Now Here's Real Motivation to Cut Out Sweets!

Alzheimer's Disease is the new "Type 3 Diabetes." Click on the title to read the Chicago Tribune article.

Heard Around the House...

Mark was sitting with the girls watching some of the original black and white Mickey Mouse cartoons on his laptop computer. After about fifteen minutes of viewing I overheard the following:

Melody: "Dad, how come everything is all black? Is it just because nobody had any crayons?"

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Names have been withheld for obvious reasons....

"Why can't I have a 'six-pack' rather than always looking like I just drank one?"

Then we see how one guy chose to solve the problem....

Am I Actually Being Filmed for a Reality Show?

For the past couple weeks you could call it "Life in the Wild, Wild West." It would have been quite a program, had the camera caught me in any one of these scenarios from the past week:

• trying with another aide to get "Little J" off the floor of the elementary school bathroom to change his pants, while he tries to intimidate me shouting repeatedly, "I SAP YOU, Miss M____. You go home!"
• accepting a request for a favor to teach a lady's 4-5 year old primary (Sunday School) class every Sunday in December while she's out for a surgery. The camera would have loved to have followed me into the class of 5 with one boy who I just found out has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (a form of autism). I just can't get away from these situations.
• shopping at Victoria Gardens Mall Wednesday night from 9:30-11pm buying up presents from two stores right next to each other just to save time. Then...
• the camera could have followed me then as I raced through the grocery store buying up all the groceries until 12:30am. Then racing home to put everything away and clean up the dinner dishes until 2am.
• Racing to learn a math concept followed by a ten question online quiz. Had to do 14 of those before being qualified to take the final exam for math.
• driving slowly, hugging the right side of the road as I begged one of my children not to runaway, but to please come back....to no avail. (Said child is back now. Whew!)
• in the elementary school cafeteria with a giant "hefty bag" in one hand and trying to catch all the milk and juice cartons being tossed at me (some full, some empty!) after the cafeteria manager announced I was there to collect their cartons for a kindergarten "gingerbread house project" until I had 60 sloppy, wet cartons all through this bag.
• trying to control my facial expression and conjure up a proper response to one of the kindergarteners who continues saying my name wrong. (I can forgive anything, but it's getting harder everytime he accidentally calls me "Mrs. Mosque!") After 3 times, it's getting obnoxious!

We'll stop there because just looking at this list is starting to depress me a bit! Finally I've finished all the shopping for everybody but my kids. Two of them just want $, while the girls have anything from one request for a guitar to a 4 page letter to Santa spelling out numerous items in detail. The last page concludes with a request for (proof) Santa to produce a family picture of him and his wife and him needing to check a box that he's "real" and giving his signature with date. She does add a PS at the bottom which reads "I do believe in you."

Here's a picture that didn't turn out too well from the teachers' Christmas party last Friday at one of their houses which was probably the biggest, fanciest home I have ever been in. I thought I had entered the white house for a moment. It was a block from the mountain and amazing! These were the winners of the raffle. I am the third from the right peeking around from behind. I won a $10 gift card to Target. They are some of the nicest people I've ever associated with. It was a blast.

Collecting those cartons was a mess!!! I learned a lot about kids and their lunches. I saw dozens of full sandwiches being tossed into the garbage that mothers had made, that were not even bitten into! And as far as the cartons go, I'm sure about a third of them were being handed to me full without even being opened! The catch was that I had to empty them out before putting them in the bag. Stopping to take the time to do that, is when I'd get splashed as a carton or two was tossed in my direction to try and land (unsuccessfully) into the bag, while a couple hundred kids headed at me stampeeding to get to the playground. When I brought them back to class, I told the teacher I wouldn't want ANY kid even touching one of these! YUCK! That's when I was directed to the teacher lunch room to go (gross out the teachers) and with gloves on, rinse out every carton with hot water and place into another clean bag. There were 63. Then we left them all out in the sun for a day or two, and then I "hot-glued" each to a the middle of a Chinette paper plate. The kids will paint them with frosting and decorate as gingerbread houses next Thursday.

