Halloween

We started out our Halloween weekend celebrating a sweet little boy's birthday. Harvey was born on Halloween so a costume bike parade party it was.  Colin was at a swim team Halloween trunk or treat where the older kids organized games and prized for the younger ones. 

This year Joel didnt know what to be. It kept changing constantly.  But then he mentioned dinosaur so I went with it and got him this costume. All the other kids loved it.  It was a little hard to move in and at the end his tiny arms hurt having to be in that position.  I told him that's probably why they went extinct.  

Then on Sunday Brent and the kids carved pumpkins and went trick or treating in our neighborhood. 

Colin took Joel around.  He and Matthew thought they were too old for trick or treating. But we said in our neighborhood you are never too old.  All the other teenagers went around.  

Norah went around with Juliauna again. 

Brent went over to a neighbors and hung out by their firepit and I passed out candy. 

Colin ate Joel's one York peppermint candy. It was the one candy Joel was excited to eat. They couldn't remember which house they got it. Thankfully Norah had two and gave them to the boys. 

The kids sorted candy and went through all we had left and then we went to a neighbors to hand out. 

It was a great night and we were very glad the kids didn't have school the next day. 

Apple Picking

We met Mom, Dad, Sarah, Mary, Robbie, and Elizabeth a few weeks ago for our annual apple picking.

 

Chloe

Our beloved guinea pig died a few weeks ago.  

She was the most magnificent creature in Joel's mind.  There was never such a loved piggy.  She went all over the neighborhood on the back of a contraption the kids named the piggy mobile. She was played with constantly. She came at a great time through quarantine and homeschooling/virtual learning and was a good first pet. 

 

Joel

 We are in the season of wearing layers and having to find clothes that fit my growing boys. Colin has outgrown everything but Joel refuses to wear some of his clothes.  For example, Colin has sweatpants that have the VT logo.  Joel - "Why would I want people to know what team I like?"  Joel at the moment likes plain and boring.  But its also much cheaper so I'm not pushing it. 

The kids had their yearly physicals. Joel had the prostrate cough exam for the first time.  I'm not sure what its really called. But Joel was like what?  Why do you need to do this?  She explained she was looking for hernias.  He thought for a moment and then asked her how many she had detected doing that test. She replied around 50.  He then asked how long she had been a doctor.  She said 11 years.  He was quiet for a minute and then said "I think next time I'd rather just take my chances"  

Joel tried out for GBTV. Its their morning announcements where they run their own news station.  I'm surprised he wanted to try out but he was excited and made it.  We heard he was the first person they picked.  They have two different teams that rotate different week. This week was his turn. He wasn't anchor until Friday. And his nerves were building all week.  He didn't sleep at all on Thursday night. He was afraid he would mess up. We got a picture from our teacher friend who said Joel was great and all the kids clapped and cheered for him when we walked back in his classroom.  

Girls

Joel asked me the other day how do you know if a girl is your girlfriend. I thought for a moment to put it in Joel terms for him and said  well its when you want to spend money on her.  If you ask a girl on a date you need to pay for her.  He thought a minute and said "I  don't even want to spend my own  money on my family!"

He also informed me he would be taking all dating advice from me and doing the complete opposite.

The other day a girl blew a kiss at Joel in school.  He was completely embarrassed because he doesn't even know her.  And another girl sits and stares at him in class.  I told him I would think he was cute and stare at him too.  He said I was his mother I was supposed to think that. 

So I asked Colin about girls and he just looked at me and said "Mom I don't even know what these girls look like under their masks" Masks might not be such a bad thing then! ha! 

Driving

On Labor Day the kids were feeling anxious about school. Brent took Norah and Joel down to the beach and Colin stayed home to play xbox with his friends. He came down bored so I asked him to get in the car and help me run a few errands.  We drove to the local community college and I parked in the empty lot and told Colin to get in the drivers side.  He was shocked and so surprised but smiled big the entire time. He didn't do too bad for his first time behind the wheel. 

First Days of School

We are three weeks into school so far and its gone much better than any of us expected.  

I was really nervous about this girl but she was so excited when she got into the car to tell me she was in the gifted class.  Her 3rd grade teacher  must've been excellent.  She has a lot of friends in her class and our social butterfly is always telling me about each new friend she meets.

I've had Joel's homeroom teacher call me and also a had few other teachers tell us how sweet and great is it having Joel in their class.  He is kind and polite and good natured. 

I spend 4 hours a day in carlines and we even carpool with the high school crowd. After I pick up Norah we go and sit in the car line for about 30 minutes to get Joel and then hope we are home in time to take Colin to swim team. On the first day of school we celebrated with McDonalds ice cream cone. 

 

Meet the teachers

Tomorrow we start school. And we are feeling a huge range of emotions this weekend. No one wants to go back and wear a mask all day. The boys were only in person 2 days a week. And they had an asynchronous day. Colin was only in school 1.5 months. Norah hasn’t stepped foot in school since March 2020. Now it’s 5 days a week, no asynchronous days. 

We did all the back to school things. Well at least for Norah. Norah knows several in her class. Three of them were also homeschooled and 2 were in her homeschool art class. Another friend was virtual. As was her teacher so her teacher said she was also nervous about being back in school.

Colin had orientation a few weeks earlier. I made him go because he hasn’t really been in the building. Halfway through I get a text that said thanks mom for forcing me to go. Complete sarcasm. They watched a video on social media (which he doesn’t have or care about) and what to do if someone posts a picture and you weren't invited. And that was the orientation. Next year he won’t be going.

Joel’s meet the teacher you had to sign up for a 15 minute time slot and parents weren’t allowed into the building. Also we didn’t get any information on this. I had to search the website and have a teacher friend find out his teachers. Because of covid they aren’t mailing schedules. Makes no sense but I found his team and signed him up. For the 6th grade orientation! Poor kid walked up and down the empty 7th grade hallway. He took longer than his 15 minutes and I was hoping he had found some friends. He walked out and said mom let’s go that was so embarrassing and awkward. He did meet his English and Math teachers. I told him if he can make it through that the rest of the year should be good. I hope.  

I told the kids we would just see what happens. I’m fully prepared to pull them all out this year and homeschool them. I’m praying for a good year for them. 

 

Water Country

We spent a day at Water Country a few weeks ago and I can't get over how much Colin has grown since the summer of 2019. 

 

Busch Gardens

Colin and Brent haven't been to Busch Gardens as much as I think they thought they would go. But we all got to go together one day last week.  The rest of us go could free with their passes.  It was a heat index of over 100 and all the private schools had started back.  I've never see it so empty before. We never had to wait for a ride. We would walk up and just get immediately on the ride. It was really nice.

She was so proud to be tall enough to drive her own bumper car. We did that one at 3 times through out the day. 

Colin got Joel on his first roller coaster.  We've never pressured him to go because he was the kid who got car sick all the time in the car.  He had me go on Invadr first to let him know what it was like. After riding it I knew it would be a good one for Joel to try. It's their new one but its a wooden one that doesn't have any upside down parts.  Joel loved it despite that the picture shoes.  Colin cracks me up in all his pictures. He looks like he absolutely hates the ride but the coasters are his favorite. The steeper the drop the better for him. 

The one I refuse to try and its Colin's favorite ride in the park.  Despite what the picture shows! 

We had a lot of fun but it also confirmed that Joel, Norah and I are good just going once a season.