Milestones

We've been having some milestones occur at the Horn house lately:

• Nathan turned 5. Huge milestone and it will have it's own post in the very near future.
• Ashley is working on her first ever research project. It is on the koala bear.
• Joe led his first marriage retreat a few weeks ago. It was really great (and I'm not biased :) ). I'm sure it will be the first of many.
• I have my first speaking engagement for a ladies retreat at our church next week. I am doing a workshop on maintaining consistent peace in parenting. I love speaking...one of my favorite ministry things to do so I'm really looking forward to next week.
• John finished his AWANA book in record time this year. He's now on review and getting ready to start the extra credit.
• John also got his first ever letter in the mail threatening to send a money dispute to a collection agency. How much did he owe to the library? $2.85 How late was the book? 3 weeks Was it at our house? No. Where was the book? On the shelf at the library. I'll be making my first ever phone call to the management to complain. This is the third time in as many months that there have been books that are "late" that we returned and were sitting on their shelves. I'm not a complainer, but there is definitely something wrong with their system. And I'm a little concerned if they are spending my tax money to send a six year old's name to a collection agency over $2.85 for a book that wasn't even a month late.
• Sara is approaching the point in math where I can't review her problems in my head.
• I started filling out my 2011 calendar yesterday. Our calendar has gotten a little insane this year and our kids aren't even involved in that much stuff. It took Joe & I an hour the other day to simply figure out the next two months. And January isn't looking much better...the good thing? We (including the kids) enjoy almost everything that is on the calendar.
• Oh, and the best one of all...for the first time I got summoned for jury duty. It's the week of Thanksgiving. I guess it will probably give me something to be thankful for. Honestly, I've never done it before so I find it all very intriguing.

Halloween 2010

I think Halloween is proof that we live in an AWESOME country. Where else in the world can you dress up in costume and travel from house to house to get free candy? I know many Christians oppose Halloween, but I actually really enjoy it. (Don't misunderstand. I am not into the "dark side" of Halloween). In our small town it gives us an opportunity to mingle with all the neighbors. I'm not sure how many people we "ran into" trick or treating last night. The other family we were with probably got tired of us straggling at houses so we could chat it up. I know my children were getting somewhat frustrated. I felt as if they were saying at the end of the night "Focus, parents, focus! Don't forget what this night is all about. Free Candy!"

So here is who we traveled with last night... a ninja, a cowboy/ninja master/Darth Vader (he couldn't decide what he wanted to be), a cowgirl, and Jane Jetson. It was a bittersweet night. This was the last year for Sara to go trick or treating. It's our rule that 4th grade is the final "free candy" grade. (One of my pet peeves is when children who can get a job are trying to get free candy.) Don't worry about her...all our candy goes into one big pot and you can be assured that she will share in the consumption next year.