Wm and I have been enjoying our winter break! Wm went to the dentist and got a clean bill of health (and went back alone for the first time!) Suzanne and I went to lunch and took a walk (and ate Christmas cookies!) Today, Mimi took us to see the movie Sing. Steve took a half day and he and I took a walk after lunch, then he took Wm to his violin lesson. It was great!! I think today may end the warm(ish) temps and sunshine, so I'm glad I got lots of walking in!! Wm has been playing with his Christmas haul and having a grand time.
This weekend, we plan our annual pizza and apps and movies for New Year's Eve. I'm looking forward to it!! Steve and I return to work on Tuesday and Wm goes back to school Wednesday. So the end is nigh. But we are going to enjoy every last minute of our winter vaca!
I can't wait to take the Christmas tree down (which we do every New Year's day). I am so sick of the devil cat and the tree. Here he is looking super guilty after he was busted:
Notice the water bottle aimed at him
Shortly thereafter, I tried to read and he decided it was Schroeder Snuggle Time. He's a pain in the ass. But he's also a soft, warm, purr-machine - which is very soothing!!
And now we are having what appears to be a crazy wind storm. Here's hoping the power doesn't go out!!
I wrote a long post about Christmas and then it got erased. So now I'm going to do a fast version. Here we go...
Xmas Eve cookie making
Frosting!
Sprinkle Master!
Cookies!
Christmas Eve: Great dinner (pork roast, whipped sweet potatoes, baked apples, and homemade bread), Xmas movie (Home Alone), and one present for Wm (warm, soft jammies).
Xmas Eve present!
Christmas morning: up at 6:30, favorite present is weird robot thing named Cozmo. Very pleased!
Cozmo!
Wm disappeared with Cozmo and we didn't see him again until the grandparents showed up with more presents! I spent my time hanging with people instead of taking pictures, so I've got nothing. Other than what the tree looked like once everyone was here! It was bananas! The presents weren't the best part - spending time with everyone and having a great visit was the best! It was a great Christmas!!
Wm is officially on winter break. And officially has a man-boy cold. I took him to work with me this morning and he was so pathetic that we left at lunch and came home. He scurried up to his room and after I didn't hear from him for a while, I called up.
Me: How are you feeling?
Wm: TERRIBLE.
Me: Do you want some medicine?
Wm: No.
Me: Do you want me to bring you a warm blanket to snuggle in?
Wm: No.
Me: Do you want to be evil and disagreeable?
Wm: Yes.
So then about 15 minutes later, I texted him this. His reply killed me.
Here's hoping he's better by Christmas and doesn't manage to infect us with his germs!
Best Siri conversation ever. (It is important to note that I changed Steve's name in his phone so that it thinks he is named Turd Ferguson. So every time he talks to Siri, that's what she calls him. Because I'm awesome.)
Steve: [To Wm] Are you SERIOUS?
Wm: Huh?
Siri: BING BING. [thinking Steve said "Hey, Siri"]
Steve: I said, are you SERIOUS?
Siri: I'm always serious, Turd Ferguson.
YESSSSS. That is the best possible outcome of changing Steve's name to Turd Ferguson in his phone.
Also, I made shepherd's pie for dinner last night. In with the meat, I mixed onions, garlic, carrots, peas, and green beans. Of course, on top were mashed potatoes. And guess what. GUESS. Wm ate it!! I have no idea why or how or what happened. All I know is that he ate it. HE. ATE. IT. (Perhaps it was because we had our office cookie exchange and party and I had a giant box filled with delicious cookies for dessert!)
For Steve's 40th birthday, I rented us a cabin in the Hocking Hills for the weekend. We've been there before and the best part is the fancy restaurant! We woke up to some CRAZY weather on Saturday morning that included sleet, ice, and freezing rain. We made a break for it, despite the death-defying conditions (we couldn't even see downtown as we drove right by it!) Interestingly, by the time we got 15 minutes outside of Columbus, the temperature started creeping up. The roads were fine and there was no weather happening. By the time we got to the cabin, it was in the 50's!
Sadly, they got a new chef at the restaurant and the food was MAJORLY disappointing (but still majorly expensive!) We went back to the cabin and snuggled up and watched a movie and played games. But then the weather must have reached us because it started POURING rain. Shortly thereafter, the power went out. And then Wm freaked out. So it was a long night in which no one got much sleep!
