My Minutia

Chessheads

The past few months the guys have been really into playing chess. They are pretty serious about it, too.

I don't play chess, I just like to take pictures of it all...

The Chess King in the house (our almost 18 year old) has been coaching our 13 year old. Too cute. They are mighty serious about it. They entered a tournament this past weekend and Mr. 13 year old got 3rd place in his age group!

I tried to get a good shot of him with his trophy, but that didn't work out.

I got this one of him telling me all about it though...

He is not really a "sit still and strategize" kinda guy...so this was an experience for him I am sure. I'm glad he did so well though! I'm know that the boys and Daddio will be playing lots of chess over Christmas break!

What a Weekend

Our daughter and her Cross Country Team traveled to The NAIA Nationals in Vancouver, Washington. Their team did really well, but it's always an honor just to go to nationals. Best of all? She and two of her teammates got All American Academic Scholar Awards. 

We. Are. So. Proud. Of. Her!

Can't wait for her to come later this week for Thanksgiving! Can't even wait.

Next tidbit to share, our Son (a senior in high school) won 1st place in the citywide Chess Tournament for his Division! He has never participated in an official chess tourney before, so he was in the Unranked Division.

 

His friends, family and school all know he is an amazing chess player, and now the city knows, too. So proud of him! This will be great to add to those college apps, right?!

 

Checking in with our Senior

Where. Does. The. Time. Go.

Last night was Drake's Cross Country Banquet.  I'm still in denial that he is a Senior this year. How did that happen so fast? I know I have shared pix from his running season, so I won't share any of those today.

Here the senior guys are giving superlative awards to the underclassmen. Always good for laughs.

 

Yes, I'm the Mom who refuses to use a flash even in poor lighting...so these are the pix I got. Oh well. Check out the centerpiece.  Old, used, stinky running shoes spray painted in the team colors. On a linen table cloth in a country club. Pretty gross. I still can't believe that (shaking head in disgust).

Anyhoo, it was a great evening.

He gets emails, phone calls and snail mail daily from colleges. It used to be sorta "fun" to get this mail. But here is a collected stack (I pulled off the steps) to show you. This is probably two weeks worth...not kidding.

 

So that's our next venture. He has so much deciding to do. He has applied to a few colleges/universities, but all of that is still very much in the works. I think he is overwhelmed with it all. Senior year is crazy, isn't it?

Finding Fall

We road tripped this weekend, to our daughter's cross country meet. It was her school's home meet. The landscapes are beginning to dance with color here. Fall is my most favorite time of the year. I always enjoy Fall road trips...love the view.

 

Beautiful weather for the race.

 

Their team sported pink for Breast Cancer Awareness. Aren't they cute in their pink knee highs?!

 

Poor thing...she was sickly all last week, nasty cold. She ran anyway...so determined.

A few sun streaked photos...it was so pretty watching the sun set across this pretty park...

 

 

 

It's an A. Mac Attack!

(actually Mc, not Mac...anyhoo) Yes, I just had to pop in and show you this poster my daughter, Allie, did for her University's Art & Design Big Ass Art Day. Oh, and she didn't name this Annual Event...that's it's official title!

 

One of her graphic design professors asked her if she would design the poster, flyers and tickets to this Event. It all takes place in the Art & Design Building. Attendance is required for all art and design students (I'm jealous).

Anyhoo, he really likes her illustrations and doodles...and they turned out great. I wish you could see the details...some of the illustrations and details are so funny...like the man on the right with next to an ass...errr...donkey...nope, ass.

Here, he had some students cut up the poster and put it on cardboard boxes. He really likes installations...

 

That's pretty big, isn't it? At the bottom is says...Save The Date, Playaaa!

Haha....gotta love the life and lingo of college kids.

The Puppy Whisperer

The other afternoon I spotted my son through the kitchen window. He was in the backyard playing our two doggies. They love him so much. He has a way with four legged friends. Who knew a filfhy old tennis ball could bring so much joy? Oh, it can.

 

Especially when he keeps throwing it her way...

The Summer breeze stops her in her tracks. Must stop and take it all in.

Of course, when I come out with a camera, I get looks from him like this...

Sorry to interrupt your play time. But you see the light, and the smiles, and the peacefulness...and, and...

Carry on then. Carry on.

Catching Up

Heyyyy, how was your long weekend? We are sorta dragging around here today, which is a sign it was a good one! I've got a few pix from our 4th with family. We always have a great time together!

My sweet niece, the birf-day girl...

 

These two blondies were cupcake, smoke bomb and sparkler buddies. Pretty cute watching them, I gotta tell ya.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have the 4th...guy style.

They rarely sat still, too busy lighting off stuff. So when they did, out came the camera!

When it got dark, we took pix of the kids with sparklers...with the f-stop cranked on the camera. That was a whole lot of fun! Love how this one came out.

A few more...

Hope your 4th was great!

