Wrapping up November!

So here it is, the last day of November, tomorrow we start the advent calendars.  As we all know, time will be accelerating these next 3 weeks and so I take this 1/2 hour to clean out my November pictures.   

On November 12th, Chance was in a play at the school called "Tall Tales"-- he was in the chorus, although he did tryout for Paul Bunyan.  I have a picture on my flash drive that I will add later of the play.  A few things to note.   Chance had to go to school early on Wednesdays for 6 weeks for rehearsals.   For the evening performance he made himself a little hobo pack on a stick.  He had a harmonica, some money, a cliff bar, and a capri sun wrapped into the red bandanna.  

In November I scheduled physicals for Jordan, Chance, and I.   Jordan's appt. I had to cancel as he could not miss some important classes that day.   Myself, surprise-- my blood was tested and my iron is low-- remember my post earlier about being turned away from the blood bank and craving ice.   Should be an easy fix, I am taking 2 iron pills a day for the next two months.  Chance's appointment was also informative.  The vision screening indicated he has some impairment.    We visited the opthamologist later in the week.  It is confirmed, my Chance needs glasses in a big way.  He kept telling me he was not going to wear them, that glasses are for people whose vision is blurry and his is not blurry.  I told him he will be surprised when he wears his glasses and sees how clearly things are.   Today at church he asked me what the hymn number was up front... he could not see it.  We are expecting the glasses anytime. 

We also learned on this same day that he had failed the Auditory Test that his teacher had ordered at the school.   We will be heading to a specialist for his hearing to be tested further.  

Chance also had blood work done.  This is his second time doing it.  It requires bravery.

He is asking me "Did he leave the needle in?"  He is quite concerned because he did not see the needle come out.  Those technicians can be so fast, but you get a kid like mine you better show him the needle or else they get perplexed like this.    Thank goodness Chance trusts his Mom completely and when I say that they took the needle out he believes.

I told him I would take him to lunch-- since he had to fast for the test.   He chose Wendy's and paid with his own gift card.   We had frosties with french fries.  Yummy.  (I do not like ketchup with my fries)

We also wrapped up Jordan's Marching Band season.   In 6 days we watched the band perform 3 times.   They had a free community performance with the other HS on Tuesday, Nov 18.  It was really nice and of all the performances this has to be my favorite.

Here is Chance with his stick he grabbed on the way to the stadium.   

While everyone was gathering we were treated to the drum line drumming!  It was so awesome it gave me chills!   

November 22 and 23, Sat & Sun, was the WBA Finals.   The band did awesome!  They ended up with 6th place and the highest score in school history, 90.33.  They were so happy.   Jordan was home by 8 pm-- he was very sad, marching band season is over.   They march in the Holiday Parade on Saturday-- Scott, Chance, and I will be there-- we will cheer loudly.  They are a great group of a kids and worked hard, hard, hard.  Most of all, they have been my son's family for the last 4 months-- they keep him happy!

Thanksgiving in Yosemite

I wished a Happy Anniversary to Nielson and Kristen early in the month and invited them to join us camping in Yosemite for Thanksgiving. They took us up on the offer and about 3 weeks later we were camping in Hodgdon Meadow. Monday-Travel day, setting up camp and Palmer's birthday. Kristen decorated with balloons and ribbons.  He opened presents and wore Transformer birthday hat.  Chance got a Transformer cube birthday favor- he likes it! Tuesday we went to Yosemite Valley-hit the tourist spots, watched a movie on the Spirit of Yosemite, went to the Indian Museum where Chance and Palmer talked to the Indian lady for a long time. I finally had to make them leave. They started on their Junior Ranger badge.  Wednesday it rained.  We took naps, played games, had yummy sandwiches, and watched lots of movies all while staying warm and dry.  In hindsight we should of gone for a drive to Hetch-Hetchy Dam-- but we did enjoy our lazy day.  Thursday-we cooked the feast in the morning and ate by 1:00.  Invited our neighbor and his family to dine with us- they had other plans, we had lots to share.  We then waddled on a hike in Tuolumne Meadows to see the giant Sequoia Redwoods.  When we got back we had made room for pumpkin pie.   It was dark, cold, and chilly.  I had the boys take showers and get ready for bed.  Nielson and Scott were visiting our neighbor, by the time they returned I had the boys in bed.  Scott opened the door and asked what I was doing, it was only 7:00!  I had no idea, it just seemed like it was time for bedtime.  Jordan read "Twilight" (yes he is reading it by his own free will and choice), Chance and Scott watched a Christmas movie and I visited with Nielson and Kristen in their RV until it was 10:00 pm.  Friday- We break camp, break Palmer's birthday pinata, and say good-byes.  It was a good time that ends too soon.  We all leave with what seems like more food then we came with.  We flexed our Emergency Preparedness skills and had enough for another week.  Really we did, we would just need to stock up on milk down the road other then that we would of been set.   As we unloaded the trailer Scott kept saying,"You had this? and that? and those?  Why did you hide it?"  I didn't, I just had to squeeze it all into the trailer-- it was all there to eat, but really we were already full!

