Halloween present

Woohoo! We actually had trick or treaters this year! It's definitely varied from year to year...with the last couple being rather pathetic. Given that, we only got one box of candy to hand out...30 full size candy bars. (I prefer handing out the full size ones because it's much less tempting to me to snitch from those.) I ran out, though, and had to scavenge from a stash of other candy I had hidden for myself for that last group of kids, lol. And then we turned out the lights and the sleet started anyhow, so all was well. 

While I was handing out candy, Nathan made us dinner and we had a little picnic in the front room to make it easier for me to answer the door. It was actually pretty fun. :) Micah went to hang out with friends around a fire pit and enjoyed s'mores and such. The other two boys tell me they just did homework. :)

Oh. And in case you were wondering, yes, my neighbor still celebrates Halloween:

These are almost entirely all new this year. (Another neighbor and I asked, lol.) He still has all the ones from last year and says he'll switch them out from year to year but these were just such a good deal he had to get them. For the record, there are no children living at that house. He just really seems to like Halloween. Also, after I had Nathan take these pictures yesterday, he actually did add more (on his driveway). 

So, if you want to see a LOT of Halloween inflatables, come visit. :) I don't even want to know how many extension cords were involved and appreciate the festivity and enthusiasm. 

Halloweens past

Since I don't appear to have anyone dressing up this year and since I recently found these in the bins of photos from my mom's house...I've decided to share pictures of Halloweens from my childhood. :) These are the years I have pictures from:

Yes, apparently I was Wonder Woman for my preschool Halloween party. :)

This pumpkin costume is from 1981. I know that Zach was a littler pumpkin alongside me that year but can't seem to find a photo of that. I remember, too, that my mom stuffed our pumpkins to make them fuller and keep us warmer but that then our little arms stuck straight out and we couldn't reach things, lol.

Halloween 1982 was the year of cardboard, lol. I don't know why mine got spray painted and Zach's got wrapped in tin foil and I'm not clear why there's a red rectangle on my chest, but we seem pretty happy about it all. :)

Again, can't find any pictures of Zach for 1983 but I went as a belly dancer/gypsy.

Yay, a group picture for 1984! I'm not sure what Bekah's supposed to be (aside from adorable) but Joe and I make cute clowns.

Yes, there are perks to being the oldest and getting the new costume, lol. Princess in 1985 apparently. (Notice how Bek didn't have to get her pumpkin stuffed so she could still use her arms...)

In 1986, I see an Optimus Prime, a two year old who didn't want to wear a costume but did want to get her face painted like everyone else, a vampire, a witch and a punk rocker.

Joe was a tiger, Cas was Mickey Mouse (not Minnie! lol), Zach was a zombie, Bek was a bunny and I was a mime. And this is the last year I can find a Halloween picture of from when I lived at home. I know I trick or treated at least once more during high school (as a ghost, so inventive, lol). I remember going with my friend, Vanessa, and she pretended to be the older sibling taking me trick or treating since I was as short as the kids and the ghost costume meant no one could see me, lol. Beyond that, I wonder why there aren't pictures of my sibs after this for Halloween. I have plenty of pictures from all the years for other stuff, but none for Halloween. Alas. 

Anyhow, I was just loving seeing these old pictures and thought you might enjoy them, too. :) Thanks, Mom, for all the costumes and happy memories!

Thankful Thursday

Hi. Nothing overly exciting going on here but I'm definitely thankful. Life is good, and I know it. Here's my list today:

1. Fall. I love fall. Love it! It's definitely my favorite season and I feel like we've missed out on a true fall here in Colorado the last few years (early snow made for ugly trees or the season just seemed to only last a week or whatever). It's been gorgeous here this year and I've been appreciating it...

This picture is from a couple weekends ago when Asher was home for fall break but it felt right for this post. Yes, that's Asher in the background, lol. 

The gusty winds the last couple days have been making short work of the leaves left on the trees (that were so beautiful until then!) but, I'm told, it's almost November, so it's okay. :) Very thankful for October and having had such fabulous colors outside this past month. 

2. Streaming services. I've said it before but it bears repeating. I'm thankful for the ability to watch so very many shows from the comfort of my home. Often, I watch things on one screen while I work on another at my desk. For me, shows can be like music in the background. My boys tell me I'm weird but I enjoy re-watching shows I've seen before. Beyond that, I also appreciate family time watching shows all together, where that's the focus. I love being able to discuss things as they happen...to pause shows when necessary...to laugh together and react together. With only Micah left at home these days, I'm especially thankful for any activity we can enjoy together.

3. My recent picture project. I'm pretty much done, Mom! I sorted through these bins of loose pictures and have them all organized into envelopes. The manila envelopes are mostly sorted by year with a few envelopes for specific things like portraits or pictures from weddings. The envelopes with prints you get back from the developer are more recent photos (roughly 2000-2006) so I just left those in their original envelopes and labeled them. The ziplock bags are either other groups of photos (one specific trip or something) or a bag of random pictures that I couldn't otherwise sort (mostly because I didn't know the year). There are only a few bags like that, which I think is pretty good considering how very many photos there were in the first place...

