It takes a secure teenager-Version 2

Two years ago, I took a photo of Dane before his first Jr. High football game, wearing his game jersey and my cheerleading skirt from ump-teen years before. So..........not wanting Grant to feel left out, he got the same treatment last night. His first game is tonight and he will be starting at Safety and Wide Receiver. WAY TO GO, GRANT!!!!!

In any case, after 50 odd years of green-and-gold colors in our Junior High, and red-and-black in our High School, the school voted this past year to change our Junior High colors also to red and black. While this means that Grant has a brand-spanking new uniform in red and black, the effect in my cheerleading skirt (the old green and old) is not quite as much of an "ensemble" as it was for Dane a few years ago in his green and gold jersey. But still.......Grant, nice outfit!!! :)

Love you!

Mom

Our new "playground"

We have been planning on buying a swingset and/or sandbox for the girls for awhile, but have never done it. This past weekend, we hit the jackpot! Some friends' children had outgrown their swingset, so passed it on to us for a very small price, and insisted that we take the sandbox, too. The girls are in seventh heaven! This afternoon, they got out of the suburban and ran straight to the yard. They didn't come in the house at all until dinnertime. Jennica is calling it her "playground," which is pretty cute. Four swings, a slide, the tower, and a climbing wall on the far side. We definitely SCORED!!! See photo of a very happy Jennica! :)

Friday night lights!

Our first home football game of the season was last night. The same as last week, the opposing team had twice as many players, and while we had some good plays, we were out-matched. Dane got a fair amount of playing time, which is never enough for his satisfaction. :) I thought about reminding him last night that we weren't sure if Raymond would have a team at all just a few months ago, but decided to keep my thoughts to myself for now. He is living in the moment and giving it his all, so the last thing that he wants to hear right now is that losing is better than not playing at all.

We had a brief moment in the stands last night that was a huge reminder as to why I adore my husband. A Raymond graduate was sitting in the Raymond cheering section with her parents, but had a son playing for the opposing team. I had been quietly gritting my teeth for more than a quarter, as I listened to her increasingly rude comments about Raymond's lack of skill and the vast superiority of her son's team. When it finally deteriorated to a point of, "Raymond SUCKS....," my dear husband turned around and informed her, "We have a son playing on that team and we don't really appreciate having to sit here and listen to you speak about them in that way." He was polite, but blunt. I almost stood up and threw my arms around him. She continued to cheer for her son's team, which we had no problem with, and stopped her bashing of Raymond. Way to go, Mike!!

And so, despite our second loss of the season, I'm proud of these boys. Off the field, they've overcome some very large obstacles. I had two unexpected meetings this week with two of the senior boys that I've never personally met before, and was shocked to be greeted in both instances with a broad smile and recognition as Dane's Mom. They both went out of their way to be courteous and friendly, which impressed me. Those things matter to this Mom. Go Raymond Seagulls!!!

Bananas and cinnamon??!!??

Grant has always had strong food aversions. Early in life, he developed a skill that has come in rather handy--he attended a Day Care that required kids to "try" everything on their plate. After vomiting his entire lunch a couple of times following the tiniest bite of something he insisted he wouldn't like, he was exempted from this rule. He will still throw up if he eats something "nasty," which earned him a trip or two to the school nurse's office, until he finally convinced her that he really never was SICK........just disgusted by something at lunch that he ventured to try.

Oddly enough, the two food aversions that have really stuck with him are bananas and cinnamon. And I'm talking ANYTHING banana-flavored and ANYTHING with cinnamon. Banana bread, banana-flavored otter pops, cinnamon toast, cinnamon rolls, apple pies, you-name-it. To me and everyone else I know, these are both very WEIRD "food hates." Spinach.......sure. Sauerkraut........you betcha. But bananas and cinnamon???!!!???

These days, he is old enough to throw it back in my face if I try to tease him about his food aversions. He just flashes me a grin and tells me that he will eat a cinnamon roll if I eat a bowl of macaroni-n-cheese first. YUCK!!!!! Or a slice of fresh tomato. EEEWWW!!!!

Okay..........so maybe he gets the food thing from me. But I still think its weird not to like bananas or cinnamon.

Fabulous Four

All four of our kids waiting for the school bus. Wow........how the years are flying by!!!

