Educator Extraordinaire

So I’ve been working full time since the beginning of the school year. A one-day sub assignment at the boys’ school for the FACS teacher (formerly known as Home Ec) quickly escalated to a semester-long gig. The teacher, who is slated to retire at the end of the year, will be taking off her final year with FMLA leave for reasons that aren’t my business. The school principal, who is really an amazing administrator, immediately asked me to stay in her absence. Except that I wouldn’t be cooking and sewing (though I am highly qualified for both, the district doesn’t allow subs to be around children in open flame/knife/powered needles type settings). Instead, he asked that I teach journalism. Turns out that I am highly qualified for that as well. Of course I took the job, and my mom and dad are so proud that I am finally using the major they paid for me to get! The only problem with teaching journalism is that the district approved the curriculum days before the school year began, which means there was no committee to construct a day-by-day lesson plan so teaching students the standards has been left completely up to me. But I love a challenge, so let’s go. Or as the kids in my classes say, “bet!” There have been several highs and lows to this experience, and I am sure that a small handful of kids are out to get me (but I teach 190 kids, so if only a few are trying to sabotage my day, I consider it a win!) Everything the kids have learned this semester has been left up to me, including our latest project in which students had to come up with their own news story, interview their sources, and write their article. I have overheard many kids talking about how fun that project is, so the pain of not making mug cakes and smoothies in FACS must have finally worn off! Next up: a movie review, complete with three days of promised popcorn and Halloween candy as we watch the movie of choice: Sandlot. This really has been an amazing experience, and I will be sad to see it end come semester break. But I will also enjoy getting to see my long-lost friend again: free time. 

{My classroom. Taught among 24 sewing machines neatly tucked into each cabinet. Just in case.}

Sports

This is my favorite time of the year because there is a welcomed lull in sports activities, but leading up to this time, WE ARE BUSY! 

Mason played fall ball and flag football. This is his first time playing flag football, and he can say that never in his life has he lost a flag football game! 

{Baseball was a bit disappointing, but Mason had some great hits and great plays in the field, so there’s that. Oh and there’s also that one time when the ump threw himself out of the game…}

{Mason learned a lot playing with a group of boys that were all strangers to him before the start of the season. They were a great group to watch and were so kind to each other. And they won the Super Bowl after going undefeated in the regular season!}

Jacob finished up his final season of youth tackle, a challenge when you are a kid playing against dad-sized peers. C’mon puberty! 

Camryn continues to work on her tumbling. She is working on her round-off, back handspring, back tuck combo. She has perfected her round-off back tuck, and yesterday she began working on her back layout. Makes me dizzy just thinking about it!

And as quickly as it began, we are down to a one-hour sports commitment each week. Time to breathe! 

October Bits

 The pieces of our October puzzle.

{Mason has always been very hair aware, but took it to a whole new level last month. He tightened up the sides (so much hair on that floor!) and I have been appointed to the role of daily hair curler. No joke. I curl my son’s hair before he goes to middle school. Oy.}

{I love my kitchen. Especially the island, which is long enough for two kids to lounge on while eating their after-school snack. Perfectly unplanned.}

{Family time is the best. Depending on who you ask.}

{It wouldn’t be a trip to the annual pumpkin patch with my mom without the rain…}

{I picked out this beauty to add to my collection. One of my all-time favorite traditions!}

{We took this picture several years ago.}

{And this picture last month. It screams blackmail and instant regret.}

{My editor eye is twitching.}

{We had a house guest. It was exhausting for us all!}

{My favorite fall road. The trees are on point!}

{Grandma and Papa took the kids to the pumpkin patch/apple orchard while they were in town. And by the looks of the tracker app, they tried to ditch them in the corn maze.}

Molly Photo Dump

 In absolutely no order at all. And mostly sleeping. 

Halloween Things

On Saturday, we visited a Stranger Things display that is close to home but has drawn some national attention.

