ONE OF THOSE DAYS

Personal journal entry - feel free to read or not...

Ever have "one of those days" that starts and doesnt seem to end. We are having one of those today
1) bad night for me for sleeping
2) Ky AND Kels both woke about 230AM in complete screaming hysterics. Had to move Caiden to the playroom so he could go back to sleep. Ended up being up with Kels for several hours while listening to Ky scream his head off. Surprised the girls slept through it all
3) When I went upstairs last night I found almost every light ON - bedrooms, bathrooms, hallway, playroom, etc. I was blown away by the number of lights still left on - or turned back on. We have talked with the kids about leaving lights on everywhere. Preston even spent extra $ and time putting in timer lights so they would go off after kids were asleep - problem is they leave the lights on in the "on" position, plus leaving on everything else. I just cant figure out what to do about kids/lights - having everything on is not ok. Any help or suggestions would be welcomed
4) Colton has picked up stomach flu and is home sick today with fever,listless, etc. The other kids were sick 1-3 days, so I guess we will just guage things by his behavior/fever before I can send him back to school
5) Ky went off on another screaming rampage again this morning and ended up back in his room for more than an hour before he finally calmed down enough for me to let him out.
6) Having dilema with getting more chicks/keeping current chicks. Didnt get turn out expected from offering Spring Portraits - but it was my bad for only being able to do it during Spring break....do I risk time/$/advertising again and come up empty? I would love to keep the chickens, but we are not zoned for them, without somewhere for them to go it really isnt ideal to get any more not knowing what we would do with them when we are done.
7) Chick bucket was extra tricky to clean out this morning
8) Seems there are 10 million piles of laundry to do - and not enough time/energy to do them in
9) Dogs are also throwing up today. They seem to think it is a good idea to chew/eat the hog fuel in the yard...you would think they would figure things out when they get sick...but they dont....one more pile of laundry to do....
10) May have to replace CH2M printer. I bought some customer delivery envelopes for prints, but got them slightly too big for our printer. Preston was willing to take them to work to try printing the labels there. Too bad neither of us knew they have been made with some kind of plastic instead of paper - and one of them melted inside the printer. We are waiting to hear what will happen next. Guess I will know where any PMR $ will be going if we end up having to pay for repairs/replacement....
11) Seems I am in a constant agitated state. I am jumpy, nervous, near tears and snap at everyone. Communication at home has completely broken down with everyone and it seems that my inability to get myself under control is spreading to everyone else. I am a worthless, useless, fat ugly hag that has my family/husband running scared and doing everything they can to avoid me. I know it has been a horrible winter for me and things have spun so out of control that I am not sure that even with the coming sunshine and warmer weather that it is going to help at all....
12) PMR shoots have been a struggle. It seems there is either something wrong with me - or possibly my camera - as I have not been able to get the clean, clear shots I have needed and hoped for. One shoot went esp bad and I am seriously looking at having to refund my fee and apologizing to the client for not getting picts. The other shoot was for our dear friends and though I thought things went well, picts are not as good as I hoped. I am concerned that both may not give the # of shots I like to give to clients or the quality that I am striving so hard to achieve....not sure where I will find those answers
13) Spiritual stuff is a struggle if not completely non-existent. Every lesson I hear, every talk, every everything just seems to confirm that I have failed and continue to fail and that I will never acheive the "ideals" and that the whole I am in is so big it could swallow the whole universe now. Relationships that have been lost/ruined in the past will never be resolved or fixed because of people who knew me in my "past" and the "now" me will never make up for what has been done. I still find myself messing up big time and failing at everything I put my hand to which only re-affirms to others that I am still that "past" person. It never lets go and is always there to haunt my days and nights. Forever for me is a non-existent black nothingness - I dont even dare hope anymore that I will someday be able to learn to paint the sky with sunsets or clouds, or learn how to create the delicate petal of a flower, or sit and have a snuggly conversation with an animal that is now wild or dangerous (tigers, whales, polar bears, etc) - all things that will be rewards for those choice,worthy souls who have been valiant and faithful....I know that has never been/will never be me.
14) Sugar is my enemy - I was doing so well until Christmas and all the extra stresses/struggles started. It seems it is all I crave, all that keeps me going when schedules are non-stop and I have time to eat a cookie on the fly because I havent found time to eat. I keep resolving to just not eat anymore, but then a day like today hits and I find myself curled back in bed, with cookies in hand and tears still running down my face and my head and body feeling like it will explode any minute.
I cant explain things enough for anyone else to understand where my brain and body are these days - these very long days that I trudge through alone because there is no one else to understand or even listen to me. It is very lonely and I seem to fall deeper into the hole or put up one more wall against everything and everyone and just kind of go through the motions of each day. Never really feeling, never able to reach out to anyone or to accomplish anything without messing things up or making them worse by trying/or not trying. No one will ever understand, and that makes it even harder to struggle through things on my own. Just one of those days that just keeps going....

FRIENDS & FUN!

Yesterday we got the opportunity to visit our wonderful friends out at the coast. The weather was so amazingly beautiful and made our time at the beach even more awesome. The big kids have not seen each other for a very long time and some of the younger kiddos have never met before yesterday. They all got along SO well and they enjoyed each other a ton.

We adults also enjoyed our time together too. Q made the yummiest dinner and we chipped in with homemade bread and cookies - all of which was pretty much gone by the end of the night:) It was great for J and I to just get time to sit and visit too. We just hung out on the couch and talked and talked. Not something we get to do so often, so it really was so nice!

Thanx so much you guys for the invite and all the special stuff we did while we were together! It was tons of fun and we look forward to doing something together again soon!

Here are some fun picts from our outing. They are going to be in reverse order as it seems the blogging thing is always backwards - one of these days I will figure it out the right way...

I will post more picts under my Fine Art category on the photo blog very soon too!

The kids were all such troopers. None of them wanted to go, they were just having so much fun together. They were great though and helped gather up and carry all the gear back to the cars. It was also so fun to be in the very back and watch the kids help and encourage each other as we all tromped our way back to the cars. B was esp cute with Ky and held his hand almost the whole way back - it was so sweet to watch the 2 of them.

This little cutie kept making so many faces at me that I just had to keep the camera out. I got more picts of her in just one day than I have in all the photo sessions I have tried for at home. This one is definately going in my portfolio!
I just loved all the colorful outfits the boys were wearing. I thought it was very striking against all the earthy tones around them. It also just shows all the boys kind of doing their own thing as we were getting ready to go. Cute boys!

The seals were so cute and it was great fun to just watch them sunning themselves and flop across the beach. They all had their own personalities and cute faces.
Z took most of the kids over the see the seals up close before we left. They didnt seem to mind and just watched the kids as they inched a little closer. The kids thought it was really cool to be so close to them and be able to see each one up close

The one little one in the front kept looking up at the kids as they slowly inched forward, then he would lay back down and rest, and then he would pop up and watch the kids. It really was pretty funny watching him watching the kids.

The boys took turns throwing the kite up in the air trying to catch the last of the wind. I happened to catch B in the air too

Ky found a great little walking stick
The kids had so much fun chasing all the seagulls. They would just land in a big flock and hang out, the kids would chase them and then the birds would come back and just re-settle. They are probably used to all the chaos. It was fun for the kids.

G&A playing - all the kids, no matter how old they are, had a blast playing at the beach, and esp enjoyed that they had each other to do so much more
C & B had a total blast with the kite and played with it until the wind finally died down so much they couldnt even get it back in the air.

