15 years, 11 months

One month from 16! Eek! They’re getting their gift from Grandee and Larry next weekend – I’m taking them to their first LSU game. (It might be my first one as well, I honestly don’t remember if I went to one in college.) They’re very excited. I am…happy they are excited. (Our seats are so high we may need supplementary oxygen.)

And then we’re going to get their learner’s permits so they can drive me to the grocery store. Fun!

October, a recap

Well that was a busy and fun month!

Started off quiet. I finally tested negative for Covid. I made a shirt.

Went to Los Angeles and Vegas, but I already posted about that. (But here are a few highlight pics anyway…)

The day after I got home, the boys and I went to a Pelicans game, because tickets were super cheap.

Not a whole lot happened for a while. I made that moto jacket.

Ziggy was cute.

Took the boys driving a bunch to practice before they started the driving portion of their driver’s ed class.

Then I went on my the second trip of the month! Also to see Kiki and go to a show!

I flew to DC Friday, and we went to a Caps game.

Hung out with Maxie and I tried on $80k worth of jewelry on Saturday. We went to some thrift stores to finish off our costumes, and Kiki bought me this Friends Christmas sweatshirt. Later that evening we heard about Matthew Perry. 😦

Saturday night we went to a Halloween party. Our costumes were awesome.

Sunday, Kiki and I drove to Silver Spring to go see a concert and spent the night at a hotel there. Then I flew home the next day. A short but super fun trip. I hate not knowing when we’ll see each other again. Hmmph.

I did get to see lots of fall colors, which was neat.

And then yesterday was Halloween. I handed out candy, but not many kids came. Mark my words, next year I’m going to get full-sized candy bars. I’m going to be one of those houses. Don’t let me forget.

Number 190

Oooh I have ten months to decide what to do for the 200th pic. I had fun with the 100th. I have a feeling they won’t be quite as cooperative for this one.

One year ago

August was a long month

Why did August take fifteen times longer than any other month? Maybe because it was so friggin hot? Apparently record-breakingly so? It feels like the first was a million years ago.

It started with another tattoo. This one is all of the birth months of everyone in my family.

Those are the flowers for February, May, July, August, October, and December, covering everyone in my immediate family. It was thoughtful of them to limit themselves to six of the twelve months.

And everyone better appreciate it, because I had to lay on my stomach for hours and also that part of the arm is very sensitive! It’s like the soft underbelly of your forearm. It hurt a lot. It was neat, though, because I let the artist draw directly on my arm instead of stenciling it from a digital drawing.

Okay, well, after that…

The boys started sophomore year of high school, but you knew that already.

Evan and Ellie came to visit, and I made her take a lot of pictures with me.

I sewed a bunch, actually. The Lawrence top and dress and skirt, and a purse!

I went to an advance screening of a movie, donated blood, and bought some 90s jeans.

And, as usual, Ziggy was really freaking cute.

Am looking forward to September, as it involves a trip to Dublin! My first time going to Ireland! And also, hopefully, cooler weather.

10th graders

Sophomores. Only two more of these pics after this.

It’s fine I’M FINE.

I’d say they don’t look like freshmen anymore, and Oliver seems happier. First day last year:

And, of course, the first day of preschool picture. Twelve years ago.

15 years, 8 months

Summer’s almost over. Sophomore year starts in four days. Gah!

What we did in July

I feel like July was another busy month. I definitely drove a lot. I mean, I went to three different Buc-ee’ses. (Not sure how to pluralize Buc-ee’s.)

The boys finished up the classroom portion of driver’s ed. Still waiting to schedule their road time with the instructor. In the meantime, we took them to drive around a few times. Only sort of harrowing. And at the end, they were only sort of mad at me for laughing so much.

There was the fourth of July (nothing exciting, the boys were at a sleepover, I watched fireworks through the bathroom window), then the boys went to the beach for a week with Grandee and Larry and I spent some time in Terry’s pool. I also made a bathing suit top real quick. (The Sandpiper from Helen’s Closet)

I drove to Orange Beach for a couple of days at the end and spent some time by the pool before bringing the boys home. We tried fishing but spent more time watching sharks and sting rays and a blue heron.

Then this past weekend, I took the boys on a short trip to Atlanta to see a pro soccer game. (Atlanta United vs Cruz Azul, a team from Mexico.) We had a great time.

We stayed the night in Birmingham on the way there to see Mary Catherine and her people, and it was wonderful. Don’t tell the boys, but it was my favorite part of the trip. So nice to see friends. Of course we got a picture of the boys with Millie, and I got to catch up with Ann Fran. It was all very lovely and for a minute, we all wanted to move to Birmingham.

