Gifts from above

Unfortunately, all of the earnings from the sale of my grandparents' former home had to go towards my grandma's "rent" at the nursing home the last five years. But my grandpa had a small life insurance policy for my grandma. My mom and her two sisters split the amount evenly and received their checks a couple days ago. My mom insisted on sharing some of it with Justin and Kyle so that they had a last gift from their Great Grandma. My mom said it was Great Grandma's way of saying thank you for visiting her. Not only that, but I'm pretty sure my mom feels a little weird about having this money. I know she became upset when it came to her. It probably helped her to come over to my house and hand over $250 in cash to her grandsons. Their eyes almost popped out of their heads!!! They had never held a $100 bill in their hands before! Then it was off to Target's Lego aisle...
Justin and Kyle knew about this ahead of time so they had time to plan. Since they're obsessed with Legos and had just gotten a new Lego magazine in the mail, they knew exactly what they were after! They both chose Star Wars Clone Wars products. Justin's is a total of 1034 pieces, Kyle's is 799 pieces. They're BIG!!!
I admit it was fun to see them go in and grab the huge boxes. Whenever we go to a store with toys, we stop in the Lego aisle. The boys stand there and gawk at the large items. Those are reserved for Christmas and birthdays, but not this time! My mom came to the store with us to buy them. I know she enjoyed the moment as well.
Thank you to Grandma B. and Great Grandma N. for such special gifts! They will be appreciated for a long time to come.

The grass is always greener

After the hurricane passes over us. It feels like we've had non-stop rain for the last week. I think there was a small break in between the hurricanes, but there were a few days where it rained the ENTIRE day!!! I know that what hit us was mild, but so many clouds make life gloomy and now we have to deal with the flooding. However, the grass looks fantastic! We didn't have much rain over the summer, so even with fertilizer and sprinklers the grass didn't look very good. Not to mention the area around our playset where the "army game" mostly took place when school was out. The grass there was completely flattened. After a lot of rain (and kids in school) it has recovered. I'm really looking forward to mowing this week. I can just picture the well defined lines there will be afterwards from the lawn mower. One of the little things in life that I find extremely rewarding! I admit, I'm an odd sort of person. I love to vacuum, and I feel that mowing the grass is like vacuuming the carpet. Okay, that's enough about me for now.

It's been awhile

As far as I'm concerned summer is over. For me, it ends when school resumes. I'm enjoying this cool weather and have my fall decorations out. That include pumpkins, but only those without faces. Those with faces will come out in October. We're already discussing Halloween costumes around here. And as you can see, my pets are enjoying the sunlight.

The last week of August flew by and I feel like it was a really long time ago. The boys started school that week and we also had to say good-bye to my grandma. Justin and Kyle had never been to a wake and funeral before. Justin took it pretty hard. He was very emotional. It was sad to see him that way, but I was glad to see that he realized the seriousness of the situation. As if there wasn't enough going on that week, Kyle's betta died. He had that fish for three years!

I'm happy to report that the school year has gotten off to a good start. Kyle has adjusted well to being at school all day and Justin is doing well with his glasses. It's cute how they can discuss lunch and their elective classes with each other now. They even managed to bring home a virus already! This week we have curriculum night at the school. We already know Kyle's teacher. She's the same first grade teacher that Justin had. She's the one that hugged me on conference night and thanked me for having such a wonderful son. I predict the same for this year...

Make sure you scroll down to the bottom of this page to see the gadget I added to my blog: Random cat of the day. It's from a pet of the day website. I don't know these cats, but some are pretty cute and I found humor in the title.

The first day of school

Justin and Kyle returned to school today. They left the house as a 4th grader and 1st grader this morning. This is the first year that they started school on the same day. Last year, Kyle started on Justin's first full day since he was only there for half the day. In our district they have the kids go for about an hour and a half on the first day. Just enough time to see their classrooms, find their desks, and put all their supplies away. I like the first day because it's the only day that I get to go in the school with them. Fortunately schools have very strict rules about adults entering the building these days. It's sad that it has to be that way, but nice to know they do what they can to keep our children safe.

Both the boys had a good first day, however, we began the day with the sad news of my grandma's passing during the night. She turned 85 back in February and had been living in her nursing home for the last five years. That's when she experienced three strokes. She had come a long way since then, but continued to have problems with her platelets and hemoglobin. She passed away peacefully in her sleep.

Justin's new look

Justin became a glasses wearer today. We decided recently that he is nearsighted, like his dad. I got him in to see the eye doctor before school started. He was glad to hear the doctor say that he was getting glasses. He wanted to be able to see things that are far away more clearly. I can't blame him for that. He'll be wearing them all the time except for reading and homework. The doctor wants to check him again in six months to make sure things are going well with his prescription. This 4th grader will be starting off the school year with a more studious look.

Trip to the zoo

When I woke up this morning, I turned on the news and heard the weather forecast. Sunny and 80 degrees! What a perfect day to go to the zoo! So off we went...
It was a beautiful day and we got to see a ton of animals. Unfortunately, there were also a ton of people there. We didn't waste our money on Stingray Bay this year, but Kyle was satisfied by the other sea animals and Justin got to see his hippo. We had a nice lunch outside without geese and seagulls. I believe it was two years ago that large birds were stalking us at lunch and Justin actually climbed OVER the table with our lunch on it to escape them. A memory I will never forget or be able to talk without laughing!

What's new

Well, here we are in August. Summer break is coming to an end. I hate for my boys to return to school, however, I'm looking forward to not having their little friends hanging around our house as much. For being boys, there sure is a lot of drama.
This week we have to go the school for registration. Then the first day of school is August 25th. Justin will be a 4th grader and Kyle will be a 1st grader, meaning they'll both be at school all day. That will take some getting used to! Jason took the boys to register for their bowling league yesterday. They start this coming Saturday. Kyle will be bowling without bumpers. I'm sure he'll improve quickly. Next week Justin has an appointment with the eye doctor. I'm pretty sure he'll be returning to school with glasses!
Jason is finally running again. He was quite the track star in high school but hadn't run since then. I actually wanted to start too, so we went out together after I found a beginner's plan. After going out two times, I injured my knee somehow. It became swollen and stayed that way for a week. It's much better now, but I think I'll stick to walking and bicycling. I was really afraid I had a torn ligament, which would NOT be cool. Jason is hooked on running already and looks forward to going. Justin ran with him the last couple times. We've all been going to a nearby path that goes around Renwick Lake. Tonight I took some pictures. The weather has been so pleasant lately making it very enjoyable. We don't stay together the whole time, but it's nice to go as a family.