It was amazing to see how tall G has gotten - he is just growing up so fast

J&Z have a dog that is the cutest thing. She was all hyper out on the beach and the kids just encouraged her. I was taking picts and looked over and saw that M was digging in the sand and throwing it everywhere and then all of a sudden B bent over and started doing the same thing with her. It was pretty hilarious to watch
Kels wasnt too sure about being left in her carrier and reached out to me when she saw I was taking her pict. She was pretty content there most of the time though just watching all the other kids - she was safe and clean! Something the big girls didnt accomplish (the clean part) :)

C & K playing in the sand

C&D playing in the sand at the "Spit"
This is T - he is same age as Ky. He was pretty cute running around in those cute shoes and his hat on sideways

Kels got her first ride in a real swing - Ceana got her laughing pretty good but by the time we were ready to go Kels was a little "green around the gills" and it was prob good we were done :)

Colton had a great time in the sandbox
The big girls wanted to play on the tire swing - trouble was the swing was small and the girls were big. It was funny watching them try to squeeze onto it anyway and watching them laugh as they tried to swing

ANCOC Day 11

Turned in stuff we had checked out, then had graduation. Mr. and Mrs. Sir were both able to attend. :+)

ANCOC Day 10

I just realized I skipped a day in my numbering ... Sunday was a non-training day so it didn't warrant a write-up.

This morning was the APFT re-test. Maybe I should have re-taken it for score (more on that later). I showed up to help anyone that was on the bubble with the run. When I was at PLDC, someone ran the last hundred yards or so with me and helped me barely pass. I'm looking for chances to do the same for someone else. I think we had about 20 people show up, even though only SIX were required to be there. Pretty cool to see that much support. Unfortunately at least one (maybe two) still didn't pass, so I guess they won't get their graduation paperwork. I did end up running with a guy who definitely would NOT have made it without me and another Soldier running with him the whole way. So that was good for him and for me.

I joined the group who was encouraging one of the walkers, and who happened to be part of our horn quartet group. Fortunately one of the other permanent-profile walkers had been helping from the beginning of the test, giving some tips on form and momentum and varying step size. All I could do was offer to give her my apple juice after the test, which seemed to help her too. Thankfully she shaved five minutes off her time from the week before, and passed just fine.

I ended up with about 10 minutes to shower and change before opening formation, the second-to-last of the course. Hard to believe we're really almost done. The morning was spent "dinking around on the internet" (those were the actual instructions from our group leader) while the instructors went through end-of-course paperwork, counselings, etc. There was a survey online, lots of email being checked, and some general boredom. First chance I get I'll pick up a book to read since it sounds like the rest of the day will be the same (it's only 10am and I'm just about bored out of my mind).

End-of-course counseling was fine. My academic score was above 97%, which would have put me in line to be the Honor Graduate. Unfortunately another requirement for that award is scoring 80 points in each of the three physical fitness test events. I only scored above 80 in one event, and so made myself ineligible. It's not like that would have been a bonus in my check or anything ...

The ANCOC and BNCOC classes combined to practice that way-too-long "Creed of the Noncommissioned Officer" that we are supposed to recite from memory tomorrow. After that we had a discussion with CSM Camarda and MAJ Keene about all sorts of topics. Hopefully they will be able to use some of the ideas that were bantied as they continue to develop future courses, especially for the Reserves / National Guard.

Following lunch we had our graduation rehearsal, where we also found out the honor graduates. There was much grousing as our "top student" was announced. It was the guy who 1) never participated in the practice bands, but instead was off to the side practicing his conducting, and 2) missed most of the entire second week due to feeling sick. He did manage to show up on time for all the evaluations, so he was able to get those important scores. The rest of us didn't score well enough on the APFT, which I'm guessing is the reason he was ultimately selected: by default.

We're waiting for the final Soldier counseling, and the we're off to the Cheesecake Factory as a group. Should be a fun evening.

ANCOC Day 9

Surprisingly I slept pretty well last night. I still woke up at 0600 (I'm finally used to that time), and my audition piece was going through my head non-stop. Finally I just had to get up and get ready.

First order of business was individual auditions. All ANCOC students were supposed to score a 3.0 during a commander's audition before coming to the school, but we each performed another scored audition again today. This time the raters were the school instructors. While there are some very good players, nobody that admitted their score achieved 3.0 or higher.

In my own audition I had some high-quality vibrato (horn players aren't supposed to use vibrato) but it got mostly under control by the time I finished the first movement. Without direction I had rehearsed all three movements, but the rater had me stop after only the first. Too bad, because the 3rd movement is my best. Next we moved to scales, which I knew coming in would be the worst part for me. Fortunately it's only worth 10%. G-flat major was fine. But then my brain simply would not do the C-sharp harmonic minor. I was trying to play it as D-flat minor and I think that method you end up with a double flat somewhere. Anyway that was a bomb. Next he asked for E melodic minor which fortunately is much easier. I was most confident in my sight reading ability (50% of the total) and that went fine. I even got to sight-read a couple of saxophone parts, which had to be transposed. Most of the comments were about my airy tone (no argument) and how my mouthpiece isn't centered on my chops.

Other horn players had significantly worse experiences. The guy before me came out and said, "That guy has the personality of a rock." (He seemed perfectly fine to me.) The student after me reported that he was told, "Well, you do have ONE good quality ..." There was some general belly-aching about the whole audition process, and how the Active Army bandsmen are paid to practice and play every single day so of course they should be expected to perform better on these auditions. For many of us, the audition today was the first in many years, or perhaps even the first since originally joining the military. I guess people feel better when they have someone else to blame. But overall everyone was happy to have that part over and done with.

My computer forced an "update" yesterday and the result was a series of BSOD (blue screens of death). I can't seem to access the internet, work materials, or do much of anything right now. (That's the reason these blogs will be posted to the family page late.) So I had to finish my final essay from the computer in the classroom. Thanks to those who proofread it for me; I was able to incorporate many of your suggestions. (Kari, I didn't, include all the commas, that you, wanted, me to, use.) :+)

After lunch we had a group discussion about the role of the First Sergeant. Most or all of the students in our class are expecting to fill that role at some point in their future, so it was good to hear everyone's ideas and thoughts. We also were introduced to a new tool that allows leaders to add people to a review pool, and request that they rate you on a large number of things the Army thinks are important to develop. The system will add up those scores and compare them to a self evaluation, to give the leader an idea of how others think they are doing. Sounds useful. Too bad the internet was running slow and the system was apparently being updated while the seventeen of us were trying to access it. Something to try another time.

I'm on my way to dinner tonight with Mr. Alexander - since we're both students at the academy we had to get the proper paperwork filled out. Even though we were basically told on day 1 that nobody would be given permission to interact with any other students, I suppose an officer has more "pull" than most.

Out-processing, end-of-course counseling and graduation rehearsal are all we have on the schedule for tomorrow. Maybe I'll head out to help encourage those retaking the APFT tomorrow morning. Should be a fairly easy day.

ANCOC Day 8

Testing day.

The morning started out with a student recital comprised of the various small groups. Our horn quartet borrowed (OK, stole) the name "Could be Wurst" from the 234th's Polka Band. We did that because the music we had during our early rehearsals was a set of short German horn quartets. Then we (they) hatched the idea that we could simulate playing at an Oktoberfest celebration. Things started to get REALLY crazy after that ... our "costume" was made up of rolling our ACU pants up to our knees to expose our long green socks with class A (patent leather) dress shoes. It was supposed to make people think of lederhosen, but most seemed to think it was a St. Patrick's Day thing. Someone else brought huge beer steins, into which I placed my water bottle.

