Computer Design

This is a poster that Wesley designed at school in his computer design class that was put up in one of the hallways at school. 

 

Middle School Open House

Thursday night we got to go to Davis' middle school for Open House and meet all of his teachers and see his classrooms. The campus is huge! And it was weird after being so known at Carver Middle by the faculty and administration to walk into someplace where we knew no one. But folks seemed nice. Davis' is making his mark already and a few of his classmates came up to talk to him too. 

Here's my two favorite bass players! 

Love that his instrument is taller than he is! 

All of the classrooms are set up with these table groupings (with a computer) for seats instead of individual desks. 

And in his tech class Davis has this guard over the keyboard to help him learn to type without 

looking at the keys. 

Science classroom 

Here's hoping the rest of this seventh grade year is a good one. 

First Day of School

It was weird to only send two of the boys off to school on the "First Day" this year. The younger two both rode the bus from our neighborhood to their respective schools. And we got our customary pictures in front of the front door before they headed off. 

Wesley started 9th grade at Riverview High School. 

Davis started 7th grade at Sarasota Middle School.  

There were a few hiccups to the day, but all in all not bad. They've survived their first week (of three days) and they'll be back at it next week again! 

Science Fair - Again - Times Two!

We used the school holiday for Veteran's Day to work on middle school science fair projects. 

First up, Davis. He was popping 9 bags of popcorn (3 from 3 different brands) to see which brand had the fewest unpeopled kernels. We had his friend Tim over to hang out during the project and to help eat the popcorn!

Pop Secret was the winner, with Orville Redenbacher in second place and 

the generic Winn Dixie brand in third place. 

The dogs were especially interested in the project too and hopeful for popcorn spills! 

Then we went to the church to work on Wesley's project. His was on testing the infect of different air pressures inside a soccer ball to see how it affected the distance the ball will travel. Thankfully the UMW had set up the parking lot already for their Treasure and Trunk Sale on Saturday - and had spray painted these orange lines in the lot 15 feet apart. That helped a ton with measuring. Wesley kicked 5 balls at the regular inflated pressure (5lbs) and then repeated that with an under inflated ball (3lbs) and an overinflated ball (7lbs). 

Both projects went better and faster than these things usually do which was nice. They still have to enter their data before the end of the month (Wesley on a board and Davis into slides on the computer) but at least the actual experiments are done now. 

  

Spirit Week

Davis dressed up this last week for only one day of Spirit Week - not team day, or character day or even pajama day. No this kid dressed up for "Dress for Success" Day. Because he loves a suit! 

And he had a little extra flair on his socks - Simpsons' Donut socks! 

 

Senior Pictures

The proofs are in! Our boy really is a senior now! Look at that smile. 

 

Food Fun

A popular new recipe at home - sausage and cheese balls with cilantro lime rice 

 

I got a new kitchen toy - this thing slices and dices fast and easy! 

And this guy has a new hat for his culinary adventures at school. 

The principal celebrated the great cooking of Parker and 

the other culinary students on Facebook this past week too. 

Percussionist Extraordinaire!

Davis got to bring the glockenspiel home this week to practice. 

He is really enjoying percussion and band - his other favorite is marimba!

His grumpy faces in these videos are from the fact that I filmed him. Lol! 

 

Catching Up

Davis missed school on Friday. 

We made it almost six full weeks but we did get a Covid exposure call. 

Fortunately, he was exposed in 6th period band - and because he is percussion, Davis stands in the back keeping his mask on all through class. The child who had Covid sat up in the front playing clarinet. 

We tested him on Thursday afternoon before we went to Disney and he was negative. 

And we tested him again on Sunday afternoon and he was negative. So he was able to go back to school today, instead of waiting until Wednesday. Thankful we seemed to have dodged it this go round. 

#pleaseletthemgivekidsunder12thevaccinesoon

Culinary Bistro

In Culinary class, Parker and his friends run a Bistro once a week for teachers and staff. Parker is responsible for making philly cheeseteaks and also the grilled chicken for topping the salads. 

 

Back to School - Again

Tuesday was the first day of the 4th semester and 6th class for me at Garrett for my DMin in Spiritual Direction. This fall's class is Research Methodologies and                                                                       drafting the research proposal for my dissertation. 

 

Another Band Student

3 kids - 3 different instruments for beginning band. 

Parker was saxaphone. 

Wesley was trombone. 

And Davis is a percussionist. He loves saying that word. 

Here he is with his stick kit (four sets) and his practice pad for home. 

 

This Week at Church

So our silence on the blog has been mostly because things have been busy as we work to get back into the school year routine at home. And there have been several exciting things at church. Last weekend we had 34 people attend our New Members Class - who will join this weekend! 

We also prayed over our Honduras Mission Trip team members. 

Then on Monday we hung around with the staff outside and stared at the sun! 

On Tuesday, Daryl got to see off the complete Honduras team - 28 people from our church and New Covenant United Methodist Church. 

On Wednesday, we were at the elementary school for the Bless Fruitland Park check presentation. Churches, businesses and individuals raised $15,000 for the school for this year and Community UMC donated $2,000 of that. And Daryl got to give the closing benediction too. 

With our Children's Minister Faye Umble, who participates on the Bless Fruitland Park board. 

A CUMC selfie: Us with Faye as well as member Sandi Moore representing the Leesburg Chamber of Commerce, and member Paige Simmons, who is a member of the school administration.