Mason, Rylan, and Elli,
This year is somehow speeding by, despite all the weirdness and stress that it has brought. So here was our October.
To start out, this first thing really happened at the end of September, but my pictures got out of order, so I’m putting them in here so they don’t get skipped. Elli, you got to have an “Elli Pooped on the Potty Party” with the boys and Nonni. She planned many poop themed things for the three of you- games, snacks, crafts, and a movie. You all loved it. Elle, even though you weren’t consistently pooping on the potty at that time, you were by just a couple weeks later!
For Fall Opening Ceremonies this year, we stopped at the Stuarts Draft Farmer’s Market to get some (surprisingly not local) apple cider, then drove up on the mountain to grill hot dogs and eat macaroni and cheese. We listened to fall music in the car, and then when we got home, we watched Little House on the Prairie and ate snickerdoodles. It was cold on the mountain, and we weren’t up there long, but it was fun.
We had a couple movie nights (we watched Cinderella once and Lady and the Tramp the other time, I think) and one park day with Nichole and her kids. Lifegroup moved to the fire pit at church during October. It never got too cold, and sometimes we had hot dogs or cookies.
Since Daddy had a week of vacation in October, we decided to do a little weekend vacation. We picked you boys up early from school, then we drove to Blacksburg. Daddy knew of a mountain bike park place that you could ride for free. We went there first, and I hated it because there were more gnats than I even explain; they were flying in my face the whole time and I couldn’t think about anything else. But you three had fun. After a little while we went to the hotel to check in and for Elli to lay down for a nap, and then Daddy took you two back to the bike park to ride more until supper.
While y’all were riding bikes again, I ordered pizza for supper, and you picked it up on your way back to the hotel. After we ate, we went swimming in the hotel pool. I was pretty surprised we were allowed to use the pool during Covid, and we were all very happy that we could. Everyone was tired and slept really well that night. There was a pull-out couch too, so everyone had a bed to sleep in.
We knew it was supposed to rain all day Saturday, which is why we made a point to do the bike stuff on Friday. We went down and had breakfast in the hotel- that was the most disappointing part of Covid changes to me- I wasn’t impressed with the pre-packaged breakfast. But Mason, you really liked it, especially the muffins. We had time to go swimming again after that, before we checked out, which was nice because of the rain. We drove around Virginia Tech’s campus on our way out of town, since we hadn’t been there before. On the way home, we stopped at a place that served Boba! We were looking for coffee, and when we saw that, we thought it would be fun to share that California treat with you three. Mason you liked it the most, but near the end of the cup you were tired of it. We also got coffee and gelato there, so it was a fun stop.
Elle Belle, you got to go on a date with Daddy in October. He took you to Donuts Delight, and you wanted to dress up very beautifully for it. You really did look beautiful. I think he said you ordered biscuits and gravy, plus a donut.
We went on our yearly drive to look at fall leaves around Stuarts Draft on roads connecting Stuarts Draft to Greenville one Saturday. The scenery is so pretty on those back roads. (But looking back at these pictures, it looks like the leaves would have looked a lot more fall-ish a week or two later; it was just the only opportunity to go). We had hot chocolate in the car and listened to Adventures in Odyssey.
You boys decided to do a job where you switched Elli’s pink car’s tires for the Gator’s tires. The job proved to be more difficult than you first thought, and you left it undone after an hour or two of work….and Elli’s car has not been back on the road since. It seems to have some other issue that must have happened during the tire switching, because even when Daddy put the tires back on, something is causing it not to move.
Elle, the picture on the left is how I felt like your hair looked every day. You cried when I brushed it, it was constantly tangly, and growing out your bangs completed the homeless look. So I finally decided to give you a big hair cut. I watched a couple YouTube videos, then I just did it. Honestly, it looks so cute. It’s so easy to brush now, and your bangs no longer look terrible, even though I didn’t cut them at all.
