What Else?

Although, Sn*%#! was falling again last night, I refuse to talk about it AGAIN! I'm so bored writing about it. I sure almost as much as everyone else reading about it. So, what else is going on in our family....

C started youth wrestling tonight. (He's so excited because this year he's "on varsity" and doesn't have to be with the younger, inexperienced kids.) In about a half hour, they reviewed all the 'basics' they had learned and started putting different combinations together. In anticipation of wrestling starting, we went to the 35th annual CR invitational wrestling tourney this weekend and watched about 4 and half hours of wrestling. The girls were bored within the first hour of so, but I wanted to stay til the end. We watched about half way through the championship round. It was fun. C is now inspired. He really wants to do the "cool move that the really good wrestlers do".... They can lay on their backs and jump up into a standing position. He's been practicing and practicing. He's slowly getting better at it. If he keeps at it the way he has, he might just have developed the abs, back and leg muscles to pull it off before wrestling is over in March.

C also surprised me today. He won the All Star Math competition and will represent his class in the grade level. If he wins, then he will compete to represent the school in a regional competition. All Star Math is a fabulous game....I need to send a copy for my homeschooled neices and nephews for Christmas (sorry the sn*&%$! made it so that I didn't finish my shopping). It is such a fun game and can challenge players at whatever level they're at. Back to C...I am so proud of him and how much he has accomplished. I am a little chagrined to say I was somewhat surprised, because C is the kid who didn't really know his multiplication / division facts very well and was honestly struggling with some key addition and subtraction facts right before school started this year. B spent hours a day for over 2 weeks working with him to learn his math facts. (I got too frustrated and he would shut down.) But they worked and worked on it and were very successful. They both got rewards for their good work. C is such a happy go lucky kid - just like his Dad, that I sometimes forget that he is REALLY smart at a lot of things. It may take him a while to learn something if he doesn't grasp the concept immediatly, but when he does...it's for life.

B just found out today that she made the school honor choir. They will be practicing Saturday mornings for the next couple weeks and will sing extra songs and possible solos in the Winter Concert. She is pretty excited about it and is really looking forward to it. B has a very pretty voice. (Another trait my kids can be glad they received from their Dad.) She also took in her peppermint bath salts for her teachers and little gift bags for her friends since they missed the last 3 days of school due to Sn*$%#!! (She had a running joke with one of her friends that she was only going to give him a lump of coal for Christmas. Of course two nights before she goes back to school, her dog decides to eat the chocolate coal she bought. This meant we needed to make our own - which turned out pretty well.)

Speaking of food, the kids cooked our family's contributions to the church potluck on Sunday. The did a FANTASTIC job and received many compliments and nearly empty dishes. M made one of family's favorite dishes - "Southern Supper" which is kind of like spanish rice, but with little sausage pieces. B made "Mary V. potatos" which are like a grated potato o'gratin (no cheese). She also made the "world's best popcorn". It is white chocolate covered buttered popcorn. I don't like white chocolate at all, but I must say that "It is a truly fabulous!!!!" C made what I like to call "veggie pizza" or in the McD family "Laura's veggie dish". Like I said, they did a great job and I just helped supervise the chaos. I love it when we cook as family. It is so much fun. I love those "aha!" moments and the appreciation and admiration they receive later.

I should have bought a lotto ticket Sunday! I won 3 or 4 things at the potluck. I got a brand new very fancy crock pot (which I gave to a poor family with lots of kids who didn't have one). I also won a red and green tapestry/wall haning/ prayer rug with a picture of either a mosque, greek orthodox onion shaped church or maybe a catherdral that vaguely looks like the Taj Mahal. Not sure exactly what it is, but it sure is bright and C has told me it would "look really good in his room in front of his bed". Not sure about that, but it's better than the alternative. I also won a very pretty cross stitched lap quilt with a simple snow flake design. Seems like there was something else, but maybe it was all the other presents we received.

M found out that she was selected to attend the Eastbound Horsetrek for Scouts. She is super excited and will have fun learning a lot about horses and herself. It is in June right after school gets out - so her chant is "no more snow days" since we have already had 3 this year. I was very proud of her, because she took responsibility to go to all her teachers today and find out her status in their classes. If and when projects were due in each class and if she had any outstanding assignments. She is becoming so mature. (Sigh!! my baby is growing up.)

Me...I'm just hanging in there. Recovering from the holidays and spent a couple nights doing nothing except reading a book. Just finished Lee Child's "Bad Luck and Trouble" which was awesome!! - Definitely one of my favorite Reacher books yet! I also read Dean Koontz "Darkest Evening of the Year" which was completely disappointing - It was poorly written, had lazily developed characters and a very diffused & unfocused plot - basically a total waste of time. I've also been able to chat with some friends and the families to get caught up. I am slowly working on the calendar and family newsletter. (My newsletter's deadline - I'm shooting for Chinese New Year - which is the year of the Ox if you didn't already know.) I will be soon going to a local meet up that is camera oriented and offers classes in photoshop. (Can't be more perfect for a shutterbug like me!)

Now there's more changes at work and I'm not sure what all they mean yet. There were a lot of closed door meetings and bunch of work was redistributed with in our department. The good part, is that I don't have to work nearly all the criminal dockets anymore. We will go back to being more evenly split again. I could really use the time in my office. I've been just barely keeping a float with all the projects and tasks I have to do so I'm really looking forward to it. Ican't wait to hunker down in my office to use the time to get caught up and even be proactive.
oooooooooooh! Now that's a novel concept.

Well, I guess that's all for now.