Halloween 2021

Well I would write about just Halloween night but that isn't how Halloween is celebrated anymore, now it takes over a week. :) 

On the Wednesday before Halloween Franklin Elementary hosted a Trunk or Treat school carnival thing. I volun-told the boys that they were going to help pass out candy at our trunk. They weren't too thrilled but ended up having a good time. They ran out of candy once and ran out completely way before the other cars. Apparently they were playing games with the kids. Like see how many candies it takes to get it in your bag (by throwing it), the kids got to keep any candy that didn't make the bag too. Another one was a secret code word they would tell one kid, if that kid told a friend and said it back to Jacob or Jack that kid would get double candy. Really just silly ways to hand out candy. Whatever, I am sure all kids got way more candy than then needed. Amelia brought a friend, Kylie, with her. The girls just got to hangout, go to all the trunks and play the games. It was short and sweet.

On the Friday, before Halloween Amelia went to Kylie's house for a Halloween party. They ate pizza and Halloween treats, played some games and watched kid appropriate Halloween shows. I think that one would be nicer since it was warmer. Amelia had fun.

Now on Halloween, Amelia went trick or treating around the neighborhood, just the regular route. I walked with her around. By this time, it seemed like a little bit of a let down after all the activities she had been doing, but she still had fun. 

Now the boys are too old for trick or treating so they just got some candy. I say every year, 5th grade is old enough for trick or treating. If they get invited to a Halloween party, great but they are too big to go door to door. I like that they have opportunities to volunteer at this time. I keep telling them that little kids are so excited and impressed to see "big kids" helping. They understand a little bit, begrudgingly. 

Amelia

 Amelia has been doing great in school. She really likes her teacher, Mrs. Vandervert. Her teacher has each kid have a job for the month. They get paid for their efforts. At the end of the month the class holds a "Buy and Sell Market" where each kid brings stuff to sell. The kids get to use the money they earned from their jobs to buy things. Mrs. Vandervert even makes them pay taxes on their income. She noted that none of them liked that. 

Amelia was soooo excited about the Buy and Sell day. She brought a bag full of stuff to sell. I think she said she made a couple thousand dollars on her selling and bought lots of things. It sounded like a very fun time. Her teacher messaged me to say, "Amelia is going to be a top business woman someday!" I totally believe it too!

Jacob

 So back in Sucktember (also know as September 2021) Jacob injured himself at football practice. At the time his coach called me to let me know he had injured his knee and that he was sitting out icing it. I had asked if Jacob had heard a pop, how bad the swelling was, what was his range of motion and if he could put weight on it? From what the coach told me it didn't seem too bad. Fast forward 2 weeks, bypassing quarantine, and Jacob and I are sitting in an orthopedic surgeon's office. The doctor think Jacob has torn his ACL. I am like what?! He is too young! That is a major injury, with a major surgery to repair it! Well the MRI confirmed he did in fact completely tear his ACL. Yuck! Jacob is now scheduled for surgery on November 19. 

I do not like any of this. I am concerned for his healing and future knee health. I am concerned about him under going surgery at such a young age. I just don't like it.

Hunting Season

 

The boys had another successful hunting season... well kinda. Both of them LOVE to go hunting and look forward to the weekend.  This hunting weekend did not go off without any hiccups though. The most important being the boys forgetting their hunting license and tags! Uppa called me at 3:30 am to ask us to meet him with them. Now let me tell you that getting a call at 3:30 was nerve racking. I looked at the phone saying, "Uppa" and thought someone must have gotten hurt. I was instantly relieved to hear it was the tags and license he was calling about. Dan graciously got up and drove to meet him. Lucky for us, Dayton is only an hour away.

Another hiccup was one of the tent trailer supports bent very loudly at 4:30 in the morning one night. Uppa was up like a rocket, in his underwear as Jack will tell you, to see what happened. Again, luckily Uppa was able to fix it.

But the weekend was a success because both boys got a deer. Jacob got a nice doe on opening day. Jack got a 4x2 buck a couple days later. Of course Jack rubs it in to Jacob that he got a buck first. Jacob rubs it into Jack because he got a deer first and has better aim. I told them both they get two comments a day about it but after that I don't want to hear anymore. Uppa brought them and the deer home on Monday. We processed the meat in the garage with Umma's help. Both boys are getting good practice cutting the meat up. 

I am just so thankful for Uppa and all the time and money he puts into the boy's hunting experiences. They do not realize how lucky they are.