Happy Gobble Gobble Day

To all my friends and family, have a wonderful, peaceful, relaxing day, because the stores open at 4:00 am tomorrow. Look for us. We'll be there!!
Love you all!!!

Tag, I'm It....

So, here's the deal. My friend Dannon tagged me to do a blog about mi amore, Mark. First, I would like to say how flattered I am to be chosen, I have never been tagged before. It is very exciting! At the end of this blog, I will tag 3 of my faithful followers, so stay tuned!
Husband's name- This is so easy! Mark Kevin Young
How long married- Right away, I am going to freak people out, but it is true! On Dec. 6, it will be 17 years!
How long dated- Now stay with me here, but we only dated about 2 months before deciding to get married, and we were married about 7 weeks shy of knowing each other for a full year. I like to think that he knew a good thing when he saw it, and didn't want it to get away. HAHA!
How old is he- Another complicated question! Mark is really and truly 37. But, on his 22nd birthday, my mom mistakenly gave him a 21st birthday card, and has carried this tradition on each year since...
Taller- That would be him. Not by a lot, but enough.
Who can sing best- All him. He used to be in a band. I would never subject you sweet people to the horrors of my singing voice...
Smarter- Mark is in school, at the top of his class, no less, and knows all this historical stuff, and how to fix stuff, but I do have a modicum of common sense, and I am the better speller.
Laundry- I don't think Mark has ever touched the machines in his life. He does remind me to clean out the lint traps though.
Paying bills- That is 100% me. He has no idea what we have, he just hands over his money to me, and I take every cent! HAHAHAHAHA- evil laugh!
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed- If you know me, you know I have horrible sleep patterns. I sleep on the right side, so I can get up whenever I can't sleep without waking the hubby, who sleeps like a rock, by the way.
Mows the lawn- That is me. Mark used to, but when he started working on the road, I would do it, when it had to be done, and now he says I do such a good job.... yadda yadda yadda. Anyway, his allergies, don't do well with the grass clippings either.
Cooks dinner- All me. It is my business after all. Mark used to on Saturday nights when we were at church, but when they changed the mass schedule, I do it now when we get home. He does BBQ though, and makes an awesome pizza...
Who's the first to admit they are wrong- That is all him. I call myself Grudgey. I have anger issues.
Who kissed first- It was instantaneous. After we got over our mutual distaste for each other.
Who wears the pants- Mark wears the pants, I wear capris.

And now, to name the 3 lucky winners.... drumroll please ...... First, my sister in law Danelle, who started me on this blogging business. And for 2 different takes on the subject, my brother in law Tim, who will give a man's perspective, and will at least update his blog info, and my mother in law Nancy, who can fill us all in on my late, great Gary Young. Have fun and Love you!

Family Day

Today our day was full of Christmas movies, wrapping gifts, and playing games. This is Mark and girls playing our Pink Monopoly game. I think it will either go to Mark or EMily. I am already out, and Val was close, but is making a comeback. It may be too little too late though.
Yeah, she is almost done.
I love the movies on ABC Family. They are all Christmas themed now until the holiday. Mark can't stand them, but is a good sport. We also put up our pink tree and our silver tree, and I will take pics of them when I get new camera batteries.
On a side note, Yes Dannon, I received your TAG and will do that blog tomorrow. Stay tuned!!! I want to try to see if I can dig up some old pics to go with it....

Bad Luck

Do you ever feel like bad luck surrounds you? Like you have a little raincloud over your head?
That's my week!
I hate car trouble, and I had it this week.
It's fixed now, but who wants to deal with a "fried starter"?
A 3rd grade girl's mom at school was the woman in the accident earlier in the week when the semi tire and rim flew off and hit the car on the highway. That was the little girl's mom. She is expected to eventually be OK, but it is very emotional for her, and she continues to go to school. She is a little darling!
I ripped the string off my favorite apron. I am going to fix it over vacation though.
Even Mark admitted that we have had a run of bad luck lately. He usually says I am overreacting, but not this time! He said maybe the tide would turn soon. Maybe.
Val has been on high alert this week also. She has 3 tests today. And, since next week is vacation, she won't be seeing Hunter and her other friends EVERY day. Just a few times. It is devastating to her. On Thursday, on the way home, they realized that Hunter had forgotten his cell phone in his mom's car, and Val was just like not believing it. She asked him how they were going to talk that night. I suggested that she call his home phone and actually speak into it, like in the old days, but he got his dad to take him to get it, so that ended well. One silver lining of the week.
I am absolutely going to help Emi tomorrow clean her room out. We do it every Thanksgiving vacation, to get ready for Christmas. I have been threatening to do it for a few weekends now, but this is it. It will get done!
Anyway, sorry I haven't had anything to say this week. I didn't want my bad luck to rub off on you. Share some, if you are having good luck this week!

