Come out, come out where ever you are....

Spring has hidden from us, playing peek a boo once in a while by teasing us with a couple of 50 degree days and then smacking us upside the head with snow. Yesterday was 50+ degrees of spring like beauty. LOVED it! Today was okay, kind of cool, but since I was creating wall art for Lissie's room in my craft heaven, I could ignore it. Tomorrow is the day that I need to run all of my errands and wouldn't you know it? SNOW! Seriously, it is becoming a four letter word. :-) I love the snow, when I can stay at home and watch it, but not so thrilled to be on the roads. I thought I would pull some pictures of my flowers out, dust them off and remind us all what warmer weather looks like!

New Beginnings

On Wednesday, we had another milestone in our lives. In our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) our children leave primary at the age of 12 and enter either the young women's or young men's organization. Each year in YW, there is a ceremony called New Beginnings that helps welcome the girls who are turning 12 and spotlights the girls already in the program. Shon had scouts with the boys, so I went with Lissie. We enjoyed a wonderful program, and I watched with bemusement as my little girl grew up before my eyes. She was easily the tiniest one there, even with among the other 11yr olds. The older girls were so welcoming and Lissie was perfectly comfortable with them. Her YW leader is Sister Myrna Hammer, we have worked with her in other callings and she is so nice, I know Lissie is in great hands.

Modern technology, latter day miracles

This last year has been a difficult one in part because of our two oldest son's health problems. Joey has had severe asthma since he was a toddler, resulting in over 20 hospital stays, some of which have included numerous days in ICU. Thank goodness we live in a time where we are able to have many of the machines used for treatment in our home. Alex's health troubles are a year old. He has ulcerative colitis, a very painful condition that results in brutal bleeding ulcers in his entire digestive tract. He is one of the small section of people that get it when they go into puberty and the body starts to grow and change. Every time he has a growth spurt, it sets it off. He gets horrible cramps, throws up and when it is severe he bleeds internally. He can't eat many foods and has lost a great deal of weight. Our goal is to get him through the next several years of growth. When he gets out of puberty, things should level out and he can lead a more normal life.


As a result of all of this, both boys miss school. I have been able to tutor them thus far, and they have great attitudes, but they are both getting to the age where I can't help with their math. Joey will have missed a month of school, both due to being sick (with reactive airway disease, he can get pneumonia in about 36 hours from a bug that will cause us a minor chest cold) and the fact that they decided to paint his ENTIRE school in February, yes February in Montana....hmmm....who thought that was a good idea? Needless to go into detail, but he reacts very badly to the fumes and can not be around them. Alex has been too weak and ill to be able to cope in a regular school setting. We also run into the problem that two of the medicines used to control his disease, compromise his immune system. Due to his illness, we have had to pull him from school for the entire spring semester. So, all in all, things in that aspect are kind of sucky. It makes me angry that I can't make things easier for my kids. I know that I can't get depressed about it, they mirror my attitude when it comes to their illnesses. Sooooooo........


I decided to try and look for silver linings and found a huge one. Alex works with tutors everyday. The Skyview high school set it up. Two teachers work with him, the goal is to keep him caught up so that when he is well enough he will be able to stay in the same grade as all of his friends. Strangely enough, his tutors are men that were a teacher and the vice-principal when Shon was up at Skyview 20 years ago. Small world! Here is Alex with one of them.



Joey's school set up UVOO. I don't know what it stands for, maybe hallelujah I don't have to teach math!! Well, maybe those initials don't add up. :-) It is a web cam that links Joey to his classroom. I still teach his other classes, but twice a day he logs in, and can interact with his class and teachers.

The right side of the screen is what Joey's friends see, and the kids on the left are some of the one in his group. There is no lag time and they can adjust the volume or tilt the screen for ease. Wow! Miracles come in every shape and size!

History and Gratitude

I just watched Barak Obama sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. Regardless of political viewpoint or party affiliation, this was an amazing moment. Many thought that we would never see an African American man sworn in as president. I am always glad to see movement forward when it comes to outdated prejudices. My concern is less with his color, indeed, I am half amused and half appalled when that continues to be mentioned. My concern is where our country will go from here. I think his speech was brilliant. President Obama is gifted in rhetoric and his delivery would earn high marks in any speech and debate tournament. :-)

I applauded his insistence at including God and faith repeatedly in his speech. A movement brave in the current fad of opposition of faith as an outdated and ignorant tradition.

I smiled when he reminded America that so much of success here depends on working hard and making your own success and not having that handed to you. Indeed, something that many Americans needed to hear.

I grinned to see the excitement of his young daughters, taking in the sight of their father taking the oath and recording this moment on their little digital cameras.

I cried when I listened to Elizabeth Alexander's poem. I hope to get a copy of it. It was simple, gritty and real, with hope threading it's way through.

I thought it was interesting how there was a hard edge running through his message to other counties, promising to hold to ideals and still fight for freedom. I wonder how that will impact our troops.

I was saddened and disappointed in those small minded individuals that booed former President Bush as he walked in. Regardless of your feeling, it was tacky and inappropriate.

I was untouched by the awkward, pre-written prayers during the invocation and benediction. I felt that they were less prayers from the heart and instead a platform for them to express their political views.

