Everyone is gone-

I guess everyone but Dove is gone from the blogging world this week. Probably the almost Dec hurricane that is going on. I should be doing hundreds of things other than being here. Procrastination at its best I guess. I fought with my computer all day yesterday and thought I lost a bunch of California pictures then found them and had problems just trying to upload pictures from recently on the computer. I was a stressed out mess from it and am still further behind in my must dos- here are some pics to all the people that are not out there this month.

Autumns Thanksgiving program

Uncle Rex and his dog Roxy-sure that's a motorcycle riding front carrier.

Pep Band -------------------9th grade Basketball

Homecoming forever ago.

We are home and on the go already-

We had a nice trip to Seattle. The weather was nice. I left sick but got well enough to enjoy our time there. We had lots of family for dinner and some of my Aunt and Uncles friends. They asked Lee Joe to say the blessing on the food and when he mentioned my cousin in the prayer that is in Iraq they both had to take a minute after the prayer to compose themselves. I met a cousin I haven't seen since she was an infant. She is in college playing basketball on a scholarship right now. My grandpa cracked me up the whole time. He was telling Kelsea and Amber they needed to get this 15 year old boys phone number and he was telling the boy the same thing. He told Amber and Kelsea that they were such good friends that they needed to share their boyfriend. And then he told my uncle Rex that he needed help with an ingrown toenail. He wanted Rex to get this tool and cut a V in the top of the nail. Rex said he didn't want to do it because Grandpa would "squeal". They kept talking about it and Rex kept saying he would squeal like a little girl. It was funny. The next day he said Rex fixed it and it felt much better. And I had to ask him if he squealed and he said no. Melissa asked him why he didn't go to the doctor and he said you only go to the doctor when your sick and he wasn't sick. Coming from a man who pulls his own teeth when they hurt. My aunt and uncle have new dog. It is a little boston terrier and it is the cutest thing. My uncle had this doggie front carrier he said it was so he could take it for a motorcycle ride. We all said yeah right, that was the manly excuse for a doggie front carrier. My grandpa wanted to keep my cousin's little dog and was thanking her for the dog. She has THE cutest little 4 pound dog. It went home with my cousin.

So Friday Melissa her family and all of us went to Seattle Aquarium and I toured them down the Pike Place market. I bought a sweatshirt for me this time and shirts for the little girls. Then we went back to the house. We got a little lost but found our way back. Saturday we went to the Woodland park zoo and my Aunt and Uncle also came along. We laughed at Orangutans that were playing with a sheet. It looked like they were playing peek-a-boo. It was a really nice zoo just a little cold. We watched Evan Almighty that night. We left late Sunday morning and had a really nice visit. We got home at 8:30 which wasn't so bad.

I had to be up and out to the school this morning sice I have missed the last two Mondays with sick kids.

I can't believe it is time for Christmas almost. ACK!!!
I have some fun pictures to post later.

Happy Hallothanksgivchristmas

I think that is what we should call this time of year when the holidays feel like they start running into each other. I can't believe that Thansgiving is this coming week already. It already feels like the holiday season. It could be because they were running Christmas like commercials the day after Halloween. But Lee Joe, Amber, Kelsea and Amber's friend all say that it feels like Christmas. That usually doesn't happen until December for me but I feel it too. I think Boise feels as well because the traffic around us yesterday was seriously obnoxious. It took me 30 minutes to pick up Amber from the high school and then get to the little girls. That should take 7 to 15 minutes at the most. We are five minutes away from the only mall in town. It took me 30 minutes to get to and from the mall yesterday before 4pm!! on a friday-well fridays are busier than most week days but that was more like Saturday afternoon traffic in December.

We have had two invitations for Thanksgiving this year. One to Eastern Idaho and one to Seattle. My family is all going to Seattle to see my Aunt, Uncle and Grandfather. I have left it to Lee Joe to decide where. He is leaning towards Seattle and we may hit Eastern Idaho over Christmas break. I don't have to cook the Turkey-did you see my turkey dance?

