Boy Scouts

So, I'm not sure if I mentioned it in this blog, but Glenn started boy scouts this fall. Bob is his den leader (due to lack of interest from the rest of the parents). It is so cute to here him recite the cub scout's motto and cub scout promise. It took a few weeks' practice, but he can do it.

Last night, they got their popcorn sales information. Yay fundraising (she says weakly)! So, I am just going to put this out there for anyone that really wants what looks to be some tasty popcorn. Here is the link to his fundraising page: Glenn's Boy Scout Popcorn Page

As Bob said, we do not provide financing. :)

Next month, we are going camping as a family to the Cuboree. Should be interesting, but hopefully mostly fun. It tends to rain a lot in October, so hopefully that won't be the case for that weekend.

I ordered his cub scout uniform and patches over a week ago. Hopefully we'll get them soon and I'll take a picture of him in it. I'm assuming Bob will need a uniform, too. If so, I'll post a picture of him, too. :)

Resending this weekend's post

There was a problem with the pictures of the post I sent out this weekend. If you did not view it right away, then you were not able to see the pictures. So, I am trying again...

The boys are enjoying school. Alexander missed his second week because he was sick with a fever, but otherwise, they have been healthy. Alexander had a project to do, decorating a person to look like him. Then he put stickers of things he liked around it. It was fun to do together. Glenn just got a progess report and it said he is meeting grade level expectations in all his subjects. He is also getting E's in conduct, which is for excellent. His teachers said he's very cooperative and works hard.

I know you love the pictures, so here they are:

 

Bat Spider Man watching Daddy play Super Mario Brothers

Alexander is getting good at taking pictures. I decided to post this one because I just got new glasses. What do you think?

I planted my fall garden about two and a half weeks ago. I have never had a fall garden before, but I think it will be more productive than my spring garden.

In the square below, I have sage, parsley, speramint, and oregano growing (can't really see the oregano, yet). The celery I planted last spring is still trying to grow in the top right corner. The lower righ corner are golden beans (rather than green- gotta mix it up sometimes). And you might be able to make out the sweet pepper plants that have sprouted in the lower left corner. They are going to be different colors: purple, yellow, red, orange, and green. I have chives growing around the edge and also planted a few potatoes in the lower bottom. Any place I had a little room, I planted some garlic and ginger.

In the next square, running through the center are the banana pepper plants I planted in the spring. They have been producing like crazy this month. I just made some stuffed banana peppers at dinner last night- delicious! There is also some basil in with the banana pepper plant on the right. In the lower third are various lettuces, like you see the spring mix in the store. I should be able to start harvesting some of them in a couple more weeks. In the top right, you might see kind of a triangle of green; those plants are snow peas going around a trellis. I have green onion growing in the top left.

In the middle to the lower middle are eggplant plants that seemed to still be producing, but the one left on the plant hasn't grown much lately. I moved my strawberried to the lower left of this square because it gets a little shade from the crape merdle tree, which will mean they won't get quite so hot and hopefully produce more. The bottom right corner is spinach. The top right is kholrabi; I tried it in the spring, but it didn't grow well in the heat. Root vegetables like cooler weather, so I'm trying again. In the top middle I have rainbow colored Swiss chard. And in the top left are sweet onions.

Also, today is Bob and my 12th wedding anniversary. We went to a Brazilian Steakhouse on Saturday to celebrate. It was a very nice dinner. They had a great salad bar that was not your ordinary salad bar (shrimp, Brazilian salads, cheeses, meats). Then they brought different meats to the table. Delicious and too filling. We went home a bit bloated, but happy. :)

Painted a wall

This week, I painted a wall in our house... a very large wall. The main wall in our living room also extends to the dining room. It was a dingy blah color before with marks and holes (Bob had to get the wires through the wall somehow) and was not pretty. I had purchased a brown a blue area rug for the room last winter. We chose a blue from that rug for the wall. The actual color blue is lighter in the pictures than what it is in real life, but you get the idea.

I like how the living room wall goes with the painting.

We chose the paint color to go with the blue in the area rug.

Here's the dining room. I also painted the column you can see on the left side.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for Glenn and Alexander. Glenn entered second grade and Alexander started VPK (which stands for Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten, a state run program ensuring all FL children age 4 get pre-school for free).

Glenn had a lot of school supplies to bring, so we put some in his backpack, Bob had a bag and I had a bag. We were able to bring it to his classroom (there's no way he would have been able to do it himself). His classroom is at the end of the same building he was in last year, but in a portable at the other end of the building, so it was comforting to him (and me) that it was easy for him to find his classroom. We met his teacher last Friday, and we're very excited about her. She's very warm and it sounds like she will be a perfect fit for Glenn. He's in a smaller class (max class size of 12) and another teacher in the next portable will be team teaching with his main teacher. Plus, they have a tutor (or paraprofessional) helping out the two classes. It's always good to have extra helpers. All the kids in his class need a little extra attention.

 Alexander is at the same school as last year, but this year, it's free!!! We really like his school, but this will be the last year he'll be attending it as I can't see paying private tuition, when we are very happy with the public school Glenn goes to. Alexander was very happy to be with his friends from last year. He also had another Alexander in his class today; he thought that was amazing and exciting.

 Here are some pictures of them that I took before we went off to school:

It was 7:15and we were just about to go. Alexander had to get in the first picture. I'm sorry about the smudges on the pictures. Alexander has been using my camera...

 

 

Alexander would not give me regular smiles, only silly faces.

 

I had a request to post this picture of my dad and Alexander biking and talking back in the spring.

My little photographer and models

We are quickly rapping up the summer. After a week at VBS (the boys loved it), they've been going with me to work at the office three days a week. Both Bob and I can't wait until they are back in school when I'm working. It's very difficult to get things done in a time effective manner with two little boys playing around the office (and constantly asking us questions). Last week, we had baby-sitters for about a half hour. A couple came in to get an oxygen concentrator repaired. While they waited for a quote, Glenn came up to me asking me to play Angry Birds for him. I told him I was working. Then the couple chimed in that they love to play Angry Birds. So, they played with the boys until Bob was done getting the quote for them. The boys have one week left of summer. Of course I still need to work, but we'll still have some fun. We've been going to the water park in town that we have season tickets to. And we spent the morning, yesterday, looking at all the animals at Silver Springs (it's half zoo, half nature preserve, also in Ocala). We took a river boat ride that was quite relaxing. I haven't decided yet what we're going to do for fun this week. We do try to swim every day. But sometimes the daily thunderstorms come too early and we don't get a chance. Or, we'll just hear thunder rumbling for hours, and I won't let them swim when that happens, either. Alexander has become quite the little photographer. Cubby is his favorite target. He does a great job getting his target centered. This first picture of Glenn is a bit blurry because it was taken from the opposite side of the room and I had to zoom in.

Alexander took this picture of Glenn, who gladly posed.

The puppies love each other.

 



Another picture taken by Alexander



Alexander just has to cuddle Cubby; he can't help himself.



The boys have been sleeping together for the past few weeks. I went in and checked on them one night and had to run to get my camera. SO SWEET!!!

I got the boys cheater chop sticks. They like mine, but they are hard to use. These are connected at the top. They'll eat anything with their chop sticks. Alexander's eating grapes.



Glenn lost in thought

After I brought him back from outer space, he decided to do an over the shoulder pose for me.