Did you Miss Me?

I had planned to write a post last night, really I did, but yesterday just got a bit out of hand. We had the Girl Scouts over at 10:00 AM to finish up our tree for Festival of Trees. I don't know if I told you much about that, but in Utah, Primary Children's Medical Center has a huge fundraiser every year called the Festival of Trees. You have to apply to get in, and if you are accepted, you get the privilege of donating a Christmas tree and and the trimmings and packages underneath.

Since we had some extra money this year, I really wanted the girls to have the opportunity to give back to our community by putting together a tree. We decided on a small one, 4 1/2 feet tall. We have spent every single meeting since the first of October making ornaments and preparing our little tree.

So yesterday I had the girls over to finish it up and wire on the ornaments, stuff like that. The tree has to be set up on Monday so it can be ready for the silent auction on Tuesday. I'm sneaking you a preliminary picture so you can see, but I will post on this again after we get a chance to set it up at the Festival so you can see it with all the trimmings. We are hoping that it will make some good money for the sick kids at the medical center. Either way it was really fun.

The girls left about 3:00. Then the Dog Walker settled into homework once again. He had one last chapter of Economics and his final exam. He did a great job on the chapter, and at 8:00, we sat down to begin the final. He had printed out all the quizzes and he was able to use his book and notes. I sat with him to keep him calm and organized for the 100-question exam. He had a 5-hour time limit, but we were hoping it wouldn't take that long.

As the 4th hour ticked by, my brother showed up. He lives in New Jersey and had been in town for a few days, but I had not had the opportunity to visit with him. His flight was leaving this morning and he had to be at the airport at 7:30. I hurried the Dog Walker through the last  10 questions as the clock rolled past midnight. By 12:30 he had scored a 96 and I was finally able to sit down with my brother to visit.

We yacked for hours about everything until he finally decided he'd better get a little sleep around 3:30 AM. I crawled into bed at 4:00, but then back out again at 6:30 to make sure he was up and getting ready for his trip to the airport.

When he was out the door, I laid back down for a couple of hours until it was time to get the kids up for the Home Depot class. Now it's back to the homework. The Economics class is done and the A is earned, but he still has to finish up his Intro to Special Ed class today. Then he will have less than 2 weeks to complete his Math and Reading classes. Reading will be OK, but I'm holding my breath on the Math class. I'll keep you posted...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful day today!

It started around 8:30. The kids wanted to watch the parade and they weren't willing to let anyone sleep in. Since our plans included an evening meal, we were in no rush to get the cooking started. Princess and I made all the pies last night, 6 pecan, 4 pumpkin, and 1 apple for the Gym Rat. Can you believe he doesn't like pumpkin pie?

The Dog Walker is rapidly approaching the end of the semester, so we squeezed in 3 chapters of Economics including quizzes. He wasn't very happy to be doing homework while everyone else was celebrating. Did I tell you the Dog Walker is also dog-sitting for a couple of weeks? My Tupperware manager needed someone to watch her two little dogs. They are really so cute and haven't been much trouble at all. The Dog Walker is very excited about the extra income just in time for Christmas shopping.

But I digress...

We had our fun and traditional Charlie Brown Thanksgiving around 12:30. My favorite part is always the chocolate pudding, but I also enjoyed the black jellybeans (since no one else will eat them anyway). We put in the real turkey right after that and my sweetie started on the rolls. Honestly, he makes the most delicious rolls! That was my cue to head back into the office with the Dog Walker. When we finally emerged almost two hours later with one more successful quiz finished, my sweetie announced that it was time for a new tradition.

A family basketball game! We split into two teams of 8 players each and we played a rousing game of ball for about an hour. We only had one casualty and it didn't even draw blood. Oh, except for the time when Bossy was trying to steal the ball from the Drama Queen and rather than give it up, the Drama Queen just gave her a little warning bite...I guess she has been hanging around with the dogs a little too much this weekend.

