(More than) Five on Friday (Nov. 3, 2017)

Since I'm covering more territory than the past week, I cannot condense events down to just 5. I have listed them in chronological order, not order of importance. ;)

1. The kids both participated in the annual PVCS Talent Show on October 21. Rory performed a monologue and Camden played/sang. Their prep and strategy for performing is completely opposite, which always cracks me up. Rory haphazardly practices and is full of excitement over being on stage. Camden obsessively practices and is a total bear with loads of performance anxiety. Adding to the angst is the fact that his 14-year old voice is changing almost daily and he suddenly could no longer hit the same notes so he and his teacher worked out alternate melodies. Oh, the joy of the teenage years.

2. A longtime dream came true October 24 when we attended a Crowder concert. He is my favorite, favorite, favorite and his live show was just amazing. Adding to the experience was the small venue and our 4th-row seats. Truly my favorite night of music ever. (Yes, we had two major date nights in one month - John Crist + Crowder in a 10-day span is memorable!)

3. The annual birthday trip with Becky was last week (she traveled to Nashville this time). Lots of laughing, eating, and coffee drinking occurred. A busier than necessary schedule as usual. Two days in Nashville. We visited 3 coffee shops, ate grilled cheese and BBQ nachos (not together), tried out the new cookie dough spot, and spent a fun time at a Nashville favorite McKay's used bookstore. A complete bummer was my mom coming down with vertigo, ending up in the ER and having to miss one of our days together.

(You have NO idea how many times we took this picture trying to get the right one.)

The No Baked shop was fun to try, but I'm not sure it's at the top of my list for treats. That Five Daughters Bakery donut a few pics up? Definitely!

4. If you are local, a tour of Olive and Sinclaire Chocolates (only available by reservation and on Saturdays) was awesome with lots of incredible information about the process and tasting along the way. They are 1 of 4 bean-to-bar chocolate shops in the U.S. I was completely convinced to blow an entire paycheck on expensive chocolate by the time we left. Brian is thankful I did not give in to that urge and only bought a $6.50 coffee mug and a solitary cinnamon/chili chocolate bar.

Hairnets required

5. Rory went to her first sleepover Friday (she hosted her first sleepover this summer) and came home sleepy but happy. Thank you, Anna, for such a fun time!

6. The Trunk-R-Treat our church hosted was an enormous success Sunday night. The actual holiday was uneventful. I tend to forget how big Halloween is for many families. For the umpteenth year in a row, we did not plan costumes. Rory threw up some pigtails and we added freckles to her face and called it good. I am finally accepting that Camden truly hates scary costumes. If at 14 he still refuses to answer the door on Halloween, it must be a real fear!

7. Camden has had double practices for the past 3 weeks (basketball and cross country). Thankfully, cross country ends today with the final district high school meet (he's still middle school but was chosen to participate). Because this is a high school met, he ran a 5k instead of the standard middle school 3k and finished with a time of 25:22 which was a personal best. He said it felt like the race would never end. Ha! I am really proud of the hard work both kids put into cross country, especially the last several weeks. They've been running 4-5 miles in practice 4 times a week (plus basketball practice for Camden).

8. Brian has been helping out a fellow teacher (off work because of surgery) for the past 3 weeks, which means 3 a.m. wake-up calls every day. He is certainly beginning to look as if he's been getting way too little sleep, but I'm hopeful we're about to turn a corner. He continues to be the most hardworking, patient, reliable, loyal man I know. Which is good, since I married him.

Weekend plans are a little light (for me anyway). Saturday plans include Brian and Camden helping a church friend move followed by a guitar lesson for Camden. Rory and I are holding down the fort managing the laundry and baking pumpkin bread. Sunday is very full with a service at the nursing home and budget meeting.

Hello, weekend!