Lucas

Our buddy Lucas passed last week. He was the funniest, most thoughtful kid. He lost out on so many experiences and coped with so much more pain than could ever be fair. Still he shined. I know a lot of kids. I like them all. He was a gem. Alex, Andrew, and Lilly walked a road no one would wish on their worst enemy. They made his life full and fun and beautiful. Their faith and love glorify God. I wish they could be spared from the grief and the quiet. I wish he were still here. But he doesn't and that brings some peace. His name will still be frequent in our house. We'll look at photos, and notes he wrote, and talk only about the brilliant person we knew...until we see him again.

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.  -Isaiah 41:10

https://www.poseyfuneraldirectors.com/obituaries/Lucas-Oliver/#!/Obituary

September/ October

Big life update... we moved! (Feeling iffy on that exclamation point.) Daron's family was amazing helping us and Mary came too and was our box supplier! Here is my blabber on all things move related. Keep in mind I am a pessimist with high expectations. I wrote a novel of detailed disappointments, (this is the short version!) but no one needs all that.

I have definitely had some buyers remorse. I probably would not choose this place again. I think I like new things even though I want to pretend I like old things with character. Turns out character is mostly gross, outdated, and expensive.

Our new house can practically be seen from our old one. A little woodsy area we would walk past in our old neighborhood is now our neighbor's backyard. This makes me a little leery of him due to the smell of death that came from a large pile of pine straw on his property for almost a year. At least the possibility of a murderous neighbor adds a little intrigue. I like that we don't have to change our side of town or driving routines. We originally wanted to move because the boys still shared a pretty small room and with a middle schooler, it seemed like those days might need to come to an end at some point. I didn't want to wait and wait and then move and get less time out of the space. Eventually I think it will be good to spread out and now we have more of a chance to be the "hangout house", but my first reaction is...everyone is so far away... Rory's room swallows him... I can never find anyone... So much to clean... I miss sidewalks...We need half a house of furniture... 

The last residents were evicted and all their things scattered about the lawn.  It is like an archaeology excavation out there. Then a flipper had it before us, but there was still a lot of neglect and disrepair. Plus the flip seemed to be a slap/patch type job that was not necessarily to our taste and with not too much craftmanship or thought to practicality. We keep getting notices about bills they owe.

Based on the price tag I had in my mind that it was pretty move in ready, but we have spent quite a bit of time and money actually getting it there. We had to buy all new windows and are still waiting on blinds, much to our neighbors' dismay. We paid a crew to fix the heavy texture on the kitchen and bathroom walls. That was a fail. They tried to sand it off, so our house is caked in dust and we can still see all the ridges. I was assuming they would skim coat, but didn't want to tell them how to do their job. They say, "Just mark where you want us to touch up. "...Everywhere??" (Also they are horrible painters and I am scraping paint off trim and fixtures and finding places they missed completely.) They did make us a lovely arch to open up the place a bit. They also demoed the tile and drywall on the fireplace to help us get back to brick. Verdict is still out on that project. They also put in wood floors which they had to do twice.

Anyways, it has been weeks of unsettledness and poor Daron is always meeting someone at the house during his work day for something or other. It didn't help that we had baseball almost every night. Hopefully we are near the end. We decided to take one room a month going forward and try to relax a little bit.

Here are a few pictures of my neglected children and dog. We did go to the Greek Festival for a requirement for Silas's school. We toured the Greek Orthodox Church downtown and it was amazing (although there was a consensus that the artist painted weird feet). We just sat staring at all the things.

Baseball season has been taking up most of our evenings. Silas has the old coach that doesn't know his name again, yells at kids for cheering in the dug out, and leaves him at the bottom of the line-up even though he has one of the best averages on the team. Also, there are only 2 teams in his league so we just play the same one every night. Rory has a cute coach. I don't know if everything is just always better for Rory or if I am more first-child-protective of Silas and judge everything more harshly.

We had a fun day with the Dolans at the zoo.

The kids were anti-trick or treating this year, which was sad. We went to the Olivers' where Alex had a candy hunt that resulted in a bigger haul than if we had hit up the whole city. That was great, but I feel like the season as a whole was a waste. I didn't even decorate. I am planning to be all in for Christmas, however with our spending rate, the kids should probably expect to receive a few bathroom hooks and a desk lamp. 

 

 

 

 

Morganton, GA

It was time for our yearly Labor Day mountain trip with the fam. We went to the tiny town of Morganton, Georgia. Minus the curviest road ever, it was a great spot. We did a good bit of hiking and waterfall viewing. We also ventured into Helen, which was toasty and crowded but certainly unique with it's German flair. We also went to Blue Ridge to ride the train. It rained while we finished off the day eating in a Mexican restaurant there. This is pretty much my ideal scenario. The boys loved the air hockey and shuffle board at the cabin. I loved the swingy chairs. Nox loved chewing up Logan's shoe strings. Returning to the real world was extra painful. Daron had to fix a flat tire on the way home and then we forgot our key and were locked out of the house. We survived and would do it again! Look at all these dreamy cousin shots! They didn't even complain!

 

August

We have a new SC family resident! My cousin Mary just bought a house in Lexington. She was a fun house guest for a few days while everything closed.

Silas and Rory had a 2 night sleep over with the cousins. This included Silas's actual birthday. It was a bit weird not seeing him, but they went swimming and had spaghetti, so I think he did not miss me.

The boys both started their new schools. Day 1 had a delayed start because of a hurricane (drizzle) and Day 2 was canceled completely. Still, I think it will be a great year. I am mildly obsessed with Rory's teacher and class. We went to the open house and everyone was nicer than you would believe in their new dreamy building. His sweet, over-the-top organized teacher had made beaded name keychains for every kid. I got 4 hugs and had 3 good conversations with prior strangers. This is basically a miracle if you know me at all. Ms. Zeigler emailed me that he cried the first morning but got it together and was fine. I also got 2 pictures. Silas seemed to have a good day too. I am so proud of him for stepping up for whatever presents itself. His only complaint was they played a name game in math and he was last so he had to name everyone and froze up completely. He was also legit mad at me for making him brush his hair. Sadly, middle school teachers do not send pictures.

 

 

 

July

Skylar came home with us from Missouri! We used the week to try our best at being fun hosts and to clear our summer bucket list. We went to Surge, Neptune Island, a pottery class, skating, the drive-in, and Charlotte for the Cheesecake Factory. We also thought we were going there to catch Skylar's flight home, but it turns out that was in Columbia. Oops.

 

Rory went to an art camp that the art teacher at his new school puts on at her house in the summer. I almost had to drag him out of the car the first day, but he ended up enjoying it.

Silas went to orchestra camp. They put on an adorable little concert at the end of the week. Especially since his group had 12 hours of playing in their lifetime under their belts.

Trevor visited! We went to a new restaurant where you have to cook your own food. Pretty fun, even if the chefs were dodgy. Trevor ate octopus that wriggled like they were alive on the grill. 

We had Harry Potter part 2 with the Olivers. They all came in costume! It was fun to be more low key with it. Lucas told me I was too tall as Flitwick during charms, so I had to teach from my knees.

Now it is back to school for me, while the boys enjoy a few last days of laying like broccoli.