October 2025

What a month!

Fall has officially come to Nebraska and that means misty rain and chilly temps. But that didn’t stop our outings.

Home Depot was out of projects again this month (why bother having a sign up page if you’re not going to keep any on hand?), so that was frustrating. If we miss out again in November I think we’ll be done trying to come to town for it — it’s going to be an excavator which Little Man will adore. We might try a different location but this has been frustrating.

Despite the rocky start, we have had a great month. Busy as ever (maybe a little too busy).

Little Man had his first school field trip. He got to ride the school bus and Mommy, Daddy, and Baby Girl got to drive up to spend the day with him at Roca Scary Farm. Thankfully the weather was beautiful, but man has Roca grown since I went last.

Hayrack ride to the pick your own pumpkin patch.
Baby Girl was loving the huge pumpkins.

Then we got to meet Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Darrell’s new puppy.

Meet Mac.

The following weekend was the Cub Scouts Day of Awesomeness at our council’s outdoor learning area. The wind was very chilly and the sun didn’t come out until after we finished. That didn’t stop Little Man from having a blast with other scouts.

He got to try out the archery range.
Giant bubbles were probably his favorite.
Box Car Racing
Rain Gutter Regata

Then the Mister, Baby Girl, and I took the long drive back to Clarksville one last time. We had to stay on post the first night because the lock box code the realtor gave us didn’t work. I was furious! And had zero qualms about trying to call him at 2am…he didn’t answer of course. But, despite the hiccup, we had an uneventful rest of the long weekend.  I got to see my friend Kimberly and had one last Mugsy’s coffee. We picked up Little Man’s swing set and my house plants/my ceramic planters before heading back to Nebraska.

Apparently they didn’t mind the heat or lack of water. The cactuses were a little sunburned but they are all putting off blooms already (early!) and my African violet and Norfolk pine are bouncing back. We only lost one and it was already struggling before the Mister put them outside.

I can’t say the same about my left over outdoor annuals. My poor evergreens both were nothing but crispy twigs and dry needles and my mum and dianthus were toast. It must have really gotten hot and dry. Weird how that works out.

The short following week, Baby Girl decided she prefers trying to sit up on her own, so we brought out the Bumbo from Cousin Lance and let her sit on the island while we cooked dinner.

Quite pleased with herself

Then the Mister and I went to an estate sale with a bunch of pre-WW2 German pieces. I was so excited with my finds and only spent $10 on a handful of things, including the stein.

I was quite pleased with myself knowing what this said with my limited knowledge of the German language. “In Heaven there is no beer, that’s why we drink it here.”

That weekend, we had an Lowes project and took a family outing to a smaller pumpkin patch: Bloom Farm. This was more our speed, which was great since the weather took a turn and was gloomy, windy, and chilly!

Despite the cool weather, Little Man enjoyed being a goof ball.
Baby Girl wasn’t sure what to think of the corn box.
Hey look! I’m in a photo.
Naturally we had try to get everyone to look…
Baby Girl wouldn’t keep her shoes on and Little Man was acting silly all day.

While it wasn’t Gentry Farm, it was a welcome change of pace. We even had caramel apple nachos which were perfection.

The next week brought the official end to our Clarksville era. We said our final goodbye to our home on the 22nd. While I was sad to see her go (mostly just leaving behind friends and special memories), it was freeing to be done with the whole selling process (not to mention being able to pay off our largest debts with the profit).

The end of the week featured the Night of the Great Pumpkin in Beatrice. It was most of the downtown businesses handing out candy. It was good practice for Halloween for these two.

Successful haul.

The kids even participated in a costume contest. We didn’t win anything but they sure were cute.

Sonic the Hedgehog
The cutest tiny Ms. Rachel in my opinion.

That weekend, the boys went on their first camping trip for Scouts at Indian Cave State Park. It rained and was cold all weekend, but they toughed it out and had fun.

They had to wear beanie hats to bed and thermals underneath their uniforms. Talk about roughing it!
Despite the poopy weather, these two enjoyed themselves while Baby Girl and I stayed home.

We kept the busy weekend going and also attended Trunk or Treat at our local church.

Once again, it was very chilly but that didn’t stop us.
Such a cute frame!
No Ms. Rachel this time, but she rocked a very familiar dinosaur beanie.

The last week of October was a short one at school. Report cards came home and Little Man is doing well. He has some reading things to work on, but he seems to be on track. We were finally contacted by the school’s speech therapist, so hopefully soon, he’ll be back to speech twice a week to work on more sound pronunciation. I’m glad he’ll have it through school instead of having to work out how to get him to/from a private office.

We wrapped up the month with Trunk or Treating on Main Street of the town next to us, pumpkin carving, and one more round of trick or treating in town.

Pumpkin carving.
Little Man and Mommy’s pumpkins.
Daddy and Baby Girl’s pumpkin
Baby Girl was not about this pumpkin seat.
Different porch, new sibling, same yearly photo.
Mario
Ms. Rachel
Farmer’s Co-op trunk
Trick or treating at Grammy’s

November starts off hot with what will hopefully be a successful Home Depot workshop, followed by the chaos that starts the end of the year wind down.

