Outside!

We have been making the most of the great Fall weather we are having.  I don't dread the cold weather like many people I know but I do for sure prefer this perfect Fall weather.  We have been hiking, bike riding, and park playing as much as possible.  We are fortunate to have great people to do it with too.

Before we moved from our town home here our kind next door neighbor gave us her son's old bike.  It was the next size Jared would need and this past week he started riding it and is loving it.  The thing he loves most is that it has gears.  To try it out we went with the Shaw's on some great paved pathways Julie and Chris found a few weeks ago.  I had never been there and am so glad she showed them to us. The trees were beautiful and it was so fun to try out somewhere new.  Julie, Lydia, and I walked around with Lydia occasionally riding Jared's scooter and enjoyed watching the boys ride ahead together.  They love being together.  They also do a nice job including Lydia which is so great.  I can't wait to go back!

We met up with some friends at Forest Lakes Park one day before picking Jared up from school.  Lydia really likes playing with this sweet little boy Dash yet sometimes needs a little nudge to remember to play with him. They will both be at Baker Butler next year along with 3 other boys from Lydia's Sunbeam class.  It will be fun if she ends up with some of them in her Kindergarten class. Her number one choice would be Dash. We also took an afternoon to stop by Chris Greene Lake Park.  Jared was dying to ride his bike again. Originally I was against it because I had to go to work that night but I decided to stop and am so glad I did. The colors were gorgeous, so much better than I expected. It was such a pleasant surprise!  They have a little park there with some nice paved pathways.  Jared and Lydia had fun playing and he was of course happy to be on his bike.  I was happy to be out with them and in such a beautiful place.

Last week I went with Jared's class on a field trip to Ivy Creek.  The parents all met the buses at Ivy Creek and 93% of us arrived at 9:30 which is when the note sent home told us to arrive.  In reality the buses were not arriving until 10:00.  Fortunately there were some nice parents to talk to from Jared's class and it was a good chance to get to know some of them.  There is one student in particular that Jared has mentioned being friends with more than others, his name is Marcus and his parents were there and it was really nice to get to chat with them.  It turns out they live on Chris Greene Road so 2 minutes from our house.  If Jared pursues this friendship it could be fun to meet up with them and nice to have a friend so close.  We went on a hike with one of the Ivy Creek Foundation volunteers and learned about leaves changing colors and different types of trees.  We had a few minutes up at the barn to look at nests, skins, and other nature things found there.  It was nice to learn a little bit about the history of Ivy Creek.  It was bought piece by piece, 10 acres there 20 here by a freed black man and his family and used as a farm.  As time passed on they no longer wanted the land and developers hoped to come in and build houses but the county got the land and created a great convent hiking place.  We have mostly gone to play in the creek in the summer and it was nice to be there in the Fall. I'm glad I could go with Jared and spend that time with him and get to know some people from class and see him interact with them. And I'm glad Charlottesville has so many fun places like that.

Biggest, oldest tree at Ivy Creek. 

Saturday Mark attended a family history conference for most of the day so Jared Lydia and I went out to play. We started by riding bikes at Riverview Park, then played at Meade Park then spontaneously met up with Hannah, Matt and Norah for lunch at Costco.  They needed a break from Lynchburg and we were happy we could see them. It was fun to be outside and go places we hadn't been in a while.

These two.

Today was a magical day where they were the best of friends and it filled my heart right up with hope and love.  Most days they are fine with each other and play together well enough or just leave each other alone but today the fun they had and their good nature towards each other was awesome. 

I'll end with some of the beauty I have seen around Charlottesville lately.  These pictures do not do it justice but it was the best I got. It is really windy tonight and I am sad the leaves will soon be gone. 

Driving down our street

Voting!

