Somehow this boy turned 14.  I have been wanting to take his photo for a month and a half now and just got it done. I am in shock that he's going to high school next year. He's such a smart*** sometimes. Well ok most of the time.    He walked over to a friend's baseball game and caught a ride home from a couple of girls.  Actually they were his friend's sisters but he played it up.  Sometimes he's such a nerd.  I love this kid though.  He just cracks his Dad up.  Like the other day we were playing Settlers of Catan and he says,  I need two wood McDonald girl.  No two wood.  Come on you did work at McDonalds right?  He can just be such a smarty.  Of course his Dad cracks up and now he has started calling me McDonald girl.  Some of his teachers at school liked this kind of hunor but others didn't appreciate it as much.  I heard that one day he walked into a classroom and thought there was a substitute teacher so he says loudly "Alright we have a sub!"  Then he looks over his shoulder as his regular teacher was walking in.  "Oh Hi Mr. -----"  Everyone laughed.  The teacher probably realized that it was Isaac but choose to address the class about attitudes towards subs.  I can only shake my head or more like beat it against the wall.  I do have to say that I have appreciated how open he has been with me.  We reguarly have discussed slang vocabulary words that he has heard at school.  Sometimes I can face him and talk to him about it but there have been other times that I have had to stand with my back to him while I explained certain terms.  There are times that he's so responsible and I think ok we are on our way and then other times I am floored.  Really?  It is such an up and down thing with a teenager.  He has taken to standing next to me or my friends to see if he's taller yet than us.  He walks up to us so nonchalantly , then stands straight and looks over to see if he can look down.  He has surpassed me in height.  Today getting him shoes I was shocked to see how big his feet are.  I think he might have grown into John's shoes.  Whoa.  He's wearing men's tshirts now.  I see glimpses of the man he's becoming.  His graduating class is 2016.  It's weird having a year assigned to him. Fourteen years!  Fourteen years have passed in the blink of an eye.  When I really think about it, I do love having him here at home and can't imagine him going/living anywhere else but I pretend that I'm looking forward to it.  I guess I am but deep down it's frightening.  I'm not sure if this is his last summer without a job may last summer without a phone.  Next thing that will happen is that he'll be driving.  Yikes.  Too fast. 

Totally unrelated to the photos.
The other day we were at the orthodontist for Job and my cell phone rang, which is rare.  I didn't answer.  Then it rang again and then I received a text.  Hmm.  Someone really needs to get a hold of me.  I waited until our appointment was done and then I looked at the number.  It seemed familar but I didn't recognize it right off the bat.  I texted back that I would be home soon and what could I do for them?  As I was driving home I realized who it was.  I had Job call the number.  Here is the conversation.
Job:  Hello this is Job.
Person:  Who?
Job:  Job.  You called my Mom's number.
Person:  Who's your Mom?
Job:  Leslie.
Person:  I don't know any Leslie.
Job:  You called the wrong number.  click.
I went back later and looked at the number he dialed and the number that called me.  Turns out he dialed a 301 instead of a 201 number.  Makes me chuckle.

Next year this will be Isaac's home away from home.  Can it be that I have a high schooler?  Funny thing, my high school was FHS (Fergus High School).  My high school colors were Blue and Gold.  My high school mascot was The Golden Eagles.  Isaac's high school is FHS (only its Ferndale High School).  His high school colors are Blue and Gold.  His high school mascot is The Golden Eagles.  Not too different. I am going to have to get a photo of my high school

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Fergus+High+school+Lewistown+mt&view=detail&id=7297AE117C1B98DD991135D1916194ECB1D415B5 my high school

 Lona scoured craig's list for a bike and found one for $25.  She emailed the person and had John drive her to meet him and check the out the bike for her.  Then she handed over her hard earned cash.  Job on the other hand decided that his skates were worn out and went to Big Five to purchase a new pair.  He handed over his hard earned reffing money. We are still on the in line skating kick here but we've added a new twist.  What do you get when you mix bikes, in line skates and a rope?  A wheeled version of water skiing. Lona has learned to whip Job around with her bike.  I'm ready for a major injury to happen.



She loves Miss Bailey

Lona came leaping and bounding out of her ballet class on Thursday.  She was dancing through the parking lot screaming and shouting.  Her face was lit up in the biggest smile.  She about burst through the van door.  "I made it to Ballet 3!"  She moved up in ballet to the next class.  She didn't think she would move up until the next year.   On top of that the recital was Sunday and she was a snowflake in the performance.  She danced a little with Lucy when she entered Narnia through the wardrobe.  The very big deal was that she had a 5 second part with a boy!  She had to place her hand in his and he placed his other hand on her hip while she lifted her leg in the air.  At one point she came home saying "I am not comfortable, just not comfortable at all.  Don't tell Dad."  To make matters worse the mom of the boy wanted a photo of them together!  She loves ballet but the whole boy thing is just not HER thing yet. She likes the costumes, the make up, the whole shebang except the boy thing. The production was amazing. They had it snowing for the snowflake part.  I really don't know how they do it but they put on an incredible performance.  The place was packed.  It covered all 7 books of the Narnia series and took over 3 hours!  We were able to see some of Lona's friends dance especially our neighbor.  Of course our favorite part of the program was watching Lona. I looked over at John and tears were streaming down his face.  I love that she touches his heart and the love he has for his daughter.   Isaac's favorites were all the little 2, 3, 4 and 5 year olds.  He loved how they sometimes danced, they tripped, they smiled, they ran around.  He called it chaos.  Job was quiet through the show.  I don't think ballet at all is his thing.  That's OK.

