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.

 

Lovely Labor Day!

 For the first time in forever, Matt had the whole Labor Day weekend off work and we were able to drag a couple families with us down to EI.  This was a different kind of weekend for a few reasons, which I'll explain.  

First, the kids and I have been down so many times on mom/kid trips, but this is the first time (beside my whole family) that we've had the dads too.  I thought all the little people might not be relaxing enough for Matt, but ended up working great.  Turns out, we're (finally) at a stage of family life where our kids can just play and entertain themselves without too much parental intervention.  I guess the combo of free time, free snacking, friends, and movies makes parents an afterthought to them.  ;)  It was super fun to hang out as couples and also so helpful to have additional eyes on the kids in the ocean and help with things like the ever-popular sunscreening of little bodies.

Second, we had a family join us that we know, but haven't vacationed with before.  All got along great and it was fun to get to know them better.

Third, in true 2020 fashion, we had some crazy "wildlife" encounters.  The beach was infested with biting flies.  Gray first discovered them on his first night trying to sleep on the hammock shirtless.  His back was covered in bites the next morning.  Then we spent a good bit of time on the beach the next day slapping our legs and later, spraying bug spray and rubbing dryer sheets on ourselves to try to repel them.  Somewhere in there a couple people got stung by yellow jackets on the lip and belly.  Then the weirdest thing happened the last day, when everyone got what looked like little glass spikes stuck in their swimsuits.  There was howling, squirming, running from the water, digging in swimsuits, taking off swimsuits, etc.  Turns out they are "sea butterflies"...some kind of member of the mollusk family called 'pteropods'.  People on the EI facebook group said they've been coming to the beach since the 70's and have never seen such a thing, though earlier this year I heard they showed up on beaches in Maryland.  Other sea life encounters included spotting a big sting ray right close to where all were swimming and watching tons of fish swimming away from what looked to be a shark (fin spotted coming behind them), also close to shore.

In spite of the above-mentioned woes, we had a wonderful weekend full of ocean swimming, sand burying, games on the beach, laughing, talking, games at the beach house, movies, walks, etc. etc.  We did not want to come home and waking up Tuesday wasn't pretty.  :)  But now we are settling in, fun memories to keep us going as we get back into the real world.  Thanks, Nanny and Pa, for the privilege of having a place at the beach to share.  We can't wait to go back.

I will survive ;)

 

We are almost through 3 weeks of school and we are making it.  Some days I'm running from room to room, waking kids, getting kids on zoom, looking for kids, problem solving, getting back on my zoom.  Whew.  Most of the time it's going just fine, but we aren't without our share of mishaps.  This morning, I was a few minutes into my first kindergarten class of the day when I realized Gray was still asleep and supposed to be in his homeroom.  I had to close my camera and run wake him up.  Another day my VIPKID class ran so late that I didn't have even a second between classes to wake the girls and had to say, "Sorry, excuse me" to my student and run upstairs quickly.  I often forget what day it is and what time it is because so much of the day is repetitive (4 groups in a row of teaching the same lesson, then repeat with a new lesson).  But I really love working with my kindergarten teacher and I really enjoy the kids.  Other happenings...or mishappenings with giving a kindergartener free reign of her online schooling:

-Allie loves her PE teacher Mr Westbrook and shouted, "Bye Mrs. Wexperd!" on her first day of PE.  She's still a little confused about his name and yesterday took it upon herself to open his zoom link while a second grade class was in there.  Apparently he let her in so she had PE twice that day.

-I walked in the other day to find her teacher teaching and Allie's face all up in the camera while making silly noises and babbling.  She wasn't muted, but somehow her teacher wasn't disturbed.

-I often find her at the end of a class going, "Excuse me, Mrs. Brooks!  Excuse me, Mrs. Brooks!" until her teacher acknowledges her and lets her share something soooo important like "My Daddy is going to give me money if I put my face in the water."

