2024 :: week 42

October 13

Miles' primary teacher sent this picture of his class, holding pictures of Jesus. I don't know why, but in every group we are in the boys outnumber the girls by a lot. Grandkids, school classes, church classes, even our own family!

October 14

Monday the kids had another day off school. Lauren hung out with Ariana, and Miles & Elliott went to the Ules for a bit. That night we made our annual pilgrimage to Shaake's Pumpkin Patch in Lawrence, Kansas. We've gone *almost* every year since 2010. Over the years the roads have gotten better and it takes us less time to get there. I couldn't believe how tall the kids were this year! We had fun looking for a few pumpkins, doing the maze, and playing on the playground. On the way home we stopped at the Costco Food Court for dinner.

October 15

Tuesday was the end of season tournament for the instructional volleyball league Lauren has been participating in at Indian Woods this year. The girls meet twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays to "learn" and then scrimmage against each other. Lauren would have preferred if there was a little more instruction and grouping of kids by ability, but she still had a good time. She was definitely one of the best players in the instructional league, though she seemed hesitant to try too hard.  

October 16

My dad got an infection on his leg that worked its way into his system and he had to be hospitalized for sepsis a few days this week. I spent the nights with my mom, just to be safe. She can get around and do a lot of things by herself now, but it is nice to have a second adult to help prepare food, and in case of accident. My family was pretty flexible with my not being around at nights or before school for a few days.

October 17

On Thursday I met with Mrs. Phipps to discuss Miles (routine parent-teacher conference). She said he is doing awesome! He has already met most of the literacy and number goals for the school year, so she is giving him a packet with challenge work to do. She said he is extremely responsible and helps his classmates get their stuff picked up and put away correctly at the end of the day. He gets along well with others and does a pretty good job of listening and not talking out of turn. From my perspective it seemed like Miles was really thriving in school, so it was rewarding to hear from his teacher that my feeling was right.

October 18

These frozen chocolate strawberries have been a Lauren-favorite this month! Nana enjoyed them too, and while they were in town Papa went to Costco to buy a few more bags because they were consumed at a pretty fast rate.

October 19

The Storm played their last game of the season Saturday. We were proud of Lauren for participating and persevering with a team she didn't love to continue playing soccer. We will always remember the assistant coach and his sassy daughter, and his totally out of place and occasionally offensive comments. After the game we went to Red Robin for dinner to celebrate Lauren's upcoming birthday!