Tending to Hair Affairs

After spending the entirety of my life with hair fashions that promoted waves, curls and body, and for a while, even BIG hair......I feel rather stupid that I have now purchased a hair straightener. My goal is now to have straight, flat, lifeless hair. Too funny!

My hair naturally has a lot of wave, and is pretty thick. For the most part, in my present life state, I don't have a heck of a lot of time or desire to spend on what my hair does or does not do. Many days, its wash and wear. On days where I have a little more time or have a function where my appearance feels a bit more important, its wash and blow dry. At some point in my future, I will probably spend more time on my hair. At the moment, the time just isn't there and I'm good with that! Other priorities top the list.

But last Friday, I got my hair cut and the girl straightened it when she styled it. It was a different look for me, and kind of fun. Also, Tiersten has a TON of very thick, wavy hair, and I thought it might be fun to occasionally try to tame it with a straightener. So.........purchase I did.

I have already tried it out, and even though the end result looks okay, it still feels funny. Flat, straight hair. I wonder how long this trend is going to last?

On to Week Two...

The first week of school flew by busily for us and its time to gear up for Week 2.

Tomorrow is another big day as Jennica joins the other three at school. She did this routine last year also........half days, Monday thru Thursday..........but this year, we are SO excited to have Miss Hailee as a teacher! Tiersten had her last year in 4-year-old preschool and she is a fantastic preschool teacher. Fully-certified, she teaches preschool by choice. She's the type of teacher that we would love to have more than once, so maybe we can convince her to bump up to a higher grade level in a year or two. :)

Tiersten's first week of Kindergarten was GREAT.........just ask her. She piled off the bus the first day, and didn't stop talking until bedtime, at which point she just about fell asleep standing up. Exhaustion is putting it mildly, but she rolls out of bed each morning at 6:00 rearing to go. :)

Grant started football practice last Monday, and discovered that perhaps he should have worked out a bit more over the summer. Considering that we suggested this repeatedly all summer long, he's not getting much sympathy. I know.......mean parents. After his second day of Junior High, he announced at dinner one night that Junior High is not much different than 6th grade. Yeah............whatever. :) Dane laughed.......and we just sort of nodded our heads.

As for Dane..........well........our school gives a brand-new laptop to each incoming freshman. Fully programmed with more than he will ever use. Wireless internet........the works. He will return this laptop next summer and the school will "clean it", update the programming, and give it back to him. This will recur each year until he graduates, at which point his laptop will cease existence, as they figure it will be outdated by then anyway. Pretty cool, huh? Many of his textbooks are online, and he has a required advanced computer class that he is going to love. He now has an email address, which I will share with those of you who wish to "bug" him. :) Also, Dane's first football game was Friday night. His coach is a little notorious for not letting freshman play at all, so Dane was delighted to see action in the first game!! He played a little in the third quarter, and most of the fourth quarter. They got beat badly, but hey............at least he got to play, right? He was also laughing because their quarterback came dashing along the sidelines yelling "Beeeeeeeeeeep.............." loudly enough that they could all hear him. And right in front of them, got absolutely levelled. So much for trying traffic signals..... :) While I know it wasn't great for the team to start with a solid loss, I have to say that I'm pleased so far with how high school football is going. Considering that, in June, we weren't sure if we would have enough kids to field a team, its nice to see them on the field. One game at a time........

First Day of School

Wahoo! Today is the first day of school! The boys were pretty ho-hum about it all, but Tiersten.......she's a whole different story. Today is her first day of kindergarten. She barely touched her breakfast and didn't even want to hold still long enough for me to snap a picture or two this morning. I thought for sure she would pick out a dress to wear, and was surprised that she actually chose to wear jeans and tennis shoes.........I think she has big plans for recess and the new play equipment at our playground. Kindergarten at our school is full day and very academically-challenging (seriously!!), so it will be interesting to see how exhausted she is tonight. And tomorrow night. And the night after that. :) She will be riding the bus home this year, so I'm looking forward to seeing her this afternoon! Ahhh.........the advantages of working from a home office.........

Dane has been practicing football for two weeks, and his first game is this Friday. He is enjoying it all, and as one of the few freshman, is getting to know his older teammates. Grant starts football practice with the Junior High team tonight, and their first game is not until the 18th.

Last, but not least, Jennica starts preschool next Monday, so she has one more week of day care before heading off to school with the "big kids." I expected a bit of temper from her this morning when Tiersten headed off to school without her, but she was surprisingly amiable about it all. Whaddayaknow. :)