Goodbye 2015

2015 has had its ups and downs. I hope that 2016 has more ups.

Challenges

• Last school year we had a lot of homework battles. Often we were not finishing up homework until 9 or 10 o'clock at night. 
• I was sick off and on from April through August. My collapsed gallbladder was removed in August, I have felt much better. 
• I messed up a tendon in my foot earlier this month, so I have been in a walking boot for the last three weeks. I don't recommend stepping on a hickory nut husk.
• We live in the black hole of crappy internet service. We have the fastest service in our area, that is reminiscent of dial up speeds. Faster internet service is in our area, but unfortunately has not made it to our neighborhood. I might just have to start calling once a month to inquire if they have gotten around to our neighborhood yet. They are going to LOVE me.

Blessings

• Pumpkin is in 3rd grade and Princess is in 1st grade. Time sure does fly!
• Princess had a good report at the eye doctor last January. We only have to go once a year instead of every three to six months. Yay!
• Pumpkin has a wonderful teacher this school year. She has been able to cut down on the tattling in the classroom, which has resulted in better behavior on his part.
• The kids favorite movie this year is Minions. 
• Pumpkin finally passed his first spelling test of the year this month. The teacher has reassured us that he will not be held back next school year in regards to spelling.
• In the spring, I celebrated 15 years at my work place.  
• A local autism support group was started in our community. It is good to be able to talk with other parents and educators that understand.
• Princess also has a great teacher. I volunteered to help with gingerbread house decorating a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed myself, which is rare when volunteering at school. Most parents shun me when they figure out who my son is because they just don't understand and we don't advertise that he has ADHD, ASD, and SPD. They just figure that we are terrible parents that don't care because of the behaviors they see or hear about from their children.
• I cut back my hours at work to be able to pick the kids up from school. Homework battles have decreased and we are finishing our homework faster. Yay!!!!!!
• We were able to save some money back to purchase a new laptop. Our desktop that we still use is ten years old. Now more than one family member can use the computer at a time. Which is a good thing since we use SpellingCity, MobyMax, Multiplication.com and Quizlet to do homework and study.
• Pumpkin learned to ride a bike without training wheels!
• We survived the school Christmas concert without incident.
• Pumpkin was able to attend a specialized camp over the summer that focused on social skills and utilized ABA therapy. We have noticed a difference this school year. Two thumbs up!
• Princess enjoys helping great grandma make pancakes in the mornings before school.
• We went and saw our first ever Christmas Day movie. We saw the newest Star Wars movie as a family. It was good, but I am not giving anything away for those who have not seen it yet.

Hubby and the kids with cut-outs from the Star Wars movies.

What we are looking forward to

• Hubby and I are looking forward to the last season of Downton Abbey.
• I am hoping that the kids take on more chores and household responsibilities this coming year. Our biggest challenge is keeping our rooms clean.
• We are going to be an aunt and uncle again. So far we have eight nieces and nephews.
• I hope to conquer some of the clutter in the house. I may have to enlist some help.

Well, gotta go! We are having a Hobbit movie marathon this evening. Currently, we are in the midst of watching the second movie. The third movie may need to wait until tomorrow.

A Mother's Love- Part 2

My quilt is finally done.  It took time and love on grandma's part and it is absolutely beautiful!  

The blocks were embroidered by my mom and great grandma.  See A Mother's Love- Part 1 for the back story.  
 

Grandma allowed me to design how I wanted the quilt to look.  I envisioned a garden.  The embroidered blocks I wanted surrounded by a stain glass inspired gate in memory of grandpa.  I wanted a wandering chain of flowers between the inner gate and outer border. When grandma completed the quilt, she had a local lady machine quilt it before sewing the binding on.

It was quite the project.  But I am so thankful that I have something to keep my mom, grandpa, and great grandma in my memories.  And one day when grandma goes to join them, I will also remember her love in creating this beautiful quilt.

Vroom! Vroom!

Pumpkin had a big project at school and today was the presentation day. Their assignment was to write a story about a robot with juicy words, sounds, and a problem to solve. They also had to build the robot in their story with their family. The whole project has been a month in the making. Pumpkin did a wonderful job today and we are so proud of him.

Vroom! Vroom! 

By Pumpkin

In Hot Wheel Land, six cars were lined on the track. In the morning giant robot racers came. The robot racers did not know how to get into the cars. They were too big! 

Fire Robot had an idea. “I must tell the robots to shrink.” He told them to push their shrink buttons. They went cafluwee! They did not have enough power to shrink. “The race is today. 

