Choosing a mate

Driving the kids home from school yesterday was quite the adventure. In an unusual turn of events, I wound up with a van full of kids.  After dropping off the first two, I shared a story I heard on the radio:
Police were called to the home of an elderly couple for a domestic dispute.  Upon their arrival, they found a man struggling to care for his wife who suffers from dementia.  He sold his wedding band to buy groceries, and she was giving him grief over doing it.  The responding officers gathered their police brotherhood together and collected enough money to cover the groceries and to buy the ring back.  They also made sure this couple will receive the services they need going forward.

I shared this story with the kids, and the girls loved the kindness of the officers and agreed that the police probably do this more often than anyone realizes, but they often get bad press.

Wyatt took the opportunity to tell us that when he meets a beautiful woman and marries her, he will have a wedding band.  Wyatt went on to tell us about his dream bride.  She will love video games, but not first person shooter games.  Wyatt does not associate with those who love first person shooter games. We all agreed that a girl who loves first person shooter games would not get a first date with him.  I warned him to make sure she is beautiful on the inside.  Out of curiosity I asked if he would be okay if he has a child who does not love video games.  Wyatt's response was awesome.  "Of course I will.  We don't have to like the same things to bond.  Like Dad and me; we don't like the same things, but we bond."

Awww, that's my boy!

When the cat's away...

Last night we hosted a few neighbors for a  gathering to get to know each other.  This was straying from the agenda a bit.  We did not sign up to host, but the original hosts had a sick child, and we hated to see it cancelled.  I am an uneasy hostess.  My house has some wear and tear, and it is not the perfect place I long for it to be.  I am helpless to renovate or even update a coat of paint until we see a drop in tuition.  For years tuition has increased higher and faster than our income, and we are way out of balance right now despite cutting just about everything that was fun from our budget.  However, I think the gathering went okay. I enjoyed it.

This morning when I went to show someone a picture on my phone, I found about 200 of the following type pictures.  During lunch I scrolled through them, and laughed to myself.  So this is what the kids do when the parents are hanging with adults in another room.  I have to say that this is also the reason I have a lock code on my phone.  Clearly I have let one too many of the kids know it.

The sloth is Zach's modus operandi.  I used to find hundreds of them on my phone-hence the lock code.

Normally, I would find the pictures when trying to take a picture and discover a full phone.  Today, I just laughed.  I sent a few to Andy.  He responded with, "you are the fun parent."  It's a running joke around here.  I tell the kids that I am the fun parent because I make sure the fun happens -translation, I am the planner.

Where's Wyatt, you ask?  I am sure he was very involved in a video game.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Last night we got just enough snow for a pretty morning today.  It did not stick to the roads but was so pretty especially on the trees.  I decided as I drove to my strength class this morning that I must walk the park for pictures.  I ended up making the full two mile loop.

horizontal view of the same picture below

You will see this one again at the end of this post.  This one was taken with my camera, and I played with some editing on it.  The one at the end was taken with my phone.

vertical view

While the above photos are okay, I took the following using my phone...

and this one below is my favorite from today.

Here it is again with a little fun from Instagram.

Cute!

We received Julia's cheer photos today.  I usually get a couple of magnets and buttons.  This year I opted for this ticket magnet and am now sorry I didn't buy these in years prior. We decorate our fridge with photo magnets, and this one is just fun.

Fortunately, we don't actually pay to get into Julia's games.  For that price we would have to forgo seeing her cheer :)

Celebrating hard work

Our town has a few businesses that offer rewards for good grades - up through 8th grade.  If not for these businesses, we probably would not celebrate at all. We expect the kids to work hard and do their best without compensation. Last night we visited an ice cream shop to celebrate good report cards and hard work. While Wyatt and Julia were the only ones getting the free scoop, we have much to celebrate about Savannah.

You might remember that we piled stress upon stress on Savannah when we forced encouraged her to give up her Sunday afternoons and much of her free time to complete a PSAT prep course.  We finally got her scores a couple of weeks ago, and that work paid off.  Savannah landed in the 98th percentile in the nation (approximately 1.5 million test takers).  We had hoped for the 99th percentile which would put her in the running for National Merit Scholar, but the 98th percentile does assure us that she is a commended scholar which will help with scholarship applications.  The difference between the two is the workload.  National Merit semifinalists usually receive college money without much more effort. Commended scholars have to use their status and work through cumbersome applications and compete with others to get the money they need. God has gifted Savannah with an incredible mind and a very strong work ethic. 

