Here it is, Saturday morning, and I thought I'd be able to sleep in a bit - I guess I did, sort of - Alli woke up at 5:35 - the same time I have been getting her up for the last two weeks.  I got to sleep in from 5:00 to 5:35!  She sure adjusted to the routine of school quickly.

Alli seems to be well liked at school.  Ralph picked her up from school early yesterday (she had a brace fitting) and got to meet the teacher and a couple of the aides.  They all said really nice things about her.  On Thursday, a co-worker was at the school for a promotion we are working for teenagers, and she took the opportunity to 'spy' on the aides and teachers, since they didn't know her.  She was really impressed with how nice they all were and how patient they were with her.  I didn't expect anything less, but I've met them all before, and have been 'in the system' for a long time.  The people that work with these kids are awesome!

I have a three-day weekend this weekend.  It was supposed to be the full week off, but I didn't have any real plans, so cancelled most of the week off, and am just taking Monday and Friday off.  I have a long list of things to get done - I always do - but I don't know how many of them will actually get done.  It is just so much more fun to laze around!

I'm thinking I'm getting the routine down now.  Up at 5:00, shower and dress, go pack a lunch and snack, and get Alli up by 5:40 to shower and dress.  Fix breakfast, cleanup, get Alli's teeth brushed and out the door at 6:30.  Whew!  Then I get to do all my 'normal' morning chores after she gets on the bus.

So far, school is going well for her - she seems happy when I pick her up, and the notes home from the aides say they are happy with her.  Today is picture day, so we'll see how those turn out.  Alex seems to be settling in to school as well.  No problems so far!

I've been working up some snowflakes - in color thread!  Here's what I have done so far:

I hate the first week of school!  New routines are hard on everybody!  AJ seems to be adjusting well to college - no complaints so far at least.  I think he likes all of his teachers.  I think his biggest adjustment was going to a class, and not knowing anyone in it.  He's been at the same school since 6th grade, so he knew everyone in his classes for the last 7 years.  He said he has seen some of his friends on campus, they just aren't in his classes.  I think that may give Shasta College a more 'big college' feel than if he had gone to classes with the same people.  It might not have felt that different from high school.

Alli had 'issues' on the bus yesterday.  Daycare told me that she heard that she had issues, but didn't know exactly what happened, so I stressed all night about it - what if it was because the bus ride was too long, what were my options now, what if she got hungry and cranky and acted out and hit someone, what if.....so on and so forth.  I actually talked to the bus driver today, and the 'incident' happened right after she picked Alli up from school - they went to her next stop - another school.  Alli got all upset and cried and slithered down in her seat to the floor.  The driver and I think that maybe Alli thought she was being taken back to school instead of to home???  Poor baby!  Once she gets used to the routine, she will probably be fine!

Back to school, and back to new routines!  Alli started high school yesterday in Anderson.  I took her in to school for the first day, and she seemed so excited just walking in the hall in to school.  I think she missed it!  She was asleep at daycare when I picked her up, and was cranky most of the evening.  I threw her in the pool for a quick swim before dinner, and that helped mellow her out a bit.  She was still tired and fell asleep around 9:00, instead of her usual 10:00.  It was a good thing, because I got her up at 5:40 this morning, her bus is coming at 6:20, and it takes me a while to get her up, showered, dressed and fed.  We made it by 6:15, and the bus was here at 6:16.  Whew!  It may come later in the morning after everything settles down.  She has the same bus morning and afternoon, and is dropped off at daycare at 4:20 or so.  That's a long day!

I had a visitor while I was handing clothes out on the line Sunday:

Isn't he pretty!

We made it back from camping, and we actually even camped!  I went up with two or three plans in mind, depending on how Allison handled camping.  She was a trooper!  Of course, Mom's RV was a big help in that regard.  It has a little TV in it that I could pop a movie tape in, so Alli got to watch the Pokemon movies when she got restless at the campfire.  I was all ready to either leave AJ up there with his tent to camp over night, or pack us all up and drive back to Mom's house overnight, depending on how things played out, but....I didn't have to do either!  I didn't want to push it to two nights camping, but she did really well for one night.  Maybe next year we can push it out to two!

A view of Antelope Lake

Jake showing me the best spot for pictures

One of our camp visitors

A close up of him - Mom was disappointed that they didn't seem too excited about coming in for peanuts.  The Ranger that stopped by told her that it was because they were all full - they'd been getting handouts since June!

This little guy liked to take his peanut up above the crowd!

Moonrise

Finally!  After 12 years, I have a fan over the kitchen table!  And it's a beautiful fan - and it works so nicely too!

