October

How can it already be November? Yesterday, the Mr heard Christmas music playing in one of the stores already! Wait! I am so not ready for that holiday yet!
Looking back at October - what a full, and fun month that was. We took some time to recover from the Mr's exciting scary adventure on the mountain. And then we jumped right back into the busy everyday life we have. The older kids ran their cross country meets, taking their times down at each meet. This girl placed 6th in pre-districts. I was so bursting proud of her. This is the girl who once told me, about 4 years ago, "I'm just not that athletic." I think the past few seasons of basketball, swimming, and now running, have proven that so wrong.

The Girl who Swims (and Runs) also had a birthday this month.

15.
How am I going to keep up?

The Boy also did super in cross country, placing 19th for his district, and also breaking his personal best. I love watching my kids do well each week, and push for more.
The Boy is also starting to check out colleges. Gulp,I'm so not ready for THAT season either! He went to a college fair, and now is getting all kinds of mail from various universities around the world. His sister liked the sound of Dublin college, but I doubt my boy is going to wander that far away from home the first year.
We harvested a truckload, or two, of pumpkins this month also; we were able to sell some, and my front porch area was a beautiful display or oranges, white, and yellows.

We carved our pumpkins at home this year. Usually we go to my brother's house for a great big carving party, but due to illness and homework and rain, we stayed home. And the younger two got their hands into it deeply.

Halloween was very wet. Extremely rainy. Surprise, it's Oregon. We were debating whether we would take the younger ones out to knock on doors and haul in candy. We decided to do it, with the understanding that the 'normal' costumes they wanted to wear would not be happening this time. They had to wear boots, rain pants and a jacket in order to go out. So they went as skiers. The older one decided to go as Where's Waldo; so it all worked nicely, and we hauled in some lovely chocolate for me to eat, us to share.

Basketball season has started for our 7th grader! The Girl Chef is now playing basketball for her school. So far she seems to like it. They had their first game last night, and won. The Chef even shot a basket. Although it did not go in, I was just super happy that she got the ball and, without hesitating, took the open shot.
And with that I am looking forward to the next months when there will be even more basketball - the Boy, and Little K will be starting up theirs soon; and there will be swimming meets, and 4-H; ah, yes, it's a crazy busy life, and I wouldn't have it otherwise.