We were afraid it would be icy for the return trip since the temps had fallen below freezing, but the only slick street was our own! So we made it home uneventfully. Despite the sub-par food and sleepless night, Steve said he had a good time!! It wasn't the blissful getaway I had envisioned, but it was still a good time! And we made a decision to begin celebrating Steve's birthday on his half birthday from here on out. This cold weather pre-Christmas birthday business is for the birds. Here's to warm weather parties and presents!
Steve is Forty! I think (hope!) Steve had a great birthday! Wm and I (mostly I) decorated the house all up after school. I hung a happy birthday banner and strung black streamers everywhere, blew up 35 black balloons and had a giant black paper ball hanging from the ceiling. When Steve walked in, Wm and I screamed, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" and sprayed him with silly string. Then we had his favorite dinner and he got his favorite treats from Starbucks. He's been wanting to watch Creed forever, so then we (sans Wm), snuggled up under some blankets to watch. And Steve guessed his big surprise, so it's not much of a big surprise anymore. But, hopefully, he still likes it!!
Notice Wm "helping" by eating a snack.
Silly stringed!
After we silly stringed Steve, Wm goes, "I knew the silly string would be fun...but I had no idea it would be that fun!" I'm not sure Steve 100% agreed, but Wm and I cleaned it all up, so he was happier.
Sadly, Wm woke up this morning and said his throat hurts "like fire." So he may be sick for Steve's birthday trip! Fingers crossed it feels better as the day goes on!
I found a snap of Wm on the spelling bee stage on the school Facebook page. I thought it was a good shot of the action!
Wm has had a very busy day! First, this morning, he was in the spelling bee. He made it to the 4th round, but was stumped by the word "reggae." Which is crazy hard and evil! When I was at the school later, I told his teacher that I was calling shenanigans on that one. I wasn't able to go to the spelling bee, but Mimi represented The William Fan Base. Here is a video she took of Wm's first word:
Later in the day, they had something of a very early rehearsal/here's what we've been up to performance of his dance thing called Momentum. I snuck out of work a bit early and went to catch that. Wm did great! Here he is beforehand, chillaxing:
Wm is in the bright orange shirt
I also took some video of the dance numbers. Keep an eye out for that orange shirt!
Snow fell all day today and we had at least 3 inches by the time school was over. Wm got to leave school with me a bit early, so we came home and shoveled and had a snowball fight and ran around like maniacs. It was great fun, but now I'm exhausted! Our backyard looks amazing!
Winter wonderland!
Steve's Mega Birthday celebrations continue. We celebrated with Mimi and Guy last weekend. On Thursday, his actual birthday, I have a surprise in store for him (Wm is very excited to participate!) and a nice dinner. Then, his BIG surprise is this weekend! I have been prepping for it all week. Steve has no idea! Mooohahaha!
Steve is at the movies, alone, and is eating dinner there as well. Why? Because he popped my tire in a fit of road rage/road impatience. My tires are 5+ years old and apparently have dry rot anyway, so we decided to just replace them all. With the snow, everything was late, so while they did the tires, he went out to eat and to see a movie. So Wm and I had a mother-son dinner and have been hanging out solo. But Steve should be home soon! And I will have all new tires! And a giant bill at Christmas time. Hopefully Steve has learned a lesson about polite driving! (But he probably didn't...)
While driving to his violin lesson...
Wm: I just farted.
Me: Gross. Well, get them all out now so you don't fart all over Susan.
Wm: I farted again. It was like a [REDACTED] fart.
Me: No, it wasn't. I didn't even hear it. Her farts are loud bubble farts.
Wm: Aren't all farts butthole farts?
Me: Wait. What?
Wm: Aren't ALL farts butthole farts?
Me: BUBBLE farts! Not butthole farts! Ew, man.
Wm: [laughed so hard he gave himself the hiccups and had to start his violin lesson still hiccuping!]
Wm has gone on his middle school tours! We toured 2 schools: the STEM alternative school that is lottery-based and the Gifted Academy that Wm qualifies to attend. Both were very non-traditional schools that we think would be a great fit for Wm and he (and we!) really liked both. So that was great! 2 good options.
