I recommend you start at the "end" of this series of photos. Blogger only uploads 5 at a time and, while a huge improvement on how it performed a year ago, it still is too much for me to remember to upload everything backwards chronologically.

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It's interesting in the second photo how the shadow makes it look like the guy on the left painted his face with shoe polish or that stuff football players put on their cheeks.

Yes, there is a big barn by the school. As a backdrop I think it's way keen though it's nowhere near a functioning farm or even a farm at all. It's an old farm with a suburb grown completely around it. There are no actual cows or fields nearby but it sure makes you think there are.

OK, there's the great illustrious school board and principal who wouldn't let them throw their hats (yawn yawn yawn)...OK maybe they DO know something or two about running a school, especially Matt Rebman's mother who was willing to wake up at 2 a.m. one morning to answer my frantic-mother call, because Nathanael had forgotten to tell me he was going to an after-play party at Anna's house. Then the man in picture 2 is one of Finneytown's few ph.D's and he is retiring. Too bad for the next students!

In Finneytown auditorium, Mr. Handsome impresses a pretty young lady; Neo is nominated for an Oscar for his performace as John Hutchins in Ayn Rand's "Night of January 16th" (and he took the judge to prom). "Mr. Hutchins" is the man in the hat. I thought we had more photos of this...sorry.

Micah's Confirmation

Micah and the other confirmands, and there's a pic of our youth praise team.

Interesting factoid: Two of the girls in the front row of the praise team are Alexandra and Katie Bolig. If you google their mom Deb Bolig, you'll find that she's Joan Lunden's surrogate. Deb had Joan Lunden's 4 little ones. :) She's also had another set of twins for a couple in Europe. Deb's a wonderful lady! I know I could never give them up even if they weren't my DNA. She says she just loves helping families.

I'll try to get the recent photos in tonight.

I'm thinking of taking Micah to NYC to see the sights and Ground Zero, as he has been interested in this for some time now. He still wants to be NYW Port Authority Policeman, but at age 13 he is still at least entertaining other possibilities. Now that he is no longer aspiring to be a ninja or jedi warrior, he is thinking about architecture, carpentry, and animal care. :)

Nathanael is in a quandary. He isn't really in a position to get a decent job now except for one-time things, which is fine. The Crowduck thing interrupts the summer and he has to be at Grinnell orientation in mid-August. My company Hillman said they'd like to have him over winter break but couldn't hire him for 2 weeks, then 2 more weeks, then poof he's gone.

Moving right along on the house. Interest rates could be better but they're doable.

All right here is the surprise. Imagine how sweet after developing my mystery roll...two little boys with two hamsters and some beanie babies, looking back at me from across the divide of some 9 years...these are my boys at about ages 5 and 9. The one guy is our friend Suhith Wickrema whom we've known for about 20 years, and that is Steve- has HE ever changed! WOW. Micah excitedly remembered his kindergarten class. Sorry they were a bit dim- it's due either time or the lack of a good flash. I have NO recollection of Mr. Clown but the kids maintain it was the delivery person of some Childcraft children's encylopedias. But the encyclopedias I remember (that I gave to Dave for his kids) were delivered by someone else at our previous house. Maybe it was a subsequent something-or-other. Now Micah's ninja/pirate costume I DO remember. He was proud of that!

Enjoy!

Wow, don't I realize now what a boring yarn that was! (yawn) I was tired and just writing train of thought. I don't know what prompted those weird memories. BOOOOORING!!!! But it's my blog and if it's like yours it's got a lot of boring parts that no one reads. What about dreams? Everytime I start to tell a weird dream everyone I know rolls their eyes and goes "oh no here we go again..." Some dreams don't come true. If they did, I would be playing broomball on an Inuit whaling boat, delivering my son to a college made entirely of glass, have about 1000 white cats ranging from normal to marble-sized, and there are some strange countries in strange locations on this planet.

Anyway photos to come. No more boring junk.

Many many pictures to come. Probably tomorrow, including a mystery film I found in a drawer. I had no idea what to expect. Was I pleasantly surprised! To be revealed shortly.

In the meantime, tell me of a time you remember your parents NOT letting you do something you really, really wanted to do. For me, it was movies. MY PARENTS DID NOT LET ME SEE "JAWS" AND I WAS SO DISAPPOINTED! I and my brothers stayed at the farm while my parents went. Boo hoo! Then when I went back to school that year, EVERYONE was talking about it, even our orchestra teacher Mr. Goldflies. He was talking with kids who were allowed to see the really cool movies like "The Towering Inferno". (Well I had to cut corners!) LOL Another one my mom nixed was when we were in this super snazzy hotel. We had eaten at the cool rotating restaurant on top with a panorama of Cincinnati and Newport. Annnnnnyway I settled back on the novel hotel bed and turned on the TV to watch "Sexual Bombshells". I was a few minutes into it when my mom said, "No, I don't think that's appropriate." After I protested, she said, "Here. You can watch 'The Rockford Files'. You're allowed to watch that." I had no interest in the Rockford Files. I wanted to know what Cher had to say about being a sexual bombshell, the definition of which I had NO CLUE. It sounded way glamorous and powerful. Now I can't stand Cher. I think she's just one more self-obsessed Hollywood freak show. But that was a time before Cher became the current Cher. She was Sonny's Cher. There were other actresses on the show. Who knows, Farrah maybe? Google it now and it doesn't even come up. Maybe it all never happened! At the same hotel Dave and I started to watch "One of my Wives is Missing" with Jack Klugman (that is findable on Google) and my parents nixed that, too. Boo hoo!