Princess peeled potatoes for over an hour as we just hung out together and slowly prepared food. Some were playing games, my sweetie let the boys get out the racetrack, and the Dog Walker and I kept at his homework. At some point Grandpa showed up.

About 6:45 we sat down to dinner. After an extremely long prayer of gratitude from my sweetie we dug in. Bossy had helped the kids with a cute Oreo turkey project she found on Facebook and these fun turkeys made from apples and marshmallows. We had all the traditional stuff, turkey, potatoes and gravy, stuffing, yams, corn, rolls, and cranberry sauce. It was an awesome meal! We snacked all evening and enjoyed pie around 9:00.

Unfortunately, I helped myself to one of my sweetie's rolls a little bit ago and now my tummy hurts. Way too much good food in a single day! I hope you all had the happiest of Thanksgivings full of family, food, friends, and fun.

And no homework...

Another Pinewood Derby

Some days it seems like my entire life is wrapped up in Scout stuff. After the Dog Walker finished his huge goal to earn all the Merit Badges, I thought I would get a break until Sport got old enough to be a scout. Then my sweetie was called as the Cubmaster.

Crafty's Sleigh Car (it was really slow, but sooo cute!)

It's a fun job that he mostly enjoys, and usually it's not that bad. We plan and prepare for Pack Meeting once a month. OK, usually I do most of the planning and preparing and then he steps in and looks amazing! Except for this month.

It took both of us tons of hours to prepare for yet another Pinewood Derby. I embroidered a dozen hats again and my sweetie helped all the little kids from Crafty and down to build new cars. I also did fliers and reminders and certificates...

Anyway, all of our hard work paid off last night. My sweetie runs 3 divisions of races, Cubs, Open Class, and Anything Goes. We had lots of Cub entries, but only a few for the other two classes, most of them being my kids.

He ran all the Cub races first, and sadly, Sport's car was eliminated after a couple of heats. Then it was time for the Open Class. Crafty, Scout, Curly, and Baby Doll all had cars running in that class. I tried to watch the races, keep little kids from touching the cars, and arrange for an independent judge all at the same time. Sadly, I missed most of the competition, but I did keep all the cars safe, so that's good.

As it turned out, Curly's car was the fastest one on the track! My sweetie always runs one last race with the winners from all 3 divisions and guess what?! His was STILL the fastest car on the track! He was so excited. Baby Doll took third and also got an awesome hat. Our independent judges chose Sport for best design, so he got a hat, and Crafty won best design in the Open Class.

While everyone else was celebrating, Scout was quietly brooding over the fact that she was the only one in the family who didn't get a hat. We took pics of the winners and were starting to clean up when my sweetie realized that he had not given away the last hat that was the special Cubmaster's Award. He was very pleased to present it to Scout, for all her hard work and dedication.

She was thrilled beyond belief!

It was another great day at the races and I am so happy to be putting away the track until next year.

Letters from Texas

Teach - Thanksgiving 2008

I was so excited to get a few minutes to e-chat with Teach this morning! I'm finding this holiday week without her to be surprisingly difficult. I'm thinking she must be missing us too because she told me this story.

Do you remember a long time ago when I was really little and there was a night where I wouldn't go to sleep because I was afraid my entire family was someday going to die and I would be left all alone? 

I was probably in maybe 4th grade and you came in and you reminded me of the doctrine of forever families. If my memory serves me correctly you and dad both came in and gave me a hug. Families can be together forever was sung and I think we found a CD with it and played it while I fell asleep. 

Thank you for that. Thank you for teaching me the doctrine. (: I shared this story in Gospel Principles yesterday and I realized you probably didn't even know I remembered it. (: 

I guess it's perfectly normal to wish for hearth and home when the holidays roll around no matter how much you love and are dedicated to what you are doing.

