We spent the first few days of October in Gulf Shores for fall break. We hit the ground running when we got back home…October is always so busy! Here’s the recap of the rest of the month:
The words of the NICU nurse right after Abigail was born continue to be prophetic: “This one’s got some spunk, Dad!” :)
We rarely go grocery shopping on Sundays, but we needed to get a few things after getting back from our beach trip. Savannah sadly discovered that her legs are too long for the car carts at Publix ;)
Back to school and straight to handwriting boot camp :)
Lots of fun playing basketball and riding bikes on October 8th after school…
October 9th was a House Day/half day of school, and it was also Rock Your School decorating day. This year was a little different because I had my very own assistant–Brooklyn! I asked her if she’d like to help me decorate at the school because she always enjoyed RYS when she was at Mill Creek, and she said yes. She likes crafty stuff and decorating, so this was right up her alley. We didn’t help in any of the main hallways, but we did help Mrs. Pride and Mrs. Davidson with some decorating. Brooklyn really enjoyed getting to help, and it was fun to do it together.
The theme for Rock Your School this year was “Adventure Awaits Under the Sea”. Here are just a few pictures of some of the decorations from the main hallways. The volunteers did an amazing job, and everything turned out so great!!
The girls were so excited the next day to go to school. Savannah wore her dolphin shirt from the beach, and Abigail wore a seahorse shirt and a fish hat that she made herself :)
Mrs. Pride chose an otter theme for her room specifically and designed her lesson plans around otters. Her class had a special snack and a lot of fun while they were learning. Abigail loved it!
All of the RYS volunteers got to see a video of the kids walking into the rotunda for the first time that morning, and it was so neat to see Savannah’s reaction. She walked in and looked around before turning back toward the stairs, and then she grabbed her friend Taylor’s hand to pull her in for a closer look. Brooklyn and I helped decorated the science lab windows for Mrs. Davidson and Mrs. Prevatt (who both teach 4th grade science), and then a couple of other moms helped decorate the doors. We were trying to make it look like port holes on a ship or submarine. I thought it turned out great! Savannah had a fun day and enjoyed the activities and decorations.
Savannah’s friend, Macie, walked home with us on October 11th, and the girls enjoyed hanging out and playing for a while after school.
On October 12th, I took Brooklyn to her game at 8:30 am at Palmer 10. Coach Theresa and Diana were out of town today, so Julie, the assistant coach, was in charge. Brooklyn’s team was playing a team they’d beaten 5-1 earlier in the season. This time, they ended up losing 1-5. Brooklyn sat out the 1st quarter and played the rest of the game. It seemed like the team was really missing Diana today. Brooklyn tried her best, but her team just didn’t have enough offensive firepower today. Brooklyn scored her team’s only goal with her left foot on a nice shot! It was a hard loss, but hopefully next week will go better.
We hurried over to Dublin to catch the end of Abigail and Savannah’s games. They were both playing at 9:30 on fields 3 and 4 side by side. Travis set up his chair right in the corner of field 4 by the fence and was able to watch both games going on with his head on a swivel…haha. There was a lot of scoring that happened before we got there! In Abigail’s game, both teams scored so many goals that we lost count. She thought it ended in a 9-9 tie. Abigail said she scored 4 goals today! She also accidentally scored one on her own goal when she was trying to kick it away from the other team 😉 She played hard! Savannah’s team won in a blowout. The final score ended up being 12-0. Savannah scored one goal toward the end of the game and had a couple of assists. I don’t think they were trying to run the score up that much, but the other team just wasn’t much competition this time.
That afternoon, I took Abigail to Harper’s birthday party. It was Harry Potter themed, which she didn’t know anything about, but she still had a lot of fun!
Savannah also had a birthday party to go to that afternoon for Chloe. It was a mystery themed party, and it sounded like so much fun!
On October 13th, we drove down to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens for a family photo session with Paw, Rae Rae, and the Bares family. It was a bit nuts trying to get there – I dropped a bottle of nail polish while getting ready that splashed all over me and our bathroom floor, and then there was bad traffic on the way down. But once we finally got there, everything went well ;) The photographer did a great job!
