Fall 2021

My goal with these posts lately was to be caught up by the time Gabriel's birthday rolled around again (since that was the last time I had posted anything).  His 9th birthday is tomorrow so it looks like it's actually going to get done!

Excited that we could (temporarily) eat inside Chick-fil-a again

The fall was filled with what seemed like "normal" things.  School, soccer, field trips, pumpkin patches, etc.  Every Monday Gabriel had violin and Corban had soccer.  On Tuesdays we had a meeting with the psychologist at VT and then our home group in the evening.  On Wednesdays Corban had piano and Gabriel had soccer.  On Saturday mornings we had soccer games.  The boys really enjoyed these things.

Watching Gabriel's soccer game

Both of the boys really enjoy school and their friends there.  The second week of school (just a few days after his birthday) Corban got RSV and was home for the week.  A couple weeks later there was a Covid "outbreak" in Gabriel's class.  Five of the eleven of them got sick (Gabriel thankfully did not).  They did class over zoom for a little over a week.  

Digging in some corn

Corban's class went to a sunflower farm.  Since lots of parents wanted to go I just got to have that time in the car with Corban (it was about an hour away).  Everyone stopped down the street from the farm and got ice cream on the way home.  They took a tractor ride in the sunflowers, learned about the sunflower life cycle, played in corn, got to pet some goats, and ran around having fun even though it was HOT.  At one point Corban scared me when he went into the portable toilet.  About 5 seconds after he went in there I heard a scream of terror.  Lots of parents turned and looked concerned.  He came out with his pants around his ankles.  I thought he had been stung by something.  Turns out there was a HUGE grasshopper on the toilet seat.  That would have surprised me too.  Corban is not the biggest fan of bugs. 

Some of his class with their teacher

Besides just enjoying spending time with them, I like doing lunch with the boys classes and going on their field trips because I like seeing their interactions with their peers and understanding the personalities of their classmates.  It helps us to talk about it when there are problems going on with certain people at school.

We went to a Salem Red Socks game one night and had a lot of fun.  Without realized it we picked the section where they broadcast a lot of the giveaways and things between the innings.  One inning a local radio DJ was waiting in our section to have a contest between innings.  It was to see if our section could yell louder then the section next to us.  The winner was told that they would get free fried chicken, which was all the motivation Corban needed given his love of fried chicken.  Well our section won but to his disappointment all we got was a coupon to a local fast food chicken place.  Besides that though, while the DJ was waiting he was sitting on the steps right next to our seats.  Corban was really chatting it up with him.  At one point he said to Corban "You know, I'm on the radio.  Do you ever listen to the radio on the way to school?"  Corban's reply was "No, I listen to Prince Caspian."  I think he really thought Corban was an interesting kid.  Every time he passed by the rest of the night he said "hello" to him.

One weekend the Bergerons came to visit and we had fun playing outside, going to their soccer games, and riding bikes

Riding his bike is something that Gabriel's was proud to accomplish this summer.  He has struggled with it the past few years, but we honestly don't have a good place to ride right around us.  We have to pack the bikes up and drive them somewhere to practice.  A friend had told me about an old high school track where people run and ride bikes, which was great because it was flat and mostly straight.  After going there twice Gabriel got it and has asked to go back many times.

October marked our 15 year wedding anniversary.  For our 10th we went to New York.  This time we took a few days go to go Savannah, a city where we went many times before the boys were born.  As the trip was getting closer the boys knew that we were going away together and that they would be staying with grandparents (always exciting).  When talking to one of the secretaries in the school office one day she asked Corban about his upcoming trip and he said "My parents are going away this weekend to get married again.  It's good they aren't divorced yet.  My mom stays with my dad because he makes the bacon.  But sometimes he makes turkey bacon and that's no good."

Prohibition Museum in Savannah

While we were gone we ate lots of delicious food, went to several museums, went on a ghost tour, went on a historical walking tour (with Savannah Dan), went to a local PCA church, read in coffee shops, and went to the Wormsloe Plantation.  It was nice to have a few days to take things at our own pace.

