The day after Halloween, Mikey had a field trip to the University of Washington.
The students were there to do research at the university libraries for their National History Day projects.
Check out the sky. It was cloudy and we ended up finally get some rain.
Mikey was working with a partner and his topic was the Anti-Vietnam War movement.
We spent the day in the libraries looking for sources. The kids were able to eat lunch at the commons.
Before we headed back, they took a class photo on the steps.
That Friday, Mikey was invited to his school's student recognition party. The parties celebrate students that exemplify the "pillars' of the school. Things like excellence, community, respect and responsibility.
He was nominated for responsibility and got to enjoy a donut breakfast.
He was the only one that took advantage of the allergy friendly donut options they had...so he had quite a few donuts.
One of his friends, B, was also nominated.
That same evening, Katie's school was having a Chili Cook-Off to benefit the senior class.
Katie asked if I would volunteer.
So, I booked up a BUNCH of chili.
Like, loads.
So much chili that I would have been happy not ever seeing chili again in my lifetime.
There were different categories that you could win prizes for.
The event had actual judges that judged the chili.
I knew my chili wasn't the best, so I went for theme: Chili Fantasmic!
I had a bunch of Disney stuff, Disney music, played a YouTube video of Fantasmic and had lights on my table.
It was good to see that the event was well attended (I was worried) and they did end up making some money for the seniors.
I ended up winning best theme. It must've been the dorky ears. Yay me.
And, ugh, chili.
Still spider season at our house.
This one was creepy but kinda pretty at the same time.
For a spider at least.
The first week of November ended with us watching Katie in her one-act play called CUT by Ed Monk.
Here is a picture of the cast.
Here is a synopsis of the one-act:
"A group of actors rehearses a play within a play within a play. As the plot complications multiply, the actors begin to forget who is playing whom and who is the real director -- as opposed to the actor who is playing the director, or vice versa. Then they can't seem to remember who they really are, as opposed to the people they are playing in any of the various scripts. Then things start to get confusing..."
Katie came in at the end and was the "real" director. This person was having very real-life problems, unlike the actors on stage who seemed to be caught in some alternate stage universe.
She's trying to explain who she is.
The actors are clueless.
Frustrated.
Eventually the self-centered actors push her over the edge.
She fleed the stage in anger and sadness.....
....and trips, landing with a hard thud in the middle of the stage.
And then begins sobbing.
(Like, seriously sobbing. Huzbend and I thought she was really crying. We were disturbed.)
She gets comforted and ushered off.
But the actors still don't know who is who or what is what.
The show was great.
Funny, confusing, off balance and well-acted.
Curtain call!
After all of the shows had been performed, they gave out awards.
The one-act that Katie was in ended up winning "Best Director", "Best Duo Scene" and "Best Overall".
Winning "Best Overall" meant that the cast would perform their one-act at the
regional thespian competition that would happen in March 2023.
Later that evening, the first windstorm of the season rolled through.
It was a doozy.
Because of the dry conditions that we had all summer and into September and October, the trees and branches were just ready to snap.
We ended up losing power at about 11:30 that night.
Don't worry.
Spooky Glowy Eye Dog kept watch over us.
Everything was a mess.
So much mess that it took a few days for us to get our power back on.
I was able to find an open grocery store and got us some ice which allowed us to keep some of our perishable food from going bad.
Down the street a large tree fell across a bunch of lines and took them down.
It took a while for them to get it fixed.
We froze our butts off for the rest of the weekend.
Katie ran a Dungeons and Dragons adventure to entertain us.
Dinner prep by headlamp.
We ate by candlelight.
The power came back on early Monday morning, so the kids were able to go to school.
And, because the power was off so long, we lost most of the food in our refrigerator.
It was a good excuse to clean out some stuff that had been in the freezer for a long time.
Honestly, too long.
Mikey cleaned off the deck for an assignment at school.
I think there should be more assignments to do chores at home.
We had a long weekend due to Veterans Day falling on a Friday.
Katie decided to break out one of her bake boxes.
This time it was ghost cake pops.
She ran out of white chocolate and decided to use semi-sweet chocolate chips to finish the rest.
After Huzbend's karaoke experience with his friends in October, he decided to get
his own karaoke rig to play at home.
There was about a week straight of singing.
Thankfully, it fizzled out.
"Please. Stop the signing. SEND HELP!"
Not much happened in November. Regular school and life stuff.
Our garage door opener didn't recover from the power outage.
It never turned back on.
Huzbend wanted to buy one and install it himself, I convinced him otherwise.
That was about it for big news.
Thanksgiving time.
We decided to brine our turkey again this year.
The calm before the cooking storm.
Life is so unfair.
He has to smell all the yumminess but can't eat any of it.
"Thanksgiving sucks."
Katie helped make and taste test the mashed potatoes.
Poor Ralph.
"This is a poop holiday."
Time to eat!
Thanksgiving 2022 Family Picture.
Katie had a well-balanced plate.
Mikey tried some things but still ate a lot of crescent rolls.
I think Katie was most excited for dessert.
We had gluten free/dairy free pumpkin ice cream pie, pumpkin pie and apple pie.
We headed out for a round of frisbee golf that weekend.
Ralph came along, but Katie didn't.
ME: "I'll go ahead and let you know when the course is clear..."
Meanwhile....while I'm not supposed to be looking.
Were they having a slap fight?
I have no idea.
HUZBEND: "What?"
Some candid shots of our competitors....
"I am excited for the thrill of competing against my teenage son."
"Bring it, old man!"
"Bwa-hahahahahaha!"
Action shot!
Huzbend throws with his left arm as his right shoulder is injured.
Ralph loves to come along and sniff all the sniffs.
I have to say that it was close.
Mikey was keeping his throw number down for, like, the first time ever.
Huzbend is going to have to up his lefty game pretty soon if he wants to continue to beat Mikey.
"Um. Excuse me. I don't mean to pester you.
But it's dinner time."
"And you are two minutes late."
Sticking with our whacky weather theme, it snowed overnight on November 29th and because of the snow and ice (the snow always melts and turns everything into ice), the kids had a snow day the last day of the month.
Katie chose to keep warm inside while Mikey decided to venture out for the first sledding of the season.
Huzbend was working.
Ralph came along.
He always loves a jaunt in the snow.
Walking up the steep hill after sledding down it is a good work out.
After a dozen or so runs, he was getting tired.
Don't you dare.....
"Why won't you let me play in the giant dirty slush puddle Mommy?"
There weren't many other kids out.
Not sure why.
I guess the snow was already turning into a slushy mess.
"Ready? Reeeeeeeady?"
Jumping Snowball Retrieval - GO!
