Twirling Excitement

Well I'm off and running! I start my lessons on October 6. I'm very excited! I have 3 girls that are for sure going to be taking lessons and as luck would have it, they are all very close in age. I know I might have more contact me over the next couple of days, but 3 is the magic number I was looking to start with, so that will be fine with me. I have also made some new friends at the school and the boys now have a ride to fencing on Tuesdays and Thursdays which frees up those days for me since I won't have to pick them up till 5pm and I don't have to wait around at the mall for them. We also may start car pooling with another family. I will probably do the majority of the driving since I will already be going to the school on Mondays and Wednesdays to help w/ a tutoring program and that is also the days that I do lessons, so I'll be there in the afternoon as well. And friday's I figure are always weird so I don't mind picking up and taking on that day either. But if this family is willing to do the taking on Tuesdays and Thurdays, that will completely free up those days for me so that I have time to focus on home and Lil Red. I know, I know, after a while you get a headache trying to keep it all straight. Thank goodness for the blessing of computer calendars :)

Auntie Em and family's stay with us after Hurricane Ike left them without power for a while. We went to the Science Museum with them

Wee Hour Morning Hysteria

K I am not finding a blessing in being up since 1 am this morning due to allergies and whatever stupid critter is stuck in the ceiling. Whether it be skunk or oppossum, it needs to get the heck out of there and stay out of there. I'm so sick and tired of waking up to scratching above our heads and I know Big Red is too. He has done everything he possibly can to secure the area, so I don't understand why this continues to be a trial. My older sister says we are only given trials more than once when we don't learn from them. Well I hope it's not a love for varmits because I'm growing even more antagonistic to the irritating things! And I hate ragweed! Is there a positive to this nasty plant? Because I hate getting sick everytime it's in the air. And I hate me being sleep deprived because I do not function well at all. And I get very cranky when I'm trying to deal with the kids. I sooooooooooo need my sleep. I have tried Vicks, decongestant, took Claritin before I went to bed to head off the allergy attack, used sun breeze and Eucalytus oils. I get nothing but a five minute relief. I know I could feel worse. I have in the past. So it is a blessing that I don't feel quite so bad as I have in the past where I can't breathe at all but darnit! I want to go to bed and sleep! K done with this rant.

Continuation of Lil Red's Creepin

Continuation of entertainment during our wait for Ike

All of this was done at Grandma and Grandpa W's during the storm. I feel ashamed that we had so much fun :) Please disregard MM's lack of kosherness at the end ;)

What we were doing during Ike

Spiritual and Financial Blessings

I had my first spiritual insight resulting from are morning scripture study yesterday. Now not the first spiritual insight of my life :P, the first insight coming from this new regimen. We were reading the allegory of the olive tree in 1 Nephi and all of a sudden I realized that more than just being a prophecy or an explanation... that it is an insight into the character or our Father in Heaven. It shows just how much he loves each and everyone of his spiritual sons and daughters. That he made a way for all of us to be his chosen people. He has chosen all of us; it is up to us to us to choose to be his. I love being part of God's plan and living it.
So I was upset with DK this weekend because his glasses broke this weekend, and instead of bringing them home for me to get them fixed, he left them at his Dad's. Which I might add, his Dad was not aware of. So yesterday I was finally able to pick them up. This was all a big inconvenience in time and gas. So I had been grousing about it a little. Well while I was getting them repaired at the eye doctors I decided to look around the mall to see if I could find the right color shirts for the boys uniforms for school. MM has come home twice with holes in his shirts already and Walmart, Target, Macys, and Sears havn't had the right colors or the shirts would be 20 to 45 dollars a piece. Well I obviously can't afford that price with him coming home with holes in them constantly. So I decided to check out Steve N Barry's which is closing out. On the way in that direction, my attention was caught by a store that was also closing and said School Uniforms. This entire store's service is uniform clothing and accessories! I had no idea it exsisted. They had the right colors and styles and the prices were cheap. The shirts were 5.99 a piece plus a 15 percent discount. I also bought a nice belt for 6.99 plus a 20 percent discount. I don't know the last time I bought a belt for them for that much if ever. So all in all I spent less than a hundred dollars and I was able to get the boys 9 shirts, two with long sleeves. and 3 extra pairs of pants and a belt. I have been looking for this stuff for over a month! So DK's glasses breaking was a big blessing for me :)
I love silver linings!