The funny thing is that when we showed up for the tour of the Gifted Academy, 2 of Wm's closest friends were on the same tour! We had no idea, so that was crazy! Wm already has a few friends, including our neighbor, who go to the Gifted Academy. And he will, for sure, have a couple more who attend starting in middle school. It also has a very unique learning structure with kids doing "off campus experiences" at least once a week. Kids are encouraged to express their individuality and the principal was like, "we welcome the wiggles!" The kids are always up and moving and full of action all the time anyway, so Wm wouldn't be forced to sit still for long. We spoke with a student tour guide who said there is no bullying and that "we are all nerds here!" Wm loved that! But it is located in German Village and would be an hour bus ride from our house. They are moving locations, but have no idea where yet. A LOT rides on where they end up!! There is also no official high school tie-in, so we'd be in a similar situation in 3 years.
The STEM school shares a parking lot with my office (it partners with OSU), so it couldn't be more convenient. It was even more non-traditional than the Gifted Academy. Students take super fun sounding classes (such as a Chemistry-based class called Potions which blew Wm's mind!) He got to sit in a on a class where the day's project was building solar powered ovens with which they were going to make s'mores. The school is very project-based and technology focused. The building itself was very impressive and the student body was amazing (and amazingly diverse - which is great)! Our student tour guide there said, "being called a nerd here is a compliment!" Wm LOVED the STEM school and really wants to go there. Which is surprising, because he would know no one there. I am proud of him for picking the school that he thinks is the best fit for him instead of just following his friends! And his reasons are really well thought out, I think. They include: he loves the focus on technology and project learning, he really likes that it is mastery-based (no grades, kids work until they reach 90% mastery and then move on to the next class so all classes have a mix of 6-7-8 graders working toward mastery), and he was really impressed with the course offerings. They have a high school on site, where Wm would just continue. The only problem with the STEM school is that it is lottery-based and only 1/3 of kids get in. Wm came home and immediately filled out the lottery application (and wrote the accompanying essay in short order!)
So both schools have major pluses, and a drawback. If Wm gets into the STEM school, it's a no-brainer for him. But, even if he doesn't, we feel like he has a really good back up. We are REALLY glad we decided to stay put. Both of these schools seem tailor-made for Wm and we are excited about the opportunity for him to go to either! Yay!!! I think Wm is feeling a bit calmer about middle school now that he's seen them. He also LOVED that both middle schools have a very relaxed cell phone policy. I really liked that both were like, "if a parent calls or texts, OBVIOUSLY, you answer it and no one cares." YES. (His elementary school rule is that kids can have phones, but they must be off and in the backpack all day.)
Lastly, just for fun, my hobby is sending Steve click bait articles that ruin something he loves. It's a good time. He seemed to enjoy this one:
Steve and I started dating 20 years ago today! 20 years! So old. And Steve turns 40 in 2 weeks! And here I thought we'd be 19 forever! Now when my students show up and are all, "my finance and I..." all I can think is, "YOU'RE A BABY! What!!??" But I was absolutely sure as soon as I met Steve that he was the one for me. And I've never looked back! (Steve may have peeked over his shoulder a few times!) We are celebrating tonight by cuddling up and watching French Kiss. A movie we watched a thousand times in the first few weeks we were dating ("watched" is code for made out like lunatics while it played in the background). Here's to 20 years!
Youngsters and Weird Drew Face
We had a great weekend, where we didn't do much, but seemed to be incredibly busy. We got a lot done around the place, Wm had a friend over, and Suzanne and Graham came over for dinner on Saturday. I made Italian bread and it was a hit!
This week, we go on Wm's middle school tours. He's super excited!! Afterwards, we need to fill out the lottery application for the STEM school. It's not due until February, but better safe than sorry! I think Wm is getting a bit nervous as it all starts to seem kind of real. I have a pretty strong suspicion he'll end up at the Gifted Academy - with all his friends. Which is A-OK!
Our internet has been out for 3 days. The cable company is FINALLY coming out today to fix it. So we've been forced to actually talk to each other. It's been a nightmare. The person who is taking it best is Wm. He has discovered some video editing thing on his iPad and has been diligently making movies with his usual screen time. So he has been busy. And I never realized how many times I just peak at the internet really fast for little things. Dinner recipes, argument settling (it totally WAS Brad Pitt in that movie!), weather checking, Instagram looking, pre-walk podcast downloading...so many things!