We went to dinner with our relief society president on Friday and her family was just starting to pile in from out of town. They had a puzzle set up, they were watching football (actually they were live streaming the Bingham vs. Brighton game! (: woot! ) and the house was warm. I was overcome with a desire to be home with y'all sharing in the warmth of the holidays. But... alas. I'm supposed to be here. And I'll be home next year.

I want to share part of her gratitude list, one of our Thanksgiving traditions.

What a wonderful time to be grateful! (: Thanksgiving is one of those amazing holidays that often gets passed up in decorations and overlooked by shopping and materialistic items. 

But the message of gratitude is outstanding. (: Here is my annual Thanksgiving gratitude list. (of course I'm grateful for these ALL year... but ... ya know (: ) 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and The Holy Ghost
My family
Yo tengo uno perro. (Franco)
Spanish
Being a missionary
Goals (setting and reaching them)
Texas! 
warm coats
church buildings
time to share the gospel
tools that we have to make life easier (aka indoor plumbing, lights, electronics, my planner, etc)
Family history

Teach - Thanksgiving 2007

temples

my journals (I don't even know how many I have at this point)
the scriptures
Computers
email and the internet
my brain
my talents and skills
my developing talents and skills
my future husband (: 
the hope and faith which is within me
my companions 
my friends
The USA
Utah
The schooling and education I've received
The opportunities that I have had 
People that have changed my life
Those I have met on my mission
Joy that comes from repentance (and witnessing repentance) 
photographs and art work
MUSIC. (oh how I miss my tunes)
an understanding of the Plan of Salvation
The past
The present
The future
My mission president
My mission leaders
A knowledge of the trust that God has in me
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Thomas S. Monson

Teach - Thanksgiving 2010

Joseph Smith
my warm boots
heaters and air conditioners
my bike
my car
my future children (: 
People. Wonderful people. 
The badge I wear. 

There are so many other things. (: This list is in no order of significance per say... that's just a direct correlation of how my brain can jump topics sometimes. (: 

I love y'all. (: I miss you. (: Have a great holiday! 

Scout's Family Party

We had the family over again last night to celebrate Scout's 8th birthday. I was so glad when she chose a birthday meal that was primarily things my sweetie is a pro at making, bbq chicken and fettuccine alfredo. That meant I was only responsible for the cake. Princess took care of making up the sourdough bread for me, so I had it pretty easy. Which is good, because I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately.

It just seems like there are so many things going on! (Is it ok if I whine for a minute?) I know, I know, I brought it on myself. That's my sweetie's answer. The plays and the ballet and the recital, scouts and the holidays. Although I don't really get a say in when the holidays happen, I just have a hard time abandoning some of the traditions I love.

Like I am so looking forward to spending the time on Wednesday making pies with the girls. I love teaching them things I know and passing on those recipes and skills. Unfortunately, those are the things that can be taken away from the crazy schedule to lighten things up. I certainly can't get rid of the Dog Walker's homework other than just getting it done. Nor can I leave Prima Donna bloomerless for the ballet. The scouts have worked so hard on the tree for the Festival that I couldn't just drop that project. And that is how my life goes...

OK, done whining! :)

I wanted to show you some cute pics of Scout opening her gifts and blowing out her candles. She is growing up to be such a beautiful girl. I'm so proud of her! And yes, she got all those candles in just one breath.

Drama Queen's Play

Scout standing on the stage after the show.

You all know that the Drama Queen teaches theater and English classes at a small-town high school. She was handed this assignment in August and she has had problems everywhere. The old director never secured the rights to her fall musical, so when she was supposed to be running auditions, she was scrambling to find something in the public domain that would work.

She finally found one called Princess Ida, but it was outdated and she couldn't possibly have that, so she spent the better part of a week rewriting it.

 Then it was time for auditions.

She agonized over choosing her cast, but when it was finally over and things were set, she never looked back! Even though it was Scout's birthday, we managed to drive the hour and a half to attend the performance tonight.


It was so fun to see what she had created out of pretty much nothing! Her students love and respect her and she did a great job modernizing the play and making it fun for them.


