Summer Dump

What’s been going on?

A lot, I tell ya!

A heckuva lot!

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I’ll let them do the talking…

Squirt learned how to throw rocks into a lake!

Flynn’s dream of owning his own airplane came true.

Some of us participated in a major community theatre summer musical production.
And some of us acted as producer of this same musical.
And some of us grew a few more wrinkles and grey hairs.

Some learned how to goof off a little more
and be more like a wild monkey.

Also, we went panning for gold in an old ghost town

Throw in a pathetic firework show

And a fabulous weekend spent with family

And I’d say we’ve been pretty darned busy.

I have a good excuse for not blogging, or staying in touch with anyone, or doing much of anything, really.

Now, the musical is over,
and I’m trying to catch up on
*yard work
*house work
*laundry
*family time
*pastry school

I guess it will be another 3 months before I blog again.

12th Grade Paper

It’s always a treat to go through a desk drawer that hasn’t been cleaned out for a while.
As you cull through mounds of pens that haven’t worked for decades,
unsharpened pencils missing their erasers,
lone staples that have broken away from the pack –  therefore making them unusable,
and paper clips that have been straightened out so you could use the end to push
”reset” on some outdated electronic device,
you find a document that is even older than the pens and paperclips that litter the drawer….

How this document got into the desk drawer will forever remain a mystery,
the reason lost to the ages.

Besides, how it got there isn’t important.
The fact that it is there and you got to read it once again is what’s important.
Because reading it has brought such large amounts of laughter
and reflection into your afternoon.

Because, as you read it, you are reminded of the young girl you used to be.
A young girl filled with ideals, innocence, a little humor and a whole life ahead of her.
So. Much. Innocence.

I found an English composition that I wrote my senior year of high school.
(That was a while ago.)
My English teacher had us write about our life, up to that point.
The topics included
*My Early Childhood *Early School Days  *My Friends
* About Me *My Family *My Hopes For My Life

It sounds long, but it’s only 8 typewritten pages long.
Yes.
High School was so long ago, it was typed using a typewriter.
(You remember what that is, right?)

I thought I’d share some of my favorite highlights of this paper.
Moments that made me laugh out loud as I read about myself and my teenage perceptions of my life.
Maybe you’ll get a chuckle out of it too.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

“It was a summer evening, during a rain and thunder storm when my mother got the first hints that I was to be born soon. After waiting the full nine months, plus five extra days, she was more than ready.
After eight hours or so of labor, I was finally born.
The date was June 24, 196? at 5:13 in the morning. I weighed seven pounds,
two and one half ounces and was 19 inches long.

My early childhood was a happy one. Although I spent a large portion of my growing up years being grounded, I remember mostly the happy things.”

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

“I wasn’t always the little angel that people thought I was.
There was always little things I tried to do without my parents finding out about.
One Sunday, I went to my Sunday School class and didn’t put any underwear on.
My mom about died because that was when the dresses girls wore were extremely short.
She pretended I wasn’t her daughter that Sunday and when we got home,
you can believe I got quite a talking to (I probably got grounded too!)
We both remember that day and she still teases me about all the little boys in Sunday School
(who are all good-looking young men now)
seeing my cute little fanny.”

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

“I started kindergarten when I was five years old. I attended a private kindergarten. I made a lot of friends that year and I had a boyfriend other than Brett.
I was even brave enough to get up during one of our lessons, walk up in front of the whole
class, and give him a big, fat kiss.
He was very embarrassed.
That was a happy time.”

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

“While I was growing up, I basically had the same friend.
I had one best friend who lived two houses down from me. I think that is why we fought so much.

One time we were in a real bad fight. This was the worst one...
…On this particular day, we decided to see who was the toughest of us two.
We were going to fist fight.
Just like in a real fight, we went to different corners of the yard to make our plans.
We were fans of Charlie’s Angels at the time so we
(my sister was my fighting coach, Joni’s sister was her coach)
used what we saw on the show to make our plans.
I was going to wait for Joni to get close enough, then I would kick her in the stomach.
Of course it would hurt, so when she grabbed her stomach and doubled over,
I would jump on her back and knock her to the ground.
When she was on the ground, I would sit on her and knock her senseless.
Perfect!
Only, I was so nervous I totally  missed her when I kicked and she grabbed my foot and tripped me.
I don’t think she would have hurt me real bad, but someone stopped the fight before
anything could happen.
We were lucky.”

