Yard Work - Day 151

Owen spent the day spreading beauty bark on our garden beds. The photo was taken when it was almost dark so it's a bit grainy, but it really looks (and smells) great!

Apple Maggot Party - Day 150

Matthew volunteered again today at the Curran Apple Orchard. The volunteers went out in teams with a wheelbarrow full of the fake apples we put together a few weeks ago.



Two people smeared the fake apples with goo, the others hung them on the trees. Their goal was to get 3-5 maggot catchers on each tree. Matthew and his friend Elliot finished early and then got to dig trenches. It was a beautiful day for volunteering!

Our New Niece - Day 149

Mark, Kelly, Jack, and Catie have a new family member, Lilija Grace. (The j sounds like a y, like in Sonja.) She was born at 12:21pm, weighed 8 lbs 3.4 oz, and was 20.25" long. She got quite a bit bruised on her face, poor baby. Being born is tough! She shares a birthday with such people as Bob Hope, JFK, and Annette Bening. Welcome to the family, Lilija!

Dirty Lawn - Day 148

Owen's project involved having Nicholas pick up my dad's truck and a load of dirt. They spread it over the rest of the lawn (it doesn't look so hot now, but I have faith in Owen's plan...) and planted some new grass seed, in hopes of getting a thicker, healthier lawn. I hope to show you a lush lawn in few weeks (or more). :)

PB&J Day - Day 147

Each year I have my students write directions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich then I make them EXACTLY as they have written. This year wasn't as funny as usual...I had taught them to be too specific! Usually they write to "put on the peanut butter" or some such direction (which I why I wear the apron because the pb or jam gets put "on" me). This year, I didn't get any of that. In this picture the student had written to spread the jam on one piece of bread (no knife involved, just the jar was rolled, or "spread" on the bread) then put the other piece of bread on the jam. They did get a kick out of this one. At the end, I always make them a real sandwich. Next year I'll have to do this early on, before I teach them how to be detailed!

Under the Covers - Day 145

Snickers loves to be under the comforter. He doesn't really like to be under the sheet, or under when a person is in the bed (he doesn't like to touch human skin...definitely won't sit on our laps when we're wearing shorts...weird cat). So occasionally we'll leave the bed unmade in order to accommodate the cat.

What is This? - Day 144

Do any of you know what kind of plant this is? It's growing at my parents' house and they don't know what it is. Mom says it gets purple flowers that smell very fragrant when the sun shines on them.

Working Saturday - Day 143

Today the guys worked outside most of the day. Owen put new dirt on the lawn with new grass seed since our lawn was kind of sparse. Since we put so much sand on a few years ago, he thought that a good, healthy dose of soil would help it out. It looks kind of weird right now, but hopefully soon it will look lush and beautiful.

Lightning - Day 140

Looks like lightning hit the Space Needle last night during a thunderstorm. Photos are from KOMO news website. Pretty cool!

Poor Jeff - Day 139

moar funny pictures

Before and After - Day 138

Here's before...

...and after.

Book Group - Day 137

This month's book for our reading group was The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. I think most of us who read it enjoyed it. It's told by Enzo, the dog, and gets quite serious. Check it out!

Happy Birthday, Matthew - Day 136

Matthew turns 15 today. We went to see Star Trek (I loved it) and had McDonald's and cheesecake at home with the presents.

It's Friday - Day 135

When I picked Matthew up after school, I realized I had never taken a picture of him at this school (notice the fluorescent green shoelaces). And even though there were other kids around, he let me take his picture under the tree...what do you know! Happy Friday everyone. Hope it wasn't too crazy. (Now I'll have to try to get Nicholas's picture at his school...that may be difficult...)

Reflection - Day 134

Owen's car was quite shiny when Matthew took this last weekend. It looks the neatest turned this way.

