barrett: 126 monts old

 

Barrett had a fun and exciting October!  He is on Safety Patrol at school, so three times a week he stays after school to help car riders get into their cars, and gets to take down the American flag from the pole.  He claims the flag weighs a ton!  We went to the STEAM Night at the local high school, and Barrett and his best friend Walker got to make a lava lamp, dirt pudding, slime, an airplane, and a biomechanics hand. Such a cool night! And for Halloween, Barrett was Brock from Pokemon.  We walked miles around the neighborhood trick-or-treating!  Barrett has also had two choir concerts, one for multiple elementary schools, and the other was a performance for a school assembly for Veteran's Day.  Very cool!

Likes:  choir, Pokemon

Dislikes: math homework (though he does like division now)

171 months old

How is October over just like that?? This month has been a whirlwind - softball season, a rush to get quizzes and tests completed before the new grading period, our first high school football game, birthdays, and of course Halloween!  Britton dressed up as the Lego Batman Ballerina Fairy, a very specific "Lego Batman" character costume, which we constructed from Amazon finds.  This was the first year that Britton didn't want to go trick-or-treating. Instead, she volunteered to stay home and hand out candy, and was so great with the little kids, complimenting their costumes and letting them grab extra candy!

Softball season is officially over!  Her team went into the end of season tournament as #1, but had an upset loss in the first round.  That's ok!  They played a great season, and Britton really developed her skills on first base and in batting.  And she had a phenomenal team of girls this year.

Likes:  playing softball, dying her hair

Dislikes: our cold front warming up - she misses cold weather

barrett: 125 months old

 

How are we already in October, blasting our way to Halloween?  Then Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then before we even know it, it's already 2024.  Ugh.  Let's go back to Halloween!  Barrett was going to be Michael Jackson from Smooth Criminals, but has decided to be Brock from Pokemon instead. But the Michael Jackson love hasn't stopped!  We're going to go see MJ: The Musical in November!  He can wear his costume then.

Barrett is participating in school chorus this year, and already has a performance at the end of the month!  He enjoys singing, but not having to get up early twice a week to go to practice before school starts. Totally dude, I get it.

Likes:  Pokemon, the periodic table

Dislikes:  doing homework

170 months old

Happy October!  Oh, we love the witching month of October around here.  Britton especially loves all things pumpkin spice, and has happily sampled her way through all of the pumpkin-y options I've found.  Her favorite so far is an iced pumpkin spice latte with pumpkin cold foam and a caramel drizzle.  Not so good have been Dunkin Donuts's PSL, and their graham cracker PSL goldfish, yuck!  She's the only other person in our family besides me to unabashedly throw herself into the pumpkin spice goodness of this time of year.  For her costume this year, Britton is going as the Lego Batman fairy - we made her costume entirely out of things from Amazon.  Now I just need to spray paint that Batman mask pink!

Please allow me a moment to share an awesome softball game from last weekend.  Britton's team and another team were both the only undefeated teams in her league.  We didn't tell her, but as her team was playing their first game, the other undefeated team lost their game, so now Britton's team was playing to hold onto the undefeated title.  In the second game of her doubleheader, she hit a line drive between first and second bases while the bases were loaded, and managed to bring in all 3 for runs!  They won the game, and are all still so excited that they remain undefeated!  I'm so proud of the work she's put into softball.

Hitting well, getting on base

Likes:  softball, the cat, hoodies all the time

Dislikes: the constant Texas heat (even though she wears hoodies every day)                                           

barrett: 124 months old

 

Well, this kid unfortunately got taken down by Covid right at the beginning of the school year!  It was the first time either one of us had it, and luckily Barrett had really mild symptoms, more like allergies.  In fact, I only tested him because I was positive, and it was the Sunday night, and I wanted to make sure we didn't accidentally send any infected kids into school the next day.  He handled his quarantine like a champ, and while excited the first day (home from school!  doesn't actually feel sick!), but the second day the novelty had worn off and he was BORED.  The hubs and I were working from home that week (me still in quarantine as well) so we couldn't take him anywhere or do anything fun.  But we caught up on some Pokemon movies, he played way too much iPad, and we finally got our negative tests!

Barrett got to spend a night this weekend at a ranch for his friend's birthday party and he loved it!  They had goats and a horse, and Barrett even got to do archery, ride around on the 4-wheeler, and have a bonfire.  He came home dirty, tired, and full of fun stories.  

Likes:  Pokemon cards, goats, Taco Bell Doritos Locos tacos

Dislikes:  not seeing his friends for a week

169 months old

 

Britton's first week of high school flew by in a swirl and learning a new school and meeting a ton of new people!  Now, she's 3 weeks in and knows her way around, and is used to getting up at 5:30 am.  Me, I'm still adjusting to the new wake up time!  Britton is trying out for softball this year, so she's in the softball gym class, and is staying after twice a week for running and weights.  She's also started the new season of her rec league softball team, and has practice 3 times per week.  Add to that homework and National Charity League commitments, and this girl is BUSY!  She's on top of it, and keeps track of all her goings on on her own - I am constantly amazed at how organized she is.  

Likes:  playing Roblox Fairy Tycoon, leggings, finally getting to read assigned books in English

Dislikes:  running in the morning - she'd much rather run in the evening

barrett: 123 months old

 

Barrett, still in his pajamas even at mid-morning, because we're riding out the last days of summer vacation.  Barrett starts 5th grade next week, his last year of elementary school, and it is making me feel somewhat stressed that after this year, it gets real.  His elementary school is so welcoming to parents, and we've been sure to be up there often.  In junior high, the kids would much rather we parents stay away!  So, it's the last year of many things - me coming up to eat lunch with him, walking him to school, knowing how to help with homework, and so much more.

Likes:  yogurt with fruit chunks (unlike his sister), Chick-fil-A peach shakes

Dislikes:  cutting his nails, this incessant Texas heat