My Father is Coming!

There's a little chant repeating in my head: "My father is coming, my father is coming!"

I'm so excited! My father is coming for a long weekend. He and his wife will be here in just a few hours. I am having trouble containing myself.

We cleaned the house yesterday in anticipation of their visit. The kids were great help, even helping clean the bathroom!

We also baked cookies, and shopped for groceries (including an early Thanksgiving of sorts with ham as the main dish).

Now all that's left is the waiting. Hope I can make it until 6:00 tonight!

My father is coming!!

Here are the kiddos raking leaves! They had a great time getting ready for Grandpa's visit!!








A great book about holidays and what it means to be a family: Family Dinner by Jane Cutler.

Dance Your Heart Out

My daughter loves taking dance. Her favorite is tap, but she really loves all styles. Last night was her annual Halloween Dance Party/Recital at dance class.

She had to miss her very first 6th grade basketball game to make it to dance. She chose dance (no surprise). She always has such a great time with all the girls at dance class, even though most of them attend a different school and participate in different events than she does.

Her favorite part of the evening was taking pictures with her dance teachers. These two ladies are so special, and such an important part of my daughter's life. So blessed to have such great Christian dance teachers as mentors for my daughter!

Here's a reading idea: I just finished reading Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina with my daughter. It's a biography about a famous dancer from Oklahoma. My daughter loved it, and the artwork is outstanding!

Creepy Creek Halloween

I am not usually that excited about Halloween. It's not my favorite holiday, and probably will never be. My kids like it, but don't get overly jazzed up about it, either.

Usually.

The girls in my daughter's class are very Halloween-crazed. They love everything spooky, from Monster High (my daughter) to ghost stories 24/7 (the rest of her class). So I should not have been too surprised when I got a call from one of the moms asking for help taking the girls to the local spook-fest, Creepy Creek.

If only she had known how much she was asking of me! I don't like anything scary. I try not to watch tv in October, just because there are so many icky things on. I don't even watch creepy commercials or read books that I think might be frightening. (I blame all of this on a childhood friend who made me watch "Lost Boys" twice when I was a teen. Yep, this is all her fault.)

However, I am a sucker when it comes to my kids. So, reluctantly and with great trepidation, I said okay. We ended up with 13 6th-grade girls, two moms, and a college girl who (thankfully) came along to help us. Once we got to the trail, we were split into three groups. Then, each group departed for the unknown.

Let me be completely honest. I was scared. My throat was sore afterward from screaming. I'm sure everyone in a 5-mile radius could hear me. And I feel sorry for the girls in my group. I kept stopping in the middle of the trail, with the girls pushing me from behind! And jumpy? Why yes, yes I am.

The worst moment happened right at the end of the trail. Our "guide" said we should choose which way to go to get back to the campfire. Well, we didn't know what to do, and ended up running around in circles, going every way except the right way. All the while being chased by "zombies", a guy with a "chainsaw", and a ghost of some kind. Oh, and our guide was chasing us, trying to get us to go the right way. Eeeek! (And, I fell down just as we crossed the creek to safety. Nice.)

Even when the trail was over and we were sitting around the campfire with the entire group, enjoying hot dogs and cocoa, I still caught myself looking over my shoulder for creepy creatures who might be jumping out from the shadows at me. Nothing did, but still...

I did not sleep well that night, but thankfully, I was okay by the next night. (I'm not sure my daughter slept well, either.) However, the girls seemed to have a great time just being together, so it was worth it.

I don't believe that I will willingly volunteer for this again, however. I will just politely say no. (Okay, maybe not.)

What's an interesting Halloween book -- that isn't too creepy? Perhaps Save Halloween by Stephanie Tolan. A unique perspective on Halloween!

Autumn Weather

I love this season! I love fall weather, when the temps start cooling down to livable levels. I love the seasonal rain showers and cloudy mornings. I love the fog just barely lingering when I head out to school in the morning. I love the turning leaves and the leaf piles that spontaneously appear in my yard. I love the way the air smells after a fall shower.

Last week was unbearably warm, even for Oklahoma. It was so nice to wake up to cloudy skies this morning. And then the beautiful rain shower this morning! It's still gently sprinkling outside. I love the high school library's bank of windows that let me watch the rain falling.

Autumn

It's finally autumn in Oklahoma! It was a long, dreary summer and promises to be a long, cold winter, so I intend to enjoy whatever possibilities autumn may provide... even if there are only a couple of days offered!

I've been working hard on finishing my library degree, and haven't blogged like I intended. In fact, it was working on the degree that made me come back here! I was working on an assignment that called for blogs of interest to librarians (or something like that). And I realized, I could be one of those bloggers!! I miss writing (and reading the works of others), so here is a little tidbit for today!

Best book(s) to read this autumn while curled up in a blanket with that new peppermint hot chocolate from McDonalds = A Great and Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray. Which must quickly be followed by the other two books in the series, Rebel Angels and Sweet Far Thing.

Happy autumn!