Catch Up, Part 2

And a good morning to you! It’s a beautiful sunny, if cold and windy, day here. Without the wind, it would be warm. Gorgeous day for soccer games. Joseph al ready had his. They lost yet again, 3 to 0, but had a great time in spite of the wind. One of the girls on the other team is really good which leads me to revise my former opinion that girls just don’t have what it takes. The girls on Joseph’s team are really cute and sometimes they really try but generally they seem to be interested in other things. Joseph is also cute but sometimes I wonder if he will ever grasp the concept of going to the ball. He likes to run around which is good but he often is running away from the ball (to protect the goal, so it isn’t all bad) rather than turning around to attempt gaining possession of it. I’m sure with time he’ll improve.

Joseph in the middle.
Not many pictures from this game; it was too darn cold.

Cedric busy bing cold.

Seth busy being cold.
He didn't even bring a sweatshirt so I let him have my jacket.

 

A little break there. It is now 10:31. Cedric and Seth went down with me to Daniel’s grave so we could plant some bulbs. We had six Mediterranean somethings and twelve Dutch irises. The Mediterranean things are planted along the side at the top where the sunflowers were planted and the irises are planted in four groups of three here and there. They’ll be pretty in the spring.

 

Riding Daniel's bike down.

From the front.

I just thought the clouds through the trees were pretty.



Planting the Mediterranian Bells.

More Bells.

Cedric working on some Dutch irises.



Seth working on some Dutch irises.



Watering.

More watering.

No more water.



Cedric taking off up the hill.

 We got three extra bags of potatoes last night to make the math easier thinking that we shouldn’t have too much trouble finding homes for them. This morning Paul went over the list to make sure we hadn’t forgotten anyone (we did once last year). If someone hadn’t made it to the list, the three bags could have been used to fill in but everyone was on the list. Paul called one family in Gardner he knows and they’re taking one. I talked to Luke and Will’s dad to see if they’d be interested in one and he said he’d talk to his wife. I’ll take a bag to Cedric and Seth’s game in the event that they do. When we got home, I called the triplets mom and they’ll take a bag which we’ll drop off on our way to the game. That was easy.

So, Monday there was no school and we really didn’t have a much worse storm than is typical. I did take Joanna to work and on the way home I stopped by the liquor store to buy beer so I could make bread. Laura wouldn’t go with me to do the honors so I just did it myself.

 Tuesday school was cancelled because they (they being the powers that be in regards to making decisions about school closures and those who are responsible for making sure roads are passable) weren’t sure when travel would be safe in the morning. Well. Travel was pretty safe in the morning. I took my laptop to the computer guy who lives about half-way between us and Hubbardston center. No problems. Clear roads. A two-hour delay might have been good but not an entire day off. I had class in the evening. Anyway, it was a beautiful day. Sunny and warm and perfect for playing outside which is what the boys did most of the day. Paul went to work and would have even if Blair called to tell him not to go in because there were some orders he needed to take care of and he knew he’d have a ton of work from Monday to catch up with.

Wednesday was Halloween. There was school. I had class in the morning. Joanna wanted to practice driving because she’d scheduled a driving test in Greenfield for Thursday at 2:00 in the afternoon. So, she drove us in to Gardner so I could visit Laurie Orzel briefly. Then she drove to her friend Shana’s house to pick her up because she has class at 11:00 also. Then she drove us up to the Mount and sat while Shana and I were in class. Then she drove us back to Shana’s house and I went back to Orzel’s to pick Laurie up and take her to church were there was a blood drive. She was successful at donating but I was not. This time they at least attempted. I got poked twice but they didn’t get any blood. Four phlebotomists looked at me and even the nurse came over but they had no luck. I’m not sure if I want to go through that again. I might once more and if they have no luck, I’ll just give up. One funny thing is that they told me that they tell people to double up on fluids for a few days afterward and it might be a good idea for me to do that for a few days before. Really? I had been drinking 100 ounces of water a day. 200 ounces of water? I’d be spending all the time I wasn’t drinking in the bathroom.

We went to Hubbardston for trick-or-treating. It’s a pretty huge thing and there are hoards of people for about an hour and a half. I’m glad we don’t live ‘in’ Hubbardston. Amena was a spy. Cedric was a soccer player. Seth was a knight. Joseph was a dinosaur. We met the triplets who were Thing 1, Thing 2 and Thing 3. Their brother, Wayne, who was in Daniel’s class, was just there for moral support for their mom who hadn’t been feeling well for a couple of days previous and really didn’t want to be there. It wasn’t bad but the walk a few feet and then stand waiting was killing my back. When we got back in the car, it actually popped which felt nice. Laura was going to a YSA activity so I took Amena and Joseph home and Cedric and Seth went with me to pick Joanna up from work.

