I have BUGS in my freezer...

There are several things that are a “rite of passage” when you go to our little grade school.

In third grade they each had a rock collection to do. It was simple - 12 rocks. Find a black one, a round one, a square one (I do believe Tom CREATED a square one for Tyler...we couldn't FIND one...so, he chiseled one!)

In the 4th grade, it was the Illinois scrapbook. Tyler had to do it – 50 facts about Illinois in scrapbook form. He had all kinds of facts and all kinds of pictures from all over Illinois (because…I am a photographer…I take LOTS of pictures. And, the kids are almost used to it). He had everything from Metropolis to Chicago. AND, because we knew that Zach would be in the 4th grade, too, I always took pictures of him by all of the interesting Illinois stuff. We planned ahead. Anyway, Tyler’s Illinois scrapbook was awesome. I got an A+ on it. I mean, err…HE got an A+ on it. Then the grade school hired another 4th grade teacher and last year, Zach had her instead of the teacher Tyler had.

She SAID they were doing an Illinois scrapbook…but time kept passing and the box full of Illinois memorabilia kept getting dustier. Then the edict came down. They would be doing not an Illinois scrapbook, but an Illinois ABC book. Through the alphabet with three Illinois things for each letter. Zach got right to work and said he was doing great and needed NO help. What is a mother to do? FORCE her artistry on her son? I checked on him a little but, for the most part, I let him do his own thing. THEN…the day before it was due arrived. And I decided to check on my son and his ABC Illinois book. We got through A, B and C without too many problems. Then we hit D and I immediately knew I should have been checking CLOSELY all along. Three things for Illinois… Well, we have D – DOGS. There are dogs in Illinois. D – DOLLARS. There are dollars in Illinois. Is this what the teacher wants??? I don’t think this is what she wants. And then the D of all time. D…DIAPERS. People in Illinois wear diapers. Oh, my. What to do…laugh or cry? I think I yelled. Poor kid. Starting at D (and of course it was about 8:30 at night) and we had a looong night in front of us. Although it wasn’t perfect, it DID make sense. So off to school he went and turned it in – on time, albeit lacking some sleep on both our parts. But here is the kicker…because OTHER kids didn’t have it turned in, anyone who turned it in completed and on time got an automatic A. He COULD have gone with D – DIAPERS. People in Illinois wear DIAPERS.

ANYWAY…back to the bugs. In my freezer. Rumor has it that another mandatory grade school project is a BUG collection in the 6th grade. Every cousin who has attended 6th grade here has done one (an NO ONE saved any critters for us to recycle and re-use!!!). So, not knowing what we need, we started collecting bugs. And we kill them by freezing them. In plastic baggies, in Tupperware, in whatever we can find. After they are bug-sicles, I put them in one "community" container. It’s kind of gross. I am beginning to wonder if cryogenics is the best form of bug preservation. There are various unclaimed legs in the container.

So, I have a cicada, grasshopper, cricket, praying mantis, lightening bug, several moths and assorted I-don’t-have-a-clue bugs. Rumor has it that TYLER has actually put some bugs in the freezer, too (so I’m not the only one collecting bugs for our…I mean HIS bug collection.) We EVEN have some “midges” flown back from one of Tom’s trips from Oregon. Hopefully this isn’t an ILLINOIS bug collection.

I remember my mandatory 7th grade project – it was a LEAF collection. Much easier to collect, much easier to store. And…prettier, too. And not so gross and…leggy.

Time flies when you're having fun....

Wow. I looked up my old blog due to a friends blog and started reading my past posts. It has been OVER 2 years since I last posted about the fun of suddenly becoming a family of four. It has been a wild ride and I absolutely LOVE being a mom. My boys are now 12 (!!!) and 11 (!!!) and they are both the joys of my life. I think that perhaps I should start writing this again because it chronicles LIFE...and I forget the details if I don't write them down. So, thanks, Anita...I have decided to start blogging again!

Hmmm. Can I sum up 28 months in a paragraph? Nope. I will remember things here and there and make note of it, but for the most part, ONWARD! The boys speak little to no Russian anymore. I speak more fluently than they do (and, if you know me, you know I am NOT fluent in Russian!) They are pretty good at English although there are MANY times that I have NO idea what they are saying. Apparently, that is common for parents of pre-teens so I am not too concerned about it. They pick up slang. Sometime accurately, sometimes...not so much. I have had Tyler say things like "You want a piece of MEAT?" out of jest to his younger brother (meaning, "You want a piece of ME?!") and the other day, Zach - the youngest of the entire family jokingly said to Tyler "Don't question my authority..." I had to laugh as I told him that, as the youngest, he had NO authority! They hear people use idioms and then they use them...not really knowing what they mean or how to use them. It's amusing, to say the least.

The boys are sport nuts. They play basketball in the winter, baseball in the summer, soccer in the fall and this year, they are running cross country. They ran their first meet on Saturday. It was a huge meet with over 14 other junior high schools. They did very well and I actually ENJOYED it. As a spectator, a cross country meet is kind of like a flock of geese waddling from one spot to the next trying to follow your runner. I love watching my boys enjoy something - and they seem to enjoy running.

School just started last week. Ty is in 6th grade - JUNIOR HIGH. Zach is in 5th grade. They are growing up SO fast. Everyone says kids grow up fast...but when you get middle aged kids to begin with (middle KID age, not middle aged), it is like childhood is on overdrive. The good thing is that I remember more of it (I don't have to go back too far!).

Tom graduates with his Masters in December. He SAYS he is done...we'll see. The man has been in college for as long as I have known him...and we celebrate 17 years of marriage this September. He gives new meaning to life-long learner!

We did a "close" vacation this year (last year we went to Florida AND California). We went to Minnesota and up to Canada. It was perfect weather and we had a wonderful time.