Joy!

Oh,  I can 't fully express to you the joy, the happiness it is to see pictures like this.   In the past month my sister-in-law Kristen, niece Mackenzie, and sister Brenda have started their own blogs.   We do not talk on the phone or email too often, but being able to feast upon their blogs... uplifts me and reminds me daily how much I love my family.  These two pictures are from Brenda's blog--

This is my sister Erica pregnant with her second boy.   I love it and just want to give her tummy a rub, although I would really try not to do that!

My  Dad carving the turkey.  Love his purple shirt, it looks good on him!

Thanks family for blogging-- you make me happy!  :)

Happy Birthday Palmer!

Palmer means Pilgrim

Palmer is my nephew, the son of my brother Nielson and his wife Kristen.   Palmer turned 7 on November 24.  I am a bit belated in this post, however I got to wish him happy birthday in person.   We just spent 4 1/2 days with Palmer and his family camping in Yosemite and eating Thanksgiving dinner together!  For his birthday I fixed him Shrimp Scampi Alfredo (which I had enough to feed all of you also!) and Jordan cooked him a Berry Cobbler.   Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving Day hike to see the Sequoia Redwoods.

Palmer and Chance with their walking sticks

Dallin, Palmer, and Chance on a dead Sequoia... oh but see the tree growing from the bottom of stump on the left of the picture.  Still life growing from this tree.

The long walk UP...

Chance had lots of fun hanging out with Palmer.  He had a pal.  On Wednesday it rained and the kids watched movies and played Lego's in Nielson and Kristen's RV.   Chance and I played Uno with Palmer.   That evening when it was time for Chance to go "home" Palmer asked if Chance could sleepover.  It was too cute.   Palmer was a great friend to Chance, he even stood up to Jordan and told him how he did not think it was very nice for him to hurt Chance.   I was very proud of him for standing up to Jordan and for showing such compassion for Chance.

Now a few words about Palmer's name.  Being that his birthday has fallen on Thanksgiving once and will do so a number of times in the future I found it interesting that his name means Pilgrim.   However, Palmer is a family name and means something different to us.   It is his Dad's middle name and my Grandmothers maiden name.   Our Palmer line goes back to Phebe Draper Palmer Brown (no relation to the Brown- That is her 2nd husband Ebenezer Brown).    She is my forth great-Grandmother and we come through her son Jim Zemira Palmer who married Sally Knight daughter of Joseph Knight.  Ebenezer,Phebe, and her son Zemira were members of the Mormon Battalion.  The name Palmer is a reminder of our legacy, I am glad that Nielson and Kristen choose it for their first born son.  

In a letter Zemira wrote to his sister Sept. 19, 1880-- "There is one thing which seems to be true however.  The Lord is fulfilling His promises.  He has said by the mouths of His prophets that He would send judgments on the wicked and trials on the faithful so that every one that can be shaken will be and those who cannot be shaken shall gain the great reward of eternal life and supreme happiness.  It would be well I think, for everyone to ask themselves the question seriously.  "Can I stand?"

Palmer, always stand strong.  Thanks for sharing your birthday with me.  I love you.  With lots of hugs and kisses,  Aunt Karalene

One of God's Creatures

Last week on Saturday Scott was getting things ready on the Airstream and noticed our "gutter" kitty hanging out in her usual spot, in the gutter between the neighbors and our home.   Scott picked her up and notice how skinny she was.  Much skinnier then when he has picked her up before.    He had Chance bring out food and water to the porch.  She ate a bit of food, but mostly drank water.     Later we came out and she was just sitting by the water dish.    We made a warm bed for her on the porch.  She spent Saturday night there.  We did not see her all day Sunday until that evening when Scott found her in the bed.  She was not doing well.   She had a very stuffy nose and was meowing in pain, a very weak meow.  We decided she needed to go to the animal shelter the next day where they could help her.   Scott brought her into the garage for the night hoping it would be a little  warmer.   She did not last through the night.   It was very sad.   Scott took care of her.  He was very sweet.  He petted her and placed he gently in a box.   I called animal control and they came and got her.   I had planned to take pictures of her on Saturday, regrettably I did not.  I choose not to take pictures of her lifeless body.   We sadly decided she was a stray and felt bad we did not take care of her a while ago.