Beyond sorting, I've also digitized most all of the photos from the manilla envelopes. (I scanned them with my phone using an app called Photomyne that's worked really well. They're now loaded to my computer, too.) Yay, me! 

Along the way, I learned a few things:

• It's much harder to tell the age of kids in photos when they keep the same haircut for years. (I'm looking at you, Cas, lol.)
• My mom's dad and stepmom really liked having their picture taken. ;)
• Though getting the duplicate prints seemed like a good idea at the time, if you don't actually do anything with all the prints it just takes up more room later.
• Even the "bad" pictures help tell the story (which does, though, make it hard to weed anything out, lol).
• The option to have the date printed directly on the front of photos is annoying (in that it distracts from the photo, itself) but incredibly useful (when you're trying to organize photos years later).
• That option does not help, though, when someone sets the camera's date incorrectly, lol. (Mom, any photo that says 1998 was actually taken in 2002, I've decided.)
• I really appreciate when the photos had the dates developed printed on the back of the photo...so helpful!

And, mostly, I'm just so thankful for the gems that I found. I very much appreciate these little pieces of my history. I'll try to do another post with some of those soon, just because. :)

4. Knowing all three boys have had their advising appointments for spring semester. A couple weeks ago, I went with Micah to his advising appointment (as is required). We set up a full schedule of classes he can take at the CEC campus and got that all situated. If it ends up that way, it'll be all good. But. The FRCC schedule comes out next week and we'll be checking that. He may end up registering for a full schedule at FRCC instead or a combination of classes at FRCC and CEC (like he currently has). We'll see what's available. 

Meanwhile, Noah and Asher have both met with their advisors and registered for their spring semester classes in the last week. It was Noah's last time registering for classes, and he's pretty happy with his schedule and glad to be easily graduating "on time" in just four years thanks to having taken many college classes during high school and being able to transfer all of those. (Because it's an engineering field, though, he couldn't shave off actual years since the major classes were only offered in a set sequence and during set terms.) 

Like Noah, Asher has plenty of room in his architectural engineering schedule thanks to having earned his AS during high school. Also like Noah, he can't shave off semesters or years because of the set sequence and terms. So, Asher is starting to explore adding a minor and is appreciating having that flexibility and being able to not take the full architectural engineering major class load each term. (For instance, this current semester, most of his classmates all have the same 6 required courses. Asher's already taken 3 of them and had those credits transfer. So, he was able to take classes from upcoming semesters instead, which will lighten those future loads.)

In any case, thankful to have all three boys mostly squared away and set for spring semester.

5. Fort Collins. And, finally for today, I'm thankful to live here in Fort Collins. I appreciate the community and am trying to do my part to help support local businesses. In the past year and a half or so, I know online shopping has been such a convenience. I've done my fair share of that. :) But I have and am also consciously making the effort to shop local whenever possible. Thankful that Fort Collins has so many options!

Well, off for now. Hope you all enjoy the rest of October!

Thankful Thursday: Annual tradition

Catching up a bit here! So. Last weekend was full. It was fall break for UNO, so I drove to the airport early Saturday to pick up my Asher...woohoo! Meanwhile, Nathan had his second gliding lesson in Boulder. (Hey, btw, Nathan's taking gliding lessons. After that, he's after his pilot's license. I'm sure there will be more about that later.) Also, Micah got himself to CEC for his PSAT/NMSQT. It was a busy morning. ;P

When we got home from the airport, Asher and I had a few hours on our own before Nathan and Micah got home. We then all picked up Noah from his apartment and headed for Old Town for a late lunch at The Exchange and dessert at Walrus ice cream. Because the weather was gorgeous, we then gathered a few things and went to a local park to play some volleyball. Along the way, I made them all take some fall pictures with me to uphold my annual tradition. 

The park we were at (for the volleyball courts), unfortunately, had been well maintained by the city so didn't have any leaves on the ground. (Last year we managed to actually find leaf piles but it was also very chilly.) We took pictures anyhow...because it's the only time this fall I'll have them all together and it didn't seem worth it to try to convince them to go find another park. :) There were leaves on the trees and in the pictures, so it counts... 

After this one, we stopped and they all played some volleyball. I took some pictures but they're not great, lol. Afterward, I made them stop on our walk back to the car for a few more pictures...

(Noah had just poked Micah in his pec...which was sore from Micah's workout the day before, lol. It was a fun game to poke or slap him there all day.)

And this is just before we got back in the car. They were pretty much done with my picture taking...

So we went home and enjoyed some time together...watching shows and playing games and eating and all that. 

Sunday, Micah and I were up to exercise (him at the gym and me with Lynne in our neighborhood) then it was a quiet day at home enjoying each other...with more shows and games and food. (We'd thought about doing something down in Denver but didn't feel like braving the Broncos traffic and really just appreciated the downtime.)

