Bradley finished out his cross country season like a champ! Although he better bulk up a bit before next year, I got him adult small cross country shorts and he had to fold them up and wear them over other shorts so they wouldn't fall down while he was running. Fortunately he was a very good sport about the matter.
I took Patrick and Juliet to his final meet and it was only a medium disaster. We may scale back on sibling support for sporting events.
At least I convinced Juliet to pay attention to Bradley as he ran along the home stretch.
The Royals were in the World Series and the neighbors had a watch party, which was an excellent time.
Juliet ditched out for a bit to play with Jacob and Erin over in the little island in the middle of the mini culdesac by us.
Patrick missed the party because he was feeling sick. I kept him home from school the next day and thought he was probably doing fine, but went upstairs to do some pilates and take a shower. When I came downstairs I didn't see him on the couch and I wasn't sure where he had gone but I went over to the kitchen and started baking. When I looked back over at some point I saw this. Apparently he had gone to cuddle Callie in the sunshine and then after he fell asleep Callie left him.
He woke up with a big rug spot on his face.
I left him alone for a minute and he fell back asleep. Poor kid. I don't know if he was actually sick but he was certainly tired enough to stay home from school.
Eleanor got to make a bird house as part of her Bronze award. They made a bunch of birdhouses and bird feeders and got permission to put them in the nearby science center trail. Eleanor had to call the guy who ran the place and coordinate things. It was a good project.
The kids had a Halloween event ridiculously early in October and I discovered that Bradley actually cared about his Halloween costume this year and wanted to be Peelie from Fortnite. I am a sucker and got it rush shipped to us so it would arrive in time.
Peelie caught a little girl but she seemed pretty happy about it.
The event was CAN night at the middle school. Eleanor was Cleopatra, also a new costume. Hilariously, I had tried to tell her to dress up as Cleopatra the previous year but she was adamant she had to be a very specific cat costume. This year she wanted to be Cleopatra. She was so cute, I was very happy about it.
I chaperoned and got to hang out with this cool banana kid.
Juliet has become a pro at big birthday party outings. She got to go to a cool rock climbing birthday party at a new place.
With Brinley, the party girl.
I got really excited because we had a free Saturday so I took the older three to a Japanese festival. We were hoping it would be like going to little Tokyo in LA and I think we had misplaced expectations. It was okay but not nearly as good as the little Tokyo experience.
There were some fun video games to try out at least.
That afternoon was the neighborhood fall festival. Face painting was super fun!
There was a Royals game and I got to cuddle up with this cool girl to watch some of it.
Some naughty child climbed to the top of the swings and yelled until his poor mother noticed him. She really tried to ignore him but he was very loud.
He's also very cute. His mother is quite the fan.
He's a stinker though.
We had some really warm days in October. Perfect for enjoying the pool!
Lucky Eleanor has gotten a fair amount of Meg cuddles whenever she reads in her bed.
Patrick's school had inside out and backwards day and Patrick was very enthusiastic about dressing up.
Juliet was pretty proud of herself too.
We made boo bags and Patrick and Juliet were thrilled to run around and do ding dong ditch with bags of Halloween treats.
Patrick wrapped up his baseball season and had a nice time pitching for his final game.
And I'm terrible about taking videos at his basketball games but another mom got a very nice shot on video and sent it to me.
I've started taking Callie to the Wilderness Science Center trails for our walks so she can be off leash and explore a bit. She loves it. We saw a couple of foxes across Blue River one quiet morning and it was uncanny how much they looked like Callie.
A morning walk. The sunrises can be so pretty!
It's been really nice whenever Nathan can join me on a walk.
One neighbor sent us a boo bag in response to the one we sent her and it was chock full of mini clapper toys. The older two were delighted by the amount of nonsense they could make with these clappers.
Another dress up day. The best one yet. Pink day!
Juliet and Patrick are quite the duo these days. I was fairly proud of the pink hair spray I put in Juliet's hair this day.
Pink time with her buddy Cleo.
Bradley had his first band concert!
Nathan suffers while watching football with children. It's funny, we've been talking about getting a new couch and Nathan says we should get a bigger one but we can fit three people on one cushion. We could get a love seat and be fine.
I took these cool kids to play tennis with me! Juliet sat and rested a bit, turns out she had pneumonia. Oops!
