Costumes

It's getting to be that time of year again. Halloween! I've asked the boys what they'd like to dress up as this year.

Shawn goes back to his standard skeleton. He says that or pumpkin every year. Why change what works for you, right?

Jason has said he's thinking of being a chemist or something from Greek or Roman mythology...because that would be easy, right? lol. I wonder if we can make him a mad scientist instead? We shall see.

Jack has asked to be a raptor. A scary type of costume is somewhat new around these parts. He saw a mask at Target recently, though, that I think seemed to seal the deal on this one!

New Batch

After a rather lengthy dry spell, we are experiencing another chrysalis boom in the backyard. We have had 3 open in the last few days, and we have 7 more waiting. This one looks to be almost ready! Probably tomorrow...

Conversations With Kids

A typical Saturday afternoon conversation around these parts:

Jason: Jack, what are you doing with daddy's brush?

Jack (as he is rubbing his back with the brush): That's not a brush; that's a back scratcher.

Jason: Mom, is that a brush?

Mom: That's a brush. Is it getting your itch, Jack?

Jack: Mmm...hmmm...you know...I could use this in the shower...

Mom: No, you can't take it into the shower.

Jack: It would be so good in the shower...

The Brush Back Scratcher in question

LOL!

Friday Five

Week 6 is done for the boys. This was a tougher week for some reason. I guess maybe because the reality of 30 more weeks to the school year has settled in on us? lol

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Jack has been doing so well at school this year. He brought home a spelling test with the NEATEST writing, too! We are so proud of how hard he's worked on his writing to make it nice and neat.

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Jason is doing an art club after school on Wednesdays. Each week, the kids get to learn how to draw a different thing. Last week they learned to draw Jack Skellington. This week they learned to draw Kermit the Frog. Fun!

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Shawn is having a bit of a tougher time at school, mostly due to things out of his control. Sometimes, despite what is best for kids, schools make things more challenging than they need to be for kids. We're in that kind of situation now. It's frustrating for him (and us) but he is trying so hard to push through. He is such a trooper and we are pretty proud of him.

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Our caterpillars are still going strong outside! We currently have 7 chrysalises hanging around in the back yard. We still have 3-5 butterflies flying around back there at any given time, too, although it does seem that some of the butterflies we are seeing now are a bit beat up with ragged and faded wings.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Daddy!

A New Birth: The Failures Of Engineering (Part 5)

V: Final Blow

     

    After a month of fighting the spiders, the spider population is entirely wiped out. The lab that produced the crop spider goes out of business and troops go back to their respective countries. America is back to normal, and every patient is cured, but about 3,000,000 people died after the disaster. But in a little known country east of the Bahamas, a new piece has been added to the board...

To Be Continued In, New Birth: The Demise Of The World

A New Birth: The Failures Of Engineering (Part 4)

IV: Results Of Engineering

    With three fourths of the poisoned cured, the world turns to killing the spiders, which have become immune to regular pesticides, and multiplied by the thousands. Major countries sent troops to the US to kill the spiders. Most soldiers died, but more than a quarter of the spider population was wiped out. The militaries of those countries who chose to help soon devise a few weapons to use against the spiders. These included handheld lasers and spider weights, a cylindrical weight that comes with five others in a cartridge, that is shot from a gun toward a target and latches onto the target, smashing and killing it.

A New Birth: The Failures Of Engineering (Part 3)

III: Help From Above

    Other countries were sending their best medics with no luck. The poison was still prevailing. But then the world turned to epidemiologists to find a cure to the toxin. The first few tries were no use, but eventually they turned to mithridatism. The treatment worked on a few patients, but the poison was slowly becoming resistant to the practice. The few patients they treated were rebitten and died. A vaccine was created, and it worked against the poison, curing them, and it soon treated a quarter of all of the people infected.

A New Birth: The Failures Of Engineering (Part 2)

II: A New Danger

       Once the news of the spider outbreak in Arizona reached the rest of the US, widespread panic erupted. Arizona was declared a state of emergency, and a new sign was created to warn of the spider. News reports with information on the spider were transmitted. Symptoms of the toxin included insomnia, sweating, vomiting, trouble breathing, and death. Medical reports of deaths from the spider venom and bites were reaching the thousands. Every medical treatment was used with no luck. The US was running out of options as the toxin spread throughout the country and the spiders started to hitchhike on modes of transportation like trucks and planes and reproduced at their destinations. Over a quarter of the states were infected, and declared a state of emergency. 

By Jason Lopez

The prologue is here.

Cute Big Boy Saturday

As you can see, this kid has such a hard life...

Chilling in the pool, contemplating life.

Friday Five

Another week of school down! Inching ever closer to Fall break! Can't wait!

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The big boys had school pictures this week. They took pictures in their PE classes, which meant that both of them took pictures after lunch. If the way they look after school is any indication, these are going to be quite the pictures. lol. Who knows what we'll get this year.

