school pictures- 7th grade

this the boy's school picture.  I cannot believe how much older he looks this year.  The kid is not such a kid looking kid anymore. I know I say it regularly that I can't believe how much time has past and how much he has grown, but I think I am in for a rude awaking the next few years in how much taller he is going to be.  

I measured him a few weeks ago and cant remember if I put it out here.  The boy is 5 ft 3.25 inches tall now, that is 160.7 cm.  He has not even hit his biggest growth spurt yet.  When we go to visit Guatemala in 2018, I think that boy is going to tower over some of the girls in the foster family. It is going to be quite the change.

The boy and the dog.  Pablo is getting older, you can see it in his muzzle. This is in the morning before school.  My silly boys.

random sunrise this week. 

The leaves are finally changing, though it is still quite hot here.  I am ready for cooler weather.

Love and hugs,

Deb

Is this week over yet??

This post is going to be all over the place.  It has been a long week.  The School walkathon is Friday and most of the committee has chosen not to help out in the last few days or has been so spotty with help that L and I have not even asked for help.  Here you can see the tee shirts all bagged and ready to go to school.  They are separated by home room.  Each bag has a spreadsheet with all the kids name for that classroom, the size shirt they ordered and the tee shirt for the teacher.    22 bags worth of tee shirts (average class is 20 students), plus there are 2 bags for non homeroom staff shirts.  I took all the bags to school at lunch today.  Thankfully there was a junior high class leaving the library so I got some help there and one of the 5th grade teachers stopped to help carry bags too.  I expect I will have some emails tonight about kids needing a different size (why don't parents get that these kids can wear these shirts for years and order a size bigger???).  I know of 2 staff members that did not order shirts- one I might not be able to get them a shirt because they wear a size we did not order more of, and one that I should be able to get the shirt tomorrow.

This is what 550 tee shirts look like- some parents ordered shirts too.

After walkathon on Friday, this is the book I am reading next week.  I need some calm, positivity for a while.

I took Bug Rocket out to dinner on Saturday- we went to his favorite place- Buffalo wild wings.  I think he only likes it because he can play on the tablet the entire time.  We ended up having a discussion about ignoring people while eating because he was busy playing- a learning experience.

Saturday afternoon, he helped me sew some rows on Auntie Lulu's quilt.  I just need the binding on now.  I might add some quilting in the middle of squares, but I am not sure.  Rocket did a great job.  With his eye for color and his sewing skills, I think my boy could be a great quilter. 

A few Fridays ago, one of the parents in Rocket's group set up a pokemon tournament down at the local university.  Really it is a way for them to have friends with them while they wait for their daughter's dance class to be done.  But, it was an opportunity to get out of the house, hang with friends, and just have a  good time.  I spent the evening talking with one of the moms- it was so nice.

The boys- or the usual suspects.

I am waiting the neighbors kids in the morning before school.  this is what my living room looks like after breakfast is done- every kid on their own device.  It is pretty quiet- because I make them keep the sound down, but it is also hard to get them moving.  I have to start telling them to turn off the devices and get their things about 5 minutes earlier than I really need to just to ensure we get out the door on time.

The little ones are starting to resist putting down their devices, so I might start backing up the time just so they understand that "turn them off" means it is time to do it now.

I think that is it.  I start classes on Saturday for the next 2 months, so pictures will be limited as I wont see the boy for the entire day.  he will be with friends or family, so he will be having a great time.  I am more worried about Pablo- he has not been left alone for 10 hours ever at our house.  I am going to see if the boys in the picture can come over once during the day on Saturday and let Pablo out to do his business.  We will see how that goes.

Love and hugs to you all,

Deb

chugging along

It has been a quite few weeks.  Nothing going on, just living life.  Rocket's school is preparing for Walkathon in a few weeks.  I got to do the kick off announcement again.  One of the teachers prepared a video- it was awesome.

the goal for the kids- $25,000 to be raised by the kids to fund many programs this year- like field trips, class room Christmas presents (indoor recess items), junior high retreat, teacher continuing education, teacher appreciation, etc.

Pig roast with the scouts was 2 weeks ago.  Rocket participated in the flag retirement ceremony.  he looks so serious. Actually they all do, though they are supposed to be looking reverent.

fire- I like fire, I like staring into the fire.  Rocket and I have decided we need a fireplace in our house

looking up through the trees.

that's all for today

Love and hugs,

Deb

into the Fall

the pictures are jumbled, but you will get the idea of what we have been up to the last few weeks.   Yesterday was a holiday here in the US- though I am not sure how much of a holiday I really got.  I was doing regular work stuff and PTO stuff all weekend.  But I also got to harvest our potato crop- what you see above is all we got this year.  the initial crop likely rotten due to poor drainage and this is what came afterward.  I was hoping to get 3 meals worth of potatoes out of it, but we got one meal, the one I made last night.  I forget that Rocket is now an eating machine - he is always hungry.

