We've made it back.

The kids are home, 5 of them anyway. All is well in our house. Well, almost. There are still 4 unaccounted for-unaccounted for and missed.


Merry Christmas to you all, to all our friends, to all our family. We love you so very dearly. You mean the world to us.

From the mouths of babes

This afternoon Bug & I were doing a bit of running around and as we waited in line at the bank he had a song on his heart and he sang with all of his might.

"Our God is an awesome God He prays from Heaven and from he's an awesome God He prays..."


For those of you who aren't familiar with the song it goes a little more like this, "Our God is an awesome God. He reigns on Heaven and Earth with wisdom, power and love. Our God is an awesome God."

Bug belted his fantastic lyrics out as best he could in that bank line up and in the van ride home and at home, only taking a long enough break from it to watch "Frosty the Snowman". I think it may have been the best version of this song I have heard in a very long time but then, that could just be a mother's heart speaking.

Jewel and the Purple Balloon

This is a response to Dixie's Olivia and the Pink Balloon post because we had similar pictures involving our "youngest" as well. They aren't quite as cute as Dixie's only because Olivia is a cute baby girl and Jewel is a cat, although she is the prettiest little cat ever!

So here is Jewel playing with the string from our party balloon and I have gotten so many pictures of her playing with this darn balloon (same with the balloons from last year's party).

Went to a costume party

Marc turned 30 last weekend and with that came a literary themed birthday party. Dixie did a tremendous job throwing together quite a party with lots of food, drinks and games.

I will quickly put some pictures up here and explain them a bit later on (say tomorrow).

BigB & I as Billy the kid and Huck Finn...

Margaret Atwood... The birthday boy as J. R. R. Tolkien Dixie as Elizabeth Bennet from Pride & Prejudice.

I am in a state of shock and it's kinda fun here

My sense of time from this afternoon is a bit off but sometime around 3 pm I was prodded from my snoozing (I had to lay down with the kids to get them to have their "get over sickness" naps) by the chiming of my cell. Odd. BigB knew I was at home...Wait! I shot out of bed! I had left a message this morning with Anita the Adult Education Co-ordinator this morning and left my cell number! I sprang out of bed (just like in The Night Before Christmas poem) and grab the phone with a sense of dread and excitement.

Sure enough it was Anita and she told me she had my mark. I can honestly tell you I heard a drum roll in my head as she said, "You got a 76%.". Her voice was even with calmness as she revealed this mark to me; she didn't remember what I needed or didn't need. I heard my voice catch in my throat as I replied, "You're kidding, right?".

I refreshed her memory that I needed a 75% on my mark to get into Nursing and she said something to the effect of that's right, you do. We rejoiced on the phone momentarily; it doesn't mean as much to her as it does to me and I found out that I need to apply for my nursing by the middle of January.

I called BigB at work, my dad, my mom, my sister and talked to R on MSN. I tried to call my brother but he wasn't home so I will have to tell him later. I am in such an emotional state right now that I feel like I am going to puke or cry or both but it's all due to happy emotions.

I HAVE NEVER, EVER, EVER BEEN SO HAPPY I COULD PUKE!!!!!!!

HUH?!

Laena, Cam and I took the day to study and help each other and I think the end result is pretty close to this...







blah, blah, blah. jfgsd kdll ofoiaur kjadflkjflajsl;dfar stoichiometry kjadklfjakjf andfkj aoeepep molar mass jkdsj kjdlkjj jlksjadsru endothermic kdsjlksjdflkj kjdkj oweo kckd. The end!

I am so ready for this final (insert sarcasm here).

We've been dumped...

...on that is. I don't think I have seen this much snow here this early in the winter season in a very, very long time. It feels like it should be Marchish around here.

Yesterday as BigB and I were driving to work we saw people shoveling just to get out of their garages, people brushing off their cars but I really had to laugh when I saw people actually shovelling off their cars. There aren't too many places in the world you could do that!

It's gonna be a great winter for sliding and snowmobiling...and the spring whispers hopes of a few good snowmen in our yard.

It's an exciting week!

Jellybean is on the countdown to her birthday. She wanted a bowling party this time so she was very limited to who she could invite; as it is pretty expensive to do as a party. She could invite 4 friends and those spots were quickly filled up by her "fiance", 2 best friends from school and long time friend, Simon. The wish list went on for ever of who she would like to invite if she could invite just one more...unfortunately we had to be the bad guys and tell her not this time since she had insisted on the bowling party. Next year I can expect an "at home" party so she can invite all of these other friends.

I have a Strawberry Shortcake ordered from Safeway & when I called to see if they had that I realized I should probably specify the character so she didn't wind up with some cheepo version of strawberry shortcake. You know the white cake with strawberry glaze; the total disappointment compared to authentic biscuit type strawberry shortcake.

The juice boxes (veggie with fruit juices) are bought for the treat bags as are the fruitbites that I found in the snack aisle...a couple more healthy things and the bags will be complete.

Her birthday is not until next Monday so I don't have to worry yet about filling balloons and making cupcakes for her to take to school for another week yet but it is on the list of things to do. It's always exciting when you are a kid to have a birthday. I'm not getting that same excitment from Bill who will be turning 39.1 the Tuesday after Jellybean's.

By the way, 39.1 is geeknerd for I am turning 40.

Bug is one funny kid

Last night as I was tucking Bug in for the night, he looked over at me and innocently asked me if his room smelled. I couldn't smell anything so I told him that I didn't think so and asked him why he asked me. His response was interrupted with giggles as he told me, "Because I just farted!" and he then erupted into side splitting laughter.

This must be a boy thing...

Smidge of an update

Parent-Teacher Interviews were last night for Rush and this was the first time we have ever attended a high school P/T interview. We managed to fit in 3 out of 5 teachers so I am thinking it was a mild success. The teachers we missed were the Phys. Ed. teacher and the Practical Applied Arts teacher; I think we covered the critical ones and they would have been icing. No icing on our cake this time.

The general theme/consensus (sp) of the teachers was that Rush needs to communicate better with her teachers. She doesn't ask for help if she doesn't quite get something and none of her teachers knew the "severity" of the health problems Rush has been having and the impact they are having on her schooling. They just weren't understanding why some of her work has been phenomenal and other work has been acceptable...

Overall, we were pleased with what they had to say about her but a note to Rush, start talking to your teachers and don't rush a project. Together we can do this!

Bug is darn near finished his "Come Read With Me" program at the school; he has really been enjoying it because daddy has been able to make it each Thursday. He has also taken it upon himself to practice drums every day at our house.

Jellybean is anxiously looking forward to her birthday and is planning a bowling party for her, Bug and 4 of her friends. We are all ready on a countdown. I can tell you there are 18 days left until she turns 7 years old.

One slightly used tooth and a pink feather for the low, low cost $2.00. Beat that shopping channel!

Jellybean lost another tooth; she's an old pro at this now. She wiggles the crap out of the tooth for what seems like 24 hours a day until it is barely hanging on and then she gets her daddy to take the plyers to it in order to yank that sucker out of there. She lays on the couch like a brave soul and calmly allows her father to pluck this tooth from her face. She is by far the most trusting, so far, when it comes to Dad removing teeth.

The last lost tooth resulted in what we refer to as "The Incident"; I believe I posted it on here but I could be wrong. The tooth was, for some reason, being washed and it ended up that Bug lost the tooth down the bathroom sink. Devestation quickly ensued with us reassuring her that the toothfairy would still show up because she knows about little brothers. A strongly worded letter to the toothfairy regarding her brother seemed to ease her troubled mind and she slept peacefully awaiting her booty.

Today Jellybean knew that her tooth was going to come out today and used a package of sticky-notes giving the toothfairy directions to her room and even, more specifically, to her bed "just in case Flossy gets mixed up and goes to Rush's bed by mistake".

