October 2008

A rambling blog. Posted Thursday, October 30, 2008, 11:04 AM, CST by Dawn I was walking home from bringing the girls to school and realized how great the technology age has been. The internet has really gotten big in the last 5 or 10 years. I really appreciate it after living overseas for so many years. I ordered the girls Halloween costumes online. I replaced my punchbowl using Ebay. I check the weather forecast every morning so I can dress my girls appropriately for school. I communicate with my family and friends on this blog. I keep in touch with old friends on Myspace. When I start school I will do a lot of it online. I think all of the gadgets and video games do clutter up our lives. It is interesting how your views change with maturity. Don’t get me wrong I love a lot of the things we have. I do think that the drive to have the bigger and better of everything takes our focus from other more important things. I think the economic times we are in are a good lesson. Most of us have our needs met. We should appreciate that fact. Many others don’t even know if they can feed their family that day. I hope as times improve that this fact stays in my thoughts. I have to tell you all my punchbowl story. I know UE is curious. My Grandfather passed away a few weeks ago from cancer. He was 84 years old. My grandmother who is mentally ill lives in an assisted living situation. She has an apartment but her meals are served in a dinning room and she has nursing care. My grandfather lived there with her before he died. Because of this most of their household stuff was sold at the estate sale. My grandmother’s care is twice as much as the money she receives through SSI and my grandfather’s pension. Thank God my grandfather has been wise with his finances. He owned his house and property and worked up until this year. He saved a lot and had no debt not even a car payment. So the estate sale made enough to pay for the difference in grandma’s care for the next year. The house is up for sale and hopefully she can live off of the interest on the money made from the house. I know this is a long precursor to my punchbowl story. Well I never really asked for anything from the house until my very thoughtful and gracious sister-in-law Jenny asked me if I wanted anything? After thinking for moment I told her all I really wanted was the dishes used on holidays. I remember admiring them as a little girl. I remember them being used during our family get togethers. Jenny let my brother know. I have to say she is the only one who asked me if I wanted anything. It brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. My brother didn’t ask because he was the one with grandpa for last week or two until his death. My brother also was chosen to speak first at the funeral so his mind was understandably else wear. Jenny was the one who called and kept me up to date for the most part. She does the same when she hears from my mom. So she reminded my brother several times to go to my grandparent’s house and find these things before the estate sale. He was working in Hood River at the time so he stopped there after a long day at work and found the punch bowl set. He put it all in the car and drove back home to Vancouver. He called me when he got home. He was so happy that he could do that for me. He handed the phone to Jenny and her and I chatted as we do daily. My brother opened the car door to unload the dishes and the punch bowl fell out on the ground and broke. It was wrapped but it broke. It must have shifted in transit. My brother felt horrible. I told him it was ok and that the cups and plate were still in one piece. I went on Ebay and found the exact same bowl with 12 extra cups and an extra smaller bowl for $40 including shipping. It came yesterday. It is how I remember it. I will get the rest of the set from my brother later. I appreciate how much work, stress and money it takes to care for an elderly person. UE and UF, we are thankful you are taking such good care of GMA. I am also appreciative of Aunt Mary and Aunt Jean for there help. I have confirmed that saving for our retirement is the most important gift I can give my children. I don’t want to be a burden on them when they will have their own families to care for. I think there should be more funding for elderly care. I think the people who care for them don’t get paid enough for all that is entailed. Ashlyn threw another tantrum last night but it was short lived. I took care of it the same way I did two weeks ago. I think she was checking in to see if I am off my game. Parent teacher conferences went well. Alyssa is doing great but will be getting tutoring in math. She is having a little trouble so we are going to take care of it before it gets worse. Ashlyn’s doing great also. Her teacher said she has a very advanced vocabulary for a 5 year old. I told her that her older sister does also. Whenever I use big words with the kids I will ask if they know what they mean and then explain if I need to . Well this has been a rambling blog. This blog is also my history keeper so I guess a good ramble is nice.

