October came, and with it came some settling into the school year. I wouldn't say there was less going on (in fact, I think there was more), but some of the things that make the beginning of the year hard, like accepting homework responsibilities and following routines, are more settled.
Carter's soccer season continued. As has happened with many of his past seasons, his team didn't win many games. I think this may be Carter's last season of playing soccer, but we were pleased to see him hustle on the field and try his best, especially in defense. He isn't the best player but he runs all.the.time and is fairly bold about going to the ball.
I was glad to discover that International Walk to School Day was on my day off and Mayflower decided to participate this year, so Carter and I could walk together. Since we have to drop Ashlynn off at her school that is across town, we didn't have enough time to walk from home. So, I parked my car about halfway between school and home, and we walked that distance.
Ashlynn has also been busy with soccer. Sometime during the month of October a switch seemed to flip in her and she became very timid on the field. It's been a tough time, as we know how she's capable of performing on the field but not seeing her live up to her potential.
Here are a few photos from earlier in the month when she was playing more solidly. In fact, it was a game during which she scored a goal!
On a weekly basis, Ashlynn has joined some of her school friends at the junior high youth group for the big local church, Fellowship Monrovia. I love that she is connecting with fellow Christians who she sees at school and in her community.
One day I was off I decided to do a partial garage clean out. That was quite a task, but I made major improvements to that death trap, as I used to call it. Not sure why we had saved so many cardboard boxes!
One afternoon during October was spent having tea with Katie and Julianna. Good times with old friends.
Another evening I spent with my Mayflower turned Clifton mom friends. Life is busy so it was nice to take time to catch up and see how middle school is treating us all.
One Sunday afternoon the kids and I walked over to the high school track to walk and run. Ashlynn was about to join the school cross country team, so we thought it was a good idea to get her running. She did okay running the track but Carter was the one to impress me with his running. That kid has endurance!
A few days later was Ashlynn's first cross country meet. It was about a mile and a half around and through Garfield Park in South Pasadena, so it was a good first meet experience.
The team has named themselves "The Human Highlighters" to make light of their bright shirts. It does help spot the kids while they run the course!
Lots more soccer all month long (although because Ashlynn and Carter had games at the same time and Eric is assistant coach for Carter's team, I was only at Ashlynn's games). Ashlynn started to climb a little out of her soccer slump by the end of the month but just a little.
The month ended with Halloween on a school day. One fortunate thing is that for the first time in many, many years, I didn't have to work the costume parade day and got to see my kids do their thing. For school, Ashlynn dressed up as a cat. It's tricky in middle school because so many costumes are either too young or too mature. Being a cat was a good middle ground.
Carter didn't wear a costume to school but was a part of his class's favorite book presentation for his school's literacy parade. I love that he picked Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle for his favorite book.
Lined up before the parade
With his friend, Devlin
The whole third grade
The third grade teachers were the librarians.
Carter's class
On Halloween night we joined our friends for trick-or-treating, as we did last year.
This year's crew was made up of third graders and sixth graders.
Carter's friend, Tatem, joined us for a block.
Pooped out after lots of trick-or-treating!
And that was October!
