This blog post will cover the whole month of October except for our family photo session and Halloween-related festivities. I’ll cover those in separate posts. October was the most normal month of school we’ve had all year so far! Brooklyn and Savannah were able to go to school 5 days a week for the entire month, and it was great for all of us.
Other than seeing some of the kids still wearing their masks as they walk down the sidewalk, it almost feels like normal times picking the girls up from school in the afternoon. We love our walker friends!
Coloring sheet for Savannah’s bible class lesson on Jesus feeding the 5,000
On October 2nd, Savannah and I went to her friend Chloe’s birthday party after school. It was Frozen themed and a fun afternoon! I’m pretty sure this was the first friend party either of the girls had been to since before the pandemic started.
The girls had fun hunting for gems in the backyard, eating cake, and watching Chloe open her gifts. Brooklyn was so sweet to send a gift with us for Chloe to open…a Build-A-Bear that was wearing a Frozen shirt. I think Brooklyn had gotten it a couple of years ago and never really played with it too much, so she decided to share it with Chloe instead since Chloe was obviously a Frozen fan. I thought that was so sweet!
We had a fun time at the party!
Savannah’s soccer team had a doubleheader on October 3rd…and they actually wore their red jerseys for the only time this season.
Savannah scored a goal in the first game that day! It was her 2nd goal of the season. The girls played hard and had fun!
Cici and the Loveless family also came to watch the games! Savannah had her own little cheering section, and Brooklyn and Abigail enjoyed playing and reading with their cousins.
Savannah is definitely figuring out what to do and getting more confident each week. She says she is enjoying it and looks forward to the games each week!
Our fall break was October 5th-9th, and the girls wanted to spend some time painting that Monday morning.
Abigail would love to paint with real paint like her big sisters, but I haven’t gotten brave enough for that yet. So she usually uses a paint-with-water book instead.
Having lots of fun!
We did some fun hairstyles over fall break too since we had more time…
We are not girly girls around here by any means, but it is fun to do something different with their hair every once in a while!
On October 6th, we met Emily and her girls at the neighborhood playground to play for a little while. They are homeschooling this year, and we’ve missed seeing them on a regular basis so much. It was good to get together!
Abigail had so much fun that she fought her nap and then fell asleep sitting up against her will…haha
I think this is Savannah’s drawing of Jesus walking on the water…
On October 7th, we met Kirsten and her girls at Kids Kingdom to play for a little while. Brooklyn always loves seeing her friend, Avery.
We went right after lunch, and I probably should have left Abigail at home to nap while Travis was working. She was pretty whiny the whole time we were there. I hated to leave her at home though because I knew she would sad to miss out on the fun. I feel like we are getting so close to being able to go and do fun things without worrying about naptime. Abigail isn’t napping every day anymore (she fights it pretty bad!), but is still pretty cranky on the days she doesn’t nap.
Felicity is on Savannah’s soccer team, so they had fun playing together too.
From October 8th-10th, Travis and I went on a couples trip with the Lovelesses, Smiths, and Dvoraks. We had been planning a trip with the group for over a year. We were originally going to go to the beach, but ended up changing plans due to the pandemic. Instead, we decided to stay for 2 nights at the Magnolia House B&B in Franklin, TN. It only had 4 bedrooms, so we basically had the house to ourselves. All of the bedrooms were upstairs and there was a nice sunroom with windows all around where we played Code Names both nights. It was such a fun trip! I haven’t laughed that much or that hard in a long time.
We went out to eat at Meridee’s on Thursday night and Stoney River on Friday night. During the day on Friday, the guys played golf and the girls got pedicures and walked around downtown Franklin and did some shopping. It was so fun just walking around and browsing. The stores were all pretty expensive, but had so many cute things. If money were no object, I would have bought several things ;) Alisha fell in love at this plant store…she is definitely a plant lady at heart!
On Saturday before heading home, we went to Nate and Becky’s house to hang out with them for a bit. It was such a fun couple of days. This was our first time to hang out with friends (in close proximity) since before the pandemic. Since March, we had really only spent time with family and that’s been it.
I came home feeling recharged and refreshed. We laughed so much reminiscing over old times. So many shenanigans by those guys in high school/college! :) I feel like it’s easy to lose your identity when you become a mom because that’s what you do all day, every day. There’s not usually much time for friends during a normal week. It was nice to feel like “Erin” for 48 hours and come home so happy. This year has just been a downer for pretty much everyone, and the trip was just what we needed. Sidenote: It was also interesting to see the difference in Tennessee vs. Alabama in terms of the pandemic response. There were lots of people not wearing masks inside stores and gas stations, and we even saw one sign at a business that said, “Please take your mask off…we want to see your smile.” Totally different vibe than here in north Alabama! Thankfully, we all managed to come home healthy and well, and we have already been talking about doing another trip together in a year or two.