At bedtime, I made sure that Jellybean had her tooth under her pillow and asked her if it was in a plastic baggy so it wouldn't get lost in all those blankets, pillows and teddybears. She assured me it was and informed me that she also had a pink feather in the bag in order to pay the toothfairy. I tried, once again, to tell her that the toothfairy paid her for her tooth and that she didn't need to pay her but she insisted and I know better than to press the matter when Jellybean feels this strongly about something that she feels is the right and proper thing to do.

So, the toothfairy, Flossie (that's our family's toothfairy's name...there is a misconception that there is only one...she would be way too busy if there were only one toothfairy) walked away with quite a bargain today: one slightly used tooth and one fuzzy pink feather from the wand of Jellybean's hair sparkles for a low, low price of $2.00! What a steal! I just don't know what to do with the feather!

My little swamper

Apparently "swamper" is a trucking term for someone who isn't old enough to drive but is there to help with whatever it would be that a truck driver would need assistance with. That is the definintion, reworded, according to my husband. That was what my son was today; he helped his dad in the gravel truck and he is proud to be called a swamper.

(The only other term he had ever taught me was "lot lizard" and I didn't really care to ever know that one. If you were to think about it and know that a lot lizard is a specific type of woman who also assist, you would figure out its definition all on your own... )

Here are the pictures from today of Bug and his dad:

This and That.

I apologize for being such a slacker but I have been consumed a fair bit by Chemistry and, frankly, Facebook and its evil Scrabble game.

Our children have been tickling our funny bones with their insight and wisdom regarding life and the world we live in.

Jellybean has informed us that Bug has to change the name of his favorite lunch time sandwich. Apparenly it is not right for a boy to eat girl cheese sandwiches and when he has one it has to become a boy cheese sandwich.

We have also discovered a new species of animal thanks to Jellybean. Surprisingly it was discovered by Grandma and Pa while Jellybean was getting ready to come home from school and was the absolute, very last kid out of her door. They discovered a snertle! This bizzare little creature is a cross between a snail and a turtle and boy is she ever cute. However, she does not like the name she has been given and protests when you call her by Snertle. Jellybean prefers to be called by her given name.

We have been made aware that Rush has her first boyfriend. I think I felt my health deteriorate by about 20 years when she finally confessed to it. I don't know if I am exactly prepared for this but at least we know and we are not being tricked about it anymore and we can monitor the situation and ensure that there is proper and adequate supervision.

Bug is going truck driving right now with his dad. They are hauling gravel to help a friend and Bug has been so excited. He barely jumped out of bed beofre he was asking when they got to go and he was after me to make him truck driver snacks to take. This meant that we had to phone Pa to see what truck drivers took as snacks. In leiu of coffee he took juice but he took a sandwich like Pa said (I don't think though that Pa takes peanut butter and grape jelly), granola bar, some fruit and a yogurt. I think Pa would be proud of that truckdriver and his snacks. With the sharing of snacking wisdom Pa gave Bug a little bit of a tip as well. "Tell Bug to have a good day and to keep the shiny side up."

Bug and Jellybean are especially enjoying the new Dustin Smith cd we picked up. They are sure to be singing their absolute loudest on song #1..."We will shout it from the mountains, shout it...you are Lord." It is very cute to watch Bug try to rock out this song while he "plays" his guitar along with it.

There's been a little void

Here I am in Brookings, SD on my way back to Canada and this is the first time I have had access to the internet! I have been missing people and being able to correspond with them but I have also been having too much fun to miss it completely! We love it here; here being KC. Our friends here are fabulous and the family we have here is spectacular (and not limited to only LilB and Nat).

The wedding was fantastic and I will post some pictures once I get home and get caught up with a few things I will need to do there, unpack, work, homework, get my chem test done...all that fun stuff!

I do miss my friends and family back home though and am I ever looking forward to seeing and communicating with you (with whatever means we are used to) and I am looking forward to being able to finish that scrabble game with Cheryl!

Skip to the caf my darling.

Rush came home from school today telling me as soon as she walked up to the house that she needed to talk to me in private. It sounded quite urgent and given the circumstances this past week my heart skipped a beat.

Her eyes filled wtih tears as she told me that she was sorry and that she did something that we were going to be very angry at her as she had made a stupid decision. Apparently, she skipped phys ed today. She didn't do it to go to the mall or to visit with her friends or to smoke a cigarette. No, she skipped because she thought she was going to be too busy tonight to study for a science test she didn't know about (they found out Friday after she had left the school due to all the chaos) and so she went to the cafeteria to study for her science test.

How many kids will skip class to go study?

Granted, some people can say that we are gulible for believing that she went to study but those will be the same people who don't truly know her or just want to tease. I know that she is telling the truth(her gym teacher is apparently very hot...who would miss that?) and I also know...

that I have the cutest geeknerd daughter ever!

Boy! Do I ever feel lighter!!

I went to one of our local charity drop-off places and man, did I EVER drop off. I took all that we had put in the shed and all that I had recently taken out of our house and I left them with 10 bags of stuff. 10 bags!!!!! 10 big bags!!!! 10 big, full bags!!! 10 big, full, heavy bags!!!!! Sadly, I have to tell you that I am sure I can still get more crap out of my house...(hear the small, quiet voice that says...) oy vay.

Back to the purge

Today we are doing some massive cleaning, a making sure we can come home to a spotless house when we go on our trip(Jewel willing). We are taking our bags of stuff to give away (we are talking teddybears, clothes that some of our children have left here, tupperware, lunchkits, etc) out of our house today. By out of the house I don't mean transfered to the shed like any other time; I mean out of the house, out of the shed, into the van straight to the donation spot.

This purge has done one other thing for us. It has saved us $100 that we owed to the library due to 2 lost books and a lost kids vhs tape of Thomas the Train! We found all 3 items and that has me completely pumped!!!

I echo my previous sentiments from an earlier post; purging is wonderful!!!

The last we heard...

...some gang members were escorted by the police out of the school. Whether they belonged at the school or not is unknown. FYI: This was told to us by one of the few students who ended up staying the entire day as she couldn't get a hold of her parents and we thought she was gone all ready.

More chaos for our children

Today I went for lunch with Renee and at the end of our lunch I received a call on my cell. At first I almost hung up because I couldn't hear anyone there. A small, fearful voice quivered on the other end of the line, a shaky, "Mom...?" and then silence.

Immediately I had to fight the tears back even though I still had no idea what the matter even was there was that much fear in her little voice.

I found out that she wanted to come home and most of the students from Carlton had all ready gone home. There is a threat or rumor of a threat/attack on our children. The rumor is that today, possibly Monday there will be a shooting at the school. There is no particular target. If you are in their way or in their sight you are the target. This threat is being taken seriously enough that the students were locked in their classrooms and teachers were encouraging them to go home if they felat scared or nervous in anyway; also there were cop cars stationed outside the school today, not just the police liasons.

It is rumored that gang members from Saskatoon and Regina were in the student lounge first thing this morning. I was downtown today and there was a lot more security related issues today than I have ever seen and quite a few more shady characters lurking about.

Apparently, this is not supposed to be linked to the murder this past weekend. That was apparently just a rumor too. Kids were told by other kids not to go out that night because something was going to go down...that rumor turned out to be true. I certainly don't want to risk this rumor being true too...

A little irony with supper

Rush didn't like what I quickly made up for supper tonight, grilled ham & cheese sandwiches with orange soup (to all of you who don't know, that is what Bug calls tomato soup because he doesn't like tomatoes and that is his favorite soup but, I digress.). Anyway, Rush decided to make a taco out of our last night's leftovers. She grabbed some taco meat and dished it up, put it in the microwave to heat it...


...the next thing I knew the microwave was sparking and shooting some small flammage! I ran to the microwave and, in a panic, pushed the button to open the door to find...


...she had put the meat in a metal measuring cup to heat it and threw that in the micowave causing our pyro show. Apparently she thought you couldn't put metal in the microwave only if it had water in it! (Grin)

Okay people prepare your funny bones because this is where it gets good!!! The shirt she was wearing at the time of the incident reads, "What a difference a brain makes".

Ah the memories my children give me. So, to the people who will care for me in my last days, please cut me some slack, don't think I am losing my mind if I start laughing for no apparent reason. I have a lot of reasons to be laughing; you see, by then I will have raised 7 children and have a lifetime of memories just like these.

