A Scrap of Life

I haven't found much time to post lately, but I saw this quote today and just had to share it with you, especially my dog-loving friends and family members. I love my animals and especially my chocolate lab Tucker. So when I saw this quote I thought of him. He is your friend, your partner, Your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, To the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.

A note from Aunt Patti reminded me that I haven't updated my blog in FOREVER. Life just seems to have done what it always does and has occupied my time. I haven't even had time to scrap lately... which is totally sad. Well, on the good news front Brian is back to work after his broken hand. He went back last week and I'm so glad that he's well again. We're starting to settle down into a routine again now that he's back, although I truly miss all the housework he did while he was off. The kids lives are what keep me most busy these days. Chase has swimming 3 days a week right now, trying to get him to a point where he can pass the BSA swim test and advance to his next rank. It's been a challenge but he's working very hard at it. He also has Boy Scouts once a week, where I serve as the advancement coordinator. Starting in the new year I'll be driving him to Portland for drama classes too. Tristan is the one with the busiest social schedule right now. I...

Seriously, I do. Not only is he up with me right now (at a startling 4:25 am) but we're splitting up and he's and braving WalMart alone on Black Friday. He's on a mission for a gift for his daughter from the big guy. I don't think he's ever done this before in our 14 years of marriage and I am just so thankful for him and the sacrifice he's making. He is NOT a morning person but is bravely traversing WalMart with throngs of people at 5am because he's just so wonderful. Gotta love it. I am headed to Fred Meyer now (the only other store in our area! LOL) for the half-price socks, robes, slippers, sheets, Christmas lights and whatever else I happen upon. Wish us luck finiding what we want this very early morning.

So the premier was great. Jenn and I went out for an appetizer and to sit and chat then wandered over to the theater about 11pm. We got in line with my friend and co-worker, Melinda, and her group. They saved us from being WAYYYYY in the back of that huge line. The newsstations were all there with their satellite trucks and cameras just taking pictures and talking to fans. Since it was filmed locally a few of the stars were there - two guys who played Quilete Indians (including the person who plans Sam Uley) and the woman who plays the waitress at the diner. I didn't care overmuch about that but it made it a little more fun. We got hustled into the theater about 11:20 and got settled into some great seats. The theater filled pretty quickly, despite the fact that it was HUGE. They opened a second theater to accomodate all the fans. As soon as the movie started everybody started screaming and clapping. Some of that continued throughout the show. There was quite a bit of ooohing and a...

We've had tickets for weeks and weeks and tonight is FINALLY the night! TWILIGHT!!! Jenn and I are going to Portland for a midnight showing tonight. I'm so excited! Of course, that means staying out until 3am and then getting up at 7am for work, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Hopefully it's as wonderful as the books!

... since Halloween has long since come and gone, but the kids were all decked out and had a wonderful Halloween night. It was beautiful weather, dry and not too cold, so we spent time trick-or-treating our neighborhood and then stayed home to hand out candy. We had a budget-costume year and I spent under $10 all together. Carissa was a monarch butterfly so I purchased her wings and she wore black leggings, long-sleeve shirt and black w/white dot dress on top. A headband with pipe cleaners and pom-poms formed her antennae. Tristan was a ninja and wore an outfit that Uncle Jimmy brought back for him from a trip several years ago. I bought him a mask and a $1 glow stick sword. Chase wore his pig costume from 2 years ago, when he played Wilbur in Charlotte's Web. Easy and unique. Here they are all dressed up for the big night. :) Of course, Halloween isn't complete without some pumpkins. Here are their handmade creations this year. Chase made this nice face: Tristan, being told ...

