One Bird Left

We drove out to Indiana on Friday to drop off Allen and Audra at school. We stayed in a nearby hotel and arrived on campus to move them in on Saturday. Audra has two roommates who seem nice. They spent quite a bit of time setting up their room, decorating, and in discussing organization and decorating ideas. There was even some discussion about different devotionals they have used. Allen showed up to discover that his roommate opted not to transfer to IWU. So Allen has a single for now.  He quickly unpacked his stuff, put together his bed, and declared himself settled. We managed to purchase a car for them so they have transportation. Since the trip out is 8 1/2 hours, this should make things a bit easier for them and us.

These were taken yesterday evening...just before gathering in a circle to pray as a family for them. We said our good-byes and then left. I'm glad that they have each other and that they get along so well. They always have. I feel very good about the school and it's strong Christian stance. We attended a worship service last night to welcome new students. During that worship service, a prayer was lifted up for the new students and a short message on following Christ was given. I couldn't help thinking about the contrast between this experience and the experience my parents had when dropping me off at college. My college was clearly not a godly environment. My roommate was definitely not a believer. There was nothing to welcome new students and certainly no worship service, although I believe that my parents prayed for me as they drove away that day. I think leaving me there must have been difficult for them. I feel at peace about leaving them there...but think that they could have chosen a school that was closer! ;)

We will miss them. The house already seems a bit quiet. Now we must adjust to having only one child left. Alicia is in eleventh grade this year...which means that in two years, we could have three children in college at once! I don't know that they will be home before Thanksgiving break, but there is a parent weekend in October.

Trying to stay busy...I hate just sitting around

I have been a terrible blogger lately. I know...I'm letting hundreds of readers down by not being here more regularly. Ha ha... seriously...to all three of my regular readers, my regards for disappointing you.

Now that I have completed my master's degree in library science and do not have a job as of yet, I am finding new and creative ways to entertain myself. The first thing I have done is to volunteer to help with costumes for the middle school musical. Both of my daughters are in the show. I invite you all to attend it. They are doing "My Son, Pinocchio." Show times are as follows at Canandaigua middle School:

Friday 2/4, 7:30 pm
Saturday 2/5, 2:00 and 7:30 pm
Sunday 2/6, 2:00 pm

(If you come, pay close attention to the donkey ear hats...I spent a considerable amount of time sewing 12 of them. Also, one fox ear hat. And the creating of 9 animal nose t-shirts...don't ask.)

If that wasn't enough, I went to the parent meeting for the high school musical that my son is in. I had told myself that I was not going to volunteer for that one since I am up to my ears (no pun intended) with the Middle School musical...but I felt pity for the poor woman who stood up and said how they desperately need help with costumes. As soon as I am done working on the middle school show, I will begin participating in costume making for the high school. I must say that I really look up to my friend Kathy who is in charge of costumes for the middle school show. She makes all the important decisions and I just do what she asks (or tells) me to do.

This week I also attended my first school library conference. I really enjoyed myself, learned a lot and met many new people. Hopefully I will be employed by a school sometime within the next year and putting all of this knowledge to good use. Never mind my family's snide remarks about the conference. It was all said in jest of course and I can appreciate the humor. Here are some samples of what my husband and son have suggested goes on at one of these library conferences.

Husband (on a possible seminar title): "The Dewey Decimal System and You."
Son (his best stab at the same): "Should Bifocal Necklaces Be Allowed in School...or Do They Pose a Safety Threat?"
Son (his imagination of conversation during the conference...done in a falsetto voice): "I find that if I twist my hair first, it stays in a bun much better."

I have also been trying to get my name onto sub-lists for a few different school districts. One school district...which shall remain anonymous...told me that I am not qualified to sub in their district because I do not yet have my official certificate from NY state. (This was after filling out a ton of paperwork and being interviewed by a vice principal.) I told them that I have a written letter from my university stating that I have completed all requirements for certification and that I will be recommended for certification. Apparently this letter is not good enough for this school district. Who knows how long it will be before good old NY state gives me my certification? I told this story to the Naples School librarians who I ate lunch with during the conference, and they all suggested that I come down and put my name on their list because they are seriously short of subs. I will be doing that sometime this week.

Another thing I did this week was to read the book, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. This was a book that was banned from me in my past and I just had to read it since I was so curious about why it was so terrible. (especially since I plan on becoming a school librarian) I have to say that I really liked the book! I can see how it would generate a lot of good discussion in an English class and make the church lady mad. (P.S. I am not trying to be disrespectful...I was just picturing the church lady on Saturday Night Live from years ago.)

