A Scrap of Life

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...

Back up. Pretend that Pip never existed, then you can meet Lucy. OK, I guess first I should give you the story. Chase has had a rat for 2 years so we knew what wonderful and cool creatures they are. Then Tristan got Pip. All was wierd from the beginning. We put her in the cage and she just sort of sat there and weaved back and forth for no reason. Then she started biting Tristan - rats are not usually biters. But she bit him hard enough on one ear that she drew blood. She continued her neurotic behavior in her cage so we talked to the pet store we purchased her from. They said that those behaviors are not normal and that she could possibly be missing a few screws. So we brought her back to them and Tristan chose a new rat. Hopefully we'll not have this trouble again. So, without further ado, here's Lucy ... Lucy was named after Lucy Pevensie from the Disney-made Narnia movies. You see, she has this little bit of white fur on her head that we thought looked like a crown. And ...

I got this in my email box and, since I truly detest forwarding things, decided to just post it here. If you have a blog consider yourself tagged and add this list and your one-word answers to your blog. ;) 1. Where is your cell phone? charging 2. Where is your significant other? work 3. Your hair? favorite 4. Your mother? gone 5. Your father? supportive 6. Your favorite thing? "Twilight" 7. Your dream last night? school 8. Your dream/goal? lottery! LOL 9. The room you're in? dining 10. Your hobby? scrapping 11. Your fear? death 12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? here 13. Where were you last night? pizza! 14. What you're not? awake 15. Muffins? chocolate! 16. One of your wish list items? Disneyland 17. Where you grew up? Newport 18. The last thing you did? sleep 19. What are you wearing? clothes 20. Your TV? off 21. Your pet? annoying 22. Your computer? quiet 23. Your life? good 24. Your mood? content 25. Missing someone? Jimmy 26. Your car? little 27. So...