Thursday morning I finished the case study that is due tomorrow and submitted it and then Joanna and I went to Leominster to borrow the Myler’s car for Joanna’s driving test. She drove to the church and practiced parking and three point turns in the parking lot and then we came home and had lunch before taking off for Greenfield. It is about an hour away and a bit smaller than Keene, NH, so if you remember how big that is, you’ll have an idea. It’s a pretty town with some really cool buildings. The RMV doubles as a visitor’s center and I told Joanna it’s worth the longer drive because you get right in. They only have three of the benches like Leominster has and Leominster has at least 15. The wait in Leominster is usually at least an hour. The average wait while we were in Greenfield was about 15 minutes. We got home in time for me to start cooking supper. The missionaries weren’t coming but I’d invited Ruth and Laurie and Jared. We had fajitas and they turned out good although I could have done more peppers. I think we’ll have them tomorrow after church as well.

Thursday was also Imani’s fourth birthday. I hope he had a good one and that our cards arrived in time and that his mother let him open them. He has some aunts and uncles (and a grandma and  a Paul) who miss him.

Yesterday there was school. I did the first part of my accounting homework online and then took Joanna to work and then took a shower. Then I took my marketing quiz for the week and got ten for ten which was very nice. I wasn’t sure about the last question and I could not find the answer anywhere in the book so I picked the answer that made the most sense to me and it was right. Can’t ask for more than that. Seth and Cedric had soccer practice at 3:00 as usual. I went to pick them up and realized I’d forgotten Seth’s shoes. I dropped them off at the rec field and then went home to get his shoes.

Gotta go again. It’s time to feed some boys so we can get to their game.

Well, now it is 5:17 and what an interesting afternoon it has been. Cedric and Seth’s team won their game, 2 to 0 again. Just like last week, it was a very good game. Seth got to be the goalie for the second half again and did a good job. The ball kept going back and forth and back and forth. The other team kept the same boy for goalie I think and he was very good. If they had two boys, they were both good. Today’s win was against Petersham and made their record for the season six wins, one loss, one cancellation. Not too bad. After the game, it being the last of the season, the boys got to go to Friendly’s for ice-cream. This worked out well for us because Joanna needed to go to work at 1:45 and the game got over just a few minutes before 1:00. She went with us as did Joseph. It was rather cold due to the wind and Joseph sat on Joanna’s lap for most of the first half. At half-time, he and I went racing around the walking path until the game started again and then he rolled down the hill on the side of the field until he realized Luke was there and then they ran around chasing each other and having fun. So, after the game all the boys on the team and their families who were there went to Friendly’s. The Halfrey’s paid for the boys and families were responsible for themselves so I only had to worry about Joseph because although I would have loved to eat ice-cream, I wasn’t interested in the calories. I’ve been really good and going out last night to eat didn’t ruin anything so I’m good and things are going well.

Kobe and Seth.

Seth.



My people identifiers are in bed so I may not get all the names right.
Paul, Cedric, Jacob, goalie Will.



Jacob, Seth, Will behind Seth, and Cedric.

 

Seth as goalie.
These pictures are completely out of order. Will was goalie for the first half, Seth for the second.

Paul and Cedric.

Paul and Ryan.

Seth and Will.



Cedric and Paul.

Will, Ryan and Riley in front. I'm not sure and Seth as goalie in back.

Seth waiting for action.

Cedric and I think Joe.

Cedric, Jacob, Mr. Halfrey (their coach and Jacob's dad), Will, Paul, and Kobe.

Seth, Jacob, and Paul.

Riley, Joe, Ryan, and Cedric.

Seth waiting for action again.

Joe and Cedric.

Cedric dancing on the sideline.

 

I think that's Ryan in the back. Riley is chasing the ball.

 

This is the only one I know is in the right place as it's the lineup at the end of the game.
Seth, Riley, Paul, Jacob, Cedric, Joe, Will, Ryan, and Kobe.
Excellent season. Can hardly wait for the next go around.

 

Back to boys. Seth and Joseph and Will and Luke have been wanting to play together for quite a while so just after eating ice-cream they approached Will and Luke’s mom (her name is Joanne) and then came to me. Since we were all agreeable, we came home so Seth could change and then I took them over to their house. They live very near the Pinecrest Lodge were Seth used to go for Scouts. I think I like their whole family; they seem like really good people. I know I like Will from working with him in the group I worked with last year at school. Cedric had been wanting to go to Jacob’s house for a while. He told me that when Paul goes over (Paul is the grandson of our bus driver), Jacob’s dad makes them practice soccer and he really wanted to go over and play soccer. Well, it seems that he talked to someone and it was okay with Halfrey’s so he went home with them. Seth and Joseph will be home probably between 6:00 and 6:30 and Cedric will be home sometime between 7:00 and 7:30.

Since Joanna has been at work and Laura left to do a photo shoot with some of her friends before going to bowl for a YSA activity and Paul has been gone all day delivering potatoes and running around, that means that Amena and I were home alone. Scary. Being home with no distractions and no pressing things to do, I took a quick look at the house and said to myself, “If someone is bringing boys here and happens to come in the house, yuck!” So I told Amena if she did a good job in the dining room I would give her a dollar or take her to get ice-cream next week, her choice. Amena always does a good job so she did that while I cleaned the entry and in front of the fireplace and the area between the two, including the table on which we have pictures of Daniel. We finished at about the same time and then I decided I would come upstairs and work on this. Now that I am caught up, I will make the bed, bring in goats and find something to eat. I am not sure if I will get this posted today or not but if I don’t, I will tomorrow.