Success!!

We were up, dressed, fed and ready in plenty of time to get to Pa & Grandma's on time this morning and I made it to work with 6 minutes to spare!!!

First morning of solo parenting for a week a smashing success.

Tonight we have Reading with the Raiders 5:30 - 6:30 and I have school 6:30-9:30. An impossibly tight squeeze but I am thinking we will ditch the Raiders early this week so I can get to school on time. Sounds fair to me...

Edited to add:

Due to an unfortunate mishap at school of gym lockers not opening and of ones needing to get her gym teacher to help her once all the other girls were out, Rush missed 2 buses and had to walk home causing supper to not be quite on time. That folks, was the worst thing that happened regarding solo-parenting day one.

Bug & I got to the library in time to get him registered for Reading with the Raiders; he was too shy to talk to any of the 4 there or even look at them for that matter. We also decided to register Jellybean. I got to school on time (barely but on time) and home. Unfortunately home time was met with Bug crying in his room because he is "sad at Rush because she didn't give me a bed time snack" at 6:30 pm and when he asked to be put to bed at 8 and was offered a snack he declined. This whole school thing is going to take him some getting used to I think...it really tuckers him out and then he gets very emotional.

Tragedy strikes our children

And all we can do about this is teach our children how to hopefully avoid these situations and these people and pray...pray our butts off!


Extra grief counsellors have been taken to the school near by to help the kids out with this situation they find themselves currently in. Things have sure changed a lot since I was in high school.

It continues...

in Bug's room. I have been purging all afternoon and I have so far gotten rid of a huge bag of garbage including but not limited to broken toys and puzzles with 50% of the pieces missing. I have returned half of Jellybean's toys to her room and I also have a laundry basket full of toys to donate somewhere but I don't know where. So, if you know of any place or body who could use some toddler/preschool toys let me know.

Please, do not disturb...

...purge in progress and boy, oh boy, is it ever feeling good.

Why does it feel so good getting rid of things? I completely understand why it feels great once you have them organized because you feel a sense of order and along with that comes a peace and a place you can relax. Perhaps that is all that purging comes down to...order. As you purge, you put back where (insert item here) belongs and you get order.

You can't tell by looking at my house most days (especially when we would have all the kids here) but I love order. I love organizing but with this many kids and a husband, who occassionally doesn't understand my reasoning or my plan, well, you know that saying, "the best laid plans of mice and men...".

Anyway, today I have gotten rid of the mismatched lids and bottoms of rubbermaid containers. Where do those things go?! You can't even blame that one on the dryer!! I also organized that cupboard and created an area and a plan that everyone will be willing and able to follow. No longer are there popsicle containers and sticks strewn about the cupboard; they are all in a nice little container...contained. Ah, bliss...where have thou been my glorious friend.

The 3 million lunchkits we have for 5 people have been purged. Oh! I am not even exaggerating! Ok, maybe a tad. But now, the numbers are normal!!! Normal...oh to see your face again...

I still have so much to do but it will be done! Oh yes, it will be done!!!

And now that I am done sounding like a geek; I must get back to my purging so I can feel even more weight lifted from my shoulders and those fingers loosen from my neck...and that, is not an exaggeration.

It looks like I'm on the right track

Tonight I took that test Marc has on his blog and it looks like I have at least made the right decision career wise...30 out of 40 of my ideal career choices have to do with Healthcare. So, here are the top 10.



1.
Pediatrician
2.
Child and Youth Worker
3.
Family Practitioner
4.
Mental Health Nurse
5.
Psychiatrist
6.
Physician Assistant
7.
Funeral Director
8.
Social Worker
9.
Licensed Practical Nurse
10.
Adoption Counselor

Included in the rest are a variety of different specialty doctors and nurses etc. Not so shabby huh?

Missing

Tonight Rush & I were looking through some of our pictures as she is wanting to do a scrapbook of her own. I thought it would be a great time for her & I to spend some time together while she picked out the pictures she wants to print off and it was fun. We had a good time laughing at some of the silly pictures and remembering some good times. It was great until...

I came across a picture of my soon to be ex-sister-in-law and it really, really hurts. Not only was she my brother's wife but she was my sister and she was my friend and now, she is gone...I am angry at her for what she did to my brother(and I realize & respect that there are 2 sides to this) and I am angry & hurt that she has decided that she wants nothing to do with us. I am angry that I have to retell my younger two children that they don't really have an auntie R anymore because she has chosen to cut herself off from every single one of us and it breaks my heart to see how much it breaks theirs. I feel betrayed by her in so many ways and on so many levels that I can't even begin to sort it out in my head and my heart just doesn't even want to try.

At first it seemed as if their break up would alter our relationship but not eliminate it and I sent birthday cards and phoned and she came to see Rush when she was in the hospital and there has since, been nothing and there is a void...and it hurts...and I feel like there is a big part of my support system gone and that person who I know I could be silly with has disappeared and that big sister who was always there to laugh, to cry, to celebrate, to mourn has just decided to not exist in my world and I can feel her missing...

I haven't cried...but I can feel them there

I only worked until lunch today, went to my dad's and Jude's and picked up the Bug. He & I then drove to the school where I proceeded to snap pictures of every possible part of his first day of pre-k...the only thing I didn't get was a picture of him with his 2 teachers...

He had so much fun and it was great! I loved watching how he immediately felt comfortable enough to let my hand go and socialize with his new classmates but, inside, I felt a bit of loss. My baby has grown up so much and he is the baby. There will be no more. This is the last first "first" day of school. He even let go of my hand at one point on our school tour to take the hand of his new teacher and as beautiful as it was to watch him...my heart bowed down in sorrow...

I will post pictures but right now I am almost late for my class...

Chemistry nightmares

Well, it has officially begun; my stomach is one huge ball of twisting, turning, churning knots. Jellybean always tells us she has butterflies. Well baby, these butterflies have sharp claws and a vicious sense of humor and may even be sadistic...

I know once I get to my first class I will be fine but for the next 12 hours I will be a wreck so, health records girls, I apologize for my airheaded behavior, my possible quick temper and my sudden crying spells (just kidding). Seriously though, yikes!

Shiver me timbers

If today is any indication of what the rest of this fall is going to be like, I think I am really going to look forward to it, even with the cooler weather.

After church and the pizza lunch/worship meeting following service, we packed up some sandwiches and juices and met up with some friends, took the drive to Kinesao (sp?), went for a beautiful 3.7 km hike (according to my husband's recollection but I could be misinformed), stopped for a picnic supper and watched the kids throw rocks into the lake.

It grew quite cool once we reached our picnic destination as the sun was setting and the air off the lake was giving us a bit of a chill but nothing the kids noticed just us oldies, mainly Dixie and I. The chill was nothing the heater in our van couldn't cure once we were on our way home. Oh yeah, and those chocolate chip cookies that Dixie made didn't hurt either. Yummy!!!

It was a nice walk and one that I think will be even nicer once the leaves turn colors even more.

The fresh air from today's walk will help me sleep well tonight I am sure and there is something so relaxing about the smells of the outdoors. Perhaps it is from growing up on a farm that it relaxes me so much but I really let my guard down and the stresses seem to evaporate. Just the smells of the moss, the berries, the moist vegetation and the cool, crisp fresh air carrying the scent of "lake"...soothing.

It started off bad

and the cloud is just sort of hanging over my head. I woke up this morning with the aid of a terrible dream where we were searching and searching for our friend's boy, Simon, who had disappeared in a HUGE mall and was gone for 3 hours before they finally closed shops up and declared a code ADAM. He did get found; I found him but I never did get to see myself take him to his terrified mom and dad and I woke up shaking. It was so real, so vivid and so absolutely terrifying. Bug disappeared on me, in real life and was gone for about 10 mintues before we found him sitting calmly at the race car game at the arcade just outside of Zellers. It was the longest 10 minutes of my life and I relived that panic through that dream.

