Ramblings

The leaves are almost all gone leaving the mountainsides barren.  And animals have found or are getting ready to find their burrows for the cold to come.  Don't get me worn I love the change in seasons, but after awhile winter gets to me and I want to see color again.  So I will treasure the few remaining leaves.

Thanksgiving is 6 days away which is so hard to believe.  Which means 7 days until I can put up decorations.  A week after turkey day is my work's Christmas party.  I kind of like the short time span between the holidays. 

We are not going all out for Christmas this year.  Rob and I decided to just by for the kids this year.  We figured people really don't NEED anything and I really don't want to waste money on something they don't need.  We're not buying for each other either, we don't need anything.    We have financial goals we want to hit so all our focus is on that.  But if a family member wanted us to donate to a reputable charity (not one of the big mainstream ones where most money pays for the exuberant salaries) I'd be happy to do so.  I'd much rather GIVE to someone that NEEDS something then to someone who WANTS something.  The kids and I just might have to make some pay it forward trips.

I am on the final stretch of school at HCC.  This time of every semester I just want it to be over.  I always find myself starting to slack a little but I've been trying to keep myself in check.  I also met with an advisor at UMUC a couple of weeks ago and got my spring semester in order.  I am also taking a class this semester that is required of all new students. The class started this week and is only four weeks long.  I take 3 classes next semester.  The term's are only 8 weeks and they have 4 terms each semester. I'm gonna play it by ear and see how if I could possibly squeeze in fourth class for the fall semester.  I think I will still stick with two for the summer.  

Random pic just because it's cute.  See the squirrel in the corn stalk?

The kids have parent teacher conferences next week.  Hoping I don't get the same response from Autumn's teacher this year as I did last year.  Last year her teacher wasn't even in her room and I met with another teacher.  I ran into her homeroom teacher on the way out and she said "Oh I didn't need to talk to you because she's a good student".  Um ok, I was a little stunned.  Everyone can always strive for improvement in some area or another.  I know she has some weaknesses and I just basically wanted to an overall recap.  Logan's conference can go either way, for me that is.  It can make me blubber or just get determined.  Poor guy is struggling with comprehension, which I warned them they need to focus on.  And while he is graded with his "normal" peers I know how far this kid has come whether the grade reflects that or not.

Off to experiment with some recipes to take on Thanksgiving.  

Birthday Recap

Ugh!  This birthday recap post has been on my to do list but every time I go to sit down I get distracted.  Then I'll think about it a week later and I repeat the process.  Logan had a good birthday, nothing big, just a small and quiet gathering.  But let's rewind a couple of weeks. 

Back in June, Logan declared he wanted to change his birthday to the summer time so that he could do something fun for his birthday since we had taken Autumn to the beach and had a cookout for her's.  We couldn't quite get away with doing that for his in October.  So I racked my brain and their wasn't anything that stood out to me around here.  He loved the go karts this summer so after doing some research the four of us ended up going to Adventure Park USA since he would be able to ride them.  I had taken advantage of a Groupon deal so we were all set. We went 2 weeks before his birthday since the outdoor attraction's would be closed for the season and Dennis aka Granddad also came.

This was their first ride of the day.  Nothing like getting scrambled first thing.

 

Here is Autumn racing around the track.  The first time they went she had a much faster car.  The next time both their cars were painfully slow.

 

We decided to play a round of miniature golf.  I forgot how long playing 18 holes takes.  If I remember correctly Rob won.

 

 The kids really wanted to mine for "treasure" so I got each of them a bag.  They ended up mining pretty rocks which they were very happy with.

 

After lunch the kids decided they wanted to go on this stomach settling ride.  I talked Rob into going with them, but I don't think he was all that appreciative afterwards. 

As I said above we didn't want to do anything big for his birthday, so we just invited family.  Nice and simple. He picked what we were having for lunch which included hamburgers, hot dogs, veggies, fruit and some chips.

 

The anticipated present time.

He picked out his cake.  

 

All in all it was a nice day!  

 

While the kids enjoyed Adventure Park, I don't think I'd be willing to go back.  The roller coaster was scary as heck, not because it was twisty and turny, I was terrified of him and myself coming out of the darn thing.  They need more outside attractions to make it more inviting and worth while.  Especially for the money you have to pay to get in.