Holidays With Older Kiddos

This is the first year I have really felt it. It started with Halloween. Val went to a movie party and EMily went Skating. No trick or treating. No costumes- well not really. Emily needed halloween themed clothing and Val did get bunny ears. Not playboy though!Cute ones.
Christmas will be different though too. Tonight, the girls and I are going Christmas shopping. This is the first year that I have let them in on all my secrets. Not what they are getting, but what everyone else is. I am letting them help decide, so God help you! If you think something you receive is a little wonky, just know that Emily may have thought it was the perfect gift for you! I still can't pry Mark out to come and join us though. I think he enjoys seeing what everyone gets the same time they do!
On a side note, it has always been Emily's dream to carry 2 big handfuls of packages through the mall. She will get her wish tonight.
If there are any brave souls who may want to join us on this or a subsequent adventure, we are heading out after a quick dinner. Towne East and Target. Maybe Best Buy.....

One thing that will never change, Santa Claus will always be welcome in our home! With gifts waiting under the tree. I learned that from Gary- no matter how old you are, Santa always visits.....

The Mormon Cricket

Yesterday, before we went to dance class, Val was on the phone with Hunter in her room, and she started screaming bloody murder. Usually, Hunter does not garner this kind of behavior in Val, so Mark went to investigate. There was an UGLY bug in her room. Like, uglier than Tim and Danelle's possum.
I had not seen it. I went in there, and Val was jumping around, Emily was laughing, Mark was trying to find something to kill it with, and I told Emily we had to leave.
As I walked down the hall, Emily told me it was in my hair, the stinker!
Well, that gave me shivers, and I freaked a little, but nothing like Val.

By the time we got home, the situation was taken care of.
Kudos to Mark for getting rid of it, and identifying the creature.
Kudos to Hunter for calming Val down. He has no idea how much maintenance she requires, the poor kid, although I think he is starting to get the idea....

On a side note, unrelated, you should all ask Emily to show you the spin she learned at Jazz class last night. She does a pirrhouette, and spins at the same time, downward, then lands in a pose close to the floor. It is very cool, if she can get her spin fast enough!

And Then We....

On Saturday morning, I took Val to a church downtown for a Food Service Class for the Lord's Diner, but apparently I went to the wrong one, because the doors were locked, so I am taking her this Saturday to the one on 9th Street. She has to do volunteer work as a condition of St Margaret Mary paying for her education.
Then, we got Emily and the 3 of us went to see WEST SIDE STORY. It was a treat! The drama dept. at BC did it, and at first, Val went for the extra credit, and Emily went because she was bored, but they both loved it SO MUCH! Emily especially! I think she had tears in her eyes a few times. Maybe she will get into drama in a few years. I think she is very animated, and she does understand stage presence. We will see!
On Sunday, I took Val, Hunter, Julie and Jack to the mall. I thought they changed their hours to 10:00, they didn't. They wreaked havoc on Target and McDonald's, before it was on to Confirmation Class.
Quiet evening at home last night.
Getting the crutches ready for Val to start roller skating in PE, and Emily to have dance or basketball every evening of the week now. I will be happy when they start playing, and stop practicing!
Not to mention that I think Mark broke his little toe. He did something when he was BBQing this weekend....
Feet kind of skeeve me out, so I don't really like to deal with them much!

She Is Healed!

Val can walk!!!! She got out of bed yesterday, and forgot about her foot, and just started walking. Granted, by about 9 in the morning, she was uncomfortable, and by 4, she was in pain, but if she takes it slower, I think she will do better. I told her she could use the crutch over the weekend, if she was going to be on her feet for long periods of time, but she needs to walk. Dr said, she needs to keep it elevated, and don't stress it for about a week or so.

Next week, in PE, she starts roller skating.

I will keep the crutches handy!!!!

