book bags and fundraisers

It is what? Day 4 of school? Jared today brought home a fundraiser packet. [sigh] I hate dealing with these things. Grandma!!! Where are you???

Both boys were told on the first day of school that they needed book bags. Wait, no, Jared was issued a book bag that he required to use all day with a list of what is required to be iniside the bag. Jeff was told he needed one to carry folders, etc between classes. I didn't want to send a blah, plain 'ol bag so picked up a black bag, a gold paint pen, and gold rope. Then got home and thought, hmmm, now what can I do with this? Black and gold was chosen because they are school colors. I thought books = treasures = pirates, so let the creative juices flow and I LOVE the results.

A little news on the Jim and Co front...Today was his court hearing. We've been dealing with this for what seems like forever but it's now finished. He was adjudicated. Free and Clear. No probation, nothing. As long as he walks the straight and narrow from now on he'll be fine. At least that is over.

And, A had a doctor appointment this week. He thinks it lookes to be a boy on the ultrasound but they should have a better idea next time. If so, I'll be having fun finding cute little boy things. :) James will gripe, I'm sure, but shoot what is a grandma to do.

Speaking of babies...I am literally sitting on the edge of my seat. My friend Terri is waiting anxiously to receive her referral for a sweet baby girl from China. It should be any day now. Yay! Yippee! Woohoo! It's been a long wait.

Anniversary

I just had to share. :) Wednesday, August 22 was a very special day. James and I celebrated 20 years. Wow. It seems so long but, yet, not that long really. It's been 20 years full of adventure, family, and well, you know. :) Well, my dear James ordered some flowers but in his rush to get home so we could go out for a nice dinner he forgot to pick them up. After almost a week of forgetting he finally got a call from the florist. I got a call from him, oh, about 1pm, one day from him wanting me to meet him for lunch. I did and he climbed out of his truck with this...

He can be a real sweetie sometimes.

first daze

It's that time again! Alarm clocks and early morning rush. Everything went off without a hitch this morning. Due to the atrocious traffic, Jared was a few minutes late but he was far from being the only one. Driving to three different schools makes me feel like a taxi driver more than ever. Ok, on to the fun stuff...

In Honor Of...

In Honor of

8/4/87-8/16/07

Our local hero!

Please say a prayer for her family and friends.

my dear son

We see our kids everyday. We know them so well. But yet, sometimes, something just jumps out and slaps you in the face to say duh, they are growing up! Saturday was one of those times.

It was tax-free weekend (yay!) so we were out shopping for backpacks and shoes and all the other little things we need by next week. There were only character backpacks in this section. Jeff picked out a Spiderman3 backpack he wanted. I picked up a different one and said, "oh, here is a Transformers one, Jared." Then it happened. "No. I'm in middle school and that's for little kids."

He's been saying things lately like, "I'm ALMOST a teenager" and "I'm not a little kid anymore." I should have expected it to be the same with the backpack but somehow it just never occurred to me.

This is proving to be hard. Around here it has always been the 'big' kids and the 'little' boys. They were my sweet innocents while I dealt with the tumultuous teen years with the older two. And now that the older two are reaching adulthood, I should have been ready for this. But somehow I'm not. Part of me wants them to stay little and innocent. I think part of that stems from loosing the two after them. Partly it is just because I don't want to let go of my babies.

I'll let go. I will. It will be with some sadness, but I'll be fine. I know it's the way things are and are supposed to be. We found a backpack that he is happy to have. Middle School. It's almost like that first day of kindergarten. It's sad and even a little frightening but I know it's just another step. I'm happy for him. He is so totally excited. I feel that excitement, too. I'm looking forward to another school year full of excitement, learning, and yes, even growing.

pre-school daze

With only one week remaining until that big day we have yet to buy shoes, socks, backpacks, etc, etc, etc. I also *must make a trip tomorrow to one particular store to order one particular brand uniform in one particular color for one particular girl who needs it for one particular class. She has a health sciences class that has very particular requirements and the skirt must be ordered as the store doesn't have any whatsoever. Do you follow all those particulars??? BUT, the good news is that this is tax-free weekend so at least I'll be able to save a little bit of change in the middle of all those musts.

The swarm of birthdays are wrapping up. Today it is for A of Jim and co. A few pics of dinner to enjoy...

The old lovebirds celebrating 20 years together next week. More on that later~~~

Look ma! No glasses!

Cheers!

electric

I'm spoiled. I absolutely can NOT live without electricity. That is almost entirely because I just do not want to do so. Now, if I choose to go camping in the mountains where there is now, well, that was my choice and I can live with that. Besides, it is usually COOL in the mountains. But, if I don't choose to live without? Don't you dare!

So, came the situation last night. It was 9pm. Things were wrapping up for the evening. James was watching something or 'nother on tv. I was just about to leave a response on a blog. Snap! In an instant everything was off. In an instant we were back in post-Rita conditions. No electricity. No water. No a/c. Primitive. We stumbled about for a bit to locate and get the candles lit. The next step was a call to the electric company.

It quickly became stifling in the house and the asthma kicked in so we went for a ride about town. We were lucky. It *only took 2 hours to get power.


In other news, Jen got back home on Sunday in time for an appointment on Monday to get her contacts. No go. It turned out she had the beginnings of an eye infection so we had to reschedule. We'll get that done sooner or later!

We received Jen's school registration packet in the mail. Wow! It's already that time? Gee Whiz, where did the summer go? I need to get busy with the school clothes hunt. It takes forever for Jen. The boys? Ha! Just buy them some tees and jeans from Steve & Barry's and they are over the moon.

It is birthday week around here! Jeffrey's, PawPaw TJ's, Aunt Judy, Uncle Shannon, Auntie Terri... Fun! Fun! Fun!