I got groceries today...Dollar Days here and flyer specials there and then went to Superstore to get the bulk of the groceries. They had no stew meat, no rice and no purchase worthy produce so I left feeling unsuccessful in my mission. I did however manage to get Bug 2 new pair of pants for $9 each and a $21 pair of Toronto Maple Leaf pj's for only $6. That was cool.

If I could get rid of this headache that is clinging to me, not wanting to ease at all. It would be a good day. I just feel like I am walking in a haze or outside of myself or something...bad dreams seem to effect me like that...

Plus, I think I am freaking out about starting school on Tuesday and I may be internalizing that fear, stress, tension, etc and I don't think that is helping get rid of this headache at all...

The first step to the end of the road

I mean, Bug is going to Pre-Kindergarten and is he ever excited and we are excited for him.

That being said, I remember taking Rush to her first day of Preschool/Daycare and it certainly doesn't feel like it has been this many years. It feels as though it was weeks ago and she is now in Grade 9!

His teachers came to our house today to meet him and get a bit of information about him. It was nice and is it ever reassuring to have a friend as one of his teachers but...

I still wanted to cry when they were gone which, I know, means...

I am really going to cry when I take him to his first afternoon, Sept 13, 2007. The day my baby takes his first step on that road that leads him to not being my baby anymore! The day he is that much closer to growing up and leaving us...(which, technically, is what this whole parenting this is about...but why must we grow so attached to the little buggers?)

The little 6 year old girl said WHAT!!!!!?????!!!!!?????

We ventured on a little day trip the other day. Whilst on the highway, a crazed coyote ran across, tail tucked between his legs, running for, what seemed, his life. My beautiful, pink wearing, hug and kiss craving, doll snuggling, nail polishing, earring wanting, sweet, innocent little Jellybean said, "You shoulda killed him, Daddy."

"Uh, exsqueese me...?" came the shocked words from her mommy. "Why should we have killed him?".

"I think he would have made a nice decoration."


That, just so you all know, has to come completely from her father!!! The only thing I could shoot an animal with is a camera...Darn that father!

Do you see what I see?

There is a dark and increasingly frightening image in the sky these days...the geese are gathering, flying in V formations and making a lot more noise than I heard this summer. It's a tad reminiscent of Spring only scary and sad instead of exciting and joyous. The leaves are turning beautiful shades of yellow and showing tinges of red and orange...

Yup, this is the beginning of the end...summer is done.

The weather man, he lied!

What happened today? I thought we were supposed to have nice weather; I thought it was supposed to be the August day we never had. I thought they said that the weather would be perfect for me to take my family to the lake for one last day and have a weiner roast.

The weather man lied!

Aside from that, I woke up this morning, threw some clothes on and headed to JanRichards to utilize a gift certificate I had gotten from BigB. By the time I left there I was so relaxed that if I would have had the money to add a facial and then go some where for a massage I would have been in a coma. I ended up being able to get a manicure and pedicure with my gift certificate; I have never had either and it was just what the doctor ordered and I think there will be repeats. Unfortunately there won't be repeats from JanRichards as this is their last week open before everyone ventures out on their own.

I got home did a bit of work, also known as purging; I got rid of bags of clothes and teddy bears from this house. BigB was doing chores around the outside of the house and came in to tell me that 2 of our bikes had been stolen from our yard last night. I feel sick and it makes me so mad!!!

I have been on a roller coaster today. I don't like it at all.

First

Everyone survived the first day of school. Rush made it through highschool without incident and without getting lost, something that was one of her fears. She also rekindled friendships from when we first moved here and she was going to a different school and she is pumped about that. Right now her only fear is that she and her two best friends will drift apart since they don't have classes together at all and she heard that all last year, how best friends didn't even talk to each other after a while at high school.

Jellybean's first day was just as good. She was looking fabulous, darling, with her new hairdo and just waiting for Hunter to see her. There are 2 grade 2 classes and she lucked out; she and Hunter are still in the same class, much to their relief.

Bug got to spend today with Pa and how much cooler could that be? Other than him obviously getting to go to school but that happens around the middle of September with Pre-K going full swing Sept 24. A friend of ours is the teacher's helper so he is happy as are we to know that she will be there.

I survived Rush's first day of high school with minimal damage. I didn't cry at all this year but I won't say that it won't happen as Bug still has his first day and I am pretty sure the waterworks will fall that day. No, I did think of Rush often though, wondering if she was finding her way around and all the things that worried her to a frenzy.

Pictures of the big day...

Where did I leave my freaking walker?

That's right! I am starting to feel like I must be old, even though I don't FEEL old. This summer we married off daughter #2, granted she is not biologically mine but something makes you feel a smidge old knowing that two of your children are married. Daughter #3, my first biological child, is downstairs preparing, physically and emotionally, for her first day of high school. (Should you still be classified as old when you can still remember YOUR first day of high school?) The baby, yes, the baby, is going to start school this year. Bug is anxiously awaiting his first day of Pre-K and we have a home visit interview with his new teacher on Sept 5.

Now, it's not just the kid thing that has made me feel like I should be feeling old. The other day my husband, now I need you help to tell me if I hug him or slap him, told me that he is proud of me for going back to school for no other reason than because I want to, not becuase I have no choice...AND AT MY AGE!

I guess I need to add Bengayand Depends to my grocery list now (according to him). The only other question this leaves me with is this, if I am so old, how old does that make the husband?

Pretending

Sometimes it is hard to pretend you don't feel what you do and sometimes it can be pretty easy. I have spent a year pretending that I didn't feel what I did, pretending I wasn't hurting any more but I still am. I wasn't doing a good job of pretending; the hostility was evident at times, the tension strong at others. Today I needed to stop pretending. Today I did a lot of crying. Today I stopped pretending...as much. Today I listened to Coldplay sing "Fix You" over and over. Today I realized I am not sure if I wanted to be fixed and I also realized I am not sure if I even know how to allow myself to be fixed. Some know the hurt, others will think they know but don't, others have no clue and others still never will. For those of you that know you know I am pretending...

Whew!

Back to some normalcy. No more holidays. No more weddings and with it wedding chaos. No more, and I say this with sadness, summer. School starts for the kids on Tuesday, for me Sept 11. I only have one job right now and that feels weird; I took a leave of absence from BPs; there is a stress that is gone but it is noticably gone and it feels almost like a void right now. There is a full time health records position posted right now, ends Aug 27, that I applied for; if I get it, I know that I will not be returning to BPs.

I'm excited for this newfound "freedom" for lack of a better word but I find myself afraid of it too. Am I going to utilize my time better or am I going to get stuck in a rut of nothingness and find I have wasted it all away? Am I going to well at this Chem class or am I going to bellyflop off the high board? There is far too much uncertainty in that department right now. I will feel more at ease once in the class a bit, if I find I am able to do well in it.

I am finding that I need to make time for me and I know that that can be perceived as selfish however, I am finding that I don't do anything that is just for me. So last night I ordered prints form my 1000's of pictures and I am going to finish some scrapbooks that I started. LilB & Nat's wedding album. The kids' grad album and I now have P.B. & J's wedding album to do. After that I have tonnes more to do with just family pictures or baby pictures.

I also want to take time for myself to spend time with my frends. I am missing that from my life right now. Not only is it a void from my life but I find I am missing it and longing for it.

So the chaos and unorganized confusion of the summer is all but over and school lunches, homework, music lessons and dance recitals are back to routine. Whew.

What a ride...or stop the bus; I want to get off.

Sometimes family gatherings are really rough: snide comments, dirty looks, backstabs and jabs and upper-cuts. I would like to say, on record, that it is even harder when ex-families are involved and even harder still when it isn't even your ex-family. Sometimes the hurt just doesn't seem worth it. Worth what exactly? Well, it just doesn't seem worth any of it at times especially when your own "children" seem to get in on said action...

Somebody stop the bus, I think I want to get off....

We're having a wedding.

It's seems such a short time ago that P.B and J got engaged. It's been a year. Has it been that long? Seriously, people? Have we really had a year to prepare, emotionally and physically, for this wedding?

