Halloween

 Halloween was fun, and surprisingly normal-seeming (despite COVID, Hurricane Zeta, and no school the two days before... oh, and a full blue moon). What was weird is that my kids went in three different directions, and there's only one of me and one of Stephen (who opted to "pass out candy"... a.k.a. watch football). I'm sure this is what Halloween will look like in the years to come... everyone off with their own friends! sniff sniff.

Sydney had youth group Wednesday night where they got to wear their costumes:

On Saturday, our neighborhood hosted a costume contest, and then trick-or-treating commenced!

Sydney and her friends taking off.

Parker, David, and James

Taylor, Willa, and Whitley

Our house!

We ran into them on the street!

When the girls and I got back, there was about 10 boys in our driveway playing basketball.

Parker and his buds- he trick-or-treated with them and rode on a mom's golf cart. 

Back Deck!

The last project we did was on our back deck.  We enlarged our deck, added stairs, and added concrete underneath a couple of years ago.  (You can see old pics here)

While having the basement finished, we had a roof added over half of the deck.  We added adjustable screens, a TV, lights and fans.  It has been so nice having this extra space to hang out!  Without the cover, the deck was rarely a good temperature to comfortably hang.

Before:

Now:

Parker's Birthday Party

 We had Parker's 8th birthday party this last weekend!  Ten 7-8 year old boys & a 9 year old sister at Stars and Strikes... worth every penny not to have it at my house. ;)  It was chaotic fun!

Chattanooga!

This past weekend, my whole family met up in a cabin near Chattanooga to celebrate my 40th birthday, and my brother's 50th birthday!  My sister, sister-in-law, and Stephen were the planners for this weekend.  The cabin was AMAZING- it had everything- a great porch with a gorgeous view; a pool and hot tub; lots of acreage surrounding it; a basketball goal; a game room; and more!

We all arrived Friday night (minus my niece, Madeline and my mom- Madeline had to take the SAT Saturday morning so my mom stayed with her and drove her up Saturday).  We enjoyed a lot of porch sitting that night, watching the sunset and catching up.

Saturday morning, we hung out, the kids played, and we watched old home videos.  We ventured into Chattanooga that afternoon, and we all ate dinner out.  We headed back home where we hung out, and then we left Sunday morning.

It was a wonderful getaway and a great way to spend time with my family.  We've had a lot on our shoulders this past year, and as much as we miss our dad, it was nice to be able to get together and not have to work or feel pressed to get something done.  I think we all needed that!