The most fun all week was watching the kindergarteners faces (and my own girls faces later) as the teacher told the following story:

"Last year I made a gingerbread man. He was big and filled an entire cookie sheet! Now you know, gingerbread men are meant to be eaten, but they will try to get away every time, ESPECIALLY if you add pepper to the recipe. I brought my gingerbread man down to the school cafeteria kitchen to bake last year and asked the ladies in there to keep an eye on him. Well, when I came back, GUESS WHAT? That's right boys and girls, HE WAS GONE! I asked everybody about him, but nobody had seen him. I asked the cafeteria ladies if anybody did anything to him. One lady said she thought I forgot to add the pepper and sprinkled a little bit on him. She never should have done that because that makes them run so much faster. I even asked the principal and the school secretaries if they had seen him. They all said no, but you know what boys and girls? I noticed as I talked to Mr. L the principal that he had some gingerbread crumbs on his desk when I was talking to him. And when I talked to Mrs. R, the school secretary, she said she didn't see him, but GUESS WHAT? She had some crumbs on the side of her mouth. So I think they actually caught him and ate some pieces. You see boys and girls, some people love the taste of gingerbread SO MUCH that they can't just leave the gingerbread man to bake in the oven. They will sneak in and keep opening the oven door because they can't wait until he's ready. But when they aren't careful, he can get away. So this year, I'm baking him at home and making sure that nobody adds the pepper."

Well, this story/rumor has been all the talk amongst the kids in the class. I almost busted up laughing at the idea that the principal and secretary had food on their desk and mouths. If you knew how prim and proper the secretary is, you'd be cracking up too. One boy shouted out at the end, "I CAN'T EVEN HARDLY BELIEVE THAT STORY!!! BUT I STILL WANT SOME THOUGH."

This is a picture of 1/2 of one of our classroom walls. Every child was sent home with a heavy paper shaped like a Christmas tree. Each decorated one and brought it back. I got to staple them all up on the wall. These are from the morning kinder. Ours went up on the other side. Every first day of the month I get to take everything down and completely change the decor with a new theme.

Another fun thing I took from school and did with the girls last week was to make a red and green paper chain with as many chains on it as the days until Christmas Eve. The teacher told the kids they could take it home and tear off a chain each day and the day they tear off the last chain is the night that Santa's coming! The girls each have a chain hung up in our kitchen and love to tear off one every day. Since the chains went up, they have stopped asking (10 times a day) "How many days until Santa comes?"

Ressa and Melody got some awards at the school assembly last week. Here they are:

And here's Ressa in the middle in the brown leather jacket. I just have to add that we picked up that jacket at a thrift store on our way up to the mountains last month for........$5.00. It is lined and everything. This coupon queen was thrilled!

Time to rush off for choir at 10:15. Have a good day. I have a speech final for Tuesday, a math final tomorrow, and a history final that will be a 2-3 page, single-spaced essay where the topic will be assigned Friday and it must be turned in 24 hours later. Wish me luck!

A Slice of Life in 2007

Overheard at the kindergarten lunch table yesterday:

• A little girl talking to herself: "I don't want to wait for Christmas to see my baby sister!" Me: "Why do you have to wait?" Little girl: "Cuz they have full custody so I have to wait so, so long and I hate it!!" : (

HEARD AROUND THE HOUSE....

After Ressa came home sick with a fever....visiting the doctor....Ressa throwing up at home....the following took place:

RESSA: Mom, can you please pour me some Gatorade?

MOM: Sure.

MELODY: Mom, can I have some too?

MOM: Okay. (Mom pours Gatorade into two different cups and hands each girl their own cup.

---------TWO HOURS LATER-----------

MELODY: OH MY GOSH MOM! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID SUCH A BIG, BIG MISTAKE!!!

MOM: WHAT?? WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT IN THE WORLD???

MELODY: WELL YOU GAVE ME AND RESSA GATORADE AND I HEARD THE DOCTOR TELL ME AND RESSA NOT TO SHARE THE SAME DRINKS!!!