One of the real payoffs of being a parent is watching my child grow up and achieve her dreams. I am so proud of that girl!

She is finally a true Drama Queen.

Scout's Birthday Party

Forgot the good camera...again!

Scout had her friend birthday party today. I have done more than a hundred birthday parties over the years and I have never had one where every single person we invited actually attended! Today was a first.

I got this certificate for a free birthday party at the Black Diamond Gym for 10 participants at a fundraiser for a cancer patient and his family. But since I'm such a cheapskate, I decided I couldn't possibly waste any of those 10 spots. That meant I needed to over-invite. I chose the random number of 13, thinking that would be perfect. I just assumed that since the party was 3 or 4 miles away in Daybreak that we would have some parents who just couldn't be bothered.

I was wrong.

Everyone showed up and by the time we added in my two little ones (Scout had kept the final invitation for herself since we needed the waiver attached to it), we were at 15. First just let me say that I believe little brothers and sisters should be free. They didn't force any extra work on the part of the hostess. I brought the cupcakes, so there was no additional expense there. They just sort of followed the girls around and I had to pay TWELVE BUCKS EACH for them!!

But it turned out fine. Scout was very happy to have all of her friends there and I didn't have to clean up either before or after the party. I made the cupcakes, but Princess made the frosting and did the decorating, so actually, it was an amazingly fun and
easy party.

Other than  that check I had to write for another $60...

Packages for Sister Teach

I'm a little surprised how much fun I have had putting together little packages for Teach. In October we packed some things she asked for and needed and then we used Halloween pretzels and Jack-o-lantern fruit snacks as packing material.

A couple of weeks ago we sent her another box. She had asked me for a simplified hymn book because she is living in a member's home and they have a piano so she can practice. She only took a year's worth of piano lessons and that was a while ago, so she has a long way to go before she can play from the regular hymn book. So I made a quick trip to the distribution center and picked one up for her. But it was a strange shape for shipping, like a legal size sheet of paper. It fit well in a medium flat rate box, but once again I found myself searching for packing material of some sort.

I finally settled on some tiny boxes of cereal. I took the cardboard part off and it worked remarkably well. Teach is a cereal-eater as you know, so she was thrilled to get them and they kept the book nice and flat during shipping.

Today I find myself putting together another box for her. She asked me to send her pea coat since it is so cold now in Texas (they can't seem to make up their minds on the temperature thing). I found a little box and stuffed her coat into it, but I still had several inches to fill. This one wasn't a flat rate box so I didn't want anything too heavy.

That's when it dawned on me that Teach would be missing her first major holiday with us next week. We have so many holiday traditions here I didn't want her to be sad. Remember our Charlie Brown Thanksgiving? Every year we choose someone to be Peppermint Patty and then we have Charlie's Thanksgiving for lunch and the real turkey dinner later.

Teach in her pea coat, prior to her mission.

The very first one was actually Teach's idea of a prank on the Dog Walker. He believed it! True. All captured on video tape.

Anyway, I knew immediately what I wanted to pack into the top of the coat box. I ran to the store and picked up the important stuff, jelly beans, pretzels, her favorite wheat bread for toast. I'm sending her a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving feast of her own!

Another favorite tradition is sharing the things we are grateful for during dinner. So I had each of the kids write her a letter and remind her what we are all thankful for.

And even though we are apart for the first time, I think this just might be the best Thanksgiving ever. There's nothing like having part of my family far away to help me remember what I'm grateful for.

Happy Thanksgiving, Teach.
I miss you.

Reindeer Dance

You know that most of my kids love to dance, but did I tell you that Baby Doll and Curly are in two of the same classes? They take a tap class together on Tuesday mornings, and then they take Creative Ballet on Wednesdays. That wasn't the original plan.

Curly has his own ballet class too, but he just happened to be with me the day we took Baby Doll to dance for the first time and the teacher was the same one he had last year. So naturally he had to say hello. Then she invited him to stay with Baby Doll in case she got scared or upset...

