Happy Sunday, my darlings! I understand the day is almost over, but since I didn’t post an update last week, there was too much to share to skip it this week. So what has been keeping us busy lately?

Football season has officially started, and this year we have new, much closer season tickets to the Wisconsin Badgers. We attended yesterday’s game and watched the Badgers trounce Tennessee Tech 48 to 0. I hope they can keep up that effort once they start playing conference games.

Connor has had two cross-country meets so far. At his first meet, he sprained his ankle and could not finish the course. He wasn’t able to practice at all last week but still managed to run in yesterday’s meet. His time was awful, but I’m proud of him for going out there and finishing. Now that he knows his ankle is better, he can get back to practicing and showing his coaches just what he can accomplish.

Last weekend, Jim and I skipped the opening Badger game to spend the day in Milwaukee with friends at the Harley-Davidson 110th anniversary celebration. It was an absolute blast. There is nothing more awe-inspiring than hundreds upon thousands of bikes all in one area. The crowds and people-watching are always fun too. Harley people may look intimidating and scary, but they really are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. The weather was wonderful, and the friends who went with us are always great company. It was a perfect way to spend the day.

I don’t know about your area, but there is some sort of cold that is making the rounds that completely kicked my butt two weeks ago. I blame Connor, as he was the first one to bring it into the house. I got it and proceeded to inadvertently share it with my coworkers. I know there are two days that are complete blurs as I spent a lot of time sleeping and coughing. I still have some congestion. Thankfully, it seems to have stopped with me as both Holly and Jim have managed to stay healthy.

Speaking of Jim, he is back to traveling to California every week. He’ll be on a Sunday to Thursday routine through all of September and October. Hopefully, this is the end of that project, and he can go back to a much more normal and stable routine that keeps him home once it is all over. We are also hoping that his managers don’t find him another project that involves lots of travel any time soon.

Now that it is September, the kids have finally started school. Both are in new schools this year. The school district has an intermediate school for fourth through sixth grade, so Holly is attending the intermediate school this year for fourth grade. Connor made the switch to the high school as he experiences life as a freshman. Both of the kids seem very determined and focused this year, recognizing the need for good time management and staying on task. They both had minimal homework last week, and we also had a week break from dance classes. This week will be the big test with a full school schedule, dance classes, a cross-country meet, marching band practice, and a football game halftime performance.

To make things even more interesting, I couldn’t let Connor have the only bum ankle in the family. Yesterday, as we were leaving Connor’s meet, my foot found a rut, and my ankle went one way while my body went another. I heard a pop, went down, and knew there was going to be a trip to urgent care this weekend. I’m now sitting in an air cast with my crutches propped up beside the bed as I let my sprained ankle rest and recover as much as possible. I’ll be working from home for the next few days, but I’m hoping for a speedy recovery. There is just too much on our plate for me to be using crutches for a long time.

Books reviewed this week:

• The Book of Someday by Dianne Dixon
• The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
• Goat Mountain by David Vann
• Moonrise by Cassandra King
• More Than This by Patrick Ness
• My Notorious Life by Kate Manning
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
• The Widows of Braxton County by Jess McConkey

That’s all the news from the Shannon house. Life is hectic, as usual, but there is a schedule to it that makes everything much easier to handle. I hope everyone had a wonderful week and even better Sunday. Happy reading!