:D

Christmastime Contemplations...

RESSA TO MOM: Mom, when you were little, did any of your friends really get coal?

Joey's College Application Essay

Here's Joey's essay portion of his application. He did a good job with a little help from his English teacher.

My father’s suicide ten years ago and the way I have dealt with it set me apart from most students. I chose not to let it destroy my life. When I accepted the fact that there was nothing I could do to change it, I decided to focus on my future and help my family heal from our wounds. This mind-set has strengthened me. Last year, I was robbed at gunpoint while walking home from school. I had to testify in court and face the perpetrators. I maintained an attitude of forgiveness toward them and expressed confidence in their ability to change. Again, I chose not to let the event destroy me, but looked past it and focused on the things that empowered me. It has not been easy, but by living the principles of the gospel, I have overcome these trials rather than allowing them to overtake me.

I have always been respectful of the authority figures in my life. This makes it easy for me to take direction from my parents, employer, and teachers. Recently, I suffered an ankle sprain which put me out of work for six weeks. Though I had only been employed three months, my employer was willing to hold the job open for me. The reason why, they say, is due to my ability to work hard for long periods of time and always present myself with a well-groomed appearance. Where other employees are often looking for ways to avoid work, I am an industrious and positive influence. These events that have shaped my life, along with my positive attitude and strength of character, combine to set me apart from many students, demonstrating that only you can shape your future.

Update on Austin...and a week I'd never want to repeat!

I took Austin to the pediatrician to follow-up on Friday. I gave him the lab test results, the CT scan report, etc. He was not real concerned about Austin's spleen since he could not feel it during an examination. Most likely due to the trauma---but we will follow-up on that later. The doctor said he really lost an awful lot of blood through the urine (it was totally dark). However, he was mostly concerned about the results of his blood test taken Wednesday night. He said some of the levels were abnormal indicating a problem with kidney function. He wrote a note out to the high school principal saying Austin is released from PE for 2-3 weeks until clearance for full activity is given by a urologist, AS A RESULT OF TRAUMA DUE TO WRESTLING INJURIES. The doctor also suggested I make a big deal out of it to the principal (which I did) and let them know that somebody at the matches needs to be smarter than the kid. The doctor went on to say that if the coach has witnessed the kid being slammed hard to the mat in an illegal throw...EVEN IF THE KID IS HAVING NO PAIN...the coach should be responsible enough not to 1) believe a 3-5 minute rest period is enough to recover or 2) put him in to wrestle in 2 MORE MATCHES AS THEY DID TO AUSTIN!!

When I left the doctor, I called and spoke to both the coach and the principal and asked them to please consider the fact that a boy having internal bleeding might not be feeling pain...it could save a life. The principal assured me he would review this with the coaches. We went straight over for another blood and urine test Friday. The doctor ordered it STAT so we'd get the results immediately. He also set us up with a pediatric urologist over in Chino for Tuesday after school. They called me Friday and said all of Austin's lab work was normal!!! What a big relief. He said no lifting, reaching, jumping, running, etc. for Austin for several weeks. Austin forgot about this yesterday and while coming down the stairs, jumped to the bottom, skipping the last 2 or 3 steps. He cried out in pain holding both hands to the back of his waist. That's the first time he's really felt any significant pain with this ordeal. That was scary, but he seems to be ok....just a little slower around the house than usual.

Back at school, I was "told" last Friday. This position is by far the most difficult job I've ever had. The politics between teacher-parents-aide are impossible to follow, because "the rules" are constantly changing. Last week, the boy went #2 in his pants 5 minutes before the final bell to go. Hmmm, do we endeavor to start cleaning him up or hand him off to the parents in 5 minutes. Well, we were in a different classroom when it happened, so the decision was pretty much made for us.... We had to return to our own classroom either way, and as we came around the corner there was daddy. The boy ran to him and that was the end of that....until the next day when the father confronted me, accusing me of leaving him in the dirty pants for a "very long time." I responded with, "Well, I don't know how long it was from the time you left school until you changed him, but I can assure you it happened while we were in another teacher's classroom which was why we left there a little early to head back to class and that's when he ran to you." He still believed it had been a long time so I just said I had other things to do and walked away. My instructions from the teacher are constantly changing though... for example:

• Be more firm!
• Ignore him more!
• Don't let him distract the class.
• Don't react so much.
• He's got to do what the class is doing!
• Don't worry if he's not doing it like everyone else!
• He cannot be up on top of the lunch tables!
• Come back in, shut the door on him, and leave him out on the lunch table. Ignore him see what he does!
• You're not getting paid enough! You were the fifth aide in 3 weeks!
• I don't want you communicating with the parents anymore...You get too flustered in the middle of it (from being pinched, hit in the mouth, etc.). I'm taking it over from now on, giving them a happy face, straight-mouth face, or a frowny face.

Well, that last one referred to me writing a daily note to the parents since they wanted to be informed about what he's doing good or bad on a daily basis. The note that got me fired from writing the daily note was from a week ago on a day in which he back-handed me giving me a fat lip for a couple hours, then kept trying to pinch me while I sat beside him.....My note graciously said, "____ did not follow most instructions today, hit me in the mouth and is back to pinching." I guess it was over the top!?!? Well, she corrected me saying, "parents want to hear good things about their children. If you ever plan to be a teacher, you have to learn first off not to say anything negative about someone's kid until after you've given compliments and praise to the parent about their child. Otherwise the parents will make your year completely miserable."

All this and worrying about Austin was almost too much to digest. Can you imagine how hard it is doing all this college work to prepare myself for WHAT??? I feel like I'm being punished in there everyday for something. Now I have to pick more classes to register tomorrow for the spring 2008 semester. As of today, I'm clueless about what it is I'm trying to become. If I'm going to be a teacher, I have to take a completely different math class than if I'm planning to get a degree in anything else. The same with several other courses. I love the summer off, 2 weeks at Christmas off and the week at Easter off. That's what they called it when I was a kid: "Christmas Vacation & Easter Vacation". I'm very slow to political correctness and proud of it. But it is now generically termed Winter Break and Spring Break. But all of us, old enough, remember that's where those holidays came from: Christmas & Easter. It's sad to me to see all wording of anything religious eliminated, especially since they say the U.S. is 90% Christian or something. I've got to hand it to the kindergarten teacher though, she loves playing Christmas music in class while the kids are working. We just started that Friday and I got to decorate an entire wall of the classroom with gingerbread men and Christmas decor. The boy wasn't there and after I got the call about Austin's lab results, things went much better.

Friday night we were off to visit Kelsey and watch her perform in a school pop concert. Mark's mom and brother rode with us the 100 miles out there. Her mother was there which is always uncomfortable at best. To make a long story short I felt like Dr. Leo Marvin on "What About Bob?" while Kelsey's mom was Bob with the whole family huddled around her. It was just wierd. By yesterday I felt ready to dig myself a hole and get in it. Well, it was just a very, very emotional week that I need to put behind me. My final speech has to be ready Tuesday night. I will be involved with Austin all afternoon Tuesday, so today I'll have to really get it ready. It's on preserving your family history----just something I know a lot about, to make it easier. Time for choir practice at 10:15. Better get going!

Anticipating Joey's 18th Year...

This is what I keep checking everyday as we try to get Joey's BYU application submitted. The items in red are what they still need to receive. The high school counselor overnighted the part five and transcript today and we'll get the essay submitted online. Joey took it to his English teacher to help him get it fine-tuned. The deadline for "early priority" fall 2008 registration is tomorrow. The regular fall deadline is Feb. 1st. We've been jumping through all sorts of hoops trying to get the paperwork to the right people to get this accomplished. We figure if it's meant to work out for him to go off to school, he'll get accepted. If not, he can stay home and go to school with me. (I would love that!)

