They Did It!!!

Can you believe my handsome boys and amazing daughter met their goals . . .

Keston - yep Keston did it - he is on the Honor Roll for the first trimester. I would like to say he worked hard but he is like his Uncle Rob and just coasts along in school and he finally applied a minimal amount of effort and he made it. Just think what would happen if he actually brought home homework or studied for a test. I hope he keeps it up for the second trimester! Way to go Keston.

Chad - you may want to sit down for this one - but he read 200+ minutes this week to reach his 1000 minutes before Christmas goal. Yippee and he is even asking for books for Christmas. I did say you better sit down. Will he keep up the momentum over Christmas, stay tuned. Next stop - those awful spelling tests.

Tylissa - for her first trimester of High School she has a 3.571 GPA. Her goal is to just do great and she is working so hard. She has a A- in Honors English can you believe that. I don't know where she got her brains but she definitely works hard and long on her homework.

Thanks for letting me take a moment to boast and now (or maybe soon) I will be humble again.

oh - ending quote of the day from Chad and it is a repeat of what I posted on Facebook but Friday at work was the holiday party so everyone in the office was dressed up and looking great. I did my hair and even wore eyeliner and I was looking good and feeling great until I came home and leave it to Chad to keep me centered . . . I was laying on the floor and he comes up and starts pulling at my forehead and says "Mom, you have enough lines on your forehead that it looks like snake skin" Oh feel the love!

Lion King

For my birthday we got to go to Spokane to see the Lion King. We had great seats - first row of the terrace level. We got to the theatre and purchased an overpriced (an I mean really overpriced program) and headed to our seats. Chad was looking through the program and he starts going off on how stupid it was going to be because it was "just a mask" and you "can see the person", you're not supposed to "see the person if it is a puppet". And I sat there thinking what have I done, he is going to ruin the show for everyone around us. Well the first number starts and there are actors up in the balconies with us and that grabbed his attention, then the animals started coming on stage, then the elderly gentleman sitting next to Chad gives him a little nudge and points down. Coming up the isle was this huge elephant. One person in each leg. It was amazing and it shut Chad up instantly.

By the intermission he was going on about how cool it was how the lions masks came down. The one thing I didn't account for was the time change so by the end of the show Chad was almost asleep and Keston was bored. The consensus . . . the boys think Griz Football is better so the girls will enjoy the theatre alone from now on.

We were lucky enough to stay in the hotel right across the river and we were able to walk to the theatre and back - no fight traffic. It was great. Tylissa loved this one but I liked Phantom better. It could be that I was still sick and popping generic day quill just to get through.

So since you aren't allowed to take pictures - I had to get the pictures off the Internet. It was amazing. Zazu, Timon and Pumba were my favorites. It was a great night!

Scar and Zazu - Scar's mask would move up to be a hat like thing and with a certain motion it would come down and cover his face like a mask - amazing!

Beautiful Sunny Day

It has been the most gorgeous week. The sun is shining, a light frost covers the ground and makes everything sparkly. Oh, it was -10 degrees on Tuesday, 0 degrees yesterday, and this morning it is a beautiful 10 degrees. Amazing what 20 degrees will do - I may still have ears!

Our furnace went on strike briefly Tuesday - it was over worked and underpaid. With a little love and affection we kept it working but the house was a brisk 60 degrees before we got it running smoothly. I basically parked my hiney on the heat vent and the kids couldn't figure out why the house wasn't warming up faster.

Chilly chilly chilly - but I love dressing in the layers (a big cheer for long underwear). Why I'm not sure but I enjoy the gloves, hats, scarves - as long as I don't have to be out in the cold for extended periods of time (5 minutes tops). Poor Keston is freezing at the bus stop every morning.

Hopefully it will warm up enough to snow. Yep we have a skiff and that is all. The brown grass can still been seen. I'm dreaming of a white Christmas . . .

Good Morning Update

Don't you just love mornings . . . not. It is the wee hours of the morning and I've been up for over two hours. Why did women get the over-active, multitasking brain? I have no idea what woke me up but instantly I started thinking about everything that needs to get done - what's working, what's not working, Young Women's, Christmas, do I really need to make cookies, I hate that they changed our staff meeting time, did I pay the bills, there is so much going on at work - can I really take some days off for the holiday . . . and it goes on and on and on. So why fight it? Just get up and guess what I discovered . . . no one else is on the computer this early in the morning. I get a turn. NOTE: I hope this doesn't become a regular occurrence cause I still strongly dislike mornings.

So what have we been up to . . . well the strangest thing is that in Chad's class each student needs to read 1000 minutes before Christmas. Those who love and adore Chad know that this is not a strong point and he is fabulous at making excuses not to read. It is a rare occasion for him to finish a book. Well make anything into a competition and that boy is on board. So yesterday morning I asked him to do something and I don't remember what but his response was "I can't mom, I have to read" I nearly burnt myself with the curling iron. So in the last two days he has read almost 200 minutes. He came home, did his homework and then went somewhere quiet to read. No bribes necessary. I should get a picture just to prove it to everyone. He says tomorrow is the deadline and he is getting close to the 1000 minutes so tonight will be another round of reading. I know so pick your chin up off the computer desk and say Great Job Chad!

Tylissa got her first mid-term report card from High School and she had all As and Bs - you go girl. She also received her first recruitment letter from a University. She didn't care at all but holy schmoly it was even signed by the president of the university. No stamp - no scan. She is going to be gone tomorrow. But great things are coming her way - I can feel it.

Keston has to be surgically removed from the computer screen. He is getting involved in the STAND club at school and this is the first week that he has had missing assignments. We made it almost 4 months. Keston made the comment last night coming home from the church that he only has a few more Sundays of Primary. How did that happen?

Val still has a job - the city actually laid off someone from the Fire Department this week. Scary, we'll see what happens with the new city manager. I may have a new job - we've been talking about it for a couple of months and I had my interview, hopefully next week I will know something.

Tylissa will be getting up soon for Seminary. How much more can I do . . .