All Hallow's Eve 2020

We carved pumpkins the day before Halloween.  Hannah actually carved hers this year.  She did Iron man.

                     

Genevieve carved Loki and wrote, "In the end you will always kneel" on the back of it.

Isaac carved a howling wolf silhouette.

Drew and Judah carved faces.  Drew actually drew and carved his own this year for the first time.  Bob wanted to paint his like a bat that he saw in a kid's magazine.  He painted, cut and glued it all himself, but I helped draw the wings, ears, and eyes.

The girls were trying to figure out how to get candy without really dressing up.  I told them face paint and so that's what they ended up going with.

Hannah drew the web, and I drew on the spider.

Drew was King Arthur.  He made his own crown and I threw together his tunic.

Judah took Drew's costume of the last few years and dressed up like Luke Skywalker.

Bob, AKA The Flash, was running fast.

Genna drew this web on her own face.

The boys are back in town!

Let's get some candy and meet our new neighbors!

We first went around our new neighborhood.  There were so many people outside at tables in their yards, that it was fun to get to see people and meet a few.  Brian stopped to talk to one of the guys at one of the first houses and just kept talking so we left him and caught up with him later.  Just in our small section, the kids all had overflowing buckets.  We stopped by the house to dump candy out and then drove down the street to my sister's neighborhood.  We went trick-or-treating again with the cousins, but only to about 8 more houses.  The houses there are very far apart and take a while to walk up each driveway.

Once we made it over to my sister's he was able to borrow his cousin's Jack Sparrow hat.

Brian never dresses up, but he got this idea to be the cranberry guy from some video he saw online.  I don't know, but he was excited about it.  He had our resident budding cosmetologist, Genna, drew on a mustache for him.

 

Pumpkin Patch 2020

Instead of family dinner one Sunday in October, we went with my my sister's family to a "Pumpkin Patch" which turned out to be more of an area that they charge you to get into (under a overpass) and they bring in pumpkins and dump them on the ground.  Not quite the pumpkin patches we had in Germany or Maryland where we rode a tractor out to a big muddy field and picked our pumpkin straight from where it grew followed by getting some cider or hot chocolate at the end when we paid for the pumpkins.  There was plenty to do, but most involved more money.  The petting zoo here was fun though, and it's always great to have fun with cousins.

There was a turkey in a pen with a bunch of ducks.  Ducks are still Bobby's favorite, and so he and I went back to see them after getting a pumpkin.  The night before Brian and I had been in a turkey calling contest and won somehow although I had just learned to do the female turkey call.  It suddenly occurred to me that I could try out my new skill.  The male turkey had been wandering around the middle the whole time and wouldn't come near the side.  I did my female turkey call a bunch of times, he stopped an looked at me, then started coming closer and closer till he was right next to the fence.  I was so surprised that it actually worked.

There was a hay maze for little ones and a few swings too.  Dylan and Savanna rode a horse, but when I asked Dylan if he was going to ride he told me they were too stinky which is funny because he has such a sensitive nose for a young boy.  The kids had fun, and the pumpkins weren't too expensive which was good since we have to get six.  

Our One Month Homeschool from the Beach Trip

Breaking up the Quarantine Blues

I rented this beach condo back when my trip to Europe was cancelled in May.  My mom always rents one for a month and we typically spend every weekend down there visiting and enjoying the beach.  This year it seemed possible that the virus might still be causing trouble with schools reopening, so I took a chance and decided if the big kids weren't able to go the whole month, it would at least be easier to come and go without dragging our stuff back and forth.  Plus, the one month rate is pretty much cheaper than renting for just all of the weekends.  

Well, September rolls around and we have the chance to keep them home for the whole first quarter and we took it.  We packed up our 3 laptops and a printer/scanner, all their textbooks (not to mention all the three youngest's school books), and a card table and headed to the beach.  Praying the whole time that the wifi could handle the three of them online at the same time from 8am to 2:40pm every weekday.  (Yes, it's too much screen time, but that's a topic for another time.)  Brian wasn't able to stay during the weekdays, but he came down most of the weekends.

On the ferry to the island to hunt for shells.

So, it was cramped during school time, but it totally worked.  We did it, and it was great!  Most weekdays, I would get the little ones started on their independent work and then go on a walk alone on the beach.  Then I'd come back and do schoolwork all morning with the littles.  After lunch together with the bigger three, we'd head out to the beach or pool for the afternoon.  The older kids would join us if they could after school was out.  

Listening for the ocean in some of the shells on the island.

One day we went with my brother and his family to an island that was supposed to have good shells and fishing.  My brother went fishing, and my sister-in-law and the kids went shell hunting.  The big kids had to stay back at the condo to do school. There had been a tropical storm in the gulf that had brought up so many amazing whole shells. We picked the exact right day because my mom went after us and there were no more shells.

A pelican close by the boys.

Snack time on the island

Waiting for the ferry to go back after a long day

Judah, Turner, and Hannah watching a movie

By the pool

Out at dinner with their cousin

Once we returned home, the kids were eager to take their rock painting and apply it to the buckets of shells we brought back.  They are planning to sell them at the Children's Christmas Bazaar.

Genevieve's Painted Shells

Isaac's Painted Shells

Drew's Painted Shells

Hannah's Painted Shells

Hannah's Work, as well

 

Drew's Nine Year Old Birthday

Holding Hannah and Genevieve's cards for his birthday!

 

Drew turned 9 on a Sunday back in September.  Unfortunately for him, we were dealing with Isaac having really scary high fevers still on his birthday.  So, only some of us went to church in person that day.  We had to cancel our family Sunday dinner plans.  (Isaac ended up going back to the ER on Monday morning because he was still having high fevers and our family doctor would not see him in person.  She recommended I take him to the ER and get COVID and strep tests done.  The COVID was negative and the strep was positive.  Antibiotics did do the trick, but I was never convinced he had strep since he had no throat symptoms at all.  Thankfully, he did get better though!)

Anyway, poor Drewy's birthday plans were delayed.  We stayed home watched a movie, played a family game, made some brownies, and watched his baby videos.  He had a good day and never once complained that it wasn't special or a fun day.  I'm so glad we were able to make it special for him under the circumstances.  He got some seriously nice cards from his immediate family members.

Since he wanted a Green Ember cake, I made his card to match.  In case you don't know, Green Ember is a book series about rabbits with swords that he has read and reread all summer long and continues to do so.

Although, hard to see on the screen, it is adorable and had to be put on here.  This is one side of Bob's card for Drew.  It is a picture of me (mom) and Drew holding a baby.  That is because the 9 year old privilege in our home is to hold babies while standing or walking.  This is the first time there hasn't been a baby in the house when one of my kids turns 9, so it was a bit of a let down for him.  The other privilege is a special talk/date with mom or dad which he'll get later in the year. 

So the delayed family "party" was the following weekend at the beach.  I baked and decorated this cake before we left for our one month beach trip and we took it with us.

I wrote "Till the Green Ember Rises" around the sides of the cake.

Happy birthday, my sweet huggable Drew!