We’ve been busy bees since school started again. Let me try to catch up with some photos of notable days.

Sam developed a cough on September 16. Most likely he has some throat irritation from the wildfire smoke that has been haunting us since August. He felt completely fine aside from the cough. Even so, the rule for school is to keep him home. I had him log into lectures when possible and try to follow along like the remote school kids do. Then I took him up to the hospital for a COVID test. It was VERY unpleasant – poor guy! I got him an apology Frosty from Wendy’s on the way home. Later that day he lost a tooth!!! What an exciting day. The next day, Friday, we got his negative test result and I sent him back to school after the weekend. He still has the cough.
Knitting + carrot cake + GBBO = Happy Rachel. I’ve been working on this haunted house cross stitch for months and finished it just in time to hang on the wall October 1st! We played some card games that Sam got for his birthday. Jack rented a violin to begin lessons through the 5th grade orchestra program!
Halloween things – The cat castle scratcher was added to our decor this year. The kids liked the apple crisp and ice cream – I used Mom’s recipe from her ancient Betty Crocker tome. Jack and Sam made some spooky potion supplies to add to our decor as well. I don’t really have a picture to share, but trust me that the house is fully decked out for Halloween.
We got Jack a bigger bike through craigslist. The exchange took us out to Aurora, near a restaurant that’s been on my wishlist for years – Snowl. They make Korean style milk ice bowls and taiyaki waffles. DELICIOUS! Jack’s bike upgrade meant that Sam could move up too. It’s like hermit crabs exchanging shells.
The kids have been spending a lot of time after school playing with their friends in the neighborhood, usually on bikes. It was so funny running into Sam’s little buddy at the zoo on Friday! We joked to their family “We can’t get rid of you!” But seriously, it’s great that he has a friend nearby and they get along so well and are in class together at school.
This week was fall break – the kids had Thursday and Friday off. So Ben took a half day and we spent the afternoon at the zoo. We had great luck seeing cats of all kinds this trip, including feeding and tricks from the tiger Nikita.
The Waterhouses, including Andy(!), came for a quick 24 hour visit this weekend. We had a great time catching up and sharing baked goods. I made Prue’s technical challenge macaroons from last week’s GBBO episode. But Mom’s chocolate babka reigned supreme. Andy’s birthday was Friday and Amanda’s birthday is tomorrow. Amanda opened presents, the kids talked about pokemon non-stop per usual, and we played a few fun card games too.

Not pictured from the last month: my bouts of mask-sewing, my packing 90 craft kits for classroom Halloween parties, and Ben’s quarantine 6 day quarantine while he was sick with a cold and we waited for his COVID test result. (Negative, and he’s feeling good again, and no one seemed to have caught the cold).