After this happened for several weeks I told her that Curly was fine in the class, but he wasn't going to dance in the recital because I didn't want to pay for another costume. She was devastated!

So what could I do?

He is now a permanent part of that little class as well as his own class. And when I saw them do the reindeer dance today, I sure was glad!

Only 3 weeks until the recital, I can hardly wait!

Watching the Jazz

I signed up Curly, Scout, and Sport to play Jr. Jazz basketball this year, but their season doesn't start until after Thanksgiving. I was a bit surprised when the Jazz tickets for their free game were for the November 18th game against The Golden State Warriors.

Because we were at Zupas and we still had to pick up the kids, we didn't get to the arena until about 7:15. Bossy and her family drove separately, but we ended up parking in the same lot about 3 stalls away from each other. (I guess great minds think alike!)

After we got through security, we decided to cash in our tickets for hot dogs and drinks before we climbed all those stairs to the cheap seats. Unfortunately, there were tons of Jr. Jazz players at the game and apparently they had a run on hot dogs so we ended up waiting for about 15 more minutes for the last of them. Sport was waiting to meet up with some friends from his team, so he and I and Baby Doll waited for the last of the dogs and sent the rest of the family to find our seats.

It could have been worse. I think we were on about row 17 in the upper bowl, so there were still a few people that were even higher than we were. When the hot dogs were finally ready, I delivered Sport to his friends 3 sections over and then made my way to where the rest of the family were already enjoying the game.

It was well into the second quarter and I never saw the Jazz less than 10 behind all night long. Sometimes they were down by as many as 32. Somebody needs to teach them to go for the rebound!! Despite the fact that the game wasn't very good, I sure enjoyed the company and just the experience of being together.

It wasn't long before one of Sport's friends threw up and they decided to leave so Sport joined us in our section. At one point the section across the aisle from us was chosen as the "Section of the Night" or something like that and they had workers running up the stairs with Jazz visors that they randomly handed to people. Bossy got the attention of one of the teenage boys and pointed out cute little Baby Doll and scored one of them for her. Later, I guy a few rows down tossed his to Bossy's boys, so we ended up with two total.

She wouldn't hold still for me to snap the pic with the new visor.

We stayed all the way to the final buzzer although there were plenty of people abandoning ship much earlier. Like I said, we weren't really there for the game. After a potty run, we headed for our vehicles. Gamer and his kids got out before we did, but Bossy was with us and she carried Baby Doll all the way to the van. Curly got running a little too fast and rolled his ankle on Scout's shoe, so the Dog Walker picked him up and gave him a shoulder ride the rest of the way to the car. I just love the way my kids take care of each other!

As we were leaving, I passed Gamer a book of Wendy's coupons for free Frostys so their family could make a quick stop for ice cream on the way home too. It was a fun evening, well worth the $5 it cost us for parking.

Zupas at the District

We have been watching the new Zupas going up in the District for several months now. It's very convenient for us; only a few minutes away until I can get some of that delicious Wisconsin Cauliflower soup that I never want to share...

And all right, I confess, I was hoping to get an invitation to their VIP Grand Opening event! I wasn't disappointed. It arrived in my email box last week. It only took me about 30 seconds to respond with a resounding "YES!"

So tonight was the big night. The party started at 6:00, but I wanted to be one of the first ones there. We had tickets for the Jazz game so we needed to head downtown at about 6:30. When we pulled into the parking lot at 5:44, there were several people sitting in their cars, but none of them had made the long trip to the locked door.

We knew it was locked because a worker had just tried to get in and was denied. That didn't bother me any. We climbed from the car and headed straight for the door. In fact, I was the first one in line! We also studied their awesome menu that was on the outside wall under glass. It was much easier to make my decisions there than when someone is smiling at me expectantly.

