Wet Halloween

For the last several weeks, I asked Collin what he wanted to be for Halloween. Just as all the years prior, he did not have much to say about Halloween and said he would think of something. When I got home last night, he asked what he was going to dress up as Halloween. Really? I’ve been asking you for several weeks and now we have two hours before we need to head to the neighborhood parade?  I gave him if you simple suggestions that I could think of knowing we had some costume supplies at the house already. He thought for less than five minutes, and came up with the dressing up as an Astros baseball player probably because our Astros are the World Series right now. Go Astros!!!  He wanted me to wear my Astro T-shirt and hat so I thought it would be funny that I went is Kate Upton and he went and Verlander. That always dresses up for Halloween but it’s been an interesting Fall, so he didn’t have anything dress up with. So, he went as an Astros fan. Not very original, I know, but at least we showed up and had a good time.

For the first time since Collin was born, it was a rainy Halloween. We walked to the start of the neighborhood parade in drizzle. About 10 minutes later, it started to POUR!!!  I felt terrible for the little kids that were crying because they were getting soaked. The boys, including Collin, did not care and started trick-or-treating anyway. At first, he let me know I could go back home. I started to slowly walk and follow him around. He was fine with me there and even posed a few times for a picture. Smart kid!!  The rain did let up a little and then started to pour again right about the time Collin decided he was ready to head back to the house to pass out candy.  Dad wasn’t home this entire time because it was his turn to be at the house to pass out candy.  Collin reminded both of us whose turn it was to walk with him and who should stay home.  Ha!

Check out his candy stash!! Having a cinch sac really helped carry all of it. 

Warriors Lose Last Game

The Warriors football team lost their last game to the #1 team.  The Center really had a hard time hiking the ball which caused a few fumbles. Collin only played the minimal times he is required to play per game. He was fine with that when we talk to him after the game. We just don’t know how to light a fire under him whenever he is playing any sport. He enjoys playing but doesn’t have the drive that other teammates seem to have. The coaches see through this and that’s the main reason they don’t play him especially when it’s a tight game like the one was Saturday. 

He is #4 in the pictures below and is playing A Gap position. 

Despite the loss, the Warriors will be going to the playoffs!  They have a week off of no games but I am sure the coach will fill it with several practices. We told Collin to get his head in the game and show the coach that he really wants to play. We have done this multiple times before so we don’t expect much of a difference from him. 

Sweet Letter

I asked Collin to write a letter to his friend for her upcoming birthday. When I initially asked him to write it, he threw a slight fit because he does not like you do a lot of writing. No surprise there!  However, after I gave him a few suggestions, I walked away for several minutes. Look what he came up with. I like that he asked questions and made comments to fill an entire page. He did not help to make a few spelling corrections but seemed not to upset with himself when making the changes. Progress?

First Bank Account

Collin got to open his first bank account today. With the money he is earning from his chores and money he had from past Birthday and Christmas gifts, he had close to $200. He chose to deposit $150 and counted out the $20s, $5s and several $1s. He also received a check register and learned how to write he deposit transaction. He had a lot of questions including:

• What happens if the bank does not have enough money to pay him back?
• What's a transaction?
• Why would the bank pay interest in his money?
• What did he have to count the money starting with the $20s first and then go in order?
• Why couldn't he sign his name?
• Could his signature be a picture?
• Why does Dad's signature look like scribble?  See how he lost focus after the signature? Ha!

4th Grade, 9 Weeks Report

We met with Collin's teachers Friday afternoon to discuss how he is doing his first 9 weeks in school.  We met with his language arts teacher first, Ms Sammons. She started telling us about how he is doing with his reading and reading comprehension letting us know that he does struggle with comprehension. This is definitely not something new and we plan to address it next week when we have an hour meeting with his current teachers, this is the principal, and one other teacher to discuss how we might address assisting Collin this year. He is reading at a level is it a 38 on the DRA level. He struggled with comphrension and meaning of the story. He picked out high points in the story, but could not tell the teacher what the purpose of the story was. She said that she notices when he is struggling with an assignment, he starts talking because that's easier than trying to figure out what he supposed to be doing. At least she recognizes that he's not trying to be disruptive but that it's a coping mechanism him instead of working on something difficult for him, like reading. Miss Rixie said that she sees none of this behavior with Collin and her class. Doing really well in math and his double digit multiplication facts. They will be starting division soon so she wants us to start working on the basics at home. She said that he needs to be quick with his 1 through 12 multiplication and then the same thing eventually for division. Otherwise, they commented on his hairstyle and said that he's a really fun, adorable child. Well, we know that!  ❤️

4th Grade Picture

Oh my goodness!!!  Collins 4th grade pictures were waiting for me on the kitchen counter when I got home last night. Could he not be any cuter?!?!?!  He doesn't have a hair out of place, did not wear some old, ready shirt, and his smile is adorable. Love those cheeks!

