Category: Roman

Xander’s 5th Grade Graduation…

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Xander’s 5th Grade Graduation Ceremony was tonight! It was a big deal for this momma…it was already a big deal because my Xan-Man is going to be a middle schooler next year…but even bigger because of the year we’ve all come through and because we missed Jonas’ 5th Grade Graduation Ceremony last year due to COVID. It was definitely one of those head-shaking, tear-jerking moments for me, realizing once again just how fast time passes.

I totally teared up when Xander came processing into the gym, when the kids sang “When You Believe” and “Hall of Fame”, and when Principal Fuller asked us to give the kids a round of applause for making it through this challenging year. Xander received the Perfect Attendance Award and the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence! Congratulations, Xander!!!

Magnet Fishing…

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We picked the boys up early from school today and took them out on the lake to do some magnet fishing…a little celebration for making it through the first week of TCAP testing. We had fun just riding around on the lake, and the boys caught a grill grate, some electrical wire, and a hoop earring to boot. HaHa!

Spring Break: Day 3, 4, and 5…

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We went to Red River Gorge, Kentucky for the latter half of Spring Break. We stayed in a log cabin in the woods (loved the view and the hot tub on the deck), took a sky lift up to a natural bridge (I was scared out of my mind, but all of the boys…including Tom…loved it), hiked three miles (I’m hoping for more family hikes in the future…however, Roman lost his mind about a 1.5 miles in), and spent time just relaxing (we watched the first episode of the Mandalorian and Raya and the Last Dragon with the boys). It was really nice…I’m so grateful we were able to get away.

For more pictures, click on the “Spring Break 2021” page on the right.

Spring Break: Day 1 and 2…

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The boys are on Spring Break this week…

On Monday, we ended up just hanging out at home…the boys ate (which they do a lot of…especially on breaks), jumped on our neighbor’s trampoline, raced on hover shoes over and over again across the living room floor, and relaxed/played video games. I picked up, did a ton of laundry, helped the boys pack their suitcases, and quite honestly when I wasn’t doing that I had a hard time fighting the magnetic pull of the couch with my favorite blanket and my bed (these rainy/gray days, man). I’ve been struggling with depression lately…I’m not sure what is going on with me…where it’s all coming from and how to get on top of it. But I was able to drag myself out for a run and through a workout, so I count that as a win.

Today, the boys and I drove out to Grand Ole Golf. The drive over started out a little rough with Roman and his attitude…let’s just say it was pretty quiet the whole way there after I had a talk with him about it. But things turned around after playing 18 holes of mini golf and racing around the go kart track. It was the first time we’ve all been able to go go karting together because Jonas and Xander were both tall enough to drive on their own! Afterwards, we went to Opry Mills…ate lunch in the food court, walked around and checked out some of the shops (it’s so different shopping with boys…we went to Game Stop, the Lego store…Jonas bought himself a new Lego set, and Electronic Express), and played a few arcade games at Dave and Buster’s (Xander and Roman each purchased an arcade card). All told…we had a good time, but we were all totally exhausted and ready to come home and relax afterwards.

Happy Birthday, Roman!!!…

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Happy Birthday to Roman!!! I can’t believe that my baby is 9 years old. He is a wild man…full of life and energy…funny, loud, entertaining, emotional, passionate, smart, and as sassy as they come. It’s been a tough year for him with the pandemic as our resident extrovert, but he’s almost through it. I’m so proud of him and can’t wait for him to find his thing…his outlet for all of those overflowing gifts and talents…so he can shine, shine, shine.

On Monday night, we celebrated with his favorite dinner and dessert. On Saturday afternoon, he had a fun birthday party at Pixel Planet Arcade with five of his best buddies…including a break halfway through for a sprint to the park, brownies, ice cream, and presents. On Saturday night, he had a sleepover with his best friend in the whole wide world and a day long playdate with him on Sunday. It was a weekend of birthday fun for RoMo Monkey.