Early Tuesday Mark and I voted.  We went in one at a time while the other waited in the car with Jared and Lydia.  Albemarle County doesn't have school on election days.  They did it last year too and it still seems weird to me. I distinctly remember seeing adults walking into the cafeteria when I was in Elementary school on election days. I know schools are used as polling places which is why they do it but it seems like for many it would make it harder for parents to go out and vote. It is great for us though.  Neither candidate we voted for won, we did not vote for the same candidate and neither of us voted for Trump or Clinton. When we found out who won we were really surprised/shocked.  We were in bed by 10:15 or so election night so really had no idea who was even ahead.  In honesty it feels embarrassing that Donald Trump is representing our country now. He is not even a politician which I understand was a part of his appeal. He has no experience in politics whatsoever. Why is a "celebrity" now our president? And one who is so rude to so many people. I just don't get it. I have read a few helpful articles explain how this seemed to happen and can kind of understand, and overall have been impressed with how people are handling it and treating others in my little social media world.  Mark took time in each of his classes today to talk about the results and explain the electoral college and popular vote to his students.  There were some students with real concerns. I am glad he could talk to them and teach them about the system which I am totally ready to have changed.  He also had a great discussion with Jared today who asked" "Why and How did Trump become President?" I love that he added the how.  Then he said "Why did Trump have to win?" We will hope for the best. This year Albemarle County had a school bond on the ballot and it passed by 73%!  It makes me so happy that I live in a community that passes school bonds.  Both of the cities we lived in in Colorado, Greeley and Colorado Springs (one school district of the many in the Springs) had school bonds that did not pass.  Maybe they were not written well but I was not the least bit surprised they didn't pass. Good job Albemarle County!

 Today in preschool we talked about elections in general and what it meant to vote and had a fun mock election.  We had 4 ballots:  Food preference: Pizza or Macaroni and Cheese. Dessert: Ice Cream or Cookies. Animals: Dogs or Cats. "President:" Farmer Brown or Duck based off the book, Duck for President. The kids loved voting. I made little "I voted"stickers and they were so proud to wear them.  I also had them fill in papers about what they would do it they were President and for their Journal entry I had them write who they wanted for President. The results were: Trump, a little boys Grandpa, a little girls Mom and Lydia voted for herself. Here is her paper: not all bad ideas.

Secret ballots

We decided that we would vote first thing then drive up to the Temple.  The temple was closed a lot of the summer and we hadn't made it up there since it opened again. I am glad we went.  We ended up both doing a session so we were there a long time but Jared and Lydia did great.  Lydia has been asking for weeks to go and I am glad we made it.  While I was inside Mark took them to Wheaton Regional park.  I had heard about it last Spring but hadn't made it there yet.  He said it was great. It is only 15 minutes from the temple so a really good option in the warmer months. I'm glad they could go.  While Mark was in his session Lydia, Jared and I ate a picnic lunch near the temple, walked around the grounds and enjoyed the visitors center.  They have made quite a few improvements to make it more kid friendly in the 2 years we have been here which is super nice.  As we ate outside we enjoyed watching them hang Christmas lights and bring the Nativity pieces out of storage.  The next time we go the Christmas lights will be on which we really look forward to seeing. It was a nice peaceful way to spend the day.

Halloween

Last week we went over to Baker Butler for the school trunk or treat.  I am really glad we could go as I had to work Halloween night. * Trunk or treat at Baker Butler was perfect.  I used to very much turn  my nose up at trunk or treats but realize they do serve a good purpose. The weather was great, there was a good turnout and plenty of candy. We had a great time walking around with the Shaw's and seeing friends from school. There was no school the next day and we did some fun activities with their candy.  Jared had a bad cold Friday so he wasn't up for much but we had some fun.

His eyes show how he was not feeling great at all. 

Halloween night spoils. 

They were pretty stoked to get these full sized candy bars. 

