Smile

 The kids took my phone and took some selfie's and they totally make me laugh because they made their "sad, mad, silly" faces that I get to see all of the time! 

Happy Halloween

 Nothing is normal in 2020, but we did manage to have a pseudo normal and fun Halloween. The kids carved their pumpkins and we went "trunk or treating" at our church. The kids decided to be ninja's this year and since masks were required it fit right in with their costumes. They just went to the houses in our cul-de-sac and I think everyone must have felt bad for them because they got just as much candy as if they went all over the town! I have no idea what we are going to do with this much candy because usually I take it to work!

Eleven!!

It's here! Adelyn's 11th birthday. She has been excited for weeks because it's actually something to look forward to. Luckily enough she had no school today so it was extra special. She had a girl scout zoom and then an afternoon birthday party with four of her friends. One of her birthday presents was a gymnastics bar so the girls got to play with that and go in the hot tub. It was so sweet seeing them together. 

As usual, she was spoiled by her friends and family and got some really cool gifts. I was thrilled that she was willing to be my twin with our RBG shirts. It could have gone either way but she loved it and it was perfect for her girl scouts meeting which was all about RBG. I can't believe my baby girl is 11. Two years to a teenager and 2 inches until we're the same height!

Week 1- DONE!

The kids finished their first week "at the new school" online. Both kids really like their teachers and have found the transition to be much easier than they expected. Adelyn especially likes her new teacher and they started a writing assignment and her teacher was super impressed with what a strong writer she is. The kids have handled this transition extremely well but admit that it's still very strange to belong to a school that they've never even been inside. With the way things are going I'm not optimistic that they will even see the inside of the school in this school year. They've officially pushed any in person learning options out until 2021. 

We are all still trying to make the most of this but I can't believe that the kids haven't been in a classroom since March. Luckily they are still reading up a storm and it's as if they have a contest of who can check out the most books from the library and read them the fastest. Addy keeps a reading journal for her new class and I'm guessing in 1 week she's read as many books as some kids have all year. I remain infinitely grateful for my kids ability to maintain their love of reading and ability to stay engaged in remote learning.  This has been a true test in adaptability and resiliency and I am incredibly proud of these two. 

New School (from home!)

Last week I got a voicemail informing me that Adelyn's name had been drawn in a lottery for 5th grade from a local choice school and that they also had a spot in the 2nd grade class for Cameron. This was certainly a surprise given that we had put our names on the list back in 2014. I had completely forgotten about the school and now we had one week to decide if we wanted the kids to go there. We remembered when we toured the school that we were told that we had a better chance of winning the real lottery than having our children selected to get into this school. We figured that was a sign of being lucky so we better take it!

That meant the kids finished up their last week at their current school yesterday and start on Monday at the new school, which is K-8. We are excited and even though it feels strange to try a new school during remote learning the kids are pretty excited too. We met their teachers (virtually) last week and they are very nice. Feels good to have something new to look forward to and we really hope they can go to school in person at some point this year. 

October Canoeing

Brian took the kids canoeing last weekend. It wasn't as warm as the last time but they still had a blast and I think it was the latest into the year we've used the canoe. They went on the river and had to carry the canoe a few times through the shallow parts. They weren't expecting to go swimming because it was pretty cold, but Cameron went into the water in his underwear (and refuses to let me post pictures). Addy also fell in the water so turns out they should have just worn suits:)  They saw a bunch of fish and ducks and even a deer. 

The kids love doing crazy things on these trips because they are with another dad and his 2 kids,  that means lots of standing and rocking the boat. Pretty much all the things that make me nervous and uncomfortable. Good thing for the kids (and me!) that I wasn't there to imagine all of the things that could go wrong! 

Quotes From Cameron

 I'm terrible these days about writing down the funny things the kids say but I do remember a couple that Cameron has had lately. The other week we watched Rudy as a family and the next day Cameron and I were talking about it and I told him how it was important to him to remember that he can be anything he wants and that anything is possible when you work hard and believe you can do it. To which he said, "yeah except for the things that are not possible, so the saying should be you can do anything, except for the things that are not possible." Definitely true for a 7 year old boy who dreams of being a storm trooper and using the force. I guess anything is possible except for the things that aren't. 

A few days later Brian was leaving to run some errands and said to Cameron, "now don't get into any mischief while I'm gone." Cameron promptly responded with, "why do adults say that to kids, that just makes us think, hmmm...I wonder what sort of mischief I could get into." And then proceeded to lecture Brian that adults should know better than to give kids ideas of how to get into trouble so therefore we should never say anything about not doing anything that will get them in trouble. The kid makes a strong point.