Something that I saw on the Playground of Memories message board and thought I'd post here too. Here's my top 5 good and bad things for today. The Bad 1. DH broke his hand doing Taekwondo last week. He's grumpy and whiny and off work for 4-6 weeks. He's going to have to use all his stored time to get through the time off. 2. I have SO MUCH work at the preschool to do. Evals for conferences are top on my list along with curriculum for the coming weeks. SO MUCH WORK. 3. I have no time to scrapbook. I'm trying, really I am, but when I've got so much other work to do it's hard to concentrate on that. And I so want to scrapbook. 4. Tonight is the benefit for Tristan's best friend who is very sick (but doing better) and we really have no money to give to them. 5. Chase's teacher is seriously annoying me. At conferences I told her that he wasn't getting challenged and that I didn't want him to come home with A's on every assignment withou...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W4EBoQmWPs I am having a happy-happy, joy-joy moment because Bek is coming to visit! I haven't seen her in a year and a half, since she moved to Arizona, and she's coming back to the NW for a funeral. And while I'm sad that someone died, I am SOOOOO excited to see her. YIPPEE!!!

For love of a rat we stop everything when we realize the rat is sick. For love of a rat we spend $50 on vet bills to diagnose it's pneumonia. For love of a rat we give it shots in it's little tiny leg muscles twice a day. For love of a rat we do everything we can to make sure Tristan's best friend survives. All for love of a rat.

More good news from the friend front. Tristan's friend flew to San Diego to have surgery and that seemed to go well. He's on the mend. Not that he'll ever be quite the same but he is on his way up. We're so glad that he's doing better.

Happy Halloween from our family to yours. Hope you had a great one! Love, Chase the pig, Carissa the monarch butterfly and Tristan the ninja

So, here's the new news from our household: That lovely looking thing on Brian's arm is his temporary cast for his newly broken hand. He took a kick right in the hand during a Taekwondo sparring match on Tuesday. He said it hurt but being the manly man that he is he kept one, sparring (and winning) 5 more rounds. Then he did forms and self-defense until his hand really started to hurt. By the time we got home we had decided to take him to urgent care where he was promptly seen, x-rayed and given this lovely cast. Now he's enjoying (or not enjoying, as the case may be) his 4-6 week vacation from work. Hopefully all will go well and he'll heal quickly and correctly. We're keeping our fingers crossed that all goes well and he can return to work soon.

Not that I have a lot of experience here. I haven't had one kid since before Chase turned 2 years old. But this weekend was just for Tristan and it was a wonderful change. Tristan had a TKD tournament this weekend and the other two would get sooooo bored sitting there all day long just watching match after match after match so they opted to go to Grandma & Grandpa's house. They headed over there last night and as soon as they left I hustled Tristan off to bed. I knew that he wouldn't get much sleep because he gets so excited about the tournament. He was up and at 'em this morning for a nice healthy breakfast and then got all dressed to go. We let the dogs in the house just before we left and the moron of a dog (i.e. Jack) jumped on him with wet, muddy paws. DOH! Dirty pawprints on his white uniform and not time to clean them. I did the best I could with a wet washrag but I was ready to wring that dogs neck this morning! Tristan had 2 events at this tournamen...

I know I haven't written anything since my last sad post. I must admit the just thinking about it makes me sad still. The good news is that we did get to go visit the friend and he looked well. He was smiling and joking and just being himself. But as his dad said to me on my way out, "you could never imagine from looking at him how fragile he is inside". So we're continuing to keep Tristan's friends in our thoughts. Of course, from my own selfish side of this I am just so sad for Tristan. This boy was probably his best friend and I think the feeling is mutual. Tristan has so few friends that he truly cherishes and this boy is one of those. I feel bad that he is worried about his friend and that he is having to deal with not having him around. I know that this is nothing compared to what his family is dealing with, both now and in the future. I just hope for a miracle to change the possible outcome. On to other things is life, because life continues despi...

Today I write with a heavy heart. It's a day that has made me happy to have my kids to hold, to have them safe and warm in their beds, to have them healthy and happy in their bodies. One of Tristan's very best friends is gravely ill. He was doing well, living his happy life. He is a wonderful kid, kind and caring and fun. Tristan has few good friends yet somehow these two linked, they just "got" each other. I think that's part of what makes it so hard. Tristan had been over to his friends house and had enjoyed playing in the orchards with him, picking and tossing apples and playing "scuba man" together. He has come to our house where they ate ice cream bars and jumped on the trampoline together. He was supposed to come visit our house one day about two weeks ago and his mother called to say that he was sick. Well he never came back to school and we later found out that he was in the hospital. Fast forward to today when I talked to his Dad. This ...

