... National Cheese Pizza Day

It's National Cheese Pizza Day!  We celebrated this afternoon by heading out to the grocery store and ... wait, Publix doesn't have cauliflower pizza anymore?  Hold on.  Maddie and I then drove over to Kroger for some gluten-free pizza and then... hold on.  What?  They don't have anything like that either?  What is going on?  Is there some sort of cauliflower shortage or something?  Fortunately, Maddie and I found our gluten-free pizza at Ingles, the third grocery store on our journey.  We picked up a few other items, and went back to Mom for some pizza!

INSERT PIZZZA PICTURE HERE

We're big celebrators here.  It was a good day today, a quiet prep day as we get ready for tomorrow's big service.  Most of our staff and volunteers will be up at Camp FCY, something that Maddie went to for the last few years - but not this time around.  We'll have a good day, but like so many episodes of Star Trek, we have somewhat of a skeleton crew left behind to manage things under unusual circumstances at the Chapel, instead of at KidPak's usual location.

The Braves lost today, but they won yesterday and they're doing well over all against their division rivals, the Phillies.  But we watched the game all the way through and despite the rough start, it actually turned out a bit closer thanks to a few home runs from Riley and Acuna.  

While watching though, look what I finished - the final part of the LEGO tryptic of the story of Jesus:  the baptism, crucifixion, and the last part is now done, the resurrection.

INSERT PICTURE OF LEGO RESURRECTION HERE

This was a very nice little project, and I'm glad to support this guy's different assemblies.  He's a fun master builder, and in fact Mom has signed me up to get the next one in a little bit.  It features the story of Daniel, and looks to be a bit bigger than this one.

Tonight we got to bed earlier of course.  We read though, getting a few more pages of Soul Music under our belts.  Then Mom and I did our puzzles - and then it was time for prayers and a good night's rest.

Bicker and Squeak

Yes, what a game!  We needed that one - the Braves defeated the Phillies tonight, and it was fantastic to see the Braves dominate that team that's been threatening and chasing them down.  The Phillies had been doing really great, the best in all baseball last month.  And so the table was set for an incredible game - and it certainly was just that.  Go Braves!

So today was a quiet day, at least on our end.  Maddie had a busy day, pretty much out the whole time over at the college first, over with Nate, and then off to taekwondo tonight.  She came back with a lot of stories from tonight's practice - tonight was a lot of fun.

 

We have these hummingbird feeders attached to our windows now, and sure enough, we have hummingbirds coming right up to the window now, in addition to the other feeders we have out there.  There are plenty of hummingbirds around, and of course they're all territorial, so a lot of effort is spent chasing each other around when there are plenty of places to get a drink from the vast amount of hummingbird food that's there.  Still, they bicker and squeak.

Just a quick sea monkey update:  we have dozens and dozens of little ones in there, a new generation arising, just as the older generation is passing on.  We have nothing but small ones in there so it's a delicate time, but I think we'll get a good number of adults again, and we'll keep the whole thing going.  It's been well over three years since that first packet of eggs was dropped in there, so it's all pretty cool.

I'm still plugging along on my Psalm project, and it won't be long before some of these start showing up here.  I'm on Psalm 125 now, and I've been setting them all to different styles of music - it's been super fun.  

We read a bit from "Soul Music" tonight, and should be done with that in about four days or so - time to pick a new book from Discworld!  In the meantime, things are coming to a head with our current story, the Band with Rocks In on the run from all sorts of characters.  It's been a fun read though.  We said our prayers afterwards, and got everyone tucked in for a good night's rest.

Loop Day

It's Loop Day, and now we're in the "Ber Months" something fierce!  Loop Day, of course, is the day that Mrs. Peregrine's peculiar children were kept safe - temporarily - in a time loop many years ago.  We've been sort of marking this day each year for fun by actually watching the Tim Burton movie, one of our favorites.

Loop Day was celebrated today by just the usual sort of thing, first of all the virtual walking in Yellowstone.  I'm over by the Old Faithful geyser area, and even got a virtual post card along the journey.

We're still working in the classroom rather than our office area, it's fun sitting at these middle school desks in this big room, all of us separately working on different projects on these big round tables.  It's a sunny day outside, a lot of heat this week.

No school today for Maddie.  Taekwondo lately has been a bit strenuous with the cardio training, so a day at home resting is good.  We closed out the day with our usual reading, prayers - and a good night's rest!

...

 ...Maddie at school, sunny heat, finishing November's book, duck costumes, walking Yellowstone, daily countdown, Team Edge practice, Braves win 9-0... updates coming soon...

... The Ber Months

INSERT CONSTRUCTION PICS

 

What a way to kick off the new month!  We were working in a classroom today, a few of us together displaced by the recent flooding of the office area.  The drywall at the bottom was cut away, and the estimate is something like three weeks for the time it will take to get things back to normal.  