Patrick got a job placing Sean Tarwater flyers, which was pretty neat. It's Sean Tarwater on the right in the photo. He was childhood friends with our neighbor.
We were obsessed with volleyball for all of September and for the heatwave part of October.
Cute kids playing together.
Pathetic pets
I got to chaperone a middle school field trip to the zoo. Bradley and his friends matched but it wasn't on purpose, which made it even funnier. It was a lot of red!
I was also in red! A lucky coincidence.
Nathan worked from home so sick little Juliet wouldn't be left alone and luckily for him he wasn't alone either.
They combined with another friend group to go around the zoo and we got some fun pictures in the aquarium.
I went home and Juliet braided my hair to make it beautiful like hers.
Juliet recorded this video of her dancing along with What Does the Fox Say and insisted that we send it to her teacher, who was duly impressed.
Callie tries so hard with the cats.
But then he puts a paw on their tail and it's wrong and she must be punished.
Juliet finally got to do her science kit that she got for her birthday last year.
She made slime with Nathan and was so delighted. Many points to Nathan for being the cool parent to agreed to do this because I really didn't want to.
I'm so glad we got this dog. She's great for everyone, although Juliet generally hollers at her and tells her to go away in the morning when Callie tries to sniff her and greet her with a gentle kiss or two.
Patrick does not mind her kisses.
I walked downstairs to find this the other day. Cat and dog in harmony? Bradley was so proud.
We finally got Juliet formally diagnosed with pneumonia and they agreed to give us antibiotics so she could finally go out in the world again. She missed a week of school.
She started out strong by going to Eleanor's middle school play The Odyssey.
Eleanor was a siren and she did a great job. She's very excited about being involved in the next play too.
We even got her flowers because we're so classy. I got to supervise the after party and it was adorable.
Juliet really liked the Spice Girls song Eleanor's siren group sang as part of the play and was still singing it when she got home and was supposed to be getting ready for bed.
Nathan continued his streak of being the artsy parent by helping Patrick make a Rubik's cube for his Halloween costume. It was actually my idea, Patrick had been asking to be Big Nate and I thought boy with messy brown hair was rather generic for a costume and he loved Rubik's cubes and he should do that. I love my role as the idea person and Nathan's role as a make it happen person. It is much of what our relationship is based upon.
Our church had a trunk or treat and we decorated a trunk and I made a chili for the chili cook off contest. Bradley was wonderful helping kids who came by our trunk.
Juliet chose Eleanor's old kitty costume for this event, which was great because it would have been too hot to be in her bunny costume.
I love trunk or treats. They're pretty cute. So many fun games at all the trunks.
Patrick ran into some friends from school.
I just hung out over by the chili and sampled them all and hung out with my friends. I love life with older children.
We've had the same Happy Catoween trunk for the past three years. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
Then Bradley came home and decided to make everyone a mug cake and inexplicably kept adding baking soda to thicken things up but he also added a lot of chocolate so people ended up eating them anyway. I messaged the middle school home ec teacher to commend her for what she has to work with on a daily basis. She lives just up the street and is quite delightful.
Eleanor was selected a finalist for the Charlie Hustle Girl Scout t-shirt contest! They limited her color selection and made some edits to her design so it ended up being the option below on the right. She got 3rd place which was pretty great! It was an honor to even be selected. And I was relieved she didn't win because we would have been poor when I ordered literally 100+ shirts because that's the kind of supportive mom I am.
Juliet loves climbing the tree out front. Callie is so good and will just hang out in our yard by us whenever she's outside. She even remains within the property lines. Smart dog.
Patrick and Juliet both like dancing in the kitchen these days. This was adorable, Juliet was so happy.
It's been weird having kitty cuddles with just two cats. Fortunately they love to cuddle, we're still having a bit of a hard time without Layla being with us.
Bradley was home sick one day and I walked downstairs to find her and Callie like this on the couch.
Patrick finally had a night off from basketball so I could have him join me and Callie on a walk. Walks with Patrick are interesting - he always wants to race to places. I took Callie on her off leash route where she likes to chase squirrels but she really didn't get to chase anything because Patrick was trying to keep up with her the entire time so the squirrels were long gone by the time Callie got anywhere near them. We finished a walk that usually takes an hour in 45 minutes.