Each of us took a turn speaking to the crowd, making self introductions and a bit of humor. The MST leader went first, and talked about the undeserved (or deserved) reputation of horn players being heavy beer drinkers, and how that tied into our theme. The next soldier gave her name, announced that she liked to drink beer and take long walks on the beach. I told the crowd that when the group first found out I was NOT a drinker, they wondered whether I was an authentic horn player and displayed outright mistrust - until they realized they would never have to take turns being the designated driver. Each of those bits of dialog was followed by several short folk tunes or horn calls.

The final section turned out quite well. Our last player engaged the crowd of Army musicians by asking what horn players were known for. We eventually got them to say "offbeats." They were instructed to NAME THAT MARCH based only on the offbeats played by our horn section. We were armed with Tootsie Rolls (a gimmick by one of the BNCOC instructors) for whoever came up with the correct march name first. To my surprise, NOBODY guessed the march - Americans We - even after two of our players played some euphonium cues. We finished out by starting the trio of Stars and Stripes, which they eventually DID get and sang along to the end.

The other groups were quite creative and entertaining, and it was a fun start to the day.

We were given some time to work on our final essays, and then turned loose for lunch.

Afterwards we gathered for our military ceremonies evaluation. We set up a parade field inside part of the gymnasium, and while some students played the roles of company commanders, adjutant, reviewing officer, etc., others were in the band the person being evaluated was the bandmaster. The whole sequence took about 15 minutes. EACH. THERE ARE SEVENTEEN OF US IN THE CLASS !!! After four hours we were all pretty much beat. But I think everyone passed, which is a good thing.

My computer is melting down so I spent some time on the phone with IT back in Corvallis, rebooted many many times, and (obviously) finally got it limping along. Tomorrow morning we have auditions, and then nothing until after lunch, so I'm hoping I can get caught up a bit on some music library work and other things on my machine. Fingers crossed.

I did spend a couple of hours in a practice room, but there isn't much I can do now to be prepared for the morning audition. It's too late to really work on all those scales, so I'll just have to do whatever I can do. Hopefully the solo and sight reading will go well. Again, fingers crossed.

The next post will be made after the final scored event, so hopefully it will contain some happy info!

OUR SPECIAL FRIEND SPEEDY

I was hoping our first post about our new chickies would be to tell about all of our fun and joy. It turns out that our joy has turned to heartbreak all in a few short hours. Due to an accident we have lost one of our new little friends.

Ceana has been especially devastated as it was her little Speedy that was taken from us.

How does one so small and unknown become so precious and loved in just a few short hours? I dont know how it happens, but all of the chicks became dear to our hearts the moment they came into our lives. Each of the big kids has claimed and named a cute little fluffy bundle. Having them here with us for even these few short hours has really brought joy into our home and our hearts. It has brought a little more perspective and a little more knowledge and love for all of God's creatures, especially ones so delicate and sweet. It has taught us that life really is so fragile, and that every moment should be enjoyed and treasured.

There have been tears, and questions, and prayers, and more tears. Colton, even as young as he is, understands that Speedy is gone, but doesnt understand why Heavenly Father wont make Speedy alive again right now. It has been difficult to try to explain, and even understanding the great plan of life and death and renewal through the Savior, it does not make this heartbreak any easier. It is almost unreal that such a little one can bring such a great test of faith. The harder part will be having more tears tomorrow from Caiden, as he had gone to bed and does not know of the loss.

This life experience has opened an unexpected door to talking with the children about life, death and the resurrection. It has left me feeling very inadequate to do the job needed to comfort and teach them. Holding him in my hand, stroking his soft fluffy body, knowing he was gone, and yet pleading for his life has left me feeling even more helpless than before. All of our owies and drama (more posts to come) these last couple of weeks has left me feeling like a failure to protect the children from hurt and pain and fear - all things I know that I CAN'T protect them from, and yet wishing with all of my heart that I could. It has been and will continue to be great learning experience and trial.

We have chosen to take this time to let the kids tell all about the joy that has been brought into our lives this afternoon/evening. We will be holding a funeral for this dear little friend tomorrow. We will say our good-byes and he will be put to rest beneath the Spring daffodils in the front yard.

Here is a list of the joy we have had this afternoon. In coming days we will post more pictures and tell of the antics we have enjoyed and will enjoy in coming days and weeks as we share our home and our hearts with these sweet little babies.

1) I liked having Speedy with us because I was able to pet him. He was very soft and fluffy. (Colton)
2) He was funny because he would try and run away when we were trying to take his pict (Kaeli)
3) We loved Speedy very much. It makes us sad and makes us cry that he died. (Colton)
4) He was cute & fuzzy (Kaeli)
5) Ceana - Speedy was my baby. As I watched him die in my hand, I lost a very special friend. While I was at home today, spending time with him, the other chicks and mom, we had a wonderful time. We laughed at all of his escape attempts and calling to him "Come back here, Speedy!" He was even following me around. He was my favorite. I know that mom loved him too. I believe that as he sat on my shoulder during pictures, we formed a special friendship. I will never forget Speedy. He was mine.

We loved you, our dear friend, Speedy. (Kaeli)

As the Easter season fast approaches we will have a sweet little one to especially remember. Though he has been with us for such a short time, he has touched our lives in a big way. The coming days will be spent shedding tears, answering questions, discussing the Atonement, feeling the emptiness and loss, sharing and comforting grief. All great lessons to be learned in this life that we have been given. Heavenly Father has all power to give life and sunshine, and yet sometimes he "lets it rain" for our greater good and learning. I know it in my brain, but it is hard to process it in my heart, esp when I stand by helpless to adequately teach or comfort the kids in difficult times like these. Please keep the kids in your thoughts and prayers as we work through this difficult time with them.

Enjoy these sweet pictures of our little friend -

This little guy was the smallest of all the chicks - but boy could he RUN!
Ceana & Speedy became fast friends

JaNay & Speedy showing off their cute toes

ANCOC Day 7

The days really seem to be filling up this week. Today was our final group PT session, and the intent was to do a "team building" event. The instructor chose to have us play human foosball. Since we had previously split into six performing groups (MSTs), each MST became a "line" on the foosball table by gripping wrists. We lined up and started beating the snot out of each other by booting a kickball back and forth. Our poor horn quartet line really took a beating ... one took a shot to the side of her face, another a tough hit to her chest, the other guy a hit square in the back from our own team and I did my Jimmy Rollins shoe commercial impersonation (I've had too much time to watch TV lately). It was still pretty fun, even if not aerobically challening.

For the morning training we were able to march around outside since the rain sort of let up. It was kind of fun to steer our little marching groups around the ponds that had formed out on the parade field (and good practice too). We lost a day of instruction due to weather, so I'm not sure the BNCOC students are going to get the full set of instructions this year. But those of us who have been through it before are doing what we can to help them out.

The hour before lunch was another group writing session. (Feels like I'm back in high school English class.) Since our combined classes voted to scream "LEADERSHIP" when brought to attention in formation, our instructor had us each write about that word. After 10 minutes we were instructed to mill around the class and form ourselves into clusters of folks who had sort of written some of the same ideas. Then as individual groups were were to write a 5-paragraph essay on LEADERSHIP. I just think this is the instructors' sneaky way of getting course feedback out of the students. Many people don't take AAR's very seriously, but if they have an ASSIGNMENT during class, well that will work!