Formal Day and an Author - Day 133

This is Spirit Week at Matthew's school. We didn't get a picture of his wacky day yesterday, but we got today...it's formal day and this was the closest he could get to that. Luckily Nicholas was here to tie the tie and he insisted Matthew wear the vest. :)
I met author Diane Frank in Chehalis last fall at a book store. She gave me her book, Gabby's Wordspeller, to try out in my classroom and give feedback. She sent another a few months back and asked if other teachers could try it out with their kids, and today she dropped off 5 more! The kids love using the book because they can look up words phonetically, the way they think they should be spelled, and it gives them the correct spelling of the word. Diane is on the left, then me, then our school librarian, Judy.

Dragonfly Day - Day 132

Matthew discovered a dragonfly perched on our porch ceiling. It looks pretty dark colored, but when he took the photo, it looks almost clear. If you look close (click on it to enlarge), it seems like you can see its leg and part of the wood through its body. Now I want to do an art project based on the wing decorations...wonder what I can come up with...

Just Relaxing - Day 131

Snickers says, "I'm in your windowsill stealing all the sunshine."

Happy Mother's Day! - Day 130

moar funny pictures

Volunteering - Day 129

The people from the Curran Apple Orchard asked for volunteers from the Builder's Club for work today. Matthew was one of two who showed up for some work. At first I thought he was the only one so I volunteered to help with putting together plastic apples (to catch the apple maggots). We worked with two college students (originally from Korea) who were also there to volunteer. It was a beautiful morning to be helping out.

One of the ladies in charge took our picture and cut off Matthew's head.



This is one of Matthew's school's trees that they sponsor.

Musical Night - Day 128

We saw The Producers tonight at the TMP...if you're looking for something hilarious and well done, spend a few hours here. We had a great time!
The sun was still bright at 7:45 as we walked to the theater.

Nicholas, Mama, Papa, Me, Owen - Matthew behind the camera

Car Work - Day 126

Owen spent some time at his friend Chris's on Saturday helping the engine replacement of Chris's Pantera (that's a fancy little sports car for people like me who'd never heard of it). I still think it's funny that Owen and Chris were childhood friends, both grew up in Centralia, and now both live within 3 blocks of each other up here by pure chance. Nicholas and Matthew went over for a bit, too.

Another View - Day 125

I got the idea for yesterday's picture when I was drying my hair on Saturday. I noticed that I could see a reflection of the backyard in a picture by my mirror. I ran down to get my camera, then played with getting a photo. About that time, Matthew wandered up to see what I was up to. His shadow was in the way of my picture, but then I realized that his shadow made the picture easier to see. So, same view, different perspective (this is a double reflection).

A View from My Window - Day 124

This is my view from upstairs (taken on Saturday before the downpour). I love having nature so close.

Mama and Papa's New Cars - Day 123

My mom and dad both got new cars last month then sold their old car to Nicholas. Mom's is the Prius, Dad's is the Solara convertible (he loves convertibles). Nicholas has a 2000 Solara now...lucky kid.

Waves of Rain - Day 122

After the loud thunderclaps, it started raining in waves (mixed with a little hail). Matthew just has to get out in downpours...enjoy the video and ignore the videographers voice (I need to learn to be QUIET when I take a video). :)

Good Guesses - Day 121

Guesses from yesterday's post are scratches and marks from lying on something. Those are great guesses...actually those were our first guesses, too. The marks have been there for at least 3 weeks (probably closer to 4), we noticed them when we went swimming at Mama and Papa's. They seem to be stretch marks. Both the chiropractor and my school nurse (who looked at the photos) said that stretch marks don't usually show up in that area of the back, but usually on the sides or at the waist. Although he's grown tall fairly quickly, he hasn't really changed in weight. Our pediatrician, who we had an appointment with yesterday, said that it was likely from some trauma (Matthew hasn't gotten hurt) and could be a result of massage stretching the skin and kind of tearing the tissue. I'm not sure that fits, either, but that's the explanation for now.