A Candy Collector, A Covid Zombie, Captain America, and Link

I was needing a project to give me something to live for after learning we'd be distance learning until at least January, so Halloween costumes were a welcome distraction! As soon as I offered to make Lincoln a garbage man costume, he was dead set on it. I had a lot of fun bringing it to life, and Lincoln was satisfied with the finished product, so smiles all around! 

The smiles didn't end with Lincoln and me. I finished his costume in time for garbage day. The garbage man got such a kick out of his costume that he stopped his truck so he could take pictures of his biggest fan. He even let Lincoln and Carson honk the horn! It was a great way to kick off Halloween week!

Carson created this spooky picture of his name in art class. His creativity and artistic ability always tickle me. 

Halloween on a Saturday is how it should always be done! We spent the afternoon carving pumpkins while listening to spooky music to help get us in the spirit of the holiday. 

During a Come, Follow Me lesson clear back in April, we were talking about some of our fears, worries, and concerns. One by one the boys talked about things that made them feel nervous. Eli went last and explained he's not afraid of much, but he was worried Halloween would be canceled with Coronavirus. We assured him that wouldn't be the case, and even if they couldn't go trick-or-treating, we would make sure to have a big Halloween party with lots of candy to make up for it. 

Well, people got talking on our neighborhood Facebook page over the last couple of weeks and many people said they were still up for trick-or-treating, so those who were comfortable with it put their porch light on and sent the kids door to door. Eli was one happy boy (among four)!

Eli hit the town dressed as a zombie. 

Lincoln went out candy "collecting." It should be noted that little garbage can functioned as a candy collector. You could put candy in the can, and then Lincoln could lift the can so that it dumped into a hole at the top of the truck that would put it into his candy bag. He also had functioning headlights and red taillights. He looked so cute and he was literally the talk of the town. 

Jeff passed out candy from our driveway and he kept hearing people passing by talking about "the little boy in the garbage truck." We would pass people as we were out that said, "Oh! There's the garbage man! We heard about him!" And we had two people stop us to take his picture. Lincoln hit celebrity status. As if that wasn't enough, this morning someone on the Facebook page said his costume was their favorite of the night. Ha! I knew it was cute, but I didn't think we'd be winning any unofficial neighborhood costume contests over it! Since words of affirmation are my love language, all this verbal attention had my garbage truck love tank topped off. 

Also looking adorable in another homemade creation was Jonah. Who I kept calling Lincoln all night because he was dressed as Link from Zelda. They were a walking Stroop Test. 

Eli recently beat the game Zelda. In the process, we gained a Zelda mega-fan. Jonah knows all of Link's moves, all the sounds he makes, and he can't eat a skewer of meat without pounding on his belly afterward. 

He was often mistaken for Peter Pan, an elf, Robin Hood, and my favorite, a Leprechaun, but he made sure to straighten everyone out and tell them he was LINK from Zelda Breath of the Wild...Hiyah! 

Carson made my life super easy. He wanted a costume we already had in our costume tote and simply requested a shield to go along with it. He did specify he didn't want his shield homemade, so that hurt a little bit. *sniffle* Does this mean he's growing up? *sniffle*

Jonah and Jeff carved that ghost pumpkin together. I also loved how Jonah started hooking his sword to his belt. He was in full character! 

Then it was time to head out! We started with masks, but quickly saw we were the only ones donning them so we ditched those and ended up having an evening completely Covid carefree. No, a lot of the houses set up tables on the end of their driveway with candy bags socially distanced and easy to grab. Others used tongs to hand out their candy. And one person had a candy chute to launch at the kids. It was fun to see how people got creative to make sure the holiday wasn't another casualty of Covid.

In fact, it almost felt like there were more people handing candy out than usual this year! And the houses that were handing out were giving big bags stuffed with candy to each kid, so the boys scored big time! Eli and Carson dubbed it their best Halloween yet! 

