Jack-O-Lanterns and Twinkling Lights

I'll be honest, motherhood has been difficult lately. I don't know if it's the mix of Halloween candy, daylight savings, a necessary sinus surgery, or just the monotony of my day-to-day; but, I think I'm losing my mind a little. Putting up the Christmas decorations has helped my attitude, but we'll get to that.

First things first, we finished out October with some Halloween celebrations. I don't particularly like Halloween, but the kids sure had a fun season. We started with trick-or-treating at the campground down the road from us. Our friends had a spot and invited our family out for a fun event that the whole campground participated in. We roasted weenies, got candy, and stayed out late enough to see the stars. Such a fun night with really good friends!

The following week our co-op had their annual Halloween party. This year it was Harry Potter themed and although my kids don't know those stories, they still had a blast. The party was complete with broom-rides, wand-making, potions class, quidditch, and spells! It was a fun day with our fellow homeschoolers.

Then right before Halloween, we squeezed in some festive activities like pumpkin-carving and treat-making before the big event on Halloween. Before trick-or-treating, we had a quick dinner with neighbors. Then it was time to get candy! Ewan made it about 10 houses before jumping in the wagon, but Isla could have done the whole neighborhood if we let her.

Right after Halloween, I had a sinus surgery. My sinus pain the last few years has continually gotten worse and my headaches are debilitating on their worst days. Surgery went well, but it was a long day. I'm grateful for my in-laws who took the kids for two whole days so I could have surgery and recovery without the stress of being a mom :) Sounds like the kids had a great time with their Nana and Pop Pop! And my doctor is happy with my healing (apparently, he removed a rubber-cement-like ball out of one of my sinuses... no wonder I haven't been able to function!).

You know me, surgery wasn't going to destroy my Christmas dreams. I try to get my decorations up on November 1st, but I couldn't do that this year. So I slowly put them up over the next weekend. I like to enjoy the Christmas season as long as possible and so do the kids :) We jumped right in to celebrating.

School has been going well. We just keep trucking along with our reading, writing, and arithmetic :) Soon, we'll be starting our Thanksgiving study, but for now we are enjoying our mini deep dives of learning. Our latest fascination this week is Ancient China and oil pastel drawings.

Other than that, we've been finishing out the fall season and preparing for winter with all things cozy, festive, and delicious :) That means lots of books, lots of homemade food, lots of snuggling, and lot of love.