September 27

Yeah, I'm totally slacking. I don't always have my camera with me. I won't leave it in my truck and at work there isn't much to take pictures of, ya know? I'll try to do better this week.

Here are some pictures from Alex's birthday. He turned 10 today. He had a football game this afternoon. Long story short - the game was 65 miles away and took us 90 minutes to drive one way. We were late getting to pre-game practice because one of the roads we had to take was closed for construction and no detours were posted. I had to call Bill and have him Google Earth a new route for me.

Anyway, Alex was chosen by his coaches to be one of the captains today. This is him and his teammates and coaches on the field for the coin toss. He's number 72.



Here are pictures of Billy and Caty from the game - just because. We always have over an hour from the time we get there to the time Alex actually takes the field to start playing. The kids are subjected to picture taking whether they like it or not. Usually they'll indulge me.



Finally, a picture of Alex once we got home and showered. He may be 10, but he hasn't matured a bit ;)

September 23

I had to leave Billy at 6:00 am in order to get home, get Alex and Caty to the sitter's house, and get to work by 7:45 for a meeting. The sun is just starting to come up at 6:00 these days. About halfway home, it finally broke the horizon - a big, pink ball. It was beautiful! I was fortunate that this campus is 40 miles west of nowhere so I had a nice, clear view of it for quite some time.

September 22

A big step today - Billy is at Outdoor Ed with his 5th grade class until Wednesday afternoon. It's a trip that the 5th graders take every year. They go to a campus about an hour from here and learn about things in nature - animals, plants, things in the water, etc. He was excited to go. We worked it out so that at night, Bill or I would drive out to the campus to spend the night with him. He has a hard time settling down at night and we feared if he were put in a room with 10 other students that he might keep them awake at night if he couldn't quiet down or if he had insomnia (not uncommon for him). They gave us a chaperone room where we could stay with Billy by ourselves.

I arrived about 9:30 pm. Billy was playing cards with another boy (who, I determined about 30 seconds after meeting, also has autism). This boy's dad was also there and he and his dad were staying by themselves in a chaperone room next to us. Anyway, I talked to Billy's assistant who told me he'd had a good day. They did a Water Study class that day. I guess Billy's foot got stuck in some muck and he fell into the river on the campus. When I got into his room, his dirty, wet clothes were hanging up, drying out. Mrs S told me he was doing well and participating in everything so far - even the game of Alpha Wolf that the kids played after their night hike. Alpha Wolf is a game that they play in the dark, in the woods (supervised, of course).

Billy and I went into his room for the night. There is nothing to do there - no electronics allowed - so we just put on our pajamas and settled down. We were in bunk beds, him on top and me on the bottom. After we'd laid there for awhile, I heard him whisper to his stuffed dog, "Isn't this great, Lucky?". Put a HUGE smile on my face =)

September 21

The basement is coming along. We've passed all of our inspections since the first plumbing one that resulted in "disaster". We're now at the drywall phase. There is only one section left to drywall - two sheets and it'll be done. The bathroom has been mudded, taped, and primed. The rest of the space is in the mudding phase. Here is a shot from the back corner (outside the bedroom where the evil Circuit Breaker Box is) toward the stairs.

September 20

Alex had a football game today. He didn't play as much as he did his last game. I'm sure it has a lot to do with him missing last week's game while he was in Michigan. Still, he got in about 4 drives on offense and was doing kick returns. This is him on the sideline waiting to go in.

September 19

Samson was so happy today. While Bill was grilling our dinner he played fetch with him. The dog was panting heavily, but look at that smile on his face!

September 18

Today was 50s day at the kids school. I remember 50s day from my middle school days. I'm actually kind of surprised that they don't do 80s day or something now (but relieved - I think I would feel REALLY old if they did 80s day). Anyway, Caty INSISTED she had to have a poodle skirt for this day. I tried to tell her that she could just roll a pair of jeans and wear a big shirt and a scarf in her hair but noooooooooo, HAD TO HAVE A POODLE SKIRT. I made her agree that this costume that I would have to buy will be her Halloween costume this year. Yes, I am prepared for the sighing, long wistful looks, and possible tears next month when I take the boys shopping for costumes and she can't get one. Don't worry, I'm made of steel *snort*. Here she is, but I didn't like any of the full length pictures I took - oops! Don't worry - the "poodle skirts" they sell these days are only poodle skirts in that they have the stupid dog on them. The skirt itself ended at her knee. How costume makers think poodle skirts aren't supposed to be ankle length is beyond me. The ones that WERE ankle length were $40. Sorry, Babe, I don't spend that kind of money on my clothes most of the time - I'm not spending it on a costume.


Alex was in a sort of pickle. He's grown since last fall and none of his jeans fit him. His t-shirts are also tight on him - at least his plain white ones. He ended up in dark blue pants and a "madras" shirt. He wouldn't tuck his shirt in, though so he THOUGHT he was 50s, but he looked like a kid just going to school (don't tell him). He was actually willing to SMILE for these pitures (Hell must be freezing over). Silly me - I'd forgotten that guys either wore a DA or a brush cut in those days. I was so focused on trying to slick his (and Billy's) hair back that I didn't think to spike it and make it look like a "brush". Ah well.