He has been rollerblading 4 hours a day for the past two weeks. He finally spent some of his reffing cash and bought himself a nice pair of inline skates. He was shaking so hard with excitement that he could hardly strap them up. He then wore them for 5 hours last night and they have been on his feet since 7:30 this morning.  There is a path on the driveway that he has worn by going around the wazzis.  Both he and Lona think that its in a DNA shape.  Really? 

Yes, our family is a little bit crazy.  But I love them. The other night they all went out on the trampoline and I locked the door.  I just needed a little quiet time.  Alone!

About 8 years ago my grandmother sent out this piano.  My uncle was driving out here to pick up a car and my grandmother decided that since he was going to be in the Seattle area then he could swing by our house and drop off a piano.  Like a good son-in-law that he is he did just that.  We really aren't that close to Seattle but he hauled the piano in.  It was a couple of years before we were ready for the kids to start lessons.

This year Isaac decided that he wasn't much of a music kid so he isn't taking lessons.  He loves his iPod and has particular tastes in music.  He likes LeCrae.  I do too.
Job took a couple of years of piano but this year a friend of his loaned Job his too small guitar.  We have started taking music lessons from our youth pastor and Job loves it.  He's learning actual songs and his favorite thing is to play lead guitar. Here is a video of him playing lead lines.



We've had this great piano teacher in years past but she decided to focus her energies at the University this year so we went in search of another teacher.  We tried one but it didn't work out for us.  So we found Mrs Gault in Ferndale.  Apparently she is the go to piano teacher if you live in Ferndale.  She has a wonderful studio in her house with a Grand piano.  She is very good with kids.  Lona brought her some music and wanted to learn how to play Star Wars so Mrs. Gault worked with Lona on that piece of music all the while having Lona work on others as well.  She also asked Lona about her interests and then picked out this cute piece of music called At the Ballet.  These were the two pieces of music Lona performed at her piano recital.  Two of her friends take lessons from Mrs. Gault as well.  The students were at a variety of levels and did very well.

Somehow Job has gotten on this hockey kick at our house.  He's following the teams in the Stanley Cup.  His team is out.  They are the Canooks.  He dresses up in his "hockey" gear.  It's made out of knee pads, roller blades, a snowboard helmet and sparing gloves.  He had me throw balls at him as he defended his goal.  He thinks of himself as a goalie.  Isaac and Lona take slapshots at him in the house with a small spongy ball.  He roller blades back and forth infront of the house and has neighbor kids take shots at him infront of the garage door.  Some how he had this idea and it won't go away.  Now he has decided that he wants hockey lessons this summer at the sportsplex.  Hmmmm.  I did buy him a New Jersey Devil shirt.  It was a reward for finishing his fourth year in Awana and completing all four books as well.  Unfortunately the Devils lost the Stanley Cup in game 6. 

Things are winding down for the summer.  The ballet company that Lona dances at is having their recital coming up which means getting the dance perfect, checking costumes, trying hair styles and make up.  Last week was picture day.  What I really want is the option to pick and choose the photos that I want.  I want a photo of Lona's class but I have to buy a package in order to get the class.  I think that the photographer would make way more money if she offered just class photos.  There were only two out of 10 girls ordering photos in Lona's class.  I asked a Mom if she could purchase the class photo on her order and then I gave her the money for that.  I works but silly.  In Lona's dance she has a boy partner at the end.  The mother asked if Lona would pose with her boy for a photo.  Sure but I don't have a photo of that either.  I did peak into the photo studio and I had essentially the same set up at home.  I wanted a little more Rembrandt lighting to give some mood to the photos but then I also use my flash.  You can see a little Rembrandt lighting in the top first photo.  Lona's nose has some shadow but her check is lit up.  This side lighting gives her depth.  I'm starting to learn how to use my flash but that is a whole other post.   While Lona was getting herself ready I made Job help me with placement in the studio.  Just some thoughts.  I had Job stand far away from the background so that the background isn't lit up with the studio light.  I want to get a king size black top sheet or another black backdrop to cover the floor.  This one just wasn't long enough to cover both the background and the floor.  I used more fabric that I had.  We did a couple of shoots.  First right after I had braided her hair and put into a bun.  Then another shoot after dance with all her make up on.  These were my favorites.  I wanted more than the classic stand there pose and I also wanted to show her hair and her makeup.  Sometimes the best photos aren't necessarily the photos of the face.
Job helped me put the backdrop up and then did some posing.  He could just stand there, he needed a prop.  What better prop then his most favorite Lego creation.  He built this four years ago!  An adjustment needed to be made this year - he had to bump out the nose area.  Apparently his nose was smooshed against the helmet so he created a nose cavity.  I am planning on giving him a book all about his Lego creations and I think I'm going to use these photos for the author photo of the book.

When ever our neighbors find something interesting they always let us know.  This day they found a frog.  Not just your everyday little frog, but this huge slimy thing.  He would raise up on his legs anytime someone came near him and then croak; a load, low rumbly kind of croak.  And he would puff out his throat.  If someone was too near him then and all the above wouldn't deter them, he would jump - far.  He made for a good subject though.  We placed him in our neighborhood pond but in hind sight maybe we shouldn't have.  John told us that this kind of frog is an invasive species.  Lona was the only one who would hold him but she needed gloves.  Job's answer was a PVC pipe and a hammer - how very boyish.  I have no idea what he would have done with the PVC pipe but it makes a funny photo.  And Isaac, well he was sick at home on the couch.  Poor boy.