Small Town Couple: Letter Home

Dear Mom and Dad,

Mom, we were so pleased to hear that all went well with your cataract surgery! I’m getting excited for my trip home. Very much looking forward to a little R&R as well as some mean games of marbles so get the board out and start selecting your dice :). I am also feeling some anxiety for David while I’m gone. We’ve just survived another typical, crazy-busy week. I hope David survives while I’m gone as it feels like everything takes two of us right now. I’m sure it will be fine, but I’m also sure he’ll be happy to see me return. That’s never a bad thing :).

Jacob knocked a bracket loose playing football with the neighbor hood kids so I took him to get that fixed on Monday. A note came home on Monday reminding me that I had signed up to help in Mary’s classroom on a regular basis starting in November so I helped out there on Tuesday from 11:25-11:55, ran home for some lunch, and then returned to help with the Read Naturally program at 1:20. I did Wednesday envelopes Wednesday morning, returned in the afternoon to help Mary’s class get into their costumes, then tried to spot my kids in the Halloween parade with the other 500 parents that afternoon. I then spent all of Thursday creating 60 gratitude journals to give out at our November RS social (which I’m going to miss because I’ll be flying back from Wyoming). I got them all done and passed them off that afternoon so I’m feeling quite unburdened today.

Halloween was great fun. I’ve enclosed some pictures so you can see the costumes I made for the girls. We have received many compliments on our creativity. David took the girls out at 6:00 and they didn’t return until 8:00 p.m. Mary had to stop by the house once during that time just to unload because she couldn’t carry her sack any longer due to weight. Jacob spent a boring night doing homework and watching TV while I handed out candy. We didn’t have that many trick-or-treaters so we gave Jacob our leftover candy. The girls were quick to note that he got ALL chocolate while they got lots of less-desirable things like licorice and tootsie rolls. What can you do?

Laurel has kept me laughing this week. There is a battle over same-sex marriage going on here right now so lots of lawn signs (vote yes to ban same sex marriage or vote no which means to allow same sex marriage). The girls trick-or-treated at a home that had a “vote yes” sign so Laurel told the lady who answered the door that she really liked her sign. I bet she got better candy at that house for her comment. Then yesterday she also made us laugh. We give our neighbor girl, a 5^th grader, a ride home every day. Serena was telling us about her homework so I asked if she had more this year than last year in 4^th grade. Serena came back with a strong, “Yes!” Followed by an immediate “uh-oh!” by Laurel in the back seat. While I laughed, I actually think Laurel will be okay next year since Serena had the cushy teacher and Laurel has a tough one, meaning Laurel will be better prepared for 5^th grade.

Jacob starts basketball tonight with his first practice. Please pray for his team that they win a few games (unlike last year).

Well I’ve rambled on long enough. Hope life is treating you well. I’m so excited for my visit!

Love you,

David, Ella, Jacob, Charlotte, Laurel, & Mary

We were so busy last weekend, we didn't have a chance to carve pumpkins and honestly, I didn't see how we could do it this year. But the mother side of me just could not forgo this tradition. So even though we didn't have time for it, we made it work. I picked up pumpkins at Target on Monday afternoon; I gutted them while the kids did their homework; the carving began about 8:00 p.m. We had our traditional donuts the next day because I had to order them from the Target bakery. It wasn't smooth, but it was fun and most importantly, we got it in.