Here is how we have been spending our time this past month of October!  We celebrated the High School Homecoming. Scott was getting in the spirit all week by dressing up. Each day had a different theme starting with  Pajama Day the week before. On Monday they celebrated America Day-aka Columbus Day. He had school, but the Catholic school was closed so he did not have to work. Scott borrowed Tom's American Flag polo and got lots of compliments along with his American flag socks. On Tuesday it was Movie Day and the Seniors chose "Saving Private Ryan". Scott rebelled and wore his Doctor Who jacket and Fess. With a sign that said "Saving Private Ryan". On Weds he had a Senior Skip Day! The 9th-11th graders were all taking the pre college entrance exam, the PSAT, so the Seniors got the day off! They expected the Seniors to use the day to visit colleges, work on college essays or complete doctor appointments. Scott took the day off to do all the homework assigned by his teachers since the kids were off for the day! And he certainly had a lot to do. At least he did not have to go to work.

However, he did have to go to school in the evening for the National Honor Society Induction ceremony for the incoming Juniors. He had to dress up, but the kids just sat in the back of the auditorium while the new students were called up to the stage. I joined Scott to help congratulate all the new incoming members. And on Tuesday after school Scott was at his NHS meeting. He is busy earning more volunteer hours by working after school at the snack bar during sporting events. So far he really enjoys it. Too bad there are not more open times to work. And his Engineering teacher did not realize the kids were missing school on Weds when he scheduled the National Tech. Honor Society meeting. So Scott did not miss much on that day. On Thursday the Spirit theme was The Future. Scott used the opportunity to wear his kilt and carry a Flat Worlder sign. (It is an internet thing-apparently a group of people still actually believe the earth is flat). And Friday was color day. So Scott wore his kilt again since the Seniors wore black-the exact color of his kilt. And he got a whole lot of compliments. Imagine that!  So he survived Spirit week, along with the Pep Rally and even participated in the Homecoming parade on Saturday morning.

Scott joined the robotic team in the parade through our neighborhood on his roller blades no less! The parade started at the kid's catholic elementary school down the street, winds throughout our neighborhood and ends at the high school. Scott built the parade robot back in 9th grade and outfitted it with a shooting arm and bucket that flings candy into the crowd. There did not seem to be as many robotic team members in the parade this year, but it was just as fun. Allison and I enjoyed the start of the parade with Cookie in tow. We were all dressed in our best Mt Hebron Vikings gear, including Cookie!  We decided to walk behind the parade, but we could not keep up. We were busy picking up extra candy along the way!  Scott roller bladed the whole route and then bladed home. Allison took me up to my car parked at the start of the parade route and then we picked up lunch, stopped into the bank and picked up some more supplies at Home Depot for yard work. We spent the rest of the afternoon raking leaves and putting up some Halloween decorations. Scott is going all out this year since it will probably be his last time at home for the holiday. I even let him buy a humongous pumpkin at the farm last weekend! It is sitting on our kitchen counter and is so big it blocks out the view to the television!

We didn't spend much time on the yardwork that day. Tom bought tickets for us to attend the Home opening Hockey game of the Hershey Bears. Our friend John joined our whole family and we headed up early in the afternoon. We really enjoyed the game and the company, even though they lost. They are celebrating their 80th Anniversary! And on Friday night the kids and I took a break and went to the Ninjago Lego movie. So far we like the Batman Lego movie the best. And Tom and I dropped in to our neighbors to catch the Thursday night Football game. Mainly it is our time to catch up-our friend Gloria is busy job hunting for another Nursing Manager job. She has been out of work since June and has a prospective interview at a local out patient surgery center near our house. Wishing her all the luck.

Tom and the kids spent the rest of the weekend working on homework . Tom finished up a short term class and was working on another. He decided to take the short term so he will not have a class during the Holidays. He is also busy working on a presentation for work and an upcoming trip to Orlando for his school program. Fortunately I will be joining him and looking forward to a fun and relaxing trip. Scott will have to stay home and hold down the fort with school and work. Allison will have to head back to school to start her 2nd semester of Grad school.

Allison was home to finish up her Accounting final. She had already completed two finals in Marketing and Information. The Accounting class ran into the semester break since they missed Labor Day and the professor gave the class a large assignment to research. It was based on an Auto Industry and Tom gave Allison some pointers on the budgeting. All her work was turned in online, so she did not have to attend the last day of class. She should get her grades in the upcoming week. Allison also came home early for another iron infusion. I had my yearly physical on Friday morning, and joined Allison for her appointment in the afternoon. She is really feeling so much better. I hope it is permanent! She has 2 more treatments and is still taking supplements and eating more iron enriched foods. She even thought about staying at school over the weekend so she could attend the Ocean City Ultimate Frisbee tournament. However, Allison said they spend most of their time drinking, so she passed on the event. She was hoping Salisbury would host a tournament, but currently it sounds like they cannot get enough teams to travel to their University.

On Sunday I attended a Girl Scout choir practice. I am interested in joining a newly formed accapella group. I forgot how hard choir can be when each group is singing a different part. I have not done that since high school. And we really don't have a choir director for this group, so I am winging it. And I need more practice. Better get the keyboard up and running. After choir practice I headed over to pick up Mom B for dinner. I had thrown some ribs in the crock pots since Allison was home and I wanted to make a big dinner. However, I was a bit late picking up Mom and she was already finishing up her meal at the apt. So I brought her home anyway to watch some football and have some dessert. She helped make an apple crisp the week before and it was still quite tasty. Especially since I added caramel and heated it up with a scoop of ice cream. And Mom missed out on tasting the pie the week before, so she finally got to enjoy all her hard work. The only thing I could not figure out was how she got a small, black eye! I am thinking she dropped something on herself while reaching for clothes on the top shelf of her closet. She has a tendency to move things around. Either that or she was working out with Rocky Balboa!  Looks like she will survive.