This is a picture from the Internet of what she kinda looked like-- she was a tabby with multiple  colors,

This is where I would always see her- hence we gave her the name "gutter kitty"   I think she liked the water that drained through the opening.

Her stay in the garage. 

 She had crawled out of the bed with her hind legs still inside,  this is where Chance found her.   Chance checked her first when he got up.  He did not tell me and when I found her later.   Chance said, "I think you should just pour some water on her and she will wake up!"  I had to tell him that she was dead and water would not help.  It was sad

Her box as it awaits for animal control.   The driver wanted to know if we knew who she belonged to.  I was not sure, but thought of a neighbor.   She thought the cat may have had a kidney disease-- because of her thirst for water.   Scott and I thought she may had feline leukemia- because of the runny nose.  Looking online, we decided she was in the last stage- which kidney failure would be a symptom.

I did ask the neighbor if they had a tabby cat.  They were so excited to know that I had found her, they had been looking for her the last few days.   They had planned to take her to the vet on Saturday afternoon and could not find her.   

I awkwardly had to give them the news.   Cats will go off to die,  it looks lke this is what happened.  They were glad she was taken care of up to the end.  

An insightful read on pets using an LDS perspective.   Click here.

All through the house...

As per tradition-- we start setting up for Christmas as bit early around here.   Scott and the boys head this up.  Saturday we pulled all the boxes down from the garage rafters.  Sunday morning Scott and Chance set up the artificial tree.  They are now waiting for me to put the lights on.  Rumor has it that I am the only one in the household with patience enough to do it.  Following the lights getting on the tree-- it will be ready for the trains-- and lots of them.  We will finish the tree decorating after Thanksgiving-- we do that as a family.   Last year we only put up our small tree with no ornaments.  We only put up one train.   We did the minimum as we spent a week at Disneyland for Christmas last year.  Jordan was horribly disappointed last year and he is really looking forward to Christmas at home this year.   I will post about our progress as we go along-- because after all, this is my family journal.  

Up goes the evergreen tree and the kitties think they are in heaven.  Pooh Bear finds a resting place and Smokey eats the pine needles-- artificial of course.  Dumb cat... 

The trains.  

 Jordan is our train boy-- always has been, always will be.   He is so excited to set-up these trains- call,text, email, or facebook him.  Ask him if he still likes trains?  Chance-- he is excited too-- just in a different way.  To him it means Christmas is getting closer.    Me... I am indifferent.   One hand I am happy for my boys and husband, but on the other hand-- I do not care for the obstacle course it creates in my living room and family room.    But it is only for a month and 1/2.  I can deal with it for the amount of joy it brings Jordan.

Happy Birthday Grandma Sara!

Sara means Princess.

(I did not even have to look this up-- my friend is having her first girl after 5 boys and she tells everyone, "We are naming her Sara because that means princess!"  That is so sweet.)

Sara is Scott's Mommy and today is her birthday!

So the order of the day is to talk about Sara.  

Grandma is fun.  She played Mousetrap with me. ~Chance

Grandma is loving and thoughtful.  She came out to see my Marching Band perform. ~Jordan

Grandma is funny.  She sometimes tells me jokes and makes me giggle. ~Chance

Mom loves Christmas.  She likes to cook panache, cookies, caramel, toffee... Actually she likes anything when she can cook.  She also keeps the Christmas tree up until Valentines Day! ~Scott

She makes really good sugar cookies. ~Chance and Jordan

I like Grandma's kids.  They are fun to play with. ~Chance

Sara is energetic, she makes me tired just thinking of all she does. ~Karalene

 Energetic she has to be...  with Stephen, her husband,  they adopted 3 babies.  They are now 15 1/2, 15, and almost 14. 

 

Sara is an excellent seamstress.  She enjoys sewing clothing for herself and kids.  

Sports--when she was here a few weekends ago she had me look up scores of a number of teams that had played that day.  She told me that watching her teams play is something she really enjoys.  

She also enjoys being with her family-- here the Crazy bunch are!  Apparently Jordan, Sara, and Mike are the only sane ones, either that or they did not get the memo that this was a silly photo.  Then again... maybe they did!  (click on picture to enlarge)

We spent last Christmas at Disneyland.  Here is Chance opening his Spy Watch that Santa brought him.