Ashlyn can ride a bike. Posted Wednesday, October 29, 2008, 1:04 PM, CST by Dawn We didn’t go to the pumpkin patch this weekend due to finances and other fun things going on closer to home. We may go to the pumpkin patch and corn maze in the next couple of weeks. It is actually a huge farm with a lot of stuff to do. The pumpkin patch is just one of the things you can do. We bought a few pumpkins at the store. On Saturday morning Hank and Alyssa helped out at the school habitat. The habitat is a large garden area that each grade takes turns caring for. Hank and Alyssa spent 2 hours planting several plants. He said the ground was hard to dig up so it was quite the work out. Alyssa said that on Monday during the beginning of the week assembly they called all of the kids who volunteered up on stage, and gave them a round of applause. On Saturday afternoon we took the girls to the fall festival at the youth center here on base. It was FREE! There were lots of arts and crafts and food booths. There were jumpy castles and several playgrounds. The girls had a blast. The baby had 2 snow cones a long with other food including her own roasted corn on the cob. It was a beautiful day. The temperature was in the low 80’s. That night we had our Halloween dinner. The girls loved the festive theme. We watched The Adam’s Family Values. It was fun. Ashlyn learned to ride her bike over the weekend. She came inside and told Hank to take the training wheels off her bike. Hank said she road about 30 or 40 feet the first try. He still has to help her get started and help her stop. She has the balance part down. Ashlyn has gone almost 2 weeks without throwing a tantrum. We took the hamster to the vet it cost $84. The eye drops they prescribed are the EXACT same as the ones Alyssa is using. I had suggested to Hank that he use Alyssa’s eye drops on the hamster before we took him to the vet. Hank wanted to be cautious because the hamster is so tiny. I should have taken Alyssa’s drops with me and compared them before buying the ones from the vet. I could have saved myself $20. It has been cold in the morning here. It is still getting into the 70’s and 80’s in the afternoon. The girls want ear muffs and mittens. I told them I would work on that this weekend. I have parent teacher conferences today for Alyssa and Ashlyn. They both did really well this quarter. Jordan barely scraped through. Air Fest is this weekend. It is a huge air show the base puts on every year. It is also FREE! I am taking the rest of the kids to get their flu shots today or tomorrow. We never got our economic stimulus check because we had just moved and you can’t forward tax refunds. My best friend Tanya reminded me while we were chatting the other day. I called the IRS and changed our mailing address. Our check should be here in the next few weeks. UE, I went to post this morning but the baby wanted my attention. I had the entire post typed up in Word. The electricity went out. I hadn’t bothered saving it since I intended to post it right away. So I have had to re-type my entire post. I guess it is good typing practice. Love you all.

It's fall. Posted Thursday, October 23, 2008, 2:25 PM, CDT by Dawn As I was walking home from taking Ashlyn to school I realized it is fall. I was looking down at my Amiyah in her little pink sweatshirt. Her hair pulled up in a palm tree and thought what a beautiful morning. I looked up and noticed how the clouds that covered the sky looked like a fluffy quilt. The sun and blue sky were barely poking through the thin spots in the cloud blanket. Most of the tree’s leaves are just now starting to turn colors. The oak trees have brown and orange leaves covering their crooked branches. They stand tall and strong against the quilted sky. Amiyah was quiet in her stroller. Maybe she was also enjoying the cool morning air. I took many deep breaths and I cold smell the clean crispness of the air. It was invigorating. I pointed out the trees and sky to the baby who sat still and snug. It will warm up into the mid 70’s this afternoon. This is cool for us since it was in the 80’s yesterday. We have to layer the girl’s clothes. We are taking a trip to the pumpkin patch on Saturday. We are also having a small family Halloween party. I am making a spooky menu that consists of *Yummy mummies (hot dogs wrapped in crescent dough) *Bat poop chili nachos. *Veggies with grenn slime dip. (Dyed ranch dip) *Monster eye balls. (Deviled eggs with green olives in them) *Red slime blood and guts. (Jell-o salad type dessert.) *Shriveled Zombie Brains. (Popcorn balls.) *Worm punch. (Regular punch but there will be worms frozen in the ice cubes.) This is what I have for the menu for now. Then we are going to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Adams Family. Alyssa and Ashlyn will sleep downstairs like a sleep over. I bought some cheep Halloween plates and cups. I will decorate the table and maybe make some cider or cocoa later in the evening. We also thought about hiding mini pumpkins and having a flashlight pumpkin hunt. Alyssa went to her one week post-op. The doc said her eye looks great. We have to take one of her hamsters to the vet because his eye is bulging out. I told Alyssa hammy is having sympathy eye. We have read it could be injured or infected. Taking the poor thing to the vet costs more than the hamster did. He is one of Gods creature and our responsibility so we will take the little guy this evening to the small animal hospital. Ashlyn has gone an entire week without a tantrum. We are all so proud of her. She still gets moody from time to time but seems to keep it under control. I talk to her about her bad mood or if she seems disappointed. I remind her that you have to treat people with respect even when you feel badly. Alyssa, Hank and I got our flu shot today. Actually it was mist. I encourage you all to do the same. I want my family to stay healthy. The mist is great. You breathe it into your nose. It doesn’t hurt and works the same. Love you all.