The bridesmaids are all here and their dresses are ready. The groomsmen are all all here, including the one from Missouri and the tuxes all fit. The flowergirl has her dress, her basket of flower petals, her hair appointment and her shoes but she is still missing all her front teeth. The ringbearer has his tux complete with too big shirt with rolled up sleeves, his shoes, his pillow, the rings and a complete lack of desire to go to this wedding because he knows this means his sister will be leaving us and if he doesn't go, she can't.

The bride has her dress, her flowers (now, the florist made a mistake and they didn't get here until 4), her veil, her hair appointment and a complete set of bridal nerves. Same said for groom only he couldn't find a dress to look good on him.

The reception area is decorated, going to be cramped (I mean cozy) and looks pretty nice. The backdrops have been framed, clothed, lit and set into the first of two locations. The cake made the trip despite the roads and is awaiting decorating and placement on its perch. The rehearsal is complete and I think we are all feeling confident about it given we got the music and the sound system figured out and the dvd presentation was up and running as of last night. The moms had their cry over said dvd presentation and will probably have another one today.

Oh yeah, most importantly, the box of tissue has been strategically placed under our chairs in the front row. So if you are about to be a guest at said wedding, back off and get your own Kleenex!!!

Almost Mr and Mrs...

Once they got that first push to go up the aisle from Dad, these two did pretty good.

Big brother making up for some lost torture time; I mean quality time!

Stinging like a beaver?

Bug is in the living room having a picnic watching his favorite movie of all times (still) "Lightning McQueen". He has just come to the part where Doc asks "Was that floating like a cadillac or stinging like a beamer?". Bug mimics while playing with his car collection, "Was that stinging like a beaver?!"


Moments like these it would be great to have a videocamera ready 24-7 on each of the kids to capture their funny moments, tender moments and just plain goofy moments.

I am such a slacker!

It's been a while since I have been here. We took Rush to my mom's and she is there until Friday. I didn't go to work today and I have some things that I could be doing but I am having such a hard time getting the ambition to do them. That being said, they are things that NEED to be done before Friday and I do work tomorrow!

This sinus cold has taken every ounce of ambition, motivation and gumption I had and tossed it away down a deep, deep well and I can't even see the bottom of this well to try and fish them out of there...

This cold has also aided me in the killing of numerous trees that have selflessly and involuntarily sacrificed themselves to become my tissues...if this lasts any longer the world will be a barren place, void of all things tree-like.

14 years ago today

14 years ago today I was 18 years old, having laid in a hospital bed for a week during an incredible heatwave and was 198 pounds of mostly water retension and baby (having weighed 105 pounds before pregnancy). I had been in the hospital for so long prior baby as I developed hypertoxemia and was on the verge of being dangerously sick. Aug 2 my membranes were stripped and I was given Oxytocin.

14 years ago today, I was going to be having a baby. I had only been married for 3 weeks and was all ready realizing that my husband (not Bill) was not even remotely close to the man of my dreams having all ready abandoned me in this hospital and not really caring to see me. I was alone and I was scared.

My labour started and my "husband" was no where to be found. My dad and my brother were on their way from our hometown (2 hours away). Things began to progress and I was getting excited about the arrival of my precious baby. Not too much further into the day I failed to progress and an "emergency" c-section was ordered. I say "emergency" because it was ordered at noon and I got it at 11:33 that night.

I was given a spinal and strapped to the table where the c-section proceeded. I had to interupt the doctor as I was feeling EVERYTHING! He calmly told me I only felt the sensation to which I replied a bit loudly and vulgarly that I COULD FEEL EVERYTHING!!! The doctors quickly decided that the spinal must have missed its mark and they had to put me out with general anesthetic.

Much to my dismay I awoke to find I was the last person in my entire family to hold my beautiful daughter and when I did get to see her I was still so hopped up on drugs that I took that first glance, said how cute she was a passed back out again.

We have been through a lot that beautiful baby and I. We tried to stay with her dad and did our best for 3 years but through those 3 years came to the realization that we were safer on our own. We had a couple rocky years alone and survived and thrived and along came BigB.

I was just a kid when I had her but I am so thankful and so grateful that she came along. Today she is a smart, beautiful, talented, compassionate, thoughtful, giving, fun-loving, hilarious young lady and I couldn't be more proud of her. She is an angel to me and I will always, always cherish her!

Camping

We're heading off to go camping after I am done work today. Gee, that's going to be nice. After all this heat, I sure am looking forward to sitting in the cool water. Maybe I will even be able to catch another fish.

Rush is bringing a friend this time and depending on where we go, there could be another old friend there. They should have a lot of fun.

I bid you farewell; well, at least until after we get back.

Changes

I have a Permanent Part-Time job now in Health Records. It is a guaranteed 32 hours in a 3 week period but I still have my relief position here so it won't take much to get a lot of hours.

We had the last of 2 bridal showers for J this past Saturday. Jellybean took that day to finally realize that J isn't really living with us anymore and she is taking it hard. She is packed up and will be moving to L.M. next Saturday.

My little Bug turned 4 years old on Saturday too. We had a joint birthday party for him and my dad on Sunday. I can't believe he is 4 all ready. What a grown up young man.

I haven't been sleeping well lately as GeekNerdCutiePants has been gone a lot with work. Plus I was in Emerg with Rush until 2:30 AM on Saturday/Sunday. Yesterday my boss sent me home at lunch and I slept all day and most of the night. (Feeling better now) Jellybean had to come and tuck me in at her bedtime and she sang me 10 minutes of "All the Pretty Little Ponies" (her favorite lullaby); at least she sang me all of the words she knows. It was beautiful and I felt so loved.

It is so hot here right now. Apparently we broke a record from 1948 or something yesterday. It was 33 degrees Celsius but the humidex registerd 40 degrees. Whatever that is in Farenheit I have no clue. For here that is really hot. In the office today there is absolutely no air flow and the fans are just blowing all the warm air around. If I get put out on the patio at BPs today, I quit (grin).

I think that catches you up to date but I will double check later.

Hero

I just became a hero to my two youngest kids...simply by freeing a beautiful dragonfly that was caught in a spider's web. Not much can feel better than that.







(other than the organizing and purging of items I was doing when they ran for me to rescue the dragonfly.)

It's down to the nitty gritty

There is now officially less than one month to the P.B. & J wedding. Believe me when I say, "yikes!"

Today Jellybean & I got our dresses fitted; J gets hers done next week. We finally found shoes for Jellybean after searching high and low in this place. We were getting desperate enough that we were almost to the point of paying the $40 for the ballet style shoes at the bridal store. Payless had some cute ones, a ballet style for $20 (unfortunately not in her size) but we found another cute pair of heeled sandals for $17.

Our good friend, Brenda threw a nice shower for J at the church and she got some lovely gifts from all the ladies there. On Saturday we are off to her mom's home town for another bridal shower.

Poor J is getting to the point where she is so terribly excited but she has had an emotional break down when it comes to leaving her brothers and sisters behind. She is afraid Bug will forget her and she figures that her wedding is the last time she will ever see LilB and Nat as neither couple can afford to travel to the visit the other.

We've also gotten to the point now where we are trying to organize hair appointments, nail appointments, straightening out crazy tan lines (thank God for that sunless tanning lotion) and all sorts of last minute details.

I can only imagine what the last 2 weeks and especially last week are going to be like.

I did however take the time today to make the kids some of their favorite summertime treats. At the moment we have yogurt popsicles, banana pops covered in chocolate with sprinkles, banana pops covered with walnuts and banana pops covered with strawberry yogurt in the freezer. Hopefully tomorrow I will get the chocolate pudding/graham cracker sandwich frozen treats made up.

On Monday I am sending an email to my boss to inform her that I am resigning from my switchboard position. I finally came to the decision even though emotionally I knew I wanted to do it a while ago. I love the position other than the fact that as casual staff I am there primarily on weekends and holidays. I don't want to be missing any more Christmases and I am wanting to make weekends free so we can spend more time as a family.

