Halloween

The girls had no school today! Yay! I had to go into work for a little bit, but we were able to join our old homeschool recess group and enjoy a fun Halloween party. It was so great to be with our homeschool friends again! 

Then, for the first time, the girls all wanted to hang out with friends instead of go together. They are at that age, even if it is a little sad.

Claire went with her good friends Sophie and Liesl. They have been a tremendous blessing to her at middle school this year. 

Audra wanted to go trick-or-treating, but none of her friends did, so they got together and watched a movie, Knives Out, instead. That really made Audra very sad, but it turned out to be her best option. The joys of getting a little older.

Camille went with Ivy, Talmage, and a few other friends. Ben walked with them.

I stayed home and handed out candy. I bought full size bars, but it wasn't enough to get very many trick or treaters. We only had about 20 people come, so I have about 40 full size candy bars left over. I'll have to figure out what to do with all this candy. Sigh.

At any rate, all three girls had a great time and it was a very successful Halloween.

School Parade

 Here's Camille and her best friend Ivy. She's so excited Ben and I are there to watch her school Halloween parade and to have me taking pictures!

Trick or Treat Street

 Audra was helping at Trick or Treat Street for both band and ASL, Claire had soccer practice, so it was just Camille who represented our family as a trick or treater this year. Oh, how the times are changing for our household! It's a whole new world. We ran into cousins, though, so Camille wasn't completely by herself.

Once again, the high school outdid itself. Every time someone says something like, "the youth these days..." I want to roll my eyes and tell them to go to their local high school and see what those amazing youth are doing! These teenagers are going to change the world, and we get to be a part of it as we attend these events they host!

Bathroom Remodel

We FINALLY decided to give our master bathroom some love, and boy did it need it! It was ugly builder's grade materials. Ben's sink faucet was literally disintegrating. Yes, we could have bought him a new faucet, but I didn't even want to spend $20 on that awful bathroom.

We hired someone who does this on the side. There was a crew of 3 guys. We had to be on their schedule/timeline, which was difficult at times. It ended up taking 11 days, which isn't terrible, but is a long time to not have a master bathroom and to have to use the kids' bathroom (yuck!) for that time.

But in the end, it's GORGEOUS, and I am so glad we did it! Ben isn't, but he's a tough man to please, so I'll just bask in my happiness at our beautiful new bathroom! In fact, if you can cry over a beautiful bathroom, I will. I absolutely love it. And compared to our nasty old bathroom? It's a night and day difference.

Now I want to redo the rest of our house.

Dance

 Audra went with friends to a tri-stake Halloween dance, and it was super fun to see them all dressed up. She has awesome friends!

Meyers Ranch

 Fall Break has been exceptionally busy as I was at a conference for work for two days and then we are having our bathroom remodeled which is taking way too long, so fall break has pretty much been a bust this year. I hope to make it up next year with a trip to Disneyland, but for now, we were happy to be able to get up in the mountains for a quick hike. The fresh air was needed. It has been a beautiful fall, and we haven't enjoyed it nearly as much as we should. We missed most of the changing leaves by about three weeks, but there were a few leaves left on a few trees.

At any rate, anytime we can have together as a family is a good day. I love that we live only 30 minutes from such stunning mountain hikes!

Marching Band

 Marching band has sadly come to an end.

Regionals were tonight and they took 13th out of 14, so they did not make state. Audra is devastated. It was a beautiful show with fantastic music. They performed wonderfully. But in the end, sadly it wasn't enough.

Nevertheless, she increased her friendships, gained new friends, and had a terrific time. It was a ton of work- that started in July!- and it's a little surreal that it is already over, but we are so proud of her and all that she and the band accomplished this year.

And now Claire wants to learn to play the flute so she can join marching band next year!