So tired because I'm old and I don't like to stay up late!

It's been a busy few days around here!  Last Thursday was the kids first day of school.  In addition to all of that excitement, it was Peter's first ever football game!

Even though he is in the 11th grade, because our school is small and he has no previous football experience, he is going to have to play several JV games.  The rule in NC is that if you are in the 11th and 12th grades and have never played JV football, you can play on the JV team BUT once you have played in 8 quarters of Varsity football, you are no longer eligible to play JV.

It was a non-conference game and we played a school twice our size and sadly we lost but it was good experience for Peter.  He played for most of the game!

Peter is number 77.  As an older player, he was one of the captains and got to go out for the coin toss!

 

Friday nightwe we played at home and sadly lost to the varsity squad of the same school.  Peter was on the kick off return team so he went in three times for that and he got to play in the final minute on regular teams.  He ended up playing in 3 quarters so he is hoping he has only 5 quarters left to play at the JV level but he is nervous/worried that his coach is going to keep him longer on the JV team (limit his varsity time) because our JV team is small.

Peter's varsity number is 22.

Stellar photography on my part!  But he's out there on the field as part of the kick off return team.

I guess we will see what this week holds as he has another JV game on Thursday and another V game on Friday.

This past Friday, the weather was bad and we had a very long delay due to lightening.  We ended up not getting home from the game until after midnight.

Sarah had a sleepover with a group of her besties in Greensboro so that meant I was out the door on Saturday  morning to drive 45 minute to go pick her up.  I told Dan that I felt like I was hungover.  That's what going to bed at 12:30 versus 10:30 will do to an almost 50-year-old woman!

On our way home from the sleepover, we stopped at Walmart to pick up some things for school that her teachers told her she needed.  It was a madhouse in there because all the area public schools start back today and everyone was in the school supply section trying to get all of their supplies.

I came home and made dessert for Sunday lunch:

This deliciousness is Ooey Gooey Butter Cake with chocolate chips.  YUM!!!

My brother was having a housewarming party and only men were invited so I had a girl's night with my mom, Sarah, and my bestie Jennifer and her girls.  We went to Hakka Chow for dinner.

On Sunday we headed to Mass, lunch at my mom's house, and then Dan and I took Sarah to Advance to work on a project for school.  We dropped her off and had a mini date night. 

Then we came home and watched some Beachfront Bargain Hunt and then headed to bed.  This will be the first full week of school for the kids but at least we have a long weekend to look forward to and I'm hopeful can catch up on my sleep then!

First Day of School!

11th grade for Peter and 10th grade for Sarah! Praying for a great year for my kiddos.

Friday.

Things are pretty quiet around here but I always feel guilty if I don't post something each week.  I envision my kids reading this blog when they are 50 and I'm dead and wondering why some weeks (way back in my early blogging days) there were funny stories and lots of daily life details and then nothing. Blog silence.


Well, guys, let me just tell you - there are lots of things I could write but the kids (who will be 50 and wondering why I didn't write anything) don't currently want me posting a lot of details about their lives because it's "embarrassing" and "what if their friends read it"? 

So, in order to keep my current kids happy (even though when they are 50 they will probably want help remembering what they were doing when they were 15 and 16 but alas it won't be on here so I hope you kids kept your own diaries) let me just do a basic/boring rundown of our week.

One kid has their summer work done.  One kid does not.  The kid that does not has assured me that it will get done and that my constant nagging is only making said kid angry. 

Peter's football is going well.  He's had two scrimmage/jamborees this week and he is enjoying it. 

I'm so glad he's enjoying it but would you like to know what I don't enjoy about football? 

THE STENCH OF HIS CLOTHES WHEN HE WALKS IN THE DOOR.

His clothes literally smell like a dead animal that has been left to rot on the side of the rot in the 92 degree weather we've been having.  I'm surprised vultures aren't circling him.

I was attempting not to vomit as I was tossing them in the wash when he got home last night and Dan, who had just ridden in the car with him for an hour, said, "I had to ride home with him. You should smell my car."

NOPE. 

But, all the stinky laundry is worth it because he is having the best time.  The coach cancelled practice today so Peter and some of the other boys are going over to a friend's house to watch film and go over plays.  

Sarah spent the night at a friend's house last night with 4 other girls and I will be picking her up soon and taking her to get her school haircut.  It will still be long but she wants more layers cut into it.

Everyone was gone last night so I made myself a batch of wings.  They were delicious.

 


Most of our sunflowers have died but a few are just finally opening and look lovely...

 And that friends is pretty much all we've been up to around here.  

Random.

