October

Baseball! Until... 

Silas broke his arm on a sponge turf playground at the end of a slide that was six inches off the ground??!! He has been pretty awesome about the whole thing. It is healing nicely so we got to downsize the cast and might be in a brace in two weeks time.

 

Hannah visits! She was treated to every college students' dream activities: pumpkin patch/carving, solving a bunny mystery, and seeing The Addam's Family 2 at the drive-in. 

 

Gigi visits! We played hooky to go to the zoo, saw Hannah swim in Asheville, visited the Biltmore, and trick-or-treated.

Halloween!

I finished reading Sue Grafton, so my 25 book journey has come to an end. I am torn between thinking it is devastating there is no Z is for Zero and considering it is kind of sweet that Kinsey can now live on eating her peanut butter and pickle sandwiches and solving crimes indefinitely. I'll be honest I read so many in such close succession that I was confused about characters half the time, but I did enjoy the overall atmosphere. Plus, I can get behind anyone who loves McDonald's. Here is my tribute picture. 

September

Life updates for the month: 

We had a blast at Great Wolf Lodge. Much more fun when at least one kid is old enough to do the big slides. I lost Rory for a 10 minute period while playing MagiQuest. Pretty sure I would pay for the kid's college education who helped me. He was on the walkie and mobilized staff in a flash, assuring me of a 100% return rate and keeping my visualizations of stowage in a room/suitcase to a minimum. Rory was unphased and had made his way across the whole hotel looking for our room because he "didn't feel like doing the quest anymore". 

 

We hung out with college Hannah for a day and I am super jealous of Statesboro dining. We are reciprocating much crappier food when she comes our way next weekend. Her dorm was missing the cinderblocks and communal showers I enjoyed during my day, but her swim team is cute and she seems to be doing great and having fun. She baked us cookies and was snatching the bills at restaurants. What?!? Why are you adulting so hard?

 

First go-kart rides for our September birthdays celebration. Both boys are playing baseball. Both coaches do not know how to command a group. As chaotic as I was expecting Rory's team to be, double that. I shouldn't complain too much because I certainly don't want to do it. Silas's coach is good but never huddles or makes announcements. We all wait around tentatively wondering if practice is really over. Plus 3 practices a week! Ew. It is fun to see Silas improve though. I think Rory might be a natural. He is picking up 2 wheeled biking pretty quickly too! 

August

Back to school! We are so thankful for old friends coming back into play. Rory started 4K at a new school and a friend I used to work with has a son who has the same teacher. We have gotten to reconnect so the boys have a built in buddy for the classroom. This is nice because meet and greet was canceled and no parents are allowed in the building, so we basically kicked him to the curb with strangers (all but this one!) on the first day. It is also nice to have ALERT colleagues all over the district because my friend Kristen was on morning duty and got to walk him in. He was a little weepy the first week but I think he is feeling good now. Silas seems to be doing well. His teacher is nice. We did get to go and meet her briefly. She has already sent a positive email, so either she wants to get in good with us so she can send less positive ones in the future or he has made a good first impression. I mean, I think he is super cool but he hasn't had a very dote-y teacher since Ms. April in his 3's class. Side note: Daron thinks our front door decor looks like a cult symbol. 

My job has been good so far. The kids seem fun, however few of them I have. I know I talk too much because my vocal cords are sore. We are using Minecraft for education this year (eh) but we had a few days of training and here is our adorable team picture. We also did some training with Greg Tang which was cool and I now feel like I am best friends with a celebrity. (Best friends used loosely. Celebrity too.)

Rory had umbilical repair surgery. He was brave and adorable and I felt terrible but in 24 hours he was acting like nothing happened. It helped that Bluey was on in the recovery room. Also, this picture doesn't look like it, but we might have nipped thumb sucking!

Silas Turns 8

Silas enjoyed a three-fold celebration this year. On his actual birthday we went to an archery range, which was super fun. As a friend celebration we took Merritt and his big kid pals to a wizard escape room. I don't know if it had just been a long time or if this was the coolest room ever, but I was impressed. Then we had a Greek gods party (Dad is reading him Percy Jackson) with the Hofts (and cake making neighbors). The kids decorated shields and followed clues from each god on a quest ending in battling a mythological creature. This was actually rather hard because they had to shoot them with a pretty iffy homemade bow and arrow. (Opening presents first could have alleviated this problem.) Defeating their beast, the fates then revealed to which god they belonged. I probably should have made it "the one true God" for everyone, but I stayed on theme assigning them to Artemis, Athena, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. The cousins spent the night, watched Hercules, and played hours of Mario Kart. This is how I babysit. Happy #8 kiddo of my dreams!