We ask the kids to circle some items from the sale ads each year to give us some ideas for Christmas. I came across this beauty today which perfectly exemplifies my kids...
Here is something Amelia circled ... a small TV for her room for $99.
...and before any of you say he doesn't understand size and price .... these were on the same page as the TV Amelia circled.
I put Ev to a test yesterday and he passed .... sort of. We went to the recycling center to recycle boxes. This is free to do, but I told Everett we were supposed to pay $25. There are plenty of things you do have to pay for, so it was an easy enough story. I also told him I had forgotten my wallet (which was true), so we were just going to sneak in and drop them off. I just wanted to see what he would do when faced with a moral dilemma from a loved one...
I'm going to give him an A+ on the way to the "crime"...
He kept telling me "you need to go get your wallet", "you need to ask if you can come back and pay them later", and "I'm not going to be a part of this. No way"
I'm going to give him a B- during the "crime"...
He eventually helped me load the boxes into the bins. That's not great, but what kid is going to tell his dad no in that situation?? However, as he was helping, he kept guilting me by saying "Is this what you think Jesus would want you to do?". So, he gets credit for that.
I'm going back and forth between a D- and an A on leaving the scene of the "crime"...
After we finished, he got in the truck, hid in the back floorboard, and yelled "Get us out of here, Butthole!" ...
After spending two weeks quarantining on the farm, Grandma and Grandpa came up for an early Thanksgiving. They were the first visitors we've had since this whole pandemic began. Over that time, I'm sure we forgot how to be good hosts. This was probably most notable in the fact that we got rid of our guest room and made it an office. They are so nice they didn't even complain about how hard the desk and computer chair were to sleep on. It also occurred to me that another member of our home, Lucy, had literally never had guests in her life. She was born in March and thus has social distanced since birth. That said, she clearly doesn't know how to act around visitors. When they got here, she was shaking, jumping, and crying like the people they used to have winning the big checks in Publisher's Clearinghouse commercials. To her credit, she settled down and was a sweet puppy the rest of the time. All in all it was a great, albeit too short, visit. I wish they would have stayed longer, but apparently they want to see "other family members" as well on Thanksgiving....I still think it might have something to do with needing to use reams of printer paper as pillows in our home office guest room.
For some reason, the wallpaper on my phone keeps changing. It's been Gators logos, Pokemon characters, and most recently, this dragon....
Thanks to his teachers holding conferences, Everett and I got to spend the day together last week. While Amelia and I get this treat every other day, I rarely get days alone with my man. I had to work from home for part of the day, but we still managed to squeeze in a good time. We shot hoops. We played video games. I even let him pick breakfast...he went with a McGriddle...and as you can see, Olive was very, very interested in his choice...
Even though they make her look 2 years older, I think the braces look good on her...
Yesterday was our 14th wedding anniversary. Rather than get all mushy and write a long post about how much I love Meggan, I'll just put it into perspective this way - through the 7 months of COVID social distancing (so far), a period of time which 31% of couples say has caused irreparable damage to their relationship and divorce rates have seen a 34% increase over 2019, we are closer than ever. We've found new shows to watch together, we've completed numerous home projects together, and we have even begun taking time to go on walks together each day. Not bad for a couple of old timers who got married the same year Cars introduced us to Lightning McQueen, Oprah introduced many of us to a second year senator from Illinois named Barack, and Twitter was launched to introduce us to everything else.
I remember when my little girl was still flashing a toothless grin...somehow, she is now so big that I'm taking her to get braces put on tomorrow.... Just checking one more box along the path of growing too old and too cool for her dad.
Here are some pictures from the kids trick or treating ....
Here's one....
Here's another one....
Even the dogs got in on the act....
oh wait, that's right, we didn't trick or treat this year thanks to COVID. Another big win for 2020. Oh well, at least I bought the kids more candy than they could ever eat.
