Yesterday we made a plan to receive our flu shots.  Stuart picked up the kids earlier than usual and drove them over to meet up with me at my office.  The boys ran over to me for a hug, but Logan immediately told me that he did not want a flu shot.  Stuart told me that when they walked in to the building, the staff asked if they were here for the shot and that when the boys found out.  The line for the Flu Clinic was quite long, so I took us to see the nurse who agreed to give us the shots.  Logan immediately shied away from it and volunteered daddy to go first, then I was next.  Connor was third.  Even though the nurse was very quick with it, Connor broke down tearing from the injection.  Logan was scared but did obey to stand with us to receive it.  Immediately after the injection, he buried his face in Stuart’s chest and refused to look up for some time.  It turned out he was tearing too, and he finally agreed to turn his attention to the stickers he was offered.  Then we all returned to my office for a bit, and the boys chatted with Auntie Michelle who gave them a snack to distract them from the bad experience.  Finally Stuart took Logan home to do homework, and left Connor behind to be my carpool buddy.  I had a few more minutes of work to finish up and so Connor did some drawing while Michelle also entertained him.

     I had volunteered to do the Art Vistas lessons for Connor’s class this year, and this time I am sharing the job with two other moms.  Monday was our first lesson, and Connor was as excited as I was.  Shortly after drop off in the morning, the moms and I met up at the cafeteria to set up.  After recess, the kids started marching in with their teacher.  Connor was smiling widely and he gave me a big hug before he sat down on the ground with the class.  Then I quickly got us started.  I gave an introduction and shared with them an overview of elements of art, ie. colors, shapes and lines.  We discussed primary vs. secondary colors, warm vs. cool colors, different shapes and lines.  With the concepts they learned, the two moms reviewed a couple of famous paintings of trains with the kids.  The children were very engaged and eager to answer questions.  Connor raised his hand a lot too.  Next, we moved on to a hands-on project, and I reviewed the steps with the class.  The children used the pre-cut shapes to make a collage of a train and added more details with crayons.  Everyone worked hard, and their artwork was very creative.  Connor used lots of shapes to make his train and I was worried if he would have enough time to glue them down.  While we were giving five more minutes warning, Connor quickly picked up a row of shapes at a time, placed glue on the paper, then returned the shapes back.  He was very efficient.  At the end, we saw some well decorated trains and some creative ways of using different shapes from the class.  The final products were amazing, and the kids seemed to enjoy their time.  The lesson ended in exactly one hour perfectly.  Connor gave me several hugs before he followed the teacher and the class back to their classroom.  The moms and I were happy how well the first lesson turned out.

     We planned to go to a pumpkin patch on Sunday.  We took it too easy in the morning and ended up not leaving the house until late in the morning.  When we arrived at this local patch, we were in disbelief how crowded it was there.  There were lots of people everywhere, so we had decided that we would still walk around but would bypass the rides.  We enjoyed walking around and taking some pictures.  The boys were in a hunt for a perfect pumpkin, and they both found one in the end.

    Our Saturday mornings lately are usually invested in soccer.  The boys often have conflicting game times, so we have to divide into teams.  Logan usually pairs with Stuart while Connor is with me.  But this past weekend we switched it up and I went with Logan instead.  Logan enjoys playing in real games and he prefers playing defense.  He is still not as assertive as he should be, but he is trying more now to reach the ball.  Unfortunately this past Saturday their team had a loss, 0:4, but their real goal is to get the after game snacks.

   Stuart enjoyed watching Connor’s game too.  Connor and his teammates were energized and running all over the field.  This was a video I filmed the previous week.

    One of the things we did this weekend was going to the school to ride bikes.  Stuart had cleaned up my old bike, so I could join the boys riding today.  Logan and I rode around the blacktop while Stuart assisted Connor learning how to ride with paddles back on.  Logan is getting more comfortable on the bike now and today he figured out how to start riding from a standstill.  He and I also rode around the school a couple of times, and he really enjoyed it.  When we returned to the black top, we discovered that Connor was able to ride the bike on his own.  Connor was very pleased to show us what he could do, and all of us, including Logan, were quite proud of him.  I have previously imagined that it would be a long time before the boys could be riding on their own, and now I am so thrilled that we can put a check off this big task.  I am excited that we could soon do some family biking together.