This year, James was invited to a Halloween party with some friends and Anna was invited to another party.  So, Caden’s mom took the boys one direction and Kenny & I tagged along to Anna’s party which turned out to be lots of families and lots of fun. 

Anna was Hermoine from Harry Potter.  We bought a cape, she already owned a wand, and then we added a school uniform.  James wore a giant blue alpaca head he found on Amazon.

Kenny and Anna worked on a candy dispenser to leave on our front porch while we were gone.  A box that dispensed a few pieces at a time and made it difficult for one person to come by and take all of it.  Kenny continually surprises me with things like this!

In October we attended the wedding of a dear friend who also happens to be one of our favorite teachers.  She was James’s fifth-grade teacher and is now Anna’s History teacher in fifth-grade.  We’ve known her for many years, have been praying about a husband for her, and were delighted to be invited.  It’s been years since we attended a wedding; the last time the kids were very small.  So, they enjoyed seeing what a wedding and reception was all about.  

The two extroverts in the family enjoyed dancing, while the two introverts were ready to go before the dancing even began.  

Look who caught the bouquet! 

October was also the month that Anna signed up for her school’s talent show, picked a song to dance to, choreographed the dance, practiced, auditioned, made it into the show, and performed in the talent show.  Amazing.  We were so proud of her determination and follow-through in handling every aspect of this event.  

While the boys were in California in October, Anna and I enjoyed some girl time. 

We went shopping for her own makeup for Nutcracker which she was very excited about. 

We went out to dinner one night…  

We rearranged her bedroom furniture to allow more floor space.  Now she has room to dance – or play solitaire!

Another day we went shopping at Claires & Bath & Body Works – two of Anna’s favorite places to go shopping.  

We also had a movie night, went to Starbucks, Anna slept over at a friend’s house one night, went for a walk, and had one of Anna’s ballet friends over.  We crammed as much fun in as we could and we both really enjoyed our time together.