Day 311 of 365

Sunday nights we usually do baths/showers right after dinner and get into our pajamas. With daylight savings time this weekend, we were all done with this by 6:00. I just love the smell of clean kids.

Days 308-310 of 365

Saturday: Filled the back of my mom's car with shopping bags from the Outlet Center. Check off some Christmas gifts from the list.

Friday: McKenna wrote an essay entitled "How to Clean Your Desk," complete with a diagram showing how it should be organized.

Thursday: McKenna has been talking a lot recently about Uncle Tony and Grandma Barb, and missing them both. We are gathering photos right now so she can make a memory book about Uncle Tony, then we'll do the same for Grandma Barb.

Day 307 of 365

The girls each get to pick 20 pieces of Halloween candy to keep, and the rest gets "donated" to the students where I teach. McKenna thinks this is fair since "high school students are too old to trick-or-treat anyway." Much to my delight, McKenna sorted all her candy by type before making her choices. I did exactly the same thing when I was young.

Day 306 of 365

Christmas is coming! I can tell by the amount of catalogs in my mailbox - this pile is just one day's worth.

Days 298-305 of 365

The past week has been a complete blur, hence no blogging. I was, however, taking photos all week! A quick run down of the past 8 days (in no particular order): Kenna receives her Bible at church, she wins three 3rd place karate trophies at the tournament, we marvel each day at the amount of geese in our neighborhood pond, a quick manicure for me, a field trip to Duluth-Superior to visit colleges with my students, pumpkin carving, playing outside with neighbors and Halloween festivities (parade, dinner and trick-or-treating). In between all that, I edited dozens of senior portraits, corrected work and did the usual household tasks of laundry, cooking, dinner, baths... You get the idea.

Day 297 of 365

Lilly had a Halloween party at dance class. Most of the girls were princesses, but Lillian chose to be a bumblebee. Imagine 15 four-year-olds dancing and prancing in costumes. I'd call it controlled chaos.

Day 296 of 365

We spent most of the day with my parents. Family photos, hanging out, celebrating Aunt Barb's birthday, yummy dinner and dessert; I even squeezed in a nap on the couch. All in all a great fall afternoon.