Fri. 1st--Every Friday afternoon, Ira School has an early release around 2:50, instead of 3:45. But they also have pep rallies with the entire school, which is really fun, especially when those Kindergarteners and other primary grades are also involved in singing and chanting with the cheerleaders. They've definitely got some major small school pride. At this particular assembly, the activity was kissing a goat. Select teachers/administrators who got the most votes from the student body were the ones who got this special privilege. Pretty cute. The teacher who is up in this picture is Anna Fonville. She is the one who owned the big, yellow historic house that Jared and I wanted to buy when we were up in Snyder to accept the offer from the hospital.
Next up, Brian Patterson, the school Superintendent and Coach Todd Wall. His oldest son, Jackson, is in JJ's 4th grade class and his new friend.
This is the new HS English teacher, Stephany York.
Up close with Anna Fonville. :) The pink was for Breast Cancer Awareness month.
*Jared fishing at Lake Henry with his brother, Kevin.
Sat. 2nd--The amazing Bill Wood (owner of Whitewood Bowling Lanes in Lubbock, TX) taking the time to teach my kids how to bowl. This is JJ's first season participating in a league.
*The kids quietly building with Legos during the Saturday evening session of general conference.
Cousin Korbin joined us for the night.
Sun. 3rd--JJ and Rolo hanging out before conference.
*Now is the time...
Mon. 4th--Rolo having fun with Jake the duck. It's fun watching Rolo play at the rental because we have carpet in most the rooms, which is more than we had in our College Station house. It was mostly hard floors. Not only is the rental carpeted, this carpet is super padded. Sooo cushy. So we get to see another side of Rolo that we haven't before because he just didn't play on the hard floors and I can't blame him.
Wed. 6th--Celebrating my sister-in-law, Christina, on her 46th birthday.
Sat. 9th--We learned the bowling league hosts a fall festival and we were so sad to learn it would be on a Sunday. I love living in the south and in Texas. But the Sabbath Day hypocrisy is really frustrating. People claim to be devout Christians. Surely they're familiar with the 10 commandments, right? Maybe not. Clearly they don't think these commandments hold any value because they take the Lord's name left and right as well. Monday seems to be a holy day in Snyder because several things are closed, but not on Sunday. Wednesday nights are YOUTH nights and ain't nobody messes with those either.
Much to my disappointment, we had to do fundraising. It wasn't too egregious though. I kindly told the organizers that we wouldn't be able to participate in the fundraiser because it was on the Sabbath day. But all the kids were expected to work. Fortunately, they respectfully honored our preference and said we could donate a big bag of candy for the festival and that would be our contribution. We could do that.
This is putting it by the desk. Not great.
This is a picture of the wall with the sink, window, and dishwasher. I don't understand all of it...
This is a sketch of our peninsula with the cooktop and opening below for the microwave.
This is what he was going to do and so we decided to just go with it and trust. The cabinet guy said he'd build us a pantry to fill the empty space behind the stem wall extended for the refrigerator for another $600. Sure. Just add it to our tab. When you're spending $80,000, what's another $600?
*Karcyn spent the morning cleaning the temple grounds while the boys were at league. It was a beautiful day to do it.
And she's out. Poor thing. She is sooo tired, all the time.
*Rolo's corner.
It was almost TOO windy to fly a kite. The winds were CRAZY.
But perfect for "wind surfing" with skateboards and bed sheets.
When I drove home later that evening, I was stunned to find a HUGE tree limb in the driveway, right where my suburban would have been parked. Had we stayed at home to have dinner with our friends, my suburban would have been a victim of that tree branch which would have no doubt caused great damage. Just another example to me of Heavenly Father's love and protection. And sometimes, when our best laid plans crumble altogether, it's really for the best. I'm so grateful and told my friend her sick kids saved my suburban!
Mon. 11th--No school today for Ira, so I babysat for Christina (she watches her grandkids) so she could go to a doctor's appointment in Lubbock. JJ and Korbin went on a little adventure on the nature trail nearby.