And Grandma helps Chance follow the directions.  Shad is opening his Santa gift.

Sara met and hugged celebrities while in southern California

This fellow was at Lego Land.

Stephen, Sara, Alyssa, Joshua, and Aalliyah--reading their hometown paper while at Disneyland.

Have a Happy Birthday Sara!  Hope those pictures brought back some happy memories for you.  We are blessed to have you in our lives.  

Love Scott, Karalene, Jordan, and Chance

Allies

Something you won't be reading in the SF Chronicle.  My thoughts a week ago as I was reading and hearing the news.  "Wow, how we have come out obscurity!"

Click Here

Another Woman of Faith

I have a few blogs I follow-- I read this and wanted to share .   I will spare you my summary. 

Go Here

Our Veterans Day

No School today!  That was pretty weird to just have Tuesday off.  This month is pretty slim on the school days-- we only have 10 days of full instruction!  We have 1/2 days next week for parent/teacher conference and then we have the full week of Thanksgiving off.

The boys and I started out Veteran's day by wearing our Scout uniforms and delivering door hangers for Scouting for Food.  We will be back Saturday for the food.  I took my camera thinking I would get this cool picture of Jordan, Chance, and I in our Scout uniforms-- I didn't!   In fact, I totally forgot until the boys were all done.   So imagine this, we had 30 cub and boy scouts and 12 leaders and parents- we covered 500 homes and were done in about 1/2 hour.   These are the pictures I got at the end-- some of the cub scouts on the playground.

When we got home and were grabbing a snack, Jordan said look- it is 11:11 (the time) on the 11/11.  I looked at Chance and asked him if this would be the right time for a portal to open for time travel.  His eyes widened, his body stilled-- his brain was churning.  I like this moment when he is contemplating.  It is much better then the moment before when he was groaning and moaning and Jordan was teasing.  Not how I wanted to spend the day...

I gave up trying to be productive and we spent the afternoon being lazy.  The kind of the day the boys like,  playing video games.  I did get Jordan to mow the lawn though!  Chance made this with his tinker toys.  Kind of a pulley contraption.  I convinced him to clean it up by taking a picture of it.  He has a really hard time taking apart his great inventions. (side note- don't you love this couch, it is such an outdated beauty in my Living Room-- but it is way comfortable and I have slip covers for it.  It is easier to care for with out them- you know cat hair and kids)

Jordan had marching band practice this evening.  I made cinnamon rolls, the ones I make about twice a week.  I also made Snicker doodles and Plantation Pralines.   We ate a few and froze the rest.  They probably won't make to the end of the week.  The Pralines were from a Louisiana cookbook that we got from Shell Oil way back when they were recruiting Scott from college.  I made them because I had the ingredients and I was looking for something new to try.  Scott said they are Panache but those are made with brown sugar and half and half.  This was made with white sugar, buttermilk and lots of pecans.    Scott said that sound pretty close to him, he kept coming back for more.  They are a little too sweet for me.  But the Snicker doodles, yum.   Oh speaking of treats... remember all that candy I bought.  I dived into a bag of dark chocolate mini snickers today-during our lazy time.  How many do you think would be okay to eat?  I found them to be much better then regular snickers-- and besides, isn't dark chocolate good for your heart or something?  

Many thanks to our Veterans-- it was great day to relish in the goodness we have as free citizens!

He is playing Hoops!

Chance has decided that he would like to play basketball this year.   He had evaluations on Saturday.   He was excited to go.  I watched him, even though he did not really know what he was doing out there rule wise-- he played defense really well.   If there is such a thing, I would say he was a  natural in defensive form.   After we jumped in the car to go home, he said, "I like Basketball, it is easier then Baseball!"  I really do not know what he means by that?

Interesting things he does-- he is a right handed , but shoots left.  I tried to straighten that out for him, but you can't tell Chance anything.   So I let him shoot and just cheer him on when I am working yard duty. 

He likes to practice dribbling through his legs.  He finds that very cool!

Although Scott and  I played some basketball in our younger years, as time has gone on it has been phased out of our lives.  I have never really been a spectator and after Micheal Jordan left the NBA was never the same.   We attend an occasional game of Uncle Dick's -- we do enjoy those.  They bring back memories for Scott.     We did try to get Jordan involved in basketball... but it was just not something he enjoyed.  I know blasphemy!   I really did not expect Chance to be interested in it either, until he came home one day talking about playing basketball at school.  He went in the garage for a basketball and practiced dribbling and his cool leg pass.   So I figured I should sign him up and see if it was his thing.  After all, I still have Jordan's basketball shoes.

