3-Day Christmas Tree

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This year Christmas decorating has taken a little longer than usual. We went on Friday afternoon to get a tree because Alan was here that day. When we got home everyone was tired from school and tree getting, so we just put it in the stand and left it. On Saturday all three kids had plans, which even overlapped by two hours so I had a little time home alone! :) I wrapped some presents, got out the Christmas decorations, put up some house decorations, and put the lights on the tree. This morning the boys put lights on the big tree outside while Eve decorated the porch (and I dealt with a broken water heater). This evening we were all finally together and ready to decorate the tree. You know the meme format “Tell me you have ____ without telling me you have ___.” Tell me you have teenagers without telling me you have teenagers. We decorated the tree at 9:00pm and no one is even remotely ready for bed. Myself included!

  • Friday afternoon tree cutting, trying to pick one and get done before dark!
  • “No you can’t get an 10′ tree!” Alan has to remind me of that every year!
  • Also, that he’s strong. 🤪
  • Eve wanted a piece of the trunk for a craft project. Lex got it started.
  • Eve finished it off.
  • The next day I put up the lights.
  • The following day (night!) we got around to putting up the decorations.
  • Huxley was confused.
  • Team work makes the dream work! 😄
  • Lovely Christmas tree.
  • 💗💚

Tomorrow hopefully a plumber will come fix the water heater and maybe I’ll even get a few errands done as well. 🎄🎁

Thanksgiving 2021

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We celebrated Thanksgiving this year at Rosy’s new house!! It was pretty awesome. We were all thankful for a warm house (and cozy where it wasn’t as warm) and loving family. Also, there were lots of dogs.

The hostess with the mostest!
They were nice to share their house with use for a few days. :)
I love this girl.
Huxley was the little dog at the party. He enjoyed playing with the boys sometimes, but other times he just wanted to be snuggled in the safety of someone’s lap.
Berkley likes laps too! Also, we celebrated Joyce’s birthday a little early since we were all together.
Dog pile on Joyce!
Silly dog.
Sillier dog. :)

I’m a little late with this post, but we got a Christmas tree today and I need to get a Thanksgiving post done before the Christmas posts begin!

HBD to me

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My birthday was the other day. It was pretty awful, but I gave myself a re-do and did much better the second time around! 😁

I got my Covid booster shot (Pfizer) on Thursday evening, then went to school Friday morning because I was feeling ok. I have a light morning on Fridays so I figured I could take it easy, do some stuff around the library, and be ok. Turns out I was NOT ok! We had 11 teachers out and I was called to sub in kindergarten. I said I’m not feeling well and probably can’t teach kindergarten all day, so the boss said, “ok, how about subbing for the para in the other kindergarten?” So I did that, until the chills set in, then the shivers and aches. I ended up in tears in the office around 10am and heading home around 10:30am (after crying in both kindergarten classrooms!). Everyone was super supportive (I love that about my school!) but I felt guilty leaving anyway since there were already so many people out. When I got home I crashed on the couch for the rest of the day. Teenagers came and went, and I dozed on. I had aches, chills, sweats, vomiting… it was awful. I was feeling much better by Saturday. Alan came down and did a bunch of jobs around the house, I opened presents, we all laughed and had fun, then we went to watch Cinderella at the high school. Lex is running the lights again this year and Eve did stage crew. It was a great show. I’m feeling close to 100% now Sunday evening. The kids did their final Cinderella production this afternoon, then Eve and I went grocery shopping this evening. I bought myself some birthday cake. :)

It was a miserable day, but an otherwise good weekend and 100% worth it to keep myself and others safer from Covid!

Math Dept Student of the Month

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I got an email this morning….

“The Mathematics Department would like to award Alexander (Lex) Johnson with Student of the Month for October 2021. Lex is currently enrolled in both Computer Programming and AP Calculus with Mrs. Kent.

Lex is a strong AP Calculus student, constantly striving to achieve at the highest level. In computer programming, Lex quickly grasped the concepts and is now on his own, learning a higher-level language to apply it to Minecraft modifications. He sets high standards for himself and is fully invested in his education. Congratulations Lex!”

😊🤗

Champlain College

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We went on another college tour today. This time it was a whole day event! They had swag and sessions and presentations and tours and lunch! It is a really nice college in a beautiful city. Lex is definitely interested in their Game Programming major.

Their gaming center was a big hit.
This is where students learn and play
(and probably play and play and play!)
The professor said they put out pong for the parents, but I saw plenty of kids playing too. 😄
Accidental twinning
My new favorite photo! 🤣
Fight club! They make medieval weapons from foam and stuff and then “fight” on the quad. 😄

Halloween 2021 🎃

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View these photos from the bottom to the top. They posted backwards and I don’t want to deal with it on my phone.

Halloween 2021 was a success, I guess. The rain held out. My neighbor had a party that Eve and I attended. Eve wore a Toga costume. I wore a hat and orange socks. Lex went to work. B’Lake was at his girlfriends house.

I wasn’t in the most party mood, but it was nice anyway. She trick-or-treated with a group of kids. I hung out with the parents around the fire pit for awhile then headed home.

I love everything about this girl. ❤️❤️❤️
Ghost, a bunny, a banana, and an anime villain.
We left treats on the porch, hoping they would be gone by the time we got back. They were not.

Dark

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This week darkness has set in. The daylight hours are getting shorter and we had cloudy, rainy days. It was dark when I woke and walked the dog. Dreary when I went to work and came home. Dark when I was dropping off and picking up kids. Dark.

A weird season of life

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I feel like I’m in a really weird season of life right now. Not bad, just weird.

School is REALLY hard this year, for me and all of my colleagues. People are quitting. I feel more of a divide than I’ve ever felt in the past. This is year six for me, so I don’t have tons of historical experience, but it still is a really rough year for all of us.

The kids in my house are all doing well, though Eve asks every day if she can be homeschooled. She hates going to school, but usually comes home not too miserable in the end. Fortunately! Lex and B’Lake are both working a lot, and Lex is doing karate and lights for the musical again this year. I joined a gym and I’m trying to go 3x week. Our afternoons are busy! Lex has his license and a car, and next month he’ll be able to drive the other kids places, which will be nice.

B’Lake is still confident that he does not want to return home and we have started researching adoption. It’s interesting to consider adopting a teenager, and parenting a kid who lived for 14yrs in a very different home/family environment. I’m also in a way co-parenting with DCF, which adds another element to contend with. He also has a girlfriend that he worships and wants to spend every second with and talks about constantly. As a middle-aged divorced women I have to work hard to contain the eye rolling! 🙄😂

All three of them are getting so independent and starting to flex their wings. I’m finding I have to change my parenting style and expectations a bit. And for as busy as we are, I’m also finding myself alone more and more often. This afternoon Lex is at work, B’Lake is with a friend, and Eve is holed up in her chair watching anime, and I’m spending the time watching tv, prepping healthy food, and doing a little work.

Tomorrow is Indigenous Peoples Day so the kids have no school, but I have to work. 🙄 B’Lake asked if he could hang out in town with friends and I had to say no. Instead he will be at a friend’s house (I’ve connected with the friend’s mom to be sure is that plan!) Lex and Eve will be going to a corn maze with Alan. Alan was going to take all three kids, but one opted to hang with friends instead.

Anyway, this is just a random blog post from my phone (website still not working) while I watch Baking Impossible. I hope you’re all having a lovely Sunday evening. ❤️