Jacob

Jacob is now a certified hunter! After what seems months and months of work, Jacob completed his hunter safety education course! This last Saturday he completed the field test portion. He spent about 4 hours going over gun safety and other stuff about the weapons. He also got to use a shotgun to shoot at clay pigeons. He said he felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of him now that it was done. It was a big commitment for him so I am proud that he took it so seriously and that he completed it.

Halloween 2019

So for Halloween this year we kinda split up. Jacob, who is now too old to trick or treat, spent his Halloween volunteering at the church's Trunk or Treat with his Boy Scout group. He served over 700 hot dogs to the public. Of course he still got candy! Jack and Amelia each gave him 10 pieces each, he got the rest of our house bowl and Mrs. Stephanie got him his own "goodie bag" of good candy since she knew he couldn't got trick or treating.
Jack and Amelia walked around for an hour to completely fill their pumpkin buckets. Jack was the first to say he wanted to go home since, as cool as his mailbox costume was, it was pretty uncomfortable.
Amelia decided at the last minute to be a witch again for Halloween. She had wore the inflatable dinosaur costume to several Halloween events but for trick or treating ended up as a witch. I guess it's good to have options.

Jacob

Jacob's Boy Scout Troop got to spend the night on the USS Turner Joy. Jacob said it was his favorite camp out so far in Scouts. He rated it 9 our to 10, apparently the bathroom stalls didn't have doors so that's why its a 9. He was super excited to tell us all the history of the ship and all about it. The boys had free time for a couple of hours where they could go anywhere on the ship they wanted. While speaking with the overnight chaperone Jacob answered a question correctly so he got a special coin. He was the only boy to get one! So he felt super special. It is great to see him so excited about the trips.

Jack

 This year Jack decided to be a mailbox for Halloween. Him and I created it from a couple of boxes, he painted it blue and I taped the printed out USPS papers on the side. As a fun treat we got Skipper a postal worker costume.
Well this year we stumbled upon a Fall Festival in Richland. The kids got to do some trick or treating AND there was a costume contest.
Jack totally rocked the contest. He was a finalist in the 7-12 year old category (He almost won that one.). And him and Skipper totally won the Best Couples Costume category by a roaring win! He came in second in the overall costume category.
He was so excited! He won lots of coupons and gift cards, which he was very surprised about.
The whole time we were there people kept asking if they could take a picture of the two of them together. Jack said he loved having everyone cheer for him. Great Halloween costume!

Amelia

Amelia is doing so well in second grade! Periodically I check in with the kids' teachers to see how they are doing. Mr. Lugo, Amelia's teacher, said she is doing well and then immediately started talking with me about how Amelia needs to be tested for Hi-Cap math. He says she is exceeding in all areas of math and is almost to multiplication. I am so proud that she can focus on her math studies and abilities.

Amelia - 2nd Grade

Jacob

Jacob attended his first Middle School Lock-In at the church. Basically it's kinda like the elementary ones I ran but with the added bonus of staying up as late as you want. Jacob said he had lots of fun playing games and video games. He said he fell asleep around 1:00 am to about 4:00 am, during the movie they were watching. I was like, "Why did you keep sleeping? Didn't you get bored?" (My thinking was everyone was asleep.) His response: "No, I just went back to playing video games with everyone else." Oh! Everyone else was still awake!! Geez, aren't I a dummy.
Despite the fun Jacob was exhausted and wrecked the next day. He literally fell asleep during Children's Worship leaning on a bookshelf. Then afterward while he was trying to talk to me, his eyes kept shutting on him. lol Lucky for him the Mehlenbacher gave him and Dan a ride home from church so he didn't have to stay thru Sunday School. Jacob slept until about 3:00 in the afternoon, got up for a bit, and then went back to bed at 8:30.
I asked him if it was worth it? If he would do another lock-in? He said of course, it was really fun.