Wm showed up home from school with an amigo afoot yesterday. He asked if he could stay to play, but I really wanted to take my wog and I couldn't leave them both home alone...so I was all, "we're busy." After the friend left, I felt a little bad and was like, "are you upset that I said no?" And Wm goes, "NO. THANK YOU. I wasn't in the mood for company. I see friends all day at school. After school is my quiet time." That's m'boy! So we have now developed a code for if he reeeeeally wants the friend to stay or when he does not so I can be the bad guy (I am used to this role with Steve who is majorly conflict-avoidant). I realize better parenting would have been to have a talk with Wm about being honest with his friends and just telling them that he needs some downtime. But...whatevs, Wm is socially awkward and this saves everyone a bunch of blood, sweat, and tears.
And Steve has spent the last few days locked in battle with the cat, who really wants to take the low ornaments off the Christmas tree and hide and/or eat them. He has tried menacing the cat, lecturing the cat, squirting the cat with water, screaming at the cat, and pleading with the cat. To no avail. It's all pretty entertaining.
Yesterday was a scary day on campus! First, for those that may not know, my office is a couple miles removed from main campus (I'm sandwiched between Upper Arlington and Grandview out with the cows). So if you hear about something happening at OSU, it's very likely I'm perfectly safe. That means that I was never in any danger (or even perceived danger) yesterday at all. But, all our phones buzzed with a Buckeye Alert just before 10am that said there was an active shooter on campus and gave his location as near Watts Hall. While that is nowhere near me, I have many friends with offices in that area since it is smack in the middle of the Engineering corridor. All of OSU went on lockdown (at which I sucked and snuck out to pee after a while - so I will definitely be the weak link if there is ever a real emergency way out here). We were on lockdown for a few hours while various stories (nearly all of which turned out to be false) circulated. My coworkers and I all sat together and listened to the police scanner and madly searched the internet for news. Just before noon, the Alert was lifted and our department chair sent us all home.
(Interesting side note in case of future emergency: Thank you to everyone who called and texted to make sure I was OK! I think the phone systems must have overloaded, because no calls came through until a couple hours later. But all texts came through immediately. So, if you are ever in an emergency situation: text, don't call! My department chair survived Hurricane Katrina and said the same thing happened then.)
It turns out there was never an active shooter or any guns involved. A crazed student drove his car into a crowd of people on the sidewalk and got out and started slashing at them with a knife. An OSU police officer responded in under a minute and had to shoot and kill the attacker after he refused to put his knife down. So the entire event took less than a couple minutes and no one was killed, other than the attacker. But it was very scary and traumatic for a number of my friends in the area. More than one of them actually saw the attacker killed and his body laying there from their office windows. The police then came into the buildings, guns drawn, and had everyone leave so they could sweep the buildings to make sure they were safe. While necessary, that was pretty scary for them! Most didn't have coats, purses, keys, etc. So they had to stand out in the cold for hours while the buildings were investigated. So, it was a very long, exhausting, traumatic day for most employees in Engineering. In fact, all the action went down EXACTLY where they are moving my department in a few years. I will relish my last 3-4 years out here on west campus!
I told Wm what happened when he got home from school, because I know he'll hear about it. I focused on the fact that neither I, nor even our friends at the scene, were ever in real danger because the police responded so quickly and so well. I also stressed that no one was killed and that this is a very rare event. Wm was sad that it happened, but was, as usual, unfazed. His school had actually had indoor recess just to keep the kids inside while all of this unfolded, and Wm had no idea why. He was like, "waaaaait...is this why we had to have indoor recess?" He was happy to know his school is keeping him safe!
And, to lighten the mood, here are the Boys (including the furry one) playing cards:
We have had a great holiday weekend so far! Wm and I were off on Wednesday and I spent the day in the kitchen while Wm screened it up. I made cheddar biscuits for breakfast, pie, and corn casserole - then really good sweet potato and black bean burritos for dinner! Steve made all this much easier by getting me a KitchenAid mixer! Woot!!
On Thursday, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's for a great Thanksgiving. We had lots of fun, ate great foods, and hung out with the whole crew! It was a banner year, since we hit no traffic - and no rain or snow!
As is our tradition, we put up the Christmas tree and holiday decorations on Friday. We are feeling very festive!
We hit up RedBox last night and got the new X-Men movie. Wm LOVED it and now wants to watch them all (he said Professor X looks better bald because it is "more elegant"). Steve and I went to Trader Joe's today to pick up somethings and got hot chocolate mix and fancy marshmallows. We figure we can have a movie and cocoa night tonight! Wm has spent his day making a Google Slides presentation about astronomy. I actually learned quite a bit about the galaxy!