Oh yes ... it's the big 5-0. No, I'm not 50... yet. But I do want to shout out for my milestone today -- I received a request for my 50th published layout! Wahoo!!!

The Good: The new school opens tomorrow. I'm so excited. I've put a lot of work into making it look like a classroom and I think the kids are really going to like it. And I'm so excited about teaching there this year. Of course, this could also be construed as the bad, seeing as how I'm feeling quite a bit stressed about it all right now. But that will calm down once classes start and we're back in our normal flow. The Bad: My toe hurts. So does my ankle. So does the arch of my foot. Oh, and all on the right foot, wouldn't you know. TaeKwonDo is giving my body a bit of a beating. The arch has been hurting on and off even before TKD and the ankle is from an old riding accident that bothers me now and again. But the toes is all my fault - jammed it today but incorrectly kicking during a sparring match. Thankfully it just hurts and doesn't seem to be broken, but ouch! The Sickies: Oh yes, it is that time of year again. Carissa was sick Friday. Chase got it this...

Now that school is back in it seems like life is in fast-forward again. The days go by so quickly. I can't believe it's almost October! Yes, life for us is busy. Thus is the life of parents of 3. Monday is Boy Scouts for Chase. Tuesday is Campfire for Carissa and TaeKwonDo (TKD) for all 5 of us. Wednesday is nothing yet, but Carissa is debating between Hip Hop dance classes or piano lessons, both of which are on Wednesday (and will probably replace the TKD that she hasn't fallen in love with). Thursdays are TKD again ... in the afternoon for the kids and in the evening for Brian and I. Fridays are blessedly wonderful no-commitment days. Our Saturdays usually consist of Competition Team TKD practice for Tristan and the occasional Boy Scout event for Chase. Then Sunday rolls around and we all just like to relax and decompress before starting the week over again. Add to this the time I'm putting in right now to get the new preschool up and running. Wow ... it...

Just indulge me a little Mommy moment here please. So Chase joined Boy Scouts in February and has taken to it quite well. He enjoys the camping and outdoors activities. He went to summer camp for the first time as a Boy Scout this summer and worked really hard when I was there. He earned 4 merit badges while at camp. Then he came home and finished the partial one that he had from camp. Then he earned one more. He also completed all the activities to advance to his next rank. So along comes Court of Honor, which is the big hoopla ceremony to award the boys the badges that they've earned in the last 6 months. Not only did Chase get his Tenderfood rank, one of four who got it -- two who joined the same time didn't even get it. Chase also earned six merit badges. Six. Read 'em and weep. This kid had the most merit badges of the 25 kids in his troop. I'm so proud of him and he is thrilled for himself. The next day we went out and bought him the much coveted merit badge sash...

Well, I can't call it an obsession since that title is still claimed by the "Twilight" series, which I just got done reading *again*. But lately this has been my favorite food. Fresh pineapple. Yummmmm. I've been eating it on everything. Chicken sandwiches. Burgers. With cottage cheese. Fresh out of the fridge. Any way I can get it I'm eating it. I probably have polished off two pineapples in the last month -- all by myself. I do take comfort in the fact that at least it's a healthy food I'm craving and not my normal hazelnut chocolate or that yummy zucchini bread that calls to me from the freezer (and can only be eaten warm and covered with butter).

This was one of the easiest first days of school ever, at least for Carissa and Tristan. They were headed back to the same teachers in the same classrooms of the same school. That's the advantage of a small school with blended classrooms. The only "new" thing for them was the handful of kids in the grade lower than them who are now in their classroom. It was a stress and worry free day for them and I love that! Carissa dressed in her, as Brian called it, "child of the 80's" look for her first day of 2nd grade. It had to be a skirt, of course, along with a Camp Rock t-shirt and leggings. She even chose out Keds as some of her school shoes, though they are a bit different than the Keds I used to wear way back in the 80's. Now, the Camp Rock thing is something she's absolutely in to lately. She's loves all that Disney bubble gum pop stuff right now -- Camp Rock, High School Musical, Jonas Brothers, etc. I must admit that I like it too ... cute movi...