They finally opened the door and let us in. We ordered quickly and had our choice of seats. We chose one where we thought we might be able to make a smooth getaway and sat down. Each of us carried a tray piled high with delicious food, including my personal favorite dessert, Million Dollar Bars.

My sweetie ordered the MangoBerry Salad and the Thai Peanut sandwich. I got the Summer Chicken Salad and the Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup, of course.

My salad was amazing! My sweetie enjoyed his too. He did comment that his sandwich had some kick to it, but I noticed that he quickly ate the entire thing! I saved a little of my soup to enjoy after the basketball game.

I would have preferred to sit for an hour and enjoy the prize giveaways and the company, but I think they were happy to have us leave. It appeared that they had more guests than they had seats.

It was a little different from the other grand opening we attended in that they only allowed us to sample two items on the menu rather than a soup, salad, and a sandwich. Not that I am complaining! I was plenty full with what I had and Princess was even able to share the last half of my Million Dollar Bar with her entire dance team! (Now they all think I'm the coolest mom ever...)

Seriously though, if you are anywhere near the District, stop by and try out Zupas. Every meal comes with one of these delicious chocolate covered strawberries. I wonder if the dance team could figure out how to split one of these...

***My sweetie and I were given free meals in exchange for this blog post. The opinions are entirely my own.***

We All Enjoyed the Big Dance

Princess had a date to Bingham Ball on Saturday night. I'll try to get her to tell you about everything in a day or two, but I just want to tell you the part we experienced. I know, that sounds weird, huh?! How did we get to be part of Princess's special date?

We did all the things we normally do. I paid for her tickets and made her a jacket to go over her dress. I ordered the boutonniere and helped her pick it up. They were having dinner at one of the girl's homes and we were in charge of the cranberry/7-up drink. All in all our role was pretty easy.

On Thursday, we got a huge piece of news! Apparently one of the girls in Princess's group had a mom who drove limousines as a part-time job. She decided to ask her boss if any cars were still available for Saturday night. He responded that yes, his biggest limo, a stretched Escalade, just happened to be unrented. And yes, she could take it for the evening...for FREE!!!

Princess was pretty excited about this prospect, but it was nothing compared to the way my little guys were feeling. They were ecstatic! The only problem was that we weren't sure if they would even get to see it. Then on Friday I was at the high school for the Reflections luncheon and so was our limo-driving mom. I just mentioned to her how much the boys would LOVE to see the limo and she promised a drive-by!

So the night of the big dance came. Princess was picked up in a regular car with the promise that they would return in the limo. At 7:15, Princess texted me that they were leaving. We pulled on shoes and coats, turned off the lights, and headed for the porch. It was cold and the kids were impatient. After about 20 minutes another text came in..."Maybe on the way home.."

The boys were devastated! They figured nothing would happen now, so we headed about our evening activities. Imagine my surprise when Princess texted at 9:50. "We should be there in about 30 minutes." I waited for 15 minutes and then started gathering the kids. Once again we pulled on coats and shoes. The Dog Walker thought to bring out my little space heater and that kept us pretty warm. A few minutes later my sweetie brought everyone a cup of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream. This was turning into a real party.

Then it came. The last text. "She said they can ride in it for a sec..."

It was after 10:00 and there was still a fair amount of whooping and hollering at the news! Five minutes later they pulled up to the house. The limo was 39 feet long and took up the majority of the park strip. The driver (Kara's mom) hopped out and came around the car. She pulled open the space-aged rise up door complete with hydraulics. The kids all piled in, on, and around Princess and her friends and their dates.

They were SOOO excited! The neon in the car flashed and twinkled as the door was pulled closed and then they were off.


After about 5 minutes the limo pulled back onto our street. I left the warmth of my little heater on the porch and hurried across the grass to greet them. The little ones tumbled out with huge grins on their faces. I reminded them to be grateful and we all headed for the house.

It was a good day.

