What's Up Wednesday: October 2024

October has gone so quickly! I can't believe we're in the last few days of the month. Wasn't it just September?!?!?

I really do love answering the What's Up Wednesday questions every month. I like how they help me reflect on the past month and I love having a monthly record of what we've been up to. I go back and re-read these posts often. The questions come from Shay at Mix and Match Mama and Sheaffer at Sheaffer Told Me Too.

image from here

 

What we're eating this week... Earlier this month we celebrated Thanksgiving with our traditional shrimp dinner and fancy potatoes. It was really good!

Other than that, we've been eating a lot of orange soups! The carrot dill soup on the left looks a little grey because I also used purple carrots in it. And we've had the curried butternut squash soup twice. It's so good!!!

What I'm reminiscing about... Remember two and a half years ago when my parents were our neighbours? Well, I've been reminiscing about that lately :) That was so fun, as normally they live three provinces away from us.

What I'm loving... I am loving Sam and his friends. I love that Sam can independently bike with his friends all over the city and that they still hang out on their elementary school playground, even though they're in Grade 10. When we experienced the Northern Lights a couple of weeks ago, one of Sam's friends' mom took the picture of them in the pyramid on the school playground and shared it with me. Sam is at the top and I just love this photo.

What we've been up to... There was a lot going on in October. Besides the regular dance, school, work, church routine, we also...

...enjoyed the Northern Lights...

 

...had a quick weekend away to the States to watch Willem play in a disc golf tournament...

...watched Rachel for a week during parent viewing at dance...

...went to one of Rachel's three dance performances happening this fall...

 

...and Rachel and her bestie went on a dance weekend away with her bestie's mom. Dave, Sam, and I stayed home and participated in a readathon instead!

What I'm dreading... The "check engine" light went on in our car last night and Dave is calling our mechanic today. I'm dreading what they're going to tell us...

What I'm working on... I'm working on maintaining my sanity while raising teenagers. If you've raised (or are currently raising) teenagers, you may know what I'm talking about :) I'm also working on yard work. It's time to get the yard in shape for winter.

What I'm excited about... As you may have guessed from "what I'm reminiscing about" above, my parents are our neighbours again for the next little while!!! I'm sooooo excited about it!!! It's such a treat to have them living just a few doors down from us!!!

 

What I'm watching/reading... I've been watching our glorious fall colours! They're pretty incredible this year.

 

I've also been watching Sam at soccer and Rachel at dance. I do love watching my kids do their thing.

 

As for reading, I read The Emotional Lives of Teenagers and really enjoyed it. I am currently reading Demon Copperhead. 

What I'm listening to... I'm listening to the leaves rustle as I walk through them to get to work.

What I'm wearing... When we were in the US, we went to Target and I bought the slippers pictured below. I really wish I had bought a couple more pairs because I LOVE them!

What I'm doing this weekend... I think we're hosting my and Dave's parents for a pizza night and other that that, I don't know. Oh, we'll probably be doing a lot of raking as the city is picking up our leaves sometime next week...

What I'm looking forward to next month... I'm looking forward to lots of quality visiting time with my parents! I'm sooooo excited to have them much closer to us. I'm also looking forward to Rachel's next dance performance, and hopefully enjoying some cozy, quieter moments before the insanity that is December hits.

I thought this year with having teenagers, Halloween would be less of a big deal but instead it feels like they're wanting to do all the traditional Halloween things, possibly for the last time. So tonight we're finishing off Rachel's costume and carving pumpkins. Tomorrow night, we're handing out candy while the kids are off trick-or-treating with their friends. I'm going to savour every moment of it because, as I said above, it feels like possibly the last year we'll be doing all this. So I'm off to enjoy.

 

Happy Wednesday everyone!