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

“During elementary school, I only made one bad choice as a friend….
….she scared me to death.
She didn’t believe in God.
She believed in Thor and Indian Gods, etc.
She told me one day I had an ugly demon following me and it wanted my soul.
She had me very scared and she finally got rid of it one night by some spell.
When she would spend the night at my house, in the morning she would tell me how she had all these demons in my house and they practiced their black magic on our various pieces of furniture.
She would also tell me that she saved me many times because her devil friends wanted to practice on me….
… She was only my friend for a year.
All my friend have since been normal.
At least they didn’t practice black magic on me.”

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

“I wonder a lot about what it’s like to be old.
It scares me a lot too. I am really frightened to go into nursing homes because I may be like that
one of these days and it doesn’t look like fun.”

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

“I always joke around about getting a face lift when I’m twenty.
Well, twenty (even the thought of that sounds old to me) may be a little young,
but I definitely see one at twenty-five or thirty.”

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

“As I get older there is a certain way I would like to be.
I want to stay happy  my whole life.
I also want to make other people’s lives happy.
I would like for the whole world to get along and be happy.
Happiness is very important to me.”

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Well, there you have it.
My teenage brain’s perception of life.

At least I got the last part right.

(My senior portrait)

Oh yeah,
I got 100% on the paper!

Bee

There are over 25,000 known species of bees world wide.

You have
Honey Bee
Bumble Bee
Ground Bee
Wasp
Hornet
Carpenter Bee
&
Yellow Jackets
in all their varieties and species.
(There are about 4000 species in the US and 250 in Britain. In case you didn’t know.)

Then there are the other types of bees.

You have
Quilting Bee
The Birds and the Bees
Busy as a Bee
The Bee’s Knees
Bees in your Bonnet
None of your Beeswax

Of course, you’ve all heard of the
Spelling Bee!

But have you ever heard of the
Geography Bee?

I hadn’t either.
Until Scooter won the top prize in his middle school.

I didn’t even know he was competing, until one day he came home from school and said he was in the semi-finals.
And then he came home and said he’d made it to the finals.

I was speechless.

I knew the kid liked geography.
He always liked playing with US map puzzles as a kid.
He could put the puzzle together without even thinking.
He knew the states and their capitals.
But that’s all I thought he knew.
I was surprised.

I wasn’t invited to view the semi-finals (because he didn’t invite me),
but I made sure that I knew when/where the finals were.
It was exciting to watch!

I videoed him answering one of the easier questions.
(You’ll have to click on the link. I can’t get the video to embed.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMAdFDWx7kg&feature=youtu.be

There were 10 kids from his school that made it to the finals.
It was neck and neck at the end.
Scooter was competing against a classmate and friend .
To my surprise and delight,
and with my heart stuck in my throat as I watched them answer question after question,
Scooter prevailed and won.

He won a trip to the State competition.
(It was held here in town at the University)
The winner of state goes on to compete in nationals.
It’s a big deal.

Here’s what National Geographic (who sponsors the bee) has to say about it:

”Each year thousands of schools in the United States participate in the National Geographic Bee
using materials prepared by the National Geographic Society.
The contest is designed to encourage teachers to include geography in their classrooms,
spark student interest in the subject, and increase public awareness about geography.
Schools with students in grades four through eight are eligible for this entertaining
and challenging test of geographic knowledge. “

To help him study, we bought books and study guides.
My house has huge maps pinned on the walls.
There’s a practice test online that he took every day
and then he’d go study the things he got wrong.

We spent hours each day reviewing potential questions.
Looking up answers to make sure they’re still correct and accurate.
Verifying facts.

Learning rivers, valleys, mountains, plateaus, ancient civilizations, history of languages
monetary systems, governments, rainfall amounts, geography terms, etc. etc.
You  name it, it’s included in the Bee.

Finally, the day of the state bee arrived.
Flynn was here for the big occasion and gave him a priesthood blessing
to help calm his nerves.
We felt like that no matter what,
Scooter had studied his heart out, so no matter where he placed
he could hold his head high and be proud of his accomplishment.

(Doesn’t he look handsome?)


In our state, only 79 kids qualified to attend.
Scooter beat 804 kids in his school.
Plus, he’s competing against kids as old as 14!! Gah!

