Halloween and First Half of November

Halloween was nice. We carved pumpkins the day before. Oddly, the high school kids were allowed to dress up (although they didn't) but Luke's grade was not. Instead they had idiom day. Luke's idiom was "not my cup of tea". He designed a shirt and wore it to school. Jack had band practice, which we were kind of bummed about. He still managed to get in a little trick-or-treating, Thomas took Luke out. Anna had two friends from school join her. Kara stayed home and passed out candy, I joined her after picking up Jack. Based on previous years, we bought enough for about 100 trick-or-treaters, but will need to plan for more next year.

Annual photo with Mr. Pumpkinhead

Luke had fun with his candy. He traded with his siblings and our neighbor. Then, he sorted all by type and ranked them.

Kara and I wrapped up our year at Halloween Horror Nights. We really enjoyed our seasonal passes and went 6 times.

Jack's marching band had their MPA competition. Anna and I went and watched all afternoon. Marta and Elizabeth drove up from Winter Haven and joined us. The weather was beautiful and I loved watching all the bands and being with Anna, Marta and Elizabeth. It is my favorite band event of the year.

Can you find Jack? He is front and center in this picture.

Luke has had some baseball tournaments, including during the MPA. He still loves baseball. 

The band also recently had a concert. Thomas and the girls went. I took Luke to a fun birthday party, that was very multi-cultural. Happy Birthday in Portuguese is quite a party and made the English song seem very dull!

The kids all got their first report cards. Everyone did well. 

Jack and Luke joined us with Disney annual passes. We went to Magic Kingdom one Friday and had an amazing time. They also joined us at Epcot and rode Guardians of the Galaxy, which is my favorite. We had lots of fun. Besides Disney, we have also had visits to Universal and Fun Spot. There is no shortage of theme park adventures when you live in Orlando!

I visited with my Dad today. Traffic was horrible. There was an accident on the drive down that caused me to be rerouted and then the drive home had stop and go traffic for over 10 miles. That part of the drive alone was close to an hour. It was very painful. But, my visit with my Dad was great. He looked much better and his cognition has greatly improved. His mobility is also better, but he has a long way to go to recover from the hip replacement. The new normal is not what I wish it was, but it is better than I expected and for that I am grateful.

And, to end with the biggest news. My nephew returned from his mission! He served in Toyko and arrived home last night. Originally, he was supposed to get in at 6, but his first flight was delayed which made catching his original flight home impossible. He ended up arriving at midnight. Jack and Anna couldn't stay awake, but the rest of us went. In funny news, Anna told me to wake her up before we left. I woke her up, she said she would get dressed. Then, she came downstairs and told Kara she wasn't going to go. The next morning, she did not remember any of that and wondered why I never woke her :)

It was fun to be part of JD's welcoming committee. We love JD, he is a great kid (although, I guess he is not really a kid anymore) and has been a good older cousin to my children. I am happy he is home and can't wait to hear more details of his mission. 

And, a photo summary from some other happenings the last few weeks:

Luke got an award for straight A's on pajama day.

I had a lot of fun with this Haunted Mansion puzzle. Although, it was trickier than I expected.

Anna has become an omelet expert and sometimes makes them for my breakfast on the weekends.

Universal had a yard sale. This was my haul from the 90% off day. I got all this stuff for $36 (including 11 shirts)!

Luke went to a birthday party at the Funtastic Depot. It was amazing!

The go carts at Fun Spot are so fun!