School Lovers Love School

A few days before school started, a couple people from the junior high came by to drop stuff off for Jr. Jr. and let him know they were excited about having him back for the school year.

Then we had back to school nights/meet the teachers. Teachers asking Jr. Jr. how he feels about school starting. Mixed feelings. Teachers asking Lucky how he feels about school starting. He would rather be at school than at home. Sigh. 

Speaking of back to school nights... the high school and junior high had overlapping schedules for that night so Jr. Jr. had to come with us to the high school to meet Jr.'s teachers. And it just so happened there was a big rainstorm. Like big. We luckily didn't get flooded and missed the flooding that was on State Street. We did get soaked just going from the high school front entrance to the van and we did get to see rainbows on the road as we were driving. We were able to drop Jr. off then head to the junior high and luckily it had stopped raining because we had farther to walk to the school from the van. It poured down again while we were in the school.

Jeremy unfortunately had an outdoor show in the rain. Sigh.

When we got home, this was the view from one direction and from another. So different.

 

At the elementary school back to school night, the students were given a punch card to make sure they took care of certain things (find out where your class lines up, make sure your student info is up to date, visit your teacher) then got a prize for completing it. One of the punches was to take a back to school selfie so Lucky took my phone and got his selfie.

 

The boys didn't have rain on the first day of school. I did get pictures before school. Yippee!

 

When I dropped Jr. Jr. off at the bus, he and I had this conversation-

Me: You good for the day?

Jr. Jr.: Just a sec.

(Comes to my door and gives me a hug)

Jr. Jr.: Now I'm good for the day.

Me: Awww.

Besides the snuggles I got from Jet while the boys were at school, I also baked bread because nobody had bread to make sandwiches. Sigh. See how organized and put together I am?

When Nichole started classes a few weeks later, she remembered to send me a first day of school picture. Yay! That's my girl.

What Is Wrong With This Picture?

 

Progression

We heard there was supposed to be a storm around the time we were going to go to my aunt's funeral so we were paying attention to the days leading up to it. 

Wednesday afternoon was sunny and clear so I took a picture.

 

Thursday afternoon was cloudy so I took a picture.

Friday afternoon was raining so I took a picture. It was a little slushy on the way home from the funeral that night but not too bad.

 

Then Saturday afternoon, even though the funeral was over, it was snowing when a few of us got back from a birding trip to Farmington Bay (weather was fine that morning and all while we were up there then turned to snow on the way back). So... I took a picture. 

March Went Out Like a Ferocious Lamb

The last day of March we had a little bit of snow but my sister farther North had many many inches of snow. She was still able to make it down to UVU for a concert my niece was in. You know that niece.

Great performances by all the students. I also got to see both my sisters and we got a picture together. The last time we got a sisters picture with all three of us was right before my nephew left for his mission February of 2020.

I've gotten pictures with each of my sisters since but it was so nice that we were all together again that night.

I love my sisters.

International Women's Day 2022

There was so much potential for a fun picture last year on International Women's Day, March 8.

This year, I made sure we got that picture even if it was 11 o'clock at night when we finally did.

International Women. I have Jeremy's whip from Hungary on my lap. I'm reading a book by Carola Dunn, originally from England who later moved to Oregon (It was also National Oregon Day- note one of the books on my lap is "On to Oregon," and of course I'm originally from Oregon, not far from where Carola Dunn moved). Nichole is reading "The Reluctant Dragon" and I'm holding "The Wind in the Willows" both by Kenneth Grahame who was from Great Britain. Now he's not an International woman but March 8 is his birthday. Note the "reluctant" dragon trying to climb off Nichole's shoulder. Of course it's fun to throw in eating "graham" crackers on Kenneth Grahame's birthday. Then Nichole is "proofreading" her book for National Proofreading Day.

Oh, yes. I'm quite pleased with how this picture turned out this year.

Mommy, Look

Jr. Jr.: It's a perfect portrait of Mom.

