ATO and Homecoming Week

 

 

Fraternity bid to Alpha Tau Omega for Gib!
Gib was invited to a preferential dinner to ATO and was issued a verbal invitation that night to join. It was awesome to be amongst the first asked! So now his Pledge Class of 14 guys get to wear suit & tie every Monday, learn all the brothers names, hometown, bday, major, etc. plus a bunch of fraternity stuff. And, yes, there IS a test!
ATO is a leadership focused fraternity; the BSC chapter supports the American Red Cross and supports local philanthropic service as well.

Homecoming Week for Mariah!
What a fun week for Mariah. She dressed up for spirit days, worked about 6 hrs a day after school on the Sophomore float, got to ride in the parade with FCCLA, went to the football game in pouring rain, rushed the field when the team won to remain undefeated, and went to Sky High, a trampoline place, to celebrate afterwards.
 (The best part for me was another mom drove there - whew it was a long week).


Enjoy the pics of homecoming game & parade that I got from the local news site

 

 

Mariah's Class 2016 float.
 (Mariah is in the white shirt)
Mariah was recruited for the Easy Bake Oven but ended up making the head of the
Raptor Football player! They say it will be preserved and used from now on.

The design team for the raptor football player

The winning float for the Seniors

 

 

 

My VT friend & I watched the parade
Mariah rode in the FCCLA truck
(Family Career Community Leaders of America)

Speaking of trucks.... this is Mariah's pic from her parking practice.
It really helps to not have any other cars around.

Checking In

It was so nice to have Gib back in the house for a couple of days. We sure missed him. One of the things I notice most, miss the most, is their laughter. I can't decide which word describes best the happiness I feel when I hear one of the college kids laugh from another room in the home. I just sit there and smile. It feels soooooo....... fill in the blank!

Gib returned yesterday afternoon. I don't care for the goodbyes at all and feel quite blessed that he is the closest college student we've ever had. This is do-able!!!  We ran errands all Saturday morning together - hair cut, Sonic, Target, flu shot, Costco, etc. We had a steak dinner and then Gib and his friend went to the movies.  We went to church Sunday morning, and then enjoyed football, wings & pizza with more friends. Mike drove him back to BSC with all the stuff in the trunk we had loaded him up with. I found his Nalgene bottle today so I guess that will be mailed to him since he needs it for Ultimate; and since he hinted that he was out of candy I guess I will fill the bottle up with something tasty to make the package arrival more exciting. Gib arrived back on campus with 20 minutes to spare for a dinner thing at several different fraternities. I'm looking forward to hearing which fraternity appeals to Gib the most and how he does with bid day.

We had a nice email from one of Mariah's 10th grade teachers today.

Hello,

I am Mariah’s AP Human Geography teacher.  I am writing today because I wanted to brag about your daughter.  Usually parents only hear from teachers when there is a problem but I wanted to take a minute today to share some good news.  Mariah has demonstrated great participation, diligence, and effort in APHG.  She is a joy to have in class!  I see her growing to be a leader and example for the other students.  You are truly doing something right as parents!


It's really great to hear good things about your child! When I replied to thank her teacher I mentioned that it's all Mariah - she is 100% responsible for knowing about her homework assignments, following instructions and getting everything done on time.  I guess if any credit can be taken by us as parents, it's that we have never hovered over assignments - we have always been there for assistance but expected our kids to do their own work independently. I consider school to be a full-time job for them and try not to allow us to be so overburdened with activities outside of school that the wheels have to be constantly greased to stay in motion. My biggest support for Mariah has been to drive up folders, posters, lunches, meds, etc to school when she has forgotten something! Hahaha we are still working on Pieces of Mariah but she is getting there! Actually, I have to say I've noticed great improvement in this area already, so Way to Go Mariah! You are an impressive young lady for many, many reasons.

TGIF!

Football season is back in swing.  Mike is happy.  Gib & Mariah are on his fantasy team. I'm not. I was too tired to remember to join in time. Preschool is back in swing. And I am pretty sure I know what the defensive linebackers feel like after hours of brutal offensive rushes. And that sums up the past few weeks for me.

The upstairs is undergoing a facelift. Hundreds of pounds of STUFF is gone and just knowing that makes me feel unburdened. I need to say a big thank you to Indie for a major clean out in the other "closet of no return".  After a few weekends of decluttering and reorganizing she has a cute little apartment going on up there and I don't have an apartment worth of boxes in the dining room anymore! The plan was to see how it worked and decide to stay or save up for a few months and then get an apartment of her own. Some of the feedback I've heard is 1) "it's not as bad as I thought it would be" (moving back home) - always nice to hear that. 2) having a "nice en-suite of the parents' house" saves her a ton of money and is really convenient! This is where I point out all this comes with a lovely personal chef who prepares dinner most nights & makes tasty nutritious lunches ready to grab & go, a gorgeous backyard, a handyman at the ready who also moonlights as her personal financial planning consultant, and a primo parking spot. What's not to love? Maybe she'll stay on for a bit.

Aussie decided that although it's very disappointing to be an indoor kitty with that backyard beckoning to him night and day, he does like having another bedroom to hang out in (or two). He has claimed a corner box with Taryn's extra comforter on top. Indie says there is a permanent Aussie indentation in it! He promises to share with Taryn when she comes home, and in fact, misses his snuggle-Taryn quite a bit, otherwise he wouldn't be on top of her comforter so much! I know Taryn says she wants to stay in the room down the hall, but I'm not changing it around again, so she and Gib can wrestle for it over Christmas break when they'll both be here at the same time. Aussie also adores the other usually-empty bedroom. Somewhere, there's always a sunny spot with a view to enjoy. He gets to hang out downstairs with all of us in the evenings and play attack-thru-the-window with Pixie, chase the bobtail with Chino, and finally, curl up on a blanket under the ottoman. Diego hasn't made known his feelings on the subject of another kitty in the territory. I think he's pretending    it doesn't exist unless it gets in his face.

Mariah is enjoying her new space as well. Pixie also figures she has two rooms - her old one and her new one! If only she and Aussie would make friends with each other! Working with the gunmetal gray walls wasn't a challenge at all for our little decorator. She simply added yellow and light gray bedding with lime green accents. We still have some work left to add some beauty to the walls with a big corkboard project and we hope to find some affordable artwork at a consignment store nearby.

Gib's room - I am having a hard time keeping it clean! Every time I go by, another item is being "stored" in there. One down: an extra bed and frame has been loaded into the truck ready for delivery tonight to a friend & a good cause. The portable A/C was in the middle of the room too. It is being temporarily "stored" in the bedroom closet now, along with suitcases, fans, off season clothing, etc. Our closet of no returns have downsized but they still exist. Maybe someday..... Finally, and I hope it's the last of storage challenges - Grandpapa's old desk. It's going to the Goodwill this weekend. It's a space hog and not all that nice too look at so we are unloading it. Someone will be thrilled to have it, and if they hang onto it for another 20 yrs or so it'll be a 100 yr old antique.

I'm glad we are getting those last few things removed from the room, because Gib is coming home tonight!  I will leave for Birmingham after I get Mariah from school today. Gib will drive us home and I expect, depending on how long we stop for dinner, to be home by 9 or 10 pm.  I'm excited that he'll be home for the weekend.  There are a couple things he needs to take back with him that we forgot about. And Gib will be glad to hear that there are some Ribeye Steaks thawing in the fridge for a bbq on Saturday!

Now that I've updated the blog, it's about time to get ready to go!!