KEEPING UP WITH THE NEILSONS: October

The month of October has come and almost gone. Thankfully, this month was a bit slower than the last few months. But not to worry, the Holiday season is coming and we'll be busier than ever. Two days into October we celebrated Curtis' 13th birthday. A few days later, Erik went on a hunting trip. Of course there's all the U of O games. We also had a big birthday party for both kids with all the family. I started going to a 5th grade classroom as part of my student teaching. And, then to finish October off, we get to celebrate Halloween and gorge ourselves on Candy.

CURTIS' BIRTHDAY
Wow! I can't even believe that my sweet little baby boy is 13! It's amazing how quickly the years go by. This milestone has really messed with me. Curtis will graduate from high school in 6 years! If the last 13 have gone by this quickly then the next 6 are going to disappear in a flash.
Anyways, enough sentimentality. Curtis' birthday was on a Friday this year. He took cookies to school to celebrate with his language arts class. Later that night, we ate pizza from Pizza Hut... with cheese in the crust. Instead of a birthday cake he had requested a birthday cookie/pizza. We made a giant sugar cookie, coated it with frosting and then put chopped up candies on top. That was pretty yummy. Then the family watched Monsters vs. Aliens together. Happy Birthday Buddy!

The Yummy Cookie Pizza

It never changes... kids love to play with the box that the toy came in. This is the styrafoam that came in the box with the fish tank.

Gotta love Stuffed Crust pizza!

Sporting the new Duck Jersey.

HUNTING TRIP
Erik has been hunting the last couple years just in the area of where we live. He hadn't been able to dedicate a lot of time because of a busy schedule. This year, Erik and two of his friends went out to Eastern Oregon to camp and hunt for a few days. Erik's friends headed out on a Thursday to set up camp and Erik joined them after he preached Sunday morning. After a little bit of truck trouble (he was driving a friends truck) and a very nice passerby who fixed the truck (for free!), Erik was able to join his hunting buddies. All three guys ended up with a deer. And now the freezer is full of venison. Erik was pretty excited to get his first deer ever!

MORE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
Half way through October we finally found a weekend that wasn't filled with hunting or Duck Games so we had all the family come over for Curtis' and Sadie's family birthday party. Everyone who didn't live too far away or wasn't too sick came over.

The Birthday kids

German Chocolate cake for Curtis
Chocolate cupcakes for Sadie. With 11 candles in one cupcake as she requested!

All of Curtis and Sadie's cousins.
Lilli, Natalie, Elan, Curtis, Emmalie, Sadie

STUDENT TEACHING
This term I started the Education Program at WOU. I get to spend about 6 hours a week in a 5th grade classroom in Sheridan. I really like the teacher who will be my Mentor Teacher for this year. As it turns out, she is a Christian and has a child. I'm looking forward to learning how she manages work and family. The group of fifth graders I'll be working with seem like a good group of kids. It should be fun spending this year with them and teaching them. I can't wait to see what they will teach me!

HALLOWEEN

The night before Halloween we went to a party. Usually, our costumes are pretty boring. Sometimes I'm a "Mom" or a "Duck Fan". Once I wore Curtis' football pads and shirt and was a football player. It'd been a while since we actually put some effort into a costume. So, it was a lot of fun to go to the party dressed like Popeye and Olive Oyl with Erik. The hostess of the party had lots of fun games planned for the kids which included a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood. Sadie tied for Cutest Costume with another little girl.
On Halloween night we decorate our car at the church for "Trunk Or Treating". Kids around the church neighborhood pass by the church and "Trick or Treat" at each of the trunks of our cars. We'll be doing that tonight and I'm hoping for no rain!