Guest Blogger: Time to Cut Loose! by Prima Donna

Footloose!  Kick off your Sunday shoes!
Do you remember clear back in September when Mom told you all I got into Footloose at Bingham High School!?  Well, after months of rehearsals and hard work, it's finally here! Our run is on

November 22, 23, 25 and 26 with shows at 7 pm and a 2 pm matinee on the 23rd.

So if you're in town you should really come. It's gonna be so cool! Except for the major plotline, it is completely different from the movie! So don't try to chicken out and say you've already seen it because you haven't really. In the musical you get to learn more about the characters. But most importantly you get to see me on stage! I am one of the moms in Beaumont, and I don't have any lines or anything, but it's still so much fun. Our leads are phenomenal!  I'll listen to the Broadway soundtrack and, honestly, they don't sound half as good as our songs, ok maybe half. It's gonna be so good.

If you don't believe me how awesome this is, or you wish you could come but can't, weere going to be on Fox 13 News performing numbers live on November 20th, so make sure you watch. I believe we will be performing every hour with our first show at 6:45 AM MST. So make sure you tune in.

Come cut loose and watch Bingham's production of Footloose the Musical!

Buy your tickets here!
https://www.ezticketlive.com/checkout/eventbdate.asp?id=230

Just Dozing

It was about 1:00 AM when the Dog Walker tapped my desk the first time. I slowly raised my head and shook the confusion away. The last thing I remembered was him reading the Economics book to me while I was trying to check his assignment for Disabilities class.

I stood up and stretched, begged for a minute, and headed to the kitchen for a drink of water and to clear my head. Usually I don't doze in the middle of homework. Two minutes later I was back at my desk, trying to make up for lost time. The Dog Walker picked up where he left off. It was just the two of us. Baby Doll had abandoned us long ago and the rest of the house appeared to be sleeping.

"Mom...MOM!" It took me a minute. The Dog Walker was trying to ask me about something he had just read, but I had to confess that I had no idea what he was talking about. Why was I so tired?

I tried to think back on this stressful crazy week. I defended my grant proposal for the ballet tonight in front of the Arts Council. I had been worrying about that one for quite a while. We were accepted by them, by the way, but now I get one more chance to convince the entire city council!

The Reflections awards are all handed out on the school levels now. Worrying about how that might turn out was also pretty rough this week. Then it dawned on me. It was those two early morning Tupperware parties at Curves! Getting up at 5:00 AM is just not the sort of thing my body was accustomed to and it was rebelling against me.

Thankfully, my sweetie offered to take the kids to school this morning and other than the occasional alarm or phone call, I stayed in bed for almost 7 hours last night! I'm feeling much better today.

I didn't doze off once during this post!

Did you??

A Little Explanation

I admit it! I was tired last night and I knew I had to get up just after 5:00 AM and drive for half an hour to get to the Millcreek Curves to set up the Tupperware at 6:00. You all know I'm NOT a morning person. So as we finished up the Dog Walker's homework, I casually mentioned that maybe he could write my blog post last night.

He actually loves guest posting on my blog because my stats come out a bit higher than his and he loves the attention. I wanted him to post about something for school, maybe something about the homework we have been doing or the 25 hours of service he spent helping people with disabilities. My only instruction was to please write it about school and please keep it positive. (Since I gave you a rather negative post about homework last week, I didn't want you to think we hated school.)

Then I headed off for bed. I tossed and turned all night, worried that I would sleep through that early alarm, but that's another story.

So imagine my surprise this morning when I discovered that he wrote not about school, but School House Rock! It's interesting to see how his autistic mind works. I did ask him to write about school and to keep it positive, but he must have known this was not what I was expecting.

And then to make things even crazier, he connected 27 movies to the post. Does he really believe there are people out there with so little to do that they can play all of them? I chose one, a favorite I remembered from my childhood and Saturday morning Cartoons - Conjunctions.

And you know what?! He had 200 more page views than my best days on the internet!

Do I sound a little bitter?

Maybe it's time to reread my post about Women's Volleyball...