Then we headed to Atlanta, and went to IKEA on the way into town, then relaxed in the hotel room (it was storming), then the next day, wandered around downtown. We went to the World of Coke, which was entertaining, and the boys gazed longingly at the College Football Hall of Fame, and then I felt terrible for not taking them there instead but it was $30 a person and also, for me, snoozarooni. But Miles got a hoodie, at least.

That evening was the game, which was at the big fancy stadium where hot dogs were $2 and giant refillable sodas were $4. Glorious to this cheapskate. I was rooting for the other team, and they won in a penalty shoot out, which was so nerve wracking it reminded me why I don’t really like sports.

(I guilted them into lots of group pictures, heh.)

And then yesterday we wandered around Georgia Tech, snuck into the stadium, then drove home and that is July!

Other random things: we discovered Miles has a silver spot in his hair; Ziggy is still cute; we did not escape the escape room; the broken door finally got replaced in the vanity, so it’s done!

August means the start of sophomore year of high school! Eep!

15 years, 7 months

They all passed their written driver’s test, so it won’t be too long before they’re, gulp, on the road.

June, in review

June was a busy month! So let’s get to it.

It started with a trip to California for my niece Eleanor’s high school graduation. Just me, not the boys or George.

We went to UCLA (that’s where Ellie is going in the fall) and walked around (after having In and Out for lunch.)

Before the trip, my brother said, “bring hiking shoes.” I said, “do I look like the type of person to own hiking shoes?” so it was in my sneakers that he tried to kill me the next day. We hiked up to Echo Park on an extremely damp and foggy and misty day, on a very narrow trail, and I was 100% convinced that only one of us at most was going to make it down to the bottom in one piece. Thank god I was wrong. I wouldn’t have wanted to mess up Ellie’s graduation week.

I’m not kidding, it was grueling (at least to me, someone who lives in a very flat place) and even my brother said later that he was nervous for me. Sheesh. Here are a bunch of random pics, including none of the view because you couldn’t see anything! But, in spite of that, I felt very accomplished, and it was nice to spend time with my brother. (Don’t tell him I said that.)

I googled this hike to get some info about it, and if I’d read “The majority of the trail is along the side of the mountain with some narrow switchbacks – it may be difficult for those that have trouble with heights” (emphasis mine) then maybe I would have rethought this decision. This is a good post that has pictures of, wow, what it might have looked like had I been able to see anything! It’s fine, it’s fine. Probably best that I couldn’t see how far I would have plummeted to my death.

The rest of the trip was hanging out with family, eating, going to Paper Source, Ellie’s graduation, going back to UCLA, seeing Pawnee City Hall, shopping at Mood, and basically spending a lot of time in electric cars.

I was really excited to give Ellie her graduation gift, a quilt I made for her in UCLA colors. I hope it keeps her warm and cozy while she’s at college. Sniff, sniff. She was just a tiny baby, I can’t believe she’s off to college.

Okay, so then I went home, and the day after I got back, George left for his long-awaited trip to the UK. He was going to be gone for two weeks, and little did he know that I had big plans while he was gone. Kiki came to visit and while she was here, we redid his bathroom downstairs. It’s so much better! (Of course I posted a ton more pictures and details here.)

He came home last week, and since then, life has gotten significantly quieter (that’s good.) Oh, I made this (Selwyn by Cashmerette) shirt early in the month, but I haven’t been able to get a good picture of it, so after a few glasses of wine, my friends stuck me in a bathtub to get some.

hee hee

The boys are finishing up driver’s ed today, so expect the July recap to be full of danger and intrigue!

Fifteen and a half

No, I did not forget to take the monthly picture (but SOMEONE did.) I left early on the 4th to go to California, so George was in charge. So it was taken a day late and since I didn’t bring my laptop with me, it’s being posted five days late. But it’s here and it’s adorable and good luck telling Oliver and Miles apart now if you run into one of them in the street.

(George took the boys with him to work on Monday because the power went out Sunday night, hence the “school gym” locale.)

May, in review

May was a busy month, I think? I dunno. It was a blur.

The first half was uneventful. Started with some quality family time.

I got my hair did.

George’s birthday and Mother’s Day fell on the same day. I made George a Star Trek shirt and I got the hummingbird feeder I asked for. Still haven’t seen a hummingbird yet, though. 😦

And then the next day, I went to Rotterdam for work. It was lovely! I saw one sad bouquet of tulips outside of a grocery store, but lots of windmills. And coworkers. (These pics are in absolutely no order.)