Steve was sad he didn't have turkey sandwiches, so I decided to make him one of his favorite dinners tonight: sloppy joes! (I am making the healthy recipe I have that Wm and I like way better and Steve doesn't seem to notice.) AND, to make it extra special for Steve, I made homemade hamburger buns. (Thank you, KitchenAid mixer!) I'm serving them with Steve's most favoritest thing in the entire world: tater tots (and some sneaky carrots).
From scratch buns! And minis for Wm.
I go get all my hair chopped off tomorrow. So everyone is having a grand time!
We celebrated the beginning of winter weather with some Starbucks peppermint hot chocolate! (Well, Steve did get some weird coffee drink that included caramel and god knows what else.)
Cheers!
And Steve is, as previously stated, the best husband ever! I went up to bed and he was cross-stitching away and listening to sports podcasts. He also told me a super cute story about how he made a cross-stitched snowman ornament for his 3rd grade teacher. I woke up this morning and he had made 3 times the progress that I had in half the time. And, of course, it was perfect. STEEEEEVE! Always making me look bad. In retaliation, I am making buttermilk biscuits and plan to use the bacon grease I have been saving in the fridge in place of shortening. We'll just see whose cholesterol is over 200 again at their next appointment! Moooooahahahaah! (Spoiler alert: it will be Steve's.)
We finally got see Fantastics Beasts and Where to Find Them yesterday! Steve and I really liked it - but Wm said he was disappointed. Apparently, he thought Harry Potter would make a cameo (despite not being born yet in the timeline). But, when we came out, it was snowing like crazy! None stuck, but we had our official first snow of the season. And it was 72 degrees the day before. How I'm not deathly sick, I'll never know. [knock on wood]
Today, I went to Friendsgiving at Suzanne's house. When I left, this is what the Two Sleepyheads were up to:
Snugglin'
Suzanne always encourages the bringing of craft projects to Friendsgiving. So, this year, I found an awesome cross stitch that I wanted to do. I have no idea how to cross stitch. But, Suzanne swore she would teach me. So, I arrived with all the fixin's to make this:
However, after 3 solid hours of work, I had this:
Almost every letter has some kind of mistake. Suzanne was very kind about my horrible crafting ability, but Steve was disgusted by my lack of perfection. I told him that he can finish it and we'll just see how he does. So...that's my Christmas present! Steve has been saying he needs a hobby, so doing a vagina themed cross stitch is PERFECT. Plus, I am going to hang that thing and light it up with a spot light and tell everyone, "My husband made this for me." SUPER EXCITED. Take that, Pence. VAGINA.
Wm and I have a 2 day week next week! WOOOOOT. Steve works on Wednesday, of course. Then we head to NE Ohio on Thursday for Turkey Day!
Me: [comes back inside after my walk\jog] UGH.
Wm: Did you go far today?
Me: Kind of. But, it was a slog this time.
Wm: Did you get your best time ever?
Me: NO. My worst. I wasn't feeling it today - I was slow. It was rough.
Wm: Do you have your period or something?
Also, I thought this was cute....
Wm: [comes home from school]
Me: Did you have a good day?
Wm: A GREAT day!
Me: Wow! Awesome! What happened?
Wm: Well, I tried my best to be kind to everyone. I have found that you always have a good day when you're kind.
To wrap up, some bragging:
They did their benchmarking test in Reading yesterday (they are doing these tests with all the kiddos moving to middle school to see where they should be placed in various classes). Wm's teacher called him aside and said that, based on his score on the 5th grade test, he needed to take the 6th grade test. After she scored that one, she pulled him out again and said he needed to take the 7th grade test. So after she scored that one, I guess she went and got him again and before she could even speak, he was like, "NO MORE TESTS!" Ha! She told him that she did want him to take the 8th grade test, but that he could wait until another day. Wm is basically going to start high school English in 6th grade at this point! However, yet again, I'm not really sure any of this matters at all since he won't be going to the district middle school. But...whatevs. It's good practice.
Wm has unearthed his old phone and now plays on dual phones. No. He's not a mega-nerd, why do you ask?
He plays some game where there is a chat function and you play against your friends. Have you ever tried to pull a 10 year old off his device when he is mid-game with 3 friends? It's a nightmare. A NIGHTMARE.