Later in October we all went to a local pumpkin patch one Saturday and enjoyed lots of fun games.  The next weekend the boys went back to the same place for a birthday party for Gabriel's friend, Aiden.

Next up was Gabriel's class field trip.  They went to another pumpkin patch called Joes Trees.  The woman there taught them about the pumpkin life cycle and about sheep.  They got to pick out a pumpkin and a gourd to take home, play in the corn maze, and just play outside.  This was the first time I took Gabriel on a trip and he didn't want to be with me the whole time.  I'm glad that he has friends that he wants to do things with

There was a dinosaur exhibit for a couple days in Roanoke.  It was a little random but it was something new and fun to do.  They especially liked the bounce houses and the large "life size" dinosaurs.  There was also a woman at a station with fossils and they had fun asking her questions.

Digging for "fossils"

Snacks and cards after school with Daddy

Ready to watch the World Series.  The Braves won!

We hadn't bought Halloween costumes in a couple years because they had both seemed happy to wear some of the many costumes that we have around the house.  This year though Gabriel was adamant that he wanted to be Spider Man with a cloth mask that he could pull over his face.  Corban wanted to be Iron Man.  We did lots of Halloween things.  On Friday we went to a trick or treat in downtown Christiansburg.  On Saturday Taylor to them to a similar (but much larger one) in Blacksburg.  On Sunday they went trick or treating around the neighborhood.  We still have too much candy around here. 

Soccer ended the first Saturday in November (it was soooo cold).  The boys both had great coaches, tried really hard, and improved so much

Last game day

Gabriel's coach got them all trophies

Corban's coach gave them each a special award 
(I cannot get the picture to flip)

New PJs from Gammer!

The week before Thanksgiving was Service Day at school.  This is something that didn't happen last year due to so many Covid restrictions.  The two years before that I enjoyed going with Gabriel's class to do crafts and socialize at a local nursing home.  It was a little more "low key" this year but I was so happy that they could do it again.

Gabriel's class made a "thank you" banner and took it to a local hospital

Corban's class colored and make butterflies out of beads to send to a children's hospital

Elementary school sang over zoom to some nursing home residents

Hopefully I will stay more caught up in the future but on to Gabriel's birthday tomorrow and then Thanksgiving and Christmas

Corban's 6th Birthday

So this kid turned 6 two days after school started.  That made for a lot going on the first week of school but he had a great birthday.  He had told me earlier in the summer that he wanted a party at a pool, but every pool I looked at was either really expensive, still not doing parties, or booked.  We asked him if doing some water things in the backyard sounded good and he liked that idea, so we invited the kids in his class and some friends from church over for some fun in the yard.  A LOT of kids ended up being able to come so I am very thankful that the weather was really nice and that they all had lots of fun.  It was nice to be able to invite a couple kids that were new to Corban's class this year so that they could get to play together and get to know the other kids and parents

We sent cupcakes the first Friday of school
(day before his birthday) and his teacher sent us this

Corban got into dinosaurs for a while again this summer after visiting his cousin Drew, who also loves them. He wanted a "Jurassic Park" birthday but the options for that were limited.  I found some clay dinosaur eggs that you could dig into with some tools and find a small dinosaur.  There were cards explaining each one.  The kids liked it even more then I thought they would

We had one pool like the one below and were just going to let kids mess around in it, but the day before Taylor found one on clearance for so cheap so he got it.  It ended up working out well.  They would slide down the grass on the slip and slide into the one pool (it was so so dirty and gross) but other kids could play in the "clean" pool.  There were also sprinklers and then our swings and tree house to play in.  The dads all talked and manned the various things and everyone stayed safe and had fun

What teacher is so awesome that they take time our of their Saturday after the first tiring week of school to come to her students birthday party?  Corban invited her and she asked if she could come.  I told her "of course I just thought being with a bunch of kids wouldn't be on top of your list after the first week of school!"

