Fall Stuff

This is about the 10th time I have tried to post on the blog, and then I am distracted by "the next thing!"

It's a rainy, blah day today, but I'll put up the photo I took yesterday of a pretty tree by the middle school.  We do have SOME really nice, picture-perfect fall days in October.  Just not today.

LEAVES CHANGING.  In front of our house the trees are still mostly green.  But as you drive around town, you can see the yellows, reds, orange leaves.  Very pretty!

NEW MAILBOX.  Frank spent time Saturday digging out the old and putting in a new mailbox post.  I think it looks much better!

Now the mailbox has the same "look" as the lamp post.  (in the 2nd mailbox photo you can see the lamppost to the right an behind the mailbox.)  Here are some before and after photos.  Somebody kind of bumped our mailbox, so it was held together for a few weeks by duct tape.  (I dont' have photos of the duct tape, sorry...)

PET CEMETERY.  We said good-bye and had a mini-funeral for Spice, Kara's hamster, who passed away last week.  Hamsters only live about 2 years, and Spice was 2 months shy of 2 years old.  We have a little "Pet Cemetery" in the back corner of the backyard.  It now shelters 3 hamsters, and a garden snake from a few years ago we found in the basement and kept for a little while.

Our backyard looks very different now (the tree in the center died last year), but I've pointed to where we buried the animals, way back in the corner.

BAKING A SNAKE.  Here's Kara's science project...she made a milk snake out of clay, baked it, and painted it to show the adaptive coloring!  It looks like a coral snake, which is poisonous, but the milk snake is not poisonous.  But its enemies don't know that, so they stay away.

Ok, by the way, there was only one "K" in the set of letters!  Kara creatively used an "X" for the second "K" in the title: "The Milk Snake." :)

DECORATING for HALLOWEEN.  If it weren't for Kara, we'd have a boring house!  For every holiday, she digs around in the bins in the attic and finds things to hang up, to decorate the house.  Halloween is only 11 days away, you know.

Well that was probably more than you wanted!  But doing photos on the blog (or anywhere) is therapeutic for me, so that's mostly why I do it.

Hope your October is going well.  Have a great weekend!  Kari :)

Mary Lou's Memorial

Hello!

I completely forgot to mention Frank's Virginia weekend, in the last blog post.  (We did miss him over the weekend.  It was a pretty quick trip.)

Frank got to visit with some family members he hasn't seen for awhile, when he went to a memorial service for his Aunt Mary Lou.  She passed away during the summer and Amelia (his cousin, Mary Lou's daughter) organized this additional memorial service, for those who didn't come to the one earlier in the summer.

I remember Mary Lou's passion for nature.  She would take these crazy-long camping trips, and got into birding.  Then it became a quest to search for birds, birds, and more birds, in their different habitats, in different regions of our country and Canada.  I think it was called the "700 Club" that she was in.  She observed and identified over 700 species of birds! I posted this bird on our blog once, and she told me almost immediately what it was.  (I can't remember the name now.  But she knew!)

Her brother Bill remembered how she was a voracious and fast reader.  When they were younger, he would watch as she would read, just slowly turning pages continuously.  He was skeptical, and didn't think she was really reading.  Periodically he would "quiz" her on the material she had just gone through.  And yes, she would actually remember the information!

Once she came to our house when we lived in Colorado, and she showed us her very fancy, custom camping van.  Frank and I were amazed at all the amenities, that she squeezed into a normal-sized van!  (Who cares if it rains or not when you're camping, if you have one of those cool vans?)

Here is a photo of Mary Lou when she was in her 20's (my guess).  Isn't she beautiful? :)







And here is the group of family members who went to dinner after the service.  Frank was glad to be able to visit with his aunt & uncle, cousins and their families.  It's good to get together when everyone lives so far apart.

Thanks, Amelia, for organizing this!  You're a star! :)

Joys of October

Hola--

It's October!  Yes!  I love this month.  New England has a few really beautiful months, and this is one of them.  The leaves have started to change, so as the month progresses the drive around town becomes brighter and more colorful.  It's truly wonderful.

Two weeks have gone by since the last post.  I'm thinking it has been more like two months.  It is fall, and every fall I am (Understatement Alert) a little overwhelmed.  They are all good things, mind you!  I just feel scattered.

