Halloween Costume

Near the end of September Garrett asked when we would go shopping for a Halloween costume. Picturing the state of his room, with various pieces to all the Halloween costumes from years past spread around the floor, I replied with "how about you put together a costume from what you have and we'll buy any accessories you may need". I could tell that wasn't the reply he wanted but didn't dwell on it and the subject didn't come up again until mid October. By then Garrett had opted against putting together a costume and had settled on going as a Rubik's Cube. We all agreed it was a terrific idea, we have boxes and paint, all he needed to do was make his costume. Last Friday, October 30th, we finally brought out a box and laid out the grid and then Saturday morning Garrett painted all the squares.

The costume turned out great and he received a lot of compliments while trick or treating that evening.

Time flies when you're having fun ...

It's hard to believe our last post was in April. I suppose that speaks to how busy life can be. Here is it the start of August, which means EJ has graduated from high school and is headed off to college in a few short days;
Garrett finished 4th grade, has been to (and thoroughly enjoyed!) Camp Voyager and turned 10 years old; we've had our trip to the beach and Cousin Camp; celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary (a little early) in Charleston and have returned from our mission trip to Calgary, Canada.
In between trips Michael remodeled our upstairs bath, repaired and painted the front porch ceiling, and has almost completed the armoire for the bedroom. We also managed to fit in a few rounds of golf and several trips to the neighborhood pool. All-in-all a terrific summer and I'm sad to see it come to a close.

Camp Voyager

Garrett will attend his first overnight summer camp this year …. Some of his first comments on the camp were:

“Why would we need showers in the cabins?”

“Mom, I’ll only need to pack one set of clothes, the rest of the days I’ll just dress myself out of the lost and found.”

…. Should be an interesting four days! I’m pretty sure I don’t have to worry about him dressing out of lost and found as he’s way too picky about how clothes fit him for lost and found items to suit him.

Squirrels

the squirrels feel so at home at our place ... they are bringing the peanuts some idiot neighbor is leaving out for them to our front porch to shell and snack on!

Spring Break

In spite of a very rainy week, Garrett and I have both enjoyed our week off. Our break started with rain last Saturday which unfortunately canceled four soccer games that Garrett was looking forward to playing. Sunday was sunny and very windy so Michael and Garrett headed to the park in the afternoon to fly a kite. That trip was successful in spite of the many trees and I believe Michael only ended up climbing one tree to untangle the kite.

On Monday morning Michael headed off to work while Garrett, Bailey and I headed to Myrtle Beach for the week. Upon arrival at Mom and Dad's Garrett and Mimi created a list of things Garrett hoped to do by Friday lunchtime when we would head back to Spartanburg. Garrett's list included: swimming at the indoor pool, going to the beach to fly his kite, mini golf, golf, see a movie and make t-shirts. The two days of rain spoiled mini golf and golf, but I believe he accomplished everything else on his list and we had a great visit with Mom and Dad. Trips to Myrtle Beach are a favorite of mine as it's one of the few places I can do little else besides read and shop a little, while not feeling guilty about it. We arrived home Friday afternoon just in time to greet Michael as he came home from work. I guess the only thing that could make spring break better would be to have the same break Michael has, but we are too grateful to each have a break so you won't hear us complain too much.

Garrett's spring break will wrap up today in grand style with a trip to Carowinds in Charlotte, NC with school friends. He was so excited last night about the trip that he commented "it's just like Christmas!" as I put him to bed. I was invited to come along today, but when I asked Garrett if he wanted me to go he was quick to say he'd rather I didn't. Guess I can't blame him for that, as having "mom" along would create the potential for some nagging on my part that would easily take away some of the fun for him. While it's hard to believe he's old enough to go to an amusement park without us, it's clearly just the start of the independence he will have more of in no time at all.

Presenting ....... FROSTINA!

We had a terrific day yesterday. Frostina will be around for a few days, though with 60 degree temps promised by Thursday, she'll fade fast.

