It's like this...

This little girl and I are headed to Children's Hospital on Wednesday morning. Early. At the crack of what-the-heck-am-I-doing-with-my-eyes-open early to have an MRI on her cute little brain. They want to know why she's dizzy a lot. Why she's acting the way she's acting. Why she's falling. If it's the meds or the head. If you need me I'll be curled up in the corner in the fetal position.

The year that is. I've not blogged for over a week. For me, that's a long time. Hmmm...has it been a week? Time seems to run together when the children are out of school for Christmas break and I'm not working because I work for the school district and I'm also out for the break. Plus, with the snow, the Christmas break started nearly a week early and all the Interpreter appointments I had were cancelled due to snow and ice. Church was even cancelled two weeks in a row--unheard of around here. I'm finally able to see the ground again because it's been raining rather than snowing all the time. I never thought I'd be thrilled to see the rain but I am. Truly I am. As for Christmas, it was what it was. We spent Christmas eve at my sis-in-law's home where she put on a wonderful themed dinner as always. This year it was Spain. The next morning we got up and had presents with the children then caught the ferry over across Puget Sound to have brunch and pr...

The snow has kept coming and coming today. I know you can't really tell here in this picture, but it did and has and it's been so fun to watch! That's Ally and Lance and Ash on the ground. Not sure why she was there on all fours. We'd just finished up a little stint on the slopes. The slopes of the school that is. Here's a little video I took with my cell phone. It's horrible but you can see what the girls are doing. We gave them a laundry basket to slide down the hill. Yes, a laundry basket. They tried to make snow angels but the top of the snow was crusty so they simply fell and lay there. No, we didn't leave them there. Now it's back home to have some hearty stew I've had cooking in the crock pot all day and to finish frosting the sugar cookies. I'm still not finished shopping.... Ho Ho Ho

Ashley wanted to help me make sugar cookies this weekend. Only she didn't just want to *HELP* me, she wanted to take over. Completely. Rolling, cutting them out, placing them on the sheet then frosting them later. She's quite the take-charge little girl.

Ah yes, never a dull moment around here. School, with good reason was closed. The snow that was promised yesterday and never arrived, arrived today. The front yard and pond was dusted and then more.....covered. We finally got the Christmas tree up! Lance and I went to Northgate to do a wee bit'o' Christmas shopping and while we were there we got a phone call from our son. At first I thought he was crying then I realized he was laughing so hard he could hardly talk. Seems papa got hissef locked in dat dere batroom. He was trapped in there for forty-five minutes. We offered him food and water and blankets but he refused. He had some books so he was good. Finally we got the door opened and the prisoner went free. Later we went to pick up Steph from her job at See's Candies and then drove to Mercer Island to drop Chris off with his pal Amir for the night. We had gyros for dinner and brought one home to Papa. Then Lance and I walked the dogs in the snow. Brrrrrrrr. When...

For the second time in two days the powers that be have cancelled school. Snow, glorious snow has blanketed the region. Hubby and I got up to check the school report online and we keep seeing flashes and hearing booms. Thunder and lightening seems a bit odd for the weather we're having. I can't remember it doing this when it's been snowing as well. And of course now that I'm up I can't go back to sleep. Grrrrrr.

Let it snow, let it snow let it snow! Apparently there is snow in the air. There isn't any here right now of course, but they suspect there might be some of the white stuff falling today so they called a preemptive strike on education by closing the schools. We may get as much as GASP 2 inches! We might be able to make a few snowballs. I'll admit it's awfully cold here. When I dropped the children off yesterday it was in the teens with a brrrrr factor of Holy-crap-I'm-cold. Then it warmed up to a balmy 27 or so. Ok, back to bed.

I finsihed the book for our Spanish book club this weekend. It's called Malinche. This was an excellent exercise for my gray matter, as it's been years since I've read an entire novel in Spanish. At first I sat there with my Spanish/English dictionary in my hands, looking up every word that I didn't know or remember. Then I fell into a kind of rhythm and after understanding a bit more of the story line, I laid my dictionary aside and enjoyed the book. Even if I didn't at first understand the word, I understood the context of where and what it was and then I knew what it was. I'm not sure that makes sense to you, but it does to me. The book was a good read and I enjoyed it. I found a website this afternoon that talks more about the historical figure of Malinche and it's entitled "La Malinche"--Harlot or Heroine? .