The girls stayed at Cici’s house for those 2 nights and were apparently well behaved. We were glad to see them when we got home, and I think they were glad to see us too ;)
Savannah’s drawing of the transfiguration for her bible class
Mrs. Curry surprised the kids in her class after they came back from fall break with desk transformations. The desks went from construction vehicles to barns (which fit with the farm animal theme they were going to be learning about)…too cute!!
Little Farmer Savannah!! :)
I finally got some of my favorite pictures of the girls framed and hung in the dining room. I’m excited about how they turned out!
Water always tastes better when it’s in someone else’s cup ;)
Cheese!
Abigail started getting interested in soccer after watching Savannah play…
She looks like a natural already ;)
I loved how Savannah wanted to copy the title of this lesson all by herself :)
Sweet girl cuddling with her stuffed animal, Lizzie, during her nap…
Brooklyn made this robot out of blocks of hundreds, tens, and ones at school…
On October 16th, we met Emily and her kids at the neighborhood playground again. It was so cute to watch Addie and Abigail having fun together!
Savannah’s team had another game on October 17th. Most of their games started at 8:30 AM, so we were up bright and early most Saturdays.
Savannah scored her 3rd goal of the season today! She is having so much fun out there, even though they have lost every game this season ;) She doesn’t know that though. She is running hard and getting better at trying to kick the ball away from the other team. Sometimes she kicks it in the wrong direction, but she’ll figure that out in time I’m sure. She has a big booming kick! She is saying she wants to play soccer until she’s 11 or maybe 7…haha
So proud of our girl!
“The Mission of the 70”
Alisha hosted all of us for Sunday lunch on October 18th to celebrate Cici’s birthday and my birthday. She and Melissa made a delicious chocolate cake for dessert. Everything they made was so good.
Happy birthday to us! :)
Savannah’s last practice of the season was on October 20th. Hard to believe the season went by so quickly!
Tea time with Princess Abigail :)
Travis surprised me with these beautiful flowers for my birthday. He doesn’t get me flowers too often, so I was truly surprised when he was out running errands and came home with these. I thought they were so pretty!
Savannah made me two sweet cards for my birthday…
I liked how she sounded out the words and spelled everything herself on this one: “Happy birthday to you, Mommy. I hope you have a great birthday.” :)
…and Brooklyn made 2 treasure hunts for me for my birthday! The first led to a “sweet jar” she’d made out of a recycled can….haha
It had a card and some Halloween candy inside.
The 2nd treasure hunt led to a granola bar box that she had drawn a robot face on…
She told me it was a “comfort robot” to comfort me while she was away at school ;) I love her creativity and thoughtfulness!
Ghost spelling (with a white crayon) is more fun than regular spelling.
Got my hair cut shorter on October 22nd! I was excited about how it turned out…
Abigail loves to scooter around in our driveway. It’s pretty steep going down to the road (one of my pet peeves about our house), but thankfully we have a large flat area at the top that’s nice for bike riding and scootering :)
Savannah made the cutest farm animals to decorate her desk with at school. I love how Mrs. Curry is always coming up with different crafts for the kids to do. She definitely makes kindergarten so much fun!
Savannah’s last soccer game of the season was on October 24th! It rained lightly to moderately the whole game, but that didn’t stop them from playing. Usually if the fields are wet at all, they will cancel the game, but I think for the last Saturday of the season, they just allow the teams to play no matter how wet it is. Abigail was prepared with her rain boots and an umbrella :)
Savannah scored the team’s only goal (I think it was her 4th goal of the season) today. She ran hard and fast and did her best out there. I’m so proud of her for trying a new activity like soccer and having fun with it!
Even though the Fast Foxes never won a game (Savannah never even asked about that or seemed to have a clue that one team won or lost each time), they had fun and learned a lot. She is already signed up for spring soccer, so she definitely enjoyed it enough to want to play again!
After the game, the girls each got a medal…
…and did one more team cheer. It was a great first season!
I liked this artwork that Brooklyn made about things that she loves :)
She also made a card for Travis and me celebrating “Daddy Day” and “Mommy Day” ;)
October 26th-30th was Red Ribbon Week at school, which always involves dress up days. Monday was “dress like a tourist” day, so Brooklyn wore a Disney shirt.
It makes me happy that Mrs. Borys jumps in the pictures too from time to time…
Brooklyn enjoyed painting pottery after school that day at art class!