I guess that about wraps it up for me.

Rolling!

Here are my children rolling down Bunker Hill in Boston!

A day out

Went to Corbett's Glen yesterday with Martha and some of our kids.
Corbett's Glen is a little nature oasis in the middle of the busy suburbs of Rochester. It is a pretty little place that seems like a secret to me.
After having a picnic lunch, Martha showed me where the dog park is in Ellison Park.
It was great to be at a place where I could let my dog off of the leash, see him romp freely in the water without having to look over my shoulder for whoever might come along and scold me for taking him off of his line. There were about 5 other dogs there besides him. I will definitely take him back there!

Photos are thanks to Martha!

Been Away!

On Thursday morning, the girls and I took off with Jamie's sister Laurie and her husband Kevin to go to Michigan for a family wedding. (Allen was scheduled to go to Beaver Camp so Jamie stayed home to take him there.) We had a wonderful time! I will post more about our trip soon. Here we are on the way home from Michigan today when we stopped in Ohio for some eats. We brought home an extra kid. Paige, one of the girls' cousins who lives in Maryland came home with us. She is staying at our house tonight. Tomorrow, my girls, Paige and two other girl cousins who were not able to make it to the wedding, are gathering together at Laurie's house for "Camp Butler"-a girl cousin camp for a good share of the week!

The man with the beer?

So this morning I had a group of preschoolers all sitting down listening to me reading The Teddy Bear by David M. McPhail. The story mentions a "man with a beard." When I read this line a little boy said, "Man with a beer? Where's the beer? I don't see it."

That got a chuckle from several of the adults in the room.

Enjoying the Season!

It is Christmas season and I'm getting more excited about it. I'm getting a little shopping done. Just a bit at a time and it is starting to look like I am going to accomplish it after all. I took Alicia out shopping and then, a few days later, I took Audra. It was nice to spend a little time with each of my girls individually. Tonight Allen had 5 of his friends over to play board games. So...we had 6 boys ages 14 & 15 in the house. We went through quite a bit of food this evening. I really enjoyed having them over. They are a nice group of kids. I think they all had fun. I wanted to take pictures so I could put it on my blog...but somehow I got the feeling that that would just be a really uncool thing to do, so I refrained. Alicia stayed over night at a friend's house. Jamie, Audra and I stayed in the family room and watched a movie (The Polar Express) while the boys monopolized the living room with Apples to Apples and The Settlers of Catan.

Snow Forts

Yesterday and today, Allen set about to work on making a snow fort. Here the kids are all enjoying it. The snow is very pretty today. I drove Allen out to a friend's house in Cheshire area. All the trees were laced with snow and the sun was shining brightly. It was just beautiful! I wished that I had my camera with me. It's been a nice day of staying at home. I finally baked some Christmas cookies. Later on, the girls and I will frost and decorate them.

Eating

Eating! One of those activities that brings people together. What is it about food that bonds people? Yesterday I had to go to a meeting at the University of Buffalo for a class I am taking. I was in a room full of people I didn't know. We took notes and listened to the instructor, asked questions and jotted down more notes. The meeting ended at noon. Perfect time for lunch. A bunch of us decided to go out to lunch together.

By the end of lunch, we were laughing like old friends and some of us even exchanged phone numbers. It was nice to put a face to the names I have seen on my online courses.

I just love these pictures of Allen and Alicia at the state fair eating BLT sandwiches. We had become separated from Audra and Jamie...so we ate without them. Alicia and I shared a sandwich since they were pretty big.

I think I need to do lunch more often with friends. I've been feeling a bit separated from them lately.

First Day Back

Today is the first day of school here in town. Now I have two middle schoolers.

Everyone seemed excited (but not to have their pictures taken necessarily). I didn't have to drag anyone out of bed this morning. I didn't have to nag everyone to "hurry" or "brush your teeth"...everyone seemed anxious to do that on their own. No worries about leaving on time or missing the bus this morning. *sigh* Some things never last long.
Only one left in the elementary school.

Reminiscing a Hot and Sunny Day

Today it is kind of dull outside. Clouds and rain. This was not the case last week. These pictures are from Friday when I took the kids to our local beach at the lake.

As you can see from this picture, it was pretty busy there. This is my next door neighbor getting a cup full of water....

to help with the construction of this project he and Alicia are working on.

It was a really hot day. The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves in the sand and water.