I should have done this a long time ago as I realized how fast the years are going; I mean, I have 2 kids married (almost) and another going to high school for crying out loud. I don't think we are doing that poorly in our finances that I need to sacrifice my time with my family or my friends anymore.

Some pictures from our camping trip this weekend and at LilB's request

Rush's first catch...that's right; she caught a hook with her hook and replaced the hook she had lost with a better one.
Jellybean with sunkissed cheeks. In this picture it looks like she is only missing 2 teeth but the numbers are up to 4 with 2 more wiggly ones in there.

BabyK getting ready to go out in the canoe.

Bug figures camping trips are 2 thumbs way, way up.

Tuff with his shadow. There wasn't too many times he was without his Bug.

Finally, the nightmares will cease

Since I wrote my Biology final I have been having nightmares about getting 50% on the exam...every single night. Since the last week of June... It has been a terrible ordeal and I finally gave up on knowing my mark in the near future.

BigB happened across my username and password at his office as I had had him check for me once while I was at work and he decided that before he threw it out he was just going to check one last time. This morning he came into the office at work with a huge grin on his face and asked me if I was still wanting to know what my Biology mark was.

DUH!!!!!!

I got 94% on my Biology!!! I am so pumped about that! Put that with my 98% in Math and I am really getting my average up there. I am really excited.

The Fall brings night classes of Chemistry30 so we will see how that goes. I am hoping for an 80%. I think that is the lowest I can get to maintain a decent average. I'm definitely shooting to add some gravy to that mark just like I did with these last 2. I said at the beginning that I would be happy with a 75% and anything above that was gravy...that's a lot of stinking gravy!!!!

Shock and awe

I am still waiting for my Biology teacher to email me with my final mark and the agony is unbearable. I think I have checked my email about 40 times since 7:30 this morning and still, nothing!!!

I do know my Math mark and even though I was getting good marks all the way through the class, my final mark still shocked me and brought me to tears. I ended up with a 98% on my final exam and an overall average of 98%!!!!!!

This coming from the girl whose math mark from high school was a 17%!!!

I am so incredibly happy; I don't think I can even begin to describe how I feel right now. I thought math had beaten me. I didn't get it in high school and I thought I was destined to be a math failure. I tried the correspondence thing and just couldn't get through it and this was my final attempt at mathematical redemption and I DID IT!!!!!!!!

It feels so good to have overcome something that was holding me back. It didn't seem to be holding me back career-wise (sort of now that I know what I want to be) but it was holding me back emotionally; I felt like a failure and I felt...
...I think it is too hard to explain how I felt. But I beat it!!! It did not beat me!!! I beat it and not only did I beat it, I royally kicked its...

Slow thyself cruel, cruel clock

Yes, time marches on and on and on but it certainly doesn't march slowly.

A year ago I held a beautiful baby girl in my arms, craddled her next to me, smelled the sweet fragance of "new baby" and felt her warm breath on my cheek and her soft fingers grip mine. Today I watched that beautiful baby girl stride gracefully across the gymnasium as she said farewell to elementary school and as she began to anticipate new challenges, new goals, new experiences, new hardships and new sacrifices in high school.

Man!!! This motherhood thing sucks!!! What other group of people spend their entire life (from beginning of motherhood until the day we die) watching their heart walk around before them, watching their heart experience joys, hurts, hopes, despairs, discouragments and dreams? Ok, maybe dads do too but I think it is different; I think that maybe there isn't quite the same connection. Dads can be a little more detached but only due to the fact that it wasn't them that had that first internal bond and loved from that very first notion of life.

Today I watched my heart graduate from Grade 8 and has she ever turned into a kindhearted, intelligent, beautiful and graceful young woman. I could not be more proud of you at this moment!

I feel fear right now though; I fear how fast I know these next 4 years go. I have been here before, twice, and I know how fleeting these last 4 years are so, please cruel clock, slow thyself...

Academic delights

Today was the awards ceremony at the girls' school. Rush was awarded with an honor roll certificate and medal as well as the citizenship award and Jellybean got a reading award for most improved reader.

I was informed of what my grades are going into my finals...I grin with sheer delight as I announce my math mark to date is 98% and my biology mark to date is 95%. This coming from the girl who graduated in '92 with a 17% in math and a 57% in biology and who was claiming she would be happy just to get 75% this time around. I just may have to have that math party after all...

Crutches suck

...and that is all I have to say about that.




On crutches and off work for at least 5 days. Bummer.

Do I laugh or cry at this trainwreck?

I am an absolute wreck; I mean trade me in on a horse and shoot the horse...I am a mess. Tonight I was working at BPs. As I was taking an armfull of dishes to the dishpit I stepped on a lemon wedge that had fallen on the floor. My right foot went out from my center of gravity and down I went in a blaze of, well, the opposite of glory.

Right now, I have a slightly twisted left ankle, a really twisted right ankle, a sore left knee, my left arm hurts from preventing all the dishes from crashing and I twisted my back funny when I tried to catch my footing.

I told you I was a trainwreck. I wrapped my right ankle and am pushing through the slight pains everywhere else but what would I have done had I not landed on my knee and sort of "caught" myself? Would I feel better or would I be tonnes worse...?

It may be quiet from me...finals are coming next week as is Rush's grade 8 graduation!

A piece of my heart found peace

A couple of weeks ago we were informed by our sitter that she would be retiring July 13; this isn't going to affect us until the fall when the kids go back to school. The last 2 weeks have been spent in search of a new sitter for our kids who will be able to drive them to and from school.

We made numerous calls and had an interview with someone last night who seemed ok but didn't compare to our current sitter. Today when I called home to see how Rush was doing I was told to call BigB on his cell so I did. He gave me a piece of news that brought an instant peace to my mother's heart; my step-mommy is going to babysit the kids!

So, I was right in my initial thinking of our inability to find someone who could compare with our current sitter; we found someone better!!!!!!

Home sweet home

Rush came home this afternoon. She is stiff and sore but seems to be doing fine. I had to go to work so I left her snuggled on the couch with her cat (who missed her like mad) and visiting with one of her best friends. She got a nice card from her teacher and classmates and we think the Abramyk's brought her some flowers but Jellybean answered the door and told us that it was a dad who is not quite a dad yet with glasses...was that you guys? The flowers were gorgeous by the way and Rush really loved them and the mug they are in so thank you so much for that beautiful gesture.

She is not to go to school for the rest of the week and we will see how she is doing Monday before we send her (according to her discharge papers); she also has to see our family doctor next Wednesday for a post-op. He, however is on holidays until the end of June. I tried to make an appointment with our "stand-by" doctor (for times such as these) and he is on holidays with our doctor and his wife!!! Shouldn't there be a policy against that? Doctors and "just-in-case" doctors leaving at the same time....GRIN!!!!

Anyway, my baby is home and she is doing fine. All your well wishes and attempts to see her(even though her nurse didn't know she was in surgery when you got there) are so appreciated...
We are lucky to have friends and family like you all!

A is for applesauce

I left Rush at the hospital last night with her happily eating a bowl of applesauce and some arrowroot cookies. She hadn't eaten anything subtantial since Monday at lunch time so this was very welcome and she mentioned to me how 'that is really good tasting applesauce; you should really try some of it mom.'

Her procedure yesterday involved a laproscopy and she did not need her appendix removed. The problem causing the pain has been rectified and once she is healed from the surgery should be fine.

Before her surgery she was given a book to read, keep in mind she is on the children's ward. She was bored so willingly read her riveting book, "Peter Panda Has an Operation" and snuggled with the soft teddybear she was given upon returning to her room prior to the surgery.

I do not know yet if she is going to be coming home today or not but I guess all will be made known soon enough. Jellybean and Bug really miss their sister and want her home. However they also want to be able to see her in her hospital room again and get another ride on her really cool bed!

A trip to emergency later

Last night I got home from work to BigB telling me that he was taking Rush to the walk-in clinic because she is having pains in her side and he thinks it may be her appenix. A few minutes later they are back with them telling me the walk-in clinic was closed so I told them if they really think it's her appendix that they are going to the emergency room to get checked out.