High Five Chores

So that we, mainly Dad, don't have to constantly remind Collin of his chores and what he's responsible for during the day or weekly, we saw this great idea of creating not just a chore chart but calling it "High Five"chore chart. This means Collin not only gets a high Five for doing his chores, he also gets paid two dollars for every five stars he earned. This reward system has been awesome since we implemented it at the end of August. We have done a similar chore chart before and even paid him but for some reason, seeing the stars has really helped out. There is no more constant nagging and reminders of which chores he still needs to do each day. At the end of the day, if the chores are done, then he doesn't get a star. It's nice watching him walk to the refrigerator, where the chart is hanging, for him to look at the next chore he needs to do.  The only thing we need to say is, "Have you done all of your chores this morning?"  He ha
s mainly received stars for every chore other than going to bed by 9 PM. He still struggles with that one. I'm not too surprised!

First Crossword Puzzle

After the non-stop questions on the way to Angel Fire Thursday and then again on the way to the airport today, I was just a little worn out by the time we got on the plane. I don't know how he found it but he opened up the airline magazine and asked about the crossword puzzle. I have never been a fan because these were usually too hard, but Collin kept wanting to try it. Once we were in the air, we started working on it together ... and it was not that hard as I remembered (probably was rated intermediate). Collin had a good time guessing the words and asking what words in the clues meant. At least he was learning AND it was keeping his attention. I was surprised that we finished it and it kept his attention for so long. Ha!!  He does not have attention problems when he is interested in what he is doing. 

Ping Pong Jenga 🏓

We made up a fun game this afternoon:  Ping Pong Jenga!  First, we played Jenga on the ping pong table just to the point that the stack might fall and then we played ping pong around the stack until it fell. The stack actually helped me because it was stacked on my weak side so it kept blocking the ball. 

Archery Family

We are loving archery at the Tree House (what we are calling the mountain house now). What fun!  Shooting from the ground floor is different from the seoncd floor but still a challenge. Collin is doing really well and gets better and better each time he tries. I'm not so bad myself if I must say so. 😝 It's a fun activity to do from the house between other activities and to entertain the kiddo that just cannot sit and relax. 

Back in Angel Fire....Ahhh

Collin's school had a teacher workday today and is closed for the holiday Monday, so we decided to get out of town and stay in Angel Fire at the mountain house for the long weekend. So we could spend more time at the house and not in a car, we flew to Albuquerque and redo the car there to drive to an a half hours to Angel Fire. 

Collin had so many questions about the plane, why the wings were shaped the way they were, where did the flight attendants day when they weren't working, where was the plane going after it landed in Albuquerque, etc. He had even more questions once we got in the car about how long it would take, will it continue to rain…because we saw rain in the distance... and what will we do when we get to the house.  He was so cute with his questions but I was pretty exhausted answering all of them throughout the day!

About the same time we arrived, our friends Dave and Joyce arrived with their dog Gracie to stay the weekend with us. 

This morning, we had a fairly lazy morning with everyone getting up when they feel like it.  Then, Dad and Collin played with her new bow and arrow set shooting arrows at a target down below from the porch. Dad hit a tree!  Collin did really well for his first time with this said probably because he Learned how to shoot a bow and arrow during camp this summer. 

Midday, all of us went hiking on a local trail, Oeste Verde Trail. It's a 2.6 mi loop that we have done before. It's a fairly challenging trail but it's worth it with the great views overlooking the small town. When we started out on a hike, a large male golden retriever walked up to us. He had tags on and we looked around for his owner. After not finding anyone, we called the number on the tag but nobody answered. He seem to be hungry and wondering around lost. Therefore, we decided to continue to hike and wait until we heard back from his owner. Collin was not excited about hiking until he had a dog to hike with him.  The dog was great! He would walk alongside Collin and then walk behind him and check out each one of us to make sure we were all there and then go back up to the front with Collin. Eventually, the owner did call us and we made plans to meet her at the end of the trail. She sure was happy to see her dog. His name is Tony. 

Warriors Win, Again!

The Warriors played a great game Wednesday night eventually winning 37 - 0. Collin played offense and even some defense getting to really good tackles in. The coach came up to him at the end of the game and talked about how well he played but wants him to play Safety again. Collin's reaction to that was not warm so we will have to work on that. While on the line, he had to block two of his good friends, Jackson and Foard. Even though these guys weigh 35 pounds more than him, he did really well standing up to them and being able to get the round them to make his play. 

He is number 4 in the pictures below.