Priorities

So. FYI, we're not really doing any Halloween decorations this year. The boys turned down my offers of carving pumpkins and stringing spiderwebs and any other outdoor decorations. But. Asher and Micah are still planning to go trick-or-treating, and Noah still has plans to hang out with his best friend (as has become tradition...this will be year number four). So I guess that will just be enough. :)

While I let the boys choose about all of that, though, I insisted on continuing one specific tradition.

I made the boys let me take some leaf pictures, as I've been doing almost every fall since 2004. (I just missed 2005 on account of Micah being a newborn, lol. Here's last year's post with links to the previous years.)

It was tricky because most of the leaves fell just before a couple days of rain and then it was pretty windy one day...which all meant that there weren't many options available for good leaf piles. But we managed to beat the landscaping crew collecting leaves to this spot and even brought our rakes:

Noah refused to touch any of the leaves on account of them still being damp. ;) But he surprised me by joining in the tree climbing fun after Asher scrambled up there and I had Noah give Micah a boost:

And then he opted out of any jumping photos by being behind the camera:

All in all, it was a much quicker photo shoot than normal, but I'll take it. :) I understand that as these boys are getting older some of our traditions will change, and I'll have to prioritize. So, hooray for leaf walks!!

Ten on Tuesday: Wednesday edition

Um, yeah, meant to post this yesterday... ;)

1. Last Friday, Noah didn't have classes (teacher workday). We spent the morning letting boys play with more of the Tinker Crate boxes:

Noah made a hand-crank flashlight, Asher made a bottle rocket and Micah made a bio-mechanical hand. Fun times! (Really love how well put together these boxes are...straight-forward instructions and everything so nicely organized.)

2. After that, we took boys to see The Martian...which was pretty cool.

3. On Saturday, Asher had another black belt progress check. All good. :)

4. Also on Saturday, Nathan took Noah and Micah to south Denver for their first JOAD tournament of the season. Noah shot well and felt decent about his day, despite being in one of the largest/toughest divisions. Micah declared it one of his favorite tournaments ever, keeping in mind that he's participated in more than 20 of these so far and has placed in the top three in all but 4 of them. He didn't place in the top three this time but apparently had a very good time. When asked what made the difference, he reported to me that he'd known two of his three bale-mates (they score in groups of four) and they had a fun time chatting the whole time. ;) (Also, notably, he shot a new personal best. He didn't even include that in telling me what had made the day good, lol.)

5. While those guys were in Denver, Asher and I enjoyed a day out together...wandering Old Town (eating at Beau Jo's and visiting the littlest toy store and stopping at Ben & Jerry's) and running errands and watching a dvd and such on our own. We got to see this street performer:

...and see the newly re-opened town square area:

Without prompting at all, Asher even thanked me for such a wonderful day. Happy.

6. As of yesterday morning, I'm FIRST in fantasy football league!! Woohoo! (Yeah, I'm sure this probably won't last so I'm enjoying it this week, lol.)

7. Asher had another black belt progress check last night (Tuesday). In preparation, we made flash cards and quizzed Asher on the names of the different forms. :)

8. I am hereby boycotting standing in line at my local post office. Don't get me started! Let's just say that I spent 40 minutes standing in line on two separate occasions (so 80 or more minutes total) in the past week and am just done with that...and the fellow customers and the clerks. Oy. Generally, I do my post office things online or at those self-serve stations to avoid this very thing, but these particular transactions had to happen at a counter. My neighbor kindly reminded me that there are other options, and I'll be utilizing those from here out. So there. :)

9. Just so you know...I was sorting out our games recently (I like to purge periodically). Somehow we acquired SEVEN different Monopoly games. Seven. Do you know what game I really dislike? Yup, Monopoly. The boys enjoy it, though, which would explain why we have even one version. But I really don't think we need seven. Thanks to my purging, we now only have three. Which I suppose is better. 

10. Would someone please tell me where all the time has gone?! I'm taking Noah to take his permit test this afternoon. For a drivers permit, people! What the heck?!

Okay, best get this posted before it becomes Thursday's edition, lol...

Introverts and Extroverts

Thursday thoughts... 

Last week, Micah participated in his first boys book club with some others in our homeschool group. He was pretty darn happy about the whole thing...he loves to read and he loves to talk, so what could be better? ;) He settled right in and had a grand time:

(He's in orange.) Even though the book, itself, wasn't really his cup of tea, he very much enjoyed getting to tell others what he thought about that and being with friends. (Apparently, this particular group of boys had previously had some issues getting the boys to actually talk and share. I'm fairly confident Micah has made up for that, lol. He started talking before all the boys were even there and didn't really stop. At all. Sorry for the earful, Laura!) 

In any case, let's just say that my sole extrovert was quite pleased with the whole thing. 

Meanwhile. My introvert-est (in a family of 4/5 introverts) came home from school today pondering why there aren't more classroom games that appeal to introverts. His Spanish class played games today that required him to *talk* to people around the room. :) He's gotten much better at making himself participate and did fine but got home asking me "what kind of people like that?" To which I pointed to his brother. :)

Also, I was reminded of this article that I read not long ago. And a friend who's going back to college has been telling me about all the group work they have to do in class that's exhausting her. 

Which, I think, makes me glad to have gone to school decades ago...when an introvert like myself could sit and read in class in peace and be doing great.

(Fortunately, homeschooling has enabled us to tailor education to the needs of our individual boys...so, more quiet time for the older two and more activities with others for the youngest. Though, if I'm being honest, I probably don't do as many activities as the youngest would like. Because, hey, *I'm* still an introvert, lol.)

Wednesday Wishlist

Just some random wants that have been bouncing around in my head...

1. A "fingers crossed" emoticon. Because I find myself needing one of these on a regular basis. Really. ;)

2. Separate parking lots for those extra long trucks. Because parking and maneuvering my minivan is difficult enough for me already.

3. Storage cases for figures for the Disney Infinity video game dealio. Because if you're going to make something that has a gazillion pieces, you should also make something to hold said pieces so that they're not just strewn across my fireplace.

4. A time machine to let me go back and get better pictures of certain memories. Because obviously.

5. A recording of Noah's voice before it changed three years ago. Because I can't remember what that was like and am definitely thinking I should go record both younger boys before that happens again.

6. A way to bypass previews at the theater. Because Noah and I went to see a movie a week or so ago and realized that previews in October tend toward the rather scary...and that we'd best not let Micah watch any previews this month, lol. (Seriously, though, this is not the first time I've thought this...I've even been known to get seats and have Nathan or Noah save them while I take Micah to the lobby until the show starts. Ugh.)

7. Human mute button. Because, wow, would that come in handy. ;)

Emerald Lake

We headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park yesterday (and took advantage of the awesome program that's granting free passes to fourth graders and their families this year...woohoo! yay for having a kid who can qualify as a fourth grader!). It had been a good while since we'd done any hiking, so we decided to enjoy the fall colors and take a little hike to Emerald Lake. I made people take pictures:

It wasn't a very long or taxing hike at all, and it was a gorgeous day...which ended with fabulous food and ice cream in town. Happy fall!!