• Required Document Date Received
• Part 1: Applicant Information Received: 19 Nov 2007
• Part 2: School Selection Received: 19 Nov 2007
• Part 3: Ecclesiastical Endorsement Received: 30 Nov 2007
• Part 4: Seminary/Institute Recommend Received: 26 Nov 2007
• Part 5: High School Information Required
• Part 6: Extracurricular Activities Received: 29 Nov 2007
• Part 7: Student Essay & Other Information Received: 1 Dec 2007
• High School Transcript Required
• ACT/SAT Received: 01 Nov 2007
• BYU Fee: $30 28 Nov 2007
• BYU-Idaho Fee: $30 28 Nov 2007

Accident Brings Austin's Wrestling Career to a Screeching Halt!

Austin has been working out very hard this month as the wrestling season began at the high school. They do drills and high-intensity workouts for two hours everyday after school. Well, last night was his first tournament at another high school. He wrestled the maximum number of times allowed ...5... since he is the only freshman in the 135 lb. weight class. Things were going ok after the first three matches. He had to use the bathroom and things were "clear as apple juice." In the fourth match, Austin was paired up with a senior who was that team's only 135 lb. competitor. During this match the guy picked Austin up sideways like something off of WWE and threw him down hard, landing on his stomach. His stomach began to hurt a little after that. He was at this tournament from 3pm - 9pm. When he got home after that he used the bathroom and said, "Mom, I think I'm peeing blood." I ran in and sure enough, even with the dilution of the water in there, it was bright red!!! I started crying and ran to call the doctor. He suggested kidney trauma and said to go to the hospital. At the hospital, his "sample" looked like dark grape juice! He looked like he'd been in a car accident. He had a black eye just from practice the day before with his own teammates, bruises all over his upper arms, a bruise along his jawline, and blood stained around his ear. They did a ct scan and (thank the Lord) they found no internal injuries which led them to believe the face-down "slam" caused bleeding in the bladder. They also found that he has an enlarged spleen (splenogomaly?), mild ilieum due to his medication, and a cyst in his left kidney. Austin STILL wanted to wrestle but I told him we would follow the doctor's recommendation. Then I told the doctor that since we'd likely never see him again, to give us his honest opinion. He said to stop immediately especially since some medication Austin takes slows his reaction time and puts him at an unfair disadvantage. Well, that settled it. No more of this wild, brutal, craziness!!! We got hom around 3am this morning, after which I had to finish up the "parent essay" page for Joey's BYU application that had to be sent off to his counselor this morning. I got to bed at 4:45am, woke up at 7:15 to get the girls off to school, called in a sick day (I get 10 a year at this interesting little job of mine) and am going back to bed now to try and recover from the stress and lack of sleep. He has two doctors, so we'll see one of them today and the other tomorrow. I woke Austin up with breakfast-in-bed (he really deserved it!) and he's back to sleep again. He has two doctors. We'll see one of them today and the other one tomorrow morning. I think he's relieved to be able to tell his peers that the DOCTOR said he can't wrestle, rather than having to say, "my mommy won't let me." I reminded him that he's good at swimming, track, basketball, etc. He could do any of those if he chooses. His final words on the subject were, "Well, you've gotta admit...I took it like a man!"

To Commit or Not to Commit? Help me decide!

