November

Our November was rather calm and uneventful after a busy October.  We had a mild month and we were able to get outside a few times and Joseph did a few last mountain biking adventures.  We celebrated Thanksgiving expressing gratitude and eating yummy food.  We are all ready for Christmas now and the excitement is already building in our house.

Annika and Annette being silly.

Part of remote learning is participating in the school "specials."  I really don't like having to do music and PE at home because they are boring and take too long, but we always enjoy the art crafts.  We all got involved in the fall tree project and used our creations to decorate for Thanksgiving.  Rebecah later made a picture. 

Kimball got his braces taken off last month and this month it was Rebecah's turn to have them put on!  She was sore for almost 2 weeks, but she is now doing better and being very responsible avoiding certain foods.   Here is a before and after.

Black Friday Bowling

Last year we started a tradition to go bowling on Black Friday.  Joseph had to work this year on Black Friday so we went the next day.  I was a little nervous bowling with the Covid-19 cases surging in our area, but I was really careful.  I wiped down the keypad, all of the balls and I had the kids use hand sanitizer multiple times throughout our outing.  We had a good time and I even won a game!  That's huge for me.  I scored a 125!  I found a ball that went nice and straight so I think I had 1 strike and 5-6 spares.  Kimball didn't like being beaten by his mom!

Complying with the rules to stay seated unless bowling.

Eden Bowling

October

I made my first apple pie.  That really isn't much of an accomplishment, but I don't like cooked apples...at all...so I have never wanted to go to the work to make an apple pie.  I started making Joseph apple crisps a few years ago, and decided this year I would go for the real deal.  It turned out well, but from the reports I received "the crust was the best part."  I can't guarantee I'll make a yearly apple pie, but now I can say I have made one.  And my crust recipe IS really good.  Thanks, Kristin!

We also made applesauce.  The kids really look forward to making applesauce each year so I pulled out the strainer and we got busy.  It's harder to find time for these all day tasks when we spend so much time doing school work!

Kimball got his braces off and he kept commenting on how slimy and smooth his teeth felt.  Thankfully, he is doing really well wearing his retainer.  I told him it should be a habit that lasts his entire life!  Rebecah starts with braces in November so we won't get much of a break, but she is ready for straighter teeth.

For my birthday I really wanted to go hiking.  We have had such beautiful fall colors.  Joseph suggested that we try to visit Letchworth State Park sometime this fall and I suggested we go for my birthday.  I have wanted to visit this park for a few years, but it's 2 hours away so it's an all day adventure.  Letchworth is supposed to be the "Grand Canyon of the East."  It was pretty, but we couldn't really get up close and personal with the waterfalls or gorges.  Joseph and I decided that we like Watkins Glen State Park better and it's closer.  We still had a good day with beautiful weather.  The kids did great with the hiking.  Kimball and I went on an extra hike while everyone else was at the play ground.

This was the view of the extra hike Kimball and I did.

I planned a quick dinner of fajitas because I knew we would be getting home late and I didn't want to eat out--Joseph did offer. I almost always prefer to eat at home over eating out.  For dessert we had French silk pie.  It was delish.  The only time I make this pie is for my birthday.

Eden's birthday was on the 12th and she loves hiking, too.  She is always asking to go hiking.  When we go on walks in the neighborhood it is not unusual for her to run most of the way and we usually go about a mile and a half.  She just loves to walk.  Maybe she takes after her mother.

I decided to take the kids to Green Lakes State park.  This was the original plan for my birthday until we switched to Letchworth.  The weather was a little cooler and overcast, but the day was still nice.  We had a nice walk around the lake and then the kids played on the play ground until they were ready to head home for lunch.

*I know a lot of these hiking pictures are dark, but the sun was always in the wrong position for my pictures.  I should take the time to learn more about lighting and photography, but it isn't a priority right now.  

On all of our hikes we wear masks when we get close to people.  We are "doing our part."

We love our big 4 year old.  She is sweet, snuggly and doesn't like to be left behind!

We had a short break--3 days--and then we celebrated Lincoln's and Annika's 6th birthday.  These two were SO excited for their birthday.  Once birthday week starts, Eden doesn't have to wait too long for her birthday, but those last few days were killer for Lincoln and Annika.

The kids all wanted pizza for their birthday, but Eden chose breakfast pizza and Lincoln and Annika agreed on sausage pizza.  The girls had chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and Lincoln had a cookie cake which he helped to decorate.

Birthday celebration at school.

Lincoln loves Where's Waldo books right now.  Kimball really enjoyed I Spy books at this age.  

Lincoln and Joseph are frequently found searching for different things together.

One of Annika's birthday presents came a few days late.  She was sad at first, but once she saw it and put it together she declared: "It was worth waiting for!" I love her positive attitude!