My neighbor fixed the problem (I needed a new power source) and I have my computer back!!! YEAH! I was getting worried about the fact that my bills and my checkbook and everything are on the computer. Thankfully it has returned before payday. Wahoo! That also means that I can finally post all the things that happened recently. So look for those posts soon.

I'd love to post pics of the first day of school and tell you all about it. I'd love to share Chase's first Boy Scout Court of Honor. I'd love to, but I can't. My computer is broken. Yup, that's a technical term, at least for me who knows nothing about them. It was working one minute. Turned it off. Wouldn't turn on the next day. That's it. And yes, it is plugged in. The one thing I can tell you is about my exciting new position. Tinkertime Preschool is opening up a second school, this one in my hometown (instead of the next town over). Tinkertime Too will be opening in October sometime and guess who the teacher will be ... MOI!!! I'm excited. I'm teaching this year but in a co-teach position. This will be me, teaching in the hometown that I love, at a new little school and with a class of my own. I'm soooooo excited! There's a lot of do to get it going but soon enought I'll be working just a mile away from the house. ...

This was one of the shots I got while we were off exploring Sauvie Island on the last day of summer. I just love it ...

14 years! 14 years? Have I really been married for 14 years? I'm too young to have been married that long. Whoa ... reality check. Guess I'm not. Guess I'm really that old and have really been married for 14 years. Unbelieveable. As I've gushed about time and again, I am so blessed to have Brian in my life. He is such a wonderful man, such a loving father, such a caring and strong husband. He is everything I have ever wanted and even more. We've been through 14 years of marriage. It hasn't always been rainbows and butterflies. We've lived through devestatingly tough times and also unbelievably, overwhelmingly happy times. Somehow we've made it through 14 years together and still love and adore one another. Today, on our 14th anniversary, I am proud to be his wife and partner and to have such a wonderful man by my side in this journey of life.

This is it. The last afternoon, the last day, the last moments of summer. We spent them outside, freely exploring the outdoors and enjoying each other. No worries about what tomorrow brings -- new teachers, new classmates, new schoolwork -- just eagerly soaking up the final rays of this sun-soaked season. In moments like this I mourn the end of summer, the end of relaxed and carefree, the end of unscheduled and unrequired. In moments like this I wish it could be forever summer.

Over time I've come to realize that there are some consolations that you have to make when you are a cops wife. New, minor changes that he makes and that slowly become part of everyday life. So, in "You know you're a redneck when" style, here's my "You know you're a cops wife when" list. The whys are listed in parenthesis. You know you're a cops wife when you are left staring at the corner of the wall in every restaurant. (Because he needs to always have full view of the room and entrances and also not leave his back unprotected. Thus he sits in the corner and you sit facing him, facing at the corner.) You know you're a cops wife when it feels wrong to walk standing on his right side. (This is the gun-carrying side. On duty or off he needs to have his right hand free in case he needs to access his weapon. Even when he's not carrying a weapon he naturally leads you to the left side to leave his strong side open.) You know you're a cop...

It seems that the only way I'm going to get to blog about our summer is in updating posts. I never seem to find time to blog when things happen so this catch-up will have to do. Here, in no particular order, are some of our summer highlights so far. The new Stephenie Meyer book came out. YEAH! Read the whole thing the day I got it. Couldn't put it down. Of course, that's how it is with her books. This one was a little wierd but good anyways. It was nice to see the story move on. In June the kids took part in the River City Childrens Theater summer production of "The Emporers New Clothes". All 3 kids were able to act in it this year. They did a great job! Chase was a swindler called "Hoax". Tristan was a spy and Carissa was an orphaned Cadet (good thing she was orphaned ... her pony tail got all ca-ca and none fixed it so she went onstage lopsided! LOL). Last week we took the kids to Mt. St. Helens to hike the Ape Caves. This is a large cave that fo...