Week 28

I had a meeting this week (in person) and of course it was the one day B didn't have school so I took him to my parents backyard.  My dad sent me this picture of a sand castle he worked on.  

Last Monday was Blane's first day to be the "helping" child at school.  He decided it was important to dress head to toe in Dinosaur attire.

B and my good friends daughter are in the same class.  They played for 1.5 hours after school on these stairs, including building a whole fire pit out of grass.

I didn't take many pictures this week (Landon was sick and I had a lot of appointments and was literally running from place to place with kid events and Dr appointments and other various get togethers, small of course).  We did manage to escape Friday night to the mountains for the weekend where we have had some more much needed down time.  Its so beautiful up here right now with the leaves changing, though it has been eerily windy and you can hear the trees moaning as they bend and crack.

B announced that he wanted to play a game immediately after we got up to the mountains.  We were unloading the car, trying to make dinner and just getting ourselves situated and so all of us said no.  Brian went upstairs and he had set up his "friends" to play a game that is far above his level with.   I love that he can play by himself happily.   For a moment I felt like we deprive him of attention, but that is not at all accurate, he gets a lot of love and time playing and talking with us.

Brian and I went for long trail run this morning and then were trained with Colorado Victory to send texts in hopes of bringing about change in the upcoming election.  With the death of RBG and having finished Mary Trumps book "Too much and Never Enough",  I have been motivated to DO something rather than sit back and hope.  We donated some money and I plan on signing up for 2 shifts/week for texts as well as sending out postcards.  Its a lot right now in the world, so after that call, we took the crew on a much needed hiking adventure.  

Ads got a swiss army knife for his birthday and has been spending a lot of time up here whittling sticks .

Always with his best cheerleader close by.

Week 27

    B showing off his dino dress and firefighter pants before bed (he really likes "fashion shows".

 

Ads teacher (and mom of his friend), sent me a text saying, "so cute that our boys are on the catalog for CalWood Camps!"  And they are.  Masks on and bow and arrow in hand.

Thursday, LT came home from school all excited that he was going to enter a contest on "Instructables".  The competition he entered is for creative ways to use a jar.  He basically made a hidden money stash (or other small items) hidden inside a toilet paper tube inside a mason jar.   In between in the glass jar and the TP roll, he covered it with cheerios (could also use m&ms or other small candy.  Here is the link if you want to vote or just view it!  https://www.instructables.com/id/Secret-Money-Stash-Using-a-Mason-Jar/

And obviously B needed to enter a "contest" as well.  His is "Make your own strap for your hat", with a paper bowl hat.

I have pretty much entirely gone off social media, but randomly opened Instagram this week and scrolled down a bit when I saw both our boys on the Stanley page.  They both look engaged and very happy!

Because of Ads head injury, he wasn't able to participate in swim team last week, but I did take him to the dry lands portion of it and then while LT was swimming, he and I went for a walk.  It was such a nice time with just one kid and he was able to tell me all about school.  He was most excited about their "unit" where all year they will be focusing on Colorado History, but currently they are learning about Colorado mining history.  I had planned on taking B to the Argo mine in Idaho springs the next day on our way to the mountains (I needed to meet the electrician up there and so we had to take two cars).  Because of Ads interest in mining and because he had a half day anyway and it would have been inconvenient for Brian to pick him up at 12 and then LT at 3, I decided to take both little ones with me and mine on our way up.

And Ads was excited about helping me homeschool once we were up there.  

Saturday, we met some good family friends for a hike (they also own a place up there).  The kids explored and played in the woods for several hours.

 

Week 26

This was another big week.  B started preschool, again, new school, new teachers, new protocols, but with one of his best friends.  A also turned 11 and that came with all sorts of fun adventures and celebrations.  And we had our first ER (though not technically ER since our loving pediatrician met us at his office rather than having to go to the hospital.

Ads has really been missing sleepovers and that was all he wanted for his birthday "party".  We agreed that he could have ONE friend and sleep outside in tents and he was ecstatic!  His buddy from down the street came over mid afternoon and they played outside, had dinner outside, watched a movie outside, slept outside and cuddled by the fireplace with breakfast outside.  Meanwhile LT slept outside at the brothers house down the street.  While not the same, it was certainly fun for the kids and very much memorable.  Unfortunately the morning ended with a pretty large laceration to the back of Ads head by the window well covering (a huge metal piece that crashed onto the back of his head).  They don't do stitches or staples as much anymore (his cut very much would have required this a few years ago or probably if we had actually gone to the ER).  Instead, the Dr pulled the hair criss crossed over the large cut and glued the hair down and put a piece of tape over it at the end.  While not comfortable for Ads, it certainly wasn't as painful as the numbing shot and stitches I remember from being a kid (or even 5 years ago when I got my last stitches).

On Tuesday, B participated in puppets with his beloved teacher, Alicia.  Its the only online class he really enjoys, and enjoys is a stretch (not because of her lack of incredible talent, but because its on a screen and so hard to engage).

And then he wanted to watch a drawing lesson for a T-Rex, which turned out really well!

B also ordered a lot of new jammies for himself.  This dino dress is one of them, but he is also very into unicorns and got a unicorn set.  A mummy outfit, firefighter and several others were also added to his cart and have been worn regularly.  

B's first day of preschool was Thursday, and he chose his unicorn shirt to wear.  It was chilly this week so I layered a long sleeved under it.

My close friend that I met at this same preschool, and the same preschool Brian and I met at, has 3 kids.  Her youngest and B are only a few days apart and are now in the same class!

And Ads made his own cake (his request, I offered).

Finally, B had his buddy over Friday for rescue bot play time and a few science experiments.