Happenings

Last Friday Stephen's work had a Hawaiin day.

We don't do that at our boring, conservative, can't even wear jeans on Friday Catholic organization.

Anyway, Stephen, being his usual self, went in full ski gear to throw a curve everyone's way. (He's funny like that). Everyone loved it and he even won the contest for best dressed and got to come home early with extra cash. (I wasn't expecting him and had not quite got to the housekeeping and was busted watching Real Housewives)

I love Real Housewives of any County, but the OC has been on and it's quite the season. Stephen will deny it, but he loves it, too. There's nothing real about them but the drama that comes their way just keeps me locked in.

Aidan came home and it's our week and we're so happy he's home. I snapped a picture of the boys when they weren't looking to capture what our normal afternoons look like when homework is done. MineCrafte Mania.

And what blog post wouldn't be complete without some mention of Kitty Kitty**

**I've already started the mutliple name game with "Griffindorf". Now he's Kitty Kitty or Mr. Mittens. Don't ask.

Stephen in his fake out Hawaiin gear.

Stephen in his real Hawaiin gear. He's so handsome.

The boys playing XBox. Minecraft. Again.

I found Kitty Kitty in Grant's lunchbox.
He looks mad. He photographs angry but he
really isn't angry. More put out with me for taking his
picture all the time. The boys sometimes give me the same look.
hmmmmmmm.



Here's Kitty knocked out. Paws in the air and all.



Peace and Quiet...too quiet

Since Aidan has been with his Mom this week and G didn't have homework last night, things were pretty quiet around the house. I chose to ignore the laundry and try and make something way too advanced for my cooking skills.

Apparently I'm not an "intermediate" cook yet.

Dumb ratings.

I'll stick with "easy" and prep time of "30 minutes"








My husband will sometimes send me pics of him at
work. It makes me feel better. He works too much
and I miss his face. This tides me over until he gets home.




G and myself. I just sat down and didn't know what to do next.
So, I watched Cartoon Network.

I didn't like whatever was on, but G assured me not only was
it a good show, but it was a new episode.



This is the peas and pesto pasta I made last night.

It was not good.

It was not bad, either.

Making your own pesto is silly. Just buy it from the store,
if you want my honest opinion.

I did find a Praying Mantice in our basil plants, though, so that was cool.

                                                      

This is Ina Garten. She's been helping me navigate
through having enjoying cooking dinners. She's awesome.

I bet she would have hated my pesto pasta, though.

She'd say something like,
"Don't quit your day job".

                                                       

Two Things

This week will be the final week of Stephen's training at ATT and he couldn't be more thrilled. 8 weeks of training is too much!

Grant came home Friday with a shocker. He informed me he got a girl's number. Brody's number. He did not give her his number. He did not see the point in that since he wasn't going to call her anyways.

Sigh of relief on my behalf!





My handsome husband at work.



Grant's first phone number......
Seriously? He informed me he would NOT be calling "Brody", as
he was just a boy and not a man yet. He has to grow up before
he calls girls.

NERF Swimming

We're spending as much time as we can at the pool, before it closes for another year. Aidan is with his Mom this week, so it was just the three of us. G still managed to have a good time.







Grant taking aim. For Stephen's Glasses. Very intense.




This is right after a NERF bullet bounced off G's face.
Don't worry, he's fine. They're foam, after all.




The goal of the competition: Get a bullet to
suction to some part of the other person's body.




All's fair in war and NERF gun games.




Well.....Here's G on the Lion Fountain.
I'll let the picture speak for itself.



Reading

Grant had his first reading homework. He chose to read to me on the porch. He paused in between pages to show the cat, dog and myself the pictures. 2nd grade parent information was last night and his teacher is great! Looks like we're in for a tough, but very fun year of learning.

Kitty in the window listening.

Jack under the table listening.

The Cat that Tripped the Boy

So, the cat is nuts. I've mentioned this before. I've had to start spraying him with the kitchen sink nozzle to make him stop biting my toes. Anyway, last night Grant came into the front yard and informed me he broke a window.

It's our first official window break.

When I saw it, I was shocked G didn't crash right through it and cut himself into little pieces. I was so grateful he was safe I didn't get mad.

He was very hard on himself. I asked him how it happened.

"Mom, I was playing behind the couch and tripped on the cat".

The cat. If I hadn't almost broken my neck on a daily basis by tripping over the cat myself, I would find him hard to believe.

Please enjoys some action pictures of the crazy cat. Photo 1 shows him pawing at Grant's face. Photo 2 shows kitty unable to be still. And finally, photo 3, which was actually taken in the middle of 1 and 2, right before kitty goes crazy and attacks my toes.









The Band Aid Covered Kid

Grant will NOT stop scratching his million mosquito bites. Which results in infected mosquito bites and one million bandaids to cover them.

So if you see him looking like this, it's not chicken pox. It's Grant's lack of scratch control. He told me he just couldn't help himself.

The First day of School

Before school look. Sweet, charming. Age appropriate.

The new "cool" hair cut. He looks WAY to old.

I've not written lately. There is so much happening. Aidan started his new schedule with his Mom. It's wicked complicated so I'll spare everyone with the logistics. He's been away most of the week, which is why I won't have much to post about him But no fears, he's back with us next week and we will be back on track. Grant started second grade on Monday and Aidan started fifth. The summer went by way too fast. Grant has been doing well. He did NOT want Stephen to walk him to his class on the first day, but rather be dropped off in the carpool line and show himself to his class. The first day report back was he did not have enough peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in his lunch and could I please pack more tomorrow. Anything else, Grant? Like do you like your teacher? Did you see all your old friends? Did you learn anything? Yes, yes and yes. That's all I got. Thanks for the details son. Oh, and he got a hair cut yesterday. Longer hair isn't cool anymore, didn't you know? .