PHONES.  This was a more painful and tedious process than we could have imagined, but we have a new family plan with phones for everybody.  (As my brother Kris would say, "Nice, Kari.  Welcome to the 90's.")  It is true we have always dragged our feet a little on the newest technology.  Why pay for the hype?  Just wait a few months/years and the prices come down.  We all have phones, I said.  NOT smart-phones, or the newest and fanciest version of whatever just came out from Apple.  Plain phones, no Internet on the phones.

We are ALL texting now, finally.  Some of us more than others, to be sure.  I think Kara -- 7th grade -- racked up 1000 in one week.  Please.  (Of course, I think she has more friends than all of the rest of us combined...?)

The catalyst that pushed us to finally get everybody phones, has been my own thinking: next year David will be in college and (pause)...will we EVER actually get a phone call from him?  Maybe not.  But we may be more likely to get a text from him.

So here we are.  We switched to AT&T--again, it was a nightmare, so I can't recommend them to anyone--because they had the best-priced family plan for us, with the corporate discount from HP.  And after hours and days of waiting on hold (you think I'm exaggerating but I'm really not), and occasionally talking to people, who had varied and different information they would make up...

(Happy Ending) Over the course of 2 weeks of agony, we finally talked to two different truly helpful people.  One of those people was appalled at our runaround story.  He went into the computer and gave us credit for 2 months of service on our account.  Yes.  I was floored.  Awesome!

IN OTHER NEWS.  A new mailbox post sits in our living room, to be hopefully installed this weekend.  I might have before/after photos next week.

SOCCER.  Kara's school team is doing quite well, and Kara is improving and really likes the game.

VOLLEYBALL.  This sport is such a highlight for Teresa.  She wishes it would last all year.  It does make for some loooooooooooong days, though, leaving the house for seminary at 6:00a.m., school, vball, and on game days home at 8p.m.  Homework, she is not so fond of.

PUMPKIN LAUNCHER.  The Young Men at church are in charge of the youth activity this week.  David has been building, along with other youth and leaders, a pumpkin launcher.  They will get into groups to design and decorate a pumpkin, then they will launch them outside.  Prizes will be given for creativity, design, distance, etc., etc.

TUTORING.  I finally have a schedule pretty well in place for my tutoring at school.  (Bonus: they even sent my time cards, after about a month, so I can get paid!)  They are such nice kids.  I have a really good job.

FIVE THINGS to be THANKFUL FOR.  To finish the post, off the top of my head:
1)  I am thankful for reliable transportation.
2)  For sweatshirts in the fall.
3)  For other adults who care about my kids, too.
4)  For sunshine breaking through the clouds.
5)  Comfortable, nice-looking shoes.  On sale.

Happy Week!  Kari

A Week in the Life of...

Hola!

It's a long weekend here--Rosh Hashanah on Monday--so the kids get Monday off.  It always cracks me up that we wait so long to START school, then right off the bat they get a long weekend for Rosh Hashanah, then NEXT week they'll get Wednesday off for Yom Kippur.  It's a choppy September.

SOCCER.  Of course our soccer news is for Kara.  Background is, the town has soccer teams for all ages of kids.  The season is appx. 10 weeks: 2 practices a week, + games on Saturdays.

The Middle School also has a soccer team, for 7th and 8th graders.  (Kara is in 7th grade.)  Practices are after school 4 of the 5 weekdays, + games during the week after school.  So Kara was already on a town team, and she wanted to try out for the school team, too.

Tryouts were last week, 3 days.  20 girls can be on the team, and they "favor" the 8th graders.  FIFTY girls showed up to try out!  14 of the girls who made it were 8th graders.  So they chose six 7th graders, and...Kara made the team!  She was so excited.  Congratulations, Kara!  :)

TUTORING.  I also started tutoring English Language Learners (ELL or ESL) again, at the same 2 elementary schools where I worked last year.  I will work 2 days a week, with children grades K-3.  We are still in the "testing" phase, to see how many additional kids including summer move-ins and new Kindergarteners, we will add to the students who receive services.  The Kindergarteners are so little!

I have been thinking about getting my ELL certificate, so I could be an official "ELL teacher."  I need to take 2 standardized tests, pay fees, and have my transcripts sent to them.  It's kind of a long process, and a little arbitrary.

My degrees are also from 20 years ago, for Pete's sake!  They may laugh and say "time for you to start over."  I took the 1st standardized test last week.  The 2nd test is specifically about English as a Second Language so I'll have to either take a course or study by myself about the theories, etc. behind learning second languages.


