Thanksgiving 2018

We headed down to Rochester for Thanksgiving--this year, on the Wednesday night before, as I had the day off for the first time ever!  I was able to enjoy a day shopping and having lunch with a good friend, since our kids were both in school.

We enjoyed lots of time relaxing, delicious food, time for Christmas shopping for just Dave and myself alone, and a birthday celebration for my sister (which included dinner out, bowling, and an escape room--we escaped just in time!).  We also celebrated Christmas a little bit, because we won't see Greg and Rose Mary over Christmas this year.  Lots of great family time!

Halloween 2018

My parents and sister joined us for Halloween this year--we enjoyed fairly nice weather, new neighbors down the road who went all out for Halloween with their decorated yard/garage, and of course the house down the road that serves hot chocolate, wine/beer, and juice boxes.  Our group theme this year revolved around the girls wanting to dress as cheerleaders.

Abby's school party was a 50s theme, so I recreated my 6th grade poodle skirt by cutting off the poodle my mom had sewn on my skirt onto new fabric for Abby.  For a "no-sew" project, it turned out pretty good!

We have been visiting my uncle's pumpkin patch in Iowa for the past couple of years, but his pumpkins weren't as plentiful this year, so we visited Barten's Pumpkins this year:

Grandma's 90th birthday!

We pulled off a surprise carnival-themed birthday party for my grandma's 90th birthday, down at Miriam's.  She had had an open house the weekend before at her favorite coffee shop (on her actual birthday), so wasn't expecting anything the next weekend.  Greg and Rose Mary were even able to fly in.  Everyone had fun surprising her and playing carnival games!  I typed up and put together her gift from all of us--"90 Things we Love About You" (a gift inspired by one a good friend had made for her mother-in-law).

"Fall" camping

We couldn't find time in our busy summer to do a camping trip, so we opted for a September trip, thinking we would have perfect "fall" weather.  Instead, it was an unusually HOT weekend at Wild River State Park!  We made the best of it, and hiked early, cooled off at a snake show and in the river, and tented without the rain fly (risky move, but we lucked out with no rain and really enjoyed waking up to feeling slightly chilly with the breeze coming in the tent.  All in all, a great weekend camping!

First day of school 2018

We were all a little (okay, a lot) tired during the girls' first week of school/my first week back for workshops, due to bad jet lag after our South Korea trip.  Luckily, the girls at least had a couple of days to ease back into it.  This year, Norah is in Mrs. Westall's 1st grade class and Abby is in Mrs. Sneen's 5th grade class.  They are both excited for a great school year!