October came in with cooler temperatures and stronger winds. Jada had her annual political action committee beach retreat in Seaside, OR. She had just come down with a bad cold. She went anyway, and she was miserable all weekend. We decided not to go out and stay with her this year out on the coast because of the way the girls behaved the last time we were in a hotel. The weather was expected to be miserable anyway. Instead, I picked the girls up from school on Friday, the 3rd, and brought them home. Ellen lost a tooth while eating her snack. She bit into her snack bar, and it came out. She wrote a note to the tooth fairy, and she placed it next to her bed.
I took Ellen to her soccer game on the 4th. We got lucky, and the rain and wind that was supposed to come in held off. We had sprinkles in the morning and again after her game, but none during, which was nice. It was still pretty cool out, though. The rest of the afternoon, I spent tearing out our master closet. We had purchased a new closet last month (you may remember me talking about ordering a new one), and the parts were ready to install. It is amazing how much stuff is stored in that closet. There was so much stuff packed into our room that I had to sleep on the couch that night. I got far enough, though, that when Jada came home on Sunday, there wasn't that much left to do but hang the shelves and rails. Jada came home early on Sunday morning, but she was too ill to do much. She still helped re-load the closet enough to use our bed that night.
The week brought the usual array of soccer games for Phoebe, and practice for Ellen. Ellen has lost a lot of practices this month because of poor behavior. We feel bad for her coach since he can't work with her on the skills she needs to develop, but she needs to understand that she can't yell, scream, and lie and get to do the things that she wants. With darkness coming ever sooner, her practices have at least been pulled in so they aren't practicing in complete dark. Phoebe's games, though, are ending in almost total darkness. It's getting very chilly at them too. Papa was able to make it out to one of the games that week too.
By Thursday, I had developed the same cold that Jada had, and it was strong. It was bad enough that I didn't feel well enough to go to work on Friday. It was a bad cough, lots of congestion, sneezing, chills, headaches, and drowsiness for me. I still had to attend a couple meetings, but I tried to lie down as much as possible. I don't remember much else about that day. Saturday, I only remember having to sit out in the 48 degree morning watching Ellen's soccer game, and getting the email that our quad had arrived in Portland finally after about 5 months of waiting. We went to see the concert of the girls' music teacher at the McMenamins Greenway Pub for the Pub's anniversary. Their children's music configuration is known as Uncle B and Auntie E and J-Dog (which he said is available from i-Tunes searching for "Uncle B"). It was really fun to see them in person, and everything was going fine. There was only about 15 minutes left in his time there, but that's when Ellen popped her balloon wings for the second time. She just fell apart, so we had to leave. I spent some time napping after that. Sunday was a rest day for us. The girls did piano or read or played. I napped a bit on the couch. I think we may have gone out for some errands at some point, but I don't really remember any more.
The week of the 13th was the last of Phoebe's soccer games, and not much too soon. The games were routinely finishing up after night fall. The girls started up chess club after school. Jada had a lot of stuff going on that week too. Wednesday afternoon, I came home from work to meet up with the guy who has been helping get our Santana quadcycle taken care of to get it measured up and fitted as well as to educate me on how to take it apart and put it back together again. We spent all afternoon in the garage. Lucky for us, the weather was ok. Jada came home long enough between school and meetings to get her cockpit set up to fit her. Then we took a short break so I could pick up the girls from chess club and bring them home for their fitting. Due to the sizes and needs for Jada's reach, we ended up going with Phoebe behind me then Ellen, and Jada. Man, that bike is pretty long, but shorter than our former rig. It's 12.5 feet from the front of the front wheel to the back of the back wheel. It's steel, and pretty heavy, but it rolls a lot easier than what I was used to. The steering was a bit sluggish and felt really weird. Especially when I was the only one riding it to test my fit. It reminded me of one of my favorite lines from Restaurant at the End of the Universe when Ford Prefect and Zaphod Beeblebrox were talking about one of the ships in the car park, "Looks like a fish. Moves like a fish. Steers like a cow." It's purple, and it breaks down into 4 sections for ease of packing. I'm trying to work out how to use my current tandem rack to haul it. Hopefully I'll have the answer before I post this. I already know I'll need to assemble as a triple to carry it up top, but the sections break down into easily manageable parts. We still have a couple things that didn't arrive. The rack is a special one made for the additional width of the rear triangle of the quads, and the Shimano Flight Deck computer which lets me know what gears I'm in since I can't see them at all along with speed, distance, and the like. We'll get those installed when they come in.
Thursday, Ellen had to go meet with with the girl she's going to be doing her piano ensemble piece with to play their duet together to see how it goes. They'll probably have to do it again at some point. I didn't have to try to get Ellen to her soccer practice that night because of some horrible behavior from her in the morning when we asked her to do her piano. She yelled that she hated me, and then she lied about saying it when everyone heard her. Not one of our best mornings. She doesn't even watch TV! It's those darn books, I tells ya. Puttin' ideas in her head.
