Back, Again

Life is Busy.

The good kind of busy.

School

(Driving kids to 3 different schools at various times of the week)

Scouts

Piano

Drama Club

Art Club

Chorale

Speech

Volunteer work

Speaking of Art 

My very talented daughter decided to participate in 

InkTober

Each day she will make an ink drawing based on 

the 'theme' of the day.

October 1 was

"Swift"

 

This is an original drawing. Neat, eh?

Spring Break 2017

We Embarked Upon 

Our First "Real" Vacation

Since "Cancer"

 9 Days in Virginia.

Such a beautiful state.

So much history.

We flew.

We did NOT get caught in the airline issues.

We had an adventure.

Kids enjoyed it.

Parents enjoyed it.

Grandma enjoyed it.

All are happy to be home!

And Life Goes On

We are marching ahead.

Yes, I miss my Dad every single day.

But that does not prevent us from going on with life.

I just wish I could tell my Dad about this!

Judson and Turner were in a play at school.

I can say without hesitation, my gut was correct in thinking Turner would be an extremely fantastic Charlie Bucket. 

He owned it!

(He was the understudy and played Charlie once and an Oompa in 3 shows)

Turner, some day when you read this, I want you to know how proud I was of you.

(I know I've told you before but when you are older, you will remember)

Your light shown on that stage.

And Judson....DUDE!

You amaze me.

You are such an introvert by nature.

But you worked harder than anyone to overcome your 'shy' tendencies.

You learned to sing when you thought you could not.

You ALWAYS give it your best.

No matter what, you give it 100% every time.

It showed.

You were equally as engaging and awesome as your brother.

PLUS  you had to learn a 2nd part in less than 1 month.

(He played Willy Wonka one show and Mr Bucket 3 shows)

Ansley.

Do not think I forgot about you.

You were wonderful behind the scenes with the sound.

It's a very important job and you did it with professionalism and FLAIR.

Way to go.

And Sawyer.

You went to so many rehearsals, I thought maybe you'd be bored when Opening night came.

I was wrong.

You loved it each time you saw it.

You make me smile.

You each make me proud.  

It is my job as your mom to teach you to do your job to the best of your ability.

To work hard.

No matter how large or small your job maybe.

To help others.

To never blame your mistakes on others.

You did that and more!

New Sheriff In Town

December 2016 will not go down as a banner month for our family.

On the 25th, we had to euthanize our cat.

Now, this was not unexpected.

She was 18 years old.

Of course, it did not make it easier.

On the 26th, my father died.

Again, not a surprise.

Sad, none the less.

He was tired.

He was ready.

He is in a better place.

I will always miss him.

He listened.

Even, when he didn't agree.

He listened.

He loved me.

He loved my children.

He also thought my husband was a pretty good guy.

He was smart!

He was the best!

So, I am determined January 2017 will begin a happier time in our lives.

First, we have a new kitty.

We adopted her from a local rescue.

She was a bit sick at first, as many rescues can be.

She also had to have her tail amputated prior to us getting her.

She is about 6 months old.

She is getting her 'sea legs' under her.

I have no doubt she will have this house whipped into shape soon enough.

Her main opposition will be the 2 year old dog,

whom I am positive will come around eventually.

What? you say.

Why she looks suspiciously like your previous cat!

Coincidence?

She chose us.

Maybe she knew.

Maybe there are a LOT of tabbies in this world.

We are trying on names.

Adele is her current name.

But if you know cats, you know she does not come based on the name we give her.

She comes at a time of her choosing.  

It's been this way since the beginning.

Who are we to try to change it?

What's next?

Who knows....

 

RIP Dad

You will be missed.  

Life Goes On

I need to thank the acquaintance who showed me a story about college students too upset to take a test after this election. 

It got me thinking. It got me writing. When I don't know what to say, I write. 

I can empathize with these girls.  What they thought was so obvious, was not. 

They thought it's obvious that you don't grab a girl's pussy. Doesn't matter if you are a rich white man. A girl's pussy is just that, HERS. 

No, people don't feel that way. The new president doesn't feel that way. 

People say, just toughen up. That's just the way it is. 

Now these girls wonder "why bother reporting that campus rape"   People don't care.  People won't believe them 

I grieve with them. I have a daughter.  I want to think she would be safe on a college campus. But now I wonder. 

They thought it was obvious you treat all people with dignity.  That you don't make fun of a person's disability. You don't hate someone because they look different than you, they worship differently, they speak a different language, they live differently. They were wrong.  People say, America, love it or leave it. Everyone needs to be the same. If you point out a place where it could change, you must not love it. You might be a bad hombre. I grieve with them. My family is diverse.  I want them to be accepted.  I want my black son to be accepted even when he is 20+. I dont want him subject to stop and frisk, just because he fits a demographic. I don't want my disabled son ridiculed.  But now we know a huge demographic believes it is okay to stop and frisk my son and to make fun of my other son. 