I always forget how much I love Halloween until the day hits. It's a kid's dream come true! I'm so glad we were able to celebrate it almost like normal this year. 

We've Hit a Rough Patch

My Instagram feed informed me it was National Son Day sometime in the last couple of weeks. My sons spent the day turning my laundry room into a parking garage which seemed like an appropriate way to celebrate the holiday. 

Eli was tasked with writing a story about any experience in his life. He wrote a cute essay about a fight he's been working on in his current video game obsession, Zelda.

Lincoln planted a pumpkin seed for science class. It sprouted! 

I was determined to have a successful (quiet) conference this October. In an effort to keep all the little hands in the house busy and the little minds concentrating and calm, I bought a myriad of activities. I bought paint by numbers, color by sticker, packets, candy, a 1,000 piece puzzle, and some paint by diamonds.

We started with the paint by diamonds and it was all we ended up needing. Major success! And now I've got some stocking stuffers for Christmas!

Lincoln piled a bunch of blankets and stuffed animals in a tote and then plopped himself on top. When I walked by he said, "What? I just want to have a fun, comfy time in here." 

We put the field in field trip by visiting a pumpkin patch Thursday morning. The patch is only open Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I didn't want to go on Saturday because of the crowds, so I was hoping we could make one of the weekday mornings work. Their school schedules perfectly parted and we were able to make a trip to the patch without missing a single lesson or Zoom call. 

The patch sparked the boys' excitement about Halloween. We went on a drive to Red Rock Canyon on Saturday where Jonah chanted, "Happy Halloween!" almost the whole way. As we got to the park, Lincoln piped up with one, lone "Happy Halloween!" to which Jonah screamed, "IT'S NOT EVEN HALLOWEEN YET, LINCOLN!"

We became Red Rock Canyon season pass holders because rocks, mountains, and fresh air are three of the main ingredients to raising boys. 

Our school announced this week that we will be distance learning through the second term, so at least 6 more weeks. I ate a lot of sour gummy worms to process this news. And I think I'm going to need a few more to get me to January. Send prayers and worms. 

Do You Remember Dancing in September?

The boys rediscovered their jackets one evening and paired them with their school headphones. Then they just needed a pretend cell phone for their complete transition into "teenagers." Watching my kids pretend to be teenagers is my absolute favorite game they play. It doesn't happen often, but it's hilarious when I get to peek into their brains to see what kinds of things they thing older, cooler kids would be into. On this day, these imaginary teens were mostly only into their cell phones. 

When I asked Lincoln what he was playing, he said, "Well, first I was a tee, then I was a nager." 

Lincoln seems to think teenagers start as "tees," progress to "nagers," with the final step of their adolescent transformation finally landing them at the coveted, complete title of "teenager."

The kids have found playing with their Lego bricks is a great way to procrastinate schoolwork, cleaning, and bedtime. They also seem to have discovered that if they use their procrastination efforts to make cute things for me, I can't help but not be mad at them when they're up 2 hours past their bedtime. Carson created this adorable heart, complete with instructions for me to keep it. 

One of my corona coping mechanisms is to mindlessly browse Amazon and impulse buy whatever seems like it has the potential to make my life easier or more exciting as we trudge through month six of being homebound.

So yes, this disco ball was in fact an impulsive, desperate attempt to inject some fun into our current mundane routine. I knew I needed it as soon as I saw it, but I didn't know it would become a weekly tradition until school started and we were all in need of a pick-me-up to shake off the week and welcome the weekend come Friday night. 

At the close of each successful distance learning week we endure, we celebrate by handing out movie theater candy boxes to everyone as soon as our assignments are in for the week. Then we zone out with a couple hours of video games, chow down on pizza for dinner, and finish the night with a disco dance party. Each person picks a song to jam out to, and it's been the perfect way to let go of the week's stresses. 

