Is Someone Missing a Brain??

A mushroom in my yard that looks just like a brain.   Well... it doesn't really have all the wrinkles like to real brain, but still.   It's been fun to look at today.  
Blogger has an app for my phone now so I can blog everything I see.   Isn't that fun???

Meet the Teachers

This entry and the next one are out of order.  Don't know how that happened.  Crazy blogger.  At any rate, these are pictures of attempting to leave the house for Meet the Teacher Night.  6th Grade.  MIDDLE SCHOOL  I cannot believe it.  Emily is wearing lip gloss this year.  She has been able to wear it on special occasions, but never at school.   So, this year she gets to wear it to school and even take it with her for "touch ups".  Went to Sephora, and had one of the helpers try several different colors on her.  It was a special event.  She has been looking forward to it all summer.  The color she picked:  Aruba.  Sounds exotic, doesn't it.  She feels so grown up.  

She is very excited to be getting back to school.  School was delayed two days due to Hurricane Irene.  The schools were without electricity for several days so the teachers could not get into the schools to get their rooms ready.  Emily loves school.  A must during the Meet the Teacher event:  touring the library.  

Emily and her BFF Lauren.  They cannot wait to get to the school to see if they have classes together.  They already know they get to ride the bus together and they go to the same dance school.  

Trying to get rid of the preMeet the Teacher jitters.  Silly girls!

And as it turned out....they don't have a single class together.  Too Bad!  :( They are on completely different teams.  But hopefully they will be able to say hey to each other in the halls and at lunch.  The poor kids in our school district don't get to sit where ever they want at lunch until.....guess when....the 10th grade.   Is that so ridiculous??

Emily has fabulous teachers.  Emily loves them all.  They all seemed very friendly and helpful.  There was only one pitfall during the night--Emily's locker didn't have a lock on it.  Hopefully they will get that fixed by next week.  And if that is all we have to worry about, it was a successful night.   The librarian is lovely.  The library met Emily's approval.  The chorus teacher, as it turns out, is the same nice lady that gave Emily voice lessons when she was getting ready for Oliver!.  Made Emily so happy.  So, we are looking forward to a fabulous first year at grown up Middle School.

John--Meet the Teacher--did not allow pictures.  He is WAY too grown up for all that.  He has a full, hard schedule this year.  For the first half of the year, we will be deeply involved in Algebra 2, Biology, Writing, and World History.  Really, the 9th grade schedule was not so full.  You'd think they could come to a better balance.  We REALLY like his writing teacher and his biology teacher.  They are those above and beyond kind of teachers.  We are going to love them.  Algebra and history teachers are still lovely.  Seem knowledgeable and approachable.  So, John will be busy studying this year.  Will keep him out of trouble, right?

Ethan--Meet the Teacher--also did not allow picures.  Ethan has an EASY schedule for the fall.  EASY!!  He will pay for it in the 10th grade, though, just wait.  Adv Civics, Adv English, PE, and Technology.  His civics teacher is a little different, but by the end of the semester Ethan will like him.  His technology teacher has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.  He taught a lot of the teachers that are currently teaching there.  Ya....he's old.  But still a good teacher.  English teacher is one of those types of women that you just picture if she puts her hands on her hips and gives ya a dirty look, you'll either wet your pants or melt, but loves ya if you're behaving.

So, in summation....I guess it has turned out to be a wordy blog entry....we are all set to have a great year.  So, we could just embrace it or it could make you think something is bound to go wrong.  Afterall, how many times does it go perfectly right out of the gate?  I think I'm just going to embrace it and just deal with it IF trouble comes along.  The glass is completely full.

First Day of School

Doesn't she look so happy for it to be that early in the morning.  They have to get up at 5:30, bus runs about 6:30.  She is ready!  AND....She had a wonderful day!  Not too many familiar faces in her classes, but enough for her to be comfortable.  No hiccups.  No homework.  I need to upload a picture of her in her gym clothes.  We have to buy them from the school.  They are HUGE!!  Shorts go down to her calves, shirt is like a dress.  Very funny when she put them on.  We decided she is going to have to wear spandex shorts underneath, just in case she loses those shorts while exercising.  

