Halloween 2021

 Well, we made up for not celebrating Halloween last year. We have been very busy over the past couple of weekend with Halloween trick or treating events. Last year, we were being tested for Covid-19 and couldn't trick or treat, or hand out candy. And most of the Halloween events were cancelled last year. So, this year we took advantage of having events to attend. 

Last weekend, it was our turn to clean school, so we spent Friday evening doing that. We ate supper at Culver's, and then we watched a Halloween movie. On Saturday, we did some Trick or Treating at Hy-Vee, went home for lunch, and then I took the kids to Lake Lorraine for some more trick or treating. Lake Lorraine was insane. I decided already that we aren't doing that one again next year. We stood in line for about an hour, before we finally got to go through the event. The kids had fun, and it was a beautiful day, but it was a lot of standing around and waiting. 

We were going to go to a drive-through Trick or Treating event in the evening, but the line was about 50 cars deep, so we gave up and went home, ate some supper and relaxed for the rest of the day. And watched some playoff baseball. 

Sunday was a really busy day. The kids sang, I taught Sunday School, and then John had a voter's meeting after church. We enjoyed the rest of the day at home. We played some two-hand touch football, watched some football, and just enjoyed ourselves. 

Last week was pretty busy. I think every single evening we were busy. I worked late one night, had choir and cleaned church another night, and then on Thursday we went to Jim and Barb's house for supper to celebrate Jeff's birthday. We had chislic and apple crisp, and it was a nice gathering. The kids stayed there since they didn't have school on Friday. On Friday, I met the kids at the Western Mall, and we did some Trick or Treating at the Western Mall and Scheels, and then on a whim, the kids and I ended up going to the Adams Family 2 at the cheap theatre. It was a fun little evening. 

We came home a little late, watched some of the World Series Game, and then called it a day. On Saturday, we cleaned the house until my parents arrived around 10:00 am. They decided to come for a visit now that harvest is over. We all went to the Kuehn Community Center for a Halloween celebration, then we went to Hy-Vee for groceries and beer, and the kids got a little more candy. We went home for a while to rest and relax, and then we headed to Brandon for the trick or treat trails. That was a really fun activity. We had a gorgeous day yesterday, and it was fun to walk around the state park and enjoy the day and let the kids get some candy. I guess there were about 3000 people that showed up for the trick or treating, so it was pretty busy. 

After all the activity, we went home to make Philly Cheesesteaks for supper, which were delicious. We played some games with the kids, and then sent some tired, tired kids to bed. The adults stayed up and played some sheephead and drank a little beer, and then we all called it a night. 

Today, we had to be at both services at church because John and I sang in the Bethel Adult Choir. Everyone said we sounded good, so that was nice to hear. I taught Sunday School again, and we had some good Reformation Crafts and decorated cupcakes. 

My parents left around 1:30pm, and now we have just been getting ready for trick or treating. Jim and Barb are coming in a while with some Taco soup for supper and to help hand out candy while we take the kids around the neighborhood. It is only about 42 degrees outside, and really windy, so it's going to be a really chilly trick or treating year. But, it will still be fun. Emma is planning on being Evie (she has been a witch at most of our events) and Elliott still wants to be Pikachu. 

The World Series is happening right now, and it has been really fun to watch. The Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros are playing. The Braves are up 3-1, which is great. We are cheering for the Braves here. Eddie Rosario plays for them now, and it's been fun to follow them and cheer them on. They play another game tonight, so Atlanta could win the whole thing. Also, the Vikings play the Cowboys tonight in Sunday Night Football, so we will see how that goes. 

Happy Halloween!!

Culver's Adventures 

We also carved pumpkins 

Lake Lorraine 

Too much Halloween fun

Finally got to jump in leaves 

Trick or Treat Trails 

Fall 2021

 We are already halfway through October, and I'm not sure where the time has gone. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous, and we have been taking full advantage of it. 