One of the added benefits of the day was having his
most excellent school teacher be there as one of the judges.

Of course, Mr. D. couldn’t be Scooter’s judge,
but it was still nice having him there.

In the end, Scooter didn’t place in the top 10.
He felt pretty terrible.
We consoled him, dried his tears,
and stayed and watched the final round
(which he knew almost all the answers for!)
and began strategizing for next year’s bee.

Like I said, we’re pretty proud of our boy!
He’s smart, he’s cute and most importantly, he’s a nice kid.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Another added bonus for the day:

After the preliminary rounds were over, the contestants were given a candy bar.
Scooter says it was like a Nestle Crunch Bar,
only the bits in it were hard (I’m guessing toffee).

As soon as he took a bite, his tooth felt funny.

Upon closer inspection, we found out that his back molar
had split in half.

So we called the dentist,
and as soon as the bee was over,
he had his final baby tooth extracted.

Not every kid can walk away from a Geography Bee with a broken tooth as a prize!

Don’t let the drama of the photo fool you!
The laughing gas did it’s work!
The boy was giddy and as high as a kite.
It was an easy breezy extraction made funnier when Scooter asked to see the tool the dentist was going to use.
(He used his curiosity as a ruse.)
When the dentist showed the pliers to him, Scooter grabbed them and tried to take them away.
It took the dentist both hands to get them back.
Scooter laughed the whole time.
(Little stinker.)

D.A.R.E.

Scooter is in 5th grade,
which means he’s doing the
D.A.R.E. program.

The school resource police officer comes in and teaches the kids
about drugs, alcohol, and bullying.
They teach ways of saying “no”
and
of coping with stress and peer pressure.

Scooter has enjoyed the program.
He talks to me frequently about it.
He has long held an abhorrence for any substance:
tobacco, alcohol and drugs.

He always freaks out when he finds out someone he admires
(Michael Jackson, Johnny Cash, Bill Cosby or any other Hollywood-type person)
actually drinks alcohol.
Why would anyone drink it, if it can cause so many physical and emotional problems?
It breaks his heart.
Telling him that MJ and JC also did drugs was horrifying to him.

We’ve had many (I mean MANY) looong talks about these people
and how they didn’t make the same covenants he did when he got baptized.
We talk about free agency.
We talk about worldly ways vs. godly ways.
We talk about being non-judgmental.
I think he finally gets it.
He wishes they wouldn’t do these things, but understands they’re free to choose
for themselves.
But I also hope and pray he will continue having the abhorrence for these substances.

One of the final activities before “graduation” is writing a report.
I thought he did a pretty good job.

☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺

D.A.R.E REPORT

 

Don’t you think D.A.R.E is fun? In D.A.R.E we have learned how to avoid alcohol, tobacco, and bullying. We all need to know what it does to us and how to avoid it.

Bullying is a very depressing thing. It can harm you physically or emotionally. One bad form of bullying is cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is where people are bullied on some social media such as Facebook or Twitter. Unlike cyber bullying, physical bullying hurts you through physical ways like shoving, pushing, and doing all other acts of mean things to your body. Emotional bullying, only hurts your feelings, but it is in some ways, the worst. It is where the bully starts to make fun of you, say bad things about you, and make people hate you. There is a thing called a help network that helps us go through trials such as bullying. A help network is a bunch of people that you are able to turn to for help. Some people on your help network might be your mom, dad, or teacher. If you think bullying is pretty bad, you should see what alcohol does.

Alcohol is something you drink that hurts your body. One thing that it does to your body is that it weakens your heart, so it causes it to slow down and eventually, it will stop giving blood to the rest of your body. It causes memory loss which means they might not remember ANYTHING at all. In some cases, they might not even remember YOU. Even though alcohol does some pretty nasty things, I believe tobacco is the worst.

No one should even use tobacco. It can hurt your lungs meaning you will die of cancer from all those chemicals that you inhale from the smoke. Did you know that there is more than 200 harmful known chemicals in cigarette smoke? One bad thing is nicotine. It causes you to be addicted to the cigarette.

All the drugs and bullying can injure your body in numerous ways. Alcohol and tobacco hurt you internally, bullying hurts your outside body. So, I promise never to do drugs OR bully anybody.

Pastry School

One day,
not quite a year ago,
Flynn and I were having a conversation
about my future.
About my lack of ed-joo-kay-shun.

