Day 26: Short shorts

We went though Jake's closet and dresser yesterday and found that 97% of his clothes were too small because for some reason he will not stop growing.  He is probably almost 6 inches taller than last summer and he didn't want to wear short shorts so we set out to buy him some new clothes.  When we walked into the "men's" (I am using that term loosely...) section we realized he would fit right in if he wore his old shorts that are too tight and too short...These are men's clothes...They are shorts that are way too short and when rolled up they have a pattern on the inside that shows...and makes it look even more girly! Luckily they still have the manly, longer, go too cargo shorts that my guys like.  Neither of my guys would be caught dead in these clothes...because they aren't girls!  The manly section of the store is getting smaller while the "metro sexual" section is expanding...

Day 25: Memorial Day

 I didn't take a whole lot of pictures on Memorial but this picture pretty much sums it up.  We ate dinner at Nee and Papa's and Jake thought we should all say something that made America great.  On that list would most definitely be those who died serving their country.  With out them we wouldn't be free.  Everything we all listed came back to freedom.

 I took a picture of the salad I made...it looks very much like the salad I made on Sunday with the exception of there being strawberries rather than raspberries in it. 

Aunt Sheila handed Jake the crescent rolls she made so he could put it on the empty spot on the table.  He thought this was a better place for them.  Right on his plate. :)

I forgot about the salad bowl, but it wouldn't have been big enough for my salad any way so I put my corn in it instead. 

After dinner Aaron and I headed home.  He had work the next day, bright and early. I had neglected to fill my Advair inhaler (and didn't even think about the fact that the pharmacy would be closed on Monday...) so I thought staying away from fireworks smoke (and cigarette smoke) and anything else that might make it hard to breath was a good idea.  Jake went with Nee, Papa, and Aunt Sheila to a free Memorial Day concert followed by fireworks.  After that they swung by the house and Jake loaded up a bag so he could go spend the night at their house. 

I almost forgot that Aaron and Jake had started the day with a bike ride, while I accomplished next too nothing. It was a good day. :)

Day 24: Memorial Day Eve Party

Picture #1:  Berries....on a fruit pizza.  I love berry season...

Picture #2: Harmon+Harmon+Graves+Martin+Harmon=Family

Picture #3:  Jake and Lala a few seconds before they crashed.

On Sunday we had a Memorial Day Eve picnic at the Martin's house and we all had a great time.  Here are lots of pictures with a few words.  See my fancy car in this picture?

This was after the crash.  No one was hurt.  Jaxson jumped off his bike to make sure everyone was okay.

Okay, so that may have been even less words than I planned...We ate, played, and chatted.  The end.

Day 23: A Miracle

I don't EVER remember a day in May with out having to have the AC on. We cheer if we can wait until May 1st to turn it on! We have been so lucky this year.  We have had it on but not the whole time.  On Saturday MAY 23RD (that NEVER happens) we turned off the AC and opened the windows.  It's a miracle!

Day 22: Flower boxes and hitting send

On Friday my mom brought over some plants from her yard for us to put in our flower boxes.  I can't find any flowers I like that grow in the shade.  They all require full sun so we are filling the boxes with greenery.  Of course the flower boxes turned into clearing the ivy from around out tree....

...and planting the daisies Aaron got me for Mother's Day.

We finally had to wrap it up because we had to edit and then send the essay Jake wrote explaining why he wants to go to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) camp.  I accidentally hit send instead of letting Jake do it.  The first thing he has applied for and I hit send instead of him!...Fail.  But he forgave me. :)  Now we wait to see if he is accepted to the camp...We will hear by this Friday....

Day 21: Unisex...

 ...nope.  As Jake went in to the dressing room to try on a bathing suit I was kind of stunned.  I looked around and there was another mother I made eye contact with and she quickly read my emotions.  We had a quick discussion about how we didn't feel comfortable with the dressing room arrangement.  Her son came out and he looked to be a college student.  She told me that at Clemson they actually have dorms that are "unisex".  One room is a girls and the next is a boys....That just seems like a problem waiting to happen.  

The timing was interesting.  The night before I actually watched a few minutes of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians".  I do not usually watch this show but as I flipped through the channels I

saw that in this particular episode Bruce Jenner was telling his daughters he was transgender (the world alone is so ridiculous).  I listened for a few minutes as he said he was born this way and he felt that this was the mission God had given him in life-to help others deal with it.  I agree that Heavenly Father gives us things in our lives, that maybe we are even born with, to test us. Will we follow His commandments and plan or will we go out and follow the world?  If the Lord gave this to Bruce

Jenner as a test, Bruce has failed.  First of all if God "put a female spirit in a male body" than he would cease to be God because that would be a mistake and God doesn't make mistakes.  Secondly, lets say God decided that this would be a good test for Bruce Jenner (I don't think he was born being transgender...I think it is environmental-but just for the sake of argument) is he passing the test by dressing like a women,

having operations, and taking hormones? No.  We are supposed to over come the natural man.  So either way you look at it it is wrong. 

We met friends of ours at the mall and while the kids hung out I was having a discussion about it with my friend.  We were both in agreement on the topic and the fact that the world continues to change so quickly.

