The school district here had to cut the Outdoor Education program this year. We are in the Pepsi refresh grant program to get a grant to restore it.  What it is, is a 3-4 day trip to the mountains where the kids learn to work together as a team, learn about the wilderness here, healthy living, and how to get along out in the wilderness if they ever need to.  It is a really important thing.

Would you all help by voting. You can send a text to 73774 and in the body say 101867.    You can also go to http://www.pepsirefresh.com/  and look in the education section in the 250K catagory for the one that says “Revive Outdoor Ed for our 6th graders”   Thanks so much friends!  Ask your friends and family to vote also.  Today is the last day for voting. This is going to allow little sister to participate next year.  I think if we don’t get this grant, the program is gone forever!  These kids need this class.

In case you are ever wondering… parenting is sometimes hard.  I have two wonderful daughters.  There are times when I think that we could just run our family on autopilot because they are so good.  And then there are other times when I wonder if I can let them out of my site!  

Big sister:
Main part in a play
Summer homework
Community Services Hours needed (school assignment)
Boys coming out of the woodwork for her
Two days a week she has a babysitting job
Lawn care for local grandparents
Needs all 4 wisdom teeth pulled

Little sister:
Wants a friend over constantly
Many small parts in the same play as big sister
Summer reading (that is a constant battle)
Wants to be independant but still is only 10

Sigh……..  That, my friends is a giant list of parenting needs!  I’m not complaining, just feeling the load lately.  In addition I still have the wife job and the housekeeper job.  Whew…..  I need a nap!  But through it all, God is good! 

We have a new library near our house.  I love it so much!  I was so sad when my former library closed.  All the other branches were pretty far away, so I didn’t go.  Now.. the new one is open. 

It is beautiful!  Lots of space to walk around or sit and read a book.  They have a big fireplace with big fluffy chairs inside and OUTSIDE the building.  It is a double sided fireplace.   There are rooms that feel like a living room.  The children’s section has rocking chairs, big tumbling mats, craft tables and kid computers.  There is an entire room for teens.  They have a drawing table too, because let’s just be honest, even teens like to draw and color pictures.  They have another room connected to the teen room that is set up for video games.  On the day the library opened, they had Rock Band set up in there for kids to play on.  There are small study rooms for teens doing homework on the other end of the teen room.  The movie collection rivals a nearby Blockbuster.  Book check out and return are all automated!  You literally set your books on a table, scan your library card and the table checks out the books automatically.  There is some sort of sensor in the book that the table reads.  Coolest thing ever is the book return.  There is a thing that looks like an atm machine with a conveyor belt.  You push a button on the touch screen and say you are returning books.  You put your books in one at a time, the computer reads the sensor things and then SORTS the book onto the right cart, so a librarian can put them on the right shelf without sorting. So amazing.  There are about 100 computers that anyone can use there too.  The yard outside the children section has a playground.  There are solar tubes that provide light.  The sink in the bathroom is solar powered!  I have never seen such a cool library.  My kids love it too. 

We will likely be spending a LOT of time there in the future.  I love libraries!!!

Have a happy day!

I’m a little stressed lately.  I feel pressure to do some things that I don’t know that I can do.  Not because I think I can’t do it, but because it is out of my control in the first place.  It is hard to know that someone expects something from you and not be able to deliver on those expectations.  I feel like it is a let down or a disappointment.  THAT is not happy.  Typically, if I say I will do something, you can take that to the bank.  It will happen.  I have never said I can do this thing that is expected of me, but that doesn’t change the expectation.  Instead it sort of fuels a fear that I CAN’T do it and ……….

That sounds confusing.  Sorry.   I am working like a crazy lady (which is not a huge stretch I realize) to keep up with the house and family and everything else.  I love that there is so much going on that is good and healthy and fun.  That all keeps me pretty busy.    My kids are having fun in the play they are in.  Show is in a few weeks.  It should be fun!  I got most of my laundry done yesterday.  Life is good…. in spite of the stress that some times comes along too.

Have a happy day!

My children both auditioned for a play called James and the Giant Peach based on the book by the same title.  AND, they both got in.  Big sister is going to be the ladybug, which happens to be one of the main characters.  Little sister is going to be in the ensemble which means she could be a ninja, a passenger on a boat, a member of a crowd or even in a parade. 

I think it will be great fun!  Can’t wait for it to all start.

Have a happy day!

Friendly fools found family and friends frequenting a festive fiesta for fifty years!!   Some silly string sailed smothering a sneaky someone.  Lights, lasers and lots of ‘lectric stuff lit up!   But enough of that alliteration.