See,
I went to Jr. College
and I had a GREAT time.
I chased boys ….
had water fights….
chased boys….
went dancing…..
and
CHASED BOYS
I didn’t do so good in the classroom learning part.
(But I had fun chasing boys!)

I caught Flynn and my chasing days ended.
He awarded me my MRS. degree
– which is somewhat different from a college degree –
and I quit school and went to work to support him as
he got his accounting degree and CPA.

Over the years I thought intermittently about going back and getting that piece of paper.
One time I actually signed up and was accepted at the local university.
I was going to attend as a “non-traditional” student.
That meant taking only one or two classes a semester, or something.

But I didn’t go.
Why didn’t I?
Hmmm…. I don’t remember.
Fear.
Probably.
I’m a wimp.
Scared of everything.

Anyway,
the years have gone by and I still don’t have a degree, associates or otherwise.
I still don’t have an “official” career.
This is concerning.
What if something happens to Flynn?
Sure, he’s got a GREAT life insurance plan, but I still need some way
to support myself and my children.
That money will only go so far.

This was our discussion that day.
I remember he said,
“If you could pick anything in the world that you would want a career in,
–  regardless of income –
what would it be?”

”Regardless of income.”
Hmmm…..
That made me think.
That made me realize, that my dream career didn’t have to be practical.
It could actually be something I loved!

I took his question very seriously.
I pondered. Thought. Probably even prayed about it.
And like a bolt of lightning out of the sky,
like the angels descending from on high singing choruses of
Hallelujah
I knew my answer.

♥ CULINARY/PASTRY SCHOOL ♥

I want to cook.
I want to create beautiful masterpieces of food art.
I want to fill people’s bellies.
I want to make them happy.
I want to make their taste buds happy.

That’s what I want to do.

Ok.
But where?
No culinary schools around here.
The local university has no pastry program.
There’s one in Portland.
There’s one in Denver.
But nothing close enough for me to attend.

And then I thought,
”online?”

Bahahahahahaha!

An online pastry school?
Seriously?
*insert eye roll here*

But I looked anyway.

{cue more singing angels}

I found one!

I actually found a school that has figured out a way to teach how to cook
via online webinars, texts and tutorial videos.
It’s amazing!
It’s Escoffier Online

Escoffier is a name that is very well known in the culinary arts world.
Auguste Escoffier is the “father of modern French cuisine.”
His methods have transcended time and are still in use today in all modern kitchens.

Well, this school is based on his methods.
His grandson is the head of it.
And from what I can tell, it’s a great school.

I signed up.

It’s been slow going for me.
I work at my own pace as long as I finish within a year.
I’m slightly behind.
Ok,
a LOT behind.
But I’m working hard to catch up.
I believe I’ll be finished in time.

I have learned oodles and gobs.
I’ve learned exactly what “gluten” is.
I’ve learned what it does in pastry products.
I’ve learned about fats, eggs, pastries, breads and yeast.
I know what the term “lamination” means
when it refers to Puff Pastry.

Believe it or not,
this girl
– the girl who refused to bake with yeast –
has learned how to bake bread
SUCCESSFULLY!!!

It has been fantastic.
I love it!
No regrets!!

Thank you to my handsome husband,
Flynn
for pushing me to do this.
For supporting me.
For paying for the program ☺
Most importantly
for BELIEVING in me. ♥

Some of the things I’ve made:

Apple Pecan Muffins


Brioche


Vienesse Butter Cookies

Chelsea Buns

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Choux Paste (Cream Puffs)

Next on the list, however, is homemade
Puff Pastry.
I keep telling myself,
if I can conquer yeast breads, I can make puff pastry.
But I’m scared out of my mind.

Don’t call/text/write/
or whistle at me that day.
I’ll be having a mental breakdown.

(This is a great program available to anyone! If you have any questions let me know and I’ll try to answer them, or I can give you a phone number to my school counselor who can also help you!)

Texting Guffaws

We live in a day and age when texting reigns supreme.

Unless you’re my parents
– who still don’t have texting ability on their flip-phone –
just about everyone who has a cell phone texts.

We keep in contact with teachers, coaches, real estate agents, coworkers, friends, family and many others
via this easy to reach medium.