I've been teaching Lil Red to crawl :)

A Chance to do Service

Well the boys are out of school for the rest of the week. The school had power and water so they were in session yesterday. But apparently the board and the principle looked around at what was going on in nearby areas and the gas shortages and other resource problems and decided to close the school for the rest of the week. So anyone who has preteen or teenage boys, know that idleness or playing computer games will lead to major issues in the home. So I decided to give a couple in my ward a call. They have been going neighborhood to neighborhood and helping out in cleaning up yards and removing fallen trees. The family that has been helping them the past couple of days is not available to help anymore, so they were in need of tools to keep going anyways since they don't have any as they live in an apartment. So they boys are off helping them today. And I'm hoping they will have many good stories to share when they get home. Later this evening, we will go over and pick up a boy that they have made friends with through the school. Kozer, as he is called, was in their school last year as an 8th grader but since their school doesn't have a high school. His parents have opted to continue with Home schooling. They have maintained their contact through fencing. So Music Man has a bud now. I'm also hoping to find out how they maintain his curriculum and ya da ya da. So I can make a pitch to the boys father at the end of the year. Anyways, I plan to let them all camp out in the yard. Apparently my youngest brother is planning on coming and taking advantage of our hospitality this evening as well. LOL. He found out that the power won't be on at their house for another 12 days atleast, and since he is working down here....it is rather convenient. We think we are rid of the varmit. Which I believe now was a oppossum that had a run in with a skunk. I'm thinking this because skunks are terrible climbers and that is the only way to get in. So yay for seeing the end of those oppossums! Or hearing them, lol

New Critter

So in the wee hours of the morning today, I roll over to Big Red and say, "oh no! Do you hear that?". About that time his says,"I smell a skunk". My reply,"it's in the ceiling". His,"I so don't need this". Please pray for us that we will be able to get rid of the varmit. Big Red, does not need this. We ended up sleeping in the living room on the couch. Because the critter must have gotten nervous hearing are voices and sprayed above our room. I have the doors open this morning airing things out. The big blessing is that the air is cool and dry this morning which I know is a blessing to those without a/c as well. I've been busy de-fleaing the cat who got out when the doors were blown open in the storm. The boys did there part in helping clean up the debris on the lawns yesterday and are back in school today. I'm just glad I gassed up all the cars so I won't need gas for atleast two or three more days. Hopefully that will be enough time for the gas shortage to be a non issue and the lines at the pump to go down. Because I really don't want to stand in those lines. We have a ton of water. So the non drinkable factor is not an issue for us. I also had Rice milk in storage so now that we have power Ihave opened that. Good thing since the stores hadn't been able to replenish yesterday. I am so grateful for my food and water storage. K gotta take care of Lil Red

Ike

Well we weathered the storm with Grandma and Grandpa W. I'm worried about my parents and family that are still in the area, as they are having Tornado warnings. We had a peaceful sleep last night, as our area had a sleepless one. We've watched reports as those that were under mandatory evacuation orders have been calling for help. Some of these people with children. It just butters my biscuit that they would have put their children in danger and the lives of rescuers when they were warned continually! I know our property ended up in not being in the heaviest hit areas, but I am glad we left, since we know there is no power in our area and we expect to go home and have had some windows blown out, and we have Lil Red to think about. So now it's left for us to be able to make it back home. We are praying for those still at home and those that are in the path of the storm. We know Aunt Carol and Uncle Michael weathered the storm fairly well although they reported that it was real bad. Will post more and pictures as we find out more.

