Catchall

Let's wrap up October, shall we? It was a busy month, filled with blog-worthy memories.

Isaac finished his soccer season. It was a gorgeous, warm day so we all enjoyed being there (unlike some games where it was actually near freezing temperatures with a wind chill). Charlie likes to play ball anytime, but it is rare for Sam to get in on the fun.

Isaac was an excellent keeper and general defender this season. Of course, he loves playing forward as well but we had a super star (and super intense) boy who made all of the goals for the team, so I think he saw much more action in the backfield. The coaches gave everyone achievement medals at a little party we had after the final game. They were pretty nice, even had the names engraved on the back. Much better than the "MVP" certificates that everyone got last season. (Pet peeve: MVP is a singular distinction, otherwise it should be "VPs".)

Sam started preschool and he's doing great! His teacher reports that his greatest academic strength so far is counting and that his confidense in other areas is improving all the time. There are 5 girls and just 2 other boys in his class, but those boys are more than fiesty enough to make the class feel balanced. Charlie and I tagged along on his class field trip to Purdum's Pumpkin Patch.

We let the leaves go unattended for about a week and had a nice blanket of them to play with for Family Home Evening. Isaac perfected his ablility to climb on top of the tire swing. It was a great time, nice weather with just a slight breeze making more leaves float down on us like sunset-colored snow.

Notice the tent? Mark had the wild idea to camp outside with the boys (I think he was cleaning up the garage and felt bad when he realized we'd not camped much this summer) so they did it (until about 2 a.m.) the weekend before. Sam loved it so much, he was determined to sleep in the tent the next night as well, even though no one wanted to sleep outside with him. He was so brave! He stayed out there until about midnight, when worrywart Mom carried him inside. Leaf (and tent) clean-up activity was accompanied by costume try-outs for Sam, who's not much of a worker.

My mom & step-dad came to town the week of Halloween. We had a lot of great hanging out time with them, including pumpkin carving and new computer purchasing.

The boys dictated the design of our Jack-O-Lantern, Chris carved out the top, we all took turns scooping out the goop, then I worked on the face. It was a lot of fun, but I couldn't work up the desire to seperate the seeds and roast them... I guess if the craving for pumpkin seeds strikes us, we can always cut open one of the six or seven other pumpkins currently on our porch (and grown in our garden).

And that brings us to Halloween night... which will be it's own post, hopefully up tomorrow.