Scribbles and Jots: Photography and stories, 12/27/14

Some of the things that have been photo-worthy since August...

No-stories photos
A few pics that didn't fit anywhere else

layers: crape myrtle against pine against bright blue sky

weathered bench and colorful fall leaves

sunflowers planted along the side of a rural road

two of the many colorful toadstools that popped up after two weeks of rain in September

It's not good photography, I'm just slapping it here because it's funny. "Dairy," Gatorade, Red Bull, and Michelob...is this complete idiocy or marketing genius?

School
Boy 1 had periodically sighed deeply about missing school all summer long, and Boy 2 was really, really eager to see what kindergarten was all about. This was a very happy day for both of them.

checking out the new space

He saw there was some kind of work ready at the table, and he immediately entered his mental School Zone. I didn't even get a "goodbye"!

Two days (and some confused questions) later, Girl finally got her long wished-for first day, too.

new table with new friends' names

Fall and more school
photo opp outside the doctor's office after picking up Girl's and Boy 1's new glasses

We've had some pretty nice progress reports and seen lots of this kind of comment for all three:

The pattern seems to be that Boy 1 is consistently strong in math concepts, Boy 2 is especially good with reading and handwriting (writing neatly is something he intentionally ONLY does at school, the turkey), and Girl is a very precise colorer and painter, especially paint.

Boy 2 was even named student of the month! He got his picture up on a cafeteria display with all the other classes' students of the month and got a medal.

Whenever the weather's good, the kids like to go to the school's playground after they're out for the day. The boys have a couple friends who also stay after, so it's a little more of an adventure than just running around in our own backyard.

We haven't ventured to the playground on weekends. That's still prime drawing, Lego, and movie time.
One of Boy 1's latest, a picture of us. He's never explained exactly what's going on in the picture, but I think he's captured our "characters" pretty cartoonishly well.

Halloween
Here they are in all their dress-up glory: Yoshi, Darth Vader, and a witch.

Trains
A friend from church invited us to a run of his club's large model trains. It was a raw, gusty 50 degrees, but we rode 'round and 'round in the misty drizzle anyway until ours noses and toes went completely numb. Most of the motion shots weren't very good in the murky weather, but you get the idea.

We needed a thorough thawing when we got home, so we had chicken noodle soup.

made from noodles from the fundraiser event I mentioned in my previous post

Thanksgiving
We were home for Thanksgiving this year. When that happens, breakfast is always Snoopy's version of the feast in "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving."

(Yes, those are Craisins, not jelly beans. Don't be a critic.)

This makes everyone silly and happy.

And then in the evening, we have magic. You know, that mysterious phenomenon evidenced by its taking 5 hours to get from this

to this,

and then only 7 minutes to get from that to this.

Party
Boy 2 was invited to a friend's birthday party at a trampoline gym that, until the invitation came, we never knew existed. There were several other jump areas too, but the ones he liked best were launching into a foam pit

and playing trampoline dodgeball. The rules are a little different on a grid, and there were a lot of unexpected "outs" at the beginning, but they had a load of fun anyway. That's Boy 2 in the back with the red ball.

Gingerbread and such
I made gingerbread dough for the first time in several years, and this year, also for the first time, the kids wanted to cut and decorate the cookies. They did a nice job!

Each of the kids did crafts with food at school. Girl's and Boy 2's classes both made graham cracker gingerbread houses,

and Boy 1's class made ice-cream cone Christmas trees.

Little did we know we'd have yet another chance at carbohydrate construction. T brought home a spare gingerbread house kit that didn't get used during one of the museum's family craft events. I thought our log-cabin pretzel work turned out pretty nice.

(And yes, we all had stomach aches after this brand of crafting.)

Christmas
I was disappointed to open the box of outdoor lights from the attic and find that more than half of them were not working. I guess 15 years is about the limit of a strand? Anyhow, with all the dead and mostly-dead strings out of the lineup, this pathetic display is all I managed. I suppose I'll be hitting Home Depot for new lights off the clearance rack next week.