We don’t have time to charge our batteries so our shrink buttons won’t work.” Next a storm came. The lightening was attacking the cars because they are metal. A wild snake robot 

 

slithered up a tree. Boom! The lightening destroyed the snake robot. And it broke a big piece off the tree that is big enough for them to build six giant robot sized cars. The storm is done now 

 
we have our cars. Fire Robot got into a good fast white car. The racers were on the start line. “On your marks! Get set! GO!” They started theirs cars. The white car was at the 

end of the line. Vroom vroom! They raced near a volcano. A blue car jumps up high towards the volcano. It landed in the water because the wind pushed it away. The white car jumps ahead to the finish line. 

Fire Robot wins the race. He gets a trophy. The End.

F.A.M.I.L.Y.

Faith-  Family is all about faith.  Faith in your spouse.  Faith that your hubby will help with a few chores.  Faith that your spouse will surprise you with a date night every so often.  Faith in your children.  Faith that they will actually clean up after their selves (Ha ha ha- this rarely happens, but a girl can dream).  Faith in God.  Faith that even on the cloudy and stormy days of life that good will eventually shine through.  Faith that no matter what someone loves you.  Faith that no matter how bad you mess something up that someone will be there that understands.  Faith of love, family, and friends definitely make the world go round.

Adventure-  With family you have built-in adventures.  Even a trip outside the house can be an adventure.  Last Saturday I saw a pumpkin that was starting to get a little mushy on our back porch.  So I decided to place it under a tree so the animals in the neighborhood could eat it.  As I approached the tree. . . . whump!  Down I went.  The pumpkin sailed through the air.  I had step in a hole that the kids had dug over the summer while looking for earthworms.  Unfortunately for me it had not been filled in and said hole was covered in leaves.  Of course the kids thought it was a fun adventure and ran circles around me laughing and playing as I laid on the ground.  You know the saying: The taller they are, the harder they fall.  That is so true!  I ended up spraining my ankle and twisting my knee in the fall.  I called my grandma (hubby was at work) and she came over.  Grandma and Pumpkin carried a chair over to me so I had some leverage to get off the ground.  Needless to say hubby has now filled the hole in temporarily with hickory nut hulls until we can get some dirt to fill the hole in with.  My ankle is still mending and I will definitely have to be careful when it comes to black ice this winter. 

Meaningful- When you have family to share with even the simplest things become more meaningful.  New family traditions are started and old ones are carried on.  On Thanksgiving we always have Hawaiian sweet rolls.  Mom would always ensure it while growing up, so I have continued this tradition.  Typically the day after Thanksgiving we decorate our Christmas tree.  Each year we make simple paper ornaments and applesauce ornaments to adorn the tree along the with the tried and true ornaments.  On Christmas Eve everyone gets to open ONE present an hour or two before bedtime.  Hubby and I got engaged on Christmas Eve.  So we also drink a bottle of sparkling grape juice every year on Christmas Eve.  On New Year's Day we take down all of the holiday adornment from around the house.  We have turned Valentine's Day into family game night.  I am sure that as the years go and the kids get bigger family traditions will come and go, but the togetherness is the meaningful part of the experience.

Imagination-  Imagination and a sense of humor is a must when it comes to family.  The kids really enjoy it when I pretend to be a hungry tickle monster chasing them through the house.  They scream with joy as they dodge me and laugh hysterically when I capture and tickle them to death.  They enjoy building forts and destroying the sun room in the process.  They definitely use their imaginations when they draw and color to create their own beautiful masterpieces.

Love-  Love is must when it comes to family.  As a parent we are to have unconditional love for our children.  Sometimes this is easier said than done.  Children are easy to love when they are minding their p's and q's.  They are easy to love when they are sick or injured.  Sometimes it is more of a challenge when they have been causing mischief.  We love our kids unconditionally, but that is not to say that we are disappointed when they tell a tall tell. Or when they have a behavior note sent home from school.  We try to sit down with them and try to think about what we should do differently next time.  With Pumpkin we have to have him repeat his solutions several times to help ensure that he takes responsibility for what we talked about.  For example "Listen to the teacher." "Eye contact." "No swinging hats." "Respect authority." "No running in the classroom."  Etc . . . . . Kids can try their parent's patience at times.  Sometimes with Pumpkin I need a break to cool down before looking for a solution to the problem.  I am big on hugs.  Hugs help with all problems and are a great way to say "I love you!"

