Pink Arrow Week

Aka. the first week of school.

WOW. Summer is over, school has begun, and we have one more family member this year!  We invited a foreign exchange student into our home for this school year.  Juan is 15, and from the beautiful island of Mallorca, of the southeastern shore of Spain, near Barcelona.  Unfortunately for my hubs, he is NOT a Barsa fan, but instead roots for Real Madrid.  As if the whole MSU/UM thing going on in our family is not bad enough!

Being THE mom, I require at least ONE photo the first day of school, every year.

Here is Connor starting 7th grade, and Juan, starting in American 10th grade.

So far we are enjoying the new experience of hosting a student from overseas. He is very courteous and helpful, and a little shy, but still friendly, willing to participate in family activities and speak up when he doesn't understand something we've said.  I'm trying to learn Spanish from him, but I fear that it's hopeless for me. Maybe, maybe not.

In lieu of dying my head pink, I plan on wearing pink all week, the heavens know I probably have enough to wear for a month!  Since I forwent(?) the pink hair this year, I think I will do feathers for the big game on Friday, either in my hair or my hot pink feathered earrings that I bought for belly-dance costume props.  I'm wearing my pink ribbon earrings today, a gift from a friend and my pink silk sandals. The Lowell Pink Arrow Bracelet I will wear for the entire week.





The school celebrates this week, and uses it to promote cancer awareness to the students. It all wraps up on Friday with the big football game- the field, players, cheerleaders, refs and both bleachers- all pink.  This project started out as a fundraiser for 1 year- 6 years ago and has turned into a community event- raising over $500 million, all kept within the community of Lowell.  We've been on the Today show and this year, we'll bring in our first out-of-state team to play against - a team from Chicago - hopefully spreading the word even farther afield. And though it's called the Pink Arrow, it's really not just about fighting breast cancer, but all cancer.


Tonight, hubs and I run my 2nd Pink Arrow Quiver 5K.  (Hub's 3rd).  Both of us feel like we are coming down with something, so this may be more walking in the run/walk than running, but we are still doing it, and that is an accomplishment.  This year, I'll be wearing my pink arrow VI shirt during the run, to honor my friend who lost her battle with cancer last month.  I'm running for her and her hubs - Cliff, as much as for myself.

Because I can.