Sunday the 7th, I went to a play with some mom friends followed by dinner, which was lots of fun! We had parent observation nights at dance that week, which was great.
That week was full of excitement starting with yearbook picture day and ending with Hurricane Michael, which proved to be shorter in duration but also more windy than Florence. We got about 2-3" of rain out of it compared to over 6-8" with Florence. We only had power flicker a few times but never lost power. The girls were off school on Thursday but went back Friday with a 2-hour delay. Bob had the adventure of driving home from Washington DC in the hurricane - he was supposed to fly back Thursday night, but he and his coworkers decided to drive instead, expecting airline delays (they were correct). They made it home fine. We enjoyed s'mores with Ms. Karen down the street on the 12th. The 13th was a fun day for Anna - she had friend Mateo over to play in the afternoon, and then she went to another friend Addie's sleepover birthday party. She had a blast and made it through the night with no crying (that we know of)!
Sunday the 14th was our annual ministry fair at church, so I worked the rosary makers and health promotion groups' tables. We are trying to start a new health promotion ministry and were gathering data at the fair to see what people are interested in learning health-wise. I went to the state fair on Monday during the day and had a great (warm!) time. The rest of the week was business as usual, including a pizza and s'mores night at new friends the Mariani's house. Matt works with Bob, and their family relocated here from Pennsylvania. After having two hurricanes here this fall, they are probably wondering what they got themselves into here in NC! Saturday the 20th, Bob took a boating class in Sanford to brush up on his skills, while we ladies prepped for Erin's birthday party! The party was a blast (more birthday details are HERE), and we spent most of Sunday recovering from all the fun. We did also have a yummy and fun dinner with Grandma and Grandpa on Sunday evening!
I got to accompany the fourth graders on a field trip on the 23rd, and we all had a blast! Erin was off school on the 25th and both girls were off on the 26th, so we had a nice short week. Erin and I hit the art museum on Thursday, and we 3 ladies went to Marbles on Friday.
I had a book club meeting on Thursday night. Saturday, we went to Concord for a super fun family birthday-Halloween weekend!
Bob got the big news on Sunday that Red Hat is being bought by IBM. So, things have been wild and crazy for him at work this week as everyone tries to get information and adjust to this news. It looks like they'll have nearly a year before the acquisition is complete. He's optimistic that he can use his contacts from his 9 years at IBM to his advantage. It will be an interesting year!
We carved pumpkins on the evening of the 29th, I took dinner to neighbor Kate B. on Tuesday in honor of her new baby Tyler being born, and we had loads of fun on Halloween! A Halloween highlight was Anna's party at school, costume day at ballet, and a pizza party for the neighborhood before trick-or-treating.
So, those are the highlights...not including the weekly piano, voice, ballet, and jazz classes, my regular rosary cafeteria, art, and recess gigs at school, dog-sitting for a couple of neighbors, routine doctors' appointments, and a few other odds and ends. The theme of the month for Anna was "sleepover" - she had one every single weekend! It was a really great month, and I am SO excited for my favorite month ahead - November! It is usually less busy, there's beautiful weather, and who doesn't love Thanksgiving?! We can't wait!