Monday was a "usual" day for Noah and Micah (who had class) and Nathan (who had work). Asher and I used that time to complete his FAFSA and talk through spring registration before his advising appointment (which was yesterday). We then treated ourselves to lunch and dessert out and did some window shopping before heading home and watching a show or two before picking Noah back up. I made the boys take a few more pictures, just because, but this was the best of that lot...

There were more games and food and then, eventually, we took Noah back to his apartment and called it a night.

Tuesday morning, I drove Asher to the airport. He made it safely back to Omaha and got situated again to resume classes yesterday. It wasn't the most exciting fall break but it was so wonderful to see my boy and hear more about his college experience! He sounds like he's adjusting well...joining clubs, organizing study groups, doing his laundry and killing his building-mates. ;) His building, which is a living learning community, recently had a building-wide Assassin game where you had to "kill" your targets by touching them with a spoon. Asher, being the ninja-like guy that he is, managed to evade people for quite awhile and ended up being taken out by the person who eventually won. (He was fourth overall, he thinks.) So proud of him! (for all of that, not just the Assassin game, lol)

And that was our last little bit. So very thankful for the time with all my guys...that they're all doing well...and that I was able to continue my annual tradition of fall pictures. :) 

(For the record, CSU doesn't have a fall break but Noah lives close enough that he was able to take the time with us. CEC does have a fall break...while Asher's was the weekend plus Monday and Tuesday, Micah's is Wednesday thru Friday, lol. So. Micah's technically on break now. But. Since only CEC is on break and not the community college...and since two of Micah's classes are at FRCC...Micah still has two classes anyhow.)

Thankful Thursday

Thursday again. :) Here are some things I'm thankful for today:

1. Boys in suits. Thankful for college job fairs and boys willing to send me pictures. Noah's engineering job fair was last week. Since biking to a job fair in a suit didn't sound like the most fun, Micah offered to drive Noah and took this picture for me when he dropped Noah off. 

As a senior this year, Noah's hoping some of the conversations he had will lead to further conversations that will then lead to a job after graduation. Given that last year's job fairs were all virtual, it was nice to be back to an in-person situation. 

Also, Asher's job fair was earlier this week. As a freshman, he's not actively looking for a job but recognized the value of going to see how everything works. He didn't get someone else to take the picture so it's not as good, but I'll take it!

Don't my guys look nice in their suits?!

(Sidenote: Why do the schools schedule job fairs for just before homecoming/parents weekends and midterms...when students are already swamped with both schoolwork and activities that they want to participate in or attend? A little frustrating.)

2. The fact that Micah's become much more comfortable with needles. This week Micah had his pneumovax shot, which I think/hope is the last shot this year for the boy. So far in 2021, he's had weekly injections of methotrexate for the first three months (before he switched to taking the methotrexate pills instead)...his Covid shots...his "normal" vaccinations at his well check, along with his prevnar vaccine...his Covid booster shot in August...his flu shot last month...and then the pneumovax shot (which is a second pneumococcal vaccine). He's also had bloodwork required every three months (due to being on the immunosuppressants and needing to monitor things).

This is a boy who hated needles before his juvenile arthritis diagnosis. Seriously. The dentist had a note in his file to not use needles (after a biting incident), and I needed an additional nurse to help me literally sit on the boy the last time he needed regular vaccinations before his diagnosis. So, having survived more than two dozen needles this year is a big deal. He's gotten sooo much better about it, and I'm thankful.

3. FaceTime. So thankful for technology and being able to talk with my boy while he's away at college. I love being able to see his face...

4. Repair services that can come right away. Sunday night we heard a strange, loud noise. We ran around looking for the source but couldn't figure out what it was and thought maybe it was from a neighboring house. We went back to what we were doing. Later that night, when Nathan went to take out the garbage for the week, we discovered that one of our garage door springs had "sprung"...such that the garage door wouldn't open without manual assistance. Ugh.

Fortunately, we were able to find a repair guy, Mike Garage Door Repair, who was able to come Monday morning. The technician was great to work with, and the company's communication was fabulous. Can't really ask for much more than that when you're spending money you didn't want to be spending, lol. :) 

5. Empty-ish nest. When we road-tripped to Washington for my gram's 100th birthday, I brought home a couple of large bins of loose photos from my mom's new house. Now that schools are back in session and all, and since I have the time and space thanks to my empty-ish nest, I've been sorting through the bins. I have piles. And piles. 

Nathan thinks I may have an organizational problem/compulsion, lol. The photo piles here are actually only about a quarter (maybe less?) of the total. I'm thankful that I don't have any little kids running around so can safely leave my piles while in progress. (While I'm at it, I'm also thankful for people who label the backs of photos, lol.)

For what it's worth, I've been sorting roughly by year when possible. The goal is to get everything sorted and then digitized. Mostly, so far, I've learned that my mom's dad and stepmom seemed to have really liked having their picture taken...that it's much harder to determine a kid's age in a picture than I thought...and that there are definitely a few gems among the piles.

And that's some of what I'm thankful for this week. :)