Corban's 9th Birthday

Corban is now 9. He has so much excitement, silliness, and such a tender heart.  He appreciates time alone to listen to an audio book and play with Legos, but he loves playing family games and spending time together at home too. He's happiest when everyone is home and there's nowhere that anyone needs to go.

Corban likes to share little "secrets" with me, but he also feels the need to confess or apologize for things both right after they happen, but sometimes for things that happened quite a while ago. Two examples:

One night after they were in bed and we had turned off the lights and told them goodnight, Corban whispered that he needed to tell me something.  With a silly little smile on his face he whispered "I hide this little slinky in my bed to play with after you turned off the lights and you didn't even know." He then handing me the slinky and rolled over the go to sleep.

Another day after the boys got home from being somewhere with Taylor Corban came to me and whispered "I need to talk to you about something in private." He closed my bedroom door and proceeded to tell me that sometimes when he's in Dad's car he picks his nose and doesn't know what to do with the boogers, so he just hides them somewhere in the car.  I had to contain my laughter and asked him to please not do that in the future.  He said "Ok!" and the conversation was finished.

Things that Corban likes: "spinning adventures" (where he winds up the rope for the tree swing a lot and spins until he almost throws up), cute land (the world for his stuffed animals in his bed), bbq chips, sleeping in bed with Mom when Dad is away, playing four square at school, being in 5th grade math, reading Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians books (where different kinds of sand are made into different kinds of glass for sunglasses and each pair has different abilities), and animals (especially birds)

Corban also enjoys making rubber band bracelets. He was wearing one in church this past week and he was holding it on his hand so that he could shoot it.  I asked him to please not shoot them in church, but the rubber band shot off of his hand, high up into the air, and landed right next to the coffee of a man in the section across the aisle from ours.  I know that I should have been horrified, but I laughed.  Someone who had been standing in the back of the sanctuary at the time said afterwards "that thing got good height!" The man by which it landed didn't see it land, but looked confused to see it in front of his feet. When Corban went to the retrieve the bracelet at the end of the service that man laughed and said "well I'm glad I had a lid on my coffee cup."

Corban's birthday was the day before school started this year, and when asked what he would like to do to celebrate he said that he wants to do something with the Boreyko twins (in his class at school and go to our church) and the Strom twins (friends from church).  Unfortunately both sets of boys were not available on the same day, so he ended up having two fun friend events.  On his actual birthday he went with Gabriel and the Boreyko boys to the video game museum in Roanoke.  They ate hot dogs at the Roanoke Wiener Stand and played video games all afternoon.  On Friday evening the Strom boys came over and the boys all ate pizza and watched a Harry Potter movie.  They then spend the night (totally new territory for us).  We thought it would be a struggle to get people to get some sleep, but around 10:30 we had them get ready for bed and go into their room, thinking that they would be up for a while goofing around, but they all just went right to sleep. Corban said that the best part of having a sleepover was having them here in the morning for breakfast.

One of many needed pairs of "Alcatraz" glasses

New Gryffindor bathrobe

Binoculars and a book about Virginia birds. He goes outside a lot of mornings checking out the birds.  There was a blue jay that would sometimes hang out in one of the trees in the front yard and many days he went and checked to see if it was there.

Red Lobster for dinner.  We got Red Lobster delivered one evening last summer with a giftcard that someone gave us while Gabriel was in the hospital. We chose that because Corban had always wanted to try it.  We ended up getting a "family feast" and discovered that Corban loves seafood.  We've done this a couple times since as something special for Corban.  He devoured the salmon, lobster tail, and multiple kinds of shrimp

Corban asked that I make an ice cream cake.  I was a little intimidated by the request but it turned out pretty well.  Gabriel requested one for his birthday as well, just with Reese's cups instead of Oreos.

Lining up all of his birthday presents

Waiting on the porch for a friend to come over

He still loves Pokémon cards and playing the actual game

A couple weeks after his birthday we went to the Safari park.  He loves feeding the birds and didn't want to leave their enclosure for a long time.  He had a goal to see how many birds he could have on him at once.