I'm a little behind on blogging again, so I will try to catch you up on what has been happening around here. Two weekends ago, we camped for a second weekend at Lake Vermillion with the Hinners. It didn't really go exactly as planned. First of all, on Friday evening, we had an after work gathering at the !8th Amendment because Meditech Expanse went live that day. It was kind of a disastrous launch of Meditech Expanse, so we decided to have a few drinks. Well, they kept buying me drinks and pretty soon I couldn't really drive to Lake Vermillion, so I stayed home Friday night and didn't come out until Saturday. 

In the meantime, Travis' brother passed away on Friday night, so they packed up their camper and left, and it ended up just being us and Hannah P camping for the weekend. We still had a good weekend, but it definitely wasn't what we were expecting. We did some biking, skipped some rocks, played some softball, and made some beef stew in the dutch oven, which was amazing. We also had a nice fire and then called it a night. It got pretty cold overnight (like 36 degrees) so we had a brisk morning. We went to town for church and Sunday School, and then we headed back out to watch the Vikings and then pack up and put our camper away for the last time this year. It was bittersweet to pack it up, but I'm ready to be done camping and move on to other things. 

The week passed with some Soccer Sprouts, late nights at work, Choir practice, and homework. Last weekend, we went to Minnesota for some fall harvesting. They were just starting the corn, so we did some chopping, kids rode in the combine, and I rode with dad in the grain truck to town a few times. I even drove again this year, and I made it into 6th gear which was pretty exciting. Emma ended up being sick for most of the weekend. She had a fever, a headache, and just didn't feel well. So, she spent a lot of the weekend on Tylenol and resting on the couch. John and I ran out of things to do in the afternoon, so we went to New Ulm and checked out Herman the German and walked around the MLC campus. We also decided to check out October Fest on a whim. It was okay, not really worth all the hype. But we had some beer and some good German food and we headed back to my parent's house. We left on Sunday after lunch, and got settled back to home for another week. 

I actually had Monday off, and so did the kids. So, we spent the morning cleaning, and then we went to Great Life to swim in the pool. We had lunch at Fizolis, and then went to the bike trail. We rode to Sherman Park, the kids played for a while, and then we rode back and shopped at Dollar Tree. After all that, I took them out to Jim and Barb's house since they didn't have school on Tuesday as well. John and I took advantage and had a date night at Urban Chislic, which was actually pretty impressive. We ended the evening with a trip to Walmart, and then we called it a day. 

This weekend was another busy one. Friday evening we went to the Stampede Game, which was also their Halloween night. The kids got to wear their costumes, and then trick or treat around the concourse. They had a really fun time. The game was pretty good. The Stampede lost 4-3. But we stayed the whole game, and the kids actually watched. And after the first period, the kids got to be in a costume parade and got to walk around on the ice, they thought that was pretty cool. 

On Saturday, we slept in. Then, we took some family photos at Legacy Park. I think they turned out really well. Then, John took the kids back out to the farm while I went to the gym and the grocery store. We were supposed to see Chris Stapleton at the Denny, but they cancelled the concert about 2 hours before it was supposed to start. So, John and I had another date night. We went to Squealers in Tea, and then we went to Buffalo Ridge Brewing in Hartford. We enjoyed both experiences. It was a really nice evening out, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. 

Today was another beautiful day. We went to church, then we went and got kids from the farm, and then we did some catch up stuff at home. John mowed and fertilized, while I cleaned, cooked, and made some homemade bread. We did some piano  lessons and reading time, and then we finally were able to relax for a little bit. What a weekend. 

It's been so nice out that we are so busy doing things and being outside, but holy cow. We just don't know how to stay home and do nothing sometimes. But, it was a great weekend, and this week we are getting new flooring! I am so excited. We are getting new vinyl plank in the kitchen and living room. It's going to look so much better than our crappy carpet, and it starts Wednesday. So, that's a little bit of an added stress for the week, but I can't wait for it to be installed. 

Here's to an exciting week ahead!

Skipping rocks 

Camper homemade bread

Crazy shennanigans 

Emma doing Elliott's Halloween makeup 

Evie from the Desendants 

Pikachu 

Family photos 

Decorating pumpkins