The Accidental Boilermaker

 It was a wet and windy Halloween but fairly warm so it was comfortable for trick or treating. Oma and Grandpa handed out candy and we had 107 people come to our door.  I think some people guessed our theme. One little boy loved Nate’s taco costume. Jameson as always got some good laughs.  Wednesday we carved pumpkins and roasted the seeds.  Evelyn did hers entirely by herself. Jameson originally wanted a complicated stencil design that I did not have time for so we compromised. He picked a face from off the internet, I drew it on the pumpkin, and he carved it out.  Pumpkins Right to left: Evelyn, Jameson, me I was super proud of my hungry caterpillar.  I used felt, pipe cleaners, hot glue, and a little poly fill. 

 We took a trip up to the cottage this weekend. Saturday’s weather was very nice, sunny and little breezy. Evelyn and Jameson were so excited to go fishing and Grandpa even let them use the green boat instead of the peddle boat.  Nate took them out twice but neither one caught a fish. But that didn’t bother them. They also played on the swing and watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit. This was not planned but we all stayed up late to watch Midsomer Murders on PBS. We were hooked from the beginning and the kids wanted to keep watching to see who’d done it. Sunday was relaxed. Paul left early for church and we stayed back with Pat to help close up the cottage. Then we all met back up for brunch before we had to drive home. 

 Literacy pumpkins were due today. Evelyn chose Roz from The Wild Robot.  Jameson made Geronimo Stilton.  The cider mill hosted a trunk or treat tonight. Nate and I shared a glass of cider and the kids got some candy. 

 Fall soccer is now officially over.  Two games on Saturday in South Bend. Jameson’s team won both. All season they played 2015 or mixed 2015/2016 teams and all season they looked little and inexperienced in comparison. So it was nice to see them play strong in their first game. Jameson stepped up and played goalie for the first time in this league and he did awesome. The second game was a little different because an entire club was a no show. So in an effort to make sure every team played two games, Jameson’s team played an all girls team. Nothing wrong with that but the score was very lopsided. The girls played better than the score suggested. In was a fun day overall. In between games we watched Jameson’s friend Micah play and went out to dinner in Mishawaka to celebrate a good season. Today’s games were much harder.  Boys didn’t score a goal in either game. Jameson took a good kick to his ankle. He played goalie again in each game for a half. It maybe wasn’t the happi...

Fall soccer is over. Except for the 4 games this weekend. But no more practices. Tonight was parent vs player, a tradition I had hoped we left behind in rec soccer. But it was fun. The kids just love it. Parents won. 

 Fall break started today. Evelyn and Jameson got their flu and Covid vaccines first thing in the morning. We stopped for donuts afterward, I dropped them off at home and I went to Bible study. In the afternoon we went to the zoo. Jameson got so much attention, but it seemed like he made a lot of people smile and laugh too.

 I’m supposed to be on a flight to Charlotte for a GOTR training conference. Actually I should be in Charlotte now. However, the flight attendant got her finger stuck in the door (she needed stitches) and we had to deplane. There weren’t any extra attendants in Fort Wayne so they are flying one down from Chicago and we should leave at 11:40. I’ll arrive late to my training, but I was told all will be ok, so now I’m drinking coffee, working on my Bible study. That was my plan for when I was in Charlotte waiting for the conference to start, I’m just doing it 4 hours earlier.  City finals were last night. Evelyn finished 40th out of 90 girls and 14th for 5th grade girls so she missed the podium by 2 spots. She wasn’t overly upset and was happy for her friends who did medal. She was most sad that it was her last elementary cross country race.  Jameson finished 50th out of 90 boys and 12th for 3rd grade so he just snuck in a medal finish. I like cross country but I’m also glad...