Savannah did not get into the summer program for which she applied.  She has received a few offers for others, but they are expensive and too far away.  She is, however, genuinely happy for those who did get in and feels they all deserve it. That's her heart.  She takes the disappointments, processes them, then looks for the good and bounces back.  Savannah has had people in her life who have not been so nice when she has been acknowledged and rewarded, those who let their own bitterness about not getting the reward come out against her.  She remembers that and does not do that to others.

Lastly, she's a fighter. Savannah came home on Thursday night to lots of homework to prepare for tests and quizzes on Friday.  She left a brutal shift at work.  Corporate had been there, and if you've ever worked in a place where corporate drops in for audits, you know how that puts everyone on edge even when they are doing a good job. She dealt with being treated like a two-year-old and spending the night with nervous managers then faced down her school assignments.  Friday morning Savannah awoke to illness such that I felt she really needed to be at home.  She was not about to pile up make up work that included tests and quizzes to face after a long weekend, so she fought through the illness to put that stuff behind her.

 She is also humble. If she ever reads this post, she will be mad at me for sharing this.  We cannot be more blessed than getting to be called Mom and Dad by this girl.  She's not perfect, but I say it often that she is the easiest teenager to raise ever.  To God be the glory!

On a Day like Today

Today marks the fourth anniversary of my mom's resurrection.  I am not sure what to do exactly with a day like today.  Of course I miss her.  I want to honor her, but should I commemorate the day in some way?  If so, how?

Four years later I am still haunted by watching her die.  In fact, not so long ago, I looked up the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder just to see if they matched my experiences and inability to shake anxiety.  They don't.

I miss the fact that her memory is waning from the grandkids who knew her, and that we don't get to see her delight over those who did not.

While I miss her calm presence in my anxiety-prone way of thinking, I am mostly grateful that she is safe, far from harm.  I imagine that my travel loving mom has made some buddies, and they are exploring Heaven.  Maybe someday she'll share her favorite spots with me :)

So, I pause briefly here to acknowledge the day in between loads of laundry and shuffling kids around.  It's an ordinary day here.

They're off!

Winter Ball 2015

The theme: Masquerade

After Savannah left for the dance, I posted a photo on Instagram which led to a text from Zach which said, "how's Savannah's winter ball going? I saw her pic on instagram. She looks beautiful."  That's the heart of my big guy for his lil sis.  He checked in periodically through the night and was hoping she had fun.  I love the way my kids love each other.

Sunday update

Savannah did have a fantastic time.  The kids went out to Steak 'n' Shake after the dance, an impromptu thing.  Unfortunately, Savannah was sick by the time they left the restaurant. She is so sick this morning that I am staying home from church to make she she has what she needs on hand.

If Savannah does not recover quickly, as in within the next few hours, I will be hoping for a snow day tomorrow.  She only feels worse right now because she worries about the cost of missing a day of school, and she has a lot of homework due tomorrow.  Worrying on top of feeling terrible does not bode well for a speedy recovery.  Ugh!

Speaking of homework, I give these kids an "F" on their picture taking last night.  R's mom and I both told them to take lots of pictures and to get professional pics done.  They did not take a single one, not one!! Fail!!  So, the pics in this post...that's all we got folks.

The Details are Coming Together

Savannah planned, shopped, painted, drew, and glued.  She now has her mask for the Winter Ball complete.  We bought the shoes for last year's Winter Ball and went with a silver that would match most anything, so she has shoes.  Her dress is the color of the teal accents on the mask. Savannah chose to primarily do the mask in pink to match her flowers. We bought the dress on clearance last summer, and it needs no alterations. Actually, we bought her prom dress on clearance last summer as well.  We will have that altered soon to avoid any last minute stress in May.  Savannah ironed out some of the details of transportation and flowers over the last few weeks.  Now, she and her friends only need to decide on dinner - easier said than done with her crowd.  What a wonderful thing to look forward to when returning to school from Christmas break.