I remember when Belle was in high school and she was texting friends.
We had to sign up for the “unlimited texting” plan on our cell phones, or go broke paying for them.
One month, she sent about 15,000 texts to her friends.
Yes.
I typed that correctly.
Fifteen Thousand texts….
in one month!!!!

We would watch her fast fingers in awe.
She could hold her phone in her hand and her thumbs would fly over the keys.
She wouldn’t even need to look down at the screen to know what she was typing.
She’d take one glance to know she got it right and then hit ‘send’.
The replies were almost instantaneous from her friends.

Yet, it was still something that was reserved for the younger generation.
I didn’t text much in the mid 2000’s.
The month Belle generated 15,000 texts, I only sent about 100 texts.
If I needed to “talk” to someone, I would phone them or send an email.

Gradually, as cell phones improved and as “smart phones” came into common usage,
I began texting too.
Now, I might send a couple thousand texts in a month.
There are some months I probably send more texts than Belle
(we still pay for her cell phone).

Now, I text more than I make phone calls or email.

With the increased texting, however, comes increasing chances of making mistakes.
I’m talking about the mistake of sending a text to one person,
thinking you’ve sent the text to another person.

It can be embarrassing!

Flynn and I got a huge laugh over one of his co-workers in Mordor who sent him a very sweet text.
”I Love You!”
is what the text read.
Within a few minutes, the very embarrassed co-worker sent another text.
”Ooops! I meant to send that to my wife!”

We laughed and laughed at this hapless co-worker for a long time.
Until….
yep, you got it….
it happened to us.

We were in the process of purchasing an investment property (a rental house) and Flynn
accidentally texted,
”I love you”
to our real estate agent.

She was so sweet about it.
She teased him
and of course I teased him mercilessly about it.
But it was enough to stop us laughing at and making fun of his co-worker.

Then it happened to me.
One night, I started texting Flynn, sending him silly little texts about the wind blowing, and the weather
and terrible roads.
It was 11:30 pm.
Pretty late.
He’s usually asleep by then, so when I didn’t get a reply, I wasn’t concerned.
I ended with an emphatic
”I LOVE YOU!”
and went to sleep.

The next morning, I got a nice reply.
From Scooter’s best friend’s mom.
”Do you really love me?”

Oh dear!
My face was red!

There have been a few more instances when this has happened.
I have worked very hard on being very vigilant and looking at the names before I hit ‘send’ on a text.
So, it doesn’t happen very often.
Flynn does the same.
But every once in a while, we get tired and let our guard down.

I think the funniest instance happened a couple weeks ago.

Flynn texts me every morning.
”Good morning.”
This particular morning, he added something special to his message.
”Good morning, sexy!”
was his message.

He didn’t hear back from me for a long time.
He wondered why.
When he finally got a return text he understood.
And he wanted to crawl into a hole and hide.

”Ummm…. hello.”

It was from his boss.

Ahem….

Well hello there! I feel like every time I come to this blog, I need to reintroduce myself.

I don’t know why I have neglected it for so long.
I think I have a writer’s block.
Remember when I would write and would say something witty and clever?
Sometimes it would be Laugh-Out-Loud funny.

Sometimes it would be deeper with more meaning and feeling.
Sometimes brutally honest.

Then I forgot how to write like that.
My blog turned into a travelogue.
We went here…. We did that… We saw this… We saw that….
Blah
Blah
Blah
*****snore*****

Also, Scooter started growing up.
Admittedly, a lot of my posts were about him and the funny things he’d do and say
(Who remembers him crying upstairs while looking at his skinny bum in the mirror saying his crack had disappeared?
It had disappeared because he was bent over and he has NO FAT!
But that’s beside the point!
He was looking at his bum in the mirror for heaven’s sake!!!!)

(Or the time he came sobbing down the stairs and when we asked him what was wrong,
he said, in as dramatic a voice as possible,
”I feel like an OLD MAN!”)

Things like that don’t happen as much anymore.
Which is a LOT sad.

So here I am looking at my blog.
It’s a new year.
Maybe I should make some new promises regarding this area:
* A new post once a week
* If not once a week, at least twice a month
* More pictures (Hah! As if I don’t already put too many on here.)
* LESS pictures
* More creative writing
* etc. etc.

I probably won’t.
As Mary Poppins says,
“It’s a pie crust promise. Easily made. Easily broken.”