During lunch I worked on the other essay that is required, one where we talk about the things we learned in the function tracks (Drum Majoring for me), how we plan to use it when we return home, and how the course instruction can be improved. Again, it's a blatant attempt to extract meaningful feedback from us. Good idea, actually.

This afternoon started out with our final small-group rehearsal. The class recital has been moved up to first thing tomorrow morning, so this was our final chance to go through our routines, finalize cosutmes, edit the jokes, etc. Oh yeah, and rehearse the music.

Last part of the duty day was spent over in the gym going through the review ceremony over and over and over. And over again. We had a couple of people that rehearsed yesterday and decided they didn't want or need to go through it again today, but we still spent almost 3 hours to get through those who wanted or needed the rehearsal. Some are still struggling with the bandmaster commands and sequence of events, but hopefully they got copies of the notes that are floating around the class. I would have been happy to help anyone out tonight, but nobody showed up after hours in the classroom. Tomorrow afternoon is the scored the evaluation. I expect there will be some "cramming" going on during lunch.

After dinner I headed back to the classroom to catch up on some paperwork. They have asked for several things to be documented (again, official feedback thinly veiled as a writing assignment). Plus I needed to make progress on my essay. I had gotten some ideas down during lunch, but mostly in outline form. I had saved the file to an online server so I could access it from the computer in the classroom. After a couple of hours of work it was time to close up the building. I then made one of those "Oh, NO!" mistakes when I closed the file. I had opened it from that web server, which was not a local copy. So when I closed the file it didn't save anywhere! I tried all the tricks I could think of, but couldn't find a temporary copy stored anywhere on the computer. Well, that lost version just became a draft. I have just completed putting together a LOCAL COPY on my laptop, which is probably better than the draft. One more read-through after some sleep and it should be finalized.

Tomorrow's another big day, with the MST performances and ceremonies evaluation. Wish me luck (if anyone is reading this)!

DOOFY DOG

This morning has been quite filled with more adventure than I had planned on. As many of you know we have doxies (short for dachshunds). One of our little guys LOVES to dig, and get himself into as much trouble as possible.

This last week since the weather has been nicer Oreo has decided to burrow under the deck, which he hasnt done all winter. He then managed to get himself stuck - several times. It took Ceana going outside and calling him and coaxing him, with treats in hand, to get him out the other night. You would think after all that he would not do it again...but no, that wouldnt stop him...more boy genes, dont even get me started on that one....

Today, the little mister put me in a complete panic. He went out and when I called didnt come back in, or answer me. I had heard his whimpering from just outside the office window and had gone out to see what was up. Apparently he had gotten himself stuck, again, but in a location (right in the middle of the deck on the west side) where I could not see him or get to him. I tried calling our contractor who built the deck to see if he could come help me pull up decking. No go. I tried digging bigger holes to try to get to him, only to hit layered framing right where he was. I prayed my guts out - losing a dog under the deck would be the one thing to push me over the edge, esp with Preston gone.

I finally called TMS and asked to check Ceana out of school, hoping that if he wasnt hurt/stuck that she could get him to come out. She was nervous when I picked her up and about in tears when I told her what had happened. When we got home she went right out back and do you know what we found - the little stinker had gotten out! Somehow, still dont know where he came out or what happened. All I know is that I received answer to prayer and we were both VERY relieved that he was ok. You know how you are relieved and angry all at the same time? Yeah. Dumb dog.

Ceana took the dogs in the house while I proceeded to dig up the back yard and fill in every nook and cranny, under and around the deck, with mud and rocks and hogfuel. I am hoping that, for now, that will do the trick and keep him from getting under there again. This summer we may have to come up with a more permanent solution....

I got ceana back to school and went ahead and picked up colton while I was out, even though it was early. I came home and put little people down for naps. I think I may go there myself just to get all the jitters to calm down.

Doofy dog. It is a good thing he is so cute, or he would be in BIG trouble.....

ANCOC Day 6

Today we were allowed to sleep in a bit, as first formation was not held until 0800. Unfortunately the chow hall has different Saturday hours and doesn't open until 0800, so many of the students had not eaten any breakfast. (I had stocked my fridge & freezer; the more I hear about the food at the chow hall the more I'm glad that I'm not eating there.) Training was delayed by one hour to allow for chow.

Since it was raining, we set up our "outdoor" ceremony in the large rehearsal room. Just as we were getting started with the run-throughs, our instructor came in to let us know they had reserved part of the gymnasium. So we packed things back up and moved over to the recreation center. For about two hours we ran and re-ran the ceremony, with a video camera rolling on the bandmaster. About half of us (myself not included) were able to practice in front of the band.

We returned to the classroom and discovered that the chow hall was scheduled to close in 5 minutes. Again, not a big deal to me but I'm sure many of the students weren't so happy about having to eat at McD's. I needed to go to the tailor shop to have my uniform re-fitted and altered, so my lunch plan was to go down two granola bars while driving to the shop.

The fitting went OK, except the jacket can't be taken in enough from the back. So she'll take in those seams AND move the buttons. The pants will be taken in quite severely (I hope the seam in the front of each pant leg doesn't move.) Plus she noticed that the rank was too small; they were meant for a female jacket. All these things are supposed to be comleted by next Wednesday, and the damages will be $79 - ouch!

After lunch we were given time to rehearse our small groups. We finally went through our script and music without stopping, and our 9-minute performance timed out at 14 minutes. Some time would be saved if we could read off photocopies of the music, as the little German books wouldn't stay open on their own. Since the building is so sparsely manned on the weekends we had to hunt down someone with keys to the library and copy machine.

About that time we got word of a final formation to excuse the students. Next week's student leadership did an informal "hand-off" of the information and instructions, and we rehearsed the inspection sequence so we'll be better-prepared for next week's formations. After all that our group got together and actually got some rehearsal time on some of our pieces. Should be pretty fun.

Even though I'm "remote" I still needed to prepare meeting agendas and the Sunday bulletin, so I had a few phone calls to make and files to prepare and email out. I was able to watch Utah and Utah State win their conference tournament championships and then fell asleep almost immediately. (I'm writing this Sunday morning.) I'm pretty sure it was the large, stiff pillows that were keeping me up at night and have formed this crink in my neck ... the past few nights I've been sleeping on a folded towel and have slept MUCH better.

Back to work / rehearsal / practice / writing today, so the report will probably be pretty short.

HOMEMADE YUMMINESS!

Today we decided the freezer needed to be re-stocked with bread. We recently received a WAY yummy recipe from a good friend and decided to try it again. I was all set up to help Kaeli and instead spent my time tending to injured children and being a personal taxi service for Ceana. Just one of those days.

Kaeli stepped up to the plate and took on the challenge. Though she took on the playtime is more like it. Kaeli LOVES making homemade bread. She loves to watch the yeast do its thing and poof all over and she loves getting her hands in the dough. She was so happy about things today I even got her to smile! That is an amazing thing!

As you can see from these glorious pictures she was MORE than successful. The bread was beautiful and SOOOO yummy. The house smells heavenly too! What a great accomplishment for her!

(Also, kind of a fun accomplishment for me - these picts are what we photographers call SOOC - straight out of the camera - no tweaks needed - I was excited they turned out so well) :)

HOUSE OF THE WALKING WOUNDED

It has been an interesting week for kiddos and owies.

Ky's lip is slowly healing and looks much better today. It continues to change color and look really scary at times, but it has passed inspection from our friend who says he will be just fine.

Yesterday Colton came to me and said "mom, my ear feels icky". Upon inspection I discovered that his right eardrum has ruptured, again. Lovely. I went and hunted out his antibiotic drops and made a phone call to our dr. We will be doing drops for the next 5 days and I will be taking Colton down to the dr at the end of next week.