Fort…

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Tom disassembled the treehouse in our backyard that he and his dad built for our boys when Roman was a baby. It made my heart a little bit sad, but he repurposed a good bit of the materials and built the boys a fort in the woods. They’re loving it, so their childhood treehouse lives on…

Mental Health Day…

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Roman has been struggling emotionally these days…I think the pandemic is really getting to him…like it is all of us. So, his daddy picked him up early from school this afternoon and took him out on the lake to ride around and do some exploring. I think it was just what the doctor ordered.

Raddish: Gourmet Gobble…

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We had our own little Thanksgiving today! The boys and I cooked up our Raddish kit for November…Gourmet Gobble.

The main dish was a Thanksgiving Vegetable Trio (Spinach Gratin, Orange-Glazed Carrots, and Maple Bacon Brussels Sprouts), the side dish was Baked Mac and Cheese, and the dessert was Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars. We decided to make only one vegetable from the trio and serve it with pork tenderloin as the main dish…more protein…it worked out really well. We’re looking forward (or at least I’m looking forward) to trying the other vegetables soon. Here are my little buddies…hard at work:

Halloween…

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We had one of the best Halloweens we’ve ever had this year. I’m not sure why…maybe it was because the weather was perfect (just chilly enough to be festive), because the kids are getting older which made things a little bit easier, or because we were all so thankful just to be able to get out and have some normal kind of neighborhood community fun. It also went a lot quicker/took a lot less energy because most everyone laid their candy out on a table in the driveway for the kids to pick and choose from. Tom was an old man, I was a hippie, Jonas was a light up stickman, Xander was Pikachu, and Roman was Harry Potter.

Shuckle’s Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch…

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The boys and I drove out to Greenbriar, TN this afternoon to try Shuckle’s Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch. We spent three hours there, and the boys STILL weren’t ready to go home.

It started out a little rough, honestly, because Xander was in a negative head space about everything (“these go karts don’t work”…”this is boring”…”that slide is dumb”…”this is so easy to climb”), and I was seriously doubting my choice of packing up lunches, driving an hour, and paying the price of admission, all for a whining/complaining fest that we could have had at home.

BUT, once he saw the corn maze, he took off and was having a blast with his brothers, sprinting through the stalks from one side to the other and playing hide and seek. And that was the beginning of a very fun day.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with: racing through a rope maze, trying to lasso a (pretend) calf, playing on the seesaws (love that old fashioned fun), climbing on the spider web, decorating cookies (with choose your own cookie, icing color, and toppings), playing pumpkin skeeball and basketball, racing ducks (with water pumps and half PVC pipe slides), conquering a right turn only maze, and jumping on a gigantic “corn popper” pillow. We used lots of hand sanitizer, wore our masks, played a lot, and left tired and happy.

Sleepovers…

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The boys were SO excited to have sleepovers this weekend.

Roman got to have his first sleepover at his best friend Owen’s house. They had a blast celebrating Owen’s birthday and playing Throw, Throw Burrito.

Owen’s older brother, Ethan, is Jonas’ best friend. So, we did a kid swap and had Ethan sleepover at our house. He and Jonas enjoyed going to a costume party with pizza, s’mores, and games at our church, riding bikes around our neighborhood, and playing basketball at the school playground.

Xander got to sleepover at one of his best friend’s houses too. He had fun playing in David’s backyard with him (they have a boy paradise with a trampoline, a treehouse, a ropes course, a tetherball, etc.) and staying up really late playing Monopoly.

(We didn’t get a great picture of Xander and David together, so I’ll try to take one tomorrow and post it soon.)

Belting Up…

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All three of the boys belted up in TaeKwonDo tonight!!! Jonas is a 4th level yellow belt, Xander is a 1st level yellow belt, and Roman is a 3rd level green belt.

(They would all be on the same belt, if they had all started at the same time…but Roman started first, then Jonas, and then Xander. Either way, they are all rocking it out in their own way…I’m so proud of their hard work and perseverance.)