1st day of school, ol' whitey is on his last breath, Grandpa John is home, Court of honor

Well, quite a busy day! The boys got off to their 1st day of school great & here are their pictures:

I know - we all said - Garrett? Pink? But hey - he is a big boy now & can pick out his own clothes (or maybe I should still help him? Joking) We know that it really had something to do with calling all the girls attention to him! ... Here he is too as he crosses the street to catch the bus.as for Tyler - he chose to wear sweat type clothes that are his pj's .... with much prodding & luckily not to much extreme trouble, I was able to get him pumped up to pick a "NEW" item out of his closet to wear... explaining to him that our pj's weren't appropriate for school - let alone our first day!! (Which he knows... but goes to remind me that he still needs a mom around!) So I was pleasantly surprised when he looked so nice after the struggle!

Well for the most part they both had a good day... Tyler of course very quite & observant his teacher tells me. Garrett on the other hand followed in his mom's shoes & went to a couple of the wrong classes & even went to wood shop twice!! I am a little scared the teachers didn't notice or have much concern Garrett was taking their elective twice!! But it all had to do with a change in his schedule as the Jazz band teacher wants him to join & be the drummer there, which they have just made part of the school day. So of course that changes his whole schedule & it hasn't been worked out yet, So funny that I had the inkling to mentioned to him this morning my experiences of showing up my 1st day & as they read the attendance - I wasn't in the right place - so to just be cool about it & it will all work out!! Well go figure - he did like wood shop!! (I am glad!)
Here is Brady as he poses in front of the fireplace!! It was SOOO Cold today - I was bound & determined I was going to start a fire in the fireplace!! Being that the boys hadn't been able to start a fire in it back in the spring when they tried... today was the day I was going to show up my eagle scout, my star scout, & my 11 year old scout!! I GOT THE FIRE GOING!!! With no help!! I almost did call an ol' neighbor for some tips.. but thought I would try it first!! I was so excited & it was so nice & warm. As the fire started to dwindle & the coals were sitting there warm... I had to break out the roasting sticks & brown up a 1/2 dozen marshmallows for the kids!! You should have seen all the kids they thought I was amazing!! Madison & Brady were so mad I wouldn't let them roast their own... but I promised them we would do it again for family night soon! They were the most beautiful marshmallows I ever cooked too! But just one!! We didn't want to spoil our snack time with too much sugar!!

Not such good news... Dave ran home early from work today to go to our friend's funeral & since he had a bit of time he went & picked up ol' whitey from his mom's place to take all the junk to the dump so he could get his Dad's truck back in the garage... well in doing so.. he brought whitey home after the haul to the dump & sadly said - honey, come look... Of couse I said - what? (Yeah a sight for sore eyes if you might ask... especially sitting next to the new tundra!!) He said - look closer - don't you see the smoke? I died (almost laughing as Dave worships this truck just a little bit) - you can't see it in the picture - but the ol' truck is about to take it's last breath - or maybe it already did!! It had smoke coming out of the front of it, but not too bad!! (Darn it, now what to do?!) The poor thing probably hasn't done over 30MPH for a year... just going up the dump road about did it in!! It has seen it's better days!! Quick note - Grandpa John is home tonight. Sometimes I am glad his memory isn't so good! We realized that today probably had to be a preliminary apt. for surgery - but you just never know. Luckily he is home & ok for this week. He told us that he has 3 anurisms that could go at any time & is waiting now for the special parts to be made/ordered, as they were able to do measurements today, so that they can be put in the veins/arteries to help that situation! It still is very serious & of course could dislodge at any time...So we have about 3 weeks till then - so I am glad that today wasn't the surgery & that there is a little more time if he is careful!!

After all my little ones were gone this afternoon I broke away to run errands & then I went to watch Garrett at football practice.. with the intentions of taking a walk around the track with Brady a while. (My body just wasn't feeling very chipper after being inside with a sad baby teething all day & another one that was new, who had a pretty hard time being nice... so we enjoyed the weather as it had warmed up & we did get a couple laps in! )
I so had to laugh that I sat watching the team practice for about 20 minutes & I had Garrett all picked out & man did he do great - (as I didn't know what number his jersey was).. then after walking - one of his older friends shouts to me... are you looking for the 7th graders? (Um... no..., but thanks - your practice sure has been great?? What? you are the 8th graders!!) Duh - mom, we practice in the Maroon Jerseys not the silver... Well they had the maroon pull over jerseys on 1/2 their team - how was I sappose to know? But #67 sure looked & walked & acted a lot like Garrett - I just didn't know Garrett already knew how to kick the football like he was doing!! SO really it is pretty funny in hind sight!! I was really proud of him & so excited to tell him about the good toe pointing & nice follow through on the kick! Oh, well, what can I say? I tried! Till next time!

Then tonight we had a Court of Honor - Garrett earned his "Star"Rank advancement for Boy Scouts & received several merit badges towards his Eagle. Tyler received his Boy Scout badge/pin for entering 11 year olds!! Here they are looking all spiffy in their uniforms!! (Yes kinda hard getting Garrett to smile & pose for a picture these days!! So I am lucky to get what I can!!) Tyler was pretty excited!!