Today Kels decided to attempt the stairs on her own. Her blood-curdling scream sent both Kaeli and I running to see what had happened. Not sure how far up she got, but she gave herself a good enough bonk on her way back down apparently. Again, another child with blood spewing from their mouth. She somehow chunked her upper lip inside. She was NOT a happy camper with kaeli pinning her down and me getting a cold wipe in her mouth to stop the bleeding. I did get the bleeding stopped and she calmed down as kaeli held her. She is going to have a fat lip too for awhile. I went and put the gate up across the bottom of the stairs. We will have to make sure from now on that it is always up while she is out and about. She is just getting too big for her britches.

Hopefully the rest of the day and the weekend will be uneventful. We are planning to stay pretty close to home and just lay low. Thank goodness for quick fix meals, naps, and movies :)

ANCOC Day 5

I'd be lying if I said the day started "bright and early." Well, it WAS early, but still dark. Since it wasn't raining we moved from the gym back out to the track for some cardio work. I was happy to see our deputy commandant this morning, instead of the instructor who claims to "enjoy training for triathalons." The exercise event consisted of lining up in two long lines, or "sticks", and we moved out at a walk. These "sticks" were each about 15 people long. The name of the event is "Last Man Up" which is pretty descriptive ... the last person in the line moves up to the front of the line, and this rotation continues as the lines are on the move. We did the first mile at a walk - adhering to Olympic rules that at least one foot must remain in contact with the ground at all times - which made for some rather comical forms moving up the line. Then we did several miles while jogging. Overall not too bad.

We had a Class-A inspection in the morning formation, which was COLD. We had to ground our overcoats and gloves, and stand there while everyone was inspected one-by-one. SFC Hood's first comment after looking me over was "Um, that jacket looks a little bit big for you?" Thanks a lot family ... that contest of yours almost got me into trouble. But then when I mentioned that I'd lost almost 40 pounds in the past few months her tone changed. She said to make sure I get the jacket and pants altered before we wear the uniforms again at next Friday's graduation.

The drum major instructor wimped out and held class inside. It was probably a good call though, more because we were in dress uniforms than because it was a little bit cold and windy and pouring down rain. It's easy for me to say he wimped out since I wasn't the one who had to make the decision. :+)

Today's indoctrination was actually a class about personality types. Our instructor did a major presentation on the development of various personality categorizations, including the work of Plato, Freud, Jung and Keirsey. Apparently the current theories suggest four major categories which are assigned based on people's temperment and character. If anyone is interested you can take the test at www.keirsey.com. My results indicate I'm a GUARDIAN type, although I think I'm RATIONAL too.

After lunch we had our baton techniques evaluation. This consisted of everyone leading the class in playing the National Anthem. There was a list of things that would be scored, including each of the required cues, dynamic changes, style changes, procedures for starting and stopping the music. I'm hoping I get extra credit for leading the vibrato that corresponded to the rhythm of my nerves. I'm pretty sure everyone passed no problem, even though we hadn't actually practiced in front of the group before the final exam.

The weather still included liquid sunshine, so we had our military ceremonies class inside. We're basically role-playing all of the important characters in an on-field review ceremony, and will be evaluated on how we perform the bandmaster position. Apparently most of the bands represented in our class do these outdoor reviews somewhat frequently, so I'll be doing some extra run-throughs with the script on my own.

The end of the duty day was some extra MST rehearsal, and our program and script are starting to come together. Three of our group got together after dinner to try to work the script a bit more. I think we'll be busting the stereotype that most people have of horn players and horn groups. Think "Name That Tune" and "Lederhosen." Boring ... I think not.

Until tomorrow ...

ANCOC Day 4

Thursday evening already ... not sure if the time is going by quickly or not. On one hand it's only been four days since we started. However, our first scored music evaluation (ceremonial conducting) is tomorrow afternoon.

This morning started very early with combined ANCOC / BNCOC PT. The session was led by one of the academy instructors. When I was in BNCOC, we did PT every day and it was led by one of the students. Not sure why they have gone away from that model. Maybe the students were burning each other out? SSG Campbell sure did his best to burn US out this morning with a set of exercises targeting the upper body and abs. I'm quite sure I won't be able to sit up tomorrow morning when the alarm clock rings. Speaking of tomorrow ... we already know it's a cardio session, and I fear that it will be led by the academy instructor who "enjoys training for triathalons."

The temperature took a severe turn back towards winter. The morning session of drum majoring was tough since we battled the cold, the wind (which was worse than the cold) while trying to learn the latest mace movements. Fortunately the class members seem to be picking things up rather well. In another change from when I attended previously, the drum major evaluation is GO/No GO instead of being scored. Thus there is FAR less pressure about extra after-hours rehearsals and stress.

The morning indoctrination was a free writing assignment. (Yes, this really is an Army school.) We were given the word "INSPIRE" and told to take 10 minutes to write whatever we wanted. Then many shared what they had written. As you might imagine, without more specific instructions we got quite a wide range of ideas. One guy did the middle school assignment where he wrote a short sentence for each letter in the word, starting with that particular letter. Others were quite poetic. One guy wrote down lyrics to a song he started to write in his head during the time. Another gave a Latin lesson on the meaning of the word, morphing into the biblical story of creation (no, I wasn't that guy). Fortunately at least a few of us wrote about leadership, and overall we had a pretty good discussion.

After lunch the MST's got rehearsal time, which we used to sight-read a lot of German music. That will make more sense when I post our final script for our group's performance coming up next Tuesday. I also corresponded with a co-worker back in Corvallis (a native German) to get some translations of many of the songs. I think we're figuring out the strengths of the various players, which is definitely defining the music we can select. It's kind of fun to be alternating 1st and 3rd in a horn quartet again.

The last class of the day was more practice at outdoor review ceremonies, with primary emphasis on the role of the bandmaster. More than 3.5 hours on Saturday will be devoted to drilling these steps, as the evaluation (again, GO/NO GO - not scored) is scheduled for Monday afternoon. I played the role of a company commander, which meant a lot of screaming ("Practice your COMMAND VOICE!") so I'm hoping to just be a band member tomorrow. Besides, I need to see what the BANDMASTER is supposed to be doing so I can get a GO on the eval.

This afternoon I'm catching up on a couple of work assignments, and putting in time with the mirror to rehearse conducting the National Anthem. Tomorrow afternoon is our conducting evaluation, which is one of only two scored tests for this course. Of course, several things have been changed since they taught this same skill at BNCOC, so there are several things to practice.
Another day down, and 6+ more to go. Almost half way!

BRAVE BOY

A few days ago Ky gave himself a nasty owie. I heard him start to cry - not anything blood-curdling to make me bolt from my chair, just a whimper of sorts. When I got up to go check on him, his lip was split wide open and he was standing on the hearth, bleeding profusly. I snagged him as fast as I could and put pressure on his lip. Looking at it I just knew we were going to end up at the dr office with stitches. Thankfully we have a friend who is a nurse and I was able to get a hold of her to have her come look at Ky. She said she didnt think it would need stitches, but she did seal it with a special medical "super glue". His lip has gone from ugly to worse, and we have been trying to keep ice on it and meds in him to try and help the swelling. Yesterday I was afraid it was getting infected too. My friend assured me that wounds like this stay wet so they get all icky looking but that everything is fine. Whew.
I swear this little mister is going to be my undoing. He is making up for all the other kids never doing the climbing, into everything stage. Even the other boys never did 1/2 the stuff Ky does! You would think that after hurting himself so badly on the woodstove/hearth that he wouldnt go anywhere near it - but no - it is still his favorite place to play, no matter how many times I have to tell him to not get up there, crazy boy!

