October 20-29, 2022

October is always my favorite month of the year. The foliage, the cooler weather, settling into a routine. 

I finished a puzzle.

It was Hocus Pocus night for Beth and Ally. They always watch it around Halloween and this year it was a double feature.

Daisy is never far away.



Beth brought photo props!

And theme candy.



A huge landmark for us is that we finally after 10 years threw away the purple water bottles. We have been using these for Ally at night for 10 years! We have new purple ones now and who knows if they will last the next 10 years.

Mondays morning outfit. No crutches!

Halloween costumes for Cloey and Daisy. Daisy was not a fan. 

But Cloey is always a good sport.

Evening homework. 

Senior Night game day attire!

Before school 



Weekend morning cuddles with Daisy.

October 7-19, 2022

It’s been a typical few weeks for us.

School, volleyball repeat. I took Cloey to pick up Ally after school and practice one day. 

Before school look.

We decided not to try and do a forced family fun time at a pumpkin patch or apple orchard this year. Instead we went to our local garden center after Ally got her haircut on Saturday.

She humored us with selfies.

But it was a delight to Becky and I to watch Ally carefully select pumpkins and gourds. 

Then we stopped at Walgreens for some prescriptions and new mascara.

Her pumpkin towers! 

Sunday Becky took Cloey for a long walk and stopped for a lobster sandwich on the way home.

Lots of time watching TV on the couch with pets. Ally and I are watching Law and Order SVU now. It’s a little too violent for Becky.

Becky in baby blue.

At night after a volleyball game. Her team lost a game. It was rough. 



Breakfast in bed every morning with Cloey and Daisy.

Her school’s food service put on a rainbow fruit display/buffet for lunch to celebrate National Coming Out Day. It was Ally’s favorite lunch so far. She said the fruit was so delicious.

Another before school look.

Friday night was nails. 

The Autumn foliage colors are spectacular on the drive to Ally’s school. 



Before school looks

You know she’s happy with it when she posts a rare selfie to Instagram.

But then I got a text half way through volleyball practice to come pick her up. She twisted her ankle. It’s a pretty bad sprain. 

Ally is on crutches for a few days.


And lots of rest. 

We had Parent Teacher conferences on October 11. We had the chance to meet with each of Ally’s 6 teachers one on one. Ally is really doing well at school. She tries hard, participates, works well with others. I was struck recently that how Ally is in High School is pretty much how I thought she would be when she was little. It’s amazing how the right academic environment has really allowed her to be her self in many ways.

Then this week mid term grades came out. Ally asked me on Tuesday if I had seen the report. I told her not yet, it’s available to students before parents. And I asked her if there was anything I should know…she said no. Things were good.

Then yesterday we saw the report. Truly impressive:

Spanish A+

Science A+

World Civ A

Math A-

Guitar A-

English B+

We are extremely proud of Ally. But more than proud is happy for her success. And so grateful that she is able to do well and have success academically.

Ally is still working hard on her mental and physical health and we are doing our best to support her. She’s trying to make new friends and find her place socially. Being a teenager is hard. But she is doing it. 

And we love her so much.

Here she is doing homework she did all the work she missed during the day.

September 27-October 6, 2022

The Jewish Holidays of Rosh Hoshana and Yom Kippur mean short weeks at school for Ally, only 4 days and then this weekend she has a 4 day weekend for Indigenous People’s Day and parent teacher conferences. 

Sometimes I text Ally pictures of her pets. This week Daisy posed.

Sunset on the drive back to school to pick her up after a game. Her team is still undefeated.

Before school picture.

After school opening a really generous back to school gift from Great Aung Martha and Uncle Phil.

Cloey had a milk goatee and she could not figure out how to get it off. Her tongue only goes up not down. She was a bad dog and drank up the leftover milk from Ally’s cereal bowl. But she looked so ridiculous we couldn’t be mad.

Saturday the whole 10th grade class went on to a local indoor Amusement/Fun park, bowling, laser tag and some arcade tag. Ally is on the right watching the air hockey game. This picture was courtesy of the school social media.

Sunday on our way to Guatemala Girls. She’s holding a very pretty red fall leaf.

Gabi, Ally & Roxie. We’ve been meeting up at a local mall, the girls shop and the moms lunch. It’s hard to schedule monthly get togethers any more but it’s still so nice to see each other when we can. 

Ally was in such a good mood she posed again!

Walking to class on Monday morning.

Cloey.

Lazy day off from school morning snuggled with pets watching tv in bed.

Cloey is so needy lately. She really misses Becky and Ally while they are at school. This is from today. Ally had a late start to school and was about to do a Telehealth appointment in her room and Cloey snuggled right in. 

Fall 2022. This really captures Ally to me. Her smile/smirk, cropped sweater from Flagstaff, Nike Blazers on her feet, loose fit jeans (took a while to find some that weren’t too big and we had to size down to a 000 in some), and loose wavy hair.  It is a gorgeous day here today and she was looking forward to getting to school.