And then there was this… and this… AND this…

Yes. That was silly of me to say. I know… what IS normal?
Well…we’re pretty good at appreciating it when we have it….whatever it is.

Fall is here. It hasn’t really calmed down any…

In the last 2 months, at work… Jake has learned to love and hate management…yes, both can happen simultaneously.
I’ve fired and manager…trained a manager…covered for 2 managers on somewhat of “maternity” leave… then been through 4 weeks of vacations (because we cram all the last ones in before the holidays start)…

We still have THIS…
and then we had Halloween…
and then we had lice on one of the kiddos…

This past weekend was busy (BUT SUPER AWESOME), too.

We headed down to the Blueberry Farm to celebrate Jake’s sister’s (Moose) 30th birthday…with a surprise party. It was actually pulled off!!! And it was fun. GOOD JOB to Damama and Bullet for awesome party planning (and scheming).

Jake’s lil sis (Lil Sis) had her 15th birthday, too. (there are actually 7 people in this family with birthdays in November)

We had lots of fun.

Here’s a video (could have been more, but my battery died….cuz I didn’t think about charging the camera before we left : P )

The party was awesome. Yummy food, friends and family..dancing, giggling, and Twister. Then we went back to the farm and had a campfire…chatted and sipped on yummy stuff…and played Twister some more. I’m glad all these people are my family. I wouldn’t have enjoyed it more with anyone else.

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

(more pics coming soon…there are A LOT)

Sad part is…they already know the songs.

Reminder:
We love The Beatles.
We ARE NOT The Beatles.

Enjoy!

Oooooooo yes, Rock Band fever is fixin to hit the Bennu household.  And those in the know, know that it’s gonna hit big.

Because damn, who doesn’t like the Beatles?  Jackasses, that’s who.  And if there’s anything more fun that listening to the Beatles, its faking playing Beatles music with plastic instruments!!! Hell yes!

But seriously, even if being a plastic musician doesn’t appeal to you, just look at the craft and beauty put into the game coming out:

OPENING CINEMATIC

TRAILER #3

Now tell me that you’re not crying just a little bit.

Yep.

Now, here’s how its going to break down:

That’s right.  Pre-ordered this junk yesterday.

What?  Who said we’re broke?

Enjoy!

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From our trip to the Netherlands

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A “lazy” Sunday morning at our house

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Xander found something interesting in the big glass box that’s full of water (like it’s never been there before)

Wildcat asked the musicians…. well, what else? If they could play ‘Eye of the Tiger’ …

The fella nicely told him that he didn’t know all the words to that song…. Wildcat’s response?

“Welll….I do”

Dragon finished 6th grade on Thursday. He did so great this year. Middle school has been hard for him. Not so much the work, but staying organized enough to remember to turn the work in. We fought it a lot last year. This year, I do believe he figured it out.

Four nine-week terms.  His grades came up each time.

He finished the year with all A’s and B’s.

How awesome is that!!!!??

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Wildcat had a great year, too. His teacher was awesome. She connected with him.

He entered the year taking a “reading recovery” class to help him get to grade level reading skills (he was behind). He graduated reading recovery at Thanksgiving. And he finished the year reading on a 3rd grade level. Woot!

He also is done with occupational therapy for his fine motor skills. Woot woot!

He made all +’s and E’s on his report card.

And he won the “Kid of Promise” award for his class.

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We are so proud of both of the boys. What a year!

Now we know why Dobermans have their tails cropped…

… so they can’t catch them and chew them off.

But he WANTS TO CATCH IT SOOOOO BAD!!!

Wildcat’s 1st grade teacher is in a band and they were playing last night.
He’s been excited all week about going to see her sing.
Some of his classmates came, too.

And they took over the place — well, at least until they all crashed.

And it was sooooo beautiful outside. We wanted to go somewhere we could eat on a porch.
So, we packed the family up and went to our favorite Mexican restaurant in town. J & T joined us.

Evidently, this place now has live entertainment on the porch on Thursday and Saturday nights. It was a nice to listen to music, eat good food and hang out with friends.

The music was a little too loud to do much chatting, but it ended up being the highlight of the evening.

The fellas that were playing would get done with a song…chat it up with the audience a little…take requests…etc.

During one in-between chat session– Dragon asked Jake if it was the appropriate time to yell Free Bird!! Jake looked at me, tickled by the question, and looked back at Dragon and said — “boy… you’re figuring it all out”

That got the ball rolling. After the next song ends, they were asking for some more songs. The 12 yr old yells “Skynard or Rolling Stones!!”

OMG. I ’bout sprayed my delicious Mexican beverage all over the table.

The music starts up again…and Wildcat, itching to get involved, starts dancing to the music (he’s a bit of a spaz when he dances, but he loves to do it). The couple sitting at the table beside us were tickled at his antics and started cheering him on. They got up and danced with him.

Seriously people— cheering for Wildcat is like filling a balloon with helium and then letting the balloon go without tying a knot in it. It gets bigger and bigger and BIGGER and when it’s released it zipsaroundtheroominalldifferentdirectionsnotknowingorcaringifitslamsintothingsornotand — doesn’t — stop — till — it — is — out — of — air.

By the end of the evening, the band was complimenting Wildcat by name. The people on the patio were smiling and clapping.
As the band was packing up their gear and we were getting ready to leave, Wildcat says, “I was nervous at first…but I’m proud of myself. I did good. I think I was the champion of the night.”

heh.

Here’s a little clip. (Of course, we didn’t have our video camera) Jake used his phone, so it’s not great quality.
But you’ll get the gist of how our evening went…

(Yes… he was knows the words to Simple Man. Yes… it’s sad.)

Wildcat is one cool kid.