Twirling Back in My Life

Back in Junior High I decided to become a twirler. My older sister was a cheerleader and I didn't want to be a copy cat. Besides, I felt that cheerleading was a popularity thing and I was far from being popular. I also noticed that in cheerleading alot of your movements are precise and choppy. I wanted to learn something that flowed. So I became a twirler. I worked hard and I became very good. I would spend hours working on routines in the front yard. My Mom complained because the grass wouldn't grow because of it getting worn out where I was practicing. I was annoyed when my older sister decided to try that too. I'd felt it was my thing. But it turned out to not be such a bad thing. When she was a senior and I was a freshman we we're on the same team and it was pretty fun. I don't have any bad memories of being on the same team with her that year, so I'm pretty sure it went well :)
Then during my sophmore year, I had many people tell me that certain things should be the most important thing in my life; band, twirling, church, school, family. I felt like I was being pulled in too many directions. So at the end of that school year I decided to quit twirling and band. I was only in band because you had to be in it to be a twirler. I joined the school choir which I enjoyed very much and started rebelling, lol. Although in my mind I felt that I did have the gospel as a priority. However, looking back I can see that that was not completely true. I have always regretted the decision to quit twirling. Infact I have had many dreams where I go back to high school only to participate in twirling. The last year that I was a twirler I went to the State competition in U.I.L. with a solo. I was so nervous that I dropped the baton several times. The guy judging me told me to turn off the music and twirl. Nobody else had been given a second chance and everyone stopped to look and try and figure out what was going on. With no music going in a gym, every noise I made was amplified. This served to make me even more nervous and I dropped the baton even more times than the last. The judge asked me to come stand in front of him. He proceeded to tell me that he had to give me a low grading based on my drops but that if I had just stood still and twirled the baton and done no tosses that he would have given me a "1" which is the highest ranking. He said I had the grace of Ophelia and that he hoped I would keep twirling. Well I didn't change my mind, but his comments boosted my self esteem immeasurably. I will always be thankful for that experience. Which leads me to my excitement and latest blessing. I have wanted to teach and influence other young women in a positive manner the way I was. However, I have not found the time in my life to do that. Welllllll...do to some recent events I have found that time and the courage to talk to the principal at the boy's school and I will be given a table at the open house night to promote my classes. The principal is really excited about offering it to the students. It will also bless me with the opportunity to get to know more of the families that are attending their school. Which I have desired to do but find it hard to get to know people unless I'm working with them. So I will report back how many students I have in October ;)

Lil Red in August

Lil Red's progression

I realized the other day that I haven't said much about all the cute and fun things that have been happening with Lil Red. So today's blog entry will be focused on this.
So LR started rolling over on his 6 month birthday and has been trying to find ways to get into things ever since, lol. His favorite thing to do is to roll over and over until he is on the wood part of the floor and then scoot backwards on the slippery surface. Cracks me up! He also took to his bouncer at 5 months with ease and one of my favorite things to do is watch him jump up and down and swivel so he can see everything going on. He has developed a love for peaches and apricots thanks to Aunty Em, who shared one with him last Tuesday. He and his cousin Lil T, love grabbing Miss Ruth's, our cat's, tail. And giving her wet slobbery kisses. Which you'd think she'd run from. But amazingly enough she suffers through it, lol. He loves the water. From pools to bath time. and even trying to wiggle down to touch the water as it poured into foot soaker when I went to get a pedicure the other day. The kid just loves the feel of the cool liquid and he loves to drink it. I remember having a hard time getting his brothers to drink water when they were young. But not LR, he likes it so much he guzzled down a whole bottle full for grandpa W in church a couple of weeks ago. He then proceeded to puke up all the milk he nursed from me b/c his belly was too full,lol. His only minus is that his red headed temper has begun to come into play when he doesn't get his way. Big Red says he gets his temper from me but I on the other hand seem to think he got it from his Dad. My grandma said I was an angel as a baby. I may have grown into a little hellion as I got older but as a baby, I was an angel O:) he he
So what do you think Grandma's, who gave Lil Red his temper? I'm just happy that he was blessed with such a sweet disposition that his temper hardly ever shows :D