He's so cute. I'm a big fan.
He's also a cute little idiot. I was feeling bad because a lot of boys his age seem to have electric scooters and zoom all over the neighborhood on them. I actually ordered one from Costco for him so he wouldn't have to chase them on foot (which had been happening) and his nice friend Austin let him borrow a scooter to test it out. They went over to the Wilderness Science Center to a very wet and leaf covered path and Patrick crashed super hard and even though he tells me he was just going 6 miles per hour he was pretty beat up. Thus ended the scooter dream.
He has so many nice kids to run around and play with. We really like Austin. They were playing lacrosse in the street until I encouraged them to go to a field just down the street.
Can you find Patrick in this fort picture? His little face is poking out of the bottom of the blanket.
A beautiful morning walk through the park. I love seeing sunrises and sunsets here.
Apparently I should be checking out some school app where they post photos of Patrick's class. He's loving the new school.
We used up all of Juliet's sprinkles making fancy chocolate chip cookies for extra sprinkles so she had to go over to Grandma and Grandpa's to make another specialty mix. But first she had to play games with Grandma. I'm not sure if I've shared pics of this arcade before, I sent a picture of it from Costco and joked that Bradley loved it and they should get it. They laughed at my funny joke ... and then got it. It's actually been awesome, quite the hit! Which is a relief, I would have felt very bad if the kids hadn't cared about it after they got something so extravagant.
And the sprinkle making. Happy girl!
Here are some pictures of our Girl Scout meeting. It has been so wonderful having Eleanor help lead the troop.
We had 100% attendance and the girls all looked so cute in their purple day clothes for a school dress up day so I had us take a couple of group pictures. But then we had two more girls join the troop so it looks like we're going to have to take another picture.
Back at home with my sweet love, Meg. She comes and finds me when I'm downstairs and I love it.
Meg had a pumpkin left over from a school project so I let her color it with sharpies, which was fun and cute.
Meg cuddles! The kids all like to hang out in this chair in the master bedroom because they often get Meg cuddles when they do.
Eleanor and I went to an Edgar Allan Poe theatre event at Union Cemetery in Kansas City. We were allowed to wander around the graveyard before the event began but Eleanor pointed out we would definitely be walking over dead bodies and she had a point.
We went and found seats instead. We ended up in the very front which I knew was probably a mistake, but I thought it would be okay. There was a LOT of intense eye contact from the actor and Eleanor and I were both not quite prepared for that aspect of the performance.
It was weird but interesting. I was glad we went but we both agreed we probably wouldn't go again.
And we finished the night with blizzards from Dairy Queen, so the night ended on a win at least.
Fancy breakfast!
I don't remember what was going on, but we ended up just sending Bradley and Juliet to Nathan's work Halloween trick or treat event for kids. Bradley elected not to wear the Peelie costume because he didn't want to have a heat stroke.
They ran into the Rutherfords! Everyone was very green.
Nathan even dressed up. Perry the Platypus!
Juliet and Patrick got to have a sleepover afterwards. I love that they enjoy having these sleepovers together.
The next day Patrick and Eleanor had a Show Choir camp and Grandma and Grandpa came to watch the performance with us.
The both did great! There are a lot of Show Choir hopes for high school days! Patrick adores Charlie, the tall boy behind him in the photo.
Patrick remains as shy as ever when he's in front of an audience.
And we had a free afternoon so we decided to go to the Louisburg Cider Mill fall festival because Juliet had missed her kindergarten field trip when she had pneumonia.
The girls went on the air pillow.
Corn pit remains a favorite activity. Bradley and I bravely went and purchased fresh donuts while they played. Alas, we thought we had gotten 18 donuts but a half dozen of them were gone by the time we walked back and rejoined the rest of the family. I would make a quality control complaint but I'm super classy person. I didn't remember how delicious the cider donuts were ...
Taking turns burying each other in the corn. Nathan gets a parenting gold star for making it a rule that you couldn't cover the entire head.
A donut! Bradley and I left some for the rest of the family because we are oh so generous!
There is a lot to do at the fall festival.