This pict really doesnt show the damage as well as I hoped but you can see the swelling after I finally got the bleeding stopped
Later the same day. Ky went to a friend's house to play and came home with his lip split open again. I was really afraid we were going down for stitches anyway. I got some motrin in him right away and got more ice on his lip, even holding him wasnt enough comfort though - he really had blown it open again. Thankfully the combo of ice and meds seemed to help tons

My friend and I had a good laugh over this one. She had Ky hold his mouth open while she put on the "super glue". After she was done she told him he could close his mouth - but he didnt. He was kind of in a daze with his mouth wide open. We laughed and laughed. He didnt end up closing or relaxing his mouth until after I offered him some lunch.

He seems to be doing lots better today. He keeps pointing to his lip and saying "hurt" but seems to be back to normal activities and eating. It looks lots better today too, thankfully. It will prob take a long while to get it healed though. What a crazy boy!

MORE BIRTHDAY PHOTO FUN

Colton LOVED every minute of me taking his birthday pictures. Even when it wasnt his turn he kept asking me to take more. It was pretty funny. It was fun that he was enjoying it so much. It is hard to believe that Colton is 6 already. Many friends and family know what we went through to get him here and keep him with us. He has grown and changed SO much since then, he truly is a miracle.

I will be posting more from the full shoot on the photo blog soon - watch for more to come!

I got several picts of this smirky smile - it is totally him though, so that is why this is one of my faves
Colton got REAL superman PJ's for Christmas. They are his absolute favorites and I have to coax him out of them just to get them into the washer. I just busted out laughing at the set of these I took - he is so serious - and yet most of the time he spends "flying" through the house and leaping off of things.
He really is getting to big for our little rocking horse. He has been the one to really enjoy it though, so he had to have his pict taken on it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHOTO FUN

It is always fun for me to do birthday photo shoots for the kids. We try hard to find fun ways to celebrate and to keep memories. Taking the kids' picts is a fun way we do that.
I was totally blown away when I got a good look at these. Ceana is quickly becoming a young woman - I dont remember where the time has flown to. She is my right hand most of the time and I dont know what we would ever do without her sweet spirit in our home. She is a joy.

I will be posting a full shoot set of picts on my photoblog soon - so watch for more to come.


Neither Ceana or I could choose which one we loved better - they both have so much in them. I think we are leaning towards getting the B&W printed and in my portfolio.

STUDENT(S) OF THE MONTH

This week we got the fun opportunity to go to 2 awards ceremonies for the kids. Both Colton and Kaeli had been selected as student of the month at their schools. It is always fun to attend and the kids enjoy the yummy treats they always offer for the continental breakfasts the hold for the families. We are proud of how well the kids are doing in school this year. It is an extra special accomplishment for Kaeli and Colton as they have both started at new schools this year and have had alot of big adjustments to make.
Each of the kids is chosen by a specific teacher to receive this award. Part of Kaeli's comment from her teacher was about how well she gets along with everyone and that her quiet example speaks louder than words.

Colton's award talked about how much improvement he has made in class. He has had some continuing challenges and it is great to know that his teacher and other staff are working hard with him to help him to be successful.

Powdered doughnuts are an extra special treat and are enjoyed by all the kids - I always know when there is more ON the boys than in them that a treat has been extra special to them :)

ANCOC Day 3

Last night I finally got a little bit more sleep; it certainly helped that we didn't have to report until 0800.

The first set of classes involved more drum majoring. The school instructors were required to attend suicide prevention training (the same training I'm missing this week), so one of the ANCOC students who is in the class - and who is the drum major for his unit - taught the first hour of the course. Several of us were able to pair off with those who were struggling to give some one-on-one peer assistance. The weather is starting to break, and we even got a little bit of rain in the morning.

Next we had a group discussion to recap how our MST selection meeting went the day before. We had been given only a few rules (5-9 people per group, each person plays their primary instrument, at least one student from each class in each group, etc). It was quite an interesting process, especially after most of the groups had been formed and there were some "left over" players that weren't assigned. Thankfully enough groups took pity on the remaining percussionists to give them a group to join. :+)

Our horn quartet has decided (I got out-voted) to simulate playing for a local festival. In fact, they picked an Oktoberfest. During the lunch hour I typed up some ideas on what we might say as we present our music, including my own joke about being the group's permanent designated driver. One of our members has some sets of German horn quartets that we started playing through, and we have an idea about inserting an American march too. Of course we'll be very serious as we play our regular parts to the final strain of Stars and Stripes. Or maybe it will be Bravura. Or American's We. When it comes to horn parts, it really doesn't matter what title you put on those after-beats. Since we're going with the biergarten theme, I'm hoping we can round up some plastic cups and distribute "simulated adult beverages" (apple juice) to the crowd. Part of the scoring is music, but another part is creativity in presentation and engaging the audience.
A briefing on Composite Risk Management provided some "real" Army indoctrination.

The last couple of hours were spent outside on the parade field, attempting to learn the setup and sequence of review ceremonies. That will come in really handy for the once or twice a DECADE that we perform such ceremonies. Actually, the only time we've done one was when we were asked to go to Montana for a change of command. It's still good stuff to know. That practice had more than the normal number of distractions, including three separate SOM field bands marching around and playing across the street (we were trying to rehearse bandmaster movements and sequences very slowly while Washington Post was being blared from just a few yards away) and the Navy kept flying their helicopters around - sometimes with three guys literally dangling from a wire rope beneath the flying machine!

Bobby Shue is giving a concert on base tonight; still not sure whether I'm going to go, or I might just hit a practice room since many more should be available at that time. Also I'm hoping things will cool off (high was 77 degrees today) tonight, which should help me sleep better. The high for tomorrow is only forecast to be 43 degrees, so that should help me. The guy from Hawaii is going to suffer, as he didn't even BRING a jacket! I doubt they were ever issued cold-weather gear.
Until tomorrow ...

ANCOC Day 2

OK so I'll start by finishing day 1. Much of the afternoon was taken up in getting folks login and password information for the computers. Those who had not completed the Information Assurance had the "opportunity" to sit through those lovely flash videos as a group while the rest of us were taken to another room to print out our certificates. (Thanks Terry for "encouraging" us to take care of this previously - it was nice to have that already done.) Then their IT guy spent quite a bit of time setting and resetting passwords, tracking down lost video cables, etc.

Next came the refresher on conducting the National Anthem, which we will be tested on this Friday. Our current instructor is emphasizing different aspects than did my BNCOC instructor. I was unable to sleep last night because I kept “conducting” it over and over in my mind … The end of the day was devoted to initial counseling with the SGL (instructor).

That evening I assisted one of our classmates (SSG Balback, from the 133rd) whose luggage finally arrived. She got the call from United that they would be dropping off her bags “sometime between 6:30 and 10:30.” A bit vague, but at least we wouldn’t have to drive back to the airport, just the front gate. She got the call about 8:00 that it was on the way, and we were to meet the driver at the pass office outside of gate 5. I thought I remembered the pass office being outside of gate 3, but we went ahead to gate 5 anyway. Sure enough, no office and the gate attendant said we should go back to gate 3. The only problem was, I had left my rental agreement in the room so I had to use my sheepish, “oops, sorry” look to get us back onto the base. Strike 1.

After retrieving the agreement we went back to gate 5, and looked for a way to get to the little out building without going out through the main gate. In my attempt to perform this non-standard maneuver I managed to go out through the one-way IN lane of the commercial gate area. Seeing we weren’t going to make it to the pass office from there either I turned around and got flagged down by the gate guard – luckily his weapon was not yet drawn. “You’re not supposed to go out this way” was followed by “Oops, sorry.” Strike two.

By the time we made it to the pass office parking lot we were about 10 minutes later than had been agreed to meet the delivery guy, but there was no sign of a blue civic. So we sat and waited. Eventually SSG Balback called the phone number she had, and the delivery guy said he was waiting at the pass office at gate 5. Huh? We offered to meet him at gate 5 (not sure where), but he said he would come to us instead. During this time a police officer pulled into the parking lot and walked up to the car. I thought for sure this was Strike 3. Instead he simply asked what we were doing there, and seemed to believe our story. He then went to the other vehicles in the lot and got them all to leave. OK, only Strike 2.5.

A few minutes later, a blue sedan pulled into the lot and parked about 10 spots away. “Is he really going to make us lug your bags from that far away?” I asked. Anyway we got out, and so did the driver. SSG Balback pronounced, “Wow, am I ever glad to see you!” “Uh, OK.” Then I noticed that the car was a CAMRY, not a CIVIC. Probably scared that guy good, having to strangers walk up to him in a dark parking lot being overly friendly. (We found out this morning that he’s actually a BNCOC student!) Strike 2.75?

Enough time passed that SSG Balback called that number AGAIN, and he said he was looking for us at gate 3A. Um, we had just talked to the only other person in the parking lot there at gate 3. Eventually she asked, “Are you at Little Creek?” Turns out the guy was driving around the wrong base looking for us. Another 20 minutes and we were FINALLY headed back to Shields with her bags. So much for getting to bed early.

So last night I could not sleep. Not sure why, especially considering how tired I felt. I just kept rolling over, conducting the Anthem in my head, looking at the clock. They had moved up our APFT time from 0600 to 0515, so I was getting worried when it was after 1am and I was still not asleep. I guess I eventually did get a few hours.

The weather was actually quite cold, but at least there wasn’t much wind. And of course it was still dark. Onward! I was able to muster 50!69!15:42, which is actually very good for me. Not sure what the final scores were, but the deputy commandant made a point to commend our entire class on the effort during the APFT, and especially on the FORM of the pushups and situps. Nice.

This is the first RCANCOC / BNCOC that is being broken into specialized training tracks, such as sound reinforcement, instrument repair, voice, arranging and drum majoring and we were asked several times to prioritize which one(s) we would like to attend. Yesterday they mentioned the instrument repair track had been canceled, and they “encouraged” all ANCOC students to not choose the drum major track since it would be a repeat of the BNCOC training. So I had selected sound reinforcement, drum major, arranging and voice (in that order). This morning the sound reinforcement track had been dropped due to lack of availability of an instructor. Since the arranging track required some background in music theory and passing a pretest, I talked my way back into the drum majoring.

Drum Majoring is, as we were told, a repeat of the BNCOC training. But it probably doesn’t hurt to have another round of the training material, especially if we find ourselves down to only one euphonium player eventually and we might not want him to be our second drum major. (Hint, hint?) We’ll see how that goes. A couple of the ANCOC students are their unit’s primary drum majors, and it will be interesting to learn some of the flourishes and techniques from them.

This afternoon was supposed to start with Individual Practice (IP) but all the rooms were full by the time I got there. So I’ll for sure be back to the school after dinner. I was able to get a locker checked out so I can leave my horn in the other building. The afternoon classroom sessions started with some MST indoctrination and discussion. (They were very happy to hear that the 234th is planning some concurrent missions this year!) Later we practiced some more with baton technique, and finished off the training day by setting up an outdoor review area. I’m assuming there will be much more of that last exercise to come.

That was about it … I’ll leave out some of the other, much more mundane items each day. Just trying to give everyone a flavor, not a play-by-play. :+)

CIVILIAN UPDATE:
Terry = Terry Tuggy, one of our full-time staff at the band and pretty much always on top of everything
BNCOC = Basic Non-Commissioned Officer Course (the one I did several years ago)
ANCOC = Advanced Non-Commissioned Officer Course (the one I'm currently doing)
RCBNCOC or ACBNCOC = Reserve Component courses, as opposed to Active Duty courses
SGL = Small Group Leader, or our main instructor
SSG = Staff Seargeant
APFT = Army Physical Fitness Test (don't pass and they send you home!)

ANCOC Day 1

Again, not sure who might ever read this, but ...

Made it to the SOM last night and didn't have internet access. Of course I'd spent the entire plane flights getting some civilian work done, so I had to drive around town to "borrow" someone's internet access. No biggie.

This morning we went to a master class by Bobby Shue, which was good (and colorful). You trumpet players might know who that is. Since then we've gone through some computer training and nothing else. Yawn.

I did run into Mr. Alexander already. Probably will see him quite a bit over the next couple of weeks.

Will check in more later.

CIVILIAN UPDATE: This is the first in a series of blog entries I am adding to our band webite. Where appropriate I will provide explanations and translations of Army speak when I copy those entries to the home blog.

SOM = School of Music
ASOM = Army School of Music (the official name)
Mr. Alexander = our new commander, who is currently doing his officer training in residence at the SOM

JUST HANGING AROUND

I know I havent posted for awhile. Just no motivation recently, plus I am thinking that no one is reading these anymore besides preston.....

We are at the beginning of another week, with everyone finally healthy, and Preston in Virginia.

We are glad to finally have everyone healthy. Caiden was SO sick with the flu this last week, it is such a nasty bug. He really struggled for awhile but seems to be bouncing back ok. We will keep our hopes up that no one else gets sick, esp with Preston gone and Spring break just a couple of weeks away.

This is day 3 of being on our own without Preston home. I know that a couple of weeks without him home is nothing, compared to our friend who will be waiting for her husband to return in 16 months, but for me right now, every minute seems like forever. I usually do better than this when Preston is traveling, but I am really struggling this time. Not really anything that anyone can do, just where my brain is right now of not handling anything.

Hopefully Preston will get a chance to post from where he is. He was unsure about the internet provided, and spent some time sitting in a parking lot last night trying to get a strong enough signal to get some stuff sent off to work for today. He will be working hard attending classes and learning tons of new music stuff. He will also be working hard to adjust to the 3 hour time difference after being on planes all day yesterday. Stay tuned for more from Virginia.

The big girls are back to a regular school schedule since their early morning advanced class got cancelled last week. Our district is really struggling and with the poor leadership and the deficit of millions of dollars we may be looking at school closing as early as April. It is a constant worry for our students and teachers. I have attended board meetings the last few months just to come home completely disgusted and discouraged that no postive avenues are being explored to save our students and our district from great harm. My single voice every month is drowned out by the fact that the deficit is so monsterous and that very few parents or staff are attending or taking a stand. Again, it looks like the board is going to do whatever they want, which in the end, will only end up hurting our students and teachers and families. Will have to wait and see what happens, but for now, things are not looking good at all. I may need to seriously look into home school options if things go from bad to worse.

