Happy Halloween!

This year we met up with good friends for some trick or treating fun.  Things are always more fun when you do them with friends. 

I can't really remember the last time Brad was able to go trick or treating with us. It was such a relief to have him watch out for the older kids who go at a completely different pace than the younger ones. The older kids only want to get as much candy as they possibly can. They sprint from house to house as fast as they can go. Mario (he makes us call him that when he wears his costume) on the other hand, waddles to the door, knocks, says a mario catch phrase in a high pitch Mario voice such as: "It's a me! Mario!" or "Lets go!" followed by "Trick or Treat" or "Happy Halloween", then fumbles to get his bag open, then a "thank you", 2 minutes to get back down the steps, and we are waddling to the next house. Much different pace than the big kids, but by the end of the night they were all dragging their very full bags all the way home. And we are very happy to have achieved one more year of safety on the holiday most likely to kill Talan.

In other news, Ashton would like to share his joke:

Oh what fun it is to have a 10 year old. We are overloaded with sarcasm, one liners, fake british accents, and scientific facts.

Character Counts

Character counts is a monthly award at the elementary school given by each teacher to one student in each class. It is also the same award Ashton received last year, and "forgot" to tell me about. I found it, completely crushed, at the bottom of his backpack on the end of the year clean out your backpack day. Apparently he was unaware parents like to attend the ceremony for their good charactered child. 

This year, since Talan has a folder required to be checked every night I was able to read the newsletter which contained the names of the Character Counts award members. Mrs. Thornton's class: Ashton Coates. Last year I wasn't even aware there were regular monthly newsletters available because they had been lost in the abyss of Ashton's backpack. 

 Last week was the ceremony. As we walked into the school Ashton was walking to the ceremony. We made eye contact and Ashton quickly turned his head as if he had not seen us. He thought he had avoided the worst of the embarrassment, but he didn't take into account Syphr. As soon as Syphr saw him he pointed and yelled, "hey mommy! That's Ashton!!""hey mommy! Look! Its Ashton!!' Ashton responded to this by picking up his pace. Like that would solve the situation. 

Once seated, Syphr began to wave and yell, "HI ASHTON!" A slightly mortified Ashton quickly waved and turned his head. As the ceremony went on I noticed Ashton is just really annoyed to be there. He had a 'I can't believe you took me out of my class for this' face. Actually a lot of kids had that face:

Once most of the kids cleared he permitted me to take one photo of him smiling.

Love having a 10 year old boy who is worthy of an award for being caring and understanding. Those two words and 10 year old boy don't always go hand in hand.

That letter F is trouble

This week Talan's kindergarten homework is focusing on the letter F. Talan had to think of five words that begin with the letter F and then make a sentence using one of those words with the added challenge of also using the words I and am. 

Since Talan is five, the very first word without hesitation was fat. He then giggled that he was able to write the word fat on his homework and we moved on. Then we got to the sentence writing and this is what Talan came up with. 

"I am going to visit my fat grandpa."

Also note that Talan now draws stick figures wearing underwear and pants.

Hey, I am just glad his writing is great, and he came up with his own sentence. 

That is some spot on fake sleeping!

Basically this is what happens if I flip the camera around on my phone so Syphr can see himself while taking a video. 

another milestone

Being a military brat means when you turn 10 the military deems you old enough to shop at the PX(the on base version of Walmart, but tax free), the Commissary (the on base grocery store which is also tax free, but is overstaffed with baggers who insist they need to take your groceries to the car and put them in, but also demand a tip), and work out at the on base gym. Not that we have been to the PX or Commissary more than once in the past year, but if we were to do all those things you need a military ID. Ashton is now in the system, and it might be one of the most exciting days of his year for the pre-pre teen. 

Maybe his excitement had something to do with the fact he was allowed to miss a slight chunk of the morning at school:

 But mostly I think it is because he has one just like his dad, and his brothers can't get one.

 Here is hoping he will be responsible with his new found military freedom. Use it wisely Ashton.