CAR MAINTENANCE.  Frank took the car over to help the girls in the church youth group learn about maintaining your car.  Checking the oil, other fluids, jumpstarting the car, etc.  They had quite an extensive list, and I think they learned a few things they did not know before.

TARANTULA.  Ok, I'm going through photos and I thought this one was cool.  That's Frank's ring so I know it is him, but I can't remember what trip this was, exactly...?

GRANDMA.  And I'll end with this Blast from the Past: Thanksgiving, 2002.  It's our family reunion, and her's a photo of Grandma with all of her great-grandchildren!  This was almost 10 years ago.  You can imagine, that now we have 2 more in the group, plus all the kids have changed.  (Grandma, of course, has not!)  These same great-grandkids are graduating college and serving missions, or married and starting their own families!  Grandma is 101 for another 3 months.  You can click on the photo to enlarge it.  Love you, Grandma!

Have a great week, Kari :)

2nd Gear into 5th

Hola!

That was Frank's description of the transition from summer to fall, just over the past week or 10 days:

"All of a sudden we shifted from second gear, into fifth."

Of course our calendar is full of all good things.  But everything starts up all at once, and I fill the calendar with pick-up times, evening events, back-to-school nights, sports practices and games.  Oh, and then there are church activities and friend and neighborhood events.

Ho-ho-ho!!  (Bet you didn't know that Christmas is almost here...)

I'm kidding.  Christmas is a LOOOOOOOOng time from now!

FIRST DAY of SCHOOL.  The kids went back to school on Tuesday.  Here they are, humoring their mom by standing still for a picture (during the mad dash to get out the door).

Early-morning seminary also started, on Thursday.  Nothing like hitting the ground running.  That alarm goes off VERY early.  Painful for everyone involved.  Good thing they have awesome seminary teachers!

SOCCER.  Kara had her first soccer game last Saturday.  That's for the town team, and she also wants to be on the school team.  We'll see how tryouts go.

VOLLEYBALL.  Teresa played her first away games this week.  I can't wait for a home game so I can watch!

REFFING.  Teresa has taken classes to be a ref for the town youth soccer games this season.  Her first game will be at the end of this week.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL NIGHT.  Amazingly, the High School already had their Back-to-School night, after just 3 days of school.  I still think the new building is to die for.  Worth all the hassle and hype, and paying our property taxes through the nose.  It's beautiful.

RED SOX GAME.  Frank and I had Red Sox tickets last Friday night!  It poured.  Then it stopped, so the game was delayed about 90 minutes.  The best part?  The Internet saved us...we saw the storm warnings online, so we waited at home.  Then the Red Sox website kept us updated on start time status.  By the time we found out the new start time, we had avoided the nasty traffic and weather, and sailed right downtown to Fenway.  Very cool.

FRANK GETS BETTER.  Well, he is still coughing some, but the cough always lasts the longest, I think.  He was in bed for 3 days, for Pete's sake, but has slowly come out of the "sick fog" this week.  Ugh.

Hope your week was productive--  Onward!  Love, Kari

Last Full Week of Summer

Hola!

I still can't quite believe tomorrow is September.  While we haven't gone anywhere spectacular these last 2 weeks, they seem to have flown by.

Our computer has been giving us fits, and it's the one with all my photos and Photoshop on it!  All the photos are backed up twice, now, so we won't lose those.  But the computer itself needs completely re-starting, from the VERY beginning, and programs installed all over again.

(That explanation was so I can tell you THAT's the reason I'm not posting tons of photos.  Maybe I can find an Internet stock photo or five...)

Anyway, highlights of the last couple of weeks:

KARA starts SOCCER again.  Yes, the chaotic-calendar of shuttling kids to sports and other activities has begun.  She's playing on a bigger field this year, and has 11 girls on the field.

TERESA starts VOLLEYBALL again.  She's been at it for a week, while they were forming teams.  Last year they had 2 teams: JV and Varsity.  This year they have enough girls for 3 teams.  She was the only Sophomore to be moved up to Varsity.  We thought that was pretty cool!  Way to go, Teresa!

DAVID finishes his INTERNSHIP.  For the month of August, David has been shadowing an Architectural Engineer, to see exactly what they do every day.  He also spent one morning in Boston, getting shown around a different architecture firm, to see some of their projects.