Happy Birthday Aunt Mary! Posted Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 6:51 AM, CDT by Dawn Thank you for your wisdom and you've been a great mentor. We love you!

Life is a cake walk. Well it was for Ashlyn. Posted Monday, October 20, 2008, 11:31 AM, CDT by Dawn Ashlyn hasn’t thrown a tantrum since the last one I told you all about. Hopefully we are on the way out of this faze I asked her about it and she said she decided not to throw tantrums anymore. I went to MOPS today and left early. I am having an introverted day. I love to be out and about but sometimes I don’t want to actually socialize. I think I am a military wife to the core, but I am not good a making friends. Hank isn’t good at it either. The older we get the more selective we become. Also Hank and I are best friends and are happy to hang out together. We would rather do stuff just him and I. We have made friends. A couple of them we still keep in touch with. Good friends, true friends seem to be few and far between. We are blessed to have made the friends we have. It takes me about a year, sometimes longer to make friends. We lived in Guam a year and a half and I had started to get close to a couple of people. It was hard to leave. We had a lazy weekend. We went to the library party on Friday night. They had a ghost hunter that told stories of his ghost hunting experiences. He also showed us some of his equipment. Hank and Alyssa loved that. They had a cake walk with about 50 kids. They gave away 5 cakes and Ashlyn won the last one. She was so excited. Then they had belly dancers. The dancers did a show and then gave the kids a lesson. Ashlyn LOVED that. I made clam chowder on Sunday. We just hung out and spent time together. Alyssa is doing great and went back to school today. We have a slow week this week. Maybe I can get some housework caught up on. UE, the mop I was talking about has a magic eraser head on it. I got the no name brand. It is for scrubbing and removing ding and scuffs. It doesn’t absorb water that well so after you use it you have to go over the floor with a regular mop. I have linoleum. It can take the sealant off of grout or the finish off of tile or hard wood. I wouldn’t use it on anything that you wouldn’t use a magic sponge on. I can always re-wax my linoleum. Amiyah says Barbie now. When I put her to bed last night she cried. When I didn’t get her out of her crib she pulled the daddy card. In her sniffely little voice she yelled DADDY several times. Hank didn’t get her out either so she went to sleep. I think this is the first time she has tried to get daddy over to her side. I am glad to hear you are all doing well. Love ya.

Alyssa is healing well. I am a poopy head. Posted Friday, October 17, 2008, 10:00 AM, CDT by Dawn Alyssa is doing fine today. She has to put an ice pack on the eye every couple of hours. She is also taking Motrin. She is not in much pain but her eye is soar, and the Motrin helps keep the swelling down. Ashlyn had a bad day yesterday. She threw a tantrum before school and yesterday afternoon. I was called a poopy head. I discovered time out to be affective. I usually send her to her room for time out but have found myself climbing the stairs several times for various things. I put her in time out in the downstairs hall and am able to watch her and keep her in check. It took about half an hour before she would let go of her nasty attitude. I then made her apologize to her brother, sisters and I for hitting and yelling. At first she refused to apologize. I put her back in time out and told her she could get down when she was ready to say sorry. