Instagram September

With September comes homework.  And with homework comes a certain amount of grumpiness, particularly from Ben, who had almost zero homework last year.   Either his 5th grade teacher didn’t assign much, or Ben got it finished before he got home, so Ben had a whole year of free and easy home livin’.

Sixth grade homework came as a shock to his fragile little homework-deprived system, as did the organization middle school required.  He earned 5 tallies in his first week and was shocked when I pulled up grade reports (I can see his grades any time, thanks to Powerschool) that were far less than his usual stellar.  I’m happy to say that he’s received no further tallies and has brought his grades back up where they belong after that rocky start.

Dave suggested to Ben that he do his work with a cuddly friend.  Apparently, that’s how Dave gets things done.

For some reason I can’t remember (probably just to be funny) Jack drew a face on his belly and name it Ron Seltzer, Jr.

He drew that face with permanent marker and it took about a week for Ron Seltzer Jr. to disappear.  In the meantime, he kind of became part of the family.  Jack would inform us after dinner that Ron Seltzer Jr. sure enjoyed that meal.  Ron Seltzer Jr. was not fond of showers.  Ron Seltzer Jr. could dance (Jack would do belly rolls) etc.  It got to the point that various family members would occasionally ask after Ron Seltzer Jr. (“Hey, Jack, how’s Ron Seltzer Jr. doing?”)   I personally enjoyed giving Ron Seltzer Jr. a bunch of raspberries every chance I got.  Anywho, Ron Seltzer Jr. eventually washed off and we all kind of miss him.  Jack suggested he draw another, but we all knew it wouldn’t be the same.

And no.  I didn’t make any of that up. 

Maddie took a nap.  She just takes the most photographic naps, I tell you.

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Jack took three pictures of his tongue this month.  I don’t know why.  Maybe Ron Seltzer Jr. knows, but he can’t tell us anymore.

Maddie and Jack both had to get their blood drawn, and both were exceedingly wonderful about it.  And in case you’re wondering, Jack does not have a seafood allergy and Maddie was found to have a peanut allergy (mild).  Whaaaaat?

And in an interesting twist of events, the nurse up there holding Maddie’s arm was a former 6th grade student of mine…and her father yelled at me for starting his parent-teacher conference 7 minutes late.

Maddie’s in my brother-in-law’s wedding in December and needs to find red shoes to wear.  I think we found the perfect pair!

The spiky little nubs are perfectly offset by the 5 inch heel!

We shnuggled by a fire.

Ben’s flag football is off to a great start!

                       (He thought he’d up the difficulty level by scoring with his eyes closed).

Ben is taking Home Ec (they call it something else…maybe Family Consumer Science?) and he came home last Friday and asked if he could make pumpkin bread, and even though I was super tired and the last thing I wanted to do was supervise the making of pumpkin bread, I let him.  I’m not kidding you when I tell you that he took about 40 minutes to measure everything out.  That’s right.  FORTY MINUTES and the ingredients weren’t even mixed together yet.  But the end result was delicious and look how proud he is!  He next wants to make a crescent roll/sauce/cheese/pepperoni concoction for supper and that is planned for Sunday night.

The last Rainbow Snow of the season!  Waaaah!

My mom’s birthday was this month and Maddie and I took her out for lunch to the Hershey Pantry followed by dessert at Desserts Etc.

Maddie wasn’t feeling her best that day.  Apparently she put too much mousse in her hair that morning…

We also stopped at a yard sale and Maddie scored!

It’s a gorgeous Webster’s Dictionary from 1897 or somewhere near there.  The dude wanted $5 for it but I talked him down to two because it’s held together with duct tape.

Maddie and I helped Dave with his golf tournament (Dave and some friends have organized a golf tournament to benefit our church two years in a row now…this year there were over 100 participants!)  Maddie and I were in charge of a game at one of the holes.  The golfers had to each pay $5 (if they wanted to participate).  It was a 50/50 raffle, so whoever hit their ball closest to the hole by the end of the day won half the money we collected at the hole.  This meant Maddie and I had to go back and forth between the hitting off area and the hole a million times so we could measure their distances.  After awhile, I trusted Maddie to do it herself and I stayed behind at the hitting area.  She was THIRLLED to drive that golf cart herself!

We had a fabulous time!

That’s it for September!