And then there was one...Carl

I have to admit, for years I have been looking forward to not having to worry about figuring out a costume for anyone for Halloween.  I naively assumed that would be when I no longer had kids in elementary school.  Well, I should have known that even though Ben doesn't know what's going on, I would feel compelled to dress him up since all the other kids in his life skills class would probably be bedecked in costumes.

When this was confirmed with his teacher and I expressed my feelings of inadequacy in the costume department she said that she and her aides thought it would be fun if Ben dressed up as Carl from UP and they could put balloons on his wheelchair.  Apparently this had already been discussed between them so I said "Done!" (because half the battle is coming up with an idea) and they said they would bring the balloons :)

I knew keeping the glasses on would be a struggle and I couldn't find the right jacket for him but the rest of the costume came together okay.

Ben catches the bus so early that it was still dark outside trying to get pictures before he left.

Sorry for the amount of pics...it's just so hard to get a good one and in the mean time so many facial expressions are given :)

Andy was trying to help and get his glasses to stay on...

Ben had the squinty face while he waited :)

I sprayed his hair whitish...

Patiently waiting for the bus...

I asked his teacher to send me any pictures she was able to capture and she got a great one...glasses on and a smile :)!

They ended up tying the balloons to his belt loop which was cute :)

This was two days before halloween since it was on a Sunday this year.

Saturday evening my parents came over per tradition and Jo and T joined us as well.  Josh usually does most of the doorbell duty but Abby had a "social norms" assignment for psychology so she ended up answering the door multiple times and asking the trick or treaters for candy :)

We watched The Muppets Haunted Mansion and had a grand old time.

I don't know why I didn't take pictures but that's the way the ball bounces sometimes.

Abby is 17!

This is my beautiful Abby!

This picture was taken at school in her psychology class after all the students took turns writing kind things about each other on the white board.

So these are all the good things her peers see in her.

She just turned 17 and I can't believe how time is flying!

We had fun celebrating as a family...

That's our Abby girl!  She is super fun, artistic and fun to be around.  Love you Babe!

A few days later, on Sunday evening, extended family came and celebrated with us.  Of course we were also celebrating James since his birthday is one day after Abby's.

Jo and T had us play a fun game that had to do with singing and hearing it backwards and trying to copy it so that it was recognizable.  It was hilarious :)!

Grandma Jannie's pear crisp and pie for the win!!!

October Odds and Ends

This is my Emotional Resilience Class!

Back in September we started meeting every Tuesday and it has been such a blessing in my life!

These women are amazing!  The bonds we have formed in this class as we have laughed, cried and felt the spirit together are such a treasure to me.  They will be cherished forever.  And even though we only have one more class next week, our friendships will continue to grow and flourish.

Debi and I showed up as twinners one day :)

These pictures are terrible!  I wish I would have taken the time and effort to get better quality shots of this quilt but here they are anyway :)

I have been "working" on this quilt since we got our "new" couches about 2.5 years ago...yikes!

I found the perfect material to tie in the red and cotton theme I was going for on Ebay, pulled the rest of the fabrics together and basically let it sit.  I probably only put about 10 hours into this quilt total but those 10 hours spanned many months.

I am happy to say that it is finally finished though and has replaced the old quilt in our living room that was hardly big enough to cover one person.

Now, this one can cover three :)

 I probably shouldn't post these pictures because of the peer tutor sitting with Ben but I don't even know her name so I guess we're okay.

Ben's teacher sent these to me from their Disney day :)

I have seen the love Ben gets from his teachers and friends at school and let me just say that it brings me to tears.  They treat him so well and I can tell he loves them right back!

I wasn't going to do any Halloween cookies but last minute, I just had to jump in and do some.  I couldn't let a major holiday go by without experimenting :)

I didn't love how the pumpkins turned out :(...

The ghosts were super easy and fun...

And then I wanted to take the one shape of a candy corn and do as many things with it I could think of to fit the Halloween theme.  They turned out okay I guess.

I am finding that when I am not happy with a cookie set it is usually because I didn't take enough time to plan them out.

I did enjoy playing around with recipes though.  I found a great pumpkin spice cookie recipe that turned out super soft and I made the icing pumpkin spice as well.  It was probably too strong but fun nonetheless.

Matt was anxious to go in and try and get his driving permit.

The guy at the counter asked if he had studied for the test and when Matt said no he kind of gave him a hard time (in a friendly sort of way).  Matt explained that his older siblings hadn't really studied and they both passed so he was expecting to do the same.

He didn't end up passing the first try but he was successful the second time.

I have taken him out once so far and I must say he seems to have a natural feel for driving.  He knew more than I expected so I am hopeful that things continue to go smoothly for the next year as he gets his 40 hours in!

Speaking of Matt, it seems he saw fit to take a few selfies on my phone with a modified Le Croix box :)