A little elaboration on the Red Lobster situation.  We have very adventurous eaters around here.  Not that the boys like everything that they try, but they usually will take a couple bites of something new with no complaint.  They are fine saying when they don't like it, but they are willing to try it. A woman at church who's from Japan brought us a traditional meal last week.  She brought individual containers of a custard made with egg, seaweed, and chicken.  Corban dove right in the loved it.  He even wanted to again the next day for lunch.  If Corban could pick anything to eat it would probably be steak, spaghetti, or seafood.

Someone from church brought Coban and me a steak dinner one weekend while Taylor and Gabriel were gone. Corban loved it so much that he made a plate from his food to share with Taylor when he got home later that evening.

For quite a while Gabriel has been making card and board games.  Corban decided to jump on this idea and make a card game of his own. He made copies of the directions and made himself a spot to read while he waited for people to walk by that he could offer to sell the game to.

And, lastly, Corban got pets.  He's been asking for over a year for a pet and Taylor suggested that he get rats like he had when he was little.  Last week Corban said "you keeping telling me I can get a pet but it never happens.  When can we do it?" So, the next day Taylor took Corban to get Pipsqueak and Nourishing.  I wasn't sure about the whole rat idea, but they are actually really cute and cuddly (when they don't have an "accident" on you).  Corban is very gentle and patient with them.  One of them is much more skittish than the other, and he patient's hold the scared one until his breathing slows down and she relaxes into his hands. One day he was being very quiet in their room and leaving the light off to let them sleep. 

4th Grade and Middle School

 

The boys went back to school the day after Corban's birthday. Earlier that week they had new student orientation.  Corban had ice cream with the elementary students and Gabriel was thrilled to realize that his orientation involved a middle school water fight.

Corban is starting 4th grade with a class of five (four boys and one girl).  Upper elementary is being structured a little bit differently this year due to some staffing changes and due to some conversations that we had with administration at the end of last school year and over the summer.  Corban's teacher this year is finishing up her teaching degree this semester, so she is technically an intern.  Almost all of her lessons are supervised and she collaborates a lot with the 3rd and 5th grade teachers. Miss Ford is so energetic and excited to be teaching and is already thinking creatively about classroom dynamics and such. Since all but one of kids in Corban's class is taking 5th grade math this year, his class joins 5th grade for this every morning. For lunch, art, PE, and music the third-fifth grade students are split into two mixed groups that rotate through the specials on different days. Lunch includes all three grade levels at once with assigned seating. So far this system seems to be going really well.  Corban is making friends with people outside of his grade and I think that the variety makes things more interesting during the day.

Gabriel is in 6th grade.  Middle school also changed structures since last year as the 6th grade teacher is not back this year.  Due to that change, administration decided to integrate 6th graders in with the 7th and 8th graders more than in previous years. They also moved some 6th graders into different levels for some subjects. All of middle school has the same history and science curriculum.  Gabriel is in 7th grade language/grammar and 8th grade math (pre-algebra).  They also have study hall each day to get schoolwork done. Gabriel has been using that time to get work done and I'm really proud of him for that. Gabriel said that what he likes most about middle school is his locker and being able to switch classes without having supervision or having to get into a line (makes sense).  On pizza Friday they just highlight their name and get their own pizza. The increased independence is nice for him, and even though having so many different teachers is a lot of figure out, he's doing a good job trying to be organized.

Almost one month in and all seems to be going well with a just some minor bumps.  Growing pains of having boys that are getting older.

Summer 2024

Ah summer.  It seemed to go by so quickly this year.  It was filled with swimming, boxing camp, Virginia Tech science camp, Summer Bible Camp, a trip to Georgia, violin camp, swim camp, drive in and summer movies, and the beach

Frog Pond pool with Aela

Tubing with church

I realize now that I don't have pictures for most of the camps that they did this summer.  In the middle of June they went to Boxing Camp.  It was every day in the morning for a week.  They got to learn some moves, use the gym equipment, and just have fun.  Corban wanted to know if they could go back again for another week but none of the dates worked out.