Youthful-  Spending time with those you love keeps you youthful.  You are only as young as you feel and children definitely keep a person feeling young.  Kids have very interesting perspectives on life and you NEVER know what they are going to say or do.    I always hear a few kidisms a day but right now I can not think of any to share.  I'll have to remember to write some down to share at another time.

What does F.A.M.I.L.Y. mean to you?

Autumn

The colors have been beautiful this year!  

A lot of factors go into the brilliance of the season- the amount of sunlight, temperature fluctuations, cloud cover, and moisture.  What happens in the fall is that as the daylight decreases, the chlorophyll (the green stuff in leaves) stops producing food.  When the chlorophyll dies off and fades away, the brilliant reds, oranges, yellows, and purples that have been present the whole time are uncovered.  Warm sunny days and cool nights help to enhance the colors that we see. Eventually the leaves detach from their branchy homes and gracefully flutter to the ground.  Enough of the botany aspect for now.

The best part of fall for kids is raking the leaves into piles and jumping in!  Our kids love playing in the leaves.  Pumpkin becomes a monster and loves to bury others under the crunchy goodness.  We have shag-bark hickory, red maple, sweet gum, ash, and a few fruit trees in our yard.  This time of the year my husband also LOVES to crack open the shag-bark hickory nuts to collect the decadent nut meat inside.  It is an extremely time consuming process and involves a hammer.  Usually you cannot make it through the season without at least one smashed finger.  Mix some of these nuts into chocolate chip cookie dough for a wonderful autumn treat! 

Pumpkins, Pumpkins

Today may of been one of the last warm days of the season.  Tonight the first frost is predicted.  So we took the kids outdoors this afternoon for our annual painting pumpkins with tempera paint.  

We do not have as many pumpkins this year as in years past, so we will forgo carving a pumpkin this year.  We do have plenty of gourds on the other hand.  It was the squash of choice by the kiddos when we visited the pumpkin patch last week.  We usually opt for painting because 1) the pumpkins last longer and 2) Pumpkin wants his pumpkin to last until after his birthday in February.  He is a pumpkin fanatic!  

As you can see Pumpkin & Princess had a lot of fun decorating their pumpkins.  We did take the pumpkin inside before the predicted frost and I am sure that they will move around the house as the holiday approaches. It is never boring in our household!  (Hahaha)

Vacation Days

This week has flown by and I only have one day left before returning to work.  Honestly, it would be nice to stay home with the kiddos.  I will miss morning time leisurely snuggles.  I will miss taking Pumpkin to and from school.  The kids have seem to have less behavior issues since they have spent time home with me.  Although, Princess has apparently started the tantrum stage.  She was crying and sulking in our bedroom earlier because Pumpkin was mopping the kitchen floor, not her.  But Pumpkin was mopping the kitchen floor because he had decided to make apple juice on the kitchen floor.  He gathered a large bowl, about six apples and the potato smasher for his unsupervised experiment.  It was not too successful and the floor was quite sticky. So we had to clean the floor. 

Anyway, during this vacation we checked quite a few things off our to-do-list: 

We took a drive north of our town, down an old rocky road to watch part of the meteor shower Sunday evening.  Since we were in the middle of no where, we were standing in the middle of the road watching the sky.  We saw the Milky Way (which we cannot see from out house), the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, the crescent moon, and a handful of shooting stars.  We let the kids lay on the hood of the car to watch the stars.  As we saw headlights in the distance, we scrambled into our car to be better protected.  A very old, old car drove by (maybe something from the 1920s or 1930s), then "Aaauuugah! Aaauuugah!"  Hubby and I burst into laughter!  Then the little car chugged off over a hill and we continued star gazing for a while longer.

On Monday the kids and I visited the children's museum.  The kids had a lot of fun.  

On Tuesday we went to the state fair.  Boy was it expensive.  A bottle of water was $3.00, that is absurd.  We did get to partake in some fair favorites: elephant ear, funnel cake, and lemon shake-up.  Yum!  Both kids got to milk a cow and we saw the Butter Cow.

On Wednesday, Pumpkin started the first grade.  We met his teacher on Monday.  Pumpkin and I went over the class expectations at least once a day every day this week since the meeting.  For example, one expectation is to be respectful of the teacher.  So I asked Pumpkin how he could be respectful and he said listen.  He was so nervous on Tuesday night that we prayed for him and his teacher and that has seemed to help.  So much so that he asked for the same thing the next night.  What a sweetie!   Anyway, I was so happy that first half day when he came out of the school to be picked up that he was not the child holding the teacher's hand.  Yay!  Oh, Wednesday afternoon and night we cleaned Pumpkin's room.  It is a miracle, I can see the floor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Thursday, Princess and I ran a few errands and she got a new pair of shoes.  We played with chalk outside and swung on the swing.  She passed out in the hallway about an hour before we were to pick Pumpkin up from school.

