Tigger and Pepper

Every night, almost without fail, Tigger and Pepper get in a brawling wrestling match. It is so funny to watch! Tigger is very vocal about it and sounds like he is complaining the whole time. He is actually having a good time, though, if his swishing tail is any indicator. It is funny that Tigger is so vocal and Pepper is nearly silent all the time. I have been told that Siamese cats tend to be quite vocal. Not Pepper! I can't tell you how many times I have tripped over or stepped on him! I am his favorite human, of course, so he is always under my feet. Every morning he attacks my legs until I pick him up and cuddle him. He does the same thing when I get home from work.

Monday reflections

Here is a photo of Will rushing into the fray on Saturday's game. It is a photo that Helena took and I tweaked so you could easily see which kid is Will.

This morning we woke to 3 inches of snow. Ugh. Heavy sigh. Skiers loved it, though.

Now that April is staring us down, I am starting to get anxious for the end of year school art show. The Principal made the art show into the '9th day' professional day, which means that now all the teachers are required to attend. I've asked them to all submit an artwork to display. I got mixed strong reviews on that! There are several teachers that probably wish me to the devil for it, and several others who are just planning to turn in a scrapbook page, or something.

I, of course, also need to finish my artwork for the show! I think I'll go in on Saturday and work on it.

Oh, Sydney from the American Fork Arts Council called and asked me to teach summer art classes in July at the community rec. center. I always like doing that because the classes are only one week long and I get paid to do it.

Never volunteer too long at any one venue! I have been asked to be the assistant director of the Steel Days Art Show this year. The director, Heidi, wants to be in charge of the children's division and is looking for someone to spearhead the adult division. Looks like that will be me. I haven't heard back from her, but Sydney said that was just because Heidi was out of town for a while and she should be calling me soon. I was kind of hoping that the reason she hadn't called back was that she had found someone else to do it. I have never done anything like this before and I'd hate to mess it up!

Will's first Lacrosse game

The first Lacrosse game of the season was held yesterday at Oak Canyon Jr. High in Lindon. Will is on the AF 'B' team because this is his first year ever playing. They played against Lone Peak's 'C' team ... which are newbies, too. It was an even match, as you can well imagine. They ended up losing by only one goal.

Here are some videos of game play...

Will is wearing red shorts and a red jersey and holding a long (defense) pole.

Some recent Helena moments

Here is a video of Helena playing with Pepper...

And another video of Helena when she was supposed to be doing the cat litter...

And, finally, Helena driving the car!

A Sunday morning waking

Last night was full of awful dreams! In the first one, Bill was driving and all of us were in the car (minus Matt, of course, because he is in California). For some bizarre reason, Bill decided to ignore road closed signs and drive out onto an on-ramp that was being demolished. We got stuck on these precarious concrete pilings. As usually happens in dreams, at this point there is no more car and we are all on foot clinging for dear life. Suddenly, the rubble under Helena shifts and she falls TO HER DEATH!!!! At that moment, the agony and grief are too much for me and I abruptly wake up. I spend a few minutes reassuring myself that all is well, everyone is safe and sound in their beds, Helena is healthy and happy.

When I went back to sleep, I was walking into my classroom. There was absolute CHAOS! One class of first graders was in the chairs, loudly working. Another class of first graders was on the floor, also being loud. There was a class of fifth graders standing by the front white board. Meanwhile, all there teachers were trying to get them to do stuff! In the dream, I yelled/screamed for all of them to SHUT UP! I told the teachers off for disrupting my classroom and ordered them to be quiet so I could regain control of the classroom. Then the Superintendent was standing there and I was apologizing for my harsh words and he said "oh, that's alright, I probably would have done the same thing."

What a weird night!

This morning I woke to an incredibly peaceful, warm, soft bed! I lay there for a while, enjoying the feeling of soft breezes wafting against me (we had the fan above our bed on all night).

Suddenly, at 9:00 a.m. (yes, I was sleeping in on a Sunday morning) a wall of sound hit the side of our house! It was the wind. It had arrived as though someone had suddenly turned it on. As the house creaked and groaned like the senior citizen it is, settling onto its foundation, the wind rolled across us reminding me of storm waves crashing on the shore. In fact, I lay there another 30 minutes just listening and enjoying the ocean temporarily outside my window.

Then, of course, I got up and discovered that my 'ocean' was actually wrecking havoc on the neighborhood! One of our neighbors has lost his shed and another has lost some shingling off his roof. This is blizzard wind with some snow in it, but not a ton, so I don't expect much accumulation of white stuff on the ground... just a littering of all the stuff the wind managed to shred! Fortunately, our new fence seems to be holding up so far!

Blizzards in Spring are most unwelcome!

I had just about decided it was time to pull out the summer clothes. The weather had reached the 70* mark last week and we were all basking in the warmth!

Yesterday, a blizzard blew through in the morning. Urgh!! It was March 26th for crying out loud! We spent the day indoors (it being too cold for the kids to go to recess) and wondered when the warm weather will come back? The storm petered out by lunch, but it was just so darned cold.

This brings me to another point. The school district NEVER calls a Snow Day! Doesn't matter what the weather does, go to school! Last year we had a blizzard hit right before kids were sent home. Many kids and teachers got stuck at the school until 10:00 pm, with one bus turning around and returning to the school after being stuck on a closed road for 3 hours!

Now, weather forecasting here is very predictable! Why didn't the district close schools early that day?

On a positive note for today... I get a little boost every day when I walk into the school and see all the happy children playing on the playground or screaming and laughing in P.E. It is really not such a bad thing to be constantly surrounded by the innocence of youth.

Will the feather weight

Will has been ordered to eat more by his doctor. We live in an over sized culture, but my youngest child is underweight. Last November when we started the quest for answers about the heart murmur, he was in the 26th percentile for weight and the 50th percentile for height. By January, he was in the 24th percentile on weight. Now, at the end of March, he is in the 22nd percentile!

Don't panic, everyone!!! Will is a healthy, growing teenager and the doctor is not hugely alarmed. However, since he is on the verge of the growing years for teen boys, the doctor and I both want him to beef up a bit before he shoots up in order to avoid problems. Sure don't want him passing out in the halls of the school or getting teen arthritis or anything!

The doctor urged him to push himself to keep eating just a little past 'full'. I have been urged to offer higher calorie options for him.

After the doctor visit I took him out to Carl's Jr. and had to push him to finish off his fries. I finally got him to confess that the reason Helena always runs out of lunch money before he does is that sometimes he doesn't buy lunch because he is simply not hungry! I also bought him a gallon of 2% milk and a gallon of whole milk for the week (the 2% is a transition, we drink skim).

So if Will is ever over to visit, offer him a cookie or something! :)

Bill to the rescue in the kitchen, again!

Occasionally, I get in the mood to cook.

This time, I decided to make chicken fettuccine Alfredo for a family in my church because the mom is going through chemo.

Bill came home in the middle of my 'masterpiece' and asked,

"What are you making?"

"Fettuccine Alfredo!", I answered.

"Where's your recipe?", he asked while looking around the kitchen with apprehension.

I enthusiastically replied, "Who needs a recipe?! It's butter, cream, and Parmesan!"

His response.... "......... here, let me help."


He ended up sending me back to the store to get more Parmesan to balance out all the cream I had already dumped in the pot. In the end he had made a truly fabulous dish. I will take credit for warming up the green beans, buying the strawberry lemonade, and mixing together the Jello no bake cheesecake. Yup! That's me, Betty Crocker!

And that about sums it up. That is the usual format in our kitchen. I get a hair brained idea, and Bill pulls it all together into something truly delicious! He cooks, I clean. DONE!

a current view of Mt. Timpanogos

I am not usually a landscape photographer, but the light on the mountains inspired me to take a picture. I like the view of the mountains when they are covered in snow much better than in summer when it is just rock.

It looks quite impressive and makes me feel proud of myself that I have climbed to the top of it!

An Eagle Scout Court of Honor

My friend's son earned his Eagle Scout award this month, so an Eagle Court of Honor was held. This is a live bald eagle that was brought in for the ceremony. Her name is Liberty, and her wing was permanently injured on a power line, so she is now in the care of the Tracy Aviary. Will thought this was absolutely awesome, by the way. I thought it was excellent timing, since Will is currently working on two of his Eagle required merit badges right now. This was just the sort of motivator he needed to get working on the badges!

Helena's most recent photo art

Helena continues to show marked talent at taking photos. These are two I discovered on the computer from this past month. She is going to sign up for Digital Photography next year. I think that class will be a good match for her. At least, I hope so!

The agony of airline reservations!

I recently decided to cancel my credit card. For the reasons, see my previous blog entry "How do you spell STRESS".

Before I cancel, however, I want to use up the accumulated 'Miles' on it. There are enough miles for ONE plane ticket. It was decided that this would be a great opportunity to give Will an adventure since Helena is having an adventure this summer, too.

Will is going to go spend a week with my parents this summer in Washington State!!! He should have a blast learning to sail with his Grandpa and exploring all the fun stuff to be had in Bremerton and Seattle.

I called my credit card and set up the flight, telling them that he would be an unaccompanied minor (UM). They hooked us up with a Delta flight. The process seemed quick and painless. The company just said to call the airline in an hour to set up the UM details. Which I did.

Yeah. When I called Delta, they told me there was an UM fee of $100.00 EACH WAY!!!!!!!!

$200.00!?!?!?!?!?!

The actual flight barely costs that much itself! Delta wanted me to pay for the flight a second time just because he is 13 instead of 15?!

I was IRATE!

(to put it mildly)

I called my credit card back and cancelled the flight immediately. Fortunately, they were very gracious about it (especially after I pointed out that Southwest's UM policy is under 12 and it wouldn't apply to my son) and gave me back my 'Miles'.

I went directly onto Southwest's web site and purchased a ticket for Will from them. Still easy, but without the outrageous hidden fees!!!

Now I plan to call my credit card back and apply the 'Miles' to my SW ticket. So there!

Stop the Roller Coaster, I want to get OFF!