-She was supposed to cut out pictures of things she likes and make a video for her teacher.  I overheard her making the video and saying, "...and that's a wine bottle".  Yep, she cut out wine bottles as her favorite things.

-She is obsessed with the school-issued ipad and if I'm not careful I will find her surfing youtube or making her own "youtube videos"..."Hi guys, it's me, Allie....I hope you enjoyed this video.  Don't forget to 'scribe!"

-It's been an adjustment for her in not getting the same attention as she's used to.  Especially the first week or two, it was getting cringingly common for her to go bug a sibling while I'm teaching and end up wailing loudly when they ask her to go.  I have to either mute myself if my teacher is teaching and hope she doesn't ask me anything, or smile and speak really loudly if I'm teaching.  Thankfully she is getting more used to her solo time this week.

-On her first day of school, I was encouraging her to be still and quiet when her teacher is talking during her zoom and she said, "I will, Mom, and I'll try not to fart."

Overall, thank goodness, she is really enjoying school and is really making good progress with her writing, which she hasn't really liked to do in the past.  

The other kids are hanging in there. Joshua's work space is in the loft and he enjoys his independence.  He seems to be using boring zoom time to perfect his dart skills.  He doesn't much feel like he's in high school without actually going to the school and experiencing that big crowd. He knows some kids in his classes, but some he has older kids that look like grown men.  He has done a group project somehow and built some sort of bridge in there.  Organization comes naturally to him and he manages himself without much of any input from us.

Gray is present at his meetings but I'm just not sure what he's absorbing.  He spends his day lounging in his corner blue chair looking half awake and often doesn't grasp what his assignments are.  He likes his teachers and they've been super kind to check in on him often.  Much to my chagrin, they do not actually sing in remote Chorus, but do more of a music history class.  I was looking forward to a little musical entertainment coming from that blue chair. 

 Julia has a lot of trouble with math and is good about asking her teacher for extra help on zoom, but she has needed a lot of my help too.  This requires more patience than I have ever needed for anything in my life.  If we don't both end up in tears, I feel like we've been successful.  Julia is able to manage getting on her zooms thankfully, though this week she was trying to pull getting up 5 minutes before and then leaving her meeting in the middle to get breakfast.  She despises me checking in on her or coming near her or looking at her when she is doing her zoom.  She lost a tooth two days ago and I forgot to put money under her pillow.  I remembered the next morning and tried to sneak up to her room, only to find her doing zoom PE there.  Between leg raises, she was giving me the stink eye and hissing at me, "Mommy!!...and you forgot the tooth fairy money!!"  Sometimes you just can't do anything right!  :)

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks.

We've had a couple of pool trips.  We've been trying to help Allie overcome her water fears but not sure the summer is long enough for that!  It's getting cooold in the pool these days.

Mimi came to help Allie settle in to her first real week of school.  It sure helped to have someone keep an eye on her (see above examples) and Allie loved the companionship.

Sometimes the kids go have lunch with a friend, which is nice.  They are missing a lot of the hard things about being in school with peers and a lot of the fun things too, but I think overall it's less stress to be able to put all the school drama behind and just hang out with the few people that you can be yourself with.

Julia took along her daily companion and fish expert Addie to choose a fish of her own.  She had some setbacks saving up money (i.e. she gave up and spent it all a few times) but finally had enough.  She loves Mango!

Always some vehicle maintenance going on with our resident auto expert.  He's tackled some bigger repairs this summer.

And we continue to enjoy time with our adoption group friends.  The girls all got to go make candy sushi together last weekend and this week we got to celebrate Ava's bday at the park with water balloons and cupcakes.  Somewhere in there, Gray got to visit Mimi and GrandGene too and had a great time there as always.  We also had a family dinner on Matt's side to send off Andrew back to DC.  We've really enjoyed our time with everyone this summer.

So here we are, three weeks into school and we are already ready for vacation.  (Which has me wondering how those long, cold winter months are going to work out!)  But for now, we are excited to have a beach trip on the horizon and we're going to keep on keeping on!