I am eager to see where our country goes from here. I am glad that my husband and children are American citizens and look forward to one day soon, taking my own oath as a citizen and moving forward towards being able to vote and take part in this amazing gift. The gift of democracy.

I think that today, was an historic day for many reasons and I am glad that I could watch it unfold, in a free country. Gratitude fills my heart.

Pollyanna

This post is dedicated to a pretty cool lady! I happen to have the best mother in law in the world! I wish the rest of you could be as lucky as me. :-)
I consider her one of my best friends. Shon and I lived in AK when we were married. I was able to get to know her a little bit through letters and phone calls. One year after we were married, we decided to move to MT. Shon was driving down and I was flying with Alex who was only about 4 months old. Because of ferry schedules, I ended up in MT about a week and a half before Shon. From the moment I stepped off of the plane, Joan made me feel welcome. By the time Shon-O arrived, we were fast on our way to becoming firm friends.
This is something that has grown stronger each year. She is funny, talented and truly blessed with a happy nature. I love how firm her testimony is and how loving she is with her family. I've learned a lot from Joan.
Although I was happy for her daughters, I was heartbroken when she moved to UT. (Still not sure I've forgiven that one. :-) !! ) I've joked with her that I would have to make up a mean mother-in-law story, because she and I like to be with each other.

Happy Birthday you wonderful person you! Hugs on your special day, I hope that Wayne-O spoils you! You deserve it. I miss you, and can't wait to see you on our next trip!

Bouncing Baby Blog!

For several months now, I have been asked to start a blog that focuses on cards, scrapbook pages, projects and tutorials. I have had it ready, but kept chickening out when it came to posting the link. So in 2009, I am trying to get over the fear of sharing my work on the web. Silly really, I love to teach classes and do demos, but putting it out there on the computer was hard. I decided to get over myself and get it done. Shon-o gets the credit for the name, it makes me laugh when I try to say it. So, I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to share it with your friends if they are interested. Although most of the crafts will have some sort of paper base, it is not just scrap booking. There will be bead work, ink, painting, etc. Pretty much any "kee-rativity" that pops into my life! :-) Here's the link. I hope you enjoy!
http://keerativity.blogspot.com/

The smell of gingerbread....

When I think of Christmas, one of the things that comes to mind is baking...the smell of gingerbread filling the air, aromatically heavy with molasses and cinnamon. Of course we can't eat everything that we bake, so what should we do? Let's build houses out of it! It all started with a kit. My friend Sidona gave it to me. VERY cute with a little book, cutters, piping bags ~ the whole shebang! My friend Teresa and I decided to have a house building party for family home evening. I baked the gingerbread and provided the candy while she brought pizza and pop.

While the kids ate, Randy and Shon started to assemble the houses. Instead of trying to get them to stay together with frosting, we used liquid sugar ~ created by melting it on the stove. (Thanks for the tip Sidona!) It works so well, no walls or roofs sliding off at in inopportune times. So, the concept was simple, but there was a great deal of hilarity involved as Teresa and I challenged Shon and Randy to see who could build the better house. As a team Teresa and I were great, but the one I build on my own, pretty much insured that Shon won't ask me to do any house repairs. :-) .

Let the contest begin boys!

What do you think? Mine is the one on the right, yeah, the one with the hole in it...I was going for the air conditioned type...That's the one Joey gallantly insisted on using. He thought it looked kind of like a lemon aid stand. Good try honey. The sugar is hot, but really is slick for getting the houses together quickly. Kind of like edible hot glue! :-)

After that it was all about the candy. We left the kids to it while the adults visited in the living room. It was funny to see all of the different creations they could come up with by using the same materials! First up is Joey. (12) His was sort of a space age creation...

Next is Ben (7) His gingerbread man is hanging on for dear life....

Lucy (3) managed to eat pizza, use frosting (pink of course) and decorate all without getting anything on her fancy dress!

Alex (14) went the traditional route, using lots of gummi's and dots.

Toby (8) used Necco's and M 'n' M's to create a tower...

Lissie (11) went with the popular theory that "more" is more when it comes to gingerbread houses and piled it on! :-)

Natalie (10) made both a beautiful pattern and a family! All in all it was a great way to start Christmas vacation!

No Peeking!

Today while everyone played with new toys or relaxed, I decided to relax in my own way and create the first set of pages for our 2008 Christmas album. I like to do a mini-album for each Christmas. I chose a 12x12 for this year. Not so much a "mini" :-) but a fun size none the less. Last year my mother in law Joan made this darling Christmas card with Toby on the cover. Of course I had to keep it, because it was way too cute to throw away! I knew it was perfect for my layout containing Toby's Christmas letter. When we asked Toby what he wanted Santa to bring him this year, he replied, "It's okay, Santa knows!" We pushed to no avail. Finally, we lucked out when he wrote us a letter. My favorite moment was when Toby looped his arm around my neck and read it to me. He still struggles with his "r"s and it was so endearing when he was reading. Can Christmas get any better? Anyway, I wanted to make sure that I preserved that sweet letter and those amazing eyes peeking over the edge of the card. Merry Christmas everyone!