 

Soaring Wings Blues Festival

Every once in a while I'm lucky enough to get a date with my hubby...just us. Maybe 3-4 times a year?! Yeah. Hey, don't laugh...

Well, so, Saturday night was one of those nights. We went to an almost local vineyard for a blues festival.

 

I've been wanting to listen to a blues band for a while, and was delighted when he found out about this place! Totally casual and fun. He's a peach for making this date night!

 

 

It was an early Summer evening...beautiful weather. Vivid and picturesque landscape.

Cheers (clink go the glasses)!

 

The band was underway when we got there...billowing soulful tunes on the hill. I wanted to sit closer to the band...ever since Blue Mondays in college I've really liked blues music and wanted to be "one" with the tunes...but we had already set up camp, so he said no to moving closer.

Plus then we would have been really close to the dancing area, and I knew I'd want to dance and I knew he wouldn't and I knew I'd better not push the issue and just enjoy the tunes...

 

...and the cheese and crackers and later, BBQ. So tasty with our locally crafted wine, Traminette 2009.

 

After we dined and got more comfy, we started noticing how many folks were wearing hats.

It was pretty much a field we were in, so I guess hats were a good idea.

But maybe the hats were less about function and more about style...blues...or Summer ambiance?

We decided to wear hats next time. Definitely. So many styles though. Hats make a personal statement, you know?

So we started scanning the crowd for a hat for my hubby. This was not the hat for him.

Nope. In fact, I threw out all of his ball caps like 5 years ago (it was time).

This fellow's hat looks good with his shirt, I must say...

 

This one caught hubby's eye...the khaki hat...Greg Norman "The Shark" style.  His wife must have picked it out for him, think?

 

But then we spotted this fine chapeau...

...especially liking the feather with a 'tude on the side. Wonder if the sideburns come with the hat?

 

Now that we had his hat figured out, we needed to find one for me. Hmmmm. Do you have a favorite hat? What's it like? This one is nice:

 

 This one is totally not going to work, for me...and we laughed at the thought of it:

 

This one is sweet and he thought it was perfect for me:

I couldn't stop looking at this one though. Classic. Chic. Blues-ish. But it was hard to get a photo at first...bear with me...

 

This is a better shot. She was close by, so I felt strange and creeper-ish taking shots of her. Yikes...

 

The hot air balloons were so pretty in the fields...

 

Sunset on this hill in the vineyard was gorgeous, even though it was overcast. Talk about pink...

 

When the sun went down, folks lightened up even more. As you can see, the "cute hat girl's" hat is on his head now...
 

The band played on into the night, it was so relaxing!

We decided we need more dates like this. Everyone does.

But we need to get the perfect hats first, though. Can't wait!

 

Hello, June

I love June...not too hot, not too cold. All of our flowers bloom...or explode I should say. Our peonies just started blooming!!

Too bad my Mother in Law missed out on seeing them. She's been visiting for 10 days and just left. They bloomed a day later. Isn't that how it goes?

 

Our roses are blooming all over the place, too. I cut these this morning. They've my fav. Not sure what they are called.

 

I keep meaning to tell you about Designer, Illustrator; Tabitha Emma. The first day of every month she shares the pretties desktop calendars she makes. I always get them. Just when you start to get tired of the desktop wallpaper, it's time to change it again to the new month. :) Check out June's calendar here.

Lastly, our daughter ran at The Boystown Memorial Run and she won her division!

She was 13th out of about 450-500 runners. We loved watching and being a part of the Memorial Day fun. Boystown is such a pretty place, especially in the Spring and Fall.

Proud Daddio and daughter right after the race...

 

His Last Day

This is me today.

 

Source: cuteoverload.com via Teresa on Pinterest

 

It's my youngest's last day of elementary school today. This year truly flew by.

Lately it's been really bittersweet every morning when I drop him off. He is leaving his elementary school and moving on to middle school. That's a really big step. He's moving from his parochial school to a public school, too.

I keep looking at the rows of children, all in their navy shorts and white shirts. It's always been one of my very favorite sights in life...rows of children in uniforms.  I still have all my kid's uniforms from their first days of school! Such a sap.

 

(First Day of Sixth Grade)

 

When I think about how all 3 of our kids have attended our church's elementary school, and how I've dropped them off every school day for the last 15 years...and now that's all coming to an end, well, my throat gets a little lump in it, that's for sure.

 

(July 2010)

 

Hopefully I'll be able to hold it together during Mass today! It's the last day of school and hooray for Summer! Bit I know that lump's still gonna be there. And I will be strong for him, and for me. I will.

 

(Dressed up for Accessory Day during Spirit Week)

He is sad to leave his friends...the first friends he ever made really. The friends he's had since he was three.

(Spring Music Program, 2011)

But if you've ever spent more than 2 minutes with him, you would know, he is a great kid and makes friends so easily. In fact, that's one his talents. He is going to do just fine at this new school this Fall, he will do better than fine...he'll be awesome!

 

(Easter 2011)

Now if I can just make it through Mass...