October 21 - October 27

    Monday October 21st the kids had school and I came home and did some laundry and cleaned the house. The kids rode the bus home from school and we worked on homework before heading to volleyball. The girls played hard and won the first set then lost the second. After volleyball we all came home and went to bed.
    Tuesday the kids had school and I ran to town and did some errands before heading out south to check cows and water. I then went to the school and worked the book fair. After school I took all the kids to town and we got our flu shots. It is so funny how brave a person can be until they actually see a needle. Rachel hates needles, and as much as she thinks she can talk herself into being okay with a little time, I always end up holding her down to get a shot. Alec always gets worked up and then usually says, "that was not bad!". Becca is okay as long as she can sit on my lap and I can hold her hand. I then dropped Becca and Alec off at home while Rachel and I ran to town for volleyball practice.

5th Grade
Mrs. Thompson
Loves Math

2nd Grade
Mrs. Arnette
Loves Science

Kindergarten
Mrs. Johnson
Loves Learning to Read

     Wednesday the kids had school and I worked on more laundry and picking up the house again.The neighbor Becky came over after lunch and helped me to make one of the best decisions of the year! She helped me apply for my substitute Teaching Certificate. I really was not sure about going back to work and being a teacher, but I submitted my application and decided to see how it went. I was thinking I would start teaching after the first of the year, as I was sure I would need more classes. Turns out I had plenty of college classes and the superintendent made a phone call on my behalf and I had my certificate in less that a month I would be going back to work and getting a real paycheck again! I picked the kids up from school and we all went to CCD before coming home and having meatloaf for dinner.

   Thursday I took the kids to school then went to Walmart. I delivered Halloween baskets to Ashlynn, Leightyn, and Cole. I was home for while in the afternoon before going to get kids. We did not have Piano that day as Nikki had conferences so we picked up Sam, Teddy, and Kaiden and dropped then off at Lisa's before heading to Stacy's so the kids could meet Cole. They enjoyed holding him and the highlight of the visit was raking all the leaves Stacy had in her front yard. We then went to Double Dips for ice cream and picked up dinner before coming home. Rachel stayed with the kids while Mike and I attended Parent Teacher Conferences. We got really good reports from all the teachers! The kids are all doing great in school and their teachers enjoy having them as students. 

    Friday the kids didn't have school because of Parent Teacher Conferences. I went to school and worked the book fair from 8-10. Mike and I were supposed to head to a conference in California but cancelled due to fires and our resort having no power. Since Mike was off that day he took the kids and headed to the ranch to help Ship calves. I went to lunch with Jen and Becky after working the book fair and starting to tear it all down. Mike headed back home before I could get ahold of him about the trip being cancelled, so that night we enjoyed a movie night with the kids. Saturday Babs was already in town as she was going to watch the kids while we were gone, so Mike and I packed up and headed back to the ranch to help with shipping again. We had a great day just the 2 of us helping on the ranch. Babs and the kids had a good day playing, they went to church that night and then Rachel attended a 5th and 6th grade Halloween dance.

    Sunday Mike and I came home and went to Vince and Traci's for a very nice dinner. Babs stayed with the kids. Since our trip was supposed to be from Friday through Tuesday Babs stayed the weekend then headed back to Omaha. I felt bad cancelling and having her still here but we really didn't want to go to California and stay at a place with no power and all the the places we had planned to go being closed due to high winds and no power.