A Tribute to our Tree

This tree has been a topic of debate since we bought our home- 

should it stay or should it go.

Scott has sided on it should go:

  Roots have cracked and pushed up the driveway, need room for a basketball hoop,  too hard to back up the Airstream,  leaves in the fall to clean up,  mess on the cars from birds, the spiky seed pods.

I have sided on it should stay:

   I thought when we replace the driveway, just use pavers and have the roots trimmed.  

 Love this tree for these reasons

• shade and lots of it  
  
• fall foliage- living a warmer climate, this is one of the few trees that you get to see a color change in.  Hence why it is called Liquid Amber
• raking those leaves with Chance and Jordan-- at least the first 10 minutes.
• the largest tallest tree on the block-- adds beauty to my home and neighborhood.
• at least 35 years old--

It had come time for the tree to be trimmed and thinned out. The cost is significant and then if we did take it out later- that would another significant cost.   Scott left on a overnight scout trip and  with..."The guy will be here in the morning to trim the tree.  I really would like you to take it down though, it is your decision"

I was faced in a predicament, one that caused me to shed lots of tears.  I made the final call based on the possibility that when the offending roots were cut-- the tree could be weakened.  Either part of it dieing and/or the tree falling down in a high wind.  The possibility of it falling over convinced me it needed to be taken down. 

And so this mighty tree that grew for 35 years was reduced to just a stump in less then a day.    And the tree guy was surprised that our neighbors were sad also.  They have lived here for all those years-- I am sure it was even harder for them.  This tree was between our homes, just on the edge of our property line.

It is bare-- 

And Scott has found that the light from the street lamp that is no longer blocked by the tree-- bothers him, it is hard to sleep.   I wonder what else we will miss as the days and season go by.   I hope that when we pull up the driveway there are roots everywhere, confirming that is was a good decision or I just may cry again!  

I now need to decide what to replace that tree with-- it is required by the city.  Something I will like as much as the Liquid Amber, but not so shallow, invasive roots.

This change has been hard...

Gives him the willies!

Grandma Sara brought Chance a growing skeleton when she visited us on Halloween weekend. They put him in the tub and he expands-- he took awhile, but he did grow around 3 times bigger.  He also softened up and became this eerie rubbery skeleton that gave you the willies to touch or to watch its neck bob as you held him.   I did not know that Chance was tweaked out by it until I tried to get a picture of him holding the skeleton.  He refused and after much coercing and trapping him in the garage before he could leave for school-- I got this picture.  I had to hold the skeleton-- Chance really wanted the picture taken of me in the middle of him and Mr. Skeleton.

Oh, that's a Class Act!?

Really now,  writing hateful words on the entrance to the LA Temple furthers the cause for respect and tolerance?     And the flag... that is very interesting.   

Printer Problems?

A friend sent this to me--- 

Notice how he keeps looking at the top for the paper to print out!

Helpful to know when to use the ice packet!

I substituted for the Health Clerk at Chance's school today.   Job Qualifications: Employed with the school district and the instincts of a Mom.  That is essentially it... you can make no diagnoses and use no neosporin.  I would tell you all about it--but confidentiality rules.  But I will say---"Here let me get you a bag of ice for that" works pretty well for most things.  

The Compassionate Ones

I saved this post for this historic day.   Worth reading...  When all the votes are in and final count has been done... it would be good for us to all reflect upon the last paragraph.

Click here

Happy Anniversary Nielson and Kristen

Nielson is my brother-- the 3rd oldest- he met his wife online.   I will say it worked out really well for him!   They were married in the Saint George Temple on Nov 4,  eight years ago.  I was very happy for them.  I love my brother and I liked seeing him happy.  Kristen is just amazing and has been so kind and wonderful to me.  She has an extraordinary big heart, right up there to match my brother's!   I am also happy to say that it looks like she is starting a blog-- I am so excited to read up on their family and be up to date with their happenings.  Nielson and Kristen are the awesomeness of awesome.

Kristen has posted on her High School blog the following...

"We have 2.5 acres which is a lot for city life and enjoy a piece of the country by having 5 horses, 1 cat, 1 milk cow and a dog. Nielson and I were married in the St. George Temple. We have been married for 8 years and have 3 boys. Palmer-6, Dallin-3 and Jens-21 mo."