Another Christmas Celebration and a Brand New Year

Christmas break brought us:

A basketball victory for our favorite college team.  Julia spent the night prior with her friend L and stayed to watch the game with her family.  L's mom promised to be good for the game.  Ha!! I am not worried about her.  Julia is quite the obnoxious little wildcat :)

The temporary tattoo remains in place all these days later.  We celebrated victory weekend at church on Sunday, and Julia continued to celebrate a basketball victory.

Julia received make-up for Christmas.  She has some surprisingly long eyelashes that can only be seen with mascara.  Who knew?  I certainly didn't.

Wyatt celebrated his baptism. During victory weekend we honor those who joined the church or were baptized over the last year.

Julia's elementary class continued a long-standing Christmas break tradition with an afternoon of ice skating, so hard to believe that this is their last year.

The winter ball this year is a masquerade, so Savannah spent some time this break planning and creating her mask.  She is not yet finished, but a little bit a day will get the job done.

We found a penguin and polar bear cookie cutters on clearance.  How could we resist as they are Savannah's favorite animals? Savannah finds funny penguin videos to be very good stress relief...so if you are in need of stress relief, you might give that a try.  Despite the fact that Christmas was over, Savannah could not resist the opportunity to put these finds to use with gingerbread and sugar cookies.

Wyatt gathered some friends for a pizza buffet and some arcade fun.  Even though the boys knew Wyatt but not each other, they really hit it off.  A blast was had by all - okay Mom may not have had a blast on this one, but she took the opportunity to enjoy some skeeball and one on one time with Julia.  Julia has enjoyed three sleeps away from home this break.  We do so miss her when she is gone, and her social calendar could be a full time job.  

We enjoyed a family shopping trip where Zach appeared to be on sale for 50% off.  Julia walked on her hands down the aisle, and Wyatt started a random dance in the shoe aisle.  Shopping fun for all.

Zach returned from school broke. He's spent much of his break working and returns to school in just a few days.  He has seen a couple of movies but has yet to gather with friends at all.  Therefore, we have agreed to open the house to a potluck gathering for his friends this weekend.  Zach quit the football team and has been reaching out to coaches at other schools.  Hopefully, he will apply to other options during the next few days.

We gathered last night for our last Christmas celebration -this time with Andy's side of the family.  We feasted on homemade Chinese and Mexican foods.  We played a game directed by Andy's mom as she distributed homemade gifts to all. We enjoyed a close game of Apples to Apples with the victory going to Julia and watched the ball drop.

We missed Mitchell. Our older teens have their own lives.  Page and Savannah left to ring in the new year with friends.

The tree made it. We were not sure it would survive through Christmas much less a week later, but it has stayed a pretty green though the branches are quite droopy.  The ornaments and Christmas decor will return to boxes and storage in the next few days.

Shiloh seemed to enjoy the freedom brought by a house full of people and the love shared with her.  However, it was clear to all that her hip is definitely a problem for her.

A sword fight got a little scary with a game board laid out and a tree full of breakables. 

The younger cousins camped in the living room over night.

Julia's text version of a Christmas verse from Isaiah remained until this morning.

Jules also enjoyed the attention.  Pam and Mike were ready to take her home with them.  We were ready to let them :)  I have decided that since I can no longer buy gifts for my mom, I will honor her for Mother's Day, her birthday and Christmas by making sure the dog she adored is groomed.  

As a family and individuals, we have been pondering a word for this year as we have been encouraged to do by our minister.  I am leaning toward Presence.  I need courage, and I need to be fully present with my Savior and in my relationships.  

Today, my Bible app verse of the day was as follows: 

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.  Isaiah 43:19

I needed that.  I needed a reminder that He will make a way in the wilderness.  When it seems hopeless, God will make a way.  He will provide rivers in the desert.  My kids have taken to asking for bedding for Christmas because we simply cannot replace worn bedding, but God provides. Julia received a comforter set for Christmas and originally planned to spend her money on coordinating bedskirt, sheets and pillows...then she saw the price tags.  Savannah received enough in a combination of a gift card and cash to purchase a comforter set she likes. Just today, Andy acknowledged that he feels like he is suffocating. I get it.  I do too, but we have all we need. I can rest in that.