Good news

We had some good news from the neurologist this morning. He ruled Lee Joe's episode an atypical migraine. He had a lot of symptoms they had to rule out the worst but after looking through all his tests that is what they believe he had. And then the doctor mentioned at the end of the visit that if it had been a transient ischemic attack he could loose his CDL. We are glad that it is not the case. So there is no evidence of any stroke or any sort of bleeding on the brain or artery that has done something nasty but we got to see the inside of his head. The doctor showed us his MRI pictures. But boy will this be one EXPENSIVE migraine. But thankfully the news is good.

Something crazy happened this week. I cleaned up the garage enough that we were able to pull the van in it so Lee Joe could work on it. That is remarkable since I think we have only pulled a car in the garage maybe 3 or 4 times in all the 8 and a half years we have been here.

Taking it easy

I always have high hopes for long weekends like this but when they happen sometimes it is just nice to not worry about much and that is what we have done. I cleaned so well on Wednesday that it has actually lasted most the weekend. We have done some pick-ups here and there. Amber had friends over and what I prepared for food left a minor mess. I haven't cooked and we have shopped some and Lee Joe came along with us all on Friday to the mall and we had ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Today we went to the parade that Amber marched in. I was feeling crappy so when we got home both her and I slept a long time. Autumn has started her barking cough. Hannah was sick last weekend and Kylee sounds like she could be starting so I may stay home with the sick ones again tomorrow.

By the way we had parent teacher conferences on weds and thurs. I met with 15 teachers in two days. All but one teacher had high praise. The one teacher says her attitude is improving. That is Kelsea in orchestra. It has been a battle since the begining of the year with the teacher. Many 9th graders quit at the start of the year. I wouldn't let Kelsea. When I got the call from the teacher telling me she has been disrespectful in class I was upset with Kelsea. But when I talked to her she had been bothered by the teacher causing a 9th grade boy to cry in class. And that is where her attitude came from. In the meantime I talked to the counselor about what happened and then the principal evaluated his class and I e-mailed him and suggested he talk to another teacher that is fantastic with the kids and Kelsea has that teacher for one of her classes and basketball. That teacher talked to Kelsea and gave the orchestra teacher some suggestions and positive change started taking place. We will see if it lasts though. I might have to give in to letting her out of that class at the end of the semester. He wants to win Kelsea over. He rocognizes she has talent. So there you go!

So far this week-

Lee Joe is back at work. There are no lasting effects from his episode on Sunday. Or none that are obvious. He has an apointment next week with a neurologist. I forgot to mention what a good job Amber did while we were at the hospital. I had a roast on for dinner but it took awhile before I called the house and when I did Amber was making the rest of dinner without being told to do it. I was so impressed because she lacks her own initiative sometimes. Good kid. But the day wasn't without some sisterly abuse in our absence.

My van had an oil change a few weeks ago and ever since the oil pressure light comes on and dings at me when I am idling at stoplights. We do that a lot here in Boise. So it happens a lot. And something is wrong with our tub. It is leaking into the downstairs bathroom still. We need to make time to figure out whats leaking before there is much more damage. The downstairs bathroom already needed work on the ceiling in there. It looks like the tub has a crack.

This week is interesting. It is parent teacher conference week. For some reason the school assigned me a time on Weds that makes this afternoon a huge nightmare. Piano from 3:30 to 4:30 I need to go to the jr high for Kelsea's conferences at 4:30 and I might need to go back Thursday and on Thursday I need to go to Amber's. Lee Joe has Scouts from 6-7, oh yeah-he has a new calling too. The little girls have their conferences from 6:20-to 7:20 which overlaps YW. I, of course, was in charge. Everyone is coming over here. And somehow Kelsea needs to get to basketball practice at some point. But what makes the day a bit more enjoyable is I get to stay home all day until then. Hannah doesn't have school today. That is SOOO nice. Kylee and Autumn are home after early morning choir tomorrow. And everyone is out on Friday. So I think I can get a handle on some stuff and I am still trying to tile that small strip in the kitchen and the girls that are downstairs still need shelves put up in their rooms. So I am going to think positive and we will see how much I can tackle! I need to get busy.