Finally, we have Billy - who came downstairs today in a red t-shirt and gray shorts and declared he was NOT dressing for 50s day. No problem, I'm not going to argue. However, in the course of trying to find something more 50s for Alex, I found my black, leather motorcycle jacket. This thing is the real deal and has to weigh at least 5 pounds. It was too big for Alex, but it fit Billy perfectly. The weight of the jacket had to feel great to him (he loves deep pressure so this jacket had the same effect as a weighted blanket or vest for him - very calming). I asked him if he wanted to wear the jacket and he said yes so I told him to go put on some jeans and a white t-shrit and then he could wear it for school. He was cool with this idea - yay!! Here he is =)

September 17

Okay, call me a slacker. I know, I know. Let the "Project 350" jokes begin. I don't have a picture for this day and I don't remember why.

September 16

I was up at the crack of dawn today - literally. This seems to have happened overnight (no pun intended) - this still-dark-outside-when-I-wake-up thing. I'm not sure I like it. What was really odd was that as the sun was coming up at this angle, behind me was a full moon still shining like it was midnight.

September 15

The results of all the rain this weekend. We recorded close to 10 inches of rain out by us over the weekend - shattering record rainfall totals. The field behind my school floods pretty easily so I made sure I brought my camera to record what it looked like today. The first picture is of the field. I wanted to include the little trees and the baseball field so you could see how high the water was. I am VERY surprised the road to the right (not in the picture) isn't under water. My co-worked lives right there and said it was underwater all weekend.



This picture is of the golf course across the street from my school. The geese are LOVING this!

I ran a different kind of action on the golf course picture. There is a huge screen along the road side of the course to keep golf balls from going into the road. It added texture to the picture so I wanted to try a more "vintage" look with this one. I really like how it turned out.

September 14

No picture today. I had a bridal shower at my house today for my step-brother and his fiance. I'd been on the go since 8:00 am with last minute cleaning, cooking, and entertaining and was wiped out by 9:00 that night.

September 13

UGH!!! We've had a moderate, steady falling rain since yesterday afternoon. When I went to bed last night we'd gotten an inch of rain. By nine o'clock this morning we were up to 4.5 inches and it is still coming down now. The weather tonight says we've gotten nearly 7" of rain - just today! It is coming down in buckets and we haven't even gotten to the rain we are supposed to get from Ike today. Holy cow! I had to run errands this afternoon and there are cropfields with small lakes on them, roads under water, and just about every retention pond I've seen is spilling over its banks. Thank goodness the one across from me is really deep. Caty and I walked over there to see how deep it was and it was maybe a foot from coming over the top into the grass.

The creepy crawlies that live out here love this. I'm having friends over in a little bit so I put my porch light on and there are three frogs/toads on my porch and sidewalk. *shudder* This picture is of my driveway. I brightened it WAY up so you can see all the nightcrawlers on it. All those little lines on my driveway are WORMS!! (some are dark and some are light - click on the image) It's like the freaking plague is coming outside!

September 12

Princesses ALWAYS wear their crowns for breakfast - didn't you know?

Happy Birthday, Bill!!!

September 11

Bill and the boys left tonight to spend the weekend in the UP so it is just Caty and me. We hit the grocery store after dinner for some good snacks for the weekend. I saw these and couldn't pass them up. My question is, who is the genius that thought making Ben and Jerry's SMALLER was a good marketing technique? Fellas, we L-O-V-E your product - make it bigger! Sheesh! These little ones are a tease!

September 4 - September 11

I have not a single picture for this entire week. I put my camera away (!!) and didn't take it out - didn't even think about it. Even though I started back to work on August 27th, my students didn't start until September 3rd. Once they started, life went back to craziness as now I had REAL work to do at work and not just prep work and meetings. Took me awhile to adjust (still am) and pictures were just the last thing on my mind.

September 3

Unfortunately, this blurry picture of the fireproof insulation in the basement is the only picture I have for today. All the other pictures in my camera were of my students. I had a great time editing those! LOL!

September 2

The boys got Rock Band for Wii yesterday at their birthday party. I set it up tonight and Caty was the first "student" to try it out. It's fun! I tried it after she was finished. She was totally rockin' out with the guitar. I think she looks like that picture of Curt Kobain.

September 1

Happy Labor Day! We celebrated at my mom's house with a birthday pool party for Billy, Alex, and my brother's two sons. The weather was perfect. It's been starting to get cooler at night so I was worried it might be too cold to swim. No way! We nearly hit 90*.

This picture is Caty all geared up to hit the pool.

I'm still here!

I have a few pictures from the last two weeks, but not one for each day. My students started last week and life has returned to our yearly "Back to School" frenzy with work, practices, homework, school functions, lunches, paperwork, housework, etc etc. Today was the first time I picked up my camera in nearly a week! YIKES!

On that note, Bill and the boys left for the weekend in Michigan. He took my laptop which has my camera software and Photoshop on it so I won't have pictures to upload until Tuesday. Don't forget about me! LOL!