It was so cute when Nathan and Eleanor were playing tetherball and I was about to say something about how we really needed to get one when Eleanor was hit in the face with the ball. She even got a little scratch from it that bled a bit. Tetherball is overrated, we don't need to play it anymore.
She recovered and agreed to pose for cute pictures.
About to brave the corn maze!
Fun fact, it's not much of a maze by the end of the season for the fall festival because so many people have just pushed through areas and made their own paths.
Juliet was our brave leader for much of the corn maze, yelling at any of her family members who dared to walk in front of her on the path.
We made it out! Great success!
Nathan and I decided to take a classy photo together at whatever this thing was.
And in typical fashion, our chairs were soon stolen by children.
Lasso practice!
And then we went home and all the exhausted children needed quiet time to read and relax. Our children really need down time every day (same same). Juliet felt up to carving a pumpkin with Nathan - I am so grateful I don't ever have to do this. And Nathan seems to enjoy it!
Family game time with my folks - we all played Redfern Rummy together.
Eleanor had her Girl Scout bridging event. She went from a Junior to a Cadette.
They still have a good amount of Girl Scouts in the troop for hitting the middle school years.
Ah, cozy afternoons with my calm little angel.
Patrick is so sweet. Juliet was so happy to have him be her dancing buddy.
Meg and I had some cuddle time upstairs.
And then I went downstairs and she still came and found me despite the presence of the doggy menace.
The children love to hang out and play on the doggy bed. Oh well. Eleanor plays with Juliet and makes up cute stories all the time, it's pretty adorable. No wonder Juliet adores her.
Juliet has so many dress up days in Kindergarten and I have trouble keeping track of them all. One morning she was insisting she had to dress up and I told her Halloween was the next day, but she seemed pretty sure so I checked a teacher email - sure enough it was the 50th day of school and she was supposed to dress up like it was the 1950's. I wasn't sure what we had that would really fit that theme but I gave her 1950's ice skater hair and she seemed really happy about it so we called it good.
Here she is the next day on actual Halloween. I was helping run Patrick's class party but I got to run over and paint a nose and whiskers on her for her costume.
And then I went back to my cool Rubik's cube's class party.
These parties are so cute. Mummy wrap game!
Official class picture after they wrapped up their teacher, Ms. Washington.
I was in charge of the craft (Me! The person who hates crafts) and it went really well because I had prepared a lot of corner bookmarks that they just had to decorate with google eyes and markers. And Patrick helped kids make fortune tellers. Everyone was very happy and it was all easy and fun. Phew!
The parade!
We just hung out until time to go trick or treating so Juliet pretended to be a rodeo cowboy while Callie and Remy played. Remy is at our house a lot, I have had to change my route on my walks with Callie so we don't walk by his house or else he goes along with us.
Patrick went trick or treating with his friend Carly.
Eleanor had her friends Faith and Malia come over to our house to go around the neighborhood and trick or treat.
And Nathan headed out with Juliet while Bradley chose to stay at home to help me hand out candy.
There's a dad in our neighborhood that pulls a trailer behind a 4x4 for Halloween and Juliet was delighted to join the group of girls riding on it. It was pretty amazing. It was a gorgeous evening, chilly but not too cold, and the kids had so much fun.
Patrick and Carly kept running into friends.
Nathan found a cool Cleopatra and her friends!
It was a really great night. The younger two had the day off of school the next day but the older two didn't, which was a matter of great consternation for the older two. And apparently many parents let their older kids stay home but we didn't, because it's one thing to miss school for a trip but it's a bit ridiculous to do it if you just want to sleep in after Halloween fun.
And Patrick found the best buddy costume of all! Hilarious that there were two of them. Honestly this was probably our best Halloween that I can remember. Lots of fun, everyone was happy.
Well, everyone but Callie had the best Halloween ever. She couldn't believe all of her kids left her and then she kept seeing people go by and it was all very exciting. She did have a bit of a bright spot when a bunch of boys came to our door and unbeknownst to me, Remy had come along with them. He ran into our house while I was giving out candy and when I looked down and saw him I told him to go and he took Callie with him. They had a merry frolic in the front yard and a wonderful Bradley ran out with no shoes and in a giant banana costume to retrieve our dog who was happily sniffing at children. The rest of the evening was very boring for Callie, I just had Bradley hold her back every time kids game to the door.
