Well it's Thanksgiving tomorrow, so thankfulness is on the brain and boy do we have a lot to be grateful for these days. While it was a super hard season for me back in August/September, facing the move with all its physical demands and emotional toll (on top of letting our first one go to college), we have settled into life at Nanny and Pa's house and it's been great. We don't feel like it's our home...more like a long term AirBnB...but it's comfortable and we are enjoying this season. It's been an adjustment to not have Joshua around and I miss him every day. It's weird to have family time without him and that he has this whole life that we aren't a part of. Because of Julia being in high school and more involved in stuff now, it's often just me, Matt, and Allie or even just me and Allie when Matt's at work, and that is quiet and strange, but we're adjusting.
Yesterday, Joshua came home for Thanksgiving weekend. Allie was so excited that he was coming home before she went to bed. Last time he came home she had to go to bed before he got here, but stayed awake. He went up and saw her and Julia in their room when he got here and they talked for quite awhile. This time, we had dinner together and went to watch Gray's box lacrosse game, then the boys played basketball with some friends (still in high school and home from college) and did Bojangles till late. We saw the boys' FCA leader (also a lacrosse dad and their calculus teacher) right away when we got to the Sportsplex and he had a big hug for Joshua and a comment on his mustache;)
Yep, it's a mustache. Not ever my favorite look but trying not to say too much.
Other happenings over the last month or 2:
Julia had her first high school chorus concert. She didn't like the class at first, due to the very eccentric teacher, whom she got off on the wrong foot with, and having to sing a cappella solos in front of the class. But she really enjoyed the concert and has warmed up to the teacher. Allie and I had fun watching her sing and I even got a little teary on some of the beautiful solos from girls I knew when they were younger-one in particular sung from the perspective of a mom to her daughter. They have a Christmas concert coming up and then she'll be done and probably never take chorus again but it was fun while it lasted.
Joshua came home mid-October for the much-anticipated wedding of Emoni and Andre. It was a warm, bright sunny day and they were married by a lake out in the country. As is typical of every dress-up occasion our family has ever had I think, we were rushing last minute to get everyone ready. I was cutting Joshua's hair, fishing out his suit from a storage box and ironing it, and helping Julia decide what dress to wear when it was long past time for us to leave. But we made it and it didn't matter so much that I was doing Allie's hair after we were seated. It was very small and sweet and we were so glad to be there.
Julia was asked to take Polaroids of the guests and make a guest book and she shined with this task. She is so good at socializing with people, regardless of how well she knows them.
Happy day! Fun to be together.
The next day, we celebrated Joshua's birthday before he headed home. I had planned to make a strawberry cake, not knowing Emoni's wedding cake was strawberry, so I pivoted slightly to a strawberry banana cake and it was really good!
We ate burgers and the kids fished and hung out on the water while the adults played cornhole.
Allie and Julia have loved being a part of youth groups at church. Allie's group is made of 8 girls, ages 8-11 and they are such a sweet and lively bunch. They are always so excited to be together and it's a blessing to drop in to pick her up and catch the end of their prayer time together. Julia's group is just two young adult leaders and one other teenage girl, but she loves getting together and eating and talking. When I went to pick her up, in true Julia fashion, she had forgotten a change of clothes from her cheer uniform and was wearing one of the leaders' sweatpants. There is no pretense or guarded-ness about her-- she puts it all out there (well, maybe even moreso for us at home!) and she seems to attract many friends because of it. High school hasn't been without its ups and downs, but overall she continues to enjoy spreading her social wings more now that she is in such a big school.
Allie and I were supposed to go on the traditional 4th grade mountain field trip, but due to Hurricane Helene, it was canceled, so I headed over to her school for a "mountain day" instead. We did crafts, made trail mix, put together care packages for students in the mountains, listened to mountain music, and walked to Occoneechee Village in Hillsborough. It was good to see her in her classroom and watch her interact with the other students. She is a good friend to all, but loves the little girl above the most right now. We are noticing that she is now understanding a lot of the junk that kids are exposed to in public school and sometimes wish we'd shielded her from that, but she is happy and we know no school choice is without its downfalls.
