The Accidental Boilermaker

Tonight was the Fantasy of Lights Winter Wonder Dash 2K. We have driven through the fantasy of lights every winter since we moved to Fort Wayne but this year we ran. We signed up for the dash kind of because Evelyn and Jameson missed out on running the Fort4fitness and because it just sounded like fun. We took lots of pictures at the start. Running through the lights was very cool. 

Evelyn did not have school today. Thousands of teacher gathered in Indianapolis to protest for things like better funding, higher pay and less teaching to the standardized tests. Evelyn’s school district decided with so many teachers requesting personal days to attend the rally that it was safest to cancel classes. Evelyn and Jameson both wore red/pink in support of public education. But Jameson still had school, so we dropped him off. Evelyn was so excited to see her former PreK teacher and then to go get donuts at Tom’s. After donuts we played a bunch of boards games and read some books before picking Jameson up.  In other news I bought these microfiber turban towels for Evelyn to help get her hair dry after bath. I wish I had thought of the idea sooner, the towel worked so well. I bought a two pack thinking maybe I’d use the second one, but now I think I will have to share with Jameson. 

The outdoor ice skating rink opened yesterday!  We went with out friends Tamber and Natalya.  Originally they had invited us to their house for dinner, but then Paul (the husband/dad) got sick.  It was a great day for skating.  The rink wasn't too busy when we first got there, but it did fill up fast. Jameson did really well.  Nate had him practicing skating all on his own. Evelyn did well too.  She was a little wobbly at first and generally stuck close to the wall the whole time.  She had a couple good falls too. Jameson usually doesn't pick Nate over me, but when it comes to skating he wants his dad. Waving to the zamboni.

We took a trip up to Michigan this past weekend.  Evelyn and Jameson were so excited to see their cousins and so excited to eat french toast sticks for breakfast. Legos were a big hit too, but maybe even more fun than Legos was playing in the snow. Not sure I've ever been sledding in November. Other indoor fun activities included board games, just a little bit of screen time, movie time, and reading books together before bedtime.

It was a busy busy Saturday.  My dad and I signed up to be vendors at a craft fair held by Jameson's school.  My dad sold paracord bracelets and I crocheted pumpkins and leaf coasters. We were modestly successful.  The craft fair seemed very busy; we had lots of shoppers stop at our table.  I sold all my coasters (which really surprised me) and a good number of pumpkins.  Enough that after accounting for all the yarn I bought I profited about $50.  That said, I don't think we will be going into the craft fair business. While we were busy selling, Nate took Evelyn and Jameson to ballet and then to Millie's birthday party.  He came by school to see how things were going before taking the kids home in order to rest a little before trick-o-treating. Sarah, Harper, Willow, and Violet came over to our neighborhood for trick-o-treating which was lots of fun for everyone.  We had Captain America, Anna, Elsa, Minnie Mouse and Tinkerbe...

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.