Homecoming Part 2: the dance

Look at Alyssa and her lovely friends. I think the boys at their school are crazy. All of these girls are smart, kind, accomplished young women and none of them were invited to the dance by a male classmate. What is wrong with them? Forrest thinks they're intimidated by strong, smart women. Since none of them had a date the girls went out for Italian and then danced the night away.

On a completely different note I had a Martha Stewart afternoon on Sunday. I made the complete Oktoberfest menu from her magazine including soft pretzels, sausage with sauerkraut, onions, and apples, and boiled potatoes with butter, parsley, and dill. My German ancestors are rolling in their graves because my children won't touch sauerkraut. It's so sweet when it's cooked with apples and onions. Martha even puts in a bit of apple cider for further sweetness. Forrest made them each take one bite, but that was it. I don't know what came over me. I haven't had much time to cook lately and it felt good to make a big mess and get my hands dirty.

Homecoming Parade

For the third year in a row Alyssa was on the float committe for the Homecoming parade. The theme this year was Disney. Each class represented a different Disney movie. The junior class was assigned "Aladdin." Alyssa represented the villain, Jafar. As usual the parade was wet. The awning of the palace stayed up all during the judging and the parade, however while I was helping the other parents tear down at the end a big gust of wind knocked it over and it nearly landed on a police car. The game is Friday and the dance is Saturday night. Alyssa found a bargain dress at Marshalls, $10.00 for a black silky dress.

New Member of the Family

We are now the proud owners of THREE dogs. I know we're crazy, but I saw an ad on our school Gots and Wants webpage for a free Red and White Setter who could not be a show dog because of a birth injury that left him blind in one eye. So, we own a dog that would be worth $1200.00 if he could see out of his right eye. Red and White Setters are going to be added to the AKC rolls and the breeder hopes to show Cowboy's dad at Westminster in 2009. Cowboy is five months old and very cute. He was accustomed to being allowed up on furniture at the breeder's house so we're trying to break him of that habit. Cowboy sleeps in Alyssa's room. Our older dogs are getting used to having to share attention. Sitka is nearly 13 and can longer romp with Boo who is five so Cowboy can run and play with Boo and keep her in shape.

Other News:

Homecoming week starts for Alyssa tomorrow. She'll be getting together with her friends to decorate the junior class float. The overall theme is Disney, and the juniors are representing "Aladdin." The parade is Wednesday and if the pattern for her two previous parades continues it will be cold and wet. Friday is the big football game against Lake Stevens. So far AHS has a 3-0 record including an exciting overtime win last night. Saturday night is the dance which she'll be attending with a group of girls. The decision to attend the dance came about two days ago and we need to find time to squeeze in a shopping trip for a dress sometime tomorrow afternoon after float building.

Noah's football team rolled on to their fourth shut-out victory against a much bigger Bellingham team. It's amazing that no one has scored on the Eagle defense. They definitely grow big boys in Bellingham. Their team had two interior linemen who weighed more than 200 pounds. The general weight limit is 170 with pads, but each team is allowed to have two boys over the limit as long as they don't carry the ball. Noah's team doesn't have anyone overweight. Our biggest boys are about 150. Noah is 142 without pads and 150 in pads. The problem with big boys is that they get tired and they were sucking wind by the end of the game.

Catch Up Time

I've let myself get way behind with my blog. The first month of school is craziness. In the football photo taken on the 6th Noah (88) and the other captains confer with the refs before the start of the game. Noah's team won that game against one of the other Arlington teams 27-0. That's why the uniforms look so similar.

It's amazing how similar in size my kids are now in their first day of school photo. It was Noah's second day of school and Alyssa's first day. Only the freshman attend on the first day at the high school. By the time we take next year's photo I'm sure Noah will have passed his sister up in size. I keep warning her of that when she hits him. Her baby brother isn't little any more and she can't dominate him physically as she used to.

My folks came up for a visit and to see Noah play this weekend. Due to injuries in the previous games the afternoon games were running 60-90 minutes late. We arrived an hour and 15 minutes before the start of Noah's game hoping to see the end of a game where several of Noah's friends would be playing, but it hadn't even started yet. During that game one of Noah's close friends, Tyler, broke his arm. Even from the bleachers we could see that his arm was not straight as it should be. He'll probably need surgery later this week. Noah's 5 PM game started at 6:20 against an overmatched Mt. Vernon team. Noah's team scored 6 touchdowns in less than a half of football. Noah caught a great pass and scored his first touchdown. With a minute 35 seconds left the Mt. Vernon coach forfeited. Several of his kids had gotten hurt and he was running out of subs. I was really feeling sorry for those poor boys.

Earlier in the day my folks and the kids and I went to the beach on Camano Island while Forrest was playing golf in a charity tournament. He won a huge shop vac at the raffle. My parents spoiled us with yummy restaurant meals. The only meal I cooked was breakfast on Saturday. The folks are in Leavenworth this evening enjoying delicious German dishes and the changing colors of fall.

Summer is Over

Labor Day is almost in the books. Forrest and the kids just got back from picking blackberries (which Alyssa will turn into cobbler tomorrow). I took my time having the house to myself to write my grandma a birthday card and print her some recent photos. My amazing Grandma Axtell will be 99 on Friday. We can't get away during the first week of school to celebrate with
her but thankfully my folks will be there.

My Labor Day chores included scrubbing bathrooms and getting caught up on the laundry. I like to start the school year with a clean house and empty hampers. Food prep was high on our list today. Forrest smoked up some seriously delicious salmon today. I made zucchini bread, brownies, ham, and corn on the cob. Chili was on the menu last night so we have a fridge full of leftovers for quick meals after football practice.

Alyssa has had a productive summer, banking more than $1000.00 working part time. She'll continue to work two afternoons a week during the school year which will give her time to also volunteer in the kindergarten classroom where's she's helped out for the past three years. She has completed her first set of assignments for her AP US History class. It's so hard to believe that in two short years she'll be heading off to college. Alyssa has a great group of girlfriends. They go to ball games together and they love "chick flicks." I'm so proud of the maturity of the choices she makes.

Noah had a great summer: Hoopfest champion, two weeks in Hawaii, football, and friends. This will be the first year he can play school sports. We'll need to invest in a dress shirt and tie that he'll be required to wear to school on game days during basketball season. He's very excited that his schedule has him in the class with the "hot" new math and science teacher. He's supposed to have her for both math and science. However, I requested a change of social studies teacher so we'll see what his updated schedule looks like on Wed.

My only regret is that I didn't make it to the beach as many times as I'd like. It seemed that on the days Alyssa had off the weather wasn't warm enough for a picnic and swim at the beach two miles from our house. I am very pleased with the exercise regimen I've adopted this summer. Physical therapy on a bum knee forced two days of hard work every week with the therapist plus two to three other days of work at the gym. I've only lost a couple of pounds but I've definitely firmed up my legs. My jeans fit much looser. Yippeee! Now I'll just have to find a way to keep up the good work during the school year.