Happy Halloween!

October flew by in a blink of an eye this year.  We were a very busy household with lots of soccer games, Andy's first half marathon, and Halloween festivities.  Soccer officially ended just in time for basketball to start up.  We just have practices for now with games starting on November 23rd.
The kids have had a few days off here and there for teacher meetings so we took advantage of that and headed to the pumpkin patch one day.  It was a little cold, but the kids did not seem to mind.  They each picked out their pumpkins, and then ran around for a bit.
That Friday we did our annual trip to Deanna Rose Night of the Living Farm.  This is always a favorite activity for the kids each year.  They got to wear their costumes, but Briley decided to wear her old one from last year because she was afraid her sumo wrestler would pop on the hay.  It was a beautiful night out which made for bigger crowds, but we still got to do all we wanted to do.
The next morning was a rainy one for soccer games and Andy's half.  He unfortunately had to go down by himself because all four kids had soccer games that I took them to.  We were able to track him on an app which was kind of fun to see how he was doing and the time he was making.  He finished with a great time, and I think he had fun.  Would have been better of course if it didn't rain throughout the whole thing.
Briley is getting all grown up on us, and she went to Worlds of Fun for their haunted nights not once, but twice with some friends.  I was surprised she wanted to go since she is so scared of people dressed up, but of course it is different when you are with your friends.
We also had people booing us all month long.  With the ring door bell the kids had to step up their game so their was a lot of costumes and masks coming to our door, but the best had to be her friend Margaux dressed up as a hot dog.
Amity and Billy came into town on the 30th to visit for a week.  They recently got engaged so we are all excited for them, and did a lot of celebrating throughout the week.  We don't know when the wedding will be yet, but the kids are looking forward to a trip to Montana.
It was fun to have visitors for Halloween at our house.  They got to go booing with the kids on Wednesday night as we finished up our houses to go to.  Since it was snowing, we pretty much just stuck to our neighborhood.  I don't think I ever remember snow on Halloween, but it happened this year.  Thankfully it wasn't too cold when we started trick or treating.  I went to the kids parade and parties at school, and then we all went home to get ready for the night.  Some neighbors came to our house for pizza beforehand, and Briley went over to her friends house for a party.  Later that night it hit me that I didn't get a picture of all four of them together in their costumes.
Amity and I went to Finley's class Friday morning because Amity was the mystery reader in her class.  The kids had gotten clues each day as to who the reader was going to be and Finley said she just knew it was Amity when we walked in.  She read a book and passed out huckleberry gummy bears. Finley was smiling from ear to ear.
After that we went down to the Westbottoms to do some shopping.  Atticus could only shop for so long, and then it was time to go.  We got some lunch at the River Market before going home to get ready for our night out on the town.
Asa and Kelsey came into town, and we went out to dinner on the Plaza at a place called Black Dirt.  The food was really good, but learned that they are closing.  The chef is a James Beard award winner, and I guess he is going to reinvent the space.  After dinner we went down to the Crossroads to play some games at Up Down which is an arcade with old arcade games like pinball and skeeball.  We played for a bit and then met Amity's good friend and her husband at Manifesto.  We finished the night at the bar at Crossroads Hotel before heading back home.  It was a much later night than what I had expected to have, but we all had a great time.
My Mom left Saturday morning, and we took the kids to the ice skating rink at Crown Center.  The kids had so much fun skating, and did not want to leave.  They are already asking when we are going to go back.
That night my sister and brother went out with their friends, and we went to a birthday party for one of Atticus's buddies.  My Dad called about 8:00 to say he and Rick were at our house so we went home to meet them.  They stayed with us until Amity and Billy left on Tuesday.  While they were here we watched the Chiefs while Amity and Billy went to the game, ate some BBQ, and made a trip to Boulevard Brewery.
It was great having everyone here to visit, and definitely some fun memories were made.