We interrupt ArtPrize for this (probably not actually important) report

This has been a very ArtPrize-filled week. We've been to most of the big venues and lots and lots of the little venues, and so far, these are my three favorite things. None of them are in the main venues this year - the big venues are actually kind of disappointing. But anyhow. That's not the point.

The point is that yesterday i went to work and then picked up Houston and Katrina from school and brought them straight to the orthodontist, and when we got home, our giant, beautiful maple tree in front of our house was nothing but a hacked up trunk. For some reason, the city decided that it needed to come down. Juanito asked them why, and they said, "It was on its way out anyhow," which was quite obviously a lie - it had a couple of small dead branches, but it was 99% perfectly healthy.

We are all sad. 

Weekend fun!

The past couple of weekends have been fun and super full.

Last weekend, Juanito went to "Knobcon" - a synthesizer convention, which is probably exactly as geeky as it sounds. He was all excited, because the got to be one of the presenters, since his style is significantly different than pretty much anyone else's. Meanwhile, i had a leader's retreat for church Saturday until Sunday, and then we had our first gathering of "Echo" (the new name for the 6th-8th graders) in the afternoon on Sunday. Since Juanito and i were both gone, the kids got to go to my parents' house for the night, which they loved.

And then this past weekend, we got to go camping with my parents. We had an absolutely perfect weekend for it - the weather was sunny and warm and just lovely. Our only complaint was the mosquitoes. After an entire summer with not a single mosquito in sight, every single mosquito ever came out this weekend and started attacking viciously. We all had on LAYERS of bug spray, and still all got bitten up. But besides the mosquitoes? It was awesome. We watched the sunset over the lake, ate ice cream, tried to swim in the lake (It was freezing.), played games, read, and generally had a great time.

The down side of all of this fun and excitement is that it means that there's not a lot of time for doing homework. And seriously? Katrina spends So. Much. Time. doing homework. Today, for example, she came home from school and started working, and with the exception of dinner, she pretty much worked all afternoon and evening until about 9:30...and could have done more if she'd had time, but it's not due tomorrow, so it'll have to get done tomorrow. And this is not a completely unusual day.

Part of it is that they get a lot of homework. Part of it is that she is extremely conscientious about making sure she's doing the homework well. And part of it is that she is just kind of a slow worker with schoolwork. I'm truly, deeply hoping that she'll get into the flow and learn how to do the work more quickly so that she doesn't start to absolutely hate school.

Summer, part 2

Welp. There went the rest of the summer. And the first couple of weeks of school.

August started with Zane's birthday. He had two of his best friends - Justin and Finn - sleep over the night before, which meant that they were at our house for the entire morning and most of the afternoon. They played inside and outside and back inside and back outside and they were very much boys (exploring, shooting Nerf guns, etc.), but since they're now 12, there's very little actual supervision that i need to be doing. So Katrina, Houston, and i did our own thing until the boys left, and then Zane and i went out to take birthday pictures, and then it was time for my parents and Beth to come over for dinner and cake and presents.

One of the things that Zane desperately wanted for his birthday was a sleeping bag thing that has arms and legs and a hood - so you're in a sleeping bag, but not. I happened to find one at Aldi, and he was beyond thrilled. And even though it's been August and super hot, he's worn it a TON already. I fully expect to never see him out of it once it gets cold.

The kids and i, along with my sister Chellie and her kids, went to Shipshewana for the day on the 8th, and then Gabs and Thomas came home with us for the next couple of days. The kids loved having their cousins here to play with for so long. There was a lot of Exploding Kittens played, Katrina drew all over herself and Gabriella, Zane and Thomas did a lot of Nerf gun shooting, Katrina and Gabs did a lot of coloring, and general fun was had by all.

Mid-August, Juanito's family came to visit for a week. Phoebe and Dan came on the 13th and his mom on the 15th.

On Monday, while only Dan and Phoebe were here, we went to Dutch Village (we hadn't been yet, and it's SUCH a West Michigan kind of thing), where we went on the Ferris Wheel and pet the goats and did the swings and generally just hung out and had fun. And then we went to the Saugatuck Dunes, which Houston, Katrina, and i had never been to before. (Juanito and Zane apparently went for the field trip at the end of last year.) It was beautiful, and the water was PERFECT - super warm and just a bit wavy. But man. You have to really want it to make it to the lake there. There's a mile hike up and down sand dunes between the parking lot and the water. I was super glad the kids weren't any younger, because i can imagine there being a lot of whining.

On Tuesday, Juanito took Dan and Phoebe to Detroit for the day. And then on Wednesday, Juanito's mom arrived and we all went to Grand Haven to see the Musical Fountain. It was as cheesy as always, but we love it. Friday my parents and Beth came over and we all made our own pizzas and hung out for a few hours. Saturday we went to the marsh with the boardwalk. So they got to see a bit of our town. It was so much fun getting to see Dan and Phoebe again - they live in England, so we don't get to see them nearly enough.

Everyone left Sunday night, and then next morning, Houston and Katrina had their first day of school. Houston is a junior this year (HOW???). According to him, this year is quite a bit easier than last year - less homework and less intense classes.

Katrina is a freshman. This is her first time starting a new school since Kindergarten, so she was fairly nervous. One of her best friends from school (Alex) and a couple of her best friends that she's known since she was 2-years-old (Ella and Lorelei) are all at City with her, so she hasn't had to start from scratch with making friends. In fact, Ella and Lorelei went to City for 7th and 8th grades as well, so they already had a whole group of friends for Katrina to fall into. So socially, i think Katrina is loving City. What she is NOT loving is the homework. Ever since Katrina was in Kindergarten, her teachers have told us, "She works at her own pace and will not be rushed." And that is so, so true. She's extremely conscientious and deliberate and i never, ever have to worry about her doing her homework. But she is just not quick with schoolwork. And so she is spending hours most nights doing her homework. It's exhausting.

Zane started 7th grade the next week. (Houston and Katrina were very jealous of his extra week off.) Most of the middle school teachers left, so he has several new teachers, two of whom are men. This is mostly only exciting because none of the kids had any male teachers at Knapp up until now. (Except for band. And gym.) He really likes his math teacher, Mr. Lee, which is awesome, because Zane can be really good at math but tends to get bored and then just...doesn't do the work. So far, math is his favorite class this year.

Juanito and i went with friends to see our old pastor, Rob Bell, do a talk call "Holy Shift." It was both really good and really weird. I still really enjoy listening to him - he's just an excellent speaker. But it's weird because he's our old pastor. And now we're paying to go hear him. And he completely didn't mention Mars Hill (the church he started and was the pastor of for 10 years) at all and kind of acted like he didn't have any connection to Grand Rapids at all. So that felt odd.

And that's a quick overview of the past month and a half.