(When I offered to ride downtown with him, he insisted that he would be fine.  We found it on Mapquest.  He took the GPS.  Overprotective Mom says "I have my cell!  If you get lost, pull into a gas station and call, and I'll look up where you are online!"  So now, he has also driven himself to downtown Boston, where he then successfully found a place to park, took care of business, returned and lived to tell about it.)

FRANK TRAVELS.  It is the end of Hewlett-Packard's fiscal year.  Frank has shuffled yet again in his responsibilities, so now he supports new groups.  It's like he has just started a brand new job, but still within the company.  So with all of those combinations, he has traveled 3 places in the past 3 weeks, and next week will make 4 weeks in a row of traveling.  California, New Jersey, Houston, and next week California again.

He actually likes traveling, and I don't mind him going, either.  I'd like to go WITH him, mind you, but you know, our kids still live with us!  So anyway, it has been a lot of fast-paced learning for him, transitioning to new responsibilities.  Again.

He came home with a bad cold and cough this time.  Bummer, and hopefully it will go away soon.

Now -- you can choose "Alas, Sniffle..." or "Hip-hip Hooray!" for the following: SCHOOL will start this coming Tuesday for our district.  This sentence elicits mixed emotions, I think, all the way around.

ME?  I've been holding down the fort and reminding people to WRITE DOWN their events: times, places, etc.  Then we can all get where we need to go.  If it's not on the calendar, it won't happen.  That's my mantra.

I'll be tutoring ELL (interchangeable acronym with ESL: they are English Language Learners) students again this year, 2 days a week at the same elementary schools where I have been tutoring for the past 3 years.  I probably start next week.

Hope your week has been energizing (??!? or insert your own adjective??!)

Happy Friday!  Kari

Girls' Camp!!!!!

Hola!

We just finished a week of YW (Young Women) Camp in New Hampshire!  (Whew!  There are volumes to be written, from that simple sentence starting my paragraph.  I'll just give you highlights.)

This was Kara's 1st year, and Teresa's 4th year.  Since both of them went this year, I decided to go too, as a volunteer leader.  The girls are grouped by age level, and I figured it would be an even better experience for them if I was not specifically "in charge" of their groups.  (Independence, and getting to know other leaders and friends, you know.)

So I was in charge of a group of girls in their 2nd year.  What a nice bunch of girls.  I think all of them had a good time.  How did I like it?  ...well I did not expect to be on vacation, and I wasn't!  Ha.  It's a beautiful area and it was NOT stifling hot.  That was my biggest concern, actually.  Would it be in the 90's and disgustingly humid the whole week?  And second-worst: would it rain the whole week?

The answer to both questions is a resounding NO!  We had a nice mix of weather.  Lots of sun and some rain, and the worst rainstorms were while we were sleeping.  Even better.  One day was pretty sticky, where you could feel that soupy air going into your lungs as you breathe...but that was only one day.

The girls got to do all the camp-y stuff like canoeing and kayaking, archery, crafts, and the rifle range.  There is even a cafeteria and an exceptional cook staff for them, so they got yummy food the whole week.  It's also a church camp, so they read and memorized scriptures, listened to inspirational speakers, and hopefully strengthened friendships and their testimonies of Jesus Christ.

Here are some photos.

ARCHERY.  Kara in action...

RIFLE RANGE.  Teresa aims for the mark...

KARA's SKIT.  Where she's doing her hair, and putting on sunscreen with someone ELSE's hands actually putting it on her face...

TERESA the ROCK STAR.  Where she's in the skit as a backup singer.  She's playing air guitar, and yes, he's actually wearing leather pants.  Want some?  Try army surplus.

KAYAKS.  Kara at 6 a.m.!  She got into the Polar Club by getting up to swim early.

LEADERS.  These are my awesome cabin roommates.  I'm sitting in the middle, smiling so big because I'm walking that fine line of sanity and ...not sanity.  There was a lot of energetic yelling at camp.  It was a loud week.

Now...we are home!  I slept in my own bed last night.  For a long time.

I also ate dinner withOUT 100 girls shouting out chants or cheers.  Nor did anyone pound out complicated rhythms on the table in unison, with their cups.  (Did you ever see "STOMP?"  That's what they did.  During dinner.)

Better be off.  Have a great week!  :)

Kari