Opening a super cool cat nightlight (that we now use nightly) from the Bergerons

Super heros

The boys love this Japanese Steakhouse that Taylor's parents have taken us to and there is one near us that we have never tried, so that was the birthday evening plan.  It was a good time

This boy.  There is no one else like Corban (or Gabriel either but this post is about Corban).  He is silly, immensely creative (especially with Legos and making up elaborate stories for whatever he is pretending).  He has a big heart and is sad when others are sad and wants to make them feel better.  Of course he has his moments, because growing up is hard and annoying your brother can be really fun, but he really does want to do what is right and care about people.  He loves his quiet play time, is finally confident that he can read (and finished his 100 lesson reading book), likes to talk and explain things, dances during the music of movie credits, and still thinks that cats are the best things ever.

Date to Barnes and Noble

Checking out the Lego display

From left to right: Butterscotch (the mom), Ice Cream,
Sprinkles (the kids), Cutie (the Dad), Marshmallow Alabama Rollo

Corban and his cats. It started with Butterscotch.  They he begged for a baby for Butterscotch (Ice Cream), then he got Sprinkles.  He bought Cutie with a Barnes and Noble giftcard.  He got Marshmallow at the zoo in Alabama (thus the name).  He has rotated who is the current favorite but for quite some Marshmallow and Sack need to be present for when he goes to sleep.  He actually gave me Cutie to sleep in my bed because he didn't want me to be lonely and because he said "Cutie and Marshmallow don't always get along."  One night he woke me up about 3am because he couldn't find Marshmallow.  There was no way I was getting up to find him in all the covers and animals in his bed.  I asked him if he wanted Cutie, who was on my nightstand (along with several other stuffed things the boys have given me and a cat that Corban build with some building materials).  He took Cutie and promised to return him in the morning.  When he walked out the next morning he handed him right back.  

Found the bed made one day with Marshmallow all tucked in

They had a stuffed animal day at school.  They could each bring an animal, after which they wrote about it and shared it with the class.

Corban's teacher is so great about sending pictures of what the class is doing.  Most of these pictures were taken after his birthday into the fall but this is a good place to put some of them

Field Day Bowling

Field Day parachute.  You can see Corban to the right shaking the red piece.

Random dog we met at the bike track.  Corban loves the animals

Corban's teacher sent me a message about a month ago that made me laugh.  She said that during Bible time they were talking about sin and she asked the class "What is sin?"  Corban raised his hand and said "Sin is any lack of conformity to or transgression of the law of God."  The said that class just kind of stared at him.  She said that she asked him what that meant to him and he said "Well I don't know!"  He does like working on his catechism questions though.  Corban has had lots of good questions lately.  He was looking very sad the other night and he wanted to talk about how he could know if I died that I would go to heaven, and how he could know that if he died he would go do heaven.  He has had similar conversations with his teacher at school and has asked to pray with her about it.

Making insects in science

Corban got really excited about packing a couple
boxes and picked out some really nice things

He made me a flower garden

Silly boy who likes to pull the tooth out once it's a little bit loose.  So much blood.

So Corban is now 6 and I'd like him to stay that way.  He is fun to be around, silly and energetic, always has good ideas, but sometimes still likes to snuggle.  He makes friends easily because he is kind but is happy to play alone too.  He loves swinging on swings, eating fried chicken, his weekly piano lesson, and building with Legos.  He currently likes Narnia stories, "Who Would Win" books, Bakugans, writing stories about his super hero (rocket man), and writing other lists and details (I love that he has enough confidence in his writing and spelling to try to write down what he thinks is important.  The other day he made his bed into "his kingdom" and proceeded to write down the "Kingdom Rules").  It is so encouraging to see God working in his heart and I am thankful that he wants to come to us to discuss his questions.

Happy 6th Birthday Corban!