Quinceanera

Nichole and I went to celebrate the Quinceanera of a friend. Nichole decided to watercolor a picture of the birthday girl in her poofy dress. Because you know, Nichole happens to always carry watercolors and index cards in her purse. (If you give Nichole a medium)

It was so fun. Nichole gave the picture to the birthday girl before we left. 

I'm glad we got that mother-daughter bonding time that evening.

Mother's Day 2021

I love being a mom. I really do. There are times I don't get along with my kids but I always love them and I know they love me, too.

Then there are those times when we get along really well and have great times together. I still love my kids during the good times.

For Mother's Day this year, both Jr. Jr. and Lucky brought me things they made at school including coupon books, cards, Lucky made me a flowers in a vase picture, and Jr. Jr. decorated a tile and included things in the drawing that have significance to our family.

Have I mentioned I love my kids?

100th Day of School

Lucky brought home another "100 days brighter" hat from school for the 100th day. He loved last year's hat and he loves this year's.

Jr. Jr. brought home a picture of him as if he was 100 years old. He pointed out to us that he has wrinkles on his hair. Heh Heh Heh.

School Picture Day

The elementary school was having school picture day so I told the boys I was going to comb their hair nicely before they left for school. 

Lucky was so good for me.

Jr. Jr. was, too.

Mommy: There. All ready for school picture day.

He loved it.

I tweaked it a little and took another picture of him.

He told me both pictures are funny. The one because of his hair and the other because he decided to make a face. 

I told the boys not to run around while their hair dried. They again were so good with that.

And as soon as Jr. Jr. got to the bus stop, he put his hood up over his hair. Ha!

What They Missed- August 13

Thursday, August 13-
I had another rant I wrote down on this day's notes that I am again not going to put on here. Instead here is a sculpture Lucky made out of puzzle blocks.

It's a person sitting on a couch watching TV. It even has couch cushions.

We sat down to dinner of sweet and sour chicken (since Jeremy wasn't there and he can't stand pineapple but I love it) and talked about The Food Nanny and sitting down to dinners together (as a family, not with the food nanny).

We also talked about a little riddle thing from the Gospel Living app. It was originally from The New Era magazine from June 2017.
You figure out a word that fits two different clues with different meanings. The example they gave was "1/60 of a minute and a silver medal." The answer is "second." Get it?
Jr. Jr. got creative after we went through all of them and came up with a few of his own. They all ended up being about bowling but that's just fine. He's clever. Themes are fun.
Here's what he came up with. See if you can figure them out and I'll put the answers at the end of this post.
1. "Water comes out of me when it rains."  "Dang it! I missed all the pins."
2.  "Could you leave a few cookies?"  "Yes! I got the last two pins."
3.  "Ow! That really hurt. You hit me with a bat."  "Yes! I got all the pins in one try."

After dinner, we celebrated Alfred Hitchcock's birthday with cupcakes. We put a candle in one and took turns blowing it out after singing "Happy Birthday" to Alfred Hitchcock each time. I took pictures.

I had too much fun trying to get different angles with the knife and reflections, not unlike how Alfred Hitchcock would direct the cinematography in his films.

I also watched three different versions of The Lady Vanishes (one of my favorite Hitchcock films). One in the middle of the night/early morning, one in the middle of the day, and one late that night/early morning.

We fed the birds at sunset and saw the evening star while it was still pretty light out. The evening star is actually a planet- it's Venus. That's always fun.
We didn't stick around or come back out to look for meteors or UFOs that night.

Did you figure out the answers based on Jr. Jr.'s clues?
Here are the answers.
1. Gutter
2. Spare
3. Strike

Mommy, Look

Lucky: It's hanging from a bunch of chips and cheese without breaking. And some of it's not thick.

Sunset

When you try to get a picture of the sunset but it isn't quite working out.

Fun With Friends

When you try to take pictures of a group of kids together who are all hams:

We got together with some friends from our early married years and their kids.  Their kids and our kids are all the same ages.  So fun.  We decided to take pictures of the kids and since they are the same ages as our kids, the kids took cues from each other.  Sigh.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Let's make 2016 a great one!