We’ll have Baby Girl’s 6 month check-up. Hopefully we’ll hit all the milestones and get the green light for starting on real food.

She’s got this sitting up thing down.

Scouts should be calmer now that popcorn sales are over and the Mister won’t be attending his disc golf tournament in Texas this year (despite me telling him he should go). So we’ll have Thanksgiving and hopefully we can start nailing down our budget so we can really hunt for our next home.

I for one am looking forward to less running around. I feel like since we got to Nebraska, we’ve been going full tilt and the holidays are right around the corner. We’ll see if we can pump the brakes a bit. Wish me luck.

Until then,

September 2025

One month closer to the end of the year.

September has been hectic, long, and a bit overwhelming.

The 1st marked another heavenly birthday for our Audie boy.

We went to our usual workshops, with Home Depot running out of their monthly kit. We’ll know to go earlier next month because Little Man was really looking forward to the crop duster plane. Luckily, I found one in eBay so he still gets his pin and can do his project…just not for free.

He did get to spend some time with Aunt Lindsey and helped her pick some veggies from her garden, so not a wasted trip to town.

We received Little Man’s school photos back and wow, does he look grown up!

Kindergarten school photo

He also started Cub Scouts in earnest and has spent almost every weekend doing popcorn sales (and killing it!). Next month will bring his first camp out and Cub Scout Day of Awesomeness.

He was also invited to his first classmate birthday party at a recreational area nearby. He was the only classmate to come (which the birthday girl didn’t seem to mind), but despite that, it was a great afternoon.

The next week had a Grandparent’s Day lunch at school so Nana and Grandad got to eat with Little Man. He was so excited.

Baby Girl had her 4 month check up/vaccines. She is now in the 71st percentile weighing 15 lbs 5.6oz and measuring 25inches long. She is growing so fast and her personality is really starting to shine through.

She has discovered her toes.
She is a happy girl, especially in the mornings and she loves to babble

She is slowly learning to control her hands and is working on her gnawing (those gums are rock hard and I’m positive we’ll have teeth pop through soon).

Unfortunately, Gramps hadn’t been doing well with his cancer treatments and was very weak, so it was time to go to Good Samaritan for some assistance. We visited when we could (we had a whole slew of car troubles with the Dart – 2 new tires in one week and the blower motor has crapped out). He got a real kick out of the scout uniform.

Since Grammys wasn’t used to spending her evenings alone, mom and I went with her to see The Odd Couple play. It was a nice excuse to put on real clothes and get out of the house without kids for an evening.

Sadly, my wonderful Gramps passed away less than a week later. It was a hard blow for the family. I could write a whole post about him and maybe still will, but it’s too much to dwell on right now.

He was given his military honors and had his drumsticks displayed.

Despite the sorrow and heaviness mid-month, we did have a few uplifting moments in the latter weeks.

We accepted an offer on our house in Clarksville. The appraisal and inspections just finished up and we made all the adjustments we needed to, so now we are just waiting to close on October 22. We are ready to be done with that particular chapter for sure.

A new furry friend showed up at mom and dad’s and we’ve been trying hard to keep him safely near the house.

Meet Kirby.

He’s a sweet young boy who has settled on the deck nicely. Dad says he’s not coming inside but I think if mom has anything to say about it, he’ll be vetted/neutered and indoors by the time it gets cold.

Little Man had parent teacher conferences (he’s doing great at school and seems to be thriving), so he had a couple of weekdays off. We took the opportunity to go to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha when it wasn’t so crowded.

Touch tank at the aquarium – so brave!
Waterfall photo in the jungle with daddy.
Baby Girl LOVED the aquarium, especially the jellies.
I couldn’t believe it. He actually wanted to hold her while he took over her stroller.

We capped off the weekend/month with a fall festival. There was a car show, vendors, and a chili cook-off. Too bad the fall weather hadn’t started yet – it was a little hot.

September 30 brought an official end of the Mister’s military career. As of October 1st, he is retired from service and will get to start civilian life for the first time in over 21 years. So new retired IDs will be acquired.

While September felt chaotic and heavy, I am hopeful for a lighter, less hectic October.

But who am I kidding?

We do have quite a few things going on in the next month. While we missed out on our usual September activities (Highland Games and Trail of Tears PowWow) and won’t be able to attend Cheekwood’s Dia de Los Muertos festival, we will have Little Man’s first real field trip (he gets to ride the bus and everything) to Roca Scary Farm (usually Roca Berry Farm, but it’s the Halloween season). The Mister, Baby Girl, and I will all get to go with him (though we are driving up ourselves) so I’m excited for that.

Then it’s homecoming week. Hopefully I can get some school spirit shirts before he needs them. They’re also doing an Adam Sandler day and I’m cracking up thinking about what that will be.

Little Man also wraps up popcorn sales, gets to attend Cub Scout Day of Awesomeness, and gets to go camping at Indian Cave State Park in October. He’s a busy little dude.

We close on our house October 22, Halloween is a day off of school and a Friday so we’ll actually get to go door to door trick or treating (boy do I need to get on it for costume ideas).

Whew. It’s going to be another month for the books.

Until then,