Fall 2023

It's almost the end of the school year so maybe I should update things.  Here is collection of pictures from some of the fun things that happened in the fall

Gabriel's class went on a field trip to a local camp location.  They did team building
activities and scavenger hunts.  It was good to see them all learning to work together.

Gabriel jumped into Cub Scouts with Corban this year, so we had a Bear and a Webelo.  They took part in the yearly popcorn sale and made enough money to pay both of their scouting fees for the year.  Some leaders in the pack have had the great idea the past few years to sell popcorn in parking lots to people tailgating before VT football games.  They have no problem selling plenty.

Packing bags for Micah's backpack, a ministry that gives bags of 

food to kids for the weekend when they can't get school lunches.

Working his way through the obstacle course for the VT Corp of Cadets.  The members of the Corp that were there were so great about encouraging the Scouts.  Back in the right of the picture is Corban's Scout buddy, Reid.

For one of their belt loops, the Bear Den put together a fall carnival for the pack with games that they made.  They brought candy to give out to the kids who played their games.   Corban had a lot of fun making his ring toss.

Church drone picture

Corban is one dedicated and excited bingo player at school bingo nights.  

He won a gift card to Carol Lee, the local donut shop.

Gabriel and I were wandering the mall and he wanted to take a picture with the picture
 of Corban that is still hanging outside Wonder Universe (the children's museum).

This about sums up their relationship:

Gabriel's class led chapel one day close to the beginning of the year.  They did two skits, one of 

which had Gabriel as Moses.  He loved walking around with his staff sounding authoritative.

Corban and Evan at fictional character day

For Halloween Gabriel wanted to pull out his LOTR cloak, get a new sword to be "Sting" and a buy a pin of a leaf like the ones that hold together the cloaks in The Fellowship of the Ring.  Corban wanted to be a ninja and spend quite a while pouring over costume options.  We went to the trunk or treat at school, went trick-or-treating in downtown Blacksburg, and then finished off the night watching The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and handing out candy.  Corban really enjoyed giving out candy and seemed sad when it was time to call it a night.  We went to a pumpkin carving party at a friends house a few days prior and the boys did a great job finding templates and carving their pumpkins.  Corban wants to do a Ninja Turtle and Gabriel did Shredder.

Church Hike

Monthly Home Depot project (and yes, we bought that
snowman next to them. It dances and sings "Ice Ice Baby"

Corban is the master of pearler beads.  His first grade teacher, Mrs Wilson, used to let them make things with them when they had free time.  The beads usually come with templates or patterns.  Corban uses those every once in a while, but he mostly makes these creations from his own imagination and then I iron them and he pretends with them (he makes weapons and other gear to go with his characters).  He has Sonic, Ninja Turtles, Mario, and I'm sure other things on top of that.  His creativity with them impresses me.

Gabriel had a violin recital and played with Taylor and Mr. Matheson again.  How much he has improved this year amazes me.

Aela's mom (Ms. Tabi) is all about doing parties for Gabriel's class.  She said as long as they enjoy them she's just going to keep on doing them.  She always has creative games and everyone brings snacks to share.  Apparently their fall party involved some pumpkin smashing, after which they said "at our next party can we blow something up?"

We had a whole week filled with family planned for Thanksgiving, which didn't exactly go as planned.  On Tuesday Taylor got a stomach thing that we aren't sure was due to something viral or some questionable cole slaw that he ate.  Everyone waited an extra day to head to our place just in case, and as of Thanksgiving morning everyone was feeling fine.  We had a fun day of cooking, kids playing, and celebrating Stephanie and Gabriel's birthdays.  In the middle of the night on Friday (Gabriel's actual birthday) Gabriel woke up sick with whatever Taylor had on Tuesday, so everyone headed home.  Thanksgiving day itself was really nice though.

One of the family pictures from a session that I booked for the fall on the first night Gabriel was in the hospital back in May.  I have a former co-worker with a photography business on the side, and when I was awake that whole night in the hospital I saw her post some mini sessions and grabbed one.

