Halloween

Waldo, a Barlow cheerleader (Aubrey wore my old uniform), and a magician went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Kari went to a movie (Malificent 2) with her friends. I stayed back and handed out candy, which I always enjoy.

Pumpkin Carving

Carving our ginormous Grandpa garden pumpkins required a different setup this year, as well as some furniture rearrangement. Got ‘em done! We had a pumpkin house, a Toy Story alien, a Rapunzel flower, and Monster's Inc's Mike Wazowski. They were quite impressive, both in size and carving creativity. We received lots of compliments on our pumpkins this year. 

Pretty tree and silly cat

This photo doesn't do it justice, but this tree in our backyard is absolutely beautiful in the fall. The color is so vibrant. I love it. 

And our cat is funny. He was sitting on the couch like a person. 

National Honor Society

Kari was inducted into the National Honor Society back in October. The process was a bit painful, as she did not see the need for doing this. We convinced her that it was a worthy endeavor, helped her write out all her activities, awards/honors, and community service hours, and helped her with her essay on leadership. Katelin did it, too, so at least she has an NHS buddy. More friends are likely to follow in the next year or so.  Service is one of the "pillars" of this organization, and she's already serving a lot in different ways. She is getting more and more opportunities to volunteer her time and serve others, and that's a good thing. 

Outdoor School

After a lot of prayer and many conversations and emails, we decided to let Aubrey go to Outdoor School, and she ended up having a great week! Her teachers were very supportive and understanding and listened carefully to our concerns. They helped us make it so that Aubrey could go with friends and feel safe. They allowed her to go with a different homeroom. Just one more kid to get through it. :-)

I probably will never live down that fact that I took Aubrey (and Joel and Grant) straight to the doctor's office for a flu shot once she got off the bus from Outdoor School. It just happened to be the one day that worked for us! Aubrey did not appreciate that. She'll appreciate it if she doesn't get the flu this year, though!

We missed Aubrey that week. Our home just wasn't right without her. We were all happy when she came back to us.

The principal sent me this one. 

School Pictures

*I have so much catch-up to do! I haven't written anything on here since early October!

It's so fun to look at how the kids change over the years. It's also frightening to realize just how little time we have left with Kari. Just a couple spaces left!

Bauman's Harvest Festival

I had to write a note to excuse Kari from the last bit of her symphonic band retreat so that we could still have our fall fun. She had been dreading this retreat, but she ended up having a great time and was surprised when she was kinda sad to leave that night instead of spending the night. I went up that night and helped with dinner then stayed until late that night so I could bring her home. I asked if she wanted to stay, but she said no, that she'd rather be with us. :)

We spent our annual fall family day at Bauman's Harvest Festival, a pretty amazing place that Tiffany has dubbed "the Disneyland of pumpkin patches." The weather was beautiful, and we had a wonderful day together doing all the fun things (jumping pillow, laser tag, slides, wooden maze, corn maze, dark maze, hay ride, apple-tasting) and eating all the yummy things (cider donuts--yum!). Once again, this day was one of my very favorites with my family.