November 5, 2026

Halloween

This year I was on my own with the kids for Halloween. Benny was out in San Diego visiting with his family. Thankfully we had great neighbors to trick-or-treat with so there were extra eyes on the kids. 

They have a trailer they attach to their golf cart to tow the kids around at times. For the most part the kids just ran the streets, but it was nice toward the end of the night when everyone was ready to get home. 

The whole crew!

This house is known for some of the best decorations and often hiring a DJ. The kids had a lot of fun dancing in the fog.

We soaked in every minute of the full 2 hours and then headed home to check out their loot!

Lots of DIY pumpkins by the kids this year.

We found out the day after Halloween the kids could each pick out 2 lbs of candy to donate to Great Wolf Lodge for their Treats for the Troops candy drive. They were able to turn it in to get free waterpark passes. I was thankful to get some of it out of the house and they still had so much to keep!

Happy Halloween!