The Accidental Boilermaker

A little after 1:00 I check my email and see a notification from Evelyn’s teacher letting everyone know that Fort Wayne has postponed trick o treating till Saturday afternoon. Great news because the weather really wasn’t nice but kinda bad news too because instead of a busy Saturday we are going to have a super busy Saturday.  But it’s Halloween right?  You have to do something. The strip mall where our closest Kroger is and the library and the restaurant where my friend Sarah works at was still holding their trick o treat event so we went there. And it was cold and windy and rainy but Evelyn and Jameson didn’t complain.  We ended the evening at the cider mill which also had treats for kids.  So lots of candy, hard cider, and a pumpkin pie! Jameson help make the leaf crust. 

We carved our pumpkins last night. My parents are coming again for Halloween but not until tomorrow so I had to carve pumpkins all by myself this year. The original plan was to carve the Captain America shield for Jameson and Olaf for Evelyn. The shield looked easiest so I carved Jameson’s pumpkin first.  It turned out really well!  But once I was finished there wasn’t time to start on Olaf. Evelyn was pretty disappointed and decided instead of Olaf she wanted a more traditional jack o lantern that could be finished before bedtime.  I was a little sad not to get the chance to carve Olaf, but also a little relieved too. The template did look a little complicated. 

Evelyn and Jameson picked out their pumpkins today. Jameson and I also got lunch with Maryca and Millie. After lunch, the kids played at the mall play place. It’s fun to see Jameson and Millie interact without their respective big sisters. Millie also shared her pumpkin cookie with Jameson.  Evelyn lost her second tooth yesterday. Just like the first, she lost it while on the bus ride home. 

Jameson had his parent teacher conference this morning. Miss Stephanie said he is doing great. She gave him all yes’s for his developmental checklist except for holding an utensil correctly (improving), can write own name and cut on a line (not yet). Miss Stephanie said all 6 boys in Jameson’s class are doing great too. They all listen well, clean up when it is time, sit and do table work well, and play nicely. Jameson always talks about his friend Preston and Miss Stephanie said it’s true they do often play together. She said everyone kind of paired off but when they play outside on the playground equipment, they all play together. She asked him some questions and it was fun to see his answers. I’m not sure if his favorite toy is one we own or one he wishes he had. His favorite song is a song he “wrote” himself.  As for his favorite shape Miss Stephanie told me never in all her time teaching has she had a preschooler say his favorite shape is a dodecahedron.

Nate has the big project of fixing a set of steps on our deck. Thankfully Pat and Paul came down to assist. Evelyn and Jameson were such good helpers too. They ferried the extension cord back and forth between Nate and Grandpa Paul, sorted screws, and just kept the busy workers company.  Evelyn said her favorite part was helping with the deck. Pat got to come to Evelyn’s ballet lesson too. We also bagged a few leaves for Halloween decorations.  Jameson said his favorite part of playing hot wheels. He and Grandma Pat came up with some cool track configurations. 

Yesterday we met Harper, Willow, and Violet at the park but also there was Evelyn’s friend Katen from pre-k with her two sisters.  All 7 girls plus Jameson played really well together and since the weather was so nice we stayed for a long time. At the park Sarah invited us to the trunk-or-treat at the community college tonight but then this afternoon she texted saying Harper didn’t feel well and they were going to stay home.  Evelyn and Jameson were disappointed but they still really wanted to go. The weather was not great - cold, windy, and drizzly but they had fun and got a ton of candy. And I figure they only get so many chances to wear their costumes. 

We went it a huge farm fall festival in Ohio yesterday with Bella and Millie.  The same farm we go strawberry picking. There was everything. A not too scary haunted house and pig races. Rubber duck races and a corn pit.  Giant slides and buggy rides.  A kids barrel train ride and of course tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch.  It was a lot of fun. The weather was great, a perfect fall day but it was so crowded. I’m glad we went because it’s always fun to see the kids play together and catch up with Steven and Maryca but I don’t know that I want to go back next year. There are some other more low key pumpkin patches closer to home that I think I like better. 

Yesterday was fall break for Evelyn but the weather did not look promising for any fun activity. So we went to Bible study, ran to Meijer, came home, had lunch, did laundry and despite looking like rain and the forecast still predicting rain it wasn't really raining. But it was warm outside and so I decided sure let’s go trick-or-treating at the zoo. The zoo was so empty which actually was kind of sad because it meant there weren’t as many cute kids in costume.  The warm weather meant Evelyn and Jameson didn’t need coats or hats or mittens which was really nice. They both wore shorts under their costumes.  Jameson wanted to be Captain America this year and lucky him, we found a (way too big) Captain America costume at Goodwill. Nate bought him the mask at work.  Evelyn scored Anna’s coronation dress from Goodwill too.  The Halloween decorations were so much fun to see again this year. A good number of animals were still out too....

Evelyn and Jameson didn’t get to participate in the Fort4fitness but we did do our own final 1.2 mile run on the greenway Monday night. Jameson was really feeling it and did great.  He beat Evelyn. Evelyn said her legs got all itchy running and it made her uncomfortable. She needed a lot of coaxing which isn’t like her at all.  I think she was tired and it can be hard to do things in evening after school. Finishers! yesterday after school we picked up their medals. They both fell asleep in the car. Evelyn perked right up but Jameson looked like he was going to fall right back asleep as they took their picture. 

We took a short weekend trip to Decatur to visit Mimi.  On Saturday Mimi took us to the children's museum.  Evelyn and Jameson had a blast.  Their favorite part was the air tubes that moved the balls and then shot them back out. Everyone loved the pin art. There was a water table, a pretend car mechanic, and two levels all about police officers and first responders. They also really enjoyed this building area that had a small playground. Outside there was even more stuff.  A giant bubble table. A real helicopter. And a real fire truck.  It was a great way to spend the morning. After the museum we headed downtown to pick up caramel apples and popcorn from Del's. Then it is was a quick trip to the garden before heading home to relax.  Sunday we went to church, had lunch, and then hit the road.   We got stuck in traffic just outside of Indianapolis.  The highway was shut d...