Oh How Lovely October Can Be!

The lovely days of October seem to be long long ago as I watch the sleet/snow/other precip falling on "Twosday" 2/22/22!  The kids have their first "snow" (ice) day in years.  T was very sad to miss school on such a special day, but we are making the most of it by doing lots of TWO things!  I am sure a post about this will happen some day.  Who knows, maybe it won't be too far away! 

This post is a huge photo dump of all of our October photos before Halloween weekend.  

M: One Sunday I put on fancy clothes, but they were a little small.

T: I caught this cute little guy.

M: This pup thinks he is a lap dog!

T: Look what my eyes can do!

T: Please, just take one more!!

The next pics are from M's last cross country race of the season.  He and his buddy L were in cross country together even though none of them especially likes to run.  I am so proud of them for sticking out the season.  M and L ran together in this meet which was very precious for all the parents!  

We couldn't figure out where M was when L was finishing.  Later we learned that there was a teammate of his who was really struggling.  M stopped and checked on him and put his arm around him and walked with him for a while.  M had his slowest finish of the year and felt really bad about ending the season like that.  Brandon and I would not have been more proud of him if he had gotten first place.  Kindness is the best victory!

M: I am not sure why I am running in pants.

Look at these two!

Two cozy cuties!

 

After 18 months without festivals we were able to celebrate Fall Fest downtown.  We all had fun and the kids enjoyed candy and pumpkins and games and friends! 

Two pumpkins!

We finished the day at Frankies for one last ice cream treat before they closed for the season!

The final ice cream!  Yum!!!

In October T designed a cover for the school yearbook.  Her design wasn't chosen, but her effort and dedication were beautiful and we are proud of her creation!

Sometimes we use our ping pong table is perfect for project design. 

The drawing is done.  Time to color!

T: Do you like all the blue shades?

T: Almost finished!

A masterpiece!

October is always Operation Christmas Child season.  T kept bringing home boxes and we made a Dollar Tree run (back in the good old days when everything was a dollar) and ended up filling several boxes!

T: I KNOW I can carry all of them. 

T: One day I found an egg with two tops!

 

One day I got a call from the middle school that I needed to bring M some rash meds.  We are not quite sure what caused the rash. It could have been recent vaccines (M is redoing all child vaccines due to no antibodies) or any number of other things.  Thankfully, the cream and meds helped a lot.

He had spots like this all over his body!

 

One night on the way to gymnastics there was a huge rainbow that filled the sky.  I was driving so I gave T my phone to take a picture.  She assured me she got the whole thing and many great shots.  She did take many pics, but the picture below is the best one of the rainbow!

T: I got it, mom!

 

October is also the Homecoming Parade.  This was T's last year to march with the Lincoln Lions.  It was a bit emotional for me.  J and A joined us at the parade line up.

They are "Out of this world"

Our little buddy L wore M's old Lion costume in the parade.  T and L stuck very close together the whole time.

So precious.

I love these two!

Holding hands the whole way.

 

M was in the parade with the sixth graders.  The buddy he is walking with is tall for his age.  M truly is growing!  After the parade M had a big night of attending the homecoming game without a parent.  Brandon's eyes would not have really allowed him to see the game well and M was very excited to have independence. 

He is looking so grown up.

M tried one guitar lesson and determined it was not for him.

I am sure this photo was sent to Brandon after the kids were sleeping.  A great night always includes two little heaters on me.

 

These two!

 

The photo below is of my masking making set up.  Once a week I make masks.  Each of our masks has two filters and a nose piece.  It feels like I am back in cloth diaper days.  Anyway, this photo is here to mark a story.  One time after the kids were in bed I was sitting on the floor with with this exact set up watching a Hallmark movie.  Brandon came in and asked me, "What are you doing?"  I answered him a little snarky, "What does it look like?"  He then said, "I can't tell."  WHOA!  It was a moment I will never forget.  I get emotional thinking about it now.  Brandon compensates so well for his low vision that I had no idea he couldn't see something this seemingly big and obvious.  Thankfully, I believe that today he could see this.  He had another eye procedure done a few weeks ago that gave him much greater vision.  He has another one scheduled for late April and that should provide even more vision.  The last two years have been such a crazy eye journey.

The mask set up.

Buttercup:  I was just doing some light reading.

T: Sometimes Chicken Foot games look really silly.

What a cutie!

Another day, another silly pose!

T decided to smash many eye shadows to make some sort of potion.  I have no idea why, but she seemed happy and focused so we let her work.

T: It seemed like a good idea!

Brandon and M both managed to get this spinning toy to line up all the discs.  It isn't easy to do.

M: I did it!  I bet you can't do it, Dad!

Brandon:  I did it!!  (It took a little while)