The road from 16 to 17 is filled with firsts

In just a matter of days, Zach will reach his 17th birthday.  I never realized how many firsts that 16th year holds.

• driving permit / first time behind the wheel
• first job
• restricted license

Just a few weeks ago, Zach also became the owner of his first car.  Through an unexpected chain of events, he wound up with Tara's car.  Tara took ownership of my dad's old car when he bought a new vehicle.  Now Zach has to learn how to drive his little car.  Because it is a clutch, Andy has to teach him.  As I have stated before, we rarely see him. Right now, it is nice to have a third car.  Zach drives Andy's car when we need that extra vehicle, and Andy drives Zach's.

New Furniture

Buying furniture makes me feel frivolous.  I know it was needed, but need in a 1st world country is so relative.  Of course, the price and future payments cause me to gasp as well.  Nonetheless, I am very pleased with our choices and with the organization brought to the rooms just by having it.

Julia claims her side of the dresser (on the left) is more organized than Savannah's.  I'd call that quite a stretch.

You can see that Wyatt decorates every part of his room.  I am anxious to get some new paint on those walls.  We are just so swamped with schedules right now, and our checkbook seems to be hemorrhaging with new expenses coming at us frequently.

That's  a rock collection on that dresser.  Andy inadvertently flushed Wyatt's fish during the process of clearing the room for new furniture.  YIKES!

District Champs - and Wonders Never Cease

As you would expect, the Page household has been busy this week.

We called it a truce last week and caved to the demand for working furniture in our home.  Andy and I purchased new bedroom furniture for the girls and Wyatt. Both rooms were out of control to the point where we could not walk in them.  We had split a dresser and chest set between the two, and at 15 years old, the drawers were broken on both pieces.  Every time they were opened they fell out, so we had drawers continuously out of the dressers, plastic dressers to make up for a lack of storage and mess upon mess.  Both rooms were redone with new furniture. Of course preparing for new furniture meant emptying the rooms.  Andy is an awesome man!  He took on that task and almost completed it singlehandedly.  Everything looks much better, and the smell of new wood adds a nice accent to the whole process.

Now we are working toward painting the outdoor trim, remodeling the shower/bathtub in the kids' bathroom, and renovating the living room.  I am hoping to have all these projects complete by Christmas.

This week also included the end of the field hockey season.  The JV team won their last game playing against the school where I work as a librarian.  After three games this week to close this season, we are happy to put this sport behind us.  Savannah plans to play for an indoor club throughout the winter and may hang up her stick after that.  

Wyatt and Julia are close to wrapping up the soccer season.  They start tournament play next week, and it will either end there or they will have one week following that.  Julia scored a goal for two weeks in a  row.  Wyatt plans to continue playing at an indoor club while Julia will move on to tumbling and cheerleading for the winter.  We are excited that Wyatt loves soccer so much...better to play a sport than a video game which is our constant battle with him.

This weekend started on a high note with a football win.  Zach's team faced a tough, undefeated opponent.  Much of the game was a nail-biter, but the win was solid and confirmed the team as district champs.  

Will wonders never cease!? Our broken dishwasher was fixed on schedule by Sears this morning.  Typically, they call and cancel when they are supposed to be here and then reschedule several times before getting to the job.  Praise the Lord!  It is a good day in the Page household!

Homecoming 2012 Revisited

 The short story of homecoming goes like this: we all had a blast!

 A great family who happens to be friends of ours gives out 2000 hoodies for homecoming, and yes, many people are disappointed to miss this special treat each year.  The Trans are also gracious enough to personalize the hoodies at no cost.  Savannah chose "Bonz Sis" for hers despite the fact that I keep telling her that she can have her own identity aside from being Zach's little sister.  However, he thought it was awesome.  Julia wanted Bonecrusher's little sister on her hoodie, but it would not fit.

We won the game with a 41-6 victory.  Our opponent scored their one and only goal in the last 7 seconds of the game.  They challenged us as an undefeated team ranked quite a bit higher than we were, so this victory was sweet indeed.

While we enjoyed the homecoming game and festivities, Wyatt raced his regatta boat at the Cub Scouts Raingutter Regatta.  Even though Zach enjoyed 5 years of Cub Scouts, this event was new to us, but we managed to pull off a cool looking boat even if it did not take the championship.  A shout out of thanks to Jonathan for taking Wyatt to this event.  Wyatt loved it!  I think Jonathan had fun too.

On Saturday night a high school full of kids pumped up from a sweet homecoming victory took to the gym dance floor to celebrate.  The freshman class gathered at a country club for dinner before the dance.  Savannah insisted that she had a great time.

Savannah doesn't fight the mamarazzi in public as much as Zach does which is why I have this picture of her and not one of him.  She has already sketched this.

Andy, Wyatt, Julia and I had an adventure of our own with a dinner out with the Greenleafs and the Neats.  We couldn't find  a decent restaurant close enough to the country club to make it back on time to pick up the girls, so we went to a Mexican restaurant housed in the back of a tiny grocery store.  The food was good, and the company even better, but it was an interesting place.

I did not leave Zach out of this equation.  He also had a blast with all the homecoming festivities.  However, he did not get ready before we left with Savannah to meet her class for dinner.  He assures me that I can still get pictures in the park of him.  However, I literally see him about 15 minutes a day with his work, school, and football schedule. 

Much more fun to come with the Pages.

Flashback Friday

Flashback Friday

Today is my mom's birthday.  She would have turned 62 today if she were still with us.  

I got 40 years with her, and we were great friends.  I miss her every single day.

The last photo of Mom and Dad together.

Our last family photo taken just under a year before cancer took her life.

It has been less than two years.  Yet I really see how much my children have changed and grown, and it reminds me of much we've missed her.

The world is such a dangerous place, and sometimes it helps to know that Mom is completely safe, especially in these trying times.  

Homecoming 2012

 It is Thursday night as I type this.   Savannah came home today and ruined my Saturday plans.  You see, homecoming is this Saturday, and I planned to meet a friend at a local park and take pictures of our kids before they headed off to the dinner and dance.  However, another friend of Savannah's invited Savannah to get ready at her house. This friend lives close to the location of the class dinner and thought it would be fun to get a group of girls together to get ready and head out to the dinner.  Great idea! However, my picture park plans would be derailed.  I remedied the situation by having Savannah dress for the dance and allow me to take the pictures today.  My only disappointment is the fact that I had hoped to get Zach and Savannah in the pictures together.

This replaces school pictures for Savannah.  

Remember that you can click on any picture to see it bigger.