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Posted by: Jack
« on: January 09, 2023, 05:04:24 pm »

It's kind of weird, but I don't have any real young ones left in the house anymore.  As I said, there is a gap where we have step-grandkids, and where the boys are having biological kids who are just toddlers.  Curtis is going to be 12 in less than two weeks, and all my others are already teens.  Besides Moira, who lives in Cali, so we don't see her often, the youngest of the other kids (grandkids, nephews, cousins) is Paden, who is a few months younger than Curtis.  The only boy younger than that, of whom I can think off the top of my head, is Royce Tidwell, who's only 10, but he's pretty well tolerated by the older boys.  The older Tidwell boys still spend a lot of time over here, but the girls and the two youngest don't.  They have their own activities, their own friends, and Mrs. T seems to have quit trying to have kids, worked on her health problems, and seems to be pretty well in control these days, so the younger ones aren't the problem is was when she was trying to home school everyone and handle two toddlers/infants.
Posted by: kalico
« on: January 08, 2023, 09:24:22 pm »

OMG cant believe kenny is that old already.
thank you so much for the update

hugs kal
Posted by: Lia
« on: November 03, 2022, 10:44:46 pm »

Thanks for the update. I love seeing your posts and new stories!
Posted by: Kittykat
« on: November 03, 2022, 04:50:01 pm »

Kenny's almost 18??? Holy cow.

Glad to hear about your guys Jack, miss getting regular updates.
Posted by: Jack
« on: November 02, 2022, 11:41:45 pm »

Quote from: afinch on November 02, 2022, 08:08:57 pm
I was delighted to hear about it.  It's hard to imagine Kenny being nearly 18.

Tell me about it.
Posted by: afinch
« on: November 02, 2022, 08:08:57 pm »

I was delighted to hear about it.  It's hard to imagine Kenny being nearly 18.
Posted by: Leti
« on: November 02, 2022, 06:04:23 pm »

Thanks a lot for sharing Jack! Wow Kenny is going to be 18 on December ? :o

It is always good to hear from your kids.

Hugs

Leti
Posted by: Jack
« on: November 02, 2022, 04:40:07 pm »

I guess, all in all, it was a pretty typical Halloween, but I am tired.

You know how these things go - my youngest is possessed by the Curse of Thorn, and I have to stop him from sacrificing his youngest niece; Craig and his friends have a sleepover party, play with a Ouija board, and summon a demon; our evil clown decorations are brought to life and try to eat the trick-or-treaters; and, after a couple of nice weeks, the temperatures get into the upper 20s (c - nearly 80F).  It's just one thing after another.

We did have a good Halloween, though.  Overall, the number of trick-or-treaters is still down, but it was up from last year.  From what I recall (Zac or HBB asked about this in chat the other day, and it took me a while to get things straight in my head), 2019 was cold and rainy, 2020 was the Year of the Plague Beast, and last year was starting to show some recovery.

I hadn't thought about it much, but I did a little research after I was asked, and most families still trick or treat, but many of them are going more with retail or mall trick or treating, or with trunk or treats.  I think we still get a lot of people almost accidentally.  Those who have followed this site for a while might remember that they started construction on our housing development in the late 90s, it went bust, then was bought and finished in the early millennium.  It wasn't too long after that when the Bush recession pretty much destroyed the housing market, so we are lucky in that we were able to fill the housing development before that.  I think a lot of the reason we're starting to see a decline in trick or treaters is simply demographics.  A lot of the people who moved here around 20 years ago are through having kids, and their families are grown and leaving home, and new families don't get homes in America anymore, so we're just losing kids the right age to trick or treat.

I know I haven't posted in a long time, so I'll just point out that I only have four minors at home anymore, and that Kenny will turn 18 this month.  Craig only turned 17 a couple of weeks ago, which only leaves me with Connor and Curtis, who are 13 and 11.  We don't even do as much decorating as we once did - still as much in the back and inside, since we do still have parties, but the front yard is a bit simpler.  We did stick with tradition and give out treats outside, with older kids going through a haunted carnival type yard, complete with live, scary clowns (and a go around for the younger kids), since the weather was so nice.

Since I mentioned minors, I should also mention that there are currently six boys living here total (plus me), and a number more who come home for college (I think there are currently 12 in college, though I can't tell you how many are graduating this term, simply because Covid disrupted so many plans, and so many of them are still making adjustments to their plans - I need to sit down and count so I'll be sure how much space we need for Christmas).

I think that's about it.  I was just thinking this might be something people wanted to hear about.  If not, I apologize for wasting your time.

Jack