And....

That pretty much includes the entire Bullwinkle family.

If the experience with drawing Peanuts' characters is any indication, he'll soon be able to draw these just as accurately from memory.

Good job, Nolan!

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Nolan d'Art

I came down from my afternoon nap and discovered the white board in the living room.

"Whoa...Nolan!"

He reproduced these from the DVD cover of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Season 1

Now I don't know about you but I think this is pretty impressive :-)

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More Lake Pics

Jerusalem Artichoke

Pennsylvania Smartweed...I love this little plant

Something.....with blue berries

Goldenrod

Been a busy coupla days. Monday is always half a hassle with travel to Cedar Rapids and racing around to get the shopping done and back to EduCare by the time Nolan's tutoring is done. I can' be late because they close up shop after his last hour.

Next week is off, due to Labor Day and then....only four more weeks!!

School also starts next week but I'm trying not to think of that.

Trevor came down with "The Sickness" yesterday. Some nameless virus that has cold symptoms, aches and a low fever. And misery.

Today was the worst for him. He lay on the couch all day (except for some game time in the morning) and then had an interesting event after lunch.

He'd gone to the bathroom and then I heard the door open and him calling "Mommy..." and something told me to hurry. I found him coming out of the bathroom, pale as a ghost and staggering. Caught him and laid him on the floor. "I got really hot, all of a sudden."

Elevated his feet and had Nolan bring the fan over and aim it at his face. Then a wet rag to dab around his head. Even pulled up his T-shirt a little to expose his skin.

"When I was turning the doornob my eyes couldn't see right..."

So that was his near-fainting spell. After a bit he got to the couch and was feeling much better. I didn't let him go up to the hot computer room in the afternoon. He didn't want to, anyway.

Had a lowish fever later but giving him ibuprofen helps. Sure hope he feels better tomorrow. Now we wait for the shoes of Nolan and Loren to "fall."

Glad none of this was going around before everyone left for college. THAT would have been a bad way for Derek, Melinda, and Carolyn to start out the school year.

Alright. Feels like time to crash...

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Sunday, Sunday

What a day.

Hot.

Long.

Surprising.

The kids just finished a session of Rocky & Bullwinkle, which made about as much sense as anything this 25th of September.

One last week of freedom before school starts. We'll see if another afternoon at the lake can be managed, though I may melt, even in the shade.

Loren comes home tomorrow!

Hooray....I have just about "had" it. Not that anything broke down....I mean, anything around the house.

So tired and drained. Possibly from all that mowing in the heat, yesterday. Possibly.

Glad the heat advisory didn't start until now.

Think I just might need a nap before bed....

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After a Long, Hot Day..

...there's nothing like a warm slice of chocolate chip banana bread.

Chocolate chips: they're good in zucchini bread, as well!

Today was very hot and muggy. Maybe just muggy so it seemed hot.

All I know is that by the time I moved the boards around that were killing off the grass, and mowed around them, and moved some other stuff around to mow weeds, and called Nolan back outside after his "slightly longer than prescribed mowing break," and then we dragged our feet slower to finish the lawn around the house....

*large breath*

...we I had been mowing almost two hours. From 12:00 to 2:00 is not the ideal time to mow, but it works pretty well when you take my coffee-and-read-a-book habit into consideration.

After a nice rest, Ma got up and called Nolan and Trevor in to the bathroom for a little remedial instruction on the proper way to clean the tub and shower. Which starts off with actually cleaning the shower walls, as opposed to haphazardly sprinkling comet cleanser over the tub and thinking clean thoughts.

They thought this was boring and horribly time-consuming (they are usually done in 3 or 4 minutes) but I made them stick it out to see and feel what it's like with no ring and a shiny look to the tub.

I am pretty sure they were completely unfamiliar with that concept. But they've been given the ultimatum that it's going to be "like that" in the future or they will be doing it over, and over...

In Kendra-news, The resident PA-C has been going through all of the boxes in the attic, sorting and reminiscing.

I should probably let her go at my stuff, ha ha.

The only other thing I accomplished today (besides drinking several Diet Cokes and not fainting) was making banana bread and supper.

And herding the two youngest into the shower.

My work here is done.

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The Daily Mow

Seen at intersection in Cedar Rapids: ??

I couldn't quite decide whether the guy looked sorta awesome or sorta....trying too hard. Anyway, he's my icebreaker for today's post.

Of course, he has nothing to do with mowing or even a hay mow, but still...

Today's grind involved mowing.

This could not have been accomplished without two things: Diet Coke and Nolan.

And indirectly, Melinda. Because the last of two late books arrived this morning and I popped it in the mail. While in town I bought pop.

(amazing how these connected ideas and phrases move seamlessly together, no?)

I achieved the energy for the aforementioned feats by drinking two, luscious cups of morning coffee, which always tastes better when you're reading an interesting book.

In other news, Kendra is feeling better from her virusy thang. However, Ethan has now been laid low, curbing the amazing progress and work-together-ivity of the the three lads and their platform installation.

(pictures of that to come....I felt "Helmet Guy" deserved a little air play, first)

As to yesterday, we traveled into the big city for our "last-blast-of-the-summer," which included the movie Descpicable Me 2, supper at McDonald's, and ice cream at Culver's. And probably the last time for that exact combo, since Trevor is the only Hoyt-human left that qualifies for a children's ticket.

Naturally the kids wanted to see Despicable Me on DVD today, which gives me a little time to rest up for mowing one final section....

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The August Boys of Pine Lake (3rd and last part of today's partying)

The obligatory handstand attempt

Someone had removed the huge log-of-fun, so Ethan and Nolan searched for a substitute along the shore, but it was too big to move.

Saw this and liked it. In black and white.

Nolan, practicing a variation of the Janus look

In which Biff Buzzard has deep regrets after replacing his usual feather conditioner with super glue.

