Random October

I think that one day, those who read this blog, or flip through the pages of our memory books, may grow tired of hearing me say that "life has been busy." Like...every time I sit down to catch up on my journaling...that is what I lead with. 

Does it ever slow down?

Would I even want it to? 

I suspect that life is passing by exactly as it is supposed to and maybe it is my capacity to juggle it all that ebbs and flows. At any rate - October whirled by.  

I uploaded these photos of our month in descending order, so forgive the backward description of our miscellaneous October fun. 

Halloween is always a stressful holiday. I LOVE this holiday, but lining up SIX costumes is never my favorite thing to do. This year though - it was pretty darn easy.  

For starters - Abby made her own costume and celebrated Halloween as a pirate, with all of her pirate roommates.  Though I sometimes worry about this girl, she sure does cope well, on her own. 

Nate and his friends decided to do a group costume. (I LOVE it when kids do that!) This year they went as the "Sandlot" gang.  Nate actually really matched his character well. 

Sam and Jess did not dress up this year. 

I repeat, they DID NOT dress up!

How did I feel about this? 

Thanks for asking. 

I was a little sad to see them not engage in this annual holiday, and a WHOLE lot thrilled to not have to find a last-minute costume for them. I guess that is the bittersweet part of growing up now, isn't it?

I halfheartedly tackled a costume this year by borrowing my sister Jewel's work scrubs. The funny thing is that when kids came by trick or treating - they actually thought I WAS Jewel!  Shocker;)

John dressed up as a doctor and managed to pull it off beautifully.

Somewhere among the busy chaos of Halloween night, we managed to sing to John and have a ghost-shaped carrot cake, which this time was purchased by a woman on a local Facebook page. 

I'll do better next year. 

October was a big month for Volleyball and John and I had lots of opportunities to watch Jessica and Nathan play.  Nathan really developed a love for this sport this year and thrived under the tutelage of some excellent coaches. 

The assistant coach got married on the last day of their season and couldn't be with them during the tournament. That evening though, the team all donned bowties and crashed the wedding reception together. I love it when coaches are able to create a synergetic and unified team culture. 

No one does that quite as amazingly as Coach Boehme. 

It was fun to catch these five together one night, celebrating their cousin Brooke's last home volleyball game of her high school career. These are the last of the Hardy kids to grace CHS, until of course, their babies start coming. 

Early in October, Jessica made the decision to sell her moped to her cousin Dane. 

This was her overly dramatic attempt to gas "Zumba" up for the last time. She had a great summer with the thing, enjoying newfound freedom and crashing it a time or two, but I was thrilled to see it land in someone else's hands (and garage) for the next year or two. 

Nate's plan is to buy it back from Dane once Dane gets a car, so we fully expect to see Zumba again. 

Abby came home for Thanksgiving. Land sake, this girl is a treat!

Radar continues to be the happiest thing in our home. 
How could we have gone this long without giving a dog a chance? Shame on us!

He is sad when we leave, THRILLED when we get home, and seems to be in every room of the house, following at our feet anywhere we go. I mean...can there be anything more loyal?

Maybe it is wise that we waited this long to get a dog. He seems to be the perfect antidote to this dilemma that teenage kids pose. He softens the ache this mama's heart feels, just enough.