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The big boys' Back to School Night is next week on Isaac's birthday. It happens to be the same night of my Back to School Night...you know, also on Isaac's birthday. That's kind of a bummer.

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Jason got the chance to advocate for himself today at a meeting. He did so well! We're very proud of him!

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Jack has been kicking butt at school this year. Keep up the hard work, Jack!

Cheese

Shawn tested out a new bench we got him. He outgrew our other little chairs, and he needed an upgrade.

He approves!

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

Jack's third grade picture!

Where did my baby go?!

Eye Appointment

Jason had an eye appointment today. Doesn't he look so grown up?!

A Day in the Life

Shopping...

Camp Fire

We had the power cut for maintenance today (10.5 hours total!), so we spent some time outside.

The boys loved the camp fire!

Cute Big Boy Saturday

It was super hot here today, so the boys beat the heat out in the pool. (I swear this is one of the best purchases we've made for these guys!)

Friday Five

Jack had a fantastic week at school this week. So proud of all of his hard work!

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Shawn has aced his first two Spanish tests at school, too! We've got a Spanish word wall going in the kitchen, so I think we're all learning along with Shawn. :)

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Jason is doing well at school, too. He likes that he gets to hang out in the Falcon center after he eats lunch. They do all kinds of games in there. Today, apparently there was some tense chess matches going on.

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For some reason, the boys are waking up super early lately. Why do they wake up so early?! I suggest that the sleep in until 10, but they laugh and ignore me. Le sigh.

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I'm anxiously awaiting Jack's school pictures. Can't wait to see how cute he looks!

Throwback Thursday

This day in 2015 - skinned knees and all. ❤️

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

We found a new visitor in our backyard!

Do you see him? It's a praying mantis.

He may have been around for a while, as he is fully grown, although males can fly.
Their life spans are from spring to fall.

We have no idea where he came from, but he was so neat to watch walking around. Too cool! Now, praying mantises do eat monarch caterpillars, which we do have quite a lot of at the moment, but we're hoping he'll prefer to eat with the aphids and spiders that have come around and leave any caterpillars alone. Fingers crossed!

Well...

Whelp, I'm phoning it in tonight. I've got nothing.

Everyone is happy. Everyone did their homework and had a good day. Yay.

And yet, I've got nothing to write about today. lol

An Original Story by Jason

A New Birth: The Failures Of Engineering

Warning: This is a work of fiction, this event is not related to any disaster in world history. (Not yet)

Made by Jason Lopez

I: Prologue 

    One day, in an isolated Arizona lab, some workers were working on a tool that could help farmers with the growing pest problems. One lab worker suggested a genetically modified insect. They took that idea after much thought and set to work. The first things they created were distorted grasshoppers that died in the first couple of days. Some fifteen failed attempts, (all resulting in deformed insects) they had a tarantula-like spider that they wanted to use to kill the many invasive insects that were eating the crops. But one worker tripped and accidentally mixed the egg of a black widow and a prototype of the crop spider as it fell in a container. The result was two eggs that fused together. The unsuspecting worker threw the egg mash in the trash thinking they were dead, which was a grave mistake. The egg hatched in three days, and the result was an entirely new spider, which reproduced over a week, and was multiplying. (copyright 9/9/2019)

Budding Novelist

Jay's working on a story, and we're quite proud of his story line. He's so creative!

His story is about a bio-engineered spider species that was originally designed to kill crop pests. Due to a lab error, one of the spiders was accidentally fused with a black widow egg and unleashed upon the world. The spiders that resulted from this error were deadly.

He's about a dozen chapters in to the story line...it's intense. At this point, human kind's survival is questionable. Eek!

We can't wait to see where his story goes!

New Friend

We found a new friend outside today!

We think it might be the caterpillar of the white butterfly we had coming around, but we're not exactly sure.

We also have found several new monarch chrysalises and caterpillars in the milkweed! It had been a few weeks since we had seen any other activity!

Friday Five

Yay for the weekend! Yay for a successful third week of school for the boys! They work so hard and are so resilient. Makes mom and dad very proud!

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Jason has apparently found himself some clubs to join at school. So far, he's joined the art club and the cards club. Exciting!

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This week was Jack's school picture day. Fingers crossed. We have such a love/hate relationship with picture day. It always feels a bit like we play some sort of lottery as to how the pictures ultimately come out. lol

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Shawn's best and favorite classes, so far, are math and Spanish. It's too fun to have everyone learn key vocabulary terms with him while he practices.

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It has been another hot few days, this week. (Why does it always seems that our warm summer never really starts until after school starts?!) Thank goodness the weekend is supposed to be a bit cooler.

Throwback Thursday

September 7, 2016 - Brotherly Love

Mostly Wordless Wednesday - Circus Scene

Apparently we have a circus in our neighborhood. Everyone is in attendance, too!