*Keith, the son of my niece, Emma. He was enthralled with a bug he found.
Tues. 13th--Duo Day at Ira. JJ and I twinned it by wearing our matching River Bend Bear shirts and red shirts.
While supervising Cooper at this event, I learned that the sun is intense in southeast central Texas even in mid-October!
*Ira School has pep rallies every Friday and this was Bulldog Spirit day. The whole school gathers to chant cheers, to sing the school song, to do other fun activities, and pump up the student body for the upcoming football game. It's pretty impressive and definitely a powerful experience having the elementary students K-6 cheering on one side and grades 7-12 cheering on the other. I've never seen anything like it. I love how the secondary kids interact with the younger ones. It's really cool.
The football team always lines up outside the exit so that the younger kids can high-five them on the way out.
JJ making his way through the line.
Sun. 17th--Jared had walked around on a sore foot for months before getting an x-ray and learning he had a stress fracture. So he began sporting a walking boot. And then he and Alex Jazexhiu (a sophomore soccer player) from the branch were twins.
*Calvin and Jared hanging out after church and watching the Chosen.
*Cooper challenging Calvin to an arm wrestling match with Karole watching on. I was actually a little worried about this. Cooper sometimes doesn't know his own strength. But he was very gracious and Calvin held his own.
Mon. 18th--We talked about countertops today. We were originally thinking quartz. But Orlando and Donell did present a solid surface as an option. It looks very much like quartz but only about half the cost. We certainly don't have to have quartz and we're all about saving $3,000. So we gave the green light on a solid surface. This is the sample of the countertop they're going to order for us when the time comes.
Bu-bye ugly, gross popcorn ceilings!
The front room looks bigger already!
New closet door.
The sliding door opening in the main room getting filled in.
The fireplace. Virtually all 70's fireplaces are off-set.
The main room and kitchen area.
*Tues. 19--Rolo takes it upon himself to lick and clean Jared's bald spot. Haha.
Wed. 20th--We had to make a decision on carpet and paint colors. I think the WORST selection process of the entire renovation has been the paint. It literally keeps me up at night. I'm tired of researching it and am relieved to have it narrowed down to two. Fingers crossed. And the top carpet sample, "Pencil Sketch" is the flooring we're going with. We also asked for major padding.
Thurs. 21st--Happy 19th to Cooper! It was fun to have the cousins and Grandma close by so they could celebrate with us. Calvin was sick (cough, congestion, and sore throat) so he was in his room for the next two days.
Fri. 22nd--Ira had their Fall Festival. I don't know what I expected, but it was REALLY fun. I helped work the 4th grade booth and had a blast. I could have done it all night. They had a haunted house and JJ got so scared, he cried. But some sweet teenager walked him through the rest of the way so he wasn't alone. August kicks off the Season of Birthdays in the Hough family. Amaya's is 8/5, JJ's is 8/11, Karole's is 8/17, Olivia's is 9/18, Jared's is 9/25, Christina's is 10/6, Cooper's is 10/21, Ayzlynn's is 10/22, Emma's is 11/1, and Kevin's is 11/25. I mean honestly...
Sun. 10th--We had planned to have a family from church over for dinner. But her kids woke up sick that morning. So I took dinner TO them and then we went over to Kevin and Chris's for an early pot luck dinner. That afternoon, we experienced the first and CRAZIEST wind storm ever.
Fri. 15th--A sweet memory that popped up on my Facebook from 2016. Cooper worked at the Special Olympics to get some service hours. He was amazing. Everyone loved him.
Sat. 16th--Another week at bowling league.
Amaya (daughter of James and Patricia) is in the red shirt. Korbin is laying on the floor and Keith is attacking him while Rolo chases Keith.
Halloween is Ayzlynn's favorite holiday so I got her some Halloween jammies. They sent me a picture. I think she likes them. :)
Sat. 23rd--James won two beta fish at the Fall Festival the night before so he gifted one to Karcyn. She was ecstatic! We went to Walmart to buy all things fish, though they were pretty cleaned out. Probably because other people had won beta fish, too! Karcyn took great care in handling her beta fish, which she named Blue.