But the Ber Months are here officially, and that's good news.  It's our favorite season, time for all kinds of fun activities - although the temperature is pretty warm outside.  In fact, it'll be super warm for another week or so.  And the rain is infrequent, so we're out there watering our garden and the potted plants.  We've got a few tomatoes left, and that Mad Hatter Pepper is getting a little bigger, although I'm not sure how big it will get by the time it is ripe enough.

Regardless of temperature, we're celebrating the Ber Months right away.  Mom has some great decorations she's putting out, and we've ordered new pillowcases with some fall designs on them.  We're having some of that delicious Bones coffee too.  

Today's flavor:  Frankenbones, which is a lighter flavor, a bit smoother and fairly tasty.  Mom ordered a lot of coffee for us, so we'll be enjoying this until November when it's time to do the Christmas flavors.  And speaking of fall flavors, we're still doing the pumpkin spice protein shake - and the Monster Crunch cereals too!  Yummy!

Maddie wasn't driving today, but she was getting some homework done.  It's somewhat like high school in regards to workload, at least so far.  She's doing just fine.  This morning, the three of us went off to see Doc Williams for some chiropractic work - Maddie was laughing through the whole thing as usual.  It's a lot of fun, and by the end of it everyone was feeling better, nice and relaxed.  Our next appointment is in October, and that'll be fun to see what costumes the staff comes up with.

The Braves lost again today, which makes sense because it's a team with a losing record.  We seem to have trouble with those.  

Tonight we continued "Soul Music," and said our prayers afterwards.  Time for some sleep!

Last of August

Still marching along Yellowstone virtually!  I got this post card here from the Grand Prismatic Pool area there, one that I've been able to see a lot of with virtual walks in the area.  There are enough POV hikes online that you can walk on a treadmill and hike through Yellowstone everyday through this 75 mile journey. 

We were out trimming the hedges today, but the temperature is a bit hot still.  Maddie was at school, and afterwards getting free ice cream with Nate.  Ice cream always helps.  And it was helping Mom and I, who went over to Mellow Mushroom for a little date.

We had our usual gluten-free Pacific Rim, along with a gluten-free brownie and ice cream on top.  It was super delicious!

Maddie was off to taekwondo tonight, and she's involved with the cardio class now, and that's a lot for her.  The quote of the day each time is, "I'm going to feel sore in the morning."  Yep.

Mom had a visit with the dermatologist today, and there were a few areas that were of concern, but thankfully not as much concern now afterwards.  She's got some creams and a prescription for something that she isn't supposed to use too much, but it's there to help.  We got a good report and that's always a feeling of joy.  God is faithful!

We watched the Braves tonight, and their winning streak ended against the Giants, ironic given how bad that team is doing this year.  I guess we were just being nice and giving them a little morale boost, right?  At least the Braves are still in first place, although those pesky Phillies have had the best record in all of baseball in August, and are always behind us.  If not for our own winning streak, they'd have overtaken us for sure.  

Anyway, it was a decent day today.  We read tonight just a little bit, and got to bed after prayers.  Today is the last day of August, and tomorrow the "BER MONTHS" begins.  It's the most wonderful time of year!

KidPak at the Chapel

 This morning's service was a great one, and the kids had a fantastic time going to church at ... THE CHAPEL!  Yes, we had our service this morning at the Chapel, where we usually do weddings, funerals and special services.  It was a bit of a twist to have parents dropping off their kids over there, but we had a great morning with games, videos, and all the fun of a typical KidPak service.  We were out there redirecting parents and families and then while service was going on, just sitting back and savoring this unique moment.  Maddie was there to take some pictures, and she got a lot of really good ones! 

We were walking out to the parking lot, and Bailee did something SUPER NICE.  I was talking about how God blessed us with a Braves bobblehead last week - it was the same one we would have gotten if we had gone to the game we were supposed to.  And randomly, our friend from KidPak got us a bobblehead, not knowing any of that.  So anyway, Bailee was at the game recently, and she got us another Braves bobblehead, one for Andres Galarraga, the "Big Cat"!  

Now we have two additional Braves bobbleheads, along with the ones we got of Chris Sale at the Stripers game... we don't collect these things, but suddenly have a collection in the workings!

After all that, we saw someone in the parking lot that we hadn't seen in a while, and got invited to Wang's Chinese Restaurant for lunch.  Why not?  We had a nice meal over there, although we were all a bit tired, and then... it was time to get home.

The rest of the day was quiet again.  Maddie was off doing homework, and Mom and I were watching the Braves win again this afternoon, followed by some cleaning up around the house.  Later on, I finished the next part of a LEGO project that I've been working on:

It came out really well!  Tonight we saw "Box Trolls" again, because yes, we're starting up the fall season early around here.  The "Ber Months" start soon, and that's when the fun begins.  It's still super hot out there in the afternoons, but we're feeling a slight chill in the morning and we're ready for fall.

We read tonight from "Soul Music," and then afterwards, it was time for prayers, getting the Plush Entourage tucked in... and some sleep!