Two weeks from today and the kids will be back in school!  And I have not even gotten into my summer rhythm yet.  But at this point, what's the point?  Ha!  In two weeks I will be in school mode and my rhythm will be set. Here's a quick list of things that have been happening over here lately...

1. Peter is still enjoying football even though they now have pads and are tackling and it is very hot.  I am very glad about this.  I'm not going to lie - I thought as soon as it got hard, he would want to quit but nope - he seems to be loving it even more.  He goes to practice early, I don't have to remind him about anything football relate, there's no cajoling like there was with swim practice or even track practice this last season.  (I'm still praying on the daily that he doesn't get hurt...)

2. The kids got their schedules last week and Sarah freaked out a bit when none of her besties were in her lunch period or in her pottery class (they were planning to all take it together).  But some people have made some schedule changes due to other issues and one of her friends is in pottery with her now and another friend is in her lunch so things are looking up.  Peter didn't mention a thing about his schedule so I'm assuming he's happy with it.  Or most likely since he's a boy didn't bother texting all his friends to see who had what lunch or what class.

3. Dan was in Ireland last week and made it back on Saturday evening without having to drive home from Newark this time!  I love it when air travel works like it's supposed to work.

4.I've been making a chicken, pepper and onion stir-fry dish lately that everyone has been enjoying.  When I made it last week  Peter suggested that it should have a white sauce with it like they serve at the Japanese streak houses.  So, when I made it this week, I whipped up this white sauce.  It was really good!  The only thing I did differently from this recipe was to add a dash of salt.  Now whenever I do the stir-fry I will be making this to go with it.

5.Last night for dinner I made the Pioneer Woman's Pork Carnitas.  It is very similar to the street tacos I've been making but it uses pork instead of beef.  Her recipe calls for pork shoulder but I could only find pork butt so that's what I used.  They were really good and I will make these again.  I did do the browning step that she did but I may not do that next time - the browning took a long time and I'm not sure it added that much extra flavor.  The meat was really tender and Dan, who doesn't typically like pork said, "These are good even though I don't usually like pork."  So, there's that!

6. A couple of weeks ago three tornadoes touched down on  Cape Cod.  I think only two or three other times in recorded history a tornado has hit on the Cape prior to this. One of them was very near our house. Luckily our little house  sustained no damage other than some broken tree limbs.

7. Dan's sunflowers got off to a slow start this year but are the tallest they've ever been...

8.  Our garden is still producing tomatoes and I will be making another batch of spaghetti sauce this morning.

9.  I took Sarah shopping yesterday for school pants and we got lucky at the first store.  Still looking for shoes though.  She has two specific pairs in mind and we were only able to find one.  The other pair we will order online since we were able to try the shoe on in the wrong color so at least we will know the correct size to order.

10.  I still need to get Peter to the store to shop for his new shoes.  That will be like pulling teeth.

11.  Neither one of the kids is done with their summer work yet and did I mention, school starts in two weeks?  Neither one of them is too concerned so I guess I shouldn't be either.  I, after all, have completed both the 10th and 11th grades so....

12. In other exciting news, I descaled the Kuerig this week after Dan said that his coffee wasn't tasting as strong as normal.  After I descaled it, the flow was much thicker.  He never commented if it tasted better or not but at least the coffee maker is clean now.

13.  Sarah wanted a chair in her room.  I know I've mentioned before how tiny the kids rooms are and there was really no space for a chair.  But I agreed that something needed to be done in that room.  The book shelf was too big for the room so that got moved out and she never used the desk that was in there.  It was basically acting as a junk holder.  You know how people get treadmills and put them in their bedrooms and never use them so they become landing spots for junk and hanging spots for clothes?  Well, that's what had happened to Sarah's desk. Junk just kept getting piled up on it.  So out that went.  And it felt so much better in there - just bygetting rid of two pieces of furniture that really weren't serving their purpose.

Then we went to Home Goods and found the cutest pink chair.  Now we just need to get a rug for the room and she is all set.  The room feels bigger and more open (even though it is tiny) and she feels less claustrophobic due to all the stacks of stuff being out of there.  The walls are light pink even though they look white in this picture and her bedspread is navy and the other accents around the room are gold. We are both happy with how it turned out.

We were in Home Goods on Sunday to look for this chair and Dan is actually the one that found it.  After we agreed that it was the perfect chair, he stood beside it while Sarah and I shopped for that cute little gold side table.  Apparently someone came up while he was standing there and was interested in it and he had to tell them NOPE!  As soon as he told me that, I grabbed an employee and we got the thing up to the front and paid for it.  Didn't want to risk losing this chair!  :)

And with that, it's time to process some tomatoes for spaghetti sauce.  I can't guarantee when I'll post again but I can guarantee that when I do, it will also be a bunch of random just like this list...:)