On Friday, Princess spent the day with great grandma and I completed a few volunteer hours as required by the school.  It was an enlightening experience and gave me some ideas that I can utilize when I return to work.

Today we visited the library and then went on our regular routine to the grocery store.  Princess wanted some Fancy Nancy books and I found a few Elephant and Piggie books for Pumpkin.  He was too busy playing with the train set to look for books today.  We even picked up a few Halloween and Christmas books too.

This week I have read the following books: 1) Daughter of Jerusalem by Joan Wolf.  It was really good and was a fictionalize journey of Mary of Magdalena that utilized facts from the Bible.  It really made me think about the miracle, awe, and uncertainty of the times when Jesus lived. I discovered Joan Wolf about a month ago and am impressed by her biblical fiction.  2) Positive Discipline by Jane Nelsen Ed.D.  I only have three chapters left of the book.  It has some very interesting concepts and focuses on encouraging children not discouraging them.  I have applied a few of the concepts on the children and they do seem successful.  I have been reading this book for a while.  But once I decided to take notes restarting from the beginning, it has gone a lot smoother.  I have been reading one chapter a day during vacation.  3) A Reluctant Queen by Joan Wolf.  I just started this afternoon.  It is the fictional story of Esther based on the facts of the Bible.  It is definitely interested reading about the women of the Bible and getting a glimpse of what their lives may have been like.

Well things will start to get back to normal on Monday.  Pumpkin will be in school and hanging with great grandma before and after school.  Princess will start at her new daycare that has a preschool curriculum.  Daddy will be working and I will be working.  It has been nice to be on vacation and my batteries are recharged a touch.

Roller Coaster Of Life

The past seven days have felt like a roller coaster with its ups and downs. 

Monday was Memorial Day.  I found out in the morning that a dear man from my little country church had past away.  He was 96 years old and was an amazing person.  It is truly a blessing to have known him.  In the afternoon we decorated graves.  The first cemetery we decorated four graves from my husband's family.  The second cemetery we decorated my mom and maternal grandpa's graves.  We dropped the kids off before the next cemetery.  Then head to my paternal grandma's to get the flowers, by the time we got to the third cemetery we had to turn around and leave.  The wind started blowing, branches were flying by, and the rain coming down so hard you could barely see.  We drove back to our house to take cover in the basement.  When we came back up to get the kids one of trees in the front yard that was damaged during the ice storm of 2006 had limbed just peeled off it.  It looked like string cheese.

Tuesday, I finished decorating the graves of my paternal grandpa and uncle at the third cemetery.  We had a delicious family dinner at my maternal grandma's house.  Then everyone went outside to help pick up sticks from the storm the day before.

Wednesday was a ROUGH day at work.  Enough said there.

Thursday afternoon was the visitation, funeral, and grave side services of the gentleman that I had gone to church with.  I arranged to be off work for several hours so I could attend.  The funeral message was wonderful and encompassed the Christian example that he lead his life by.  The songs were perfect, two of his favorite: Amazing Grace and In the Garden.  I will always associate In the Garden with him.  He was the Sunday school superintendent and would lead us in reciting Psalm 19:14 (Let the words of my mouth, and the mediation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, my strength, and my redeemer)  before we left the church for the day.  He would go out of his way to help others and was like an extra grandparent to me.  On Sundays, him and his wife would give me quarters to do with laundry while I was in college.  Sometimes they would send little treats with me, like a loaf of homemade bread or a jar of homemade jelly.  I was able to hug his wife, but was saddened to discover that this kind grandmotherly lady has dementia. 

Friday went fairly well until the evening.  During the day, I caught these little guys just outside the building at work.

In the evening we were in for some storms, so we kept an eye on the local weather station and the pending storms. The tornado sirens went off shortly after 10:00 p.m., so we took sleeping Pumpkin and Princess to the bathroom in the basement.  We placed a blanket on the floor and laid them down on it.  The lights flickered a few times here and there.  Eventually we heard the all clear from the sirens.    Since we were unsure if there would be any additional sirens, we placed the kids in their sleeping bags on our bedroom floor and left the hall light on so we could get moving faster if necessary.  As we monitored the local weather station reports were coming in from the area we live in.  We heard our street mentioned as being a war zone.  We looked out our windows and had no trees down and no visible damage from inside the house.  I finally got the internet up and heard about all sorts of storm damage.  The major street that we just live off of was closed, many were trees down, reports of a trampoline in a tree, someone said that they had heard the whistle of a tornado near the cemetery just south of our house.