We had Wm's penultimate parent-teacher conference the other evening. Only one more left in his elementary career! Which is fine...they are a bit pointless even now. With 4 teachers who see him only about an hour and a half a day, it's not the same as when he had the same person all day every day and they got to know him super well. Still...Wm is not a kid who can be ignored. He was involved in Crayongate and we heard about it at conference. It went down like this:
Wm: [purposefully breaks crayon]
Teacher: Wm! Do not break crayons! You are eating your lunch with me today.
Wm: I didn't do it with malevolent intent.
Teacher: Well...good vocabulary. Still...
Wm: [smirk]
So that tends to stick in the old memory. But he's also cute, so he mostly gets away with it. While we conferenced, Wm went to the school book fair and spent his college fund on books. But he loves them!
At his violin lesson yesterday, they were working on harmonizing. Wm is playing May Song and his teacher is plays Twinkle Twinkle. The two songs sometimes come together, and sometime drift apart. It may not seem hard, but if you play an instrument, you know how difficult it is to keep time, and keep your place, while someone is playing a different song at the same time! I was very impressed with Wm's ability to manage it! Look at this face when he's done - so proud of himself!!
I found this text this morning as Wm madly texted me that the school bus didn't show up (awesome coordination by the middle school again!) After the bus madness got sorted, I scrolled up and saw this. It made me sad. Poor Wm is equally bummed. We were so confident. After Wm pushed the "Cast My Ballot" button to officially vote for Hillary, I said, "Dude. You just voted for the first female president!!!" If only.
Wm was over an hour late to school today because of The Bus Debacle. It will be bittersweet when this year is over. We will all really miss his elementary school, but we can't wait to get away from this middle school!!
Wm and his amigos have already updated their strange hand game to include Trump:
We spent yesterday with Wm's great grandpa. Who, I think, may be the first and only Trump supporter Wm has met in person. When they talk about living in a bubble...I guess we really do. We live in a neighborhood where 90% of people around us are liberal, I work at OSU (where the one conservative person in my department is tiptoed around since we all feel bad for him and his misguided ways), and Wm attends a very progressive school (where all the kids booed the one house around with a Trump sign in the yard during their Halloween parade).
But, Wm was REALLY good yesterday. Like, the best he has ever been. He sat on Great Papa's couch for nearly 2 hours, just nodding along and being, otherwise, nice and pleasant. He never looked bored or bothered. I'm not sure I could have done the same thing at 10! He then endured a trip to Great Papa's store and out to dinner, where none of the conversation or activities were geared toward a 10 year old's interests. I heaped praise on him on the car ride home, and he practically glowed. He's turning into a really kind and compassionate young man! Great Papa gave him his father's pocket watch (which, therefore, belonged to Wm's great great grandfather and is over 100 years old). Wm received it with the proper gravitas and now has it displayed in its little glass case. So, basically, he's the best. And he made the trip to see Great Papa a wonderful day!
Sadly, I was wrong about the release date of the new Harry Potter movie. Wm is pretty sad since he really wants to see it. Next weekend!! So we are laying around like giant slugs today!
And, if you haven't already seen this, get some tissues ready. Neither Steve nor I could watch it dry-eyed. We are still taking this all pretty hard.
Schroeder apparently ate the string off Wm's yo-yo. Last night, he started tearing around the house like a crazy cat and then ended his tear in the basement. He started making SUPER WEIRD noises. Steve finally got close enough to discover the string was hanging out of his cat butt. He had pooped out about a quarter of it, but the other bit was still inside him. After Steve chased him down, he had to pull the remainder of the string out of his cat ass. So that was pretty exciting. Wm, of course, thought all this was HILARIOUS. After the trauma, we gave Schroeder some treats for surviving, and he seemed fine. Steve, however, has PTSD.
I am off work today for Veteran's Day - woot! But The Boys still have work and school. The left about a half hour ago and I have bread rising and homemade stock in the fridge for chicken noodle soup tonight. Next on the agenda are reading, napping, and Netflixing. Alone days off are THE BEST.
Tomorrow, we head up to Marion to visit with Wm's great grandpa. And on Sunday, we are going to go to see the new Harry Potter world movie!
