Labor Days

The month started with Titus(#3) and Jared's(#1) laboring through their next Tip Tests in TKD.  They both passed with flying colors, though Jared did try to break his hand by forgetting to use his hammer fist to break his boards.  Not to be left out, a week later Titus did a number on his hand in sparing class.  Thankfully as of this writing they are both back to snuff.

**Next was yard labor, I told everyone I wanted the backyard at a stopping point by Labor Day, ie. all the beds and paths mulched and lined with plants.  Everyone chipped in and we got it close enough to done.  Getting to the plants to line the one path is still a work in progress.  The Daylillies I wanted to move from front to backyard are in an area that has been left unattended too long.  However, as Chris dug up the Liriope up front for the one side I slowly made progress on the other other side, finding 5 missing blueberry bushes and then a large Harvester Ant mound (Titus and I are very allergic), sadly I hadn't quite made it to the Daylillies before we had to put the brakes on further discovery till the ants are dead.  As an alternative, the boys lined that part of the path with 4x4s for now.  Lance profoundly stated that the state of our yard is a reflection of the mental state of our family, so glad its all getting straightened out.  Here's the final product, quite a transformation!

We celebrated Saturday afternoon by meeting our friends at the pool for one last Hurrah! before it closes for the season.  We arrived at 3pm and I thought we'd all leave to go home around 6pm, but everyone was having so much fun (adults and kids), we stayed much later.

Having Monday off was a much needed day of rest for everyone, especially Lance.  Lance's schedule continues to be hectic but he's getting used to that.  They are now starting games and field practices and Lance is performing well.  At a charity event they recently worked, for "Miracle Kids", they got a team photo.   

 

The Thursday after Labor Day also marked the beginning of Titus in-person writing class with Miss Smelcer.  Thankfully he is really enjoying the class and there are even two girls from our new field trip group in the class.

FIAR FT group went to Cary Police Department K-9 Demonstration as their first field trip this month.  It had been quite a while since we had done such an event and the officers did a great job presenting and answering questions.  After the kids did what they do best, they played hard in an adjoining park, while we moms talked - what we do best :-)

 

In between school and field trips, Titus has been helping Frank with some wood working around his house. Their first project was to re-built the deck ramp into his shed.  It's so such a nice arrangement for them both because they have so much fun together and Titus is learning a lot.

 

FIAR second field trip of the month was to hike at Lake Johnson.  We had driven past the park many times but this was the first time we stopped to explore.  Highlight of the day for Amber was meeting the mounted police officer.  For Titus I'm sure it was their long game of Cops and Robbers.  We'll have to bring the family back some time to hike all the trails.

The Friday following I drove Jared to meet up with a friend at the Liberty Antique Festival.  The festival covered 100 acres, vendors from 20 states and is apparently a very popular event.  As the drive was a little over an hour one-way it seemed silly to drive him there, go home and drive back to get him later - I stayed but as soon as we found his friend they went their way and I went another.  Their goal was to find WWII items.... personally I really had no goal but to explore.  I thought I'd end up spending most of the day reading in the car (with the beautiful weather this was not a bad option) but after the initial awkwardness of being at a festival all alone I got into a rhythm and enjoyed myself very much. I met up with the boys on and off throughout the day and at the end of the day I found them so they could be my muscle to get my finds into the car.  Jared's one purchase of the day was something he'd been looking for a long time a 48 Star American Flag.  It has a "bullet hole" we used to negotiate the price down, though he and his siblings quite like the hole.  Jared looked up the manufacturer and found out it was actually rather a rare find, which increased his affection for his purchase.  Me?  Well I managed to control my self pretty good: Got myself a beautiful all metal bird bath, clip on earrings for Amber, a well preserved 1920s hand drill for Titus, a baseball holder for Lance, and a train book for the boys.  For Chris, I did NOT get a whole lot of other stuff LOL

In addition to being a self-proclaimed horse addict, Amber is our own private weather girl.  She's learned to read the clouds and frankly she's more accurate than the so-called professionals.  It's not unusual for one of us to ask her to go outside and tell us how the day will be.  She's also our art instigator.  Though she often does projects on her own, she loves it when we all join.  Frankly, art is therapy for us all.  She sees beauty all around and keeps us grounded in her excitement, even the simple sunset she'll drag us out to see in all her enthusiasm.

**  Technically the front yard pictured above was finished two weeks later.  Jared, Amber and I went to the Farmers market to get three specific plants.  We ended up not coming home with ANY of the intended plants, instead we found a cool  Szechuan Pepper Tree, a flat of pansies (the impetus for redoing the front bed, Jared and Amber wanted to have more color) and a flat of collards/bok choy to grow to feed Drago (to save cost and have fresh food on hand).  Most importantly, we got cookies so that made everything okay :-)