Last Sunday was Littlest’s eighth birthday. He asked for a Batman Beyond Lego cake design. I think my husband produced a beautifully designed cake that you can see in the pictures below. We gave him a Plains style Native American drum. He wanted the drum when he saw it in a rock shop at the base of Pike’s Peak. Somehow, we managed to purchase it and get it home without him knowing! We had deep-fried quesadillas for dinner. My husband and Oldest spent part of the afternoon taking the Nintendo Switch apart after some liquid was spilled in it. Thankfully, with just a bit of cleaning on the motherboard they were able to get it working again.

deep fried quesadillas
fixing the Switch

Our community celebrated Halloween a day early since some rough storms were expected on Halloween. I enjoy passing out candy and seeing all of the little children in their costumes. Some teenage boys came by in Care Bear costumes that I found amusing. I really wanted to ask if they had lost a bet or something. Instead, I just wished them a Happy Halloween. It was a lovely night except for the mosquitoes. Kinda strange for this time of year. Sparkles debated back and forth several times about going trick-or-treating. Eventually she chose to go.

candy debate and trade
I managed to properly froth milk in my cappuccino for the first time!

Shannon explored some of Frankfort’s history with his Leadership Frankfort Team this week. He got to go into the archives at the Kentucky Historical Society and see some of the items not on display. He saw the Kentucky State Constitution, Daniel Boone’s weapon, a dueling pistol that likely belonged to Aaron Burr (but no direct proof), original art of Paul Sawyer and a Death Quilt. The quilt had family names written on little coffins. When the person died it was removed and placed into the center of the quilt that was designed to look like a cemetery. Wicked cool in a really creepy way! He was also given a tour of downtown and the history of some of the buildings. Then they went on a tour of the Buffalo Trace distillery.

On Saturday, Shannon and I went for a walk downtown together. My IBS was not kind to me that day but I decided to push through and enjoy an outing with my husband. Sometimes I worry that I’ll become so anxious about it that I’ll imprison myself at home. The week had not been an easy one for me. Sparkles had a really rough therapy session this week and I have been her punching bag. We already know the therapist will revisit the same topic again this week. Anticipating the session has caused some anxiety for both of us and I think has contributed to my sleeplessness this week. My shoulders and neck just ache from the tension. Of course, all of this make my IBS worse and Sparkles ended up in a mild flare this week. It hasn’t been an easy week so I was determined not to let my IBS keep me from spending a few solo hours with my husband. Our walk downtown was nice. The weather was lovely and we got some lovely autumn photos of the area. We looked around in some of the shops and the book store and he shared some of the things he learned about the buildings downtown from his leadership tour. I took a long nap when we got home and then made pizza.

Today, was a quiet Sunday at home. The kids played outside and we grilled some steaks. I chatted with mom on the phone for a while. She was trying to figure out what to get the kids for Christmas. She wants to get the kids something they can remember her by and also remind them of the road-trip we took. I told her I would do some research and see what I could come up with. Something about her request feels odd to me.