Tricks, Treats, and more

 It's been a month of ups and downs...moments of challenge and times of fun.  Today had a little of both, which is appropriate since it's Halloween:)  Yesterday afternoon I was all geared up to take the boys to their lacrosse tournament today and we'd need to leave about 5:30 in the morning!!  But due to the hurricane flooding at the fields, it got canceled so I was looking forward to a real treat today...no VIPKID b/c I had expected to be out of town, no getting up at 5, no long day watching the boys (though overall I enjoy that...it's just a lot in one day), and the kids were all ready with their costumes, so Halloween here we come.  But Gray.  Gray was going to wear a pug mask and his beloved Patrick Mahomes sweatshirt, but this morning he decided he needed something more creative.  Since we have tons of paper bags from library book pickups, he settled on a homemade Groot costume.  Looked simple enough.  Long story short, after multiple series of him asking for my help, then being totally annoyed by me, we got it together, though I was still taping him together as his friends showed up to trick or treat.  He looked great, but he could barely see or move.  

We ran into him a little later and he looked like Groot had been in a fight.  He was using his head for a candy box.  Then by the end of the night he'd really come undone.  But he had the best time with his buddies and they all declared it the best Halloween ever.  

It was kind of a weird night b/c our neighborhood is usually packed and nearly everyone participates in handing out candy.  We always run out.  Not this night...it was kind of quiet on a lot of streets and we'd go blocks without anyone handing out candy.  At a lot of the houses, people put out candy on tables and often it was full-sized candy bars or ziplock bags of a handful of candy.  Some had creative devices to distribute the candy.

We have never gotten so much candy on any Halloween!  I guess people are feeling like they want to make up for all of the disappointments of 2020?!  The kids ended up with a ton of candy and we barely gave out half of our stash.  Joshua and a friend hung out in the yard and handed out for awhile but then Joshua packed it in to walk around with another friend.  I don't know what we will do with all this candy!  At the end of the night, the girls and Matt and I sat by the road and tried to get rid of some of it but most was gone by then.  

Before that, we met up with the Bakers and enjoyed walking around the other side of neighborhood with them.  We ran into lots of friends and enjoyed chatting and keeping each other company as the kids raked in the candy.

All in all, it was a good night and we get another treat...extra hour of sleep tonight!

Speaking of treats, I was so thankful to get a girls' weekend at the beach for my friend's 40th.  We had so much fun talking and laughing, dressing 80's and singing karoake, eating great food, playing "Truth or Dare" (really just having good conversation and sharing stories), and relaxing on the beach.  Ahhh.  There's not many better treats than that!!

As for tricks, Allie's still up to hers getting into stuff when no one's watching.  And Gray's still struggling to keep himself organized and to accept help.  It's been a tricky time to parent kids, having so much of a window into their daily lives and wanting to help them develop better skills but not having the time or knowhow to make that happen.  We've begun the 2nd quarter of school and I'm so determined to do things better, but I am not sure how.  We've had some weeks where it feels like everyone's getting kicked off their meetings, some of them seem to have just given up learning, and emotions are way too high.  Some days everyone needs my help and it's hard to get my own work done and it seems there aren't enough hours in the day.  But I know it would be like this if we were in school in person too, because I'd be gone all day, kids would have activities and we'd be struggling to get it all done by bedtime.  It's just a busy stage of life.

In my own class, we've started to teach the other kindergarten class too, so I've now got 40 kids to help teach but only reading this time.  It's been really fun getting to know the other kids actually and it's not as difficult as I thought it would be to teach the same lesson 8 times in a day.  Still can't wait to get back to real school in many ways.  Teaching kindergarteners to read over a screen is not for the faint of heart!!  There are sound issues, background noise, muting/unmuting problems, etc.  Plus for some of the kids, I only ever see the top of their heads!  But as always, we are making it and I feel thankful to have my job.

Other treats this month...

A visit from Mimi and GrandGene.  We celebrated Joshua, went to the pumpkin patch, took the girls ice skating, watched lacrosse grilled out.  Whew.  Fun few days!

Allie started ice skating lessons and is loving it!

The girls are still loving spending most days with their friends and we are so thankful for this social outlet.

Allie's still loving school and learning so much.  She also learned to tie her shoes in a matter of minutes.

Julia got to celebrate her best bud's birthday, just the two of them on a shopping trip and sleepover.

Allie had a successful cardiology check!

Gray is really enjoying cooking lately and loved grilling steak with Matt.  Lots and lots of steak.

The boys had such a good time playing in the rec league lacrosse here in Hillsborough and it was a treat to have lots of friends on their teams and familiar faces in the crowd to spectate with.

Joshua turned 15 and enjoyed playing with friends at the park and Nanny and Pa coming for dinner.  We are pretty proud of this guy and really so thankful he can manage so much now without our help.  

Joshua got his permit!  The thrill may be gone already. :/  But for a couple days there he was super excited to drive us home from practice.  Gotta get in those 60 hours now!

A fall festival with our little church...

I can hardly believe November is here and I know the holiday months will fly.  Here's hoping for breakthroughs and good news in many areas of our world as we head into another month.

Happy Fall Break to Me!

This week and next week, my school is on break and it couldn't have come at a better time.  It's been pretty tough keeping up with both jobs and the kids' schooling and house and parenting and all.  I was getting so tired just from trying to keep everything in my head each day.  And then there was the discovery of all that was amiss in Allie's daily life.  Turns out having no one watching her for about 4 hours of each day was creating a little naughty monster.  I do feel sympathy for her.  Starting kindergarten is a huge step to process and a lot of this online version has been super frustrating.  Then you take a kid who loves attention and companionship and require her to be on her own a good bit of the day and you get a lot of pent up frustration.  I had no idea, but day by day have been finding new ways of her acting out her emotions...taking half a bottle of vitamins and hiding them away...on three separate occasions; taking peoples' things and hiding them in her room; cutting her hair; drawing on the walls; etc, etc.  Fun times.  So it's great that I have this break to be more engaged with her and in tune with what she's up to.  

We got the news last week that online school will continue through the next quarter, which is hard, particularly for Allie.  But this is what we have to deal with so trying not to be too discouraged about it.  Besides being online waaay too much, we have done some time with friends, some activities- lacrosse for the boys (they love their rec league that is played on a small field and is really fast) and skating for Julia, who is thrilled to be back on the ice.  It's also been really exciting to plan our first big family vacation.  We hope to head to Maine and Boston next summer with some of my family and have booked our stays.  Can't wait to see new places!

I haven't even taken many pictures the whole month, but here's what I have...

My birthday was so nice!  I got to celebrate lots of ways...dinner with Barnette and Cindy, lunch and thrifting with friends, friends coming over for cake, pizza and gifts.  

Gray finding critters in the yard

walking to the park with Allie while she sang made up songs in her microphone and waved a branch

Lots of dress up and taking pictures of each other for the girls

playdate with Nanny

found her like this on her zoom

Happy to be skating

more dressing up and photo shoots

These girls baked a cake totally on their own and made the best of it when it didn't look beautiful at first. 

All in all, we are making it through these days, happy for fall weather and looking forward to hopefully more normalcy as we go into holidays and the 2nd semester of school next year.  We really have no idea what things will look like- Trick or treating? Christmas traditions? Going back to the school building? School sports? Me going back to work?  Regardless, I am thankful for family and friends to share these odd times with.