Saturday, April 16, 2011

Easter Bunny visits Johnstonville School

Yip, that's our Eli. The school had spirit week this week. On Friday it was "Dress Up for the Cure" day. The kids had a fundraiser for a family who's child has Rhette's Syndrome.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Ode to Midge

Our beloved greyhound Midge had to be put to sleep yesterday afternoon. In May we would have celebrated 7 years with her. She was a beautiful dog and will be greatly missed. It was a traumatic passing and as Hannah kept saying "it hurts". But we take comfort in know that she did not suffer long and that it happened during business hours so that a vet was readily available. Good bye my Midge. Have fun playing with Wolfie, Buck, Lobo, Sam and all your other canine friends in Heaven. We will see you again someday. =)

Sunday, March 20, 2011

2011 Lassen District Pinewood Derby

Yip! I said yes again and helped with the local District Pinewood Derby. As much as I dread it and complain about it in the days leading up to it, I secretly love it! The kids are so much fun and their enthusiasm is absolutely contagious. And that is what it is about after all is the kids! I set up the computer and the projector and make sure the track electronics are talking to the computer. I also coordinate the movement of cars from pit row to the track. Things went really well this year. We had a pre-registration on Friday night and that made Saturday morning go much smoother. This is Eli with his car. He placed 10th out of 27. He also won an award for the "Sportiest Looking" car. He was very excited about that. This year he was one of my helpers moving cars from the end of track back to the staging area. He did a great job and was very helpful. This picture was taken while it was snowing. Even with the yucky weather we had about 115 racers! Along with the Derby we do a Scout Expo. Cub Scout Packs, Boy Scout Troops and Girl Scout Troops set up booths and do activities to help garner more interest in scouting. It was a really fun day! I'm always worn out at the end, but so glad I did it. Thank you boys and girls for another great derby. =)

Happy Birthday Trudy

March 12 was my 43rd Birthday! I can remember thinking I would not live to the year 2000 or ever be . . . gasp . . . 30! Yet here I am a 43 year old wife and mother of three. Time seems to go ever faster and faster.

For my birthday I went to see the local production of Best of Broadway on Friday night. It was really good this year. Much better than the 2010 show (in my humble opinion). I loved it! On Saturday we attended the last regular season game of Hannah's basketball team. They won and Hannah played really well. Then we were off to Reno to have dinner with Parker's JR High basketball team and their families. After dinner we attend a Reno Bighorn's Semi-Pro basketball game. It was a lot of fun.

February 2011

I know I say this every time, but really . . . where does all the time go? It really is almost the end of March already and my commitment to write at least once a month is already waning. For us February was pretty much "more of the same". However we added Boys JR High basketball to our list of activities. Parker total exceeded our expectations and played really well. The team started out with 12 players and by the end of the first week was down to 7. Parker saw quite a bit of playing time and we were really happy with his coaches.

On the 19th we sold our truck and purchased a 2005 VW New Beetle. It is a manual transmission and a diesel. So far it is averaging 37.5 miles to the gallon. More than double the truck. We will miss the truck, but it just wasn't working for our situation anymore.

The kids missed A LOT of school in February due to snow and power outages.

Hannah went to her first High School experience. They toured the campus, did team building games and met some of the teachers. She also took what they call the MAP test to see what classes she qualifies for in Math and English. She tested into Advanced English and Plus Algebra. However we know that Math is not Hannah's strong point, so we are going to start with Basic Algebra. At the end of March she goes to take a computer and typing test to hopefully opt out of a computer basics class. I think she will do fine. She already types 70 words per minute.

We finished off the month wishing Jeff a Happy Birthday! He is 33 years old this year. =)

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Eli

Tell me you can see the same mischievousness that I do! This kid is always thinking up things to do, noises to make, games to play. He is going to keep us on our toes!

Parker - 7th Grade

Believe it or not, Parker is starting to mature. I think playing basketball with his peers is helping with that. We still have melt downs about silly (to me) things, but they are starting to lesson. He is easily distracted and can only handle one task at a time, which frustrates his parents, but . . . that's Parker!

Hannah - 8th Grade

OMGosh! I love this girl. She can be so fun and funny. I can't believe how much she has changed in just one year. I am terrified of her going to High School, but at the same time excited to see what she does with her life.

January 2011

ALREADY! January is over. We are still a busy family. Brian was hired by Johnstonville School District as an Instructional Aide. We found out Monday that he was approved for 6 credits on work study for this job! Yeah! On top of that he is taking 16 regular class credits this semester! Ugh! We had hoped he would graduate with his Bachelors Degree in May, but that is not going to happen. So he is enrolled with Chico to graduate at the end of the summer semester in August of 2011. Then he needs to quickly get enrolled in a credentialing program. He is looking at ones from Fresno State, Sacramento State and Chico.
Hannah recovered from her tonsillectomy extremely well. She is one of the point guards on her city league basketball team. Her team only has 7 players, so she plays the whole game most of the time. The coach has the girls running A LOT. I say good. Hannah hates it. ;). Hannah participated in a recital with her new teach Liudmilla. Hannah is doing really well. She loves Lidumilla and I think is finding the joy in playing piano again.
Parker begged and begged to play JR Basketball. He is doing so well. Way beyond our expectations. Some games he plays more than others. He has scored several baskets and is learning to control his emotions. Maybe this was a good thing after all. I expressed my appreciation to his coach and how he handles Parker.
Eli is participating in the new Music Academy created by the Susanville Symphony. He is doing percussion and loves it. Of the three, I think Eli is the one with the most natural talent. He is too smart for his own good sometimes. He is just a super neat kid (when he is not arguing that is)!