Wm takes a test next week to "benchmark" him for accelerated 7/8 Math next year. Since he currently has an A in 6th grade gifted Math, I think it's a good idea! I'm not exactly sure what happens with that once we change schools (since Wm won't be going to middle school where he is right now for math). But, it will be good to have the scores, I guess! I have arranged tours of the 2 middle schools we are considering for early December. Applications for the one are due in February and we find out in March if Wm was selected. For the other, Wm qualifies handily to attend Columbus Gifted Academy, so we know he can go there no matter what! The nice thing about that one, as well, is that he already has a number of friends that go there. And, I'm guessing a fair number that will also be heading there for middle school. If he gets into the magnet school, I think he will have to make all new friends! But, Wm seems undaunted. Before we tour, the STEM magnet school is his top choice! That may all change once he sees them. So exciting times!!
What I am telling myself this morning:
- At least it's not Ted Cruz. (Trump says crazy, horrific things, but Cruz BELIEVES crazy, horrific things.)
- I guess this slightly minimizes our chances of being nuked by Russia in the near future.
- Maybe in 4 years, after seeing what Trump does, the Republican party will implode and never be heard from again.
- Also, we really should have moved to Canada after I filled out the immigration info months ago and got the green light. Now the whole site has crashed and we are stuck.
Steve has a tournament at work, so he's been a busy guy this weekend. To make sure he has some fun when he is home, we had a cookout over an open flame. It's finally cool enough that the mosquitos are gone and it's fun to sit around a warm fire. So we set up a picnic lunch in the way back of our yard and had hotdogs and s'mores cooked over the open fire. Steve had a great time sitting out there and drinking a beer by the fire and relaxing after working all day!
Picnickin' like bosses
Cooking my hotdog
After dark s'mores
Daylight Savings Time ended at the right time for Steve! He got to sleep in an extra hour before heading back to work this morning. And it's a gorgeous day, so hopefully he is not having the worst time ever.
Wm, for sure, has been having a grand time. Yesterday, he dragged me to the park where we played Four Square, multiple games of HORSE, and tether ball. After that, I was exhausted, so Wm had a friend over to entertain him. Today, Wm and I went to Whole Foods and did the grocery shopping and then he went and played disc golf with Guy. We are about to take an Autumn Nature Walk in the ravine once we have digested lunch. He's making noises about forcing me back to the park, so I may have to arrange for another friend visit! Steve can keep up with that kid...I don't know how he does it! When I'm flying solo, I need an early bedtime!
Wm said this was his last trick or treat. We'll see if he changes his mind next year! But, he doesn't have much of a sweet tooth and he likes handing out candy - so, we'll see! He did say he still wants to dress up next year, but just to pass out candy, not go out. He said, "I feel weird going to the neighbors and begging for candy." HA! Here is he is on Beggars' Night:
Kylo Ren...heading out
The coolest house ever had zombies that crawled across the lawn, a bonfire, a fog machine, ghosts that turned and cackled as you walked by...the whole nine. The picture doesn't do it justice!
We went to Yellow Springs today and poked around their awesome downtown area and had lunch. Yellow Springs is super cool. There were tons of cool hippie shops and a bunch of anti war protestors around (and Hillary signs out the wazoo!)
William's Eatery!
After we went to Yellow Springs, we went hiking at Clifton Gorge. It was almost 80 degrees and super sunny, so it was really crowded. That was a bummer! I'm used to Hocking Hills - where even if it's "crowded," you can go places where you see no one! But, we still had fun and Wm enjoyed himself by developing a new "signature smirk." Spot it below...
Rock climbing
Made it to the top!
Signature Smirk
More smirking
After we got back from Clifton Gorge, we carved pumpkins. Trick or treat is Monday and tomorrow is going to be rainy, so it was our last chance!
Wm hard at work, Steve hardly working
Wm wanted to make a Hillary pumpkin and was super focused!
Steve finally on the job
The finished product!
All lit up!
To reward ourselves for all our hard work, we went for ice cream. Now Steve and Wm are watching Apollo 13 and I am going to take a shower and binge watch the entire 3rd season of The Fall!
Today was Wm's last Halloween party and parade! It was super sunny and 60 degrees, and the parade comes right down our street - so Mimi and I just sat on the front porch and waited for them to arrive. We almost missed Wm! He is dressed up as Kylo Ren (sans mask because he can't have his glasses on with the mask) from Star Wars.
He also had his last school Halloween party. Sadly, it was filled with healthy dairy/gluten/nut free "treats" because kids today are the literal worst. But, I think Wm still had fun!
We are heading to Yellow Springs tomorrow to shop around, lunch, and then hike at Clifton Gorge. It's going to be 77 degrees out! We are hoping for fall foliage with June temps! I'm sure pictures will follow...