A Day In The Life...

Val still can't put weight on her ankle. She has a negative pain tolerance, but still! She will see the doctor tomorrow. If she still needs crutches, she does, but she is not very fond of them anymore. She has bruises on both hands, and her ribs, back, and sides ache all the time.
Emi is going to play 8th grade level basketball. She and Shanae are the only 7th graders, so it was not fair to make a bunch of 6th graders try to play up with not much age appropriate support. Tarah fractured her leg, Trinh just can't do it, and the St Pat's 7th graders changed their minds.
Mark got a 100% on the algebra test he thought he did not do well on last week. He is top of the class.
I am busy going over Christmas lists, shopping, deciding what to buy..... You know who you are!

Sprain Pain

Last night, Val and Emi were bored, so they decided to play soccer in the front yard, with a volleyball. We have a small hole in the yard, that the kids call the Evil Hole. Val tripped, stepped into the hole, and fell. She was hobbling in, and hurting pretty bad, so we iced the ankle with brussel sprouts, on and off. We had her get up to walk on it, and she almost fell over. Thank goodness for Emily, who caught her. So, we decided to take her to the ER, and see what was up.
That was at 7:00. At 9:00 they finally called her back. There were a LOT of kids there last night. Mark took Val back, and I stayed in the waiting room, answering phone calls and texts.
Around about 10:00 my dad called for an update. Then, he just showed up, and took Emi to his house,so she could get some sleep for school today. We had a lot of very kind offers to come and sit with us, or pick up Emily, and they were all very nice.
So, we left around 11:30. Then, we had to go get the crutches. We decided to go to Walgreens because it is right next door, and buy a set, knowing that Emily is a constant accident waiting to happen, we will see if that pays off.
So, it is after midnight, and we are home now.I slept with Val, in case she needed anything, which she did around 2:00 am, she flipped and kicked the wall on accident. That was not pretty! I stayed up, gave her ibuprofen, put the brussel sprouts back on, talked to her, calmed her down, went back to sleep.
Got up at 5:00.
Tired!
Anyways, she did pretty good at school today.They gave her an elevator key, and she gets to have different kids leave class early, and help her with her books. She had a pretty good day.
Now she just has to start putting weight on it....

Updates

1. Couldn't get my tire fixed. The steel band was showing through, so no spare yet. Hoping not to run over any nails before we can go out and get a replacement.
2.Paul is doing awesome. I consider him to be one of my heroes! His brain is shifting back to place, and he remains alert!!!!
3. Jacob Villapando, another SMM alum from my nephew Tim's class, goes to the Independent School, he was playing football Thursday night, got hit, has a severe concussion, and is in the hospital, because he has lost feeling in his left extremities. Pray for him!!!
4. The girls had a good Halloween. Val and Hunter went to a scary movie party, and Emily was invited to Roller City with Tarah, Shanae, Lorenzo, Nhan, and Ky. They had a lot of fun!
5. Basketball practice starts next week, so instead of 21 WHITE you will be hearing a lot of 21 GOLD, for the foul count. Val's old coach, Tim Rogers, will now be Emi's coach, and everyone knows they have very diffent styles to the game, so he will be surprised, if he is expecting Val's style of play from Emily!!!
6. Mark's doing great in school. He had to go to a class today.
7. Looked up Val's grades yesterday, and she has 5 A's and 2 C's.
8. Emi's dance is hard, but awesome. She is very focused, and I know she will do great!

The Pure and Simple Lifestyle Choice

At St Margaret Mary, the 8th grade class takes a course called Teen Power. It is basically a sex ed class. Teaches them the basics. They have instructors come in from a different school and parish, to make it less awkward for the kids. Last year, the 7th graders took a class called the Pure and Simple Lifestyle. This is an abstinence awareness class. It is taught by high school kids from Kapaun. Anyways, Emi's class took the course this year and at the end of the course they were all rewarded with t shirts enblazoned with the Top 10 reasons to wait to have sex printed on the back. It is a very interesting t shirt to say the least.
Emmers enjoyed the class. It taught her to respect and be respected. Not all of the schools in the diocese offer this program, so it seems we are "ahead of the curve". I read the handouts, becuase parents had to give permission, and it is a solid program. I hope they can expand out to more schools, even if Kapaun is responsible for it...haha!