August

Happenings for August.  

Anna and I took a tour around the high school so she could learn where everything is.  Yes, Anna is in HIGH SCHOOL!  Crazy!  On our tour, we found Nathan's name on the window.  Fun!  They have a "wall of high achievers" and there was Nathan.  It inspired Anna and she says she wants her name on the window too.

There he is, that's his signature.  :)

 Anna found some of her friends during locker assignments.  They all got lockers together.  Phew, that was stressful and crazy, but is now over.

 Elizabeth finished her summer gymnastics class.  She loves gymnastics!

 Anna sprained her ankle.... twice.  The first time was tripping down the stairs.  Then less than 2 weeks later, she tripped UP the stairs and sprained it worse.  I think she should avoid stairs!

 First day of school!

Lydia is in 7th grade.

 Katie is a Junior.

 Elizabeth is in 4th grade.

 And Caleb is in 1st grade.  For the first time in 19 years, they're all in school all day.  Well, except for now Michael is in college.  But he's gone for a good chunk of time in the morning, and works in the afternoon.  So the house is quiet and empty for a significant amount of time!

 Waiting for the bus.

 Anna is a Freshman and in high school!

The Young Women and Young Men had a paint war activity.  I can't remember what they called it, but they all had a BLAST!  Anna and Lydia came home COVERED in paint.  Here is Lydia, trying to act all scary.

 Terrifying is more like it!  And I'm not talking about her look, but me cleaning up the aftermath.  The bathtub was a rainbow of colors.  The bathtub that I had JUST cleaned, of course.

 Caleb wanted me to take pictures of him "looking cool" after church.

Laughing.  He's such a happy boy!

 Caleb requested banana cream pie for his actual birthday.  He loves banana cream pie!

My favorite picture of Caleb.  Of course Anna had to make a weird face in my favorite picture of Caleb. 

 Happy Birthday Caleb!

Michael is an Eagle Scout!

He did it!  As of August 20, 2015, Michael is officially and Eagle Scout!

I always knew he would be... he set a goal to become an Eagle Scout when he was 7.  And when Michael sets his mind to something, there's no stopping him.

 He designed and built a table for the special ed class at our middle school.  They needed something that could accommodate wheel chairs, and also provide good back stability, but without having to slide all the way down the bench.  We also wanted to make it very sturdy (can't have it blowing away in the Kansas winds!), and wanted it to be low maintenance, so no wood that they'd have to paint or stain.  That left us to make it out of steel and some cool wood-looking material that's not wood.  lol.  I don't remember the name of it.  I just remember it was expensive. 

It turned out AWESOME!  And the teacher and school love it.  We're so proud of Michael's accomplishment!  And proud of his table!  We ran into a TON of road blocks along the way.  It was more challenging and took WAY more time than we ever anticipated.  But he did it and it's DONE!

 Elizabeth and Caleb helped for awhile, but eventually gave up.  They took all the tools and made their own "project."

 

Way to go Michael!  We're so proud of you!

 And here it is, the finished table!

The kids tried it out and approve. 

Kid funnies

I've been making a list for awhile and thought I'd share the funny things my kids have said this year.

*The printer wasn't working and I had tried everything I could think of.  So I asked the family, "Anyone have any ideas on what to do with the printer?  Elizabeth answered, "Get a new one?"  Good answer!

*We had an appraiser coming to the house.  I can't remember why now, as this was awhile ago.  Anyway, Lydia thought I said, "oppressor".  So we all laughed when she asked when is the "oppressor" coming.

*Nathan had to use the "pound sign" on a phone call.  When I told him, "Press the pound sign", he couldn't figure out what I meant.  When I showed him, he said, "OH!  You mean the hashtag!"  #generationgap #i_am_old #ihatehashtags

*Instead of typing a grocery list, I was using Siri to speak my grocery list because it's faster.  So I said things like shampoo, conditioner, mousse. (Note that I never buy mousse so this is a new thing that my kids don't know about.)  Caleb was listening and said, "Mom, are we really going to buy a MOOSE?!"

*Lydia was stressed out about something and started raising her voice.  Elizabeth said, "Lydia, you're talking in all caps!"

*Playing Soda Crush, Caleb said, "You just beheaded that bear!  And now you de-legged that bear."

*Caleb: "I'm dehydrated AND defoodrated"

*Random Caleb question out of nowhere on a Sunday morning, "Mom, how does a fish die in a basking shark's mouth?"  Huh?  I don't even know how to answer that.  And what is a basking shark??