The only child that benefits from this election is my oldest.  He benefits from white privilege.  That makes me sad too. But I know my son, he will use his privilege to fight the bigotry and hate. THAT makes me happy. 

So I grieve 

But I know something these girls haven't figured out. Yet!

Life goes on. 

And if they look closely, they will see the majority of the people in this country reject hate.  Reject bigotry. They can see this in the popular vote. They can also see that most of the people in their demographic believe the same way they do. 

When they figure it out, they will work harder for the next election. 

And they will be thankful to DJT. 

They will thank him for removing the masks. For exposing those whom they believed to be on their side, for the people they truly are. It will make life so much easier.  

So while I grieve, I move forward. I am stronger and more resolved than ever. And I have hope in the youth of this country. 

Summer Is Over

WOW!

Where did it go?

I dunno.

All I know is we started back to school this week.

We had a busy summer.

Judson went to Boy Scout Merit Badge camp and Leadership camp.

He helped with another camp.

Turner went to Cub Scout Camp and Singing Camp.

Ansley went to Anime camp and to Visit Nana and Pop.

We took a mini-vacation, too.

And we visited with family.

In other words, we had a great time!

School looks something like this:

Judson is taking English, Pre-calc, and Physics via the home school co-op.

(We had a conflict with Spanish)

We are also doing a little 'current events'.

Additionally, he has his usual: Piano, Drama, Humanities and we might let him continue guitar. 

Just waiting to see his work load.

Did I mention Judson ran the P'tree?

Sawyer is getting OT and PT (insurance dependent) and Speech (via the school system)

Then we will be home schooling the rest of the time.

His reading and math are coming along

He still suffers from neuropathy in his hands and feet.

That is causing his writing to suffer. 

But we are working on it.

Ansley is taking English Science and History via the home school co-op.

And doing the humanities there too.

She will be doing Math here.  

We are trying Math Mammoth Pre-Algebra.

Anyone else tried that?

We will supplement with Khan.

Not sure about extra curricular for her yet.

Turner is doing all his academics at home.

Math, English, History, Science.

His taking humanities, chorale and drama at our co-op.

Life will continue to be busy.

Here is to a year full of laughter and learning and good health!

I'm Here!

I've not fallen off the face of the earth. 

It is turning out to be a busy summer. 

We have summer camps going on 

Scouts.

Art.

Music.

Some of us are doing some remedial school work. 

Fractions.

Writing 

Reading. 

Whatever it takes!

As a family, we usually take vacations in the fall. 

It works great because crowds are down as are the temperatures.

It is one of the perks of home schooling. 

We are still loving home schooling and plan on doing it again next school year.  

We belong to a home schooling co-op which is helpful. 

Plus, in our state  kids can start college courses as early as 9th grade. 

(And the state pays for it. Score!) 

So Judson will be doing that when he enters 9th grade. 

Until then he is allowed to take high school classes in the co-op. 

This upcoming year he is taking pre-calculus, physics, and Spanish. 

(Not an option in public school)

He will also be doing piano and drama. 

Ansley will be taking some academic classes too

Turner will be doing Drama and Chorale. 

Sawyer will be staying at home with me. 

We are trying to get him caught up from all that he missed during his chemo. 

We have taken grief from some who do not understand home schooling.  

But it works for us. 

So we keep doing it. 

When it ceases to work for us, we will choose a different route. 

God bless this country and our right to make such decisions. 

Enjoy your summer.
(Seems like I wrote this same blog post last summer.
At least I'm consistent.) 

#LOVEWINS

I don't do Twitter

Or Facebook

Or any other social media

If I did, I'd post this in response to those hate-mongers

who bashed Old Navy for their recent ad

i LOVE my interracial family.

i LOVE seeing families like mine

thank you old navy for choosing to post a picture of family much like mine.

It's a shame how frightened people are of 'differences'.

It's sad, how many people are afraid of people who do not look like themselves.

It's disheartening how many fear-mongers there are in this world.

i will not live in fear.

i will celebrate the differences.

and

i might just have to make an order from Old Navy

just to show my support.

So go back under your rock hate mongers.

#LOVEWINS

End of Year Concert

You may need to be on a pc. 

The video won't load on an iPad.  

My sweet boy loves being on stage. 

Their group did 3 songs, intermingled with the middle schoolers and high schoolers.  

However, I only recorded the first.

Happy World Down syndrome Day!

You know, 3/21

As in trisomy 21

Do something nice for someone today 

A random act of kindness

If anyone asks,

Tell them you are doing it in honor of Sawyer

Congratulations!

To Judson:

1. For stepping outside your comfort zone
And participating in Drama Club

2. For Participating in a Piano "Competition"

3.  For taking the SAT at the ripe old age of 13

 

And to Pascal

Happy Birthday, Big Guy

You are 1 year old today