Halloween

Lauren and Jason had another great Halloween this year. Lauren was a flower child and Jason was a knight, with a K. Everyone that asked Jason what he was going to be for Halloween kept asking him what kind of night he was going to be so he started answering that he was going to be a knight with a K. The kids did their own trick-or-treating this year. John and I did not know what to do with ourselves. Due to the location of our house (back house) we don't have trick-or-treators. We went out to dinner and took a quick trip to Home Depot to buy a new medicine cabinet for our bathroom. The old one was grossing me out - rust and all - and I could not put my toothbrush in there one more day. Well as most quick tasks go, it turned into a big task, and will have to be finished tomorrow. I measured very carefully, and assumed that most medicine cabinets come in a standard size. So they do, and we bought the one to fit our space, and the space was too big. Now we have to anchor it with screws, but the new cabinet does not have screw holes. OK go get the drill and make holes. Well, three holes into the four hole project, the batteries died. Charge the batteries blah blah blah . .. No more rust and my toothbrush is happy! The screws jutting out into the cabinet look a little dangerous but they will be dealt with tomorrow - or the next day. But back to Halloween, the kids got lots of candy and had a fun time terrorizing the neighborhood. Jason has passed out on my bed. Big day. As for John and I, we have survived one more Halloween as teachers. His students were a little nuts today, as were mine. I still get to dress up and went as a Starbucks Barista with the other 5th grade teachers. Thank you to Filomena who has two lovely daughters (who were in John's PE class at Dana years ago) that worked at Starbucks before starting their own teaching careers, and let us borrow their aprons and hats.

I hope that you all had a great Halloween this year and that your little goblins were not too spooky!

Family Movie Night

Saturday night was one of those rare times that we had time to ourselves, just the Gottschalk clan. Everyone was home, no extra kids, no sleepovers, no plans. We decided to have Family Movie Night. These nights have gotten more and more rare, especially since our video store closed down and the closest one is clear across the city. Here I was waiting to see what "family" flick we would end up with. John was voting for the latest installment of the Indiana Jones franchise, but Lauren was quick to point out that we all fell asleep during the last Family Movie Night that involved Indie. Lauren's pick wasn't out on video yet, and Jason is not a real fan of movies, so he was not real picky. So now are you asking what classic, wholesome, family movie we ended up with? Sadly, it was What Happens in Vegas. Yes, our family has aged right out of the cute Disney version of Family Movie Night, right into the Ashton Kutcher, bathroom humor version of Family Movie Night. When did that happen? Where are the little cuties that wanted to watch The Rugrat's Movie every day? My question was quickly answered when the kids asked if the next movie we watch together could be "Ralphie," which is what we call "A Christmas Story." I guess they are still in there.

Lauren had a week off from soccer this week, and Jason's team chalked another one up in the "L" column this week. They held it together really well for the first 2 quarters, but ended by giving up 3 goals in the last half. I felt bad for the kids as they were playing in the heat of the day and it was in the upper 80's. It kind of wore them down.

A Busy Weekend

As I got up to go for my run this morning, I wondered where the weekend went. Then I remembered all the fun things we did and the great friends and family we got to spend time with and it all fell into place. Soccer first - Lauren's team played their hearts out and lost. Lauren got to play the whole game again, which I always enjoy. Jason's team also lost, but Jason scored a beautiful goal!!!!! Grandma and Grandpa Gottschalk were in town for their own busy day in the city but got to stop by the games to watch the kids play. We followed that up with lunch at Lazy Dog.

Lauren had a friend spend the night Saturday night so we were all a little short on sleep by the end of the weekend. They seemed to have a fun time, taking advantage of the warm weather and hanging out outside most of the time.

I had progress reports due today so I got to spend most of Sunday assessing and recording half a trimester's worth of work. I always promise to keep up better on that, but it is like saying I will do better eating less chocolate. Oh well. I hope you all had a fun, friend-filled weekend.

The Weekend in Sports

What a weekend for sports! Both kids had soccer games. Lauren's team played very well again. They came out strong, scoring right away. Once again, the other team came back and tied the game by the end of the first quarter. By the end of the game they were down 4-2. Their record just does not reflect how hard they have been playing. Jason's team tied this week. Once again, I was at Lauren's game and John was at Jason's game, so I didn't get the details. I do know that they boys had to play the whole game because they had a couple boys out so they were pretty tired by the end. Jason was not too tired to go play at a friend's house after, though. That saved him from having to go sit through Lauren's swim meet.

Speaking of swim meets. . . Lauren also swam on Saturday and Sunday. She did very well in all of her races. Due to just aging up, and never swimming short course before, she was entered in each race with "no time." She did so well in her 100 breaststroke that she won her heat. She is very close to her red time in that event. Her 50 and 100 free were both strong and she looked so good! Some of those swimmer genes must have gotten passed on to her. Unfortunately, I confused her with the 100 back and gave her wrong information that got her disqualified. I told her she could take too many strokes in the flip turn so the nice lady in the white shirt visited her lane at the end of the race. Now we will know for next time. The only other meet this year is in November so we will see how she does then.

John refereed a soccer game as he does every week. He refs the U10 boys games and really seems to enjoy it. I think he would really like to get into refereeing other sports, like water polo, as well. He seems to be good at reffing the soccer, at least. I often have people come up and tell me that he was the ref for their child's game and that he did a good job. It keeps him out of trouble.

Gottschalk Family

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Apple Picking Time

We took a quick trip out to a little town called Julian, near San Diego, yesterday to check out the apple festival. Though the festival was a bit of a disappointment, we made our own fun. We had a great tri-tip sandwich for lunch, and went apple picking. I really think that John and the kids ate more apples than ended up in the bag. Now we are all set to make applesauce. After picking some apples we went into the town to get one of their famed apple pies. Well, we ended up with two, because who can agree upon just one flavor. So we went with the apple crumb and a cherry apple crumb.

Soccer update -

Lauren's team tied again 1-1. We were so proud of Lauren and her assist on the one goal. She played her heart out! It is amazing when you consider how far the kids have come with their sports. Next weekend will feature soccer and a swim meet for Lauren. Jason did not play on Saturday because the head cold he had earlier in the week has now settled in his lungs. He is feeling better, but can't quite run yet. Hopefully next week.

Haircuts

Jason and I got haircuts yesterday and we both went for drastic changes. Jason went back to spikes, and I went back to many layers. Jason looks great! He always likes to have spikey hair, but doesn't want to go through the actual process of making spikes. We will see how it works this time.

Deciding Who to Vote For

John's Dad sent a link the other day from ABC news to help you see which candidate you relate to. We tried it out with no surprises. I have been very open about my support for Obama and when I did this little "test" I related to Obama on all except one comment. Give it a try and, if you are comfortable doing so, let me know how it came out.

I will be watching at least part of the debate tonight - as much as I can handle before my blood boils and I have to step away. I do not have high expectations for them revealing anything new or clarifying anything. I just want to see how they handle themselves.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/MatchoMatic/fullpage?id=5542139