By reading that I just learned they got a milk cow and it sounds like a few more horses!   I want to save all the great things I know about Kristen until it is her birthday... but will spill this.   Nielson has his own trucking business and is not always home for days at a time.  I bet that Kristen is milking that cow... I know Kristen enough to be pretty confident in that.   

These are the boys they have together-- Kristen is also an exceptional friend and 2nd mom to Nielson's girls and her sister's daughter.  She has lots of love to go around.

I had to beg for this picture when I was there in August.  Nielson was so kind to bend way down.  I am also going to save a super hot photo I got of Nielson for his birthday blog.   (Nielson- remember the cowboy hat, I need to blow it up poster size and send it to Kristen!)
Happy Anniversary--- Hope it was a fantastic Day!  Thank you for taking me boating.   Thanks for coming up to ski with my family and me (the first and last time I will try).   Yes,  and now that you have a camping trailer-- we must go camping together.  We are going to Yosemite for Thanksgiving, want to join us?

Love You, Karalene

Chance's Campaign Material

Last weekend Chance made an airplane-- something he often does.  However Jordan noticed this one was different and he showed it to me.   

The Top

The bottom

The side view

Our weekend visitor!

We were treated to Scott's mom visiting for the weekend.  She arrived on Friday, Scott and Chance picked her up.  We went to the Taquria (a little Mexican restaurant) for lunch.  That evening was Halloween and Jordan was also marching at the football game.  My neighborhood friend was so nice to take Chance out trick-or-treating and the rest of us headed to the high school.   We were worried about the storm coming in-- but other then a few sprinkles  and a very brief shower-- it stayed clear.  We ended the evening with Papa Murphy's Pizza and watching Incrediable Hulk.  Jordan had 3 friends over and played XBox and P3.  When I went to take them home at 12:00-- Jordan said, it is already so late, can they just stay the night.  I was a softy and said yes.  The ONLY time he has had so many sleep over.  I think they had fun.  I made the overnight waffles-- a healthy version-- and a favorite of mine.  It was liked 50/50.  They probably wished they went home the night before.

The next day at 9:00 am we handed out Prop 8 Yes door hangers for "get out the vote".     We only went to a small percentage of homes on our route.  I do not know how it  was determined whether they are registered Republicans or those they had polled that were voting "Yes".  But whatever it was... the percentage was pretty low.  

 Jordan's 3rd competition was Saturday-- it started pouring rain about 12:00 and even though it was interment... by 2:30 it was a down pour and stayed like that rest of the evening.   We were glad the show was still on- even though it was in the gym- since we had Grandma come out to see Jordan's Marching Band show.  For her not to of seen it would of been heartbreaking for Scott, Jordan, and I.   

Today she is flying back, in fact, in about 15 minutes she her plane will be taking off.   It was a nice, quick visit.  Jordan was happy.  Chance was happy and acting and saying socially unacceptable things.  (he has was excited for his Grandma to be here but did not know how to show it except be inappropriate).   He had a melt down before she left, at least she knows my job in raising her grandchild is not "easy"   That is why Chance is not in the picture-- he is instead outside in the tree house yelling-- at just the right level for his voice to be heard around the neighborhood block.   

Loading the car

Good-bye (see me waving)

Thanks Sara for taking a weekend away from your family to be with us.   Thanks to her husband for manning the fort at home and to Alyssa, Joshua, and Aalliyah for sharing their mom with us for a little while.  I know it was not easy and we really appreciate the effort by all.

Thanks!

School Halloween Parade

On Thursday, Oct 30,  Chance had his Halloween parade and party at school.  It worked out really well because it was 1/2 a day--all that hyperactivity could be sent home after lunch- instead of trying to contain it in a classroom.   Chance enjoyed his day as Lucario! 

His great pose I took for the yearbook.

During the parade, he was upset kids kept pulling on his tail-- he now knows how the cats feel.  Pulling on the tail caused the stuffing to become exposed.  He has a little bunny tail.

A Halloween Package

On Oct 25, a Saturday, a package arrived for the boys from Uncle Dick, Aunt Diane, and Zach.   Every year Diane sends them a fun Halloween package!   The timing was especially great because Jordan was just leaving for his band competition and has happy to have a bag of treats to throw in his backpack for the bus ride.

 Chance opening the package.

The card she made!

The little pumpkin frisbee

The whirly whistle, if you could hear the picture it would be "whirl" really high. 

The whole stash!

Thanks Uncle Dick and Aunt Diane-- and Zach too!