Since blogging-

So I blogged while everyone was at church and then Lee Joe came home with headache-he never gets those and some other alarming symptoms so it was necessary to spend the day at the ER. We got there at 2:45, left at 8:40. We got the works-EKG CT MRI and the results are he had a transient Ischemic attack. A little scary but it was mild and he felt better most of the time we were there. We are both worried about the impending bill with no insurance. He fought a lot of the tests because of the cost but when it was done and they told him what they did he could agree it was necessary. He has to take a baby aspirin everyday and see a neurologist. Fun huh? He is OK right now. We are just glad they didn't make him stay the night.

AHHHH-some time

The first 3 days this week kicked my fanny. What really kicked my fanny was an unruly kindergartener at the school at the end of the day that decided to take a run past the office and through the kindergarten class room, out the door and halfway across the playgound before I caught up to him. I hadn't had to run that fast in along time. Apparantly I need to do that more often. I worked half a day on Tues. And of course Halloween and I was EXHAUSTED!! before the day was even half over. So we survived, the kids felt really special in all their dressed up glory and we went to the trunk or treat and then went trick or treating in a nice neighborhood where most of the girls friends live. Amber dressed up like a pirate and walked the little girls through the neighborhood. She had her loud ear phones around her neck and played pirate music so she had theme music too. She didn't trick or treat. Kelsea went to a friends house and dressed up like a boy.

Thursday I got to recover. It is soo nice having things calm down a little. Kelsea made varsity in basketball. She has practices for a few weeks before games start. Friday I stayed home with Hannah. She has barking cold. It was early release. It saved me from going back to the school and hour and half later. I baked two cakes-100% homemade, not a box mix. One for a funeral and one for us. I cleaned house. So nice to see it clean even if it is only for a day. Sat the dog threw up in two places in the family room. I had to shampoo the carpet. I was going to shampoo anyway. Lee Joe and I went shopping for trim and other house stuff. We were gone all day and had lunch out. We haven't done that in ages. And then we came home proceeded to destroy things in the process of making things look nice. I started getting my tile together for the kitchen and mudded some of the walls and Lee Joe trimmed out the doorway that use to have the sliding glass door in it. We are shopping for a ceiling fan for our room. For some reason Lee Joe is fixated on having one that looks like an airplane propeller. I am giving him first choice on the fan and I think I found one online that he will really like but it costs a lot. So when we get there I will take pictures and post them-do you believe me?

We are having some successes with our fish. We have lost some too. Our big tank has been doing well. We lost one fish a few weeks ago. Everyone else is hanging in there. 24 fish, a big snail and two frogs in our big one. Our guppy tank has been up and down. We have lost more guppies. I have made few healthy again. But the fish guy I saw says he has trouble with guppies too. We have had several batches of babies. We think the frogs ate the first big round of babies so they got moved. Our first two babies that were getting really big died. We had 6 babies, 3 or 4 died but now we are back up to 5. We have 4 ghost shrimp in that tank. One is so big and now HER belly is covered in eggs so we will see how many shrimp we end with. I was going to name that one George but I guess she is a Georgette. Maybe the guppies will eat some of those of the shrimp babies otherwise we could be in a heap of trouble. And we have a big snail in there and a cory catfish. We are going to fish sit for the next few weeks while my neighbor is away.

We are progressing well right now. I always have too much to do but things are happening. I can't believe how close Christmas is now. Ack!! I am not ready for that-we just had Christmas last month it feels like.

I have written my book on this past week so there you go!