Halloween

M invited band kids over and got out all the instruments.

When they all come out, there are a lot of them!

L got go go to the trail of treats at his school.  He's having really good behavior lately.  I'm very grateful his new medication and consistent sleep routines are helping a lot.

M's always up for the party sunglasses.

The 3 peas had a good time at the ward trunk er treat.

At the homecoming parade the kids got a spiderman head worth of candy.  That was the only vesel we had, not having been expecting it to be so much!  Everyone loves spiderman though so we got lots of candy thrown our way.  L really acted the part, darting out into the street to rescue the candies.

lP got to play in a mini concert at her school.  This is the costume that keeps giving.

We trick or treated in our neighborhood.  I'm really glad we stayed close and got to meet some neighbors I hadn't gotten around to meeting yet.
 

Concerts

 This town has so much great musical talent.  P and I got to sing in the stake choir.  There were 2 two hour rehearsals that were very demanding.  

We went to a rehearsal of the Notre Dame choir from France.  They were singing in the First Baptist Church which has an incredible stained glass wall in the sanctuary.  The combination of visual and auditory beauty fed my soul.

Tonight we went to a concert to hear lP's oboe teacher play with the youth orchestra.  LP's friend from school plays bassoon in the 2nd orchestra.  It was so nice.  The top orchestra accompanied the oboe concerto and also played Festive Overture.

This week both of the girls will have performances.  It is intense and beautiful.

I am practicing the baritone to play for the Stake Christmas Orchestra.  That's right.  Our stake and the Huntsville stake put on a Choral and Orchestral presentation.  Nice!  P bought us a nice gig bag for the baritone.  Feeling fancy.

Tonight lP was practicing her oboe in her room.  I was practicing the baritone in the garage.  M was out in the shed practicing her horn.  Pretty awesome.

Preparing for the GRE

 I have been preparing to take the GRE so I can apply for grad school.  I borrowed a GRE book from the library for several weeks.  I have been taking the practice tests with the scheduled test I will take next week.  If that doesn't go well I can try again in a few weeks.

I have started the application for grad school.  I wrote to 2 past mentors asking if they would write a recommendation and haven't heard back from them.  I realize that there are many people I can ask though.  It doesn't just have to be these 2 or 3 people who are so specifically able to recommend me.  I can have co-workers like ladies I served with at homeschool or in church callings.  It will be OK.

When I take a practice test I write down all the questions I got wrong, or take a screen shot of them.  P has been very patient to go over them with me.  As it is I will be able to score high enough to get into my program.  My pride would like to do better but I accept that I am good enough. 

I hope to apply for a Masters program at Alabama A&M in Speech Pathology.  I like the idea of having a career that is part education, part medical, and that could put me in contact with the deaf population.  I enjoyed being a band teacher.  Some of the things I didn't like discourage me from pursuing that career again.  I only taught for 2 years and the first 2 years were hard.  I think things would get better, but I do have a lot of memories of the hard times, sadly.

Mornings

 Mornings are hectic!  P wakes at 5am and leaves for work at 5:45.  I wake at 6 and take M to seminary at 6:30.  I get back at 7:00am and sometimes B is already gone for school.  I make sure L has his breakfast, school snack, clean clothes and medicine then ride him to school at 7:20.  lP is fairly self sufficient and gets herself off while I am taking L or shortly thereafter.  By 8:00am I am done for the morning.

Last week M wanted me to take her to School.  I asked her to ask lP to take L to school for me because lP will do anything for M.  lP had such a fun time taking L to school that she asked to do it again the next day.  It's so nice that she is such a helpful sister.  Both girls are so lovely and helpful.  

P and I are singing in the Stake Choir or Stake Conference.  That is fun.  The group is great and the rehearsals are fast paced and productive.  I was invited to collaborate with the conductor and pianist on making one of the pieces a little less bombastic.  They had 2 practices that were 2 hours each.  We found out we were invited at 6:30 on the night the first practice started at 6.  But we hustled over and joined in.  Last night when we were there for the full 2 hours I really felt it in my voice.  Having sung in the ward choir, my voice was tired after 1 hour of practice.  So I was careful and didn't sing so loud the 2nd hour.

M's band was the grand champions at the competition they went to on Saturday.  She had a rough day because she set alarms for 4:something am and 5:something am.  I woke at each and after making sure her shoes were clean and pants drying, I went back to bed thinking her call time was 8:30.  The boys activity was 8:30.  M's call time was 7:45.  When I woke her at 7:30 it was not cool.  Oh poor girl.  The band was having a practice at 8:am before loading buses after 10.  M has been making a bookshelf out of card board for a few weeks now.  She crafted the shelf and is now putting a paper pulp on it to make it sturdier.

lP finished the spider baby hat for cousin A's baby J.  She started learning to do the rubix cube on our road trip to Florida.  In 2 weeks she cycled through being able to do it a few times, to doing it in 2 minutes.  And now she knows it so well she's bored.

B has tried the rubix cube a few times without instructions because B doesn't like instructions.  Saturday he finally accepted the instructions and was able to follow it completely without mistakes.  That was amazing.  Usually there is 3-6 times where you make one wrong turn and have to start over.  B is sweetly willing to keep L off the computer on Sunday.  Last week he played card games with him.  This week they were playing action games like "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean".  I'm grateful that B is so willing to help L do good things.  Sometimes he gets too involved in trying to control L, who is not easy to control.  But I'm grateful that B is so kind and patient.

L had a great week in school.  Each day he had better and better reports, finishing with ALL smiley faces on Friday.  I'm hopeful that this new medicine will be a blessing and he can have positive behavior.  He had a friend R from the beginning of school and he said they love each other so much.  He has such strong feelings.  His tender feelings lead him to crying.  

B and L had a bike activity with their church group.  The leader reported that they were some of the only ones who had the stamina to make the ride without problems.  They are used to riding 2 miles a day in back packs and hills!

 I'm off to play my tuba and write some music. 

Georgia Aquarium!

 On the way home we surprised the children with a trip to the Georgia Aquarium.  They had no idea.  When we were pulling into the parking lot M said "Are we going here?"

It was so beautiful.  I'm so glad we could do that with and for the kids. 

Old towne

 We had a lot of fun in St Augustine.

Downtown

Beach

Park friends and pizza

Church activities

Good times

 We had a great day with family.

L and B built trains with Grandpa.  Grandma C came to see the bats with us.

Goodbye white car

 

We got this white car in January.  It was the nicest second car we had gotten ever.  P wanted to sell it before moving but I didn’t.  When we got here and he was commuting he found a good deal on a Chevy Bolt electric car.  So it was time to sell the white car.  I cleaned it up and treated a place that had rust with bondo.  It has several issues but in general it is a really nice car.  I posted it and after a week with no interest I resigned myself to getting a tag for the new car instead of lowering the price on the white car.

I went to the tag office but had forgotten the insurance paper so I couldn’t get the tag.  On my way out of the office I was contacted by a buyer for the white car.  We met and after 2 test drives and negotiating the price, I sold it that day.  His grand son was 21 and buying his first car to drive to work.  The grandpa had been driving 50 miles to support the grandson going to work.  I pray the car works well for them.  The grandson had saved up the cash himself.  In so many ways I hope to be a grandparent that empowers instead of enabling.

Mini reunion

Mini reunion at Cracker Barrel.

Buccees!

 My sister N was visiting Nashville for work.  She had her child F fly in and they came to visit us.  Then she set up a meet up with our brother S.  I love that my siblings make time to see each other.  With our mother passed away and our father estranged we could loose touch.  Several of my sisters make a big effort to visit, and stay in touch.