I have more pictures but not the energy to post them. Perhaps these will suffice for this outing.

We scrounged up 10 coupons and got ourselves a free Casey's pizza, buying a second one to go with. But the kids were so full of snacks that they didn't even finish one pizza! Now we have enough for a fun lunch, later in the week.

Wow but I am tired. It takes a lot out of a person, sitting in the shade, listening to oldies music, and scoffing snacks.

However, I take my parental responsibilities SO seriously that I followed through to the end.

Meaning, we got there and back in one piece.

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The August Boys of Pine Lake (part 2...otherwise known as "The Trevor Chronicles")

Trevor wanted to go on a "walk," which turned out to be me walking and Trevor rollerblading. He seems to have taken to it pretty well....

I turned to my left and took a picturesque lake photo, and when I turned to my right again...

"Wait....you know how to go backwards?" "Yes, if the sidewalk is slanting down." Huh.

"Take a picture of me on this rock..."....*sigh*...

Is it just me, or does this kid bring Jason to mind...?

Right. Being cool requires appropriately cool mannerisms.

With Carolyn off to college, I am mindful that I must be more diligent with blog posting.

Here's hoping I can keep things up to date.

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The August Boys of Pine Lake (part 1)

Trevor, channeling Popeye

Ethan and Trevor brought roller blades.

After they went down the path Nolan realized he "ruled the lake."

So, this couple came down the walk (originally the other direction). They waved and he used his Ipad to take a picture of me sitting in my lawn chair, listening to music. O-kay....I figured they were tourists. But Nolan, having followed the boys (by walking) down the path, ran in to this same couple and the man asked Nolan if he was looking for marijuana.....("He what?") When the couple came back past me again, he took note of the Diet Coke I was sipping, and our cooler, and asked if I had any soda or pop to sell. Remembering the marijuana comment I replied, "I'm not selling anything today." So, that was a little....weird.

Playing Marco Polo

Wanting at least one more trip to the lake, as well s some fun while Loren is in Texas, we took ourselves to the lake, this afternoon. It also serves as a small reward for getting the school forms filled out and turned in, all in one morning :-D

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College Bound

Heading out the door, backpacks in tow

Start yer engines!

I said, start....oh. Time for a quick zap from Derek's-truck-of-power

And there they go, three sets of taillights headed for Texas

That was around 6 this morning.  They should be there within 30 to 60 minutes.

The boys worked hard outside most of the day. Those pictures will have to wait. I'm all photoed out for the moment.

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Life in the Yard

Another set of twin fawns graced the grass next to the bins. Couple days ago...they were gamboling about and having a good ol' time.

Bee in hollyhock

And just today, this black swallowtail going nuts in the phlox. Pretty breezy so I'm amazed to get one decent photo.

In other news, three vehicles left in the dark before dawn, this morning. They should be somewheres in Oklahoma by now, I'd guess. Arriving at their destination in Texas around 8 or 8:30, depending on whether or not Loren allows any stops, heh.

Busy, busy times at the Hoytstead. And by busy, I mean I am very busy relaxing :-D

I may even ignore my diet tonight and make chocolate pudding!

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Grand Central Station

Seriously ridiculous travel, today!

Derek: left at 5am for Iowa City (2.5 hours) and a checkup/tests with his cardiologist.

Kendra: back to the twin cities (four hours) for more interview related activity.

Loren: off to church for a meeting (30 minutes away).

Nolan and I: left for another Monday of tutoring and shopping in Cedar Rapids (2 hours).

Derek returned.

Loren returned.

Melinda and Carolyn packed their stuff into the Honda Civic.

Derek left to gas up his truck.

Nolan and I returned (9:20pm)

Kids helped carry in groceries.

Derek returned (again).

Loren packed his clothes for the trip to Texas.

Derek and Ethan took Derek's stuff out to his truck.

Ma put away groceries and did one more load of laundry.

Various people then trickled off to bed.

Ma ate a kohlrabi.

Alright...so that last bit wasn't technically trip-related but I didn't want to appear to be slacking.

Somewheres around 6:00 is when the crew will be heading out: Derek in his truck, taking a new route. Loren in the Corolla (no air conditioning and no cruise) and Melinda and Carolyn in the Civic.

I was a little surprised when Loren mentioned the possibility of Melinda and Carolyn trading off driving by themselves. Then I remembered that Jason got his license one week and drove down to school the next (at some point in time...who can remember exactly). So I guess things will be OK.

They can have use of a car (Derek lives off campus) and Loren won't have to fly back (meaning someone would have to drive him the two hours to Dallas and I would have to drive up to Minneapolis to get him).

At any rate, tomorrow will be another day for the record books.

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Getting Ready and Trying Not to Go Totally Berserk

Derek's been working very hard at getting his truck ready for another long haul to Texas. And per Justin's request :-) I put up this picture after Kendra described (somewhat erroneously) Derek as "plastering reflective tape all over the back of his truck."

And since I couldn't figure out how to successfully stick a picture in the comment section of Google+ I finally posted it to the blog and linked it over on the other site.

And that's when I discovered my keyboard was doing wonky things. I thought it might be due to spilling some water on it this morning (first time this has ever happened) but Carolyn said probably not and got me her keyboard from her desktop. She it taking a laptop to school so won't be using her keyboard for a while.

Well. That is one thing that is working for me today.

Don't get me started on the bathtub drain that is even worse after I poured a whole bottle of Liquid Plumber (two different sessions) with hot water chasers. I just told the kids they will have to get used to standing in a little water when they take their (very short) showers. Ugh. Don't you hate it when you spend time and money and stuff gets worse? Should have left it alone.

Guess I will let my fury subside by chillin' out with the Gaither Gospel Sing.

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