But,
I can promise to try to be more diligent.
I can promise to not be a stranger.
I can be more engaged in life so I can think of more things to write about.
I can still include some travelogue. It’s nice to remember where we’ve been and what we’ve done.
And I would love to include a couple hundred pictures of this cute little guy.
Because, I don’t think there is any cuter babies in the world than him!

Evolution of a Costume

Scooter loves Halloween.
He begins planning his costume on Nov. 1.

Of course, his plans change a gazillion times over the year,
but you can bet that by the time Halloween rolls around,
the costume he has picked reflects a lot of thought,
an immense amount of creativity as well as
100% of his personality.

This year was no different.
He settled on a final design in September.
I told him there
“ain’t no way…
ain’t no how…
I was going to get out my sewing machine and sew him an outfit.”

I told him that it had to be put together easily,
it had to fit over warm clothes,
that it had to be put together easily…
(Do you get the idea? I wanted it easy!)
velcro, glue, etc. etc.
(remember, we’re the family that doesn’t buy Halloween costumes!)

So, what costume did he choose this year?

Ender Wiggin.
From the old science fiction novel
and newly released movie,

Ender’s Game.

We listened to the book via Audible on one of our trips to visit Flynn
and as soon as we got home, Scooter took his own money and bought
the paperback book, so he could read it again.

He’s hooked.
He’s a fan.
(And he reminded me exactly what a great book it is!)

We got online and started research.
We Googled the search words

Ender’s Game Costume
Ender Wiggin Costume
Ender Costume
Ender’s Game Halloween Costume
Halloween Costume Ender

Okay, you get the idea. We searched and searched and searched for an idea.

We found exactly
0
results.

Could it be? Is it possible? No one has dressed up as Ender before?
Well, at least, dressed up as Ender and posted pics on the internet?

Oh – for this original child – that sealed the deal!
There was no talking him out of it!

He was going to be
Ender Wiggin for Halloween!

Oh, and there’s that little problem of sewing!
Remember how I said I wasn’t going to sew the darn thing?

“It’s okay mom! I promise, I’ll sew it! All you have to do is show me how!”

Like a fool, I bought the line.

Okay.
Great.
Now how to do this?

The first thing we did was go to JoAnn Fabric.
We knew we wanted a silver fabric.
I didn’t want a silky, slippery dress fabric.
Too hard to run through the machine and not exactly warm enough for
Trick-or-Treating in Zion.

I was skeptical that we’d find anything suitable,
but Scooter had faith… so we started searching.

Can you believe, that after approximately 4.2 seconds, we found the
PERFECT fabric for a space suit?
We walked right up to it.
There it was.
I was floored!

So we headed to the pattern section.
We decided on a McCall’s jumpsuit pattern.
That looks perfect for a space suit, doesn’t it?
(We bought the pattern on Amazon! Saved a lot of money!)

Later, we happened to be at Zirker’s Party Store and he came running up to me with
the perfect space helmet.
(Which we got for 1/2 off because it was TRASHED!)

Seriously, this kid get what he wants and he doesn’t even know it!

We worked together on cutting the pattern out, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to put the zipper in.
My mom was gracious enough to help.
I’m so grateful!
It went in perfectly!

After the zipper was in,
Scooter sewed the front seams together.
His first time using a sewing machine.
And under my mom’s calm, cool, patient direction,
he did a
SUPER JOB!!

After that we sewed when/where we could.
We hauled that big old clunky sewing machine to Flatlandia when we went to visit Flynn.
Flynn and Scooter carved pumpkins while I sewed.
And I remembered how to read a pattern and I remembered how to sew.

It was a happy moment went I realized that I had actually gotten the
front sewn together with the back,
(no unstitching)
ATTACHED SLEEVES
and…
(sit down for this)

I HEMMED IT ALL!

I know… I know…
Praise and adoration is in order.

Well, our short story is getting much too long.
Suffice it to say, we (ahem… I) were able to get the collar in and a belt made.

Scooter insisted on having a gun (of the water variety)
so I had to come up with some kind of a holster.
That was a challenge, but I figured something out.

It’s soooo not perfect.
But when you’re 11, good enough is GREAT!

The final touch was the strip of orange Duck Tape down the sides and across the shoulders.
In the movie photos, Ender’s costume has a splash or orange on it, and we wanted to make sure we had that.
The Duck Tape was the easiest solution for that.

