Halloween

The girls had chosen their outfits at least a month before – Ellie maybe even earlier than that.  I love that they still want to dress up and be something imaginative, even if just for a night.  I like the creativity and joy it brings them. 

Ellie had chosen to be a nurse.  She had bought a scrub shirt from MCC sometime this summer.  Then, she had ordered a stethoscope from Amazon.  She wanted to be more real while playing pretend in her room.  To complete the outfit, she had her eye out for the bottoms for her scrubs.  And she found the matching color of blue in her size at MCC earlier in October.  It was perfect.  She completed it by making an ID badge attached to a retracting lanyard, hair in a high bun, and a headband.  It was great!

Madison struggled a bit to know what she wanted to do.  She was disappointed last year when she dressed up that people didn't recognize her as the evil stepmother, but just saw her as an old lady.  So, she wanted to be recognized this year.  She found a great costume while we were at Once Upon A Child fall clothes shopping – Dorothy dress complete with ruby red slippers.  She was so excited to wear the outfit. 

Then, two days before trick-or-treating in Dalton, Madison was included on a group text with her friends asking if everyone wanted to go trick-or-treating together in Dalton.  And they could have a group costume – like the M&Ms!  All of them started picking colors.  Madison was excited about the idea of going with friends.  She chose the color yellow.  I ran to Hobby Lobby on Saturday while grocery shopping, picked up a yellow shirt, washed and dried it, took it to Heather Pauli to put the M on it.   And inside, I was just a little sad/happy.  This was the first year the girls would not be walking together.  It was also a moment where Madison gave up her original plan to go with the group.  Which, really, was good in this situation.  I was happy she has friends and they plan fun things together.  Just a growing up moment I wasn’t expecting. 

 

After Madison was invited, Ellie was now walking alone, so she invited some of the younger siblings of the other M&Ms to walk with her.  And all was fine. 

    

At one point, they all met up on the sidewalks. 

Jeremy and Gloria held down the fort passing out candy. 

My trick or treaters were amazing.

Other random things to end October…

Beautiful leaves…..

A dog who is willing to do my work for me…

Stores preparing for Santa visits in October; Ellie filling in…

Eating at the Barn Restaurant and needing to ride the tractor like when you were little

Happy start of November. 

Washington D.C.

For the 6th year (I think), I have chaperoned the 8th grade trip to Gettysburg and Washington D.C.  My first years, we went in the spring.  While it was beautiful, it was also unbearably hot, likely to rain, and super crowed with other school kids on similar trips.  Then, we started going in the fall.  I prefer this.  Typically, the weather is more cooperative, and it is less crowded.

This year was unique because Madison was an 8th grader.  I debated about just not going.  But, frankly, I usually really enjoy going and connecting with the kids in a different way.  I decided the truth was I wouldn’t really be in Madison’s world much if I wasn’t her chaperone unless she chose to seek me out.  So, we both went.

Here are photos (more than normal because I wanted pictures to document Madison’s time as well).

Travel:

    

Gettysburg:

    

Nighttime Monument visits (Lincoln, Korean War, and World War 11):

              

Day 2 Sights:

       

Final Day experiences:

    

And that final ride home had a twist that I had been lucky enough to not have experienced until this year.  The boys’ bus started having mechanical problems.  And we drove sloooooowly back.  We had planned to get home earlier than normal – maybe even 7:30pm!  However, we did not make m   it back unil 10:30pm!  It was a long, slow ride.  But we were safe, and that is what matters.

Ellie’s Volleyball

Ellie participated in the volleyball skills at the middle school again this year.  The Orrville Boys and Girls Club was still an option, but her game nights were the same as Madison’s game nights.  It would have meant she missed watching all of Madison’s games and Jeremy and I would have to split locations.  She decided she would rather not do that. 

So, for 6 weeks, she worked on skills to be better at volleyball.  I think she had fun.  There were less girls this year than last, which made for more touches on the ball and less lines to stand in. 

The last two weeks, they played a scrimmage against each other.  Because there weren’t as many sixth graders, they played 5-on-5 one night and 5-on-4 another night.  It always feels different to play a game than practice a skill.  She did a great job!  She moved to the ball, called it, tried to pass it to a teammate rather than just over the net.

         

She is very excited for 7th grade volleyball.  I can’t wait to see how she continues to grow.