October 2023

October was a busy month of the usual fall routines and extracurricular activities. All of the kids are doing great in school. Amelia and Jack are adjusting nicely to the next level of school. Amelia's isn't too drastic only being in sixth grade, but she is enjoying a little more freedom. One of her friend's gramma works at the school so she and her friends get special permission to eat lunch in her room a couple times a week. Jack is doing well in high school. There is a bigger transition there, but he is handling it. This trimester is almost over so it will be his first time dealing with "finals" but I am sure he will do well. He is growing socially and academically. 

Amelia had two band concerts this month. The first one was zero-hour jazz band, and the other was regular sixth grade band. She says she enjoys the jazz band more because there is more concentration and teamwork within the band. The sixth-grade band still has a bunch of knuckleheads that goof off. The band teacher has assured the band that some of them will not be continuing.

Amelia's FCCLA club had there Fall Conference. Amelia had to dress professionally, her first experience, in black dress pants, a nice blouse and nice dress shoes. She added her "Amelia flare" with two-inch hoop earrings. The club sat through some seminars on what FCCLA is, the different projects it does, and what benefits it could have for the members. Amelia said the best part of the day was missing school and eating pizza. FCCLA also ran a fall social (a dance) to raise money. She said she really enjoyed it. She said her job was to bring supplies to different games/stations. She said she took her job seriously and was running all around. Her group within FCCLA is in the planning stage of creating a family game night; still don't have a lot of details but she is creating a PowerPoint. 

Amelia had a cat-sitting job for about 5 days. A neighbor was worried her kitten (6 months old) would get lonely while she and her husband were away on vacation. She paid Amelia to go hangout with the cat for an hour or so a day. The cat was real nice. Amelia enjoyed the job; it was very easy. Jack was super jealous. 

The boys went hunting with Uppa. This year they went to the Leavenworth area. They always have the best time hunting and spending time with Uppa. This year Jacob got a large doe mule deer. Jack's tag was for a spike but they didn't even see anything, so no deer for him this year. The weather was decent expect for a day or so of rain. It was a lot of driving this year so that was a new experience for them.  

Later in the month Jacob and Uppa went elk hunting up in the Naches area. Jack didn't go because he wasn't feeling well. Anyway, Jacob and Uppa stayed at Mike's house, so the lodging arrangements were very nice. Especially since in the mornings it was down to 18 degrees. Jacob had no luck getting an elk; didn't even shot at one. This hunting trip was a lot of hiking. Uppa sent some beautiful pictures of the fall vistas. 

For Halloween Amelia volunteered at my school's Trunk or Treat with Moana on the 30th. We had a space themed trunk. This was her first year not trick or treating. She was super whiney about it. It doesn't help that all her friends still go but I don't care, trick or treating is for elementary school kids. She still got plenty of candy.

Jack volunteered the Presbyterian's Trunk or Treat on the 31st. He helped serve hot dogs and hot chocolate with the other Scouts. Jacob was just coming from elk hunting so he didn't help. He did somehow convince me to take him and Jack to a haunted house with a group of friends. They went through some scary haunted house and then to McDonalds for French fries. Hanging out with friends is an important part of their lives right now so I try to support positive constructive experiences.