In first grade Mom suddenly, without warning, NIXED our favorite cereals! DENIED!She read a health report of some sort and the rule was made. All the empty-calorie cereals we CRAVED every morning were GONE! Oh the humanity! The rule was: if the first or second ingredient was sugar, we could not have it. Which was a good idea because I find now I'm extremely, extremely hypoglycemic and that was one of my problems in Grade 1. I most likely would have been classified today as ADHD! Then in second grade it became magically easier to concentrate. I WONDER WHY? No more Quisp! (Quisp remains my all-time favorite cereal, though. Love chomping on the little space disks.) I recently had to rule out all cereal in the a.m. because the sugar drop had been making me crash at work for YEARS. I wondered what was making me want to fall asleep. I don't know why I was too dense to figure that one out, DUH. The one cereal I can continue with is Ezekiel 4:9, which create a protein similar to that found in eggs by mixing and then baking together a series of grains using an ancient Biblical recipe. I don't get the sugar sways, and if God wrote a recipe it's got to be healthy. Nathanael said "It tastes so .... Amish." and I said "It tastes so...Jewish." I sometimes just have a bowl of that instead of a whole meal and I'm satisfied for hours.

Must get to sleep. Pix forthcoming.

New Territory

Besides moving, I'm going to be doing another new thing. Something I have not ever done before. So I need some advice. Actually Micah is going to do it, but I will be responsible...

Become a dog owner.

Micah really, really wants a dog. I'm thinking of getting him one for his birthday. The new house has few carpets and a good yard. And a big basement of concrete.

How often does a dog have to do business?

What kind of dog is best?

What kind is quiet but loyal?

How often do we walk him/her?

Will a dog get lonely/bored alone in a house?

Can we leave the dog outside in a little dog house? Can a dog deal with living in a little Snoopy house? (Well, actually Snoopy had a pool room and a nice-sized Van Gogh museum in his house, but that's another story.)

Will a dog be OK with his/her boy at school all day?

How expensive is it to feed a dog?

How expensive are vet bills? Way more than cats, I presume?

What kind of dogs are most trainable?

I don't want a yippy, squeaky, irritating nip-at-the-heels little dog. No Dachshunds. Anything else to stay away from?

Will the dog be happy if I give him/her a little place in the basement with his/her own toys, blankets, etc.? Will a dog stray from this area and rip other stuff up?

How is a dog on hardwood floor? I have heard stories.

This is such a cool thing. The next thing I'm wondering is if, when Dave sells and moves, maybe he can move to Wyoming, too...it's a beautiful place. I mean the trees and houses are gorgeous. Lots of parks for kids. I might even ask the school what their program is for autism.... :) Anyway, just a thought. Also closer to Crossroads. Some homes near Sherry for sale, too. Goooooood schools. And I could babysit Hayden more easily.

I also found out that if you sell a house and move into a less expensive one there is no capital gains tax anymore. I remember when my brother and sister in law moved and they had to hurry up and get a new house to roll their old one into by the end of the year, or they'd have paid thousands and thousands. Well now that law's changed and only a few pay it and I think it's if they make 125K or up on it. I may have my details wrong, but most people no longer have to pay it, and that is a fact. Dave, hurry up and do this before Hillary's president or you'll end up paying more! LOL (Let's just see who takes this bait.)

Our offer's been accepted! Thanks Dan! And everyone. And God. And 401k's. And Steve for being such a diligent little saver. We move on or before, I think it is July 27. We have until then but can do this before then. We have a broker working. Unbeknownst to Steve I had called another broker who worked up some numbers and showed us our credit report. Steve's broker came and visited us. Both were recommended by Sue Lewis of Sibcy Cline. That makes 3 banking people I've talked to now, and we'll see what Steve's guy comes up with.

31 Sherry, Wyoming, OH, 45215 (I think that's the correct zip code). Next step is Dan selling these digs here. I think that will go well. I saw Dan work his skills and he's in his element in this business.

OK we're actually closing, in, well, a coupla weeks.

Dan please come on over and sell our house. We are working on getting it sale-worthy and with our crap out of it it will be even better.

Fast forward to Wed. Steve used just a small part of his 401K and borrowed and we are going to pay Steve back...so guess what, we're moving sooner than we thought. Maybe closing on Wednesday. :) So Dan feel free to stick a sign in our yard. We will have to find out what is higher- to pay Steve's 401K back out of the equity we get for our house we own now, or just pay the house and nearly own it and just have the 401K to pay. I hated to think of touching the 401K. But Steve has gone and done it. :) Boy was he dragging his heels but NOW he's really jonesing to get into his nice new HUGE detached garage with loft and place for all his tools.

