1st day 8th grade

L finally started school today, almost two weeks after B started.

A confirmation journey begins

Look who started confirmation classes today. The kickoff meeting matched the kids with their adult mentors and they made dinner - a cookout with burgers and hotdogs.

These two pictues were posted to the church's Facebook page by one of L's confirmation teachers. I'm not sure what she's doing in the bottom photo. It looks like she's holding that doughnut sign, but that's an optical illusion because where she's standing isn't very close to the sign.

Golf team reunion

E had a mini golf team reunion tonight at college. This morning, the high school golf team drove to Decatur to practice on the course where they'll play the state tournament (think positive!) and afterward her coach drove the school's van to U of I to pick up E and two other alums who go to school there. They all went to Papa Del's for pizza. E said it was nice to see everyone again and she even said the pizza was good. Apparently, the college groups serve a lot of mediocre pizza at their orientation sessions.

Where's E?

Andy and I found this photo the other night on the Women in Engineering site. It's a picture of the group's camp for incoming freshman engineering majors. Can you spot E? She snagged a seat in the front row, to the right.

Hard-working students

B asked me today if I saw that he was pictured in the principal's new blog. When I said no, he found it on the computer for me. Nice. It's a short article about the students who work in the school's tech department. Hope they don't mind that I'm borrowing the picture.

Welcome home

Muffles always gives B a few welcome-come-from-school head butts.

On her own

L is old enough to attend the school's information night on her own. She's going to meet up with a friend, grab some dinner, then bring her friend home for a sleepover. (And check out her awesome new boots!)

Math is hard

Today was E's first day of classes at U of I and she texted B to help her with a math problem. He came up with the same answer she got, and apparently she already knew that was the wrong answer.

His castle

Muffles loves to sit in the bottom of this cat tower.

Waiting for L

Because you have to have something to do and somewhere to go while waiting for L to be done with her friend N's birthday party.

Trying to hide

August tries to hide, but his tail usually gives him away.

All clean

With E at school, I had the perfect opportunity to clean and organize her room, change her sheets and fold her blankets. Muffles can't remember when it's been so neat.

Little essentials

E had been so focused on packing the big things for college that I took it upon myself to pack her a gift bag of little essentials. If she doesn't have everything she needs, I'm sure she'll find a store. I gave the bag to her as we were leaving Tuesday. I even packed a tin of homemade chocolate chip cookies. Hope she likes it. I have a feeling of everything in the bag, her favorite will be the Hershey's Kisses and Hugs:

She's may think the poem is corny, but I thought it was kind of cute (no, I didn't come up with it myself - that's why we use the Internet) and, of course, you can't go wrong with chocolate!

Kisses and hugs just for you,
To say goodbye, and good luck too,
We will miss you,
That is true,
But our hearts will always be with you.
If you're ever lonely, sad or blue,
Grab a kiss or hug from us to you!

Off to college

We managed to get most of the car packed Monday night so after E grabbed some last-minute essentials, hugged her brother good-bye and tried to wake L to say good-bye, we were on our way to U of I. We were all kind of amazed the mini fridge and her bike both fit in the back of the Buick.

Everything at the campus, and near it, was about welcoming the students. Signs were everywhere and older students helped move us in. This was E's dorm as we pulled up. All of her things fit into a huge, rolling laundry cart. Her Keurig-cup holder slipped off on the way to the elevator so other students were helping us pick us the K-cups that had rolled away. We ran into a lot of heavy rain on the drive to Urbana and were lucky that it stopped raining (mostly) to move her in. When we tried to leave the dorm, though, it was pouring so we hung out at the snack table, grabbing granola bars for the road and the coldest bottled water I have ever had.

Here's E in her small, cozy dorm room on the tenth floor.

E floor had a theme and E's floor is the movie "Inside Out," new from Disney this summer. The name on her door had one of the characters on it, and the elevator bank was all decorated. I think she was a little disappointed she wasn't on the "Game of Thrones" floor. We picked up E's high school friend, N, and took them to Wal-Mart to grab a few cable cords then Andy and I were on our way home.

Junior year

B started his junior year today so he couldn't ride along to take E to college. He was going to bike, but it had been raining throughout the night so we gave him a ride. He walked home, or rather, to a friend's house until we called him and had him come home for dinner. L was home today with Aunt Allison.