Here are some of my favorites :)
On October 14th, I had the opportunity to go on a field trip with Savannah to Huntsville Utilities. I wasn’t sure how interesting it would be, but it actually was pretty interesting and educational. We learned a lot! One highlight included seeing one of the teachers go up in the bucket on the bucket truck. We also saw someone demonstrate how to climb up and down a power pole. Apparently they train for this and have to be able to climb up and down in 4 minutes or less in case of an emergency rescue. In the training yard, we learned that squirrels are the most common cause of power outages, and we saw what happens if a lineman works with faulty gloves or boots or if a squirrel eats through a line. Savannah wasn’t a big fan of the loud noise from the explosion 😉 We also learned about water and natural gas and how they get to our houses. They even provided Domino’s pizza for everyone, and the kids got to take home a little squirrel stuffed animal and sticker. It was a great field trip!
We stopped to write with chalk on the walk to school on October 15th :)
Abigail made some cool flowers during morning free time this month.
A local author named Carter Hamric came to visit the 1st grade classes on October 15th as well. He has written two books that are designed to be sung, and he read and sang them to the 1st graders that morning. He also played the ukulele! He told them what it’s like to be an author and how books are made. Abigail came home singing the songs that afternoon! :)
We all wore our bracelets in memory of Payton on October 16th…
Abigail earned her “chapter book license” this month after successfully reading all of her sight words and was thrilled to check out her first chapter book from the school library!
Savannah had a couple of morning appointments this month where she checked in late to school, which gave us a little extra quality time together. We played Battleship one morning and went to the playground another time.
Sweet friends!
Savannah’s team scrimmaged Liv’s team at practice on October 17th. We were hoping they would end up on the same team, but at least they still got to see each other several times throughout the season.
“Let’s take a picture in our matching Alabama sweatshirts” :)
Brooklyn made this Vision Board for AVID. It includes a lot of different things she envisions for her future ;) Notable things are that she wants to live in Florida and become a zoologist who works with dolphins. She says she’ll make about $19,000 per year :)
Abigail’s class learned about how letters blend together to make sounds and dressed up as chefs to practice.
Savannah and Abigail got to eat lunch in the library one day this month with cookies for dessert because they met their reading goals for the first 9 weeks of the year.
We celebrated Cici’s birthday on October 18th at our house…
October 19th was another busy soccer Saturday with all 3 games overlapping. Brooklyn and Savannah had team pictures before their games, and Travis took them to their games. Savannah’s started at 9:45 am on Palmer 8 and Brooklyn’s was at 10 am on Palmer 10. Travis was able to stand in between the fields and watch some of both games at the same time. Savannah and Gabriella sat out the first quarter, and the other team scored 3 quick goals. But once Savannah and Gabriella came in, the other team never scored again. The Purple Panthers scored 5 consecutive goals to win the game! Savannah scored 2, and I think Gabriella scored 2 as well. Gabriella scored one of her goals directly off a corner kick! No one touched it before it went straight into the net!
Brooklyn’s team played Lilliana’s team again, and this time it was a little closer. They still lost 0-1, but they had a couple of good chances to score. Brooklyn had one shot that hit off the post. Travis said the Speed Demons played really hard today. Brooklyn also received a game coin from the referee after the game for being honest. Apparently at one point the ref didn’t see who the ball last touched when it went out, and Brooklyn was honest and told him it went off her foot. So proud of her for that! The girls had Cici and the Loveless crew there to watch them in addition to Travis.
Meanwhile, I took Abigail to her game at 10:15 at Dublin 4. Her team was playing a former teammate from her first soccer season named Abi. Abigail also sat out the first quarter, and her team was down 0-2 at halftime. They tied it up in the 3rd quarter and briefly took the lead when Abigail scored to make it 3-2. However, they ended up losing 3-6 by the end of the game. Abigail was disappointed that she “only” scored one goal after scoring 4 last week…haha.
