Sunday, August 28, 2016

Innovation Project



Matthew and his coach worked all afternoon in heat and humidity...Ta Da!!! It is done. They were covered in sweat and composite fibers but they had fun. They will probably be going into business. Order now!

I am not sure what Matthew will do now that his project is complete and the term is nowhere close to ending...


Taking trash and making it treasure


Getting down to business


Organizing the project


Clean up detail


It is finished (those are pucks for feet, by the way


Ta DA!


Hannah kept Marlie busy while her dad worked with Matthew


Saturday, August 27, 2016

Innovation

School is under way. It's not the same school I went to with "reading, writing, 'rithmetic." M has a class called "Innovation." It takes something you are passionate about and applies it to the community. The teacher asked Matthew what he was passionate about and he answered "Hockey." Shocking, I know. I wished him luck with applying that passion to the community. My son is a whole lot smarter than I give him credit for...he is making a bench out of used hockey sticks and donating it to the rink. Pretty clever if I do say so myself.

I spent the last two weeks asking everyone I could think of for hockey sticks. Success.

The project requires a mentor (not a parent). And Clever M does it again...he asked his coach from last season...okay, I may have nudged him in that direction. I knew his coach did construction while he played for the Huntsville Havoc.

The project starts today, pictures to follow soon.


Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Misc

Misc Photos from the past week...






Pokemon Go

Pokemon has morphed into a game of keeping kids active...not sure if it is working when M is playing it while we drive to the rink...but it did get the family out on Sunday for a 3 mile walk to catch Pokemons.

My gym, however is not so thrilled...there is a sign at the entrance reading "No Pokemon activity on the premises" and there is a bulletin board inside regarding Pokemon.




Phones in School

Snap Chat, Bitmoji, texting etc. Little distractions keeping my children and their friends from paying attention in class. I took screenshots of a few to offer proof of their guilt. Don't tell them but I do enjoy hearing from them during the day...







Friday, August 19, 2016

The Good Old Days

The kids are back in school. Life is crazy after school but I do have time to go workout and get some housework done before they get home. It's weird how working out eats up so much time. I go to the gym, run errands, shower, eat a late lunch, do a few things around the house and bam! The kids are home. Hannah can walk to school which is nice but it is still really hot. I sometimes drop her off at a path that goes from our neighborhood to the school so so she doesn't get quite as sweaty. I sometimes run Matthew to school instead of having him catch the bus. The bus comes at 7:15 but school doesn't start until 8:05. This way he can sleep about 45 minutes later when we get home late from the rink. Now that he is getting older his practice time is later...sigh. I am a home body and once I am home, I like staying home...especially in the winter.

Hannah has stopped figure skating for hockey. I am so relieved. We were having to dip into savings for all the costs...hopefully, we can start rebuilding...right after we pay for Matthew's travel hockey. Kids are expensive and should come with a warning label. I was asked repeatedly over the Summer where and when we were going on vacation. I looked at the inquirer and said "This is it. This is our vacation." I am not sure if people are extremely wealthy or live in debt...We clearly cannot keep up with the Jones...

Hannah has entered the phase of high school called girl drama. She made a new friend, Ann. We all like her and she is a good friend, however Ann has a friend named Julia who doesn't like Ann having friends...and so it goes. Then there is Anna Marie (now an ex-friend) who went behind Hannah's back and started messaging a boy who liked Hannah...she never mentioned that she knew Hannah to him. Hannah posted a picture on Instagram of her and Anna Marie and the boy said "Hey, I know her. She messages me on Pinterest." HOLY Guacamole, I do not get kids these days. Why would you message a boy you never met? Why would you do that to a friend? Why did the boy message back a girl he has never met? 

While sort of on the subject of Social Media, it has overtaken asking for a person's number. Kids now ask for their Snap Chat. I asked Hannah why. Is it to be like the terrorists and not leave a text/phone call trail? She replied it's less threatening to a boy than asking for their number. So, parenting is now even more difficult since I can no longer look at the phone bill to see A) who is my child chatting/calling and B) is my child in bed sleeping or on their phone. I long for the old days when the phone had a cord that went in the wall and the child was forced to talk in one place...and here is the best part, if you answered you could ask who was calling. And you knew if they were on the phone way past their bedtime. Oh, for the good old days.

Back to the friends...there are too many Ann variation friends...it's so weird. There is of course, Hannah. She has a friend named Ann, two named Anna, and then the ex-friend, Anna Marie. I keep them straight by the subdivision name they live in. True Story. 

I believe Matthew has now discovered girls. We were picking up Ann and when she got in the van M said "'Sup, Babe." My jaw dropped. It was so weird hearing those words come out of his mouth...and he didn't even stumble over the words...it was like he had been doing it all his life. 

And so it goes...this is what is new in my world...well, that and M has to have an ultrasound at the end of the month for blood in his urine. They have run several tests and they sent us to a urologist. I was hoping it was an irritation from all of his exercise maybe causing a dip in hydration causing an irritation...we went back this week and there is still blood, hence, the ultra sound. He has no pain and he doesn't see blood, it's only detected by the lab. 

Oh, and Greg reached his goal weight. He lost 125 pounds and now weighs 215. I have pumped up my exercise and have not lost a pound...of course, I cannot eat all the peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, raspberries, etc without getting a serious case of heartburn. I am trying to make peace with just not gaining more weight. Peace eludes me.


Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Confessions of a Social Media Thief

Thank you Social Media for letting me swipe pictures from other people without having to steal their photo album, make a copy and try to return it without them noticing it. I take pride in my ability to screenshot photos from my friend's Facebook page, daughters' snap chat, Instagram, etc. and no one be the wiser...unless, of course, they look here...then I am busted.
\
Here a few stolen items. I will add more as soon as 21 Days of Prayer is over on my phone...then I can upload more stolen social media items.


Hockey Camp 2016


Green Summer Hockey 2016



Okay, This one is not Stolen, It's Mine...Matthew and his Travel Teammate for the Upcoming Season...Yep, there is that much of a size difference. They are both 2004 birth year














Friday, August 5, 2016

Back to School 2016


Whoosh! The days of Summer are flying by and we are back in school as of 2 days ago. When I went to school, we always started the day after Labor Day. August school starts still throw me. My mind is trained to think September and it was always hot when it started and my school didn't have air conditioning.

I digress. School sneaked up on me like a thief in the night...school shopping happened right after church on Sunday. It was the only time we had to do it with the busy schedules...H and I both wore the wrong shoes for this event. It took a lot longer than anticipated and our feet were talking to us. H bought a new pair of shoes and promptly changed the ones she had on for the new ones. (Okay, I suggested she change her shoes...she didn't know you were allowed to do that...yes, you are the owner and you can wear them now)

Hannah started high school...she was a bundle of nerves and no reassurance that not one freshman has died from the first day of school would calm her down. She came home and announced it was great and didn't know why she was so stressed. Yep, that's my girl.

Matthew started school cool as a cucumber and remains that way.

They both like all their teachers. We will see if that changes or stays the same.

I'm attaching pictures of the first day...Sigh, they are growing up so fast.

Hmmm....apparently, there is an error while trying to save my post and adding pictures. I will try again later.