Well, it's time for me to face the facts...I need to lose weight. I've got about 50 lbs. to lose to be in good, svelte shape and feel like I'm back to my normal self. When I put my mind to something, I do it. However, for the past 8 years, it has been so difficult for me to stick to counting my points and deny myself. I feel like Barbie's husband described recently when he said, "I need to do something drastic!" He is doing very well on the Optifast plan. Once I'm into counting points for a couple weeks...I'm really into it. On the days I do some serious exercise, I FEEL like counting points. The tough part comes with making myself exercise and making myself get started counting points. Here's my idea.... Since I'm probably going to wind up at CSU San Bernardino, they require that I take one semester of a PE activity. Taking it at the Jr. College where I've been going is an acceptable option for accomplishing that course. One of the classes is called "Cardio Fitness Lab". This would be a 1 unit class and requires completing 48-54 hours exercising in their "state-of-the-art" fitness center using the machines and logging in and out to get credit. When I go would be all up to me....just as long as I had logged in the 48-54 hrs by semester end. The time frame to complete those hours would be 1/14/08 - 5/19/07. I'm thinking if it was one of my required courses I would be more apt to make myself do it. That should help me trim down. The gym is opened from 8:00am to 8pm on the weekdays and from 7am to 4pm on Saturdays. Should I sign up for it? You can click on the anonymous survey to the right.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving feast today. We went to Mark's mom's house for Thanksgiving with her and his brother and family. She had the honeybaked ham, turkey from the oven, and the deep-fried turkey (ordered through the QVC shopping network). It was actually pretty good. Mark filled his mother's wish to have a mincemeat pie. She was unable to find any all over town. Mark found the ingredients and put it together this morning along with an apple pie made with apples from our tree. He's a good cook. I worked alongside making 4 pumpkin pies and 4 dozen orange rolls. I always loved how my dad's mom (Grandma Stoddart) would always bake up some orange rolls for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. I try to keep up the tradition and the kids look forward to it.

What sets Thanksgiving 2007 apart from those of my youth? Answer: Today while those of the older set are chatting and interacting with each other, one teenager at the table was seen pausing before taking that first bite and taking a picture of his plate of food set before him. (When I was a kid nobody stopped and paused in front a full plate for anything...maybe the blessing, maybe.) One uncle at the table asked, "What are you doing?" Camera-happy teenager replies, "I'm just talking with a friend....uhhh, umm, but I AM listening to you guys." Hmm. He was sending a picture-text message of his plate of food along with a "Happy Thanksgiving" greeting to many friends all at once and getting replies back right and left. (Not a bad idea! As my kinder teacher would say: "Good thinkin' Mr. Lincoln!") Times have changed, I must say. I could have sworn he sat there with his lips sealed, and yet he claims he was carrying on conversations with five people at once.....It's just lucky, I guess, that I maintained one conversation at a time and came out feeling like I'd enjoyed the meal as well. :D

In starting this job as an Instructional Aide, it has cut into my homework time, so I have gotten a bit behind in my math. I've tried to do a marathon catch-up since the teacher announced that Exam#2 had to be completed by yesterday or we'd need to drop the class. HELP! These papers you see are just two of about 10 double-sided scratch papers I've got all over the desktop from having to just plow through it. I made it and took the exam over at the college yesterday from about 2-4pm. There were only 25 questions, but they take awhile to figure out. The depressing part is that this course doesn't give me any credit. I simply tested at this level and have to take it to qualify me to take the actual "College Math" class that DOES count. I'm so motivated to get this degree done....SOMEDAY... I get absolutely no respect over at school. I've been sitting in these "Behavior Conferences" where every expert in the district sits around with parents, teachers, principal, etc. and discuss this boy that I work with. I am with him constantly, 3-1/2 hours a day. I have seen these experts come in and observe him MAYBE 30 minutes in a month. Yet they sit around trying to figure out answers to his problems. Sometimes, they sit around saying absolutely nothing. I will intervene and give a suggestion or reason something they said might not work and nobody ever makes any response or acknowledgment that I've spoken after I say something. It's so wierd. I'd be happy with a slightly audible "hmm". I'm convinced that I need that degree in order to speak and be entitled to some response or reaction or something!!?? I'm not even able to say two peeps on my opinion as to the potty-training of the boy. I'm the one with him going through this and I've potty-trained four kids so far, but only the school "health clerk" is allowed to say anything on the subject because that's closest to her field of study. It's really motivating to get this schooling done so that I can just take part in the conversations and be eligible to get a nod or response.

Joey wants to head to Kohl's at 4am tomorrow to get in on Black Friday, but... uhh, I don't see it happening. Ugh. I do want to get out the Christmas decorations and start decorating. I was so impressed with this family in Irvine I used to know that always spent the day after Thanksgiving decorating the whole house inside and out. It would be fun. I tuned in to KOST 103.5 today and felt so thrilled to hear that they already started the around-the-clock Christmas music. I just love it. The girls remembered from last year and started asking, "Are they going to play Santa cutie again?" They loved that funny song, "Santa Baby."