One Saturday in October, the church had an outdoor family day, with games and supper provided. It also ended with a surprise church service. It was supposed to be church on the lawn on the next morning, but they found out it was going to rain on Sunday, so they decided to film the service on Saturday instead. It was actually the nicest temperature out of all the “church on the lawn” days that we’ve had this year. Elli, you played with Harper and Jackson and Kaylynn. Boys, I think you mostly played with the Erdmans.
This year, we wanted to do our Family Fun night again, and because of schedules, we realized that Halloween was probably the best day to do it. And because of how much I really hate all things Halloween (the cold, the pressure to get costumes, the time crunch to get to the church in time to not be in line for 3 hours, knowing how I usually have to do all of it on my own because Daddy is working, the insane amount of candy, the creepiness……) I loved the idea of doing something I actually think is fun on that day instead. Nichole and I thought of getting all our dress up clothes out for all the kids to change into during the night whenever y’all wanted. So anyway, in the morning of Halloween, we had a family day for school at the Frontier Culture Museum. We weren’t there long, and I was able to talk to Jenny during it, which is always nice. So that was a good start to the morning. Then we stopped at 2 stores that gave the three of you candy. And then in the evening we had our party. Nichole’s family came and Candace and 2 of her kids came. We had soup, hot dogs, tortilla chips and sausage/cheese dip, pumpkin dip with gingersnaps, s’mores, hot chocolate, and apple cider. We stayed inside a lot of the time, but we were outside to do the s’mores, and we didn’t freeze too much. It was fun for everyone, plus I felt none of the typical Halloween stress. Win-win-win.
Mason, you are recently loving the horse that I think you got at Harley’s 2nd birthday party. You use it both as a cowboy and then also as a gun (I think you’re still a cowboy at that point too). You are still liking school, especially learning about history and hearing books read. During your parent/teacher conference, Mrs. Riddle said you’re reading on 3rd/4th grade level, which is a huge improvement this year! You’re no longer hesitant to read things on your own at home. You are also turning into a fantastic writer! She showed me one journal essay you had written about your pogo stick injury over the summer. Your writing was much more descriptive than mine. You still hate the physical act of writing things, and you don’t like spelling, but when you don’t worry about those things and get the story from your mind onto the paper, it’s amazing.
Ry Baby, you are still so sweet. Your smile is contagious, you can still curl into little balls, and you’re just too cute. Since Mommy and Daddy stopped taking you to school in the mornings (it’s been either Nonni or Mrs. Showalter every day), you haven’t had any trouble going in. You’ve only hesitated a few times when leaving the house, and it’s never been TOO terrible. You love school, although I guess you still think it’s uncool to admit that. You’re really good at riding your bike, and you also have a full six pack and surprisingly big biceps. (All 3 of you practice showing off your muscles a lot). You are creative and you can get excited about almost anything.
Elli, we are having fun at home together. Sometimes in the mornings you’ll sit quietly with me while I read (I’m not sure the boys ever did that). You copy a lot of the things the boys do, like listen to Adventures in Odyssey in your room. You’re good at playing by yourself but also at playing with others. Your speech is almost like you’d never had any trouble at all. I feel bad when you talk about wanting to go to “your school,” but you don’t even need speech anymore! Also, you are surprisingly responsible and good at following directions and helping others. Your favorite foods are goldfish (or almost any kind of crackers), Ramen, and yogurt.
And here are the quotes!
“And Santa said, ‘No ma’am,’ to Jesus.”
“Why did Nonni let you have those green carrots?”
“It doesn’t taste very good. That’s city milk, not well milk.”
“I wish you didn’t have to breathe on your workout. Breathing is terrible!”
“Mommy, aren’t you glad they aren’t saying, ‘Please put your mask on, ma’am’?”
“Maybe I’ll have a son and name him ‘75 Cents.’”
“Nobody said anything about my haircut, but Mrs. Riddle did make a comment about my ears.”