I finished up a few projects yesterday - after I ran around like a mad woman cleaning, I took the afternoon off and crocheted.  I finished a doily I had started - called 'On Vacation".  The last row was all picots - and as much as I like my cat (named Picot) I don't like making them.  So.....I improvised.  I threaded some beads and used them instead on the last row of the doily.  It added a nice touch, I think!

Then, since I still had the thread out (a light violet) I made a snowflake!.  A Yahoo group  that I belong to is making snowflakes, and this is the first in the bunch.  I think I am going to make these all in color, just to be different.  I have made literally hundreds of white snowflakes in the past - this will add some 'fun' back to them!

 

We had a swim guest last week - a huge bullfrog.  I don't mind sharing, but I worry about the chlorine on the frog!  AJ very kindly fished him out (he didn't want to swim with him!) and put him back in the bushes.  We're hoping he stays there!

I think Alli's teenage hormone are kicking in.  She was all mad at me about something - I don't know what it was, either!  She was growling and crying - and I couldn't figure anything out, so I just left her alone.  When I came back, she had pulled all of my projects out of my knitting bag and scattered them.  Yes, she was mad at me about something - I just wish she would tell me what it is!

The last of the pictures!  AJ getting his Eagle badge (the one I had to go back home to get!)

Me getting my "Mom badge" - yes - the one I had to go back home to get.

AJ Getting his hand-carved eagle neckerchief slide

AJ giving his 'mentor pin' to Ken.

Bill showing AJ his 'Eagle Staff' and the plaque he was going to put on for AJ's eagle.

Alli is still being good!

AJ giving Ralph his 'Dad' pin - yes, the one I had to go back home to get - and after all that, AJ forgot to give it to him in the regular ceremony! I was cutting the cake when AJ remembered to give it to him.  I'm glad we made it through - what a lot of fun memories!  Probably more memories because of the things that went wrong.

I got started posting these pictures two days ago and never got any further!  I really need to get organized in the mornings!  

More pictures from AJ's Court:

AJ, Conner, Mom and I went in to the church at 12:30 to get set up for the Court.  We decorated the tables, set up the cake, made the coffee and punch, set up the slide shows, etc.  We got everything done, and I was able to greet people when they came in - wonderful!  About 2:03, AJ came up and asked if I knew where the Eagle kit was.  (We were supposed to start at 2:00, and the Eagle Kit is his Eagle badge and the pins for his mentor and his parents - us!)  OMG!  Not only did I NOT bring it, I don't even know where it is!  I can't remember what I did with it after I picked it up at the Scout meeting!  I told AJ I would go get it, told Ralph where I'm going, and went flying out the door - just in time to hear the train whistle - there is a train going through Anderson, and I'm on the wrong side of the tracks!  Needless to say, we got started a bit late for the Court!

(Ralph is holding the Eagle kit)

We did it!  we made it through AJ's Court of Honor!  I was lucky enough to have a friend take pictures for me.  The building was fairly dark inside, which made the pictures not the best, but it's not the fault of the photographer!

The cake had it's own saga.  I ordered it two weeks before, and was to pick it up at 10:00 on Saturday.  While I was on my way in to town at 8:30 to do my normal Saturday shopping, I got a call from Raley's.  They couldn't find the picture I wanted on the cake, but they did have something close, but it did have GS on top - maybe for Girl Scouts???  Probably not going to work?  No, probably not.  They said that if I had an emblem or something I could bring in, they could us it instead.  So....one quick phone call to the house later, Ralph was on his way in to town with a Eagle Scout emblem.  They made the cake up while he waited, and he paid for it, and happily left the store.  They chased him down outside.  They had put the emblem on the wrong cake.  I had ordered a marble cake, and they had put it on a carrot cake.  Back he went to the store, waited for a new cake to be made, and home with the cake.  It turned out very pretty, and very tasty!

AJ did a candle ceremony - the small candles on the left represent the scout oath, the red candles in the middle are the ranks in scouting, and the three white represent the scout law.  Unfortunately, we needed one more candle - the spirit of scouting - that was supposed to be lit before we started.  But....no one told me, and I had AJ and Conner check on the number of candles I needed several times!  Oh well - they worked around it!

We made up a couple of presentation boards with AJ' patches and some photos, etc. We also drug out his old derby cars, and this Arrow of Light from Cub Scouts.

Alli enjoyed waiting - she got to spin!

The Eagle Scout emblem - quite large!

This is the Eagle Board - all the scouts that got their Eagle out of Troop 122 are listed on it.  AJ got to add his own plaque to it.

Alli - still enjoying the day!