November speeding by

November was a whirlwind. I was thinking of Christmas time and putting up lights really early, knowing we would be coming back from vacation and be in full holiday swing. We started off with Emmy's Birthday. It was a celebration of her finishing her thesis. She defended and got it passed and turned in and we are so pleased it is done and proud of her for getting her Master of Science in Special Education! We went to Flame Fire and ate a lot of meat and enjoyed some time near Folson Lake and eating at the cliff house. Like a job offer, I got the opportunity to be on the Administration Commitee for our demonstration garden in Loomis. It has been great being at the groundbreaking level starting to get that going. Joe and I shopped a while on Black Friday and I have our christmas card done. Thanksgiving was nice. My folks came over and we enjoyed Rah Rah's rolls and pumpkin pie that were sent to us. Celia continues to blaze through school work in spurts and finished well with seminary attendance and testing. Spence got a cool mullet haircut and I am on the grind trying to get him some fantastic dentistry to help him out. Something always comes up, but we are blessed and loved and the year is flying by. I still am grateful to be a part of the children's lives and be doing my thing in UC Master Gardener newspaper writing. I pulished for November about Mychorrizae and I am slated to write for January as well. Theres nothing I'd rather be doing then my current jobs with the templand family history with Brian, my mothering and Master Garden duties. I feel blessed and it make al the time fly by.

October Traditions

I almost always host a ladies Halloween costume party. Everyone is so busy these days, so I had to start a nnew group of ladies on this tradition. When I was at our yearly jaunt to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm with Celia I hung out with a friend. I asked her if she'd want to co host a Halloween party. Leslie told me of a pinterest hallowen meay and cheese board that looked like a human hand! All that evening while walking around we planned a Caramel Apple dipping and Costume Party. It was a great success and I was encouraged about doing thing the same, but with a different set of friends and fun. Since Celia is home schooled now, We are finding new activities. She was able to go to a dance through her charter school which had them dress up. She dressed up for a play we saw, "Spongebob the Musical". We laughed so hard. It was a christian youth theatre group that did the play and it was presented well. Patrick star was my favorite and Celia liked squidward. They all did a great job and we were pleasantly surprised. We will be going to see another musical in January. Halloween was fun at home giving out candy and being the Belchers. We watch and sing a long to songs from Bob's burgers so this was a fun choice of family themed costume. As a family we've also taken to Pokemon Go quite a bit and go out to visit gyms, and catch a lot of Pokemon. In Tahoe, we had a few poke stops we could reach right from our room. It was great vacation celebrating my mom's birthday and sppending time by the beautiful Lake Tahoe. One first we did have in October was seeing The Avett Brothers. It was a fun concert outside and full of people. Thhe Avett brother were rocking out and full of energy. I samiled a lot and said woo and I even heard a Whoo from Celia . It was her first concert. I think she was entertained. We got T'shirts and saw an old friend of Dad's there and it was over all a great time.

Each month has had something good.

I had a feeling the rest of this year would go well. Yes, there has been an few hiccups, but looking back it has been wonderful. We love to see Spence and as we knew we would be going to Utah for a concert, he got in a few extra rides with us. Its amazing how he is so pleased with a ride in our van, some popsicles, and going into 7 Eleven. Im so grateful for our time with him. Emmy and Joe get to go on the rides with him too. We traveled a bit, going to Utah. I loved all the shopping. They have different stores there and of course all the game stores were a hit! We went out to eat, enjoyed the hotel and listened outside in Sandy at the amphtheatre to Lower Lights. It was nice. I like to see the family together, even if we were running errands to gather my painting and to get gas and sodas. We sing a lot and make memories in that van. I wrote my article early and set it off. it didn't end up making to the publisher, but I sent it off when I heard it hadnt been recieved. We were driving on I 15 but it worked out for the best and my article made 2nd page and I felt so good knowing it worked out. Celia is homeschooling now and we are getting into the groove of it. She has taken a few horseback riding trainings. I think I like it more than her, but it feels so go to head out the farm and be in nature with all the horses. I feel this homeschooling thing is right and that brings me peace. It isn't easy, but we are plugging a long at it so far. I've been amazed at the ease of transition and the clear path to graduation that I see now that was unclear before. I thank the Lord for that. All the out of town kids are back doing their work and school work, so its a time for the grind, but I'm looking forward to the holidays and all the gathering and happiness that will bring.