Letting Go

Today was probably the hardest first day of school for me since Ali started kindergarten. Somehow the thought of him starting Highschool at Skyview just made my heart ache. Mostly because he is changing very fast. When Alex was so ill this spring, and home for 5 weeks, we were able to spend alot of time just hanging out. While I fearfully prayed everyday for him to get better quickly and resume his life, I also cherished each minute spent with him. He has a offbeat silly sense of humor. I learned that Alex is much tougher than I realized, emotionally he is in a very mature place. His laid back attitude masks a strong resolution to not get "caught up" in the social games most kids his age play and go towards the goals he has set. He shaves now (and will kill me for telling all of you that) and actually has very blond, but rough stubble when he doesn't shave for several days. He hugged me good bye before school and when I felt that roughness on my little boy's face, I didn't know whether to tease him or cry, so I just kidded with tears in my eyes. I didn't go to the Highschool that morning, partly because of time and trying to get kids four different directions, but I think that the real reason deep down it that I couldn't bear to see him walk through that front door dwarfed by the size of Skyview. I asked Shon if he seemed nervous, lonely or even a little bit scared. Of course what I forgot was that those are all mom emotions, or momotions as my kids call them. In real life he hopped out of the car and walked into a new phase of his life confident and expecting the best. A great attitude for life in general I think. One more first step down and one more step closer to adulthood. Highschool...wow!

Super Alex!

This is the pose I will use to fool my teachers....

When is this photo shoot going to be over?

Tagged

Okay, I know that we have all done a million of these, but they are still fun to read. Now it is your turn! I like these to read everyone else's so be a sport and play!
1. Do you like Blue Cheese? Yep, not sure if it is the taste I love or they way that Shon throws a fit when I eat it because he thinks it is gross.
2. Have you ever smoked? Tried it when I was young and crazy, but I think that it stinks and isn't worth it.
3. Do you own a gun? Nope, I can shoot them, my Dad was in law enforcement, so my sister and I were crack shots when we were younger, but I don't like them in my house. Now I doubt I could hit the broad side of a barn. Wait, Shon-O has some for hunting and do all of the rubber band guns, squirt guns and Nerf weapons that my MIL has bought for my kids count? LOLL
4. What do you think of hot dogs? Not my favorite, but I do like them if they are BBQ-ed. I just try REALLY hard not to think about what they might be made off.
5. Favorite Christmas movie? Easy, I am such a sap, I love the old musicals like White Christmas and Holiday Inn. oh, I like How the Grinch Stole Christmas too...Want to know the one that I HATE? Hands down, Miracle on 34Th street. I saw it so many times as a kid I want to rip every one's decorations down...oops, do you think Santa heard that?
6. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Well I should be drinking water like Colett, however since I lack her will power, I have been drinking Diet Coke, with a ton of ice. Santa, can I have a fountain machine for Christmas...pretty please?
7. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? I love jewelry, but I like funky pieces that I either make or find. I really like strings of beads from the 60's that are a gazillion miles long so you can wear them as bracelets or wrapped around your neck, Bakelite jewelry and crazy rings. My problem is that my wrists are small so I can't wear bangles. Always silver never gold. BTW, Colett, Shon and I hardly wear our wedding rings either. I take mine off to paint and then never remember to put it back on.
8. Favorite hobby? For those of you that know me, this is no surprise, I like to design scrapbook pages. I love teaching card and page classes, I like to paint, read and draw. I also love to bead and make jewelry. I am almost never bored.
11. What's one trait you hate about yourself? Physical trait: Used to be my stomach, after four c-sections and three other surgeries it will never be flat. I never used to worry about my hind end, (I figured that I couldn't see it so it was really more of someone else's problem...) now as I get older, my hips and butt are expanding and have become my problem too...sigh. Personality trait: I worry about what people think too. Shon is good about not caring, I wish I could emulate that. I also hate it when people are mad at me. 10. Middle Name? Judith after my Dad's sister
12. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: ooh this is deep, unfortunately my thoughts aren't ;-)
1) My beautiful Diet Coke is almost empty. (Come on Santa!)
2) I need to finish school shopping and the kids start tomorrow. (yikes)
3) I can't wait to finish some of the pages I just sketched out.
13. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink?
1)Diet Coke
2) Water with lots of ice (Yes I do drink more of that than DC, especially since we bought our new fridge and it has an ice maker and water in it)
3) Biglow's herbal orange tea. I love it because it isn't sweet like a lot of herbal teas. Just a good basic flavour.
14. Current worry? Easy, the job market, Shon's business relies of gas/deisel prices and we all know how they are right now.
15. Current hate right now? Same as Colett, Gas and grocery prices eating up all of my spending cash! We haven't gone to UT as many times as we like because gas is so expensive.
16. Favorite place to be? my scrapbook room.
17. How did you bring in the New Year? We have a party with our friends, eat a ton of crab and prime rib and then go home in time to bring in the New Year with our kids.
18. Where would you like to go? Italy. I would love to paint there.
19. What shirt are you wearing right now? A plain black T.
20. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I've never slept on them but it sounds dangerous. I could see sliding right out...
21. Can you whistle? Not effectively, it is more like spitting with sound.
22. Favorite Color? This evolves all of the time, Turquoise and brown or Turq. with lime green would be my favorites. I also love the colors grey and black.
23. Would you be a pirate? No, but my daughter is convinced she is.
24. What songs do you sing in the shower? I don't. have you not heard me sing? I try to avoid it since we have glass doors in the shower.
25. Favorite girl's name? Well, Lissette obviously. But I also love the names Sophie and Emma. 26. Last thing that made you laugh? This is corny, but my kids, every single day. They are just plain nut jobs. (They get that from their Dad)
27. Worst injury you've ever had? A benign ovarian tumour that really did a lot of internal damage. The Dr.'s didn't think that we could have more kids, but luckily Toby had other ideas. Our OB said he was a miracle baby.
28. Do you love where you live? Yes, except that it is too far from both of our families.
29. What's your favorite book(s)? I read too many to narrow it down, I am an addicted reader, who needs sleep?
30. What is your favorite candy? I am not a huge candy person, but I do love really good quality chocolate. I have found that if you buy crap chocolate from the grocery store you end up eating 5x's as much just to satisfy a craving. Buy good chocolate and one piece takes care of it. I don't like fruit and chocolate mixed but I love it with nuts. (besides, Shon won't touch it if it has nuts in it. hee hee)
31. Favorite sports team? I hate sports, I love which ever team is the closest to ending the bloody game.
32. What song do you want played at your funeral? Never thought about it, I don't care.

