School Spirit

Daniel has a really fun PE teacher this fall (at least, I think so- although he does think she's okay, too). This teacher really encourages students to get into the spirit of things at school, which I think is great for freshman especially, finding their way in a new school. So if there are themed dress up days for football games, the students don't have to change for PE if they are dressed up to fit the theme. And let me tell you, this is highly motivating for Daniel- he has actually been participating in this! On this occasion the theme was "Western" so we found a plaid shirt, jeans, and a cowboy hat- and voila!  (Oh- and lest you think he goes to football games, he doesn't...)

Doesn't Daniel look great?! I adore this picture. So proud of my boy doing something fun and different!

Our Life: August

 August life goes by very quickly!

 Annabel and I kept working on our miniature now and then.

We always have very cute fluffy kitties nearby.

Chocolate zucchini bread- it's true what they say, you'll have more zucchini than you know what to do with!! We started getting very creative and broadening our zucchini horizons...

I took the kids to JoJo's Shake Bar to soak up a little more of this summer and use a gift card. So fun!

Ben took the kids camping one weekend. They always enjoy those nights together.

They got this fire color-changing stuff on clearance at Meijer recently and had fun trying that out. It actually worked!

I worked on some altered playing card art while they were camping. It was fun to work in miniature.

More on this soon, but we FINALLY got Annabel's acceptance into the local symphonic orchestra that she tried out for this summer! We are so proud of her and so excited for this new adventure of hers!

I went to a music of ABBA concert with friends- we had a blast!

 Our sunflowers are SO tall! It was so fun to grow them this summer and see how tall they got. This isn't even their tallest...just wait.

 

Annabel couldn't wait for it to be cool enough to wear her new high school hoodie!

Josie came for a play date with Daniel and made this boat. Daniel wanted me to take a picture of it after Josie left so we'd always remember it.

What a spot, Ziggy.

 Another cute miniature!

Relaxing in the hammock with Cosmo nearby to enjoy his outdoor time, too!

I love a good book about books- this is No Two Persons (such a good book), and even without the dust jacket it's cute.

Cosmo ran under the bed. Annabel didn't want him in there. We called for Daniel's help and he scooched all the way under the bed! I mean, he's a long kid now! This made me laugh!

We finally made it to the Museum of Science & Industry to see the limited run Pompeii exhibit. We enjoyed it very much. We also found the chicks elsewhere in the museum this time (we can never remember where they are!)- they're SO cute!!! They fall over when they fall asleep- cracks me up!

Ziggy: Mine. Also- pillow.

Annabel begged all summer for these Cloud Sharks sandals. They'd been out of stock most of the summer, so when they were back...add to cart and check out lickety-split! She was ecstatic the day they arrived. They are kinda fun, actually.

TALL sunflowers! For reference, Annabel is 5' - these are almost twice her height!! Wowza!

Fun Google color pop with Annabel and her new cloud sharks!

Curriculum Night at the high school gave us a chance to see what Daniel will learn this year and meet his teachers, too. I loved it. And I knew how to walk around the whole building since I'd done it earlier in the month with him- win for me! I didn't take many pictures, obviously, but this one from PE was a fun peak of what he'll do in that class. Check it out- there's even square dancing!

We had some HOT HOT HOT days in August! Like record breaking heat. In fact, some rooms in the high school had difficulty combating the extreme heat (one we suffered through at curriculum night- oh man, SO hot!) so those classes moved to different locations for a couple days. This affected only one of Daniel's classes I think. Anyway, we were so glad when this passed!

Still going the next day...

Hannah and Christina came to play at my house! I LOVED it! Such a fun visit!!

 

 

Hannah loves playing hide and seek! I like this picture so much.

And this picture- the height difference for Hannah and the sunflowers is so stinking cute!! She's so tiny! I adore this picture.

Our garden is still giving us zucchini!!!! I tried to keep count at first. I most definitely lost track, haha. So many.

Aunt Kathy was in town and we had a fun dinner and game night visiting her at Grandma Cheryl's house. My mom gave me an early birthday present- a game called Block Party, essentially Pictionary with little colored blocks. Lots of fun!

Lay down and Ziggy will lay on top of you. So be careful where you lay down.

Author events are always so fun for me- even on Zoom! This one was with Tara Westover, who wrote Educated. Good book.

The sunflowers are starting to droop. So we cut them and brought them into the house. Bright colors!

It was suggested that we connect the driving wheel to the old TV that was hanging out in Ben's office. So Ben did- it was pretty cool. 

Annabel's 7th grade class picture was shared via email- I didn't order it, she doesn't like it, but it's going here for posterity. She's my sweet beautiful girl and I love her.

We didn't buy this bright red sweatshirt at Target, but this is a cute picture! I love this picture.

That's a wrap on August Life! And now that summer is really over, I think from here on, I'll focus on major events and activities again. I'm clearly slowing down on this blog now that the kids are older- as evidenced by more cat pictures and other random bits nobody cares about, haha. But life is still full and fun and I do love my big kids so much. Back to school this year has hit me a little harder this time around and I think it's to do with my kids getting older, more independent, and definitely being teenagers- they just don't need me nearly as much anymore, so I'm struggling to find my new place and new peace in life. It's all good and totally normal. Somehow I keep busy all the time anyway!