At about 11:00 last night, numerous calls later, I get a call telling me that they are keeping Rush overnight for observation; I thought they meant in the emergency room but last night she was admitted to the children's ward and will most probably be having surgery sometime in the next couple of days.

I felt helpless sitting here waiting by the phone to see what was going on with my baby. Today, all I want to do is go to the hospital and be with her and I have to go to school. I will be able to sit with her for a bit this afternoon but then I have to go to work at BP's.

To top it all off, today is LilB's birthday and I will not be able to talk to him to wish him a happy birthday even though I did 2 days ago knowing I wouldn't be able to. Today he turns 21 years old. What a great man he has become; we are so proud of you!!!!

I got a position!

That's right. It's temporary but it's a position at the hospital for the summer and it is full time! The tentative end date is for the end of September but it may be extended.

This next week BigB and I will be interviewing babysitters for the fall as our wonderful babysitter will be retiring this summer. We won't have to worry about not having one until the kids go back to school as Rush will be our full time sitter, earning herself some money.

It is, however, a pain in the butt trying to find one who doesn't smoke and can drive the kids to and from school or be close enough for the kids to walk with her.

Here's hoping one of them works out.

That would be time served

Jellybean experienced and just finished her first grounding ever; I mean, she has gotten into trouble before but she has never been grounded before...until yesterday.

I got a call from Rush at the school asking me if I had picked Jellybean up from school because she can't find her. I think my heart fell to my toes and panic began to choke the life right out of me. I fought to stay in control of my thinking and asked Rush a bunch of questions. As I was right about to lose every ounce of control I did have and while asking Rush to go to the school secretary to see if she could get the address of Jellybean's friend's house (someone saw her walking with this friend) , the door opened and in walked Jellybean, proud as punch that she had walked home by herself.

I reassured Rush that Jellybean was safe and that she could just come home and tried to decide whether I needed to laugh or cry or spank or hug Jellybean. In the end, after regaining my composure, we had another long talk about strangers and people you know a little bit, the dangers of not letting people know where you are going and that I understood why she would want to walk by herself and feel grown up. I then hugged her as tight as I could without popping her little head off and burst into tears. This was followed by a calm, "You do realize that you are grounded, right?"

After explaining exactly what being grounded meant and what she could and could not do, I made darn sure she recited to me why she was grounded because I wanted to make sure that she won't do that again.

So, today marks time served for Jellybean's first "sentence", a lot earlier than any of the other kids. This one could be trouble guys...
...wink, wink.

Do you like apples?

Today BigB picked me up from school; we went and got a Booster Juice and were on our way to Extreme Pita to pick up, well, a pita in order to have a nice picnic for lunch. A girl I know from work and school was running around with a piece of paper in her hand and she asked us if our van was ours. She then proceeded to tell us how she and another girl witnessed a lady in a truck back into our van and saw our van lift up off the ground a bit; this lady then proceeded to drive away without stopping to acknowledge what she had done or to even see if she had damaged our van.


How do you like them apples?

There is more to this story though; those two witnesses gave us the plate number and the make and model of this truck and their names and phone numbers and we took that information to the police dept.

How do you think she's going to like them apples now?


Hopefully, she is the registered driver or that person will give up the name of the driver and they will pay for the corrections required on our van.

More pictures from F.A.M.E.

F.A.M.E.

Tonight was the first big show and tomorrow is the last; Jellybean was "Almost Famous" as the studio likes to say. For one weekend she is famous and all the kids that go to the dance studio are stars right along with her, 2 different showcases, 2 showings each for this weekend and each show is a sellout.

Every year my favorite part, aside from seeing my children perform, is the Grand Finale where all the kids come out to take their final bows while the theme song from "Fame" is playing. It is heart pounding, foot stomping, hand clapping good fun and it always brings tears to my eyes and my heart swells with pride-another year full of hard work, blistered toes and loads of fun has come to its conclusion for these kids.

This is Jellybean's last year of dance for a while; she is taking violin lessons, from Dixie (if she still feels up to that challenge).

Anyway, I thought I would throw on a few pictures from the recital. The photos of kids dancing are from dress rehearsal since they don't let you take pictures at the recital but...I DID take pictures of them at the grand finale tonight.

You may need to sit down for this one. I sure know I needed to.

I got 100% on my math assignment!!! That has so totally never happened to me before in my life...not in math anyway!!!

So proud I am crying!

Rush had a school project that she was doing with her two best friends. They had to pick a type of book that you would find in the library and do a report on how it would help the community. The girls decided to use cookbooks and have a bake sale from baking that they did, completely by themselves. They then decided that the way this baking was going to help their community was for them to donate the money they earned to The Children's Haven here in town.

Last weekend was the big weekend of baking. The girls made mints, candies, brownies, cupcakes, dirtcups, jello cups, rice krispie squares-regular, chocolate, caramel and some with Alphabets and I am sure that I am missing some. This week they began selling the baking and decided to take advantage of the poor weather they were going to have for their track meet, decided to sell hot chocolate as well.

Tonight Rush and I rolled up the money and got a total for her to tell The Children's Haven when she called. Rush found the number and called to tell them that tomorrow after school three 13 year old girls would be by to drop off the $160.50 that they had raised just for them.

$160.50!!! I am so proud of those girls! They did a fantastic job and the baking was pretty good too. I was allowed to taste a brownie...

2 Years Old

This blog is 2 years old today and when I looked back on what I wrote 2 years ago today, it is as true then as it is now. I miss my Grandma K; I miss everything about her. This time of year especially; she loved this time of year...

I miss her a lot right now as I am going through school; she would tell my sister and I that we should be nurses. "The way you love to take care of things and people, you should be a nurse." I told her straight out that there was no way I would EVER want to be a nurse, apparently I didn't like anything to do with blood. So, my granny focused her "nursing" attention on my sister. She did go on and became a special care aid.

When I was in the hospital after having Bug something struck me in my quiet room...I want to be a nurse and deep down I think I have for a very long time. Since Bug was born I have been attempting to get my grade 12 math in some form or another through correspondence but I wasn't structured enough and had too many other things to focus on. Thus began my road to Adult Education, where I am now.

Every once in a while as I sit in class, I think of my granny and how I long to tell her that I am going to be a nurse just like she had hoped. I want to tell her because I know she would be so proud of me and because I want nothing more than for her to be proud of me and who I have become. I hadn't amounted to much around the time my granny died. I was on a downward spiral and I was going out of control fast. I only wish I had had my life straight so she could have been proud of me but I know that her thoughts of me, at the time of her death, were thoughts of fear and thoughts of desperation as she prayed for me. I just wish she could have seen those prayers answered...

Yuck!!!

The snow that is collecting outside and my perennials that look more like flower popsicles have really soured my mood. At least I wasn't one of those people who had big camping plans for this May long weekend to be foiled. My big plans are to be working...tonight until 1 a.m., tomorrow 5 until 11 p.m. and Moday at the hospital a 12 hour day.

Not exactly a lot of fun but the pay cheque will be nice...haven't had one of those from the hospital in 4 weeks.

Hi, my name is Ang and I have "Parking Lot Rage"

That's right, forget about road rage; I seem to have developed parking lot rage. While at Superstore this afternoon...wait, I should go a step before that. While in the parking lot of our eye doctor's office I sat with the kids in the van waiting for an extremely old gentleman and his wife to drive away (parked right beside us), as I waited I put the van into reverse and anticipated being able to back away any minute. Yeah, right! He sat behind our van for about 4 minutes staring at me ( note that I hadn't even taken my foot off the brake to even change foot position yet) and then began to beat his horn at me like I was going to run into him somehow, in some amazing way, since I hadn't even begun to move the van yet. I got a little peeved at him and I think I may have called him a deteriating old geezer in my ranting as I drove away. I don't do that! That is not normal!

