October Happenings

As mentioned earlier, it's been a hard school year so far (for me).  There are clusters of kids that are really disrespectful and defiant.  Also, I have unique special needs that have been different from what I'm accustomed to.  But thankfully, our kids seem to be doing good.  (We just had conferences for both.  M is having a hard time in one of his electives - graphic design.  But is doing well in all of his core classes.   Isabella's grades were great / the only thing that the teacher says she needs to do... put away the Warrior Cats book DURING class.  ha!)

I've been taking online classes (2 different ones, actually).  They are BOTH so much work.  One class was an intensive 3 day course (over a long weekend).  The other class is one I started in August / goes through May.  But.... have still been able to go out a little with some ladies.  One night out was with some book club friends and we went to check out a new Mexican restaurant nearby but we NEVER discussed the book! The other night out - with a different group of ladies, we played poker downtown.  I knew a couple of the ladies, but met 3 new ladies.  ALL of the others had kids in college... I listened and learned a lot!  Both nights out were a good time and much much needed!  (yes, I'm kissing a pumpkin)  

Todd and I actually "got away" for a day this month as well.  We  were invited to go to a birthday celebration of a former colleague (David's) wife, Susan. When they lived in Marietta and we all worked together, we did do a lot. They were always at soup night.  They were at the adoption parties. 

They've been at the baptisms... David was the photographer at a lot of the events too!  Susan hit a milestone birthday and he threw a surprise luncheon in honor of her up where they live now - in Gainesville. 

There were several other architecture-related people there that we knew, but we were seated at the table with only 1 of them so we met 3 new people and had a nice time.  While we were in North Georgia, we decided to check out a nearby park and see some leaves changing color. 

We ended up going hiking at the Sawnee Mountain Preserve.  You hike up to the peak and there are a grouping of rocks called "Indian Seats" which overlooks the Blue Ridge Mountain range. 

 It was only a few miles round-trip / did not take too long, but it was nice to walk off lunch and take in some beautiful fall scenery! 

There are also abandoned gold mines located in the park as well.  Todd and I thought if you really wanted to.... you could get past the gate!  (we didn't really want to.) 

The kids did FINE without us throughout most of the day.  And... best part... we got to hike... see some fall color... WITHOUT complaints or without getting yelled at! :/

Speaking of complaints, whew... Friday night, Isabella's music teacher held a "student showcase" at a local restaurant. There were 51 kids that performed over the course of the evening.  Mercer was SOOO MAD that we took him.  But - hey - there was a calzone and root beer in it for him.  ??!!  (wasn't enough apparently.)  

The "1st wave" of the show was mostly younger students who performed individual songs on piano, violin, ukulele, drums, etc.  Isabella played 2 piano songs. She did pretty well.  There were some of my former students there from SAE which was kind of cool.  

And - apparently this 9 year old girl in the photo was in Isabella's pre-school class and the mom remembered us. That's who was seated at our table. The girls played together 'til it was their turn to perform. 

But the thing that was unique is that early in the "2nd wave" of students, she played in an orchestra with 2 other violinists, a cello player, a base player, a singer and Mr. Chris was on the guitar to keep the timing right.  Thing is... none of these students had ever played together!  

The way that Isabella had to practice: using a recording that Mr. Chris made.  It was hard to detect her portion of the performance - hers sort of blended in with the others... but was so cool to see her up there.  She said it was nerve-wracking! 

I think she had a good time.  She really enjoyed some of the other students - like the tall violinist who you can see in the "orchestra" photo... he played a Harry Potter song... one little tiny kid played a bunch of Beatles songs on the ukulele.  One girl played a pop song on the piano.  Maybe these other 3 performers alone will make her branch out a bit and persevere through to practicing music more.

Mr. Chris was STUNNED that she has picked up the violin so quickly... he texted me during a lesson earlier this month and said she was seriously really good. When she first started in July, he didn't want her to use the bow.  He starts students off with "plucking" to learn notes for the first 2 - 3 months. Nope - she wouldn't have it.  She plucked a little but went for the bow too.  He says she self-corrects if she messes up counts it out in her head and picks back up a note or two later. Usually kids stop. She picks up on nuances in the sheet music that more advanced players sometimes pick up on.

Chris' wife (who I also used to teach with at SAE) came up to our table Friday night and said... "I heard that you're a prodigy on the violin."  That really went to her head.  eek~  (so much so that when she put her tooth out for the tooth fairy - yep she lost a tooth Friday too - that she asked the tooth fairy if she knew of another fairy that can grant wishes and asked to become a prodigy in math, science, social studies, English language arts and gymnastics.  I asked her why didn't she ask for violin too?  She said - "because I'm already a prodigy in violin.")  OY!   

Here is her current smile with many teeth missing. (Isabella also lost another tooth at school within the week, however, she accidentally threw it away. We weren't sure if the tooth fairy would come that night with a "consolation" prize or coin.  Nope.  I guess the tooth only comes if there's a tooth to collect.)   