Friday night after we put the girls to bed...early, but not without a last tantrum from Ellen. She was just desperate for a fight so when I wouldn't engage her in something that she had been arguing with Jada about, she started going on about this tooth of hers that was loose and just wouldn't come out. She couldn't or wouldn't calm herself down, so I started flossing her teeth anyway. In the heat of her rage, she moved her head into my knuckle while I was flossing her molars, and the tooth got knocked out. She swallowed it. We didn't let her send a note to the tooth fairy that night, though. We made her go to bed, and Jada got to go off to a party. Saturday morning of the 18th, we had Phoebe's final soccer jamboree where all the teams go and play at a big soccer field. It wasn't set up with 5 and 6 year olds in mind, however. Not only was a cold (low 50's), but each team had a 30 minute wait between each of the 3 games. Luckily, Phoebe kept herself entertained playing with other kids from her school, and some games that one of the other parents brought. Phoebe did pretty well. In the last game she had a really good run up the field with the ball, but she couldn't quite turn to get to the goal. When she actually pays attention to what's going on, she does really well. During that game, Jada had to run Ellen and another of her teammates off to another park 10 minutes away for their game, and then they came back to pick us up after the jamboree. Her friend's mom used to live in Champaign, so we talked about that for a while. After a short, and much needed nap for everyone but Ellen who quietly read, we hit the errands. Phoebe and I hit the bike shops trying to find some things that we'd need for the new bike - toe clips, bottle cages (looking for the complimentary color of orange), bells, shorts and gloves for Phoebe. We went to 2 bike shops trying to get everything, but there are still a couple things I need to get as in I still need bottle cages since the orange I found isn't the orange Jada wanted, and for some reason, most of the bells and horns are not made to fit handle bars on grown-up bikes so I'm still looking for that, and I need a rear-view mirror and a frame pump. (That was quite a run-on sentence). Meanwhile, Jada went to Target to try to find a new toaster to replace the one that just stopped working this week. I mean, I toasted some bread, and then she went to toast some bread, and it didn't work for her. Then she went to pick up Jeannie for dinner at our house. The girls both played their piano pieces for Gramma.
Sunday the 19th, we went to PetSmart (where we've had to go every weekend since we got our kittens, who are both doing well, by the way) to look for some pet furniture to give them something else to climb other than our book shelves, piano, chairs, and fireplace. They didn't have one we liked, but we did pick up a new litter box to replace the stained and stinky one we'd had since Savannah was a kitten. Speaking of the kittens, Flower's cold seems to have gone away, but Jada noticed something leaking out of her eye Sunday night again. Anyhoo, back to Sunday. We also went to REI, where I bought another bell that did end up fitting everyone's bar but mine, but it was black, so the girls weren't interested. We also got Phoebe some warm cycling pants. In the afternoon, it was time to roll the bike out for its maiden voyage. It was cool, but sunny. A perfect fall afternoon with full colors on display. Phoebe started out yelling about how scared she was for the first half mile, but was fine after that. I dare say she enjoyed herself. We went for a ride through the neighborhood that feeds the girls' school since it's not nearly as hilly as ours to get a feel for cornering and balance on the bike on low traffic streets. We saw several families that we knew including Ellen's Godparents. We stopped and chatted with several, and caught the attention of still more. One of our friends thought to take some pictures of us along with a short video so now I can post a picture of something other than just the bike. We were out for a couple of hours, but much of that was spent chatting. We did about 8.6 miles total (I love www.mapmyride.com) with all the weaving we did back and forth through the neighborhoods. Coincidentally, this is about the same distance that Jada did on her first ride on a bicycle in traffic. We re-arranged the garage to fit the bike in along with the van which had been parked on the driveway since Wednesday while the quad took up it's side of the garage. It's cleaner now. I'll have to see how it works out, but I think it'll work ok. We went out to eat after that and to the book store. The girls were very well behaved during that whole time, but as soon as I complemented them, they started to lose it again just before bed.
I know I talk about Ellen's rage a lot here, but Phoebe isn't a perfect little angel. She throws her fits too when she should be playing piano. But when they are both behaved, they are quite funny and fun to be around. Phoebe worked very hard to read through a book Saturday night, and Ellen was demonstrating some math skills she's learning. They are both strong in math. Hopefully we never run up against anyone who dissuades them from math and science because of their gender. Ellen was definitely a stronger reader at this time. Phoebe has been resistant to working on reading skills. She begins a reading group at school this week and that should get her moving. She definitely loves books, so we are not worried. Ellen started showing up in political ads this month for some measures introduced to hurt teachers (because they get paid too much, you know). We've seen her in both print and television ads. We think we have the TV ads that are out captured, but I think we may have missed one of the first ones while we were having trouble with our VCR (yes, we still use one).