Good Fall Family Fun!

I have neglected to recognize all the birthdays in the blog lately....

• Ashley on Oct. 9th
• Mark on Oct. 17th
• Ressa on Oct. 28th
• Austin on Nov. 16th

Hopefully that explains a little about why I haven't written so much in recent weeks.

Here are some pictures illustrating a few things we've been up to these days.

A week ago, we had the chance to "cash-in" on a weekend at our friends' cabin in Big Bear that we won through a Boy Scout fund-raising auction. Here's Big Bear Lake:

It was so much fun and the most ideal cabin I've ever stayed at. It had a double bed downstairs and five twin beds in an upstairs loft. The cabin was decorated right out of a magazine down to the smallest detail. The cabin had no TV or cable, but that was neither a problem nor anything that we missed. The cabin was stocked with classic books, shelves filled with every board game you could wish for and even more! Joey brought along RISK and we had several marathon games that went from about 10:30pm to 2:30am a couple nights in a row!!! The first night it was Joey, Austin, and I. The next night Mark joined in. If you've got time, it's a great game. Every popular movie on DVD that a child, teen, or parent would want to see was there on some other shelves too. There must have been 100s in the collection! The family's letter to us described the large glass/wooden box up high in the tree out front. It was a squirrel feeder that they had to repeatedly raise higher and higher into the tree to finally keep nightime bears from yanking it down and eating the peanuts. YIKES!!! Joey would hate to admit it, but Melody and Ressa weren't the only ones a little afraid to go to sleep, worried about bears lurking around outside. Eventually, Joey elaborated to us all (with a burst of relief) that any bear that entered the house and tried to go up to the loft would definitely collapse the staircase with its enormous weight and never make it up there. (Oh well....so much for mom and dad being devoured downstairs....) but after making that logical pronouncement, all the kids (Joey included) fell off to sleep very quickly thereafter.

Usually it's the ducks running away from the child...but up there the ducks were chasing Ressa. Oops, we forgot to bring bread.

Melody kept her distance so as not attract the same kind of attention Ressa was getting from the ducks.

We didn't head up to Big Bear before I had a giant poster chart made up that had the six meals charted that we would eat at the cabin. The menu was listed along with which parent, boy, and girl would be on "food prep" with the other parent, boy, and girl on "clean-up". We rotated all different ways and had lots of fun and made great memories preparing and cooking out of an mini stove/oven that was just wide enough to fit a cookie sheet! There was no dishwasher, but the experience of teaching the kids proper hand dish-washing techniques was priceless. Everyone was involved in either "food prep" or "clean-up" at every meal and it went (surprisingly) very smoothly without complaint. Here are some "personal mini pizzas" we made up at the coffee table one night for dinner out of Bridgford bread dough. Yummy stuff!

Austin and Ressa had their first piano recital last week. They both started lessons in June and have been doing great. Here's Ressa playing the classical piece the teacher found in a beginning version called "Postcard Sonatina".

I feel terrible that I don't have a picture of Austin playing, but I was so into his music that I forgot to pull out the camera. Dang! He did great though and played his 4-page song completely from memory. That's better than I could ever do! The teacher is so good and gave each student a gift of a book of Christmas music specific to their level for them to play out of from now through December. She even got Austin one that was Christmas songs in a Jazz/Ragtime style...his favorite.

Tonight was "Family Night" as we do every Monday night. We usually have a lesson on some virtue or Christlike principle. Then there's a song or two sung, a game played, and refreshments. Mark surprised me tonight and called as he left work saying that he had "Family Night" all taken care of. Great! I made the refreshments out of the "World's Easiest Cookie Recipe"which I tell the kids is a boxed cake mix, 1 egg, and a small tub of cool whip mixed up together. Adding chocolate chips makes it even better. Mark pulled a story of the first Thanksgiving off the internet, along with a short skit, and a fun project. He stopped by the store on the way home and bought what we needed to put our own "pear turkeys" together with toothpicks (brown bosc pears, gumdrops, gummy lifesavers, etc.) Each one turned out to be very unique!