At the beginning of July Gabriel went to a Strings Camp sponsored by the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra.  Gabriel's teacher was one of the instructors.  This involved going to a college in Roanoke every day for a week from 9-5, with a performance on the last day.  Gabriel had a really good time learning to play as part of a group, but what he mostly enjoyed was being able to eat in an all you can eat buffet every day for lunch.

Ice Cream after violin camp

                                                  

The same week that Gabriel had violin camp Corban went to swim camp at the aquatic center.  A couple friends from church signed up as well.  They swam, went to the park, watched movies, played games, and wore themselves out.

At the aquatic center with Aela, Isaiah, and Jordan

Hanging out with Caleb and Orin

The boys both again participated in the "Youth Experiencing Science" camp at VT.  At the end of the week each group presented what they learned at Blacksburg Summer Solstice Fest in front of the main stage.  This was the last year that Gabriel can participate, and though he had fun this year I could tell that he as aging out of it a little bit.

Corban's presentation made me a little nervous. Shortly before it started I asked him if he knew what he was supposed to say.  He said "No, but I'll make it up when it's time to talk." He actually did a really great job explaining without practicing.

For Father's Day we had a nice Sunday relaxing at home in the afternoon. The boys got Taylor a random assortment of things that they found funny at the dollar store, as well as a Bluey book about being a dad and a little plastic goat figure that screams when you press it.  They didn't want Taylor to know where we were going to grab dinner (Five Guys) and they got a big kick out of blindfolding him.

This also marked the first year that Gabriel was too old for Summer Bible Camp. He did a great job as Taylor's assistant at the teaching station.  He also really enjoyed that he got to go to the "volunteer break room" and enjoy the free snacks. Corban had a fun time participating with his friends from church.

On a sad note for Gabriel, he had to say goodbye to one of his favorite people at church.  Gabriel has gotten to hang out with Jack the past couple of years in nursery.  Jack loves Gabriel's Rubik's cubes and whenever he puts on a button down shirt he tells his mom that he looks like Gabriel.  Last Christmas season there was a children's choir and Jack participated.  When it came time for them to sing at the Advent service Jack stuck right next to Gabriel and wanted to come and sit with him for the rest of the service.  Jack's family moved over the summer and Gabriel said he wasn't sure about doing nursery anymore without Jack there. Gabriel is great with the kids in nursery but it's just not the same without Jack.

At the "Goodbye" party for Jack's family

While Taylor was at YXL at the end of June the boys spent the first part of the week in Georgia with family.  I headed down after work on Thursday.  We spent the weekend getting in some quick visits and going to a Braves game (Aunt Stephanie came too -- and was the cool aunt who bought them Dippin Dots ice cream in plastic baseball hats).

That guy behind us was funny, and he was so proud of his photo bomb

Amazing, timed with music, fireworks

Hotel in Georgia.  They wanted a picture of
the awesome bed (that all 3 of us shared)

On the 4th of July we were all home and no one was working (not sure when that happened last). We all went to the picnic at church in the afternoon (where kids of all ages enjoyed throwing water balloons at Taylor). In the evening we went and parked at the mall and had a great view of the fireworks from there.

We took our annual summer day trip to the Green Valley Book Fair. There weren't as many exciting finds this year but we had a good time and got some Smiley's Ice Cream afterwards

We headed to the beach at the end of July.  We had to do some changes in where we were staying about a month before we went, but it ended up being a beautiful spot to enjoy a few days of beach, pool, books, and a night out getting seafood (Corban loved his shrimp and Gabriel loved his breaded fish. They both requested that we eat more seafood at home). As per tradition we stopped and played some mini golf on the way home.

One Saturday in August we went to see the community production of Mary Poppins at the Moss Arts Center.  It was so good!

Toward the end of August was the annual "Touch a Truck" at the mall.  The boys no longer really want to wait in long hot lines to sit in trucks, but they do always enjoy talking with the SWAT team members that come and let them see their equipment.  This year a tree trimming company was strapping kids into their harness and making it into a giant swing.  That was really fun.  And then we got Panda Express afterwards because we do that every year too.

A couple days before school started Taylor took the boys on a hike. They had great weather, saw some bears (!!) and had great views.

And lastly, Gabriel arranged all of his stuffed animals the other day and wanted a picture to document: