Happy New Year!

As 2009 comes to an end, may this coming year be one of happiness and many blessings for all of you. One of my dreams for this coming year is to be chosen for a Design Team for one of the many stamp companies. I am hoping to have more time to create cards to enter in "challenges" in hopes of becoming more "known". I realize this is a pipe dream but, hey, you have to start somewhere! As a result I created a separate blog for my hobby called Cindy's Creations so check it out from time to time - www.cindys-creations.blogspot.com. I hope to start posting things to it soon. I am going to keep this site to family-related news. Thanks for visiting my blogs and leave a note if you have time!

Grandma's adventure

You can imagine my surprise when Grandma's doctor's office called and asked me to come get her and take her to ER. She had gone for a follow-up blood pressure appointment and was having a hard time breathing and was very cold. He felt she was serious enough, and her oxygen level low enough to warrant being hospitalized. After an EKG, chest x-ray, IV put in and blood drawn, two additional blood draws for cultures, a breathing treatment, and given oxygen, they determined her white cell count was low enough to put her on antibiotics (the chest x-ray didn't show anything significantly different than past ones). After 4+ hours home we came. Hopefully the meds will improve how she feels as today goes on.

December 26th

Hard to believe it's the day after Christmas already. So much preparation and anticipation ... and over so quickly. The children chose to open their gifts on Christmas Eve this year and, on Christmas Day, we attended the 12:30 Mass so it was a leisurely morning. Rather than the traditional turkey dinner, chicken cacciatore was requested so less time in the kitchen too! While I enjoy this time of year it is also a very sad and difficult time for me as I miss so very much my family and dear friends who are far away.

Since I was bemoaning the fact I have the entire year to put into a digital scrapbook (just what was I thinking?), thought I would post some of the highlight pictures of the last couple of days.

I made the kids suffer through another photo session on Christmas morning ...

Ryan's bike and helmet - the highlight of his day ...

Connor is wearing several of his gifts - shirt, jersey, Cal sweatpants, but you get the idea! His DS was the "big" gift.

Kelleigh asked for Webkinz, DS games, and of course some Twilight items! (The "peace" shirt is new too.)

Grandma received LOTS of books so she'll be busy until next Christmas ...

And I couldn't forget my babies who so love the torture of wearing their ears ...

Hope your day was fun!

Saturday's projects

When I took the bridal notepad to school to give to Dana, Eileen loved it ... and after school was saying how she needed to get organized for the classroom projects after the holidays, etc. So last night I made one for her (which I love) and one for her husband (who got me hooked on the Kindle) and each daughter in their favorite color! They are very fun to make and all come out so different.

Thursday night

I had a wonderful conversation this afternoon with my Dad who I called to wish a belated birthday. They surprised my nephew - who shares a birthday with him - as it was his 18th yesterday. So hard to believe that many years have gone by.

Tomorrow is my last day in the classroom which makes me sad as I will miss the kids but hope to visit the class often. I am delighted that the sub who I have worked with these last six weeks is going to stay part-time and work with kids doing Impact. She is getting married in July and I may be doing her wedding invitations! Since I was busy getting ideas together to show her tomorrow, I was in a creative mood and made the following notepad "portfolio" for her.

These are holiday cards that I made for another dear teacher friend to give her two room moms. The cards are in clear "folders" on the front and the back has the envelopes in another folder all in a handy little portfolio!

A difficult decision

I made the hard decision to turn in my resignation effective the end of the day Friday, Dec. 18th, for the Instructional Assistant job I've done for the better part of a year and a half. I'm hoping to continue doing the admin portion of my job in the office but that is up to the Principal; I am content with whatever her decision is. While I tried to continue for the financial side of it, it became clear to me that I needed to make other choices. This is also the last week for the long-term sub that I've been working with and have grown very fond of. It is so sad to see enthusiastic and extremely qualified new teachers have no prospect of permanent jobs and next year's opportunities in this district will be even less.

For those of you who haven't gotten Susan Boyle's CD "I Dreamed a Dream", get it! It is one of the most gorgeous collection of songs, not to mention sung so beautifully, that I've heard in a very long time. Has everyone seen "The Blind Side" yet - if not, you're missing out on another incredible story.

Ryan is going to help me wrap presents later. No more gifts to buy but a few I'm still waiting on. Enjoy what's left of your weekend!

A great Dancer!

Kelleigh's infamous part was Dancer today in the choir/drama ensembles that went to several elementary schools in the area. I was able to see her "perform" when she came to our school and it was indeed quite cute! It won't win any Academy Awards but it did greatly amuse the audience.

Ryan made the declaration at dinner tonight that he "realizes he only has 2-1/2 years of school left and he just needs to gut it out as it will determine a lot of things for his life". While this may not sound very profound for the average kid, it is quite a statement from one who despises school and struggles daily. I think I have his counselor to thank as we saw him today!

My sister also wrote to say that her soon to be 18 year old son got his letter saying he has been admitted into FSU's early admission. We are very excited for him as he's worked hard at college courses these last two years of high school and carries a high GPA. I believe he will enter as a Junior but I will have to confirm that. Congrats Josh!

It has been quite cold here in sunny San Diego and the weather guessers are threatening that another horrible storm is coming in tonight through the weekend. Can hardly wait!

Holiday 2009 Letter

Dear family and friends,

We hope this finds you doing well and enjoying the holiday season. It was another busy year between school and work. We were able to spend a long weekend in August at Shaver Lake visiting friends at their cabin. We always have a great time there and the kids enjoyed jet-skiing, fishing, campfires, and, of course, making s’mores!

Mark & Cindy
In May Mark was offered the opportunity to teach again at La Costa Canyon High School where he added AP Calculus to his Geometry and Statistics classes. He completed his ELL certification and is also the math department’s instructor for a new software package the district is piloting. His love of playing golf seems to be on hiatus although he enjoys following the PGA tour events. He remains active with Ryan’s high school as a Foundation member and designed and maintains the football team website as well as being on the chain-gang for home games. He also continues to consult for a start-up company.

Cindy continues to work at the elementary school as an Instructional Aide for a Kindergartener and doing admin jobs for the office. This is her fifth year coordinating the martial arts enrichment program for eight elementary schools and recently took over the admin and website for a local lacrosse organization. She also helps a friend with his Colonial Educator’s business creating fliers and materials for his presentations. She started a blog so family and friends could see what we are up to so be sure and visit it!

The Kids
Ryan is in the 10th grade and busy working toward his driving learner’s permit. He has completed the on-line portion successfully and once he passes the practice test, we can go to the DMV for the real thing! He played football on the JV team this year as an offensive left guard. He did very well and was one of the biggest kids on the team at 6’1” and 245 lbs. Ryan continues to struggle academically, socially, and emotionally and he really does not enjoy being at school. He is now paying the price for a series of bad choices but we have been attending counseling each week and he is trying to put his life back on a positive path. Things are improving and he’s learning that trust must be earned and we won’t allow his choices to impact his siblings. Keep him in your prayers that he will find peace within himself and see the potential he has to be successful.

Connor is in the 7th grade and continues to enjoy middle school and his teachers. He chose art as his elective this year and does really well in it. He received his Black Belt certification in September and has chosen to stop training for now to spend more time playing lacrosse. He was RB’s ball boy for the JV and Varsity games this year and continues to be annoyed we won’t let him play Pop Warner football! You can often find him practicing his kicking out back with his football net and loves wearing his variety of jerseys!

Kelleigh is in the 6th grade and adjusted to middle school life well. She likes changing classes and has really great teachers. Math and art are her favorite subjects and she reads over five books a week – you never see her without one! She took piano lessons until the summer and we hope to begin with a new teacher after the holidays. She continues to practice and plays very well. She and Connor are working towards earning cell phones but have to make the Honor Roll first. Much to our annoyance, their new favorite pastime is to argue as soon as they lay eyes on one another!

“The Boys” are very spoiled and have yet to realize they are dogs! Shadow is now 10 and Buddy is 2. They have their daily routine complete with games, naps, daily snacks from Grandma, bones to chew, and no shortage of attention!

We wish all the best to your family in the coming year and hope that you will keep in touch as we enjoy hearing from all of you.

"Mom, I got the part"

Yesterday Kelleigh told me she was trying out for the part of a mouse in her drama class play. Today she proudly announced she got it! The discussion went something like this:

Me: "Wow, congratulations. What is the name of the play?"
K: "I don't know but the song I'm singing is "It was the Night Before Christmas"."
M: "When is it?"
K: "I don't know but I think I have to miss 4 days of class for it."
M: "Realllllyyy? Will you be doing it at school so parents can come see it?"
K: "No, I think it's at a theatre or something. There's a permission slip on-line as last year parents got mad about that part." (checked on-line - no information remotely resembling a play is on there)
M: "Perhaps tomorrow you could get just a little more information for me...."

Holiday ready!

I broke down and put up the Christmas decorations on Sunday - it's the minimum I could get away with but it's done! I figured while I was cleaning and moving things around to vacuum under them, that I may as well move them and do it all at once. Kelleigh helped so it went fairly quickly. Today the fabulous nut rolls that Peggy makes came much to everyone's delight! These are very time consuming and its a tradition that always kicks off the holiday season for us - thank you Peggy! The boys are at the year-end JV football banquet; seems as if football just began. I have had a migraine for two days so I begged off in order to have a couple hours of quiet time. Sad but I am already counting down the days until the Christmas break begins!

I hope each of you had as nice a Thanksgiving Day as we did. Ryan told us it was his favorite meal of the year! Despite making a 24# turkey, there is very little left and only a bit of the side dishes. Kelleigh doesn't like any of the items so she had two cheeseburgers and was a happy, happy girl! She was a huge help this year as she peeled the potatoes, cut them, and helped with the pineapple casserole.

Earlier Thanksgiving Day, Mark and the boys went to see The Blind Side - a truly fabulous movie and one I highly recommend taking your family to see. Ryan and I went yesterday to see it and at parts I cried as the parallels between the movie and the two of us were many. Given our struggles lately, I pray our end result is as positive.

I did take advantage of the Black Friday sales but, alas, not at 3am! The online stores offered the same prices and free shipping so why fight the crowds? I only have two items left to buy and am thrilled. Today I forced the kids to suffer through two photo sessions so I could get the holiday picture ordered so that task is done too. I will put our annual letter on this blog so folks will have to go there to read it and help save a few trees.

Ryan successfully completed his on-line driving 'class' and is busy practicing for the written test at the DMV. The fail rate is 50% so he is working hard to pass it the first time! We have let him drive in the school parking lot and he's doing very well. Of course he would drive to the bathroom if he could! Once he passes the test we can schedule his first behind-the-wheel and he can venture further since he'll be legal!

I am loving my new Kindle and recommend it to anyone who loves to read and enjoys having it handy on-the-go. Definitely one of the best, and most used, purchases I've made lately. Off to get the laundry out and hoping to get inspired to drag out the Christmas stuff ...

Some holiday cards

It's been nice having a little time to play knowing that all the chores don't have to get done over the weekend! I had bought some new Cuttlebug embossing folders so decided to create a few cards using them. The tree is probably my favorite and looks prettier in real life.

Happy Birthday Christopher!

Happy Birthday to my brother who is celebrating his last birthday in his 30's today! Seems as if I was just changing his diaper so not sure how so much time has gone by! Hope you're having a great day and got my text.

I have a couple things to share now that the items have been distributed! Neither of these items are an original as I saw them on another creative persons site and loved them so had to order the stamp and create the gift bags. The first is the Thanksgiving card - the cat cracked me up so I veered from my serious, traditional style for this holiday for something funkier. You have to admit it makes you giggle! The second is a mix that I passed out to a few friends at work. It was a challenge to find the "bugles" in the grocery store as I've never seen or bought them before. The end product was clever and the recipients enjoyed them.

Sunrise

I keep forgetting to post this sunrise picture Mark took on Thursday. Beautiful isn't it?

Card class

I had a great time at the gold leafing class I took Thursday night. It was fun seeing my friend again as she teaches at another school so we don't get together very often. It's quite a process but I was able to do six cards and they are all stunning in person. I've scanned a few in but it doesn't do the gold leafing justice.

While I love having the sun in the morning, getting used to such long evenings of darkness are always an adjustment. The best part is the kids never seem to mind going to bed as the evening seems to have been forever! Ryan's football practices are now under the lights which is somewhat of a novelty for the JV team.

I signed up today to do a stamping technique class tomorow night at a local store where a friend teaches classes in the evenings. It's using a metallic paste and gold leafing which I've never tried. Will share with you the results! To say I am looking forward to an evening out is an understatement! Need to get working on my Thanksgiving cards before that holiday comes and goes like Halloween did ...

An eventful Halloween

I'll begin with a beautiful sunrise from Friday morning.

Yesterday was fairly eventful. It began with Kelleigh being given the ultimatum that her room would be cleaned or she would not go trick-or-treating. I draw the line when no carpet is seen when you walk in. She has a habit of slamming her door when she's angry and was told to knock it off. After checking to see her progress and pointing out areas that still needed dealt with, slam went the door. Mark walked into the garage, got the hammer and screwdriver, and we proceeded to remove the door ... as she screamed and ranted. Too bad. The door will come back at some point in the future when she starts acting appropriate. Of course she attempted to use other items in her room as a door resulting in more screaming as they were moved. Eventually the room got picked up enough to suit me but not without lots of drama.

Around 5pm we were starting to get things ready for the evening when there was an enormous crash. After checking to see if it was something indoors, we looked out front to see the water hydrant gushing water. Our neighbor was hanging decorations when a small car rounded the bend (going normal speed and no other cars in sight) and crashed into the fire hydrant, blew the front tire, and ended a couple houses away (the whole front end was smashed in too). The pressure blew the cement 'block' out as well as the lawn surrounding it. When the neighbor told the girl she may want to call her parents as the car wasn't drivable, she said "I can't, they don't know I have the car". She apparently didn't have her license either! Soon three patrol cars arrived, neighbors from down the street were coming up to see what happened for that amount of water to be gushing down, and finally the water department arrived to cut it off. The girl's father showed up and was not a happy man. It took quite some time for a tow truck to arrive but at least things were dry by the time kids starting coming around. She was a lucky girl to have only hit an object rather than a child. (The picture really doesn't do justice to the amount of water that was gushing.)

Here are my trick-or-treaters. Ryan was kind enough to take Connor to quite a few houses as Kelleigh and I only did the immediate streets.

Kelleigh tried hard to turn Buddy into Super Dog but he was having none of it!

Cards and butterfly

Connor was so excited to find this "perfect" (albeit dead) butterfly in the pool Sunday. I was amazed that it was so intact and not waterlogged!

To maintain some of my sanity, I made a couple Halloween cards I thought I'd share with you. I really meant to get one made for everyone, but obviously that didn't happen - I'll try for Thanksgiving! The witch is actually 3D and the inside appropriately says "If the broom fits, fly it" ... a motto I have adopted, while the second one looks cuter in real life as the bow is rather funky on the picture.

Pumpkin Artwork

Connor did this piece in his Art class today. He is very much enjoying this advanced art class and they have joined a website where they can post the kids work and pieces can be printed into postcards, shirts, etc.

Ryan ends first half in ER

After starting one of his best games this season, RB's opponent draws a face mask penalty as Ryan is hurt on a series of plays. The trainer worked with him for a while but, when it was clear he wasn't improving, we were called down to take him to ER. Fortunately it's only a mild concussion and we've been able to keep the headache under control. As we were driving from Vista back to Pomerado Hospital, he told me he felt better and could I take him back as he thought he could play the rest of the game! Mark caught the play on tape that drew the penalty and Ryan was able to see himself wobbling ...

Halloween centerpiece

I decided before October was over I should get out the few Halloween items I have. I discovered this cute pumpkin and asked Blanche if she would put an arrangement in it so I could use it on the table. The pictures below are what she did and it's beautiful. She is very creative with floral arrangements which I envy given it's definitely not my forte!

I love vintage!

When I saw this card on another cardmaker's site, I had to get the paper and pieces! I made this to give to a friend who is having surgery this week. Isn't it cute? The toaster and toast are 3D.

It's football season!

I've been very remiss in keeping up with this blog but I thought I'd share a few random pictures. The first couple are the football players in our house ... well, Connor is a wanna-be player and avid Cal fan! This is his attire for every game causing major eyeball rolls from big brother!

Here is a cute birthday treat I made for a little boy at school who I simply adore. It was his 6th birthday on Sunday so I made him this tin with Reese's cups inside. I thought the monkeys were darling!

We also had the privilege of attending one of the most gorgeous weddings I've been to of our friend's daughter. It was held in Balboa Park with a reception following in the ballroom. Everything about the day was simply gorgeous and fun.

I've been busy getting the enrichment program I coordinate going this week and dealing with the issues that seem to arise every year with the school sites. At some point I need to get some Halloween favors created for the kids in my class as it will be the end of the month before you blink twice. We are enjoying some very Fall-like weather with highs in the mid-70s.

My "Oops!" solved!

I am happy to report the white jersey is white again with the help of a handy product I bought today at Ralphs! It is made by Carbona and called "Color Run Remover" and is designed for stupid people who put red items in with white items! In case you ever need a product this company makes, they have a solution each for chocolate, blood, and ketchup. I will warn you that it smells like the home perms of years gone by but after soaking the jersey in very hot water with this stuff dissolved into it, it is white again! Ryan is a happy guy! Sadly the JV team lost by a touchdown to Mt. Carmel last night but the Varsity team won by a touchdown. Ryan had a good game and the boys never gave up which is all you can ask for.

In case you're in need of another chuckle ... Last Saturday we took the kids to the beach where they enjoyed boogie boarding, shell collecting, and skim boarding. Sunday night I walk upstairs to ensure the kids are in bed and smell something really nasty in the hallway. I couldn't place the smell. When I finally couldn't take it anymore I said something to which Kelleigh replies "maybe it's my shells on the [linen closet] counter". Okay ... there is nothing quite like the smell of rotting seaweed-scented shells right in your house! I couldn't get the towel with the shells out of the house fast enough and put the Febreze air freshener to its ultimate test. Fifteen sprays later I could still smell it and risked suffocating as I fell asleep with a pillow over my head! In the future, shells will be admired and left at the beach.

Oops!

It is NEVER a good thing to wash your son's football jersey with a new red sheet - even if it is in cold water! Obviously my mind wasn't on what I was doing as I know better than that! Now I have 3 days to get his newly pink jersey back to white! I am SOOO glad that it wasn't his new game jersey that was in that washer.

Connor gets his certificate

A year ago Connor received his black belt and over the year earned his monogrammed belt and today was given his official certificate. A great accomplishment!

RB Wins!

Rancho Bernardo's JV football team played a great game last night and won against San Pasqual 36-12. Ryan was most proud of the block he made allowing the quarterback to go 72 yards for a touchdown! The Varsity team also won and Connor is excited to be their ball boy for the year.

A pleasant surprise

Words can't describe the shock when Ryan informed me on the way home from football last night that he wanted me to cut his hair short. This is a child who's eyes I haven't seen in 4 years! Given how long and thick his hair is, it took a while to get to the 1" he'd decided on. It's amazing how different he looks. I told him his teachers wouldn't even recognize him today!

Labor Day Weekend

It was sad to say goodbye to my sister this morning who flew in Thursday night from Florida to spend the long weekend with us. We don't get to see each other often so it was fun to lounge by the pool, shop, and basically just have a relaxing time together. She and Kelleigh were maniacs at the mall as she has two boys and discovered the fun of shopping for a girl! The pictures below are of Kelleigh in the outfit that Crystol bought her. Notice the earrings that Kell "had to have" with her Claire's gift certificate!