Youngsters, ALWAYS put $$ in your 401K! When you're old like us you can use it! When you're even older you can have it!

Earnest money going down today or tomorrow. We're finally doing this. :) 31 Sherry Road.

Micah's grades came in- as predicted...

D's and F's for classwork, but A's and B's for final exams.

Math, for example. Didn't do lots of the homework (EVERY DAY we fought this! Sometimes he'd do it but didn't turn it in, sometimes he forgot about it...why don't these people make a syllabus! Why don't little 13-year-old boys come with organized brains?)...but on the final exam he got an A.

Same in science...D for the regular classes, B for the exam. Most classes were the same story. Except art. Great grades there- no surprise. :)

So yes we know it's a maturity issue and not an ability issue. His brain has long-term jet lag.

Due to us not receiving summer school info until yesterday, Micah can't go to SS.

HE WILL BE REPEATING 8th GRADE.

I for one am happy about it. I think he really needs it but at another school. I KNOW it is the best. He really belongs and is the age for 8th grade, but the problem is now that Steve is livid and I'm afraid of the damage Steve's going to do to the whole situation. SUX! We should have waited a year for him starting in kindergarten but we based it all on what we thought he needed at the time. How could we have known?

The joys of summer. And summer jobs and summer school. Yes, Micah is going to summer school for language arts and social studies. Arrrrgh!!!! After he completes it, I will then decide with Steve how ready he is for high school. Mom- remember what you said about Dan. I am thinking about that regarding Micah and how he really is 1 year younger than almost everyone. He just isn't ready for high school- maturity is a huge issue. I would rather see him really succeed than barely limp along. His brain works academically but everything else is in turmoil...refusing to complete things on time, do projects, participate in class...that sort of thing. We will see what happens in summer school and then decide for next year. If he repeats 8th, it won't be in FMS...it will be in Wyoming, likely...with a year under his belt imagine what he could THEN do starting in 9th...

Maturity DOES happen but man we're right in the middle of adolesence and puberty and all the angst. He is an extrovert in a family of introverts and that can't be easy for him.

There were 33 people in our house last night! :)

It was by far the way coolest party/ get-together ever.

There was/were NO:

-political arguments (okay Dad ALMOST started one but I shook my head behind him at Tami and Jim, his usual targets, and said "don't bite!!") and headed that off at the pass. For the rest of the night he was his OLD self and in great spirits.
-gossip.
-put-downs or insults.
-paranoia ("that person's out to get me...")
-drunkenness, despite the plethora of drinks available. (occurs more on my side.)
-uncomfortable silence. -kids fighting (where doesn't that happen?).

UNBELIEVABLE.

I am OVERJOYED!

There WAS/WERE:

-people talking and laughing.
-silliness.
-congratulations.
-kids all getting along.

Miracle from God!

No one put down because of their beliefs! Woot!!!

And I thoroughly enjoyed being Queen Victoria Agnes Mildew and making Sierra my Pink Princess.

We had a graduation party and it was a HUGE success! EVERYONE came and more. Karl spent 2 days preparing the food- everyone says it was the best ribs they had ever had. Karl is the ULTIMATE chef! There were ribs, chicken, potato salad, baked beans, fruit and vegetables, EVERYTHING. Mom brought my family's staple, cherry jello salad, Jackie and Tami brought brownies and fruit cocktail cake (Bonnell staple), I got a cake at Kroger's with graduation decor.

Nathanael's friends- Bryce, Matt, Kristen, Rosie, Aaron, and Tara were here. They all played croquet. Tami and Mike and little Jackie, Martha, Jim and Jackie, Dave with Jasmine, Sierra, and Hayden, Jeff and Tawnya and Kyle, my parents, Dan and Tracy, Aaron Taylor and his son, 3 neighborhood kids Ariana, James, and another James I had not met before, Micah and me and Steve- it was a huge success. Food for days. Different kinds of drinks. It was really awesome. Even though the back porch or patio isn't done, everything was great. Nathanael received tons of excellent gifts including a homemade plaid flannel quilt made by Jackie who makes beautiful quilts. A computer (still has to choose it) from my parents, gift certificates, a Grinnell sweatshirt Tami got online.

Everyone met Martha and LOVED her...she is soooo adorable...my kids' godmother...she is such a wonderful person and I was so glad she came and met so many people. And people got the honor to know her.

Most people knew Karl or had heard of Karl, this guy who is Steve's best friend and really the family's best buddy, he's another one of us, but no one knew his real skills (except us) in the kitchen. He is a chef by trade. They knew there was this guy named Karl that hung around us most weekends but they were like, who is this guy and why is he always there? One taste of those succulent ribs and now everyone wants to adopt Karl.

Pictures to come. Huge success even despite thunderstorms!