Then we're right back to it come Monday morning. Carson's teachers encouraged him to try a science experiment of making Ooblek. Lincoln was eager to join in on the fun. 

I still remember making Ooblek at school and how cool I thought it was that my teachers let me take some home in a little bag. I still remember sitting on the bus happily playing with the goo. I was glad Carson didn't miss his 3rd-grade Ooblek memory. 

Carson unwinds every night by drawing pictures before bed. We love waking up each morning to his new creations. This one was one of my favorites because of all the adorable details. When I asked him what it was, he told me, "It's what would happen if babies took over a house. The bottom part is what the outside of the house looks like--a normal, nice house, but inside there are babies going crazy!" 

I loved the melted ice-cream cones, the nod to our disco parties, and the Little Caeser's pizza boxes. So cute!

Vegas is finally cooling down to bearable temperatures! Especially when we escape to the mountains. Jeff and I get sad sometimes because our kids don't have a backyard to run wild in. Both of us had great backyards growing up where we could run around and feel like free, wild adventurers. 

When we look at the 6-foot by 6-foot backyard full of rocks that our kids are growing up in, we can't help but feel it lacks in the wild and free adventure-beckoning category. Thankfully we live close to a mountain so we can take a quick drive up the mountain to give our kids bursts of exploration. 

THIS is what being a kid is all about! Especially after being locked up at home all week, it was refreshing to escape it all in the mountains. Maybe we do have a nice, big backyard. We just have to drive a little bit to get to it. 

The boys collected logs for 2 hours to build a fort. They never did build the fort, but they expended a week's worth of pent up energy, so we all went home happy and content!

Eli taught a night light lesson last week all on his own. He did such a great job! He taught about having the light of Christ. He made a little puppet with a flashlight that would get brighter when the puppet did kind things and dimmer when the puppet was unkind. He focused on the fact that the light can always come back if we say sorry. I love hearing my kids' interpretations of the gospel and watching as their testimonies slowly start to grow. 

The kids got into a charter school this year. I probably would have done homeschool if it wasn't for this school because it's kind of hard to get into and I didn't want to lose our spots once we were in. 

I applied to get all three kids into the school, but only Lincoln's name was chosen from the lottery. I was planning to send Lincoln alone, hoping that the other two boys would be able to get in the next year. Our main concern was sending Eli to the local junior high because we haven't heard great things about it, so we really just needed to get Eli in a charter by 6th grade. 

Once one of your kids is in the school, the other kids get bumped up on the waiting list. About a month after Lincoln got it, we were notified a space had opened up for Eli. And then two months after that, a space opened up for Carson! We had a lot of uncertainty thinking about how to handle having kids at different schools and how they would feel about it (back when we thought they would actually be going to school), but thankfully we didn't have to worry about any of our initial concerns because they all ended up getting in. I was so grateful for that!

We feel really good about this school, especially now that all three of them are "there" together. The school has been very organized, realistic, and accommodating through distance learning, and we have been impressed with all of their teachers. Bonus! They have uniforms. I hated uniforms when I had to wear them in junior high, but as a mom, kids in uniforms are just to die for! 

This was their first time in uniforms for picture day last week. They ran into the school just long enough to get their picture taken and then they were shooed right back out. 

My mom gets mad if I don't include Jonah in my school-related updates. She'll probably be upset I didn't buy him a uniform to fit in with his brothers, but his time will come soon enough, Mom. In the words of Eli, "Chillax" and here's a picture of the little dude to appease you. 

Lincoln's teacher gave all of her students pumpkin seeds to plant. Lincoln has been a loving and attentive gardener to his little seeds. 

Another week down, another beautiful, mountainous weekend. 

Here's a progress picture for comparing purposes so we can see how we age through the pandemic. 

I'm convinced homeschooling has me on Obama's presidential aging track. 

Stress appears to do things to the body, and I. Am. Feeling. It. May the weekly disco dance parties serve as my fountain of youth.