Thank you fools, for speaking my name.  I got to be there if only in conversation. FUN!!  Maybe at the 100 year celebration, I can come. 

Today, we are getting a new fridge.  The old one is 11 years old and it has just finally stopped working right.  The freezer freezes too cold, the fridge side isn’t cold enough… and the glacier on the coils comes back much too fast.  So we got a new one.  It is being delivered today.  HOORAY!

Meanwhile, I need to go get all the pictures and magnets and stuff off of the old fridge.  I will also need to go grocery shopping later because all the food we had in the current fridge was ruined.  It was pretty NASTY in there! 

It isnt’ the most exciting thing ever, but it is what is happening here.  We are kind of excited about it.   

Have a happy day

Hello Xanga world.    I hope all of you are doing well.  It has been a busy week at our house.  On Monday, we hosted a group of bridesmaids and a bride and the mother of the bride while they all got fancified for the wedding.  Then we went to the wedding.  It was a lot of fun!  We also got to go see a friend of our that we haven’t seen in 4 years!  That was a blast.  The girls didn’t know we were going to see him, so they were very surprised and excited.  We had some teens from our congregation over for dinner and games and that was a blast.  We just seem to keep on having fun!  I love that.

I’m working my way through my friend list on Facebook.  I’m trying to comment on every page of each of my friends.  I’m getting there, but it is a slow process.  Still really fun though.  It is great fun to see all the people who have meant something to me and have become a friend in real life.  It is a blessing to see all of my friends.    so far, I’m almost to the middle of the alphabet. I ‘m going in alphabetic order by first names (since that is how facebook has my list ordered).  Fun times!

Big sister is growing again.  I have to go get some summer clothes for her to wear.  She has plenty of shirts that a girl we know has given to her.  She doesn’t have so many shorts or capris for the summer.  Need to get on that. 

Aloysius_son  I can’t go on your page.  Xanga thinks I don’t have footprints, but I do.  Sad day!!!  I tried.  That still counts!!!

Life is good.  I hope it is good for you too.  Have a happy day!

Yesterday, our little baby magpie had a terrible accident and was killed.  Hubby and big sister had her in the backyard so they could clean her cage.  Little sister was about to go outside as someone was coming inside.  The bird was quicker than anyone expected and got closed in the door.  She died instantly.  There was much crying and self blame on everyone’s part.  The truth is, it was a terrible and tragic accident. 

I did not want this bird in the first place.  It was a baby, taken from a nest and then given to us.  But, I’ll have to be honest and tell you that watching my family care for this bird was one of the sweetest things ever.  They got up early, they hand fed her, they gave her water to drink, they were just starting flying lessons.  The bird had at least doubled in size in the time we had her, which was a few days shy of two weeks.   She was a funny bird.  She liked to sit on people’s laps or shoulders.  She tried to get the polka-dots off a towel we have, but never succeeded.  She kept on trying.  She did this think I can only liken to purring.  When she sat on someone’s lap after eating, she made this noise that was a happy content noise sort of like purring.  She made a big impact on the family in a short amount of time. 

There is still grieving going on.  It was a long and difficult night.  We took her out to where her nest was and burried her.  She is going to be missed.  There has been a lot of hugging going on here.  Probably will be for a while. 

Thanks for listening.

Today I took my children shopping.  They both needed a few things for summer.  They still do actually, but since I have fruit trees and not money trees, I had to just get a few things.  Big sister got some dresses.  She is just growing so fast again.  She didn’t have any dresses that fit properly except one and it was getting too small.   Little sister is just a skinny thing, so the hand me downs she gets from big sister don’t usually fit.  We have to get slim sizes that have adjustable waist bands … and cinch them up.  HA!  So we checked out with some dresses, so shorts and a pair of flip flops.  I paid for them.  Big sister offered me some money to help out with costs because she had some babysitting money.  I told her not to worry about it.  It was a sweet offer though.  We had tried on things at another store earlier and put stuff on hold to decide later if we REALLY wanted it. I told big sister she had enough money to go buy one of the dresses from the first store if she wanted.  She thought for a minute and decided she would like to go back there and get a dress. So, I sent her in and I waited in the car.  Would you like to know what she did?   She bought a dress for ME!   She said it just wasn’t right that I bought them stuff and never got things for myself.  I had tried on a dress just for fun.  It was cute, but I was just burning time.  Anyway, she got that dress for me!  It was so sweet.  Now all three of the girls in my house have a new dress to wear to a friends wedding on Monday.  YAY!!!  Fun times

Have a happy day!