October on Facebook

It was a rough Monday morning for Isaac. Just as his second Zoom class for the day started he scowled, looked at me and said, "I want to poop on this class."

I believe that for a kindergartener that is the worst insult there is.

 

Teacher: elefante!

Class: elefante!

Isaac:

Me: Your teacher wants you to say "elefante"

Isaac: elefante-butt

Unexpected perk of online school: wardrobe changes between zoom sessions.

This afternoon Isaac is styling in a Hot Chocolate Race hat and one purple snow glove.

It's a eat a spoonful of nutella right out of the jar kind of day.

For science class, Isaac planted pumpkin seeds in dirt in a plastic cup. We don't have a good spot inside for it to get sun, so we sprayed it with water and I put it on the back porch. And then forgot all about it. It poured this weekend so now we have a plastic cup full of dirt soup with seeds floating in it.

That's right, I'm failing kindergarten science.

Conversation at dinner last night:

Me: Do you know what tomorrow is?

Ben: Tuesday? The 13th?

Me: It's Amazon Prime day!

Ben: Do we get the day off of school????

Me:

On the top of the list of things that are worrying Isaac this morning: he's afraid that Nana ate his highlighter because she "looks like a person who would eat a highlighter."

The silver lining of gluten encounter is that while I feel miserable at least it's NOT norovirus.

After complaining about how his 15 minute reading zoom meeting was too long, Isaac spent 30 minutes making a 1.5 minute long flipgrid movie.

Why don't any of the fitness apps have "dancing while ironing" as a workout option? It seems like 40 minutes with Maroon 5, The Weeknd, The Offspring, and Miley Cyrus should burn quite a few calories.

In an interesting turn of events, which I should have seen coming, some of our masks have migrated. I can only assume they've moved in with all of our missing socks and they all spend their days mocking us.

Today's Rookie Mistake PSA is brought to you by a mother of 4 who knows better but didn't do better: when the Amazon/Walmart/Target Christmas catalog comes in the mail, hide/dispose of it IMMEDIATELY or your children will come down with a severe and potentially incurable case of the "I want"s.

Farewell Orcats!

Ever practiced by the light of the moon? Well, these kids have. 

But all the practicing in the world can't control the spread of an infectious disease so with numbers climbing the season was cut 2 games and 2 practices short. 

They won 4, lost 1 and tied 1 - not a bad season when half the team was playing up 2 years.

 

Fall Leaves

 As it so happens, we don't actually have any trees in our backyard. However, our neighbors are the sharing kind so we enjoy the views of the cherry blossoms in the spring and just enough leaves to make a pile for Isaac to jump in for the fall.

Like I said, just enough. Just.

But if you crop a picture enough, then the whole world is full of leaves.

He was the only one of the boys who was interested in the foliage.

Eventually he got around to sharing the leafy fun with me.

And then he lay down and proclaimed himself "emperor of the leaves" before we had to head back into his next zoom class.

Between Zoom Meetings

A couple of weeks ago, we took Isaac out of the Dual Language Program and transferred him to the school he is zoned for. It was so sad in many ways, but also the best decision (for all of us). One of the benefits is FEWER and SHORTER Zoom meetings. So no more tears, but still a fair amount of whining.

We are having dry but chilly days lately, perfect for getting the wiggles out between meetings. This morning Isaac wanted to ride his bike, so we took a leisurely trip in the neighborhood stopping often to check out Halloween decorations and fungi.

Pumpkin Gutting, Carving, and Painting

Jason's Barbershop

Even before Covid-19, Jason has given the boys most of their haircuts. In fact, when we tried to take the three older boys a hair salon they were pretty unhappy because they didn't like women they didn't know touching their hair and heads. So back to home haircuts it is! 

No big complaints here because it is much less expensive this way. Though Jason may have some complaints because this isn't the best activity for his back.  

This morning Ben, Michael, and Isaac were all on the docket. Since Isaac's hair has been getting in his face and making it difficult to get his masks on, Jason gave him a trim.  Seen below.

However, Isaac had his own ideas. (It's a terrible thing sometimes that kids have their own ideas...) Part of me was dying, but I had to concede that he should have a say in his hair cut.  So out came the clippers.

::sob::

There is a perfectly tragic pile of curls on the floor of the bathroom, but a smile on the face of this boy who loves his new haircut.

Josh and His Pearly Whites

Just when he thought the day was never, ever going to come. Two years of metal and plastic and nagging have finally paid off.  (Literally, we just paid off his braces this month.)