Basketball Season Starts

The basketball season started this past weekend with the Garfield High Jamboree. Noah got to suit up with varsity. He even got to play for a few minutes in the first game against O'Dea. These are the only photos we took during Thanksgiving weekend. We completely forgot to get the camera out on Thanksgiving Day. We didn't even get our Christmas card photo taken. Here Alyssa poses with her real brother and her surrogate little brothers, Kaleb and Shawn.

Noah listens intently during a time-out.

Since he's only a sophomore sitting on the bench during varsity games will be the norm. Most of his playing time will be when he plays JV. Noah was so excited to get into the game and play his first varsity minutes. He didn't even remember touching the ball till he saw this photo. He did well. He didn't turn the ball over, he made good passes, and he played solid defense. The regular season starts tomorrow. Good luck Eagles!

Good Bye Alexander

Our four weeks with Alexander flew by. I don't know if Noah's German or Alexander's English really improved much, but the boys did become good friends. Noah and his friends were very welcoming, and Alex was just part of their group. He went to football games, Homecoming, the Absolute Air Park (a warehouse filled with trampolines, Noah's fall league basketball games, and he had his first experience trick-or-treating. Alexander got the full Halloween experience by going to the pumpkin patch to choose his own pumpkin. Unfortunately his was so hard he had to borrow a small handsaw from Forrest so he could carve it. We also took Alexander to our friend's huge haunted house in downtown Seattle. He didn't seem to like it much. I didn't either. I did like the part where our friend who owns the haunted house business let us go behind the scenes for a special tour. Before his trip to the U.S. Alex had only played Xbox once. As you can see by the photo he loves it. Alexander and Forrest share a love of race cars so Forrest bought a racing game for the Xbox, and all three of my boys love it. Alexander flew home four days ago. His trip home took 25 hours (including a 4 hour layover in New York). I hope that we will be able to visit him sometime in Stuttgart, and we told him that he always has a place to stay with us if he ever comes to Washington again.

Homecoming 2011

Noah's handsome group all ready for the Homecoming Dance. Alexander (our exchange student), Hannah, Elyse, Amilia, and Noah.


My beautiful kids. Forrest looks small between Noah and Alexander.

Time Flies

This week Alyssa starts her sophomore hear of college and Noah started his sophomore year of high school two weeks ago. Just a short five years ago as evidenced by this picture Alyssa was the big sister in every way, age and height. She's still 5'7" but he has grown to a man sized 15 year old standing nearly 6'4" and weighing 210 pounds. She is still my girlie girl fussing with her hair, make-up, and clothing. He shaves almost daily and wears cologne. They are great friends and have a wonderful relationship. I am truly blessed to have such great kids.

Peace and Quiet

I have had no one to answer to all day today. Noah has been with friends all weekend, Forrest is visiting his mom, and Alyssa went to Wild Waves today. I have had a blissful day to only do what I want to do. I did some shopping. I bought new towels for the guest/kids bath. Usually the kids' bathroom gets the hand me downs from the master bathroom when Forrest and I get new towels. I spent some time puttering in my classroom. I have enough planned for the first three days of school so I am not going in tomorrow. I will not be working on Labor Day. A nap on the deck, washing the cars, and taking photos of an amazing sunset rounded out the day. Alyssa and I plan to get pedicures tomorrow. And the kids will be doing some housework so I can start the school year with a clean house. They've been free from chores all weekend. It's time for them to step in and clean bathrooms and scoop the dog poop from the backyard.

On Tuesday I will get a massage to loosen up my neck and shoulders before reporting to school for some meetings and final prep for Back to School Night. Our wonderful PTA will feed us and the families dinner. The kids will come to my room where they will drop off their supplies, choose a cubby, and a seat, and introduce themselves to me. I am looking forward to a great year. I have several kids who are the younger siblings of students I have had in the past. It's always nice to see familiar faces and catch up with the families.

End of Summer Weekend

After a great Jamaican/Mexican feast at the home of the Adam's family Saturday night we expected to spend a quiet Sunday puttering around the house waiting for Alyssa to get home from her camping trip with her friends in Winthrop. But that's not what happened. Forrest and I picked up some delicious looking Sockeye Salmon from Costco. It was way too much for us to eat so we invited our friends, the Brysons. A few extra kids joined us for the feast. Forrest makes amazing barbecued salmon on a cedar plank. A green salad and red potatoes with dill and butter rounded out the meal. Tracy Bryson brought her famous fruit pizza and the kids also made s'mores and pie iron pies. It was a lovely evening with a gorgeous sunset. Since Forrest is going to visit his mom over Labor Day weekend this is the last big gathering of the summer of 2011 at our house. It's been a busy summer of basketball and driver's ed for Noah and work for Alyssa and Forrest. My main jobs were to run errands, drive Noah around until he got his permit (now he drives me), keep up with the laundry, and cook. I walked lots of miles during Noah's driver's ed classes, and once the weather cooperated I did get in some relaxing time on the deck with some good books. I realized that I haven't taken many photos this summer so I grabbed the camera and took a few shots last night.

Update

My dad told me that people are noticing that I haven't been keeping up with my blog this summer. Well that's because we haven't done much lately. Alyssa is working four days a week at the daycare, Forrest is also working, and Noah has driver's education classes three days a week plus drives. Noah is taking his class with his friend, Kaleb, so I usually walk with Kaleb's mom during their classes. We have walked the full Arlington Airport Trail which is 7.3 miles and parts of the Centennial Trail where it cuts through Snohomish County. After classes Noah and Kaleb usually go to the gym and lift weights or I drop them off at Lake Goodwin so they can meet up with their friends (mainly cute girls in bikinis) and work on their tans.

I have spent two days in my classroom getting it ready. I am having trouble getting motivated to spend more time there right now. All of the teachers in our district are waiting for news of negotiations. The state has given us a 3% pay cut, but we don't know how that is going to be worked into our current 3 year contract. Some districts are having furlough days. Our union president is not doing a very good job keeping us all informed so there is lots of discord and rumor mongering. Hopefully we'll know something soon.

As you can see by the photos Mom and Dad are here for a couple of days. They took us out for dinner last night to our favorite Stanwood, Jimmy's Pizza and Pasta. We are looking forward to our friend's party this weekend. It will be a Jamaican feast prepared by our favorite Jamaican transplant, Cordel Adams.

That's all the news for now. I promise to do a better job of keeping this blog up to date.