Where, Oh Where, Did October Go?

It’s been one of those months. This blog post could literally go any direction right now, but I am going to try hard to tether it in and stay focused. :-)

I think the theme of this post will be “It could have been a whole lot worse.”

Within the course of a week:

• Our old, rotting aspen tree on the side of our garage fell onto our van in the middle of one of my piano lessons. The damage to the van was minimal, though annoying. It could have been a whole lot worse. Ryan channeled his inner lumberjack and chopped the entire dead tree into a pile of firewood. :-)
• We were rear-ended on our way to school. It was not my fault by any means, and the guy actually had insurance, which I would not have guessed by looking at him. The entire back gate of the Odyssey has to be replaced; repairs will take place next week. Most importantly, Ryley and I were not hurt. It could have been a whole lot worse.
• On my way home from picking up our dog from the vet, she pooped in five places throughout our van. Poor Juliet felt bad; she had tried to tell me, and I wasn’t picking up on the cues. Plus, I was alone in the van, in heavy traffic, and there was not really a place to stop anyway. So I rolled down the windows for fresh air and prayed that she didn’t step in it. She didn’t. And it was mostly solid. It could have been a whole lot worse.

At this point, I realized we needed to pray over our van. ;-)

• Ryan also got strep throat that week. He got on antibiotics quickly, and by pure necessity and adrenalin, he didn’t miss a single day of work. Ryley and I downed Emergen-C packets and Wellness Formula and managed to stay healthy through the thick of it. It could have been a whole lot worse!
• Ryley is under the weather right now. Sore throat, slight fever, and squeaky little voice. But she’s going to be fine. What’s a little cold? It could be so much worse. And she’s here, our very own girl….not lost or stolen or hurt like that heartbreaking story of little Jessica Ridgeway, whose pictures remind me so much of Ryley.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ryley had Friday off of school, so I decided to take her to Anderson Farms, a pumpkin patch where we went several times when Ryley was little (ages 1 to 4, maybe?). In recent years, we’ve scaled back our pumpkin picking experience to our local nursery’s fall festival, which we love, and she always has a lot of fun. But I wanted to surprise her with the real pumpkin patch this time.

As it turns out, she has no memory of ever having been there before! She didn’t know we got to pick the pumpkins from a real pumpkin field!

I still think it’s so interesting that you give your children experiences that you think they will always remember and appreciate, but years go by, and they just don’t remember. So you get to do it again and re-live the wonder and joy of the experience like it’s the first time all over again. ;-)

Since this is starting to happen more and more in our parenting journey, I’ve begun asking myself what the point is of going fun places when they’re too little to remember. That sounds like a stupid question; of course, it’s always good to have fun with your kids at every age. :-) But when you get to age nine, and you think of all the time and money you’ve spent on these experiences that she doesn’t recall…. Well, I guess the real point was that all those fun things still contributed to the overall feeling of stability and happiness that will shape who she is as a person. We were setting a precedent for the feelings of wonderment and joy and an appreciation for fun as a family. Right? ;-) Anyway….

I had forgotten how exhausting corn mazes are! We actually did get lost and had to cut through some corn to get out.

We spent a LOT of time feeding goats. I am sparing you additional pictures.

Ryley thought this sign was hilarious, but she took it too literally. She was hoping I would leave her unattended for a while so somebody would actually give her a free puppy.

It was a perfect day! Ryley loved it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We also went to visit my grandma in Nebraska a couple of weekends ago. It was a really relaxing trip!

Honey and Ryley sewed a baby blanket…

and baked cookies…

We love spending time with Honey! :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We tackled our home office and reorganized it into a Broncos room/office for Ryan. It had been a mess for a couple of years, so we finally just dug in. It took two weekends, but it’s one of my favorite rooms in the house now. Maybe it will motivate me to do the guest room and the garage. :-)

There’s no “before” picture (you’re welcome), but that filing cabinet previously held cell phone manuals from 2004 and bills dating back to 1999. Now it holds my newly organized collection of piano books, among other things. Yay!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And just for fun…

They didn’t know I was taking their picture. :-)

I’m realizing there was a lot of “orange” in this post.

But, it could have been a whole lot worse.

Enjoy. :-)