Sharing a moment

E has been cuddling with the cats a lot since she can't them with her. Muffles even hopped in her suitcase yesterday. She has been wondering whether the cats will miss her when she heads off to college. I think so.

College stuffie

E and P went to Oakbrook Mall tonight to have dinner and so P could make her an animal at Build-a-Bear to take to college. It's the dragon Toothless from the "How to Train Your Dragon" movies. How cute that he bought a U of I shirt for it?

Getting ready

E got an introductory college newspaper in the mail and we moved her packed boxes from her room to the living room. Next move is to the car ... on Tuesday!

She still has quite of list of things she can't pack until Monday night/Tuesday morning. Hope everything fits.

Sleepy

Not sure what it is about B, but when he sleeps on the sofa Muffles snuggles up right next to him and takes a nap himself. Guess the cats like him.

Gardening

Andy and I recently bought a hydrangea for the garden that's just outside our fence. Our neighbors have beautiful hydrangeas so I'm hoping this one grows and expands. We put it near the garage where we removed a bunch of Chinese Lanterns that became too invasive.

We had no idea how these flowers got in our garden. L claimed responsibility saying her fifth-grade teacher gave each kid a pack of wildflower seeds at the end of the year and L scraped away a bit of dirt and dumped the seeds. Two years later, we have plenty of purple phlox growing. I might let her "plant" some alongside the garage.

And this is just an oddity - I noticed an impatient growing in our grill planter. A seed must have dropped from the basket that hangs from the garage, above the grill.

Junior year

B picked up his school ID and class schedule yesterday. He's taking principles of engineering, English, Japanese, calculus, gym, criminal and civil law and physics. Second semester he'll have a history of Chicago.

Booster shot

E went to the doctor this morning to get her MMR (measles, mumps, reubella) booster as suggested by U of I because there has been a mumps outbreak on campus. First, though, I had to call the insurance and make sure the shot would be covered. If not, it would have cost us $190 (!) ... or we could try to get one at the health department for free. Fortunately, the insurance said it would be covered even though it's not recommended in the series of shots all the kids have to have. Let's hope that holds true and the bill shows up with a zero balance. If not, I guess I'll be back on the phone with the insurance company.

Pilgrimage to Pete's

B's friend from Ohio, L, was in town for the weekend. He came over for about an hour Friday night and was back this morning for the day. Their friend IB joined them this afternoon and they had to make the pilgrimage to Pete's for lunch. It's a must-have every time L gets back to the Chicago area.

B's images of Florida

Here are a few of the photos B took on his iPhone while on his Florida trip. One of the chaperones said he takes lots of photos, so hopefully we'll get copies of those soon.

Sunrise in Key Largo, 5:57 a.m.

A map at Marine Lab of some of the snorkeling sites.

Jimmy Johnson's Big Chill restaurant where the group had its dinner the last night of their trip. They were lucky enough to eat outside.

A few more views at the restaurant.

On the highway on the way to Key Largo.

Beach at Fort Lauderdale.

A random lobster statue where the students posed for a group picture. And, if you have about 20 minutes to spare, here's a link to the video the male chaperone made of the trip.

Happy anniversary to me

I found this on etsy and had to have it.

B has returned

Andy and I were waiting at Midway's baggage claim when B and his group returned from Florida this afternoon. The plane landed about 20 minutes early. He grabbed his bag, checked out with his teacher, told some friends bye and we were on our way.

Each year the group purchases a T-shirt and this year they chose one from the Marine Lab they visited. Here are some pictures of that facility. They spent some time at SeaWorld which he says is more of an amusement park than an aquarium. He saw dolphins, a shark, alligators and lots and lots of fish. He went snorkeling and on an everglades boat tour. A couple girls got stung by jellyfish, but B just ended up with about 20 bug bites. He thought that was pretty good. Here's a picture one of the students took and his teacher emailed to all the parents of the group at dinner the last night of the trip.

At first I couldn't find B in the picture, but he's there near the bottom. He said he had a good time. His teacher said he was very easy-going, a great helper and a really pleasant kid. Aww.

We went to Gino's downtown, B's choice, for a deep-dish pizza dinner. L couldn't resist writing her name on the wall. She was wearing the turtle bracelet B brought home for her.