Saturday morning just after midnight we received an automated phone call from the local police department telling residents to not leave their houses due to downed trees and downed power lines.  If there was an emergency call 911, but do not leave your house.  Okay, that sort of scared me more than the facebook reports.  I only got about three hours sleep worrying about family members and friends in the area.  At five in the morning, I got dress and walked around our house.  Thankfully we did not sustain any damage at all.  By seven thirty I had talked to both grandmas and by eight I had talked with my dad.  I had thought about calling my pastor and his wife and assumed since my grandma that lives to the southwest of us and only two blocks from the church was fine that I didn't need to bother them.  We had signed up for a canoeing class, so we viewed some of the damage on the way to the class.  Massive trees were down, a box truck contorted and bend, small limbs and sticks littered the road ways, massive traffic of people gawking at the devastation.  

We got out the the nature center holding the class and we got to canoe as a family.  I think that the kids had fun.  Hubby did not have as much fun since he was in the front of the canoe and Pumpkin would not stay still and the canoe would rock from time to time.  I sacred Princess once with algae hanging off of my paddle.  She screamed and threw her paddle into the pond, so I had to retrieve it.  After we finished canoeing, I got a chance to take the kids around the pond to explore.  Princess liked the bullfrog that we found the best and Pumpkin liked paddling the best.  After our little adventure we went to the library to sign the kids up for the summer reading program.  Then on our way home, we drove through some of the storm damage to check on my paternal grandma's house.  The road just to the south of the cemetery looked like a war zone  (We live on the road just to the north of the same cemetery).  I hadn't seen anything that bad since the ice storm of 2006.  We were almost to my grandma's when we passed by the church and parsonage.  OMG . . . . . . . I think that I was in shock after that.  Trees just snapped off like toothpicks, debris everywhere, work crews in the area were using the parking lot as a staging area. 

Well,  the possible tornado (it has yet to be confirmed, but for the damage to have clear and long path it just has to be a tornado) started a half a block west of my church and the parsonage, went diagonal through the church property downing a lot of trees but minimal structural damage (windows, roof, awnings) (THANK YOU LORD!), then down the next street to the north about 5-6 city blocks before going diagonal through a section of houses, continued diagonal through the cemetery just south of our house (damaged the mausoleum, toppled trees), the ended across the street from the cemetery at two local businesses (one is pretty much totaled).  The closest it came to our house is about two city blocks to the south (approximately a 5 minutes walk from our house).  I was able to check the graves that we decorated and they were fine.  I also checked the grave of the gentleman that was buried on Thursday just east of the mausoleum, thankfully the dirt and flowers were still there.  I was so afraid that since the dirt had just been dug, that his casket could of gotten sucked out of the ground. 

Also on Saturday my sister's dad delivered a swing set frame.  It is the same swing set that my maternal grandparent got second hand when my mom was three years old, so the swing set is about 55 years old.  We had to go out and by some swings and it definitely needs a paint job.  But not too bad for the years that it has on it.  When I was a kid, it was painted green and yellow, so I hope that we can return it to those colors.  My most vivid memory of the swing was when my brother and I were playing on it in my grandparent's yard.  My brother was swinging and I had a hula hoop that he was swinging his legs into.  Somehow the hoop caught his legs and pulled him off the swing.  My sister's dad spanked me with his bare hands and my two top front teeth caught on his belt buckle.  They were not quite ready to come out but they were no longer in their normal position, so he had to pull both of the teeth out.  Gives me the willies just thinking about it. 

Sunday, grandma and I carpooled to church.  Besides water damage in the basement from the sump pumps not working because of the power outage, there was minimal damage to the building.  I saw some shingles on the ground and some of the awning was missing but not bad considering.  The church's pavilion needs some major work and the parsonage had some damage to the roof and a window blown out.  Thankfully none of the trees that fell or were shredded touch any of the buildings.  Most of the trees on the property were damaged on way or another.  But it is truly a blessing that pastor, his wife, the parsonage, and the church made it through the brunt of the storm.  Anyway, this afternoon we got the swings installed and the kids had fun swinging back and forth.

Well off to have some more adventures.  Hopefully this week will be much calmer.

### 6/3/13 Update: The National Weather Service has confirmed that it was an EF1 tornado with wind speeds up to 90 miles per hour. ###