Good News

The good news is that I have gotten an A in both of the classes I took! Yippee! Other good news is that we are all healthy and happy. We are enjoying our summer so far. Hopefully it won't go by too fast. Here are my kids on my mother-in-law's swing on my inlaw's farm. Note my father-in-law's beloved tractor in the background.

Thirteen Things About Being a Mother

1. It is a big responsibility.


2. Sometimes it makes you feel like the world is on your shoulders.


3. It can make you laugh.


4. It can embarrass your kids.


5. It can be exasperating.


6. It brings joy.


7. It can bring sorrow too.


8. It gives you a good excuse to act like a kid.


9. It can also force you to be an adult.


10. It can bring you to your knees in prayer.


11. Sometimes it can bring out a fierce protectiveness inside of you.


12. It can also make you tired.


13. It fills my heart with love.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

Cheery project

Last week when it was warm Audra decided that her stilts needed painting. Alicia helped. I admit that they turned out to be quite cheery. Now I need to get a picture of her walking on them. She's pretty good at it.

Twiggy

If yesterday was a day of play, then today was a day of work. After a long winter, there is a lot to clean up around the yard. This morning I had the kids outside working. All 4 of us worked to pick up the many twigs that managed to drop from the willow tree during the last 5 months. I was pleased that they all had a pretty good attitude about it. I'm hoping to develop strong work ethics in my kids.
The day turned out to be just gorgeous. High around 65. It didn't start out that way. It was a little crisp when we first started out. As the sun rose higher and our muscles warmed up, we all took off our jackets.

Here you can see...a job well done. Five containers of various sized paked with twigs and branches.

Sherman was out with us for a bit. I let him off the chain. He hangs out for a while...but then manages to sneak off somewhere. Luckily he did not come back needing a bath. But he needed a rest (and to be chained up again).

Spring Break

It is looking greener and greener here in upstate NY. Of course...there are not really any daisies out yet. This picture is from last summer. Since I really didn't have any pictures on my computer that represented what it was like here today, I decided to just go with this one. There is no school this week. My yard and house was filled with kids. I wasn't even babysitting. They just came. It started with my daughter Audra and her friend Jean. They decided that they should organize a neighborhood game of Capture the Flag which would be played in our yard and the next door neighbor's yard. I literally lost count of the number of kids who came by today. It turned out to be a nice opportunity for some new kids to join in the fun. All the kids were running around chasing eachother and trying to locate and capture flags. I noticed a girl standing on the edge of the yard looking at all the action. I could tell she wanted to join in, but seemed shy and unsure about it. I had never seen her before and was about to call Audra's attention to her in order to invite her into the game when Jean noticed her. Jean is very outgoing and didn't hesitate to invite her into the fun. Soon the girl's brother showed up too. They are new kids on the block.

I will have to say that I really enjoyed having the kids here. Everyone got along great. There were no problems at all that I could see. The sun was shining and everyone got plenty of exercise. I'm thinking that some kids are going to be sleeping well tonight.

Winter's Last Hurrah

It snowed again overnight. It really is spring here, technically anyways. I have noticed certain kinds of birds are around again. I saw a few robins and a red-winged blackbird. The birds all know it is Spring and they fly back to upstate NY even though it still can get cold and snow. I noticed this morning that this snowfall didn't stop the birds from singing at dawn. I was up early and stepped outside to see the winter wonderland around 6:30 AM and it sounded like spring outside. All the trees looked amazing. I grabbed my camera to take a few pictures after it got a little lighter.

The kids did not have school today because of a superintendent's conference. The girls didn't waste much time going outside with the neighbors to play. Here are Alicia and Caeden in our backyard. They planned on making a snowman..but didn't actually succeed in doing that. Alicia says she gave up because Caeden was too destructive. He couldn't resist demolishing it before it was done. I was watching them through the window gathering snow in the wagon. I think a sled would have been easier. They had fun anyway.

Ouch!

On Friday Allen got hurt at school. He sprained the top of his left foot in gym class. I took him to the hospital emergnecy room to have it x-rayed. Luckily it is not broken...but it hurts and it is swollen. He has a fiberglass splint on it and he's not supposed to walk on it until it heals. He's been hopping around and also using crutches. Luckily he is not doing any sports at the moment. Only an occasional race....which now won't happen for a while. I took some amusing videos while we were waiting for the x-ray results...but I'm having trouble uploading them.

When they were little

Look at Allen and Sherman in 2003!
Photo by Rachel

Audra and Josh

Martha sent this to me today. Thanks, Mart!
Photo by Hannah