Self-Portrait

Sammy needed to choose a picture of himself to take to school for the cover of his English folder. There is no shortage of photos of our family (the kids refer to me as "Picture Queen"), so there were truly plenty from which to pick.

Me: How about your school photo from last year? No? Okay, how about the one with Chester (the hamster)? No? This one of you in front of the bougainvillea? No? How about the one from Junior Assembly? No, huh? Come on, you look great in the sport coat... okay, no. This one? This one? What about this one...?

THAT one? Okay, it's your choice- here you go...



And this is what grace's the cover of our creative son's schoolwork folder!

Cappuccino

Funny Guys

Have you seen those toys that "grow" when placed in water? Examples include "Grow a Dinosaur", "Grow a Frog" or "Grow a New Brother." These dehydrated toys usually double in size once hydrated in a glass or bowl of water.

Lucas received a "Grow Your Own Football" for his birthday. He placed it in a bowl of water, then left to take a shower. As soon as they heard the water running, Basil asked Sammy to go fetch a real football. Sammy, laughing, ran and got the only inflated one we have (unfortunately, one without white stripes) and replaced the tiny football with the full-sized one.

Later, when Lucas wandered to the kitchen, he saw the bowl, ran excitedly to it and started to shout, "No, wa--" until logic rushed back to his brain. Sammy and Basil, patiently waiting at the kitchen table, thoroughly enjoyed their trick!

Birthdays

We celebrated TWO birthdays in three days!

First, Lucas woke Sunday to see the kitchen table decorated with little gifts for him to enjoy with his birthday pastry:

Then, this morning, Sammy woke to see the kitchen table decorated just for him:

Notice the photo for Sammy's birthday is darker than the one for Lucas'? Because it was taken at 5:45am- just before waking the boys at 6:00am! Now that we're on "school schedule", the days start early!

Happy Birthday, Lucas and Sammy!

Football

Lucas took a strength-training class this summer in his high school's new 4000 sq. ft. weight room. It was tough going- one hour a day in the weight room and one hour outside. Outside. In Phoenix. In the SUMMER. But Lucas loved it and he caught the attention of some of the school's football coaches. Many of his exercises were restructured to reflect football-style training, such as dragging those heavy sleds across the field and running through tires. He had to run up the bleachers, across, back down, across and back up, again and again- twelve times in a row. Whew- makes me tired just thinking about his weekly routine!


Lucas then tried out for the Freshman team and was chosen first-string Left Guard. When I told him that my dad was a Right Guard in college, he simply said, "Cool."

He's excited about the Guard position. He's been working on the Penn State 35/36 offense (for those of you who talk "football." I don't, and have been Googling terminology for two weeks now.)

Starting High School

Lucas' high school registration has been completed.

School starts this coming Monday and we think he's enrolled in a good selection of classes. He's continuing in Spanish, taking Earth Science, Honors Geometry, Computer Technology, a required Freshmen's "Men's" Life-Skills class and finally, Honors English. That last class' teaching staff sent out a letter at the beginning of the summer listing two books that needed to be read and journalled. This journal of chapter-by-chapter reflections on summaries, characterizations, motifs and themes is due on the first day of school. Yes, the first day. What happened to carefree summers? The English Department's reasoning is that the school-year is chock full of reading and writing as it is, and this gives them the opportunity to discuss a larger selection of novels.

And, yes, he's finished. (Although there was some major prodding on my part toward the end!)

Summer Swimming

"Summer time, and the livin' is ea-easy..."*

Here are our boys and friends, in our pool, waiting for dinner to be called.
Aaahh, that's the life!

(*I know there have been many covers of this song from Porgie and Bess, but my favorite has to be when I listened to Nichelle Nichols sing it a cappella to a small crowd here in Phoenix at a Star Trek Convention in the 80's. Yep, I'm a geek. But lovin' the Star Trek and all that's associated with it.)