This is Halloween

 

 I don’t remember Halloween ever being on a Monday, but it was today.  I really thought they’d have Trick or Treat over the weekend, but most local towns decided to keep it on the 31st.  It worked out well for our family as both Meg and Cam had friends over to walk the neighborhood.  Meg invited Preston and Gabrielle and Chance and Evan joined Cam.

Both Meg and Cam decided to make their own costumes tonight.  Meg was a basketball hoop wearing her IU net hat.  Preston was the baller wearing Meg’s IU jersey and Cam’s IU crazy hat.  Gabby completed the trio by being the the overzealous fan complete with IU striped pants borrowed from Meg.  

Cam and his friends looked great as well.  Cam went as a detective complete with trench coat, magnifying glass, detective hat and pipe.  Evan was a wizard from Harry Potter and Chance was the Operation Man from the board game.  Doug walked with them, but said they will be fine to go on their own next year.  The boys were thrilled that they were also able to play Pokemon Go at the same time.  

We received a picture from Cal in his Halloween costume.  He enjoyed the weekend as Cheech Marin from Cheech and Chong.  His outfit was complete with suspenders, a mustache, cigar and yellow crop top.  I got a kick out seeing it.

Mom, Dad and I stayed at our house handing out candy.  We really didn’t have as many trick or treaters as I expected.  Sounds like other neighborhoods were packed, however.  Once the older three returned they asked Mom to take them to Dairy Queen for free cones.  Preston and the ice cream cone paper were the topic for the rest of the night.

The Miracle Worker

Doug had to work today.  The auditors have given him a lot of work to do and he wanted to get a start on it.  He thought he’d be there until 4, but was able to leave much earlier than that.  He used his afternoon to work on items around the house.  He did some raking, but with the warm weather the leaves are mostly still high in the trees.

Cam had religion today.  Mom took him as he spent the night there.  Meg stayed at Kaitlin’s.  She had had a Halloween party last night.  Meg had a great time ding dong ditching throughout town.  I picked her up after I got Cam from religion.  She had a take home Pre-Calculus test that she needed to complete.  

Cam, Meg and I went to see the Miracle Worker at Amish Acres in the afternoon.  It was excellent and we all enjoyed it.  They did not know a lot about Helen Keller and were impressed with her story.  We picked up Doug afterward and headed to Warsaw.  We stopped at the shoe store first.  Cam needed basketball shoes and Meg and I both needed boots.  They had some good deals and Cam won a $4 off coupon by naming five candy bars.  Dinner was at Buffalo Wild Wings.  We were home in time to watch the Cubs win game 5 of the World Series.  They are still down 3-2, but live another day.

Chess Time

Chess season started today for Cam as he had his first tournament of the school year.  It was held at Bethany and he and Doug spent the day there.  Cam moved up to the rated class and played well.  He ended up with three points and won a trophy for being first in the under 500 rated groupings.  He even won the 500 to 700 group as well as their first place winner only had two points.  At first he wasn’t sure about his decision to move up, but winning the last two matches really helped boost his confidence.  He has beaten all of the six graders in the novice section, so it was time for him to make the jump.  Tougher competition will only make him better.

Meg and I stopped by Bethany to check in on Cam and Doug around 11 a.m. Doug had to work concessions for the lunch rush.  We talked to Mary for a little while and then went shopping.  Meg found a dress for semi-formal that I really liked.  We even found shoes to match.  We were back at Bethany in time to see Cam get his trophy.  They had to serve at 5, so we took off as soon as Cam’s group was announced.  Doug stayed for a little while to help clean up.  We all made it to church in plenty of time.

Doug and I went to Chop’s for dinner tonight.  It was delicious as always.  We even tried new foods.  It was strange coming home as we had no children in the house.  That is definitely rare.

Jack O' Lanterns

Tonight was the perfect night to carve pumpkins as we really did not have much going on.  We waited until after Doug got home.  He worked late again, but made it to the Bethany fish fry to pick up our take out order.  

Meg and Cam did an awesome job with their pumpkins.  Cameron used the Disney stencils I ordered to make a Donald Duck jack o lantern.  It looked just like him once the candle was lit.  Meg made her own design complete with big eyes and a mustache.  We decided to keep them inside until Halloween night to ensure that they survive pumpkins smashers.

Mail Problem Solved

Brett has not been receiving any mail for the last two weeks.  I had sent him a package at the beginning of October that reached him without any problem, but lately they have not been as fortunate.  Mom and a friend of Brett's each sent him a package that he seemed to be caught in the dead letter office.   Mom tried to track down hers and the post office kept telling her that it was undeliverable.  Brett and his roommate finally decided to visit the post office to see what the hold up was.  They were told that their names had to be on the box or they would not receive mail.  Not sure why that wasn't the case earlier, but at least they had an answer.  The postal worker told Brett that they did not have any packages for him at that time, but fortunately today they showed up.  Brett was happy to get his presents and my Mom was relieved that she did not have to file a claim.   Glad that they were able to figure out the problem before Brett left for home.

Trying to Catch Up

I feel like I have been playing catch up the last two days both at school and at home.  There was a lot of laundry to get done, soccer shoes to order, souvenirs to put away and packages to get ready to mail.  School wasn't quite as bad as I anticipated, but with Red Ribbon week we have more to do.  I definitely have been very tired these past few days.  I feel like my adrenaline is gone.

Meg's tennis was cancelled because of weather and Cam was free tonight, so we headed to Fashion Farm to pick out pumpkins.  It was freezing, but they each found two that will make perfect Jack O' Lanterns.  Doug worked late again, but he and were able to go to dinner together once he got home.  Cam and Meg visited with Mom and Dad for an hour or so before we picked them up.

Back to Reality

Cam and I were both up early so that he could make bell ringers this morning.  I was impressed that he wanted to go as we were pretty tired from our trip.  His first day back after Fall Break was actually yesterday, but we decided to pull him out so that we could enjoy one more day at Disney.  Mom brought up caffeine and donuts for breakfast.  That really helped.  Cam stayed after school for chess.  I met him in the cafeteria afterward for the basketball parent meeting.  Cam will play on the C team this year and is very excited about it as most of the 6th grade will be on the team with him.  Mr. Willems will be his coach again and the assistants will be the same as soccer. Cam likes that practices are not every night of the week, so he should have time for piano, chess and maybe oboe as well.  We are hoping that his team gets to play Milford 6th grade.

Cam and I were both home by 6:30 which was earlier than Doug.  He has a lot to do at work and will be very busy this week and next.  Meg also kept busy tonight.  She has a make up chemistry test tomorrow morning that everyone has told her is impossible.  She had a precalculus test before she left that was difficult as well.  Academically this has been one of her more challenging trimesters, but so far she has held up well.