We spent our days off this last week taking TONS of picts of the kids and making cakes. I like to do birthday photo shoots for the kids and since it was ceana's and colton's birthdays AND Kels is almost 10 months it was time for everyone to get picts. For the most part everyone cooperated - except Kels. I did not get ANY picts of her smiling or laughing or anything. She sees my camera and it is like she becomes hypnotized, even with the big girls there to play with her and try to get her to smile and laugh at them. The big girls were great helps, JaNay even came over to help, but to no avail. Most of Kels's picts will be of her crying or staring straight at the camera. I took so many that I havent even had a chance to look at them yet. Hoping to do that in the next few weeks, along with the 2 December shoots I did for "fun". Hoping to get more picts posted soon too.

We spent Saturday making cakes. Our RS had a service "auction" this last summer. My "service" was providing desserts every month for a year. I missed January because everyone took turns being so sick. I tried to make up for it this month by doing an extra special cake. It is called a choc heart box cake. It is a chocolate, heart-shaped cake, with choc frosting and topped with real candy chocolates. It took some doing as I am out of practice with piping and extra decorating. I didnt think to take a pict of it until this moment, so I guess you will just have to use your imagination - think of looking at a choc colored heart shaped, open, box of chocolates. I think it turned out well, and the girls were a big help. Hopefully the family we gave it too enjoyed eating it as much as we enjoyed making it. We also made a cake for us (though only 9x13 pan - nothing fancy) and enjoyed the rest of the day just working on misc family projects and taking turns napping. It was nice to just have some time to do some fun things.

This week we are looking forward to a mostly quiet schedule. We got 2 invitations to the kids' schools announcing that both Kaeli and Colton have been selected as "Student of the Month" at their schools. It is a fun thing for them, and now all 4 of the big kids will have gotten these awards this year. They are all working hard and it takes quite a bit for students to be selected by their teachers. It will be fun to go to the awards breakfasts and I will be sure to take lots of picts to post.

Photography seems to have taken on a life of its own. I am still frantically trying to get things finished from the high school play. It has definately been much more than I could have ever expected. Preston is being kind enough to help me build collages in Photoshop (I just cant get it figured out) so we can get orders filled for families. I am hoping to have this all squared away in the next 2 weeks so we can just enjoy Spring break with the kids. Plus Spring break is going to hold its own photo opportunities as I will be offering "The Best of Spring" photo sessions with LIVE animals (bunnies, lambs). I will be sure to get info out to everyone soon on that.
I have also found that my hard work to be flexible and affordable has lent to some interesting opportunities - like doing a family photo shoot at 1030PM at night to accomodate some special circumstances for a friend. It was hard to believe people could be so wound up that late at night, but I think we all had tons of fun and got some great shots too.
I will be heading to SLC next month for a photography workshop too. It was supposed to only be one session of shoot/lecture, but it looks like I will be getting the chance to play with some extra opportunities of taking picts for family members and participating in a special group practice shoot with others from the photography forum that I joined recently. It should lend to TONS of fabulous picts, esp if the weather is nice. I will for sure post samples of all the fun things I will be doing.

Well, guess that is all for now. Will hopefully have more to post very soon. Please be sure to visit my photo blog too and check out all the fun prints and collages we are doing for the high school. I will also be posting picts from the last few shoots I have done in the next few weeks.

I would love to hear from all of you. Seems my email is just full of junk these days. Would love to get a note or even a comment on my posts - just to know someone is out there. Hope you are all doing well. We will post more soon.

BOY GENES - WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?

For those of you out there that have boys of all ages, I am sure you can apprecitate the things that I am going to share.

I have 3 very busy boys but I have to admit that Ky is by far my busiest. At 2 3/4 years old he can be a whirlwind, a mystery, and a gut busting riot. Recently he has been cause for more laughter and more concern than ever.

Ky has been dubbed with a new nickname - "spiderman". The child can literally climb anything he can get near. Last week Colton came to tell me that Ky had climbed off his bed (he has the top bunk at the moment, that may change soon...) and onto the TOP of the free-standing closet in the boys room. That freaked me out to say the least, as the closet almost reaches the ceiling. His other favorite place to climb is on top of the toy kitchenette in the playroom, which sits right in front of the window. I am thinking I will be using Spring break to re-arrange lots of furniture.

This last week we made some cookies and had left the pan on the top of the stove with some leftovers for after-school snacks. I was working in the office and I thought Ky was playing in the other room. I happened to walk into the kitchen to find all but 2 cookies gone and Ky proudly pointing to his now chocolate covered mouth and telling me "cookie". Those cookies should have been out of reach, and I cannot even guess how he got up to them. Needless to say there were no after school cookies for the rest of the kids.

A couple of days ago I kind of got my answer to how he probably got to the cookies when I saw Ky reach up and grab the countertop and literally scale the cupboard door by clinging to it with his toes and climb his way up to whatever it was he thought he needed. I also watched as he climbed the cupboard drawers one at a time, again digging in his toes to the tiny space between each drawer. He is still so little, even for being 2. Apparently he is using his lightweight frame to his advantage these days. I am going to need to be more careful about what I leave out on the countertops now I know how he is getting to things.

Besides being a spiderman, he has also become very efficient at finding anything he can stand on or stack up to get to things. He will find the step stool, the piano bench, the office chair, the empire, anything he can get to help him get higher than he should. If there are snacks he will always go for those first, but his other conquests have been getting down multiple DVD's from the entertainment center's highest shelf and undoing them from their cases, turning on or off ALL of the light switches in every room, getting Kaeli's nick-knacks off her bedroom shelf, and getting to the mac & cheese in the storage room. I think I have moved things to a safe level only to find that he can get to things anyway.
Thankfully we still have ONE thing he can't get to - the security hook on the front screen door. He can undo every doorknob and lock in the house, except that one. Here's hoping he doesnt for a VERY long time.

Being a 2 year old always holds its moments of laughter and tears too. He seems to swing from one to the other in a moment's notice and often times causes me to do the same.
Awhile ago Preston happened to be home with us one evening. Caiden came down to the kitchen to inform me that Ky and Colton were happily playing in the playroom - both with tinker toy sticks up their noses. I was already over tired and struggling that day, I knew in my emotional state that I could not stop laughing long enough to go up and discipline the boys. I ended up having to send Preston upstairs to remind the boys about proper play. Anyone who knows me knows that when I get over tired and something sets me into laughing I usually end up with tears streaming down my face and my stomach hurting. This state usually sets everyone else around me into peals of laughter too. This is one of those nights that the thought of the boys with sticks up their noses (something my girls NEVER did) was enough to keep us all laughing until dinner.

On the flip side I think that with only a couple of months to go until Ky is 3, his terrible 3 stage has already begun. Everyone always says kiddos go through the "terrible 2's" - but I have found with ALL my kiddos that we go through the "terrible THREE's". I have a sweet little person, and the moment they hit their 3rd birthday, they turn into a hysterical maniac. Ky has always had a very calm temperment, but has already begun his rampages - complete with kicking, hitting, screaming tantrums. I have set a goal for myself to be more calm in these moments of struggle, and for the most part I am doing well, but it still often times also leaves me in tears when I am already struggling and I cant seem to help Ky be calm. These tantrums have resulted in sending Ky to his bed until he is calm. It often becomes more of a concern to me when he continues his tantrums while standing on his bed (remember that top bunk thing?) and pounds on the walls and throws things. I am trying to be consistent in his discipline. He knows he gets time out, but I think that the bed thing is going have to change, will have to do some more thinking on that one...

Boys and their genes and behaviors continue to be a puzzle to me. My boys will do or say things that my girls NEVER did and then be totally clueless about why they may be in trouble or reminded for the zillioneth time why toys do NOT belong in their noses. They are a constant source of laughter and struggle. I am hoping one of these days I might get them figured out. For now, I take one day at a time and do the best I can.