Snow Thunder

Ever heard of snow thunder? We hadn't either until last night. After two days of continuous rain, snow started to fall at about 5pm last night. By around 8pm we had a couple inches of snow and that's when we first heard the thunder. Michael was online checking out school closings and read that if you hear thunder during a snow storm it was likely your area would receive more than the average amount of snowfall. We haven't been online or watched TV today to know how much snow we officially have, but we're guessing it's about 4-5 inches. Unfortunately, our switch from cable TV to satellite TV a week ago came at a bad time. The satellite signal went out soon after the snow began falling and is still out this morning.
We went outside last night to try and shake off the branches of our many bushes that were bent over from the weight of the heavy snow. Garrett enjoyed that activity and spent a half hour or so playing in the snow. This is the most snow he's ever seen and I believe he's headed out this morning to work on the snowman he started last night. We did discover an interesting twist to snow angels last night. They are in fact a risky activity when you're not sure if all the doggy nuggets have been picked up!!!
We're headed outside to work on making our sidewalk passable and will try and get a few pictures to post as well.

Our favorite subject ….

..... Garrett! Anyone surprised?

Yesterday at school Garrett was one of two students from his classroom selected as a “Terrific Kid” for January. Garrett’s teacher, Mrs. Judd wrote:
“Garrett was chosen as a TERRIFIC KID for the Month of January because not only is Garrett a brilliant student, but he is also an active participant in all discussions and activities. Garrett asks insightful and evaluative questions which also helps others to understand. Garrett is a delightful student to have in class!!”

Well done Garrett … we’re very proud of you.

Garrett's maxims

Garrett has been studying Benjamin Franklin in social studies over the last week. Part of their discussion at school included Ben Franklin's Common maxims, or proverbs, on the value of work and savings for success from Poor Richard's Almanac. As homework one night Garrett was to come up with a maxim of his own. He came up with one from our many walks home from school: When walking home from school, if you're still a half a mile from home and find you're very thirsty and have to use the bathroom, that's a bad combination.
This past Saturday night we came out of dinner at a restaurant and not watching where he was going, Garrett bumped his head on a column. Since he happened to hit his head on the same spot he bruised earlier that day playing tackle football with Michael, a few tears followed as we walked toward the car. Half way to the car, with tears still on his face he giggled and said, "I just farted". Hearing this I laughed at him, and then we all agreed he'd just come up with another maxim for his life: A good fart always makes you happy.

Yankee Doodle Day

It was Yankee Doodle Day for the fourth grade students today at Pine St. As usual, the parents who stepped up to plan, prepare and then run the day did a wonderful job. Garrett couldn't resist playing dead for the camera so I was able to take a quick shot with the camera on my phone. Thankfully, the weather cooperated as the second half of the day's events were on the playground and by about 2pm I'd guess it was in the low 60s. The morning sessions were indoors and I understand they covered such things as the Boston Tea Party and Ben Franklin along with crafts that included a feather pen and drum complete with pencils for drumsticks.

Snow Day

What a treat to enjoy a snow day today! Garrett is recuperating from strep throat but that didn't stop him from getting outside to enjoy the inch and a half of snow we received. The wonderful thing about snow in the south is that it doesn't take much to cancel school and most times the snow is gone very quickly. It's now 5pm and while we can still see small amounts of snow in the flower beds and on the roof, the majority of it melted by early afternoon. There was just enough snow to enjoy a short snowball fight this morning which was Garrett's first ever.

The remainder of our day has been spent watching the inauguration coverage, playing Wii, reading and taking it easy. It's back to work and school tomorrow with only three days until the weekend!

Morning walks

Winter has arrived in SC with the temperature when we walked to school at a crisp 26 degrees today. Thankfully, Garrett still enjoys walking to school and it is certainly my favorite part of the day. Garrett never ceases to surprise me with his discussion topic of the day. Whether we each come up with a team name and have a "Wacky Race" (narrated by him of course), discuss his ideas for a slide from the second story of a house down to a trampoline, or talk about if Garrett were to be a talking dog, what would he look like, where would I take him, etc ... our morning conversations are to be treasured. I shall hope time doesn't fly by too quickly for I will miss this part of my day a great deal when he heads off to middle school.