Monday the 20th, the rain held off for us to have the parents vs kids soccer game with Phoebe's team. Jada and I didn't play this year, but Ellen took our place. She scored a couple goals for the parents team. Phoebe even got a goal for the kiddos. It was quite chilly out standing on the side lines, but I didn't want to run in my cycling shoes. Tuesday night was Ellen's end of the year soccer party which is odd because they gave up a perfectly good practice night for it. It was at Papa's Pizza and was supposed to start at 5:30pm, so of course it didn't start until 6pm. Jada hadn't fed the girls yet because we were just going to stay to watch the presentations, but the coach was nice and did Ellen first so we could run and get some real food. We heard her cackling during the presentation, and that's always a dead give away that she's tiptoeing on the edge of the abyss. Luckily we got some food into her soon enough. Thursday was Jada's conferences, so I had to stay home with the girls. All of her kids' parents showed up so she had a 12 hour day. I took the girls to the library for story time and New Seasons for lunch and groceries between phone meetings since I was still trying to get some work done. Plus Ellen had her last soccer practice at 5pm that night. Friday morning, we had conferences for both Ellen and Phoebe. We started with Ellen at 7:30am and Phoebe at 8:30am. We found out that the girls are pretty perfect at school for their teachers. No red flags, and both are progressing as expected.
Saturday the 25th, in addition to being my brother's birthday (Happy birthday, Allen), was the last day of soccer for the fall. We were blessed with another day without rain. It was a little cool, but sunny. Jada and Phoebe went canvassing against some ballot measures ahead of the election. Then after soccer, I took Phoebe home so she (meaning we) could nap, and Ellen and Jada went shopping for a Halloween dress. Ellen wants to go as her favorite American Girl (from the novels), Samantha. She just reads the books. We don't do the dolls as well. To end the night, we even got to read stories again for the first time in I don't know how long. It'll be nice having the evenings back again.
Sunday was a nice day, but really windy. The east winds blew in some warmer weather. We hit 70 today, and it may hang around for a couple days before the rain comes in time for Halloween. We had the usual arguments with piano practice this morning, but it did get done eventually. I made a run to the orchard to pick up some apples, and after lunch we went for our second ride on the quad. We still don't have the computer, so I used mapmyride.com to get the mileage when we got home. We ended up doing 20 miles through beautiful autumn leaves and clear skies. It was a cross-wind on the way back in to town, and we swung through some neighborhoods to see more people that we know from the girls' school. We ended the day with our first family story time in a long while. Tuesday was the start of basketball season. NOt just the NBA, but also our work league. In a departure from the last few years, we won. Wednesday, I was summoned to jury duty. I ended up being chosen, despite answering all the lawyer's questions as honestly as possible, for a criminal trial that is expected to go well into mid-November. I don't know what I'm going to do about work, but I'm guessing it'll translate to a bunch of late nights and weekends for the next few weeks. Thursday afternoon when I went back, I found out that there's still a chance I'll be kicked off since they were still interviewing the jury. As the lawyers find people they like better, the ones on the fence are let go. I don't think I'll be let go, though. I'm afraid I answered the questions too well. But in a way, I'm looking forward to the opportunity to be on a jury to participate in the process and see how it really works. I don't watch those court room TV shows, so this will be a fresh view at how the whole things work. I fully expect that in 2 years, I'll be back again. In the jury room where we all hang out all day, we've been talking a lot since there's not much else to do. Some people get called every 2 years. For some people, it's their first time. Everyone has been getting along, and someone even brought a bunch of sweets to share. Even though we're there to listen to the worst in people, the jurors shared experience bonding is showing that not everyone is morally bankrupt. The juror wrangler has been nice. She's kept things light considering the subject matter of the trial, and she answers all of our questions on how the process works.
Halloween: take 1...Thursday was the day for the library party (Phoebe) and school parties for both the girls. They both wore their costumes all day. The photos will tell the story! Ellen is an "American Girl" named Samantha, while Phoebe dolled herself up as "Minnie Mouse" again.
Halloween day, I'm back to the court house. Jada has an in-service day, so she'll be at school. Ellen will go with her to do some work around the classroom. Phoebe will get to spend the morning at her day care school, but their party isn't until the afternoon. She did end up getting to "trick-or-teat" which meant another load of candy we need to pawn off on somebody else. Phoebe was excited about the new book she received in exchange for her candy! In the afternoon all the girls went to visit Gramma and show off their costumes. Gram had just attended a party at her facility, but decided no on the face painting. When I returned from court, the girls had already eaten with Jada and Manghelli and were ready to head out the door to search the neighborhood for candy. We had a slow night even though the weather had cleared off a bit, so we still have a bunch of candy left over.
And that brings the month to a close as we sprint towards the end of the year now.
Journal entry: 11/1/2008