We celebrated Hip-Hop's Adoption Day this year a little more low-key. Todd got him some of this gourmet / stinky dog food stuff from the refrigerator section of the grocery store.  He loved it!  (It seems the stinkier.... the better!)

Mercer's travel team "The 5 Star Mafia" started in September (with practices) on the other side of Atlanta! The actual games were all in the month of October -- some were close / some were far away. They played in 3 tournaments this month and that's it for the short fall season. They won some. They lost some.  They tied one.  

(They have 2 different uniforms - a black shirt and a yellow shirt + 2 different pairs of pants... gray or white. So these photos are from different days and may have different looks.)

He didn't do so great, unfortunately.  It seems like his timing is a bit off in the batter's box.  Also, he doesn't have the rapport with this new team as he did with his old. (but they did come up with a nick-name for him "fish-sticks" because of his fish slides.) 

The players are also at a higher level than what he's used to. He batted, played right field and pitched for a couple of innings in one game.  Hopefully he'll get his rhythm back + feel more comfortable with them in the Spring season, as this fall season is already over. 

He's doing conditioning at the high school 2 - 3 days a week for the high school team. Looks like the official season will kick-off in late January / early February. 

Isabella and I went to some of his baseball games.  But - we did other stuff on our own too.  One of my favorite family events:  RayDay was during one of his tournaments.  I RSVP'ed for the two of us.  

RayDay is in honor of Ray Anderson - the founder of Interface Carpets, but also an innovator who helped pioneer the sustainability movement in building products.

She wanted to spend the majority of her time in the petting zoo (big surprise).  

She spent at least an hour or two in this little pen with animals.  I stood there for a long time, but eventually would venture away to go check out some of the booths!

This baby goat was her favorite.

There were pony rides too, but she didn't want to do them because they were being "led" / she couldn't control the horse.  She didn't even want to get on one of the ponies!  I guess she's moved beyond that now.

We rode carnival rides.  She rode the swings more than I did. She eventually convinced me to do this and it was a little dizzying.  

One thing I loved about watching her on the swings. Sometimes she would close her eyes and just feel like she was flying!  

She pet every person's dog that she could find. She tried the Chinese Yo-Yo (diablo).  

 

Here we are at the TOP of the ferris wheel.  It was a little rickety / a little shaky!  (hence the scared look on her face when we were taking the photo, the bucket started to swing!)

We didn't do too much with the food trucks and beverages this year.  I got to catch up with some of my old Southface people.  I made some connections with some other organizations I can use at my school. (Just need the time to follow-up!)  

We had a good day and she / I are both looking forward to going back.

She and I went to "trunk-or-treat" at our church one afternoon too (instead of going to a baseball game.)  She got to try out her look.  She wanted to be a skeleton... we found a "ghoul" costume which seemed to satisfy.  

Here, she's wearing make-up, but she said on actual Halloween, she didn't want to wear the make-up.  Maybe it was stiff or itchy?

We honestly did not decorate much! 

Isabella and I went to pick out pumpkins earlier in the month.

Todd put up the ghost lights (as seen behind Isabella in the trunk-or-treat photos).

I put something up on the mantle inside.  That was it this year.  It's been busy and that's all we can muster. 

Other random things from the month: Here are some photos from a local event called "Chalktoberfest,"  I wanted to go to an event on the square but couldn't get anyone to go with me.  So, I walked around on my own and took in a bunch of local art... temporary art... as it is all made of chalk! 

The thing I like the best: those 3-dimensional pieces that are 30 - 40 feet long, but when you stand in a certain spot, the perspective gives you a 10' x 10' image instead.  So interesting! 

I thought Isy would like this one with the lizard.

I heard this is coming back to the theaters soon.

This one is on a panel board and is more permanent.  Joanne Woodward.  She's from Marietta... she actually grew up on the street where we live.

(A year or two ago, someone did a portrait of Dansby Swanson - Braves player who is local to May-retta.... which ended up in the seminar room of our high school.)

Speaking of Dansby.... this was the MOST CREATIVE costume that I've seen.  "progression" from little league to high school to college to pros. 

(One of these - in the blue Marietta jersey is my student and on the MHS baseball team... but holy cow... the work that his family put into this!)  

It's awesome!!

The day before Halloween.... we did kick-up the spirit a bit.  I baked the witches finger cookies for the "last" of our neighborhood Halloween parties.  (the gracious hosts have had this party for the past 14 years... I went back to the blog for a photo at our 1st n'hood Halloween party with our frog prince!) 

While I was baking, Todd and Isabella were carving.

Later, Isabella and I were having fun with a book from Rose Marie's old nursey school... we should be passing this book along to someone else in the family soon!

And... here are our kids on the actual day of Halloween before going to the n'hood party.  

(It's hard to follow the costumes above!)