Welcome to our World

I adore the viola and softball pumpkins Michelle and Natalie created all by themselves.  They really make Halloween seem more complete.  Of course we've decorated, made the traditional Halloween shaped sugar cookies, light the pumpkin spice scented candles and have started making things like stew or chili and cinnamon rolls for dinner, but seeing these pumpkins and busting out the costumes for Natalie's "Halloween Clash" softball tournament made Halloween feel real.  *small pumpkins provided by my ministering sister, G. I loved their team costumes so much!  They played three games back to back to back on Saturday morning.  The first game was a little rough, the second game was really good and well matched, and the third game was against the team expected to win the tournament.  But the umpire was so kind and really helped the girls enjoy the game even if they were behind by quite a few points.  After day one of the tournament we made sure to watch Desp...

Michelle and I got home from Kansas with one day off school to spare, which she spent at the orthodontist, doing homework, and hanging out with her friends.  Another mom grabbed this photo for us since these girls go to two different high schools so it’s kind of a special occasion when they are all together now.  This week was also Michelle’s first high school orchestra concert titled “Into the Stars” where her group played: Meteor Shower , Quasar , and Jupiter .  The black and white photo is from a dad who was taking photos for the music wing’s Instagram account and he is doing such a great job with that account. My guys provided some basketball and softball games to watch as well!  I was shocked when Danny said he felt up to playing less than a week after getting his wisdom teeth pulled.  And he showed hustle!  I could tell when he was sitting on the bench during the second game that he was in a lot of pain but he got out and played again the next day. ...

One of the things I get to do this school year is work in the student store with our sped students and we have one student who is a star worker there.  This month, at the end of helping a customer, she will tell them, "Happy Spooky Month."  I thought this artwork I got to see on the wall of the high school when I went to parent teacher conferences was amazing -- and it turned out to be Kate's.  Actually, I wasn't surprised that she could turn an astronomy assignment into something beautiful.  And I think it goes well with the theme of spooky month even though it's science based.  Said artist got to  help celebrate H's birthday and I stole this photo of Instagram to share here. This photo was also taken by someone else since the photo I took included the principal BUT my favorite volunteer had her eyes closed. She gets that from me... or... she's exhausted from being one of the top volunteers in her leadership program for this school year while maintaining ...