Something to Look Forward To...

I'm surrounded by very sweet little five and six year-olds in my current job as an Instructional Aide. However, the little fellow with DS that I "shadow" is quite challenging. The teacher of our kindergarten and the principal went out to the county kindergarten for the moderate to severe special education class and found the children to be far more cooperative and compliant there, than my little guy is here! But, the decision has been made that since the parents refuse to remove him from the traditional kindergarten class, and couldn't care less about the chaos he creates in there....the district is too cheap to go incur legal costs, so there he will remain. I'm dealing with a lot of pinching these days and him shouting Bull S_ _ _! at me. I may be barely getting paid enough to be cussed at, but I know I'm not paid enough to be getting pinched. I'm now getting up and going to help another child when he starts to do it. That has brought him to a sobbing fit of remorse, sorries, and extreme grief.....kind of funny actually... He is no longer coming on Thursdays so I can look forward to cutting, pasting, stapling, correcting homework packets, and sampling a bite or two from the teacher's lunchroom which is always filled with tasty food and goodies.

I caught up with Ruth, one of the former aides who had been assigned to him before I came along. She's still trying to recover....

Overheard Around the House...

"I was put on this earth to serve others. I still don't know why they're here." :D

Gone to Big Bear Lake---Be Back Monday Night!

More Pictures By Ressa

I had to laugh when I saw Ressa's illustrations for three of her vocabulary words this week. The words were: celebrity, experts, and rodeo.

Don't you love the scientist with the formula spilling out of the flask? I couldn't draw the rodeo fellow if you paid me.

I found this taped to the downstairs closet door the other night. The bottom of it read: "If you need to get in, ask to speak to Ressa."

The Last Two Weeks in Pictures

It started off wild and ended wild--- I hesitated putting these first two on, but just had to preserve them for posterity sake. Also had a little chat with the girls about what's desirable and what's not as far as "beauty" goes---basically, lose the oranges in the rear. Hahahahaha!

Ressa's baptism day--

The family outside of church

Then the party back at our house, with Mark's older brother Steve shown here--

Marilyn's husband Greg and baby Cooper (or Coopie, as his mommy says...)

Mark and his mom---

Super-duper Cooper

Joey and Austin

Austin kept things lively with his "Dill Pickle Rag"

Mom, Stephanie, and her little Ellie Jayne

Stephanie and Barbie, two of the three "Weight Watcher

gurus" in the family.

Steph's Mitch and Marilyn's Mark

Ressa getting ready for the candles---

Marilyn and her little "Coopie"

Marilyn's Brandon ( I think he's Spanky from the Little Rascals).

Mark and Ressa

Danny, Mom, Ressa and Barbie and Marilyn in front.

It's takes true grit as a mom to deny these guys getting to play on the bouncers at Ressa's party UNTIL the homework was done...(I got so much grief, as usual)....

But they were done and up and at 'em in no time---

Melody with her best friends from school and church.

Austin crashing down the huge slide

Ressa going up--

Ressa crashing down---

Ressa's afterschool party at the big bouncer place.

Queen for a day...I mean a week. Hahaha!

Austin catching a ball in the dark up at Steph's house. See the football almost to his hands?

Steph's Mitch and Marilyn's Mark catching Austin's pass.

Stephanie, upon receiving the news she's been nominated "Hostess of the Year", with Danny in the background.

Barbie had been through about seven shoulder massages at this point. If one more person asked her for a shoulder massage, there would have been some WORDS! (Mike is seated)

Danny having a softer moment reading with Steph's Emily.

Mike doing the same.

My Melody, Steph's Emily, and Danny, with Marilyn and Steph in the background.

Kids----

Bigger kids---- and adults alike all had fun constructing things from Play-doh

Mom (Darla)

Mike really getting into playing with the 3 and 6 year olds.

Melody

Emily

Mike, trying to get over the fact that the moms took the play-doh away and said it was making a mess. Hahaha!