Now, on to the episode in Superstore's parking lot. We had parked in a row off by ourselves so we could walk a bit to the store (every little bit of exercise adds up you know). We got our groceries and were heading to the van. Now I wasn't in a great mood to begin with what with the old guy plus we were trying to avoid the aging drunk in the parking lot who was asking everyone for money, food, and a car ride when I noticed that some (must be nice! must be nice!) person had parked so close to the driver's side of the van that Rush had a hard time getting through.

Needless to say, I was irate when I had to suck in my belly fat and "badunkdunk" (butt) to a size negative 6 in order to get into my van!!!!! I had impulses that I don't think I have ever had before and I felt like I would have loved to have smashed every window out of that car with my bare hands.

It was an incredibly nerve wracking experience, feeling that much out of control, if only for a moment in my head. Lets hope that never happens to me again and while we're at it let's hope no one ever parks that close to me again to test the first hope.

School Update

I am reaching the end of week 3 of 10 at school and so far all is going well other than I am really missing my family and friends with my workload and my work workload. I am still pulling off a 98% average in both classes and boy does it EVER feel good! I got my first math test (before were just assignments) back today and for the first time in my life I got a 97% on a math test! It was so hard to keep from squealing with delight when she handed my test back to me and I took that first peek at the back page to see my mark!

I have been working so hard at this and am loving it but I really can't wait for it to be done so I can get back to a normal life where I can see the kids and BigB and spend actual quality time with them instead of being in the same house with them while I am doing my homework or studying.

Even in his sleep

Even in his sleep he has a heart of gold. Tonight poor Bug is having a very restless sleep; he never really wakes up but he is having bad dreams on and off all night so far (more on than off). I went into his room, gave him his teddy bear from Pa and Grandma, opened his blinds so he could get some breeze and said a quick little prayer, outloud, for him to have no more bad dreams and to have a good night's sleep. As I finished the prayer, in his sleep, Bug says, "Amen."

He is just such a sweet kid. I love him to pieces...

By the way, the picture below is him with his swimming report card.

Ordering frenzy...

Last week we got Jellybean's flowergirl dress ordered (and paid for) minus the veil thing they had in the picture because we didn't like that at all. We put a rush order on that so that should get here in a few weeks or so. Rush's dress (in this color) for her grad and the wedding is ordered(paid for) and in the closet here.

Today I got my dress ordered and half paid for(same colors as is shown in the picture-cafe/espresso) for the wedding too and it should take 10-12 weeks to get that here. Now all we need is some shoes for me, Rush and Jellybean. Plus, we need to get to the tux shop and get BigB and Bug's tuxes rented and sized.

The bridesmaids' dresses are ordered; two, however are on backorder. Things seem to be coming together. There is confusion, it seems from the people I talk to about whether there will be a reception following. J inadvertently forgot to put that on the invites but, yes, there is a lunch and reception to follow the ceremony at the same place.

His first job!!!

That's right P.B., of the P.B. & J. almost newly wed duo, got his first welding job! Woo hoo! He is finished his classes on May 11th and his first day of work is May 22 (or so). It is nearby so there is no moving away as of yet but that will happen soon enough I am sure; there are so many welding jobs and more often than not they are out of provence.

No more MickeyD's for him!!! We are so proud of your accomplishments throughout the school year and for getting a job so quickly. Way to go, buddy!!!!!

A look at yesterday

Rush waiting for her certificate. She didn't get it this time as they gave it to her when she got her trophy and leadership award.
Jellybean with her certificate. She seemed a bit overwhelmed by all the people looking at her.

Last but not least, I finally added a picture of Jellybean with her new violin. She is so proud of it and "practices" every day.

I'm off to school now and then a quick trip home to change and off to BPs to work tonight so have a great day all.

Today we honor...

...Rush and Jellybean!

They were nominated for the Badge of Peace and Respect awards put on by the city today. Rush then went on to become the leader of her age group, receiving a little trophy and backpack as well as the framed certificate.

We are so proud of both girls and for all they have accomplished.

As well, today we honor the Mintos for winning the cup 2 consecutive years...first time in the cup's history! Way to go, Boys!!!!

The newest Vanderbaby is here!!!

Some of you will likely say, "who the heck is that?"; others will, I know, say "yep, we know that."
But there is at least one of my readers (aka Billy) who will be very interested to know that the newest Vanderbaby has arrived and she got here today. Her name is Olivia and she is beautiful!!! If you want to see a picture of the little pumpkin take a gander here.

First day of school...yesterday

Boy did my thinking brain hurt when I got to work last night and I think I was 100% ready for a snooze before my shift started. Good thing I was done early and got home by 10:00.

Classes were okay yesterday. I had no homework other than a bit of studying as we have daily quizzes in Bio.

Today may be tougher than yesterday though...I am scheduled to work 8 hours at BPs an hour after school is done. This may take a fair bit of getting used to...

Check this out...

Jellybean made the front page of the Daily Stuff N' Fluff, the family paper...

This is Kansas City calling; do you accept the charges??

Lately I have felt like I was losing my mind but when I talked to BigB it seems the same thing has been happening to him. For the last couple of weeks anywhere I go I see people we know from Kansas City: people we know really well and people we just recognize from the church. At first glance these people are the spitting image of these people we know. The second glance shows that they actually look nothing like our friends there. It has been really weird.

I have seen Pastor Steve, Doctor Mike, Justin, Phoebe's dad. Last night was when I was sure I saw Justin on the camera coming into the Emergency Room at the hospital. When they guy came in he looked ABSOLUTELY nothing like Justin.

This has been happening to BigB too but I have no idea who he has "seen". It is really quite weird though.

Technogeek toothfairy

Yesterday Jellybean worked and worked and worked on getting her third loose tooth out. She had given herself a deadline for last night before bed. I don't know why; she just did. Her reasoning was something along the lines of swallowing it but it wasn't that loose.

Towards the end of the afternoon she got her dad involved and asked him to bring out the "pliers" he had used the last time to be able to just grab the tooth. She lay there on the couch as BigB worked on the tooth and squeezed my hand from time to time but she was so very brave.

Thankfully, the tooth did come out before her bedtime and she rejoiced about that. Once the rejoicing was over though she asked BigB how the Toothfairy was going to know she had actually lost her tooth.

Dad's answer: I will email her and let her know, honey.

For those of you wonder: my day of orientation went really well and the nerves are done with. I go back on the 20th for registration and my first full day of classes will be the 23rd.

Oh! Me nerves!

Why am I so darn nervous TODAY?! Today is orientation; that is all. So this is what I felt like on the first day of Kindergarten huh? My stomach is an absolute bundle of nerves and I think I am going to hurl...

Productive Day

So today was somewhat of a productive day. At least I am hoping to view it that way. I didn't get a lot accomplished but I got Dixie her birthday present and cards (because I couldn't decide which one I liked better) and I got a cd of pictures burnt and delivered to my dad, which I have been promising for about a year now.

Why did I deliver Dixie's present so early...like 22 days? The answer to that is simple; I had the van. I had the money in my wallet to get it. I had her money for piano lessons which was past due AND I was afraid I would forget when the actual day came. Why would I forget? Well, technically not forget but I have a tendency lately of losing track of what the date is.

I called my step-dad 5 days after his birthday not becuase I didn't remember his birthday was coming but because that date on the calendar scooted past me and I didn't even realize until then.

I will just be in the process of adjusting to school and still working so I planned some preventitive maintenance, so to speak...she got it early.

Brenda, that means your present could arrive any day now too. However, I am thinking that since we see each other just about every Sunday I will be all right to wait for that one. It just seems so hard lately to get together with people. My cards for May are bought and filled out too...hopefully I will remember to get them in the mail.

Edited to add:

Okay, I just reread that and that sounds terrible!!! Absolutley terrible!!! It makes me sound forgetful and horrible and that my friends and family aren't important enough to remember on their birthdays!!! NO! NO! NO!!! That is not the case. They are so important to me that I want to make sure it doesn't seem like they have been overlooked or forgotten!

Tell me, is that better or worse? Is getting it early worse than it being a bit late given my reasons for bringing it early. I never thought that it could be taken as an insult until just now. Please let me know.