September on FB

As the school year starts, I would like to share some tips on how to help kids with anxiety 😆 

This child is CLEARLY NOT old enough to start high school tomorrow and I will be offended if anyone tries to tell me otherwise

It's so sweet when your beginning reader reads a Biscuit book to you (about a little tan dog). Less sweet when your more advanced reader reads a Dog-Man book to you (about who knows what....and....just....why?).

Michael was this many years old when his mom realized that left-handed scissors really do make a difference. 🤦‍♀️

Maybe it will help if I think of "Arguing" as my kids' love language 🤷‍♀️

It only took until 2023 for a female crash test dummy to be designed. It only took until 2023 for the auto industry to admit in practice that women are not just scaled-down men.

I would like to personally thank the New York Times games page for keeping me humble.

Kayaking for Rachel's 40th

We're a little late, but this morning we went on an adventure to celebrate Rachel's birthday. Siblings and spouses conspired to enjoy some fall weather and the tiniest bit of changing of the leaves. And a great big thank you to the weather gods because IT DID NOT RAIN!

Poor Rachel. We actually didn't tell her what we were doing. I emailed her a packing list and we picked her up at 6:45am. To soften the blow of the early hour we did come bearing Starbucks hot chocolate. 

And then drove an hour and a half into the mountains. The drive was definitely worth it as our destination was a very calm river with water that was often so still it created a perfect mirror. The area was scenic and we had the river to ourselves. We opted to let the nice people at REI bring the kayaks and the gear so our responsibilities involved arriving and putting on our lifejackets.  

The rest of us have kayaked before, but this was Cody's first time kayaking and he was a machine. Doug and Cody may be the proud owners of kayaks in the near future. I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

It was a lovely morning and a lovely way to celebrate a birthday.

Fundraising

This is the look of an ecstatic child whose mother has finally FINALLY told him that we would participate in his school's fundraiser. I have been a stick in the mud for several years and refused to participate because the school has used third parties. Third parties take a large chunk of the donations and I am not interested in supporting those or asking other people to do so. The marvelous PTA decided to run a color run all on their own this year so we are in. 

With a few donations in he won a few prizes and is excited to promote the activity by dancing in front of the school with the PTA crew after school for the few minutes he can get away with until his mother drags him off to walk home.

Flat Isaac and his Isaac

It's not every day that you get reunited with your creator after traveling wide and far on the European continent. Indeed, Flat Isaac may have a book in the works (okay, it might be a book created on Shutterfly, but still!). 

We learned our lesson with Flat Michael (he spent a brief period of time in a Ziploc bag to protect him from the elements), so Flat Isaac was laminated. However, his extensive traveling has taken its toll and he may need to go into retirement or see if his lamination can be redone. In the meantime, it's been a couple of years since he and Isaac have seen each other in person so we got a few pictures of the reunion.

First Day 2023

Academic year 2023-24 is off and running. It has been a rough start. Skyward was down for the summer. The kids got an email stating it would be available that day. This was a lie. The parent accounts went active eventually (but most of the tabs weren't populated) and the student accounts were another week away. Michael's requested course changes didn't happen until the night before school started and his schedule listed two classes for 6th period (the original one and the updated one). We assumed this would sort itself out, but we got a notification Friday telling us he had been marked absent for 6th period all week. Unexcused absences and school sports don't mix. We received no notifications about the bus before the school year started. On the second day of school we received a bus text saying the bus would be late for an indefinite amount of time - students should just wait until it comes. 

Hopefully things improve. None of the issues are huge problems, but combined the frustration level is mounting.

I will put up with all the issues as long as these lovely human beings are in school and safe. I think they are going to rock this!

Doug and Cody

Ding dong bells are ringing. Wedding bells! 

Ok, maybe not really. We aren't that ostentatious at the district court. Bells or not, a wedding is always a happy occasion. With plans for a larger wedding celebration planned for the spring, today's event was low key but still moving. 

We celebrated with Jason and the boys at their house afterwards with a ridiculous amount of delicious apply desserts. Congrats Doug and Cody! And, welcome to the crazy, Cody!