Sadly, Blue didn't live through the night... :(
Sun. 24th--Another sweet memory of Cooper from 2017 right after turning 15. He heard the baby of a friend's friend was in the neo-natal ICU and learned that crocheted octopi helps babies hold on to the tentacles and not their wires and breathing tubes. So he taught himself how to crochet one. Such a thoughtful gesture.
*Rolo puts up with a lot living at our house. :)
*Jared waited ten long years and finally got his trophy small mouth bass mounted.
This is the original trophy bass he caught in Canada.
Mon. 25th--Right after a quick dinner of Zuppa Toscana (Cooper's favorite), we changed into our church clothes and piled in the burb as we headed to Lubbock so that Cooper could be set apart as a full-time missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's so cool that the Lubbock Temple shares the same parking lot as the stake center. Poor Karcyn is still battling staying awake when she's not moving. When we were finished at the church, we went to Lowe's to get our two different wall paint options. We also picked up an ice cream treat on our way home.
Tues. 26th--Here we go. We decided on the top paint color, Filtered Shade to go with the carpet flooring and luxury vinyl tile that we picked out. The second color on the bottom had too much purple in it. We're also going with the top white color for doors and trim. FINALLY. That headache is over.
*This is a picture of our kitchen looking at where the ovens and fridge will go. They added a 20 inch stem wall and it looks a lot more invasive than I thought. It cuts into the dining space quite a bit. But oh well. There's not much we can do about it. Our appliances won't fit without it.
This is the back side of the stem wall. The cabinet guy said he'd build a pantry to put in that new space created by the stem wall for an extra $600. We agreed because otherwise, it's just dead space. Not sure what the pantry is going to look like though. Trying to get info from the cabinet guy is very difficult.
This is looking into the laundry room, facing the stem wall head on.
Wed. 27th--I enjoyed many lunches with JJ in my room since our eating times were just minutes apart while I was covering that maternity leave.
Fri. 29th--This is Nezuko from Demon Slayer. Karcyn loves her. So she became her for Halloween.
She got lots of kudos for her creativity at Snyder High's dress-up day.
JJ dressed up as a ninja.
*My niece, Ayzlynn (Fall), and her friends won the prize for most creative costume at Ira School for 6th grade.
*The elementary teachers surprised me with the sweetest gift. A white ceramic Scentsy warmer of the Nativity. I wanted one and was going to get one from the 2nd grade teacher, Jessica Chavez. But when she told me it was over $70, I told her I'd have to check my budget and she said she understood. I couldn't get one, but the teachers all pitched in and got me one with six different wax scents. It was a touching gesture and I'm so grateful for their kind support.
*The pep rally that day was a glow-in-the-dark theme. Really fun!
*Korbin and JJ at dress-up day at Ira School (grades 5th and 4th).
Sat. 30th--Celebrating October birthdays at bowling league with doughnuts!
*Going to the library for Trick or Treating. Except they didn't Trick or Treat, they were just given a small bag with a couple things in it. Haha. It was nice, but we were expecting a bit more.
Sun. 31st--Dinner at the cousins. Calvin challenged Garrett to foosball. Garrett always beats him. So Garrett offered to do it blindfolded and Garrett STILL beat him. Haha!!
*Korbin and JJ being silly.
*I wasn't going to let JJ go Trick or Treating because it was Sunday, but his cousins were going to a few houses, so I relented. I didn't want to keep him from creating memories with his extended family.
Thurs. 28th--Calvin had an away football game. He got a fumbled ball and then scored a touchdown!
Calvin's make-up day for missing the week before when he wasn't feeling well.
*My niece, Emma's birthday was Mon, Nov. 1st, so we celebrated on Sunday night as an extended family, instead. She turned 24. She's the same age as our marriage.
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