 On Halloween night Mark took them trick or treating to a few streets in Forest Lakes and they got so much candy!!  I got home and looked in their buckets and was super surprised at what was in there.  My favorite was the Capri Suns one family handed out.  Many families let the trick or treaters pick their candy so Jared and Lydia got lots of their favorites Twix for Jared and Kit Kats for Lydia.  Lydia somehow ended up with 59 Dum Dum suckers! We let them sort the candy and pick their most favorites, about 30 pieces and then it all went in a bag of Mark to take to school and hand out to students when they are awesome. (It may take awhile for him to get through all this candy as his students this year are not quite up to par as previous years.) It was a little sad to not go to the Lawn like we did the last 2 years but it was also fun to do street trick or treating like Mark and I did growing up.  I could see us easily rotating back and forth between the 2.  Lydia hadn't really done it since she was so little in Colorado and even then we went to just friends houses and the zoo so this was kind of the first time which is funny since Jared is 7! I can't believe he has had 7 Halloweens!  I feel a little costume flashback coming on...

2009 Colorado Springs: Dinosaur

2010 Colorado Springs: Giraffe

2011 Colorado Springs: Scarecrow

2012 Colorado Springs:  Hamburger and Cupcake my personal favorites so far.

2013 Colorado Springs:  Spider and Bumble Bee, my 2nd favorite

2014 Charlottesville: Pirates! 

2015 Charlottesville: Pirate and Witch

2016 Charlottesville: Robber and Kitty Cat 

The choosing of a Halloween costume was no easy task for Jared this year.  Lydia knew by September that she wanted to be a cat which I thought was a great idea.  Jared went back and forth between ideas but didn't really have one thing that he felt strongly about except I am sure you guessed it, money.  I only write about money so much because it is such a big thing for him and when he reads this to his kids or himself when he wants to know what he was like growing up he will know exactly what he cared about! Finally on Monday night I was done.  A decision had to be made.  Not only did he need a Halloween costume by Thursday but he needed a book character costume to wear to school for character day.  If I was going to need to order something there was a real deadline.** After dinner Monday I was inspired.  We had been talking about costumes and I thought money.... what about a robber!!  I quickly sold Jared on the idea, he loved it and then gave him 3 books (that we already had supplies on hand for a costume for and the book) He could choose from: Clifford the Firehouse Dog, (firefighter costume,) a Pirate book, (anything from our pirate supplies) and Click, Clack, Boo where he could dress up as Farmer Brown. Since he was not picking anything I didn't feel bad giving those options. Had he truly been passionate about a book we would have worked with that but he really wasn't.  He ended up choosing the Clifford book.  Worked for me.  I found black shirt, a black mask, and some black number/symbol stickers the next day and we were good to go.  I loved how it turned out, it fitted him so well.

Lydia's costumes was super easy and drama free.  I am so glad she knew what she wanted and stuck with it.

We carved our pumpkins Sunday after church and they turned out great. We just continued with their themes from their costumes.  Last year Lydia loved cleaning out her pumpkin this year not so much.  Jared was actually quite helpful with cleaning it out and poking the design. We also made some Halloween sugar cookies and decorated them.  We waited to eat them until today because I love how they taste after having a day for the frosting to soak into the cookies. So soft and yummy.

Great after school snack.  Look how old Jared looks!!

I saw a post on Facebook today that talked about setting up the Christmas tree and said there was only 7 weekends until Christmas!  Crazy!  We  need to get our thankful tree up pronto.  I am glad Jared and Lydia had a happy Halloween.

*Side note It was so slow last night! I was there from 6:00 - 10:00 when they close, and there was 1 customer from 9:00 on and maybe 4 around 8:00!  I know they had to have lost money to pay 6 employees and bills but who am I say when a store should close early actually I am one to say so they could have easily closed at 8:00 or even better 6:00!
**I really love this idea but why did they think Halloween was the time to do it?  Elementary kids are already going to be dressing up so its not like it is their only time to do wear a costume. I think March, which is national reading month would be a way better time to decide.  By then young kids starting school will have read more books and discussed them in class and be more advanced in their reading skills.