The Music Man

One time per year, each grade at John H Shary performs at the monthly SPTSO meeting (this is to con the parents into attending at least one meeting a year). Chelsea's 5th grade class did excerpts from The Music Man this year and I must say, it was actually quite good. The boy who played the music man did a fantastic job. Now, for all who know Chelsea, she does not enjoy being in front of people. But, to our surprise, she sang a solo for the program. She did a beautiful job.

Happy 13th Birthday!

I have selected the most embarrassing photo to document Autumn turning 13--teenager! Of course, from now on, everything we do is embarrassing....we love you Autumn.

TEXTING

Because Autumn started JH this year and has a very busy schedule and is hard to keep track of, we relented and Autumn got her most desperate, pre-teen wish fulfilled: a cell phone. In case you do not have a preteen or teen and don't live in the tween universe, the cell phone is the most prized possession. You can't actually talk to anyone on it though. You must TEXT. I'll admit that I also enjoy texting. It is convenient sometimes. But I am a complete novice compared to Autumn.

We got the phone for Autumn the Friday before school started. The school has very strict policies about cell phone use during school. No talking, texting, using your phone for anything at all during school hours. You cannot even have it on. The consequences of which are having your phone taken away and not getting it back until your parents come after school to get it. And you have to pay to get it back. We established our own rules at home too. Cell phone off and charging on kitchen counter at 8:30 pm, where it must remain until the next morning.

After the first week, Brice was curious about how many minutes Autumn had used. Keep in mind this is the last week in August, so any minutes accumulated by Brice or myself on our phones have been accumulating for the entire month. For Autumn, just one week. Brice had sent about 500 texts, me about 200, and Autumn----1800!!! IN ONE WEEK! And she can only use her phone for about 4 1/2 hours a day! I don't think she even used any regular minutes. Well, all I can say is thank goodness for unlimited texting.

Ugly

The pictures hardly do it justice: our poor, water deprived backyard...I stepped outside at the end of August and had to snap these pictures. We had a record year for no rain. Usually come July and the start of hurricane season, we see plenty of the wet stuff. But not this year. No rain all summer long. Ugly, dry, full of weeds.....even Andy didn't want to go in the backyard.

First Day of School 2009

I took Autumn to register for junior high and I am thinking, I am not old enough to do this. Wasn't it last year that I was registering for JH myself? One thing is for sure: junior high is much different now then when I went. No home ec, no woodshop, no lockers, no smelly, old gym clothes....well, she does have her assigned gym clothes, but they are only 2 years old.

She is registered for all these hard classes, like classes I took in 8th or 9th grade. AP math and english and history and some fun, like intro to art and athletics. I couldn't help but look around at all the other parents. Maybe they were thinking, there is no way I am going to be able to help with homework anymore, or when did my child get taller than me, smarter than me, busier than me? I was just thankful to get in and out with all the paperwork and schedules and agendas. Autumn, of course, was thrilled. This is a pic of her school i.d. that must be worn at all times.

Ear Candling

Yeah, we know it looks weird--it is called ear candling. You buy a special ear candle and light it on fire. It creates a vacuum and draws all the ear wax out. People have been doing it forever. I guess it is a very popular thing to do if you have allergies, if you have swimmer's ear, if your ear hurts, or if you have a lot of ear wax. We decided to try it when Chelsea's ear hurt from being in the pool. It worked like a charm! Her earache went away as soon as we were done. So, Brice was a good sport and let me do it to him too. We decided against showing the picture of what came out of his ear--gross--but effective....