{It was a pretty fantastic display of creativity, and well worth the 10 minute drive across town!}

{The kids carved pumpkins with Grandma and Papa. Clearly this was a “before” picture.}

And then there was Halloween…

{I was allowed to duck out of school early to catch Cam’s Halloween parade. Cutest darn heifer I’ve ever seen!}

Then on to trick-or-treating with the usual crew. Aside from Camryn, I’m not exactly sure what my kids were for Halloween, but there was a rainbow and that’s cool!

{A quick glimpse of the candy that I will be stealing from my kids’ closets for the next several months.}

That’s a wrap! 

Haunted House

Nearly every year since Jacob was born, we have made an annual trip to the same pumpkin patch where we do the same activities and take the same pictures. Because, nostalgia. This year we ran out of weekdays and didn’t make it (because who in their right mind goes to a pumpkin patch on the weekend? Too people-y!) I love that my kids love traditions, but their nagging was a bit much, so I suggested a haunted house instead. And, oh wow! 

I thought we may just ease into the idea by doing a spooky haunted hay ride this year, but things escalated quickly and the kids and I found ourselves in line at the “scariest haunted house in Illinois” on Saturday. 

Hell’s Gate—not a name for those casually interested in a spook—was AMAZING! We parked in an off-site parking lot and then school busses shuttled us to our location, but not before everyone air dropped everyone an unnecessary amount of random photos on the bus. Upon arrival, we were ushered through ticket lines before being given the choice to hang out at the food trucks and bar or hop in line. We hopped in line. 

This is when things got real. Each kiddo brought a friend. Cam had her trusty sidekick and the boys each brought someone I had never before met. Trusting parents! Tensions were running high, and some looked much more pale than others. I reminded everyone that this is just a spooky fantasy and that it’s fun to be scared when we know it’s not real. And then I was immediately jump-scared by a creepy circus performer. You bet I screamed! 

The ambience in line was amazing! It was a circus filled with misfit clowns and other creeps dancing along to heavy metal music laced with Shania Twain. No joke. I was worried about the girl, being that she is only 9, and she was also worried about herself. Tickets were too expensive to bow out early, so getting out of line wasn’t an option. We marched on, and 30 minutes later it was our turn to walk through the haunted graveyard en route to the haunted house. Cam held my hand tight, but once she knew how to spot the spooks, she was all good and by the end of the 40 minute haunt, she was walking ahead of me hands-free and carrying on conversations with the actors! 

This operation ran as smoothly as Disney, and the house we “toured” was decked out to the extreme. We began by leaving the foyer through the fireplace upon which we entered a kitchen pantry filled with eyeballs and pig carcasses only to be chased by a chef with a meat cleaver. There were so many rooms in this house but one of the most memorable included a room filled with creepy dolls, some of which were living and missing eyes. At one point, we had to take a slide down to the bottom of the house, and we walked on what felt like a creaky bridge in one room and a squishy floor in another. The set design was incredible! 

Camryn made friends with one of the “maids” who carried on an actual conversation with her, noting Camryn’s age and size and telling her that “kids are so much smaller these days than when I was 9!” 

Once we made it out of the house alive, we entered this huge party-like atmosphere with several of the same scary creatures, but instead of trying to scare us, they were all about selfies and fist pumps. Perfectly round, white bubbles filled the air, and would explode into a cloud of smoke if you touched them. Seriously, the attention to detail was on point! 

The boys each gave it a 10/10 and promised me to take them all back next year. Deal!

{Standing in line and feeling a bit nervous!}

{Cam and Danica crossed paths with this beauty several times during our evening.}

{Mason claims to have the best Be Real photo ever. I agree that it’s pretty solid. And I will admit I only know what a Be Real photo is because of SNL.}

{The boys after we survived.}

{The girls after we survived.}

{Our crew!}

{Those insane bubbles!}

{The party vibe after the scare was the perfect end!}

So glad we have finally graduated out of pumpkin patch! 

Molly’s Friend Week

Our very good friends adopted a puppy before leaving town for a week. And I offered for the pup to stay with us. Yep. Crazy. 

Apollo and Molly played together nonstop, and we had to eventually separate them so they could rest without one biting at the other. We were all exhausted by the time our little buddy went back home.