A Black Friday

1. We are grieving this Friday as my uncle Mike has finally lost his battle to cancer and passed out of this life. I have so many sweet and funny memories of him and his generous love for our extended family. He was beloved of his family and friends and respected by many. He will be missed.

2. I was able to attend Halloween parties in both classes today. It was a lot of fun and a good way to remember that life goes on, in spite of our grief.

Miranda before she got on the bus this morning. And she did the pose naturally. Sheesh.

I was so pleased to see Miss Barbara, Miranda's teacher, in a matching costume. She is the best!

As soon as we came home, she wanted to switch to her other costume. (The blue dress was a gift from her friend Charlotte; I had purchased the red one for the occasion and saved it especially for this weekend.)

Alex in the costume parade with his teacher, Miss Pam.

Alex steals Miss Pam's wig and gives me a great smile!

And here they are together, preparing for Trick or Treating on Sunday afternoon.

3. I have been watching the World Series this week and making great progress on my cross stitch. Of course, my heart is breaking for the Rangers, but I always feel bad for the losing team. I'm not a big baseball fan but I enjoy the World Series because it's always good baseball; that is, it's not usually boring. Here's a progress picture for you to admire:

 4. I have finally seem to have beat back the skin infection and and feeling more like myself. I'm also very tired of steroids. I have 5 more days before I can have a glass of wine.

5. The children really had a roller coaster week. Alex had two really bad days at school, bad enough all I could do was weep and pray. On really good days, he can explain why he is upset. On bad days, he just breaks things. Or people. Or tries to. And Miranda's sleep schedule got off at the same time so she's been napping and then staying up until 10 pm or going to bed early and getting up for a snack at 3 am. Ugh. Still, more time in prayer is always a good thing.

6. Marshall's remodeling project has hit a few snags this week but we are praying for a productive weekend with some help from his dad. This is the crawl under the house and reinforce the floor part. Yuk. You couldn't get me to go down there for anything. The plans for the built-in bookcases look wonderful, though, and most of the materials are waiting expectantly in the shed.

7. Last weekend was productive in terms of furniture acquisition. We purchased a used dining room set that really fits the style of our house, Alex got his own roll-top desk and Miranda got a dresser with a pull-down shelf of her own for drawing and puzzles. And both come with more storage, something we are always lacking.

Bonus 8. If you missed my mention of it in the last few weeks, my mother's book is now in print!


If you haven't already ordered a copy for yourself, do so now! You can find it available here. If you live in South Jersey, the author will be visiting for Thanksgiving and will be happy to sign your copies in person!

And here's Jen.