It’s been a looong time since I did any sort of random update on life, and lots has been going on, so here we are. Hi!
Fall Activities Commence...
It’s now September which is the start of spooky time, in my mind. I live for the fall, and Halloween is my number one favorite day of the whole year. Even though it’s still hot out on some days, I am living that fall life right now.
Decorations started weeks ago, and any movie we watch from now through October shall be horror only. That’s pretty much what we watch anyway, but I am now making it official! Last night, I also took out all the kid’s Halloween books and put them in a crate in the living room. We’ll pick books from there to read from now through the holiday. After Halloween, I’ll switch them over to Christmas books.
Over the weekend, Jerry and I took the kids out to a little farm in Webster (about 20 minutes away) where they make our favorite fry cake donuts ever. Back in 2017, we undertook a massive and life affirming project called “Donut Quest 2017.” We drove around to all the local farms that make fry cakes for the fall and sampled them all until we declared Herman’s to be the winner, and now we go there every year. Their cider wasn’t out yet, so we drove to a different farm down the road to score some cider, then we headed home. I wore my Friday the 13th shirt because I need to be spooky for fall things, right? That night, we got pizza for dinner, then we started watching The Shining (after the kids went to bed obvs), which I had never seen before. We had to finish it the next night because Stephen Freaking King and his massive books, y’all. Also, I should shout out my new favorite horror movie called Hell House LLC which we watched a couple of weekends ago. It’s basically my new favorite, and we’re hoping to watch the sequels this upcoming weekend.
All in all, it was a pretty solid weekend and I plan on having every weekend from now until Halloween be somewhat like this one. I already have a haunted hayride and a spooky lighthouse tour on my calendar. Can’t wait to add more fall sh*t to it, too!
A Podcast
Oh! In breaking news, I have finally stuck with a podcast for more than 5 minutes! I’ve started several of them over the last year, and I seriously never get past 5 minutes. Well, I started listening to Serial a couple of weeks ago and I’ve made it through the first 4 episodes so far. I’ve been listening while I fold laundry, clean the kitchen, or go for walks outside. I’ve tried in the car and at work, but have discovered I really can’t concentrate then, so I strictly listen during chores or work outs. It’s been working so far, so yay!
The Boys
Let’s see… what else.
Friday, Holden had his one year check up and Caleb tagged along. Their doctor just moved to a fancy new building and it was our first time there. Holden had plenty of shots, and both boys got their flu vaccines. Caleb once again asked if he could help give Holden his shots. Like the big boy he is, he didn’t cry over his flu shot, either. Caleb never cries at shots! It’s pretty amazing. Since I had to leave work early to make the appointment, my mom and I also hit up a couple of garage sales. We went to one that had really awesome seasonal decor and I got lots of great Halloween things and a couple of Christmas things too. They also sold me a cute little Easter village at a steal that I went back for the next day.
On the not so good front, Caleb has started having night terrors / nightmares. They started the night before school, so I thought they were stress related, but they’re continuing on. He starts screaming and crying after he’s gone to sleep and he can’t be consoled or calmed down for a few minutes. He doesn’t respond to our questions or anything. It’s really scary. The past 3 nights, he’s slept in our bedroom since he was ending up in our bed after these attacks anyway. His bed was too big to move, so he’s in a pack and play in our room and and he loves it. The first two nights went well, but then he woke up again last night with the screaming and crying. We’re not sure what else to do except let him stay in our room temporarily until they (hopefully) stop.
Speaking of school, he is now in his second and last year of preschool. He’s at the same school but he now goes 3 mornings a week instead of the 2 he did last year. He often says he doesn’t want to go, but he loves it and has fun once he’s there. He’s learning opposites right now and he’s getting really good at it.
Miscellaneous
My obsession with Halloween and horror knows no bounds, and my mom and I scored a couple of old vintage dollhouses that we plan on renovating into haunted dollhouses. Yes, it’s a thing apparently. I don’t want to just rush into it though and do a hack job, so we’ve joined an FB group (they have groups for everything) and plan on doing some research before we start. I recruited my mom because she loves dolls and I am not crafty. She isn’t really either, but I figure two non-crafty people might be better than one? Maybe? Possibly? It remains to be seen.
The last big thing is that myself and several other family members had to officially and finally sever ties with a very toxic and selfish family member. His relationships with the entire family were never strong to begin with (as in… we saw him once a year at most), but now it’s totally over. It all boiled down to money and greed and things exploded into a massive fight (over text and phone) that a lot of tension and past wrongdoings have all led up to. I have never been in a fight like this in my life, but I feel like this huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I finally said the things I’ve been wanting to say for many, many years. It made no difference but I got to say my peace and it felt good at the end of it all. It’s been sucking up a lot of my energy and giving me anxiety, and I’m glad that we never have to speak to this person again. My mom and aunts totally had our backs and just affirmed for me that we should spend our time, energy, and love on the people who care and stop wasting it on the people who don’t. If you have someone toxic in your life, I 10/10 recommend cutting those ties.
Lastly, Jerry and I told Caleb to clean up his messes this weekend and he looked at us and goes “you’re both dead.” I have not stopped laughing since. Yes, it’s kind of morbid, but he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. When a family member’s pet recently passed away, he heard us talking about dying and that’s where he picked up on the word and figured that it meant something upsetting. He was mad at us so he figured he’d throw that out there. Parenthood is effing nuts, and if you don’t laugh sometimes, it’ll just drive you nutty.
I think that just about covers it and what we’ve all been up to lately. I have a busy week coming up with a retirement party on Friday immediately following work, and then work all day Saturday. I just have to push through until Sunday, then I can resume our regularly scheduled fall festivities.
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