A Beautiful Day

It was a beautiful early fall day today. I dropped our photo contest entries off at the metro park this afternoon and desperately wished I had enough time to take some pictures before going home to start dinner. I couldn't resist snapping a couple cell phone pictures on my walk between the nature center and parking lot. When I dropped Danielle off for basketball practice after dinner, I was sorry once more that my camera was sitting in its case at home. Still, I couldn't resist the urge to try to capture the beautiful sunset with my phone. All too soon the skies will be gray and the landscape barren. I'm thankful for beautiful fall days.

This & That

Ron designed a closet organizer for Danielle and then built it himself. He just finished it up. I think it looks great! It gives her so much more drawer space and will free up some floor space in her bedroom when we get rid of her old dresser. She hasn't really put anything away in it yet. She was just putting a few things in there for pictures. Even after almost 23 years my husband still impresses me.

Tyler went grocery shopping with me today. He likes the curbside service, too. (I like his company.)

Danielle had her first softball tournament with her new team this past Saturday. It was cold and rainy and she was sick. Those things did not go well together. We drove about 80 minutes one way, she played in one rainy, windy game, and then we took her home. She has another tournament this weekend. Hopefully we will have a much better weekend.

Don't tell her I posted this.

My etched pumpkin I made to take in to work.

Farewell, Butterfly

Our last monarch eclosed yesterday. It was rainy and overcast, so I waited to release him today. It wasn't much sunnier but at least it wasn't raining. My milkweed is about dead and the days are turning colder, so I think we've seen the last of the monarch eggs and caterpillars for this season. I think we had 13 monarchs successfully eclose this summer. That's a lot more than the past several years!

This & That

I put up my fall bulletin board at work the other day. I love the way it looks. I added a picture of radishes this year. I was at Meijer one day and was looking for fresh veggies of some sort and I was so impressed with all the different produce they had. And it all looked so nice. I thought the radishes looked especially nice...so I bought some just to photograph. Silly, I know, but they looked photogenic. I was happy with how the pictures turned out, so the $1.98 was worth it.

 

 

Speaking of groceries, I decided to try Giant Eagle's new curbside service and my grocery shopping will never be the same. :) I really hate to grocery shop. With this service, you order online and schedule a pick up day & time. You can arrive within a 30 minute window of your scheduled time. You park in a designated spot, call the store to let them know you're there, and they bring your groceries out. You are not supposed to get out of the car, and they will not accept tips. They load all the groceries and then come to your window for payment. It's as easy as that. And, the service is only $4.95!! The first 3 visits are free and the lady who loaded my groceries gave me a $10 off coupon for today's order. It was such a good experience and my grocery bill was lower than usual. I'm kind of excited about shopping for next week now!



This is me, working hard at getting groceries...or not.

I couldn't find the smaller bag of potatoes on the ordering site, but the lady who loaded my groceries said to just make a note in the comments next time about the actual amount I want.

Danielle got her school pictures today. She looks so much older. She also had her 12 year well check visit today. (I will post birthday pictures some day. It was only almost 2 months ago. :( ) She grew 2.5" last year. The pediatrician says she is yet to hit her big growth spurt, so Danielle's holding out hope she'll eventually do a little better than that 49th percentile. Apparently those 48 out of 100 kids she's taller than don't play 6th grade softball, volleyball, or basketball!

Farewell Until Next Year

I think my hummingbirds have migrated. I haven't seen any since Wednesday. Maybe I'll see a few as the ones further north head south. I saw this guy on Tuesday. The pictures aren't the best but it was interesting because his head was covered in white. Usually the pollen is yellow, so this was a little different. He ignored me and continued to prepare for his long trip.

More Monarchs

Our "Nutty" Family

I could not resist the "peanutize me" ads. I visited the website and made our whole family. I think they look very similar to us, especially the boys. It was fun! Here we are:

Ron

Lori

Tyler

Danielle

Today's Pic

One Last Celebration

Tyler brought in pizza, chips, and pop to share with his friends at lunch today to finish off his birthday celebration. The lady who has him in a headlock is his science teacher. She's one of those teachers you hope your kid has at some point in their school career...and one of those teachers your kid will never forget. She is pretty wonderful and she makes Tyler feel like he's pretty wonderful, too.

This picture makes my heart happy. There was a time in Tyler's grade school years when he struggled to find friends who understood him, and when teachers probably day dreamed about putting him in a headlock for real. ;) He is growing up nicely. Thank God for answered prayers!!

Happy Birthday, Tyler!!

 

It was a teacher planning day, so Tyler got to enjoy his birthday off school. He opted to sleep in and play video games.  We went to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant tonight and then opened gifts and ate cake.

I am happy to report that Tyler is no longer the only 8th grader in the entire world without a cell phone. Well, he is for another week. We bought him the new iPhone 6s. It won't be released until Friday, so he'll have to wait a few more days. He was really excited about finally getting one!

I think he had a good day!

Reminiscing

After wrapping his presents and icing his cake, I thought I would look back at some pictures of Tyler around his past birthdays. All of these were taken in the month of September, beginning in 2001 and ending last year in 2014.  Where has the time gone??