 

Corban's 8th Birthday

His second Lego Ninjago themed birthday party

The Monday after school started was Corban's 8th birthday.  We had booked a pavilion at a new park near us for the Saturday before, but the park ended up not opening before the date approached.  I asked him what he'd like to do instead, and he was adamant that we go somewhere with an arcade.  That's easier said than done around here.  We settled on the bowling alley.  

At a restaurant and proud of his creamer stacking skills

He invited some kids from church, a friend from Scouts, and a couple friends from school.  They had fun eating pizza and cupcakes, bowling, playing a game of laser tag, and then having some time in the arcade. 

He was very excited that he had some tickets "pre-loaded"
onto his arcade card since he had his birthday party there.  He used
them to buy three ninja swords, two for him and one for Gabriel.

He has gotten very into Ninja Turtles lately and got excited
when a friend gave him his first action figure at his party.

A Lego set that he's been wanting for a long time.  Another Lego Bot,
this one being another Ninjago one.  Corban loves Lego Bots.

He can never have enough Legos

His actual birthday was on the first Monday of school (which started the previous Thursday).  He wanted Outback for dinner because he loves Bloomin' Onions, and even more than that he loves steak (actually we had his birthday dinner Sunday night since our power went out and we needed dinner.  This worked out well because after school on Monday we could just be home and he could play with new toys and build new Lego sets)

There is so much that I could say about Corban.  He is independent, but loves a good hug, snuggle, or especially to wrap himself up in a fuzzy blanket (we got him a Sonic one for this birthday).  He's quite the engineer and spends time looking at things to figure out how they are put together.  Legos are his absolute favorite thing and I don't think he likes anything better than sitting at the Lego table in their room pretending. He has some very dramatic storylines going on in there, with lots of sound effects to go along with it. 

He told me the other day that he didn't need to go to school.  I asked him why and he said "because I already have my life figured out.  I'm going to live in an apartment in Foxridge with Gabriel and work at a restaurant, maybe Panda Express."  I asked him what would happen if one of them met a girl and wanted to get married and he said "well I know that I never will get married.  If Gabriel does then she can live with us. Or maybe we can get her an apartment next door."

Watching some TV with his sleep sack and his tiny
red panda keychain that he likes to sleep with

He was watching a cartoon with cats in it, so he decided
some of his cat stuffed animals should watch as well.

Corban enjoys Scouts and was excited to be in the Bear Den this year.  He's done a great job pushing himself out of his comfort zone to sell Scout popcorn before some VT football games. He still takes piano every week and thought it was really fun that his teacher let him get a Harry Potter piano book and learn a few things from that.

We've realized over the past months that Corban is more of an introvert.  He loves to play with friends, but when he gets home he needs some quiet.  And after we've been out doing things he often wants to go in his room and play alone.  I'm glad that he's recognized that he needs some independent time to recharge himself.  He also still remains very sensitive to others' feelings.  When someone is sad it really stops him from what he's doing and catches his attention.  When someone is unkind to someone or is he sees this displayed in something he's watching he often says "why would someone do that to someone?' (but that's not to say that he and Gabriel don't start getting on each other's nerves and start calling each other names or acting out in an angry way).

His first grade teacher took him out to lunch and Barnes and
Noble the week before school started.  He felt so special.

Like most kids his age he loves video games, right now especially Donkey Kong and Sonic.  He likes to read graphic novels, but struggles to find chapter books that he likes (though we have started to find more lately).  To him, his free time is best spent pretending or swinging in the backyard, though he does enjoy playing games and he even asked me to teach him to sew a little bit this past month.

Reading Gabriel his reading assignment from school

Corban is growing up too fast and I want him to stay my snuggly little guy forever, but he's developing more and more his own distinct likes, dislikes, and opinions on various things.  It's fun to see him learning new things and getting excited about independent things that he finds interesting or fun.  I am so proud of how hard he works at school (even though he doesn't love it), his kind and sensitive heart, and I am so thankful that he's our son.

Start of School

3rd and 5th grade are off and running.  Corban is in Mrs. Martin's class and has the same group of 6 kids from last year.  Gabriel is in Mrs. Heller's class and they lost a few of the girls from last year so now they are a pack of 8.  Each of the boys has 2 girls in their class and the rest are energetic boys.  Gabriel is excited that this year he leaves his classroom first thing in the morning and heads over the middle school building for math.