Trying again...

Oh Brother!

I am not sure what it was about this summer but it was over before I blinked! I have a long list of things to blog about, Cub Scout day camp,(lot's of cute stories and pictures) Boy Scout camp (Lots of cute pictures and not so cute, make a Mother's blood run cold stories), Cowley's Day, my trip to Utah (Could my neices and nephews be any cuter !?!) going to CKU (let's shout out for creativity), painting my bedroom (yay! finally!) Getting ready for school, (I have a high schooler - yikes!) the list goes on. However that list will just have to be a teaser for what is to come when the kids go back to school and I can actually breathe. :-)

When I sat down at my computer today, I was supposed to write the Primary program for sacrament meeting. Of course like that children's story "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" it went something like this;
1) If you give Kee a calling she will have to write the program...
2) If she has to write the program she needs to use the computer...
3) When she uses the computer, first her email must be checked...
4) When she checks her email, she discovers a smart aleck remark about her blog not being updated...
5) In order to update her blog she needs recent pictures....
6) When searching through pictures she finds these old ones of her boys...loll

Well you get the picture, or as my kids would say, "Pun, pun! You mean 3 pictures! I needed some pictures for a layout to display on the wall of a LSS about two years ago. The theme was Brothers, so I grabbed Joey and Toby and started snapping pictures. I made the layout and downloaded the pictures. I really loved these three in particular, but had forgotten all about them until today. So, I did update my blog, but not about Scouts, Cowley, Utah or School. That was my intention, but hey, if you give a mouse a cookie, you don't know what will happen! loll :-)