That afternoon at 1 pm, we went with Cici and the Loveless crew to see The Wizard of Oz at the Fantasy Playhouse. The girls had never seen the movie and didn’t know anything about the storyline, but we all really enjoyed it. It was one of my favorite shows we’ve seen…maybe tied with Charlotte’s Web. Abigail was a little afraid of the Wicked Witch of the West during the show and wanted to sit in my lap, but afterward she got her autograph 😉 We got autographs from several of the main characters. Savannah was wearing her Alabama sweatshirt and we got several “Roll Tides” from the cast members, including the Wizard himself!
My birthday was on a Sunday this year, and I turned 38! We celebrated at Cici’s house for lunch.
Savannah was sick on October 21st and stayed home from school. We spent a little time that afternoon getting her under-bed storage drawers all organized. It’s amazing how much stuff can fit in there!
This was bizarre. I had several friends contact me after seeing this post on Facebook about a card addressed to me from Baugay. She mailed me a birthday card, and someone found it at the edge of a sewer drain and wanted to try to get it to me. I reached out to him, and we realized that he found it down Slaughter Road not too far from where Baugay lives. The only thing we could figure is that the mail lady picked it up, and then it blew out of her mail truck while she was on her route?? Who knows. It definitely had visible tire tracks on it from being run over…haha. The guy was nice enough to hand deliver it to my mailbox though to make sure it got to me. It was a nice reminder that there are still a lot of good people in this world!
Brooklyn’s team played a makeup game that night from a game that was supposed to be played during fall break. It was against a team they’d beaten earlier in the season 3-2. This time, her team lost 1-4. They again just didn’t have enough offensive firepower tonight. They had some chances to score that just didn’t go in. Brooklyn was pretty frustrated after the game, but I thought she played great. There’s only so much she can do as one player on the team :)
Abigail and her Yellow House classmates got to have inflatable recess on October 22nd. She had a blast!
We saw a car on the way home from the beach with this bumper sticker on the back, and it stuck with me after that. Without getting too political, it summed up exactly how I was feeling about the upcoming presidential election and the candidates we had to choose from.
Abigail’s class got to visit the science lab to work on a STEM activity: building with toothpicks and marshmallows.
I took Savannah and Abigail to Mill Creek’s Trunk or Treat on October 24th while Travis took Brooklyn to her soccer practice. This was the girls’ first time of a few times to get to wear their Halloween costumes. Abigail decided to dress up as Ariel this year, and Savannah wanted to be Rey from Star Wars. They enjoyed seeing several friends while we were there and loved seeing several of their past and current teachers. I loved the 1st grade teachers’ Barbie trunk….Mr. Blackburn was a good sport as the only male 1st grade teacher, and he dressed up as Ken….haha!
On October 26th, the girls had their final games of the regular season. Savannah and Abigail both played at 9:30 am on side-by-side fields (Dublin 3 and 4), so we were able to catch both at the same time. The girls had quite the fan club today! Sarah and her whole crew came, as well as Paw, Rae Rae, Cici, Phil, and Gigi. Abigail was eating up all the attention…haha. She scored several goals, and her team had a fun last game. She gave Coach G and Coach J a hug after the game, which was so sweet. It was a really fun season, and she enjoyed getting to know her new teammates and coaches.
Savannah’s team played a team they’d beaten earlier in the season, but this time it was much closer. The Panthers went down 0-2 before Gabriella scored 2 goals to tie it up. Savannah had been sick at the beginning of the week, and hadn’t practiced all week due to a lingering cough and trunk or treat at school, so she seemed a little off this morning. She still did her best, and we were proud of her! The other team scored a goal in the last minute of the game to win it, so the Panthers ended up losing 2-3. Savannah was disappointed and felt like it was her fault, but we tried to assure her that she did her best, and that’s what counts.