On Tuesday, they were supposed to wear groovy clothes or tie dye. Savannah decided to dress up today too (she wore regular clothes on Monday).
Brooklyn posing with a project she made at school…
…and all of her groovy classmates :)
While the big girls were at school, I took Abigail to the library to pick up some books. They aren’t doing story time these days due to the pandemic, but they do have little craft bags that the kids can take home. So we made a monster later in the day. She was proud of it!
On Wednesday, the kids were supposed to wear a hat and fun socks to school!
That was also the day that Brooklyn’s “pumpkin book report” was due. She was supposed to choose a book and write a report about it and also decorate a pumpkin to look like the main character in the book.
Brooklyn chose a Pete the Cat book and decorated the pumpkin with very little help from me. She drew the face and painted it basically by herself. I thought she did a great job!
Brooklyn had to present her book report to the class, and she said it went well…
She also showed off her fun socks and hat for a picture with some of the other girls in the class :)
On Thursday, the girls were supposed to wear athletic/exercise clothes. Definitely their favorite type of clothes to wear anyway! ;)
So silly!
Mrs. Borys really knocked it out of the park this month with all the pictures she took at school. I love it!
Cute little laundry helper…
…and cool kid on her scooter.
On October 29th, Paw and Rae Rae came up to celebrate my birthday. They got here just in time to walk to school to pick up Brooklyn and Savannah with me. Brooklyn came out of school so excited because her tooth was super loose and was about to come out. It didn’t take her long after we got home before she’d pulled it out. Tooth #7! It had been several months since the last tooth had come out, so she was extra excited this time :)
Savannah enjoyed reading a book with Rae Rae, and Abigail hogged all of Paw’s attention for most of the afternoon ;)
Mom and Dad gave me a t-shirt quilt for my birthday with lots of t-shirts from high school and college. It turned out so cute and I was surprised (even though I knew she was having it made, I didn’t even think of getting it for my birthday!). I love it!
Brooklyn always leaves a note for the tooth fairy under her pillow. This one said, “Thank you for always giving me dollars when I lose my teeth. I thank you again. Love, Brooklyn” :)
On Friday, they were supposed to dress like their favorite book character! Brooklyn’s Pete the Cat costume that I made for her in 1st grade still fit, and Savannah loves Pete just as much as Brooklyn. So I made her a matching costume ;) Savannah said everyone in her class liked her Pete costume and they called her Pete all day!
I made Brooklyn’s headband a little bigger because her head has grown since last year, but apparently I made it a little too big because it looks like it was slipping down over her eyes at school…
Mrs. Borys had a fun math competition for the kids to do in groups that day, and Brooklyn was excited that her team won.
I loved how Savannah wore her Pete headband all the way home that afternoon :)
Notes and Quotes from October:
- 10/3/20 – Abigail has figured out how to pedal the little red tricycle we have. Dr. Dudley told me at her checkup that it was a “3 year old skill” and she would probably learn how soon, and sure enough, she’s figured it out!
- 10/10/20 – Travis was praying with Abigail at bedtime, and in the middle of his prayer, Abigail butted in and said, “In Jesus name, Amen!” Then she said, “I interupp-ed” Haha! I guess his prayer was taking too long! ;)
- 10/14/20 – First words out of Brooklyn’s mouth when she came home from school today were: “I hit the jackpot of boys! All the boys like me except for Jack. Now I just have to decide which one to choose.” Oh boy…haha. So we had a discussion about boys and which type of boy to choose as a “boyfriend”. After our discussion, she decided it would just be easier to be friends with all the boys instead. That was my goal of the discussion! ;)
- 10/20/20 – Abigail says “P-cuz” instead of “because”. It’s so cute!
- 10/26/20 – One of my favorite things about Savannah being in school this year is that whenever I drop the girls off in carline in the mornings, Savannah always looks back and waves to me before she heads toward the building. And in the afternoons when we walk home from school, she will usually hold my hand at least part of the way and tell me all about her day. Soaking it all up!
- This month, we went back to bible class at church in person for the first time since March! I was a little nervous about it not knowing how seriously the teachers and other parents were taking COVID precautions, but we also felt pretty strongly that it was important for the girls to be there and not miss out.
- 10/27/20 – Abigail and I were walking across the parking lot to go in Dollar Tree, and a couple of women were walking out of the store at the same time. Abigail shouted, “OOOH, BLUE HAIR!!” very loudly…haha. Yes, one of the ladies had bright blue hair. I’m sure she heard my toddler’s excited reaction ;)
- 10/28/20 – Abigail and I were driving in really hard raining this morning, and Abigail called to me, “Turn it down, Mommy!” Wish I could! :)
Thanks for reading!!