I also took Rocket and Pablo out for a walk yesterday.  We went to the local park we typically go to.  We saw turtles sunning themselves on a warm day.  The earlier part of the weekend was cool and starting this evening it will be cooler for the rest of the week.

the boy walking his dog.  he is not so little anymore. 

Me and the boy and the dog on the walk

First day of school was 23August- I can not believe that he has another year of school and then he is off to high school

Waiting for the bus

on our walk

this picture is just to show you how tall Rocket is now.  he comes to my ear, which makes him about 5 foot 2 inches tall or 157.48 CM.  Definitely not so little.   the other 2 folks in the picture are my cousins- we just made contact.  the Man in orange, his father is my great grandfather.  the man in blue is working on our family history.   our side of the family lost touch with his side of family sometime back when my mom was a very little, so in the 1940s/1950s.  We made contact because I did the DNA testing when I was sending in Rocket's DNA test.  the guy in blue showed up as my closest relative (because my siblings have not been tested).   Pretty cool how genetic testing can show you relatives you never knew about.   Note: we are still hoping for DNA relatives for Rocket to show up.  All Rocket wants right now is a relative that shares his genetic history- preferably on his father's side.

Love and hugs,

Deb

Birthday and Eclipse and Back to School ice cream social

Completely out of order- S's half birthday, celebrated the same day as Rocket's birthday.  Beside her is Jason.  She and Jason are dating. 

My mom and 2 of her sisters.  I could use initials, but all my mom sibling's have names that start with "J".  My mom is the oldest of the 3 pictured.  They go to lunch about every 4-6 weeks.  I got to go this time (finally no meetings on the day of their lunch).  Rocket went too since he is not back in school yet.  He was not excited to sit and listen to the conversation, so I let him play on my phone once our meal was done.  it was so nice to see my aunts.

Me with my aunts and mom.  I am definitely carrying their genes.

Rocket and S on 13Aug- when we had the family celebration for Rocket's birthday.  How in the world did he grow up so fast.  It really does go by in a blink of an eye.

Dinner was a joint choice of hamburgers.  Dessert was Strawberry cake with strawberry icing- S's pick since Rocket does not like cake.  Ice cream was "moose tracks" because S does not like ice cream with her cake.  Thank goodness they like opposite things.

Tuesday, 15Aug- the boy's birthday.  I took him out for brunch- his choice.  He choose First Watch which is a place that only serves breakfast and lunch.  We both had the same thing:

A chickenchanga= an omelet with chick, chorizo, and vera cruz sauce.  We love it.  It was a nice day sitting in the shade, watching the birds and people pass by.

Another view of our brunch.

Wednesday, I took a half day off work and took Rocket and his buddies to the bowling alley.  We were supposed to go play laser tag, but when I called to check that they had space for us, they indicated they were closed until 4 pm.  But, their website said they were open at 12 noon.  Thank goodness I called first.  And thank goodness rocket got a certificate for 10 free games of bowling. 

dancing to the music.

Buddies since kindergarten

Saturday, we headed out to park to rocket's orthodontist's end of summer bash. They treat everyone to hamburgers and hot dogs, then a movie at the park.  these are the boys after playing basketball in the hot sun before the movie started.

J and me talking while the boys were off playing

Before we went to the park, we took Lulu down to the main library and we did some wood engraving (these are going to be Christmas presents) and Rocket made some more things on the 3D printer.

Today, 21Aug- we were on the path of the total eclipse.  We were not going to be completely dark, but we would be in 91% darkness.  It looked darker than usual, but it was still bright.    I had been reading articles on how to watch the eclipse and one of the best ways was to use binoculars backwards.

This is the viewer- the large end of the binoculars are facing the sun, the smaller end then reflects the sun down onto paper or the pavement.  the cardboard acts as a frame on the ground.

This is what shows up on the ground.  this is about 15 minutes before the eclipse.

fiddling around with the view- we could get the big reflections and the little ones too

This is total of what we saw- little smiling faces. 

about 10 minutes after the eclipse- I called these smirks.

How we were set up

me and boy just after the eclipse

More smirks

Only 2 more days until school starts.  Rocket starts on Wednesday.  His school is one of the last to go back this year.  We had the ice cream social on Sunday.  It was hot, but we had a great time showing a friend around school (he is starting there this year as a 6h grader), then saying hi to teachers and finally getting all Rocket's things in his locker.  After the ice cream social- Rocket went to a friend's house for a swim party.  He was definitely tired last night.

First day pictures are coming on Wednesday, stay tuned.

Love and hugs,

Deb