On a day off of school and work for all of us, we headed to Pilot Mountain to get some outdoor time and catch some pretty fall color. The leaves weren't fully turned yet but it sure was a gorgeous day and after a few initial tense family moments of figuring out a game plan, we settled in to a nice long hike and had a great time. We followed up hiking with a visit to a car dealership-- I think our 4th one that weekend-- in order to narrow down a replacement for the old rickety van, which (in addition to the difficult sliding doors and broken a/c) had recently taken a rock to the windshield and had a crack from one side to the other. I finally gave in to getting a new car and Matt ordered one soon after this trip.
All of us but Gray took a trip to Mt Olive to watch Joshua play in a fall scrimmage. Their team was playing a very good D2 team and lost by a lot, but Joshua scored the first of their couple of goals and that was fun. He got to play a lot and had fun. Their coach seems to be a fun guy that doesn't come down too hard on them and Joshua says he's great just go to to his office and chat. If he's happy, I'm happy!
The parents did a tailgate afterward and it was fun to meet some of Joshua's close friends on the team and some parents. It was a short visit and soon they were back on the bus to Fayetteville and we were heading back to Durham.
Gray bought for himself this lovely costume for a Halloween lacrosse scrimmage. He cracked me up because he planned out his purchase, went to a convenient Walmart and couldn't find any Halloween costumes (this was the week of Halloween, mind you) and instead of asking, just left and went to a much less convenient Walmart across town and picked it up. Why he picked this? It's so Gray. He's not a party-er but just thinks it's funny so he's doing it.
On the sweeter side, Allie had been wanting to be Mary Poppins ever since Mimi showed her the original over the summer. We scavenged her costume mostly from a thrift store, but also raided Nanny's stuff for the bag and flower and ribbon. She was adorable. By the end of the night, her new boots were giving her dreadful blisters and I had to carry her on my back across the neighborhood, which made for a tiring end to the night.
This wasn't my favorite Halloween, but it had its moments. It was only me, Gray, Allie, and Julia since Matt was working and Joshua was at school. We gathered at the Bakers' with the Moores-- our first Halloween not living in the neighborhood in so many years. From there, Lisa, Jeannie, and I took our youngest door to door, eventually joined for a bit by Addie and Julia. Will, Gray, and Sawyer went out their separate way and we never saw them due to poor cell service when we tried to meet up.
We all reconvened at the Bakers, where the older kids had started a movie- Gremlins (Julia, who wanted something really scary, was not impressed!). Overall, it was a nice night and enjoyable enough, but I definitely felt a lot of nostalgia for the old days when our kids were elementary.
Meanwhile, our biggest kid enjoyed using his new cow costume for the Halloween practice and party back at Methodist.
Julia got a second chance at a homecoming dance, as Addie invited her to join Voyager's...which happened to be right across the street from us here in Durham. It was a much different feel to this party and she enjoyed being with Addie and friends that she'd hung out with before.
Matt and I got our opportunity to dress up too, as our church hosted a masquerade party as a thank you to volunteers. It was fun to wear my thrift store dress I had found with a friend a few weeks prior.
Julia was super excited to make the JV cheer team (most of the credit goes to her previous experience but a little bit goes to our mother/daughter practice session of the tryout dance...not easy!!) and we went to see her first game. She was pretty nervous because there are so many cheers to learn and they only had a couple days of practice before the game, but she did great!
We had pizza afterward with the Moores, who were sweet to come watch her.
Gray officially signed with Mars Hill. Excited to see him take on the adventure of college, which I think will be such a challenge and time of great growth for him. I think he will love it.
And final update of our fall-- We broke ground on the new house a week or two ago. It will be fun to see it start to take shape!