You know, when the kids were in grade school, their grades were pretty consistent. Helena got straight A's and every teacher loved having her, even if she was a bit too gregarious. Will got mostly A's and B's, with some C's because his teachers hounded him to keep turning stuff in.

Now, you ask?

Now they are in Junior High and none of their teachers feel inclined to chase down assignments, and rightly so. This causes what I call the ROLLER COASTER EFFECT.

At the beginning of each term, each child firmly declares that they are going to get that $100.00 I keep promising either of them for a 4.0 on term grades. This might seem like a lot of money, but it was pointed out to me that it is the cheapest college tuition there is because of scholarship opportunities. I concur.

For about 2-3 weeks, they do fairly well.

After about that length of time, however, something happens to their motivation. Helena forgets to do an assignment and a grade drops. It seems once that happens, she stops trying for anything other than passing scores. Her grades do a graceful swan dive and bottom out about 2 weeks before the end of term. It seems that when her GPA drops below that magic line of 3.0, she pulls it in gear and works her way back up to the 3.0, where she finishes off each term.

And Will?

He starts each term at around 3.5. By the time we reach that 2 week warning of the end of term, his grades have just screeched down the ROLLER COASTER OF DEATH and are bottomed out BELOW a 2.0!!! This is when it all hits the fan.

This is the part of the roller coaster that I don't like. I become the 'bad guy', because all privileges, activities, and sports come to a crashing halt until the grades return to an acceptable level. I end up printing up his current reports and highlighting each and every missing assignment. He has to stay after and meet with each teacher. He has to stay up late every night catching up on the work he neglected. That means I have to stay up late every night to ride him so he doesn't get distracted and fail to do it. Last night he worked until 11:30 p.m., then got up at 6:30 a.m. to get to 7:00 a.m. Jazz Band (which he wants to quit, but I won't let him until he gets the grade in there up to a passing level).

Have they ever received the $100.00? No.

Doesn't this roller coaster sound oh so fun?

Why am I telling you all of this?

Have you ever noticed that every mother you talk to has 'the chosen' children? I mean EVERY mother? Everyone around me has children that maintain a 4.0 while acting as student body president, captain of their sport team, president of their church youth group, taking private music (or what ever other fill in the blank you want to put there) lessons, and spending weekends volunteering at the local old folks home. And all of this at the tender age of 13! Yup. To listen to the mothers when they get together and expound upon their offspring, you would think that the whole neighborhood of kids accidentally went off daisy gathering and missed the translation of the City of Enoch!

So, how does this make the rest of us feel about our own children when they fail to live up to their own potential? Like we don't like to hang out with those mothers and their supposedly perfect progeny! How uncomfortable to be friends with perfection!

Oh how I hate this roller coaster! I think, though, that it is probably a normal part of adolescence and learning to take more responsibility upon themselves. Sure hope it is a short ride!

Yeah, and those other moms? I think most of them are seriously delusional!

Lacrosse - the first scrimage

Will's team played a scrimmage with Lehi on Saturday afternoon. Our team 'won' (scrimmages don't really count) 17 to 2! Will seems to be having lots of fun. He played defense with one of the long poles. I am glad he is enjoying it, otherwise I'm not sure the bruises all over his arms and legs would be worth it!

Pepper and the lint rollers

Pepper is the funniest kitten ever! This was shot on the day he got back from being 'fixed' (from the "nut-whacker" as it is irreverently called here). He was on pain meds, but I have to say that this is still classic Pepper behavior, drugs or not!

Helena and her violin

Helena likes to practice her violin. She hates to have people listen to her practice! I wanted to let you hear her play, though, because she is really very good! It is her other artistic talent! Kirsten says it is too bad we didn't start her out on the violin at 4, instead of ballet. She has now had 2 3/4 years of violin lessons at the Jr. High, and will continue with it in 10th grade next year. That will complete 4 years of musical training and I'll let her quit taking formal lessons at that time. The most difficult part about doing both violin and ballet are the scheduling conflicts that invariably come up. When schedules conflict, ballet always wins.

The sudden and tragic death of a cell phone

Will, the cell phone murderer, has struck again! This phone was the accidental victim of an unguarded temper. It only takes a moment for 'tragedy' to strike and now Will is heartsick over it.

This was Will's 4th phone in 1 1/2 years. It was also his LAST phone. I gave it to him over Christmas to replace the one that was slowly dying after a serious accident involving the washing machine. I had to give up my next upgrade to get it for him. That is the part that is making him heartsick, I hope (that, and he really liked this phone).

Am I heartsick, you ask? Why, no. I actually will be glad that I'll no longer have to confiscate a phone at bedtime.

I happen to have another phone that my brother-in-law, Paul, gave me. I have no intentions of handing it over to a cell phone murderer, however! I will activate it to the line, keep it charged in my purse, and check it out to him only when I need to reach him. When I pick him up again, he will surrender the phone so I can guard it in my purse until it is needed again. This doesn't guarantee that it won't be 'murdered' away from home, but so far all the cell phones have died at home, so I think I'll take the risk. What have I got to lose?