Survival

October has been a month of survival for me. Surviving barely at work which tends to be demanding in October and January. October ends next week and I am breathing easier. Halloween seemed so distant and now it is coming too fast! Then the other holidays will quickly follow both exciting and tiring. We still don't know what you will be for Halloween. Maybe a dinosaur or dragon or something that roars. You have an excellent roar. There is a Halloween parade on Tuesday night that you might march in... undecided. Doesn't it seem like our town has a parade every month? Just about. The next one after Halloween is the Christmas lights parade, always a crowd pleaser.

Point? I really don't remember.
Oh yes! Halloween costume for you is undecided but we have them for Brandy and Stan! Brandy is going to be a banana split. The banana head piece is priceless!


And Stan will be... what else!?! A hotdog!


Life is calming down for me. But not you! Today we went to a housewarming party for friends in town. It was wonderful to only drive 5 minutes to go hang out with friends. Anyway, they had a moon bounce for the kiddos. You went in reluctantly. Lately, you have not enjoyed moon bounces. But this one lured you in and at first you couldn't stand up (I think this made you uncomfortable in the last couple of weeks when you have been in a moon bounce). Somehow you worked past this and before long you were having a great time crawling around, laughing with the other kids and playing games. We got out to eat and then as soon as you were done you exclaimed, "bounce!" Off you ran to the moon bounce to jump back in. We only stayed a couple of hours but by the time we left you were able to walk around and bounce up and down on your own two feet! I found this amazing. You really worked hard to bounce the "big girl way" and you tried and failed multiple times. You figured out to use the side netting to help you steady yourself even when the boys were doing tackle attacks. I am impressed at your perseverance. The last few weeks when you have encountered a moon bounce, you just refused to try and it was clear it made you uncomfortable. Something in you today pushed you figure it out and face the uncomfortableness. Your father and I were proud of you.




We also went to Becca's field hockey game and it was senior night. Since Becca is a senior, she was honored. We made a giant sign that said: "Raise your sticks to #9" You added the Nora touch with some glitter and scribbles. It was perfect as we spent the cool evening cheering on the Winter Mill Falcons to a victory! You caught a ride from Mr. Kevin on the way back to the car after the game.



No matter the daily stress we experience in traffic and demanding bosses and making dinner and cleaning up it always seems so irrelevant in times like that. Spending time and energy with neighbors, friends and family is just way more important than anything else the universe can throw at us.