It wasn't until after we met our friends, had lunch, and then went to their house for the kids to ride bikes (no this isn't Jake's bike.  It is one he saw and thought was very cool.  Check out those tires!), that Jake and I went to the store that had the Unisex dressing room.  I have yet to tell her about the dressing room.  I am sure she will see the irony in us seeing this right after our conversation-as if it was confirming out assessment of the world! Hahaha!  But any way...back to the main point I was trying to make.  I posted the picture on Instagram and made the comment, "Maybe I am behind the times but I am not a fan of the unisex bathroom".  An acquaintance of mine commented, "They are trying to be sensitive, tho it just comes off as akward...it's for transgenders I'm assuming".  That is when I got a little...angry. Yep I would say that is the right word. Not just at the ignorance of her comment but because she typed "tho".  Seriously?  How can you begin to take anyone who does that? I typed this up and posted with out even thinking twice. (As a side note: everyone else that commented had the same feelings I did) 

"I do not think that is the reason why at all (crazy person...her Instagram address should be here) . I am sure it is so they don't have to have two. Having 2 takes away sales space. I also think people need to stop being so "sensitive". The vast majority of people are not "transgnder". If they are worried about being sensitive why is no one worried about being sensitive to me and the other mother who I was standing with talking about how it was uncomfortable to watch our teenage sons go into a unisex dressing room? And I don't want to try on clothes with men. It isn't fair to ME but no one cares about that. People need to start dealing with their issues and not imposing them all on society. If someone wants to be transgender why can't they just do it without having to change everything around them? I am a germaphob but I don't expect the whole world to start hiring someone to clean their bathroom after every person that uses it so I will not be creeped out by the germs! Where do we draw the line on who we have to be "senstive" to? I can handle my issues on my own without having to have society stop and change everything to be "sensitive" to my every need! We will end up having 10 different bathrooms/dressing rooms in stores if we are going to be "sensitive" to everyone....but that won't happen because we only have to be "sensitive" to certain people. Everyone else just has to get over it. Everyone wants to be equal and treated fairly, but what that really means is those who are different than what is the norm want all their needs to be catered too and for everyone to walk on eggshells so they won't feel bad. And now I will step off my soapbox...."

I do not regret it.  I may have been more eloquent if I had really thought it all through before typing but I am okay with it being a plain old rant of emotions.  :)

Day 20: Wrapping it up

 This is Jake's portfolio for his 8th/9th grade year.  We call it that because his core classes are 9th grade level and he gets high school credits for them.  He isn't even 14 yet and he had 4 high school credits earned! He is such a smarty pants. So this year was more like 9th grade than 8th grade.

 We just got his Iowa test results back and he did great.  His weakest areas are in spelling (no surprise at all), and his use of apostrophes, commas, and semi colons. Right there with ya dude! We will review that.  And although his grade equivalent is 12.1 for problem solving and data interpretation in math, he didn't do well at adding or subtracting decimals...?  He must have stopped paying attnetion!  Standardized tests are funny things.  The test shows his grade equivalent in reading comprehension (and his reading total), maps & diagrams, reference materials & sources of information total, science, and social studies are all 13+.

The thickest part of Jake's portfolio is Algebra.  We don't have to keep everything but I do when it comes to math.  This is a 3 inch binder and we have just about run out of space...

 I finished filling these "High School Course Credit Description" forms to put in his portfolio and we are wrapping things up.  We are done with Physical Science and Jake is working on his 2nd to last paper for Literature and Composition.  We are done with vocabulary, spelling, and grammar.  We are planning to finish Math up the middle of June and then start it back up in the middle of July.  The longer break you have from math, the more you have to review.  We are still working on Geography so we are kind of looking at half days from here on out.  Where in the world does the time go?

(Whatttt?  Am I actually up to date on my blogging now? Yep)

Day 19: Jake set it up

Jake has been dying to set up the board this way for Settlers of Catan.  I am not going to get into the details or rules of the game.  If you have played the game than you get it.  I still can't figure out why we roll the same numbers over and over again-and I don't mean the ones that statistically are rolled the most...I mean 5 and 9 (which I guess are pretty close to being the ones that should be rolled...statically speaking).  Those were the big numbers of the night last night.  I was on neither. Next time we play I will set up on those numbers and they will not be rolled.  That is the way it works! This is the very beginning of the game.  Jake and Aaron had the board covered with their brown and green roads, settlements, and cities.  My blue didn't move to much.  Aaron won but it was a two way battle to the end.  Now we can say we set the board up this way and never.do.it.again....

Day 18: Death Comes Quickly

This happened over the weekend.  I killed it in a week and a half.  I didn't even water it because Aunt Sheila said to only water it once a month.  So why does it look moldy like I over watered it?  I didn't even see this happening-that is how quickly it happened.  Sorry little plant....

Here is was just a week ago....oh well.

On a happier note I am excited to say that this is all that is left of this Chap Stick.  It is one your have to roll up like lipstick and I really love it.  Aaron put it in my stocking for Christmas and I have actually not lost it and it is almost gone.  That is "a small kind of accomplishment" right? If you knew that I just quoted Elizabeth Bennett than you get a cookie.  I usually lose my lip balm.  I have tons of it because I don't like to feel air on my lips and as I type this I have to hold back the urge to go and put some on...I will in a minute.

And just so you get a better perspective...See how far it rolls down into the tube?  That is how much I used with out losing it.  Some times I amaze myself.



And now I am wondering why the background of both theses Chap Stick pictures look yellow....Hmmm.  No idea.  Okay.  I need to go and put on some lip balm...

Day 17: Boys and Their Toys

No words...This is pretty self explanatory...(after dinner at Nee and Papa's on Sunday)