Doesn't Ethan look so happy about school starting??  No...no, he doesn't.  He was very tired.  Poor guy!  And he is a little nervous about the schedule...lunch, lockers, etc.  He is new to the Junior High this year.  And he had a football game after school.  Now that was exciting!  It was a scrimmage game.  It rained.  And the ground was already wet.  They were a nasty, muddy mess.  We won!  He had a good day.  Was aggrivated that his english teacher gave him worthless homework.  I, actually, agreed with him on that one.  It was a packet of "back to school" worksheets.....wordfind, crossword puzzle, and word jumble.  Come on...if you're going to give them homework at this age, can it be something relevant please?

John had a great first day of school.  A lot more freedom at the high school.  They have a lot more variety at lunch and can sit anywhere they want.  Likes all of his classes....except writing.  No surprise there.  The golf team has not been practicing since we are getting so much rain.  Hopefully, they will be able to get back to it soon.  John really enjoys it and he's getting better with every practice.

Who's a happy boy?

Because we are on our way to the beach! Didn't think we were going to get to go at all this summer. I feel like the certification exam stole my summer. Thanks to Irene the schools are still without electricity and school has been pushed back a few days and even football practice is on hiatus. So we are on our way to the beach! LOVE the beach!

For love of Irene.......

Ok, ok, I will finally add some text to these pictures. We got a LOT of rain on Saturday. Was raining at 7am when I woke up and did not stop (no kidding, not even any breaks or slowing down) until about 9pm. You'd think the lake would be at my back door, but it barely came up a foot. Lost electiricity for 3 days. NOW we have a generator. And it won't run everything. NO AC. And some things have to take turns. Can't run everything at once. Like the well pump and the water heater. Well, nothing and the water heater. If you want hot water, you must do without everything until it heats up. But, let me just say this. If you are going to have a storm. There are several things you MUST have. A generator. WATER.....lots of water. (Feeling fresh and clean can go a long way to improving attitudes--mine especially.) Paper products...plates, bowls, cups, and utensils. I remembered everything but the cups. Hey, I'm not perfect. Cereal bars. Did I say water? Soup.....well, if you have a way to heat it up. Diet Coke and chocolate.....almost as important as water. Those flashlights that are rechargable are fantastic! And you will be just fine. Good to have a strong laptop battery and lots of movies. We watched Nim's Island by the candlelight. That was fun. We had some good family time while we watched the storm pass by.

We were very lucky. No damage to our house or property. There is one picture here of our driveway littered with leaves and sticks. A pine tree fell from the neighbor's driveway, but, really it was small. Several trees down in our neighborhood. It was just amazing to see these HUGE trees completely uprooted. Crazy! But we are thankful that we only had to be inconvenienced. Feeling bad for all those who have had to endure far worse.

.....

...eh hem....take 4

Last one, I promise....

Pollypal
Are you having cake?

New Shoes

Haven't even bought "real" school shoes yet and, already, I'm broke! Ethan has fancy new football cleats. Even made me take a picture of the bottom. And if you are a cleat connossieur, you'd know that those cleats can be removed and replaced because he will be working so hard, they WILL get worn out. AND he swears, his feet will not grow for another 3 years.

John, also, proud of the fact that his cleats (not sure if that's what they are called on golf shoes) can be replaced needed a picture of the bottom for dad to oo and ah over since he is in Germany and can't see the shoes face to sole. (Now that was funny. Admit it.)

Here is what I can guarantee you. At the end of the season, Ethan's shoes will look used. Very used. John's will still look brand new. Not because they won't be used. And I guess Ethan is at a disadvantage because he is in a dirtier sport. John just doesn't seem to get anything dirty. It always makes me sad giving John's shoes away. Even though he has worn them every day and his foot has grown, the old shoes still look brand new. He is a very organized and tidy boy. His room used to be pin perfect clean. Not so much anymore, but it's still organized.....John style.

Poor Emily's flip flops broke while we were in town so she had to have something new. She was not very happy. A little uncomfortable being barefoot in the store. The boys did a good job cheering her up and giving her piggy back rides. Way to go fellas! Good brothers! And we had to have a picture of the bottom of her new flip flops just for good measure. (Although we had take it off her foot to get that shot after 50 gazillion blurry photos. Silly girl can't be still!)