I'm up early on a Saturday morning. Why? Because hubby's cell phone went off. It's our college girl---homebound and truckin'. Well, not truckin' exactly but heading in our direction. She texted to let us know that the roads are so bad it's going to take twice as long to get here as it would have originally. That means....12 x 2, carry the coefficient divide by the number of Monster energy drinks....and....she's going to pull into Puyallup tomorrow night rather than tonight. Speaking of my other young lady came home yesterday and informed me that a certain guy (GASP) has been emailing her all day and that he's going to GIVE HER A MONSTER! Her cheeks were a bit flushed and I became concerned. Could she be coming down with something? Something fatal?? Apparently so. Infatuation is deadly. But a Monster?? Is this the 2008 equivalent of being given a tie tack in the 70's? (I may have just dated myself) (note to my sister: There is no need to ...

I teach a few early morning Spanish classes and my assistant is Wee One. She's such a good helper and in the process she's bettering her Spanish. Bonus! This morning she decided to write on my blackboard. I had to pick her up early from school today and then spent some time on the phone with the pediatrician, and then her Neurologists office at Children's. This dizzy thing just isn't going away and it's got me concerned. My assistant needs to be in top form!

Oh right. To keep a chronicle/journal of sorts about our life. Or my life. Or life in general. Or Sargeant Major. I'm sure that was funnier in my head than it is here. At any rate. I dashed off to school this morning to teach my little darlings and then forced them to march down to the school office to show off their newly learned skills in singing Christmas Carols in Spanish. Boy were they embarrassed, but they did a fairly good job. Their Cascabels could have used more work but they brought the house down with a rousing rendition of Feliz Navidad if only because they've heard it on the radio so often and it does contain some words in English. I was ever so proud. Then it was on to home to pick up the Wee Girl (as she shall now be known) and take her to her swim therapy lessons at Children's Hospital. As I was sitting there I took out my cell phone and looked at a video I'd taken of her when she first started. The difference in her swimming is amazing! She...

Soooooo none of us made it to church today. Ally has a fever and cough. I did something unspeakable to my spine in the pool yesterday. No, I did not go off the rope swing, though it did look like fun. I did a good bit of power walking in the water when Ash was in shallow end and I could be a bit of distance away from her without hyperventilating. So when I woke up this morning I took a muscle relaxant and some ibuprofen thinking that would loosen me up and help me get going. All it did was knock me out for the entire day. Yay me! Lance had to work today, which was unexpected. Something to do with an electrical thingy on the plane that wasn't doing something it was supposed to be doing and they had to get it fixed asap. So it was a bit dead around here today. I did manage to rouse myself this afternoon/evening and make some chimichangas for the kids for dinner and then clean up the kitchen. Yay me again! I'm hopeful my spinal column will cooperate tomorrow because I h...

This is my father wearing the sweatshirt that was given to him about 10 years ago. My four children, and the four children of my sister Julie, placed their colorful handprints on the white fabric. When he pulled it out to wear the other day I was a bit overcome with emotion. My baby girl was only 8 months old. Her tiny purple handprint with her age next to it nearly made me cry. I wish time would slow down for a bit. Just a while.

Ashley rested on the examining table today at the pediatrician's. We were trying to find out if her seizure med levels were in acceptable limits or were they out of whack and causing her headaches and bouts of dizzy-whirly-fun. So far so good. They think it might just be a virus. I was happy with that. A virus is fine with me. A virus doesn't cause permanent harm. I'm good with that. Very good. Yay virus! And now, to fall into bed. Another long day. When I got home this evening around 9 my father said, "Do you ever stop?" Sorry, no. I'm the energizer mommy...I keep going and going and going and going and going.. and well, you get the picture. G'night.

As today is the first of December, it was only fitting that I saw the man in red. Most of the year his name is Wayne, but during the month of December he transforms himself into Santa Claus. I don't know if you can see it here, but he's holding a beautiful American flag in his hands. Wayne usually shuffles around wearing a suit coat, pants, shirt and tie. Always a tie. Wayne has oodles of ties. If Wayne spies you wearing a tie, he will ask you for it, in the the nicest possible way. Often times those that are asked for their ties, hand them over unless their tie holds sentimental value for them. If that's the case. the next time they are there they'll bring an extra tie just for Wayne. Wayne has boxes of ties. More than he could ever use probably. Wayne is a special person. As long as I can remember he's lived at Fircrest. A place for special people like him, and like my sister Cheri and many, many other unique and wonderful people. Most of them are happy. ...