Part of our remote learning involves the "special" classes like art, PE, music, etc.  I don't really care for these extra classes because they take so much extra time, but we do them.  The art activities have actually been the least bothersome because it forces me to do crafts with the little ones.  Our crafts have fallen by the wayside since I'm so busy with other things.  The kids made bat silhouettes and we added their project to our Halloween decor.

In October I do the birthdays and then tend to forget that Halloween is coming.  Thank goodness Joseph takes over Halloween.  Like with everything else this year, Halloween was different this year, too.  Joseph signed the kids up for a few drive thru trick or treat events.  These events actually went well and the kids got a lot of candy/snacks/toys.  We carved pumpkins, but no one took pictures. 

Lincoln feeling festive.

All dressed up for the drive thru trick or treat.  

Everyone commented on Lincoln's Pharaoh costume.  

On Halloween when it came time for trick or treating, Rebecah and Annika decided they already had enough candy and wanted to stay home.  Kimball is too old to go with his family, but not too old to go beg for candy.  I just took Lincoln and Eden around and we went to the houses we wanted and skipped others when they got cold.  Our community had door to door trick or treating, but suggested guidelines for social distancing like giving plenty of space between other people, giving out bags of candy prepackaged instead of letting kids rummage through a big bowl, etc.  It worked really well and was faster.  A lot of houses just had a table or bowl of bagged candy and we could walk up and take one without having to knock and wait at the door.  We didn't get many trick or treaters so we now have a LOT of candy after 2 drive thru events, a very generous neighbor, a surrogate grandma and our own leftover candy.  The good news is that I won't have to make dessert until Thanksgiving--or later!

September

 It has been a good month.  We had fun outings and school is off to a good start.

Lincoln was very excited when Kimball gave him his first football card! 

I canned tomatoes this month as well as some salsa.  The girls were a great help peeling the skin off the tomatoes after I blanched them.

After reading the Harry Potter series twice over the Summer, Rebecah decided to read The Underlander Chronicles.  She has since moved on to the H.I.V.E series.

For Labor Day Joseph decided to take the kids to Alger Island which is in Fourth Lake in the Adirondacks.  This little island has 12 camping spots.  All access to this island is via boat so Joseph loaded all of the supplies into our canoe.  There is no plumbing on this island or electricity so it was primitive camping at its best.  I'm not a camper and primitive camping is NOT my thing so I sent everyone off on this grand adventure and enjoyed my modern conveniences at home.  They had a fun time exploring the island.

Annika fell and scraped her arm so she has a pout-y face in some

 of the pictures to emphasize her scrape!

It was really windy and in the lower 70s, but the kids braved the water for a little bit.

Rebecah opted to stay home with me...smart girl.  She did that a few times when Joseph would take the kids to the beach.  Rebecah has learned that there are perks to having me all to herself...it's quieter, we watch movies, read books together and I treat her to donuts in the morning.

School started on the 10th.  As with a lot of schools, the district is doing a hybrid learning style this year.  Kimball attends school 1 day per week with 4 remote learning days at home.  The other children attend school 2 days a week with 3 days of remote learning at home.  It is taking some adjusting for me to have the kids home, but needing to be scheduled and learning.  My time is even less my own than it was in the summer, but I'm adapting and learning that some days baking and chores slide and other days we rush through school so I can keep up with our food demands and house work.  It's a delicate balance.  The kids love their in-person school days!  I think they all wish they could attend school daily.  

I didn't take any pictures of the first day of remote learning.  It wasn't very exciting.  I did take some pictures of the first in-person day though.

Kimball is in 8th grade at the Junior High.

Rebecah is in 5th grade at the middle school.

Lincoln & Annika are in Kindergarten

and Eden is in pre-K.

From 6:45 until 9:15 I have someone leaving every 45 minutes to an hour.  My morning send offs and afternoon "welcome homes" last a few hours.  It is nice to have a little time to hear about the day as each person comes home.

            

I asked that Lincoln and Annika be placed in the same class to make remote learning a little easier for me and the school kindly granted my request.  They have a FABULOUS Kindergarten teacher. I love it when teachers send home pictures!

One Monday after preschool, but before everyone else arrived home from school Eden, Joseph and I went canoeing.  Eden got a little bored so we were only out about 45 minutes, but it was nice and peaceful.

Kimball helped Eden off the bus one day since it was his remote

 learning day and everyone else was at school.

Kimball and Joseph have gone mountain biking a few times this month.

One afternoon after the kids finished with school we went to a local apple orchard to enjoy the day.  It was very busy, but after waiting about 20 minutes it was finally our turn to ride the tractor to the apple orchard. 

This picture was taken before we found the ladder!

I'm still a few inches taller than Kimball.  I'm sure that will change this coming year!  

The Fall color has been really pretty this year.  I'm really 

hoping we can go hiking next week for my birthday!