Halloween 2021 🎃

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

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

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. ❤️

WPI

WordPress isn’t working properly so I can’t update the blog from my computer. Hopefully it works here ony phone.

We went to Worcester Polytechnic Institute this weekend. It was a beautiful day and both boys really liked it. Alan said he wants to go to college there too. 😄

Who is the prospective student here?? 😄
A classroom with whiteboards everywhere. They said the rooms are designed for collaborative learning or something like that.
I like this cool riser setup. There is a HUGE screen facing it. This building houses a 3D printer room, a ton of makerspace type areas and freshman dorms upstairs.
Does he look like a college student here? 😬
This building was designed to look like a church because someone wanted it that way, but it actually houses the music dept. They have multiple band opportunities! Also, that’s our tour guide, Sam.
This is the admin building. Our tour guide said students never see the inside of this building unless they are misbehaving. 😄
Toga and I enjoyed our day.
I love these masked not-babies.
This corner of the athletic center had a really great view of the athletic fields and tennis courts. The tennis courts are built on top of the parking garage, which was a student project years ago.
Just a cool building.
The library.
This doggie loved the fountain! 😄 Sam told us that the fountain used to be programmed to reach a certain height all the time, but on windy days it would blow and get people wet. So a group of students designed a system of wind monitors stationed all around the area that control the fountain. When it’s windy, the fountain doesn’t go as high and therefore doesn’t get people wet. Smart!
I took a picture of these pants figuring they were a joke I’m not smart enough to get. I showed Lex later and he told me it says WPI. Of course.
Gompie the Goat. Official mascot. Masked for our protection. 😄
Eve tried to hug it but the horns made it difficult.
While Alan and B’Lake talked physics with the admissions people, the rest of us took some down time… apparently we needed space. 😄