From there, we headed to Palmer 7 to watch Brooklyn’s team play at 11:30. Her team played a team they’d hadn’t played yet this season, and they had several girls who could dribble and shoot well. We could tell from the beginning it was going to be a tough game. Brooklyn played her absolute best and gave it everything she had, but her team just couldn’t hang. They ended up losing 0-3, and it would have been a lot worse than that if Brooklyn hadn’t played so hard. She played almost the entire game even though it was pretty hot, and she only came out in the 4th quarter when she was so exhausted she needed a break. We were super proud of how hard she tried!!
Abigail needed a power nap that afternoon because the day wasn’t over yet!
We went to the Hoods’ Halloween party that night and had a lot of fun. Brooklyn wanted to be Sophie Foster from her favorite book series (Keeper of the Lost Cities), so we created her costume from scratch. The other girls wore their same costumes from Trunk or Treat, although Abigail ditched her red wig ;) Savannah came up just short of winning the “best individual costume” prize. I had fun helping with the “Fishing in the Dead Sea” game. Graham got back there with me and attached his hat to the line when Savannah was “fishing”…haha. The look on her face was priceless. Caitlyn knows how to throw a fantastic party!
We had not one but two family photo sessions this month. Travis’s side of the family had pictures made with Carla on Sunday, October 27th in the afternoon. We actually met her at her house because there is a field nearby that looks really pretty in the fall with the leaves changing. It was easy and convenient, and Carla did a great job as usual. I think this was our best session yet with Travis’s family. The kids are all old enough to smile genuinely for pictures, and we got some really good ones!
Savannah was happy to eat with Gabriella and her mom on October 28th for lunch.
Abigail’s class went to a fire safety presentation by the Madison Fire Department that day as well…
1st grade had their Dinner at the Mill that evening, and Abigail’s class along with a few others performed two songs in Spanish. The theme was “What I Want to Be When I Grow Up.” Abigail decided she wants to be a baker (sounds familiar), so she wore an apron and chef’s hat, and we called it good. She did a great job on stage, and she was excited to show off her self-portrait in the gym afterward.
October 29th was Disney Tourist day for Red Ribbon Week…
October 30th was “Dress Like a Movie Star day” for Red Ribbon Week :)
Abigail’s class also visited the book fair that morning, which is always exciting.
I don’t get many pictures of Brooklyn at middle school, but this one popped up on Facebook of her AVID class. They participated in a FlexFactor program this semester, which meant creating next-gen hardware concepts and business models, all leading up to a “shark-tank” style pitch. Brooklyn’s group came up with a hearing aid type device that translates other languages to you in real time :)
Journey Middle had Basketball Spirit Week the same week as Red Ribbon Week. I’m sure every middle schooler’s favorite dress up day was Pajama Day ;)
Savannah and Abigail helped me peel and cut cucumbers for our dinner that evening.
October 31st was Movie Character Day. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of princesses in 1st grade ;)
It literally hadn’t rained the entire month, and wouldn’t you know it started raining on Halloween night? :) We planned to meet up at 5:45 pm with the Johnson family and Sarah and her girls, and when we stepped outside, it was super windy like the rain was about to blow in. Sure enough, we only made it to a couple of houses before it started to rain. It rained off and on the whole time we were trick or treating. The girls used umbrellas some of the time, but eventually decided to just go without them. One of my favorite moments was when Abigail informed me that she was a mermaid and mermaids live in the water, so they don’t need umbrellas…haha. Despite the rain, we had a really fun time! The girls each collected a full bucket of candy. At a couple of houses with scary decorations, it was so sweet that Kate and Chloe offered to get a piece of candy for Abigail while she waited at the sidewalk. We saw lots of people trick or treating in cars tonight because of the rain (more so than usual), but we ended up walking the whole way and stayed out there for probably close to 1.5 hours!
The girls (and Travis) were soaked by the time we got back to our house. We ended up having them leave their wet costumes in the garage and head straight to the shower to get cleaned up and dried off. Then the candy eating and trading could begin 😉 We sadly learned that not all candy holds up well in the rain…like M&Ms. Travis likes playing “festive” music on Halloween when we get back to the house, so we had an impromptu dance party listening to songs like Thriller and Monster Mash. We made some memories for sure and came home with full buckets and happy hearts!