And now, for the final reveal….
I give you

Scooter and his
ENDER WIGGIN/ENDER’S GAME
HALLOWEEN COSTUME!!

(Isn’t that fabric PERFECT!?!?!)

(Scooter isn’t smiling because he’s in character.
Ender isn’t a happy-go-lucky kid that smiles.)

Scooter Speaks

It has been a long time since I’ve blogged some of the funny things Scooter has said.

I have tried to keep track of them on my phone,
so I thought transfer them here and that I’d share a couple funny quotes with you.

I don’t know the date of this. But it’s HILARIOUS!
This is how I wrote it when it happened:

This kid of mine:
This morning I was playing the piano and was goofing around with a Glee songbook.
The song was Dancing With Myself by Billy Idol.
Scooter walked by and said,
”Wait! That’s the name of that song? I thought it was
Dancing with A Camel.”

Cue screeching tires.

“Ummmmm….. Darling son,
Why would anyone dance with a camel?”

“Because they can, Mom.”

Seriously, you can’t beat that logic.

Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ

When we go to Yellowstone we like to joke around about all the plumbers
the Park Service has to employ.

You know, the HUGE workforce that’s required for turning on and off the geysers
all day, every day…. Right?

We think we’re so clever and funny.

The last time we went was no different, (Sept. 21, 2013)
except for the fact that Scooter joined in.
And he proved that he can play with the big boys in joking around.

(He was trying to convince his brother-in-law, Beast, that the plumbers have been working overtime.)

“Have you heard of the new geyser addition?
It’s the Geysertron 2000!”

Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ

Another of our “funny” family jokes is that I, BETTY, actually own Yellowstone Park
and that I allow all the tourists to come and visit out of the
extreme goodness of my kind heart.

On the same trip Scooter was telling us about the Yellowstone unit his class had
just finished in school.
So I said to him,

”Did you tell your classmates that your mom owns Yellowstone Park?”

Without missing a beat.
Without taking time to think or even breathe,
Scooter replied with:

“No. Because I didn’t want them to be jealous!”

Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ

Scooter, dude, YOU ROCK!!!

Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ Θ

On a slightly different note, Scooter has won a role in the new play
our community theater will be performing this Christmas,
”A Christmas Carol”

His role is “Simon”, who is the young boy Scrooge uses to fetch the Christmas goose
in the morning after the ghostly visits.
It’s a great role for him.
He has 9 lines and is in one scene at the very end of the play.

It’s great for us, because he doesn’t have to show up for a rehearsal until November.
Wahoo!
A show that won’t consume our whole life for 3 months!

I kind of like that!

Summer Run Down

Summer vacation is ending.

Yes, I said it.
And yes, I will wash my mouth out with soap now.
’Dem are dirty words in my house!

Summer.
Beautiful summer.
Hot summer.
Fabulous summer.
We love summer!

And it’s with tears that we approach the beginning of the new school year.
Well, 3/4 of us approach it with tears.
The weird child,
our youngest,
a.k.a Scooter
shouts hurrah when school is mentioned.
He seriously celebrates.

If I hadn’t given birth to him myself, I’d question his parentage.
If I hadn’t kept him in the hospital room the entire time we were there,
I’d swear he had been switched.
Oh, and there’s that little thing about him looking EXACTLY like his father.
But, other than that, I definitely question:
WHERE DID HE COME FROM!?!

As quickly as this summer passed, we still had some fun times.
Can you tell by the lack of posts?
There was no time for blogging.

I’ll do a quick photo catch up now.
Just for posterity… you know….

Squirt’s Blessing

Flynn’s Birthday Surprise
An hour flying with an instructor

Children’s Theatre
Aladdin.
Scooter played the part of “Baker” and had a line…
”Thief! Thief! Someone stole my bread!”
I was lucky enough to be part of the production crew, helping the director work with 120 kids.

4th of July at Cabin
Playing in the lake, crawdad catching, hiking

Spontaneous Camping Trip

Golfing
With Flynn’s apartment in the background
(I can’t get the underline button to turn off…. weird.)
Flynn lives in the apartment on the top left.

A New Toy!

More Camping mingled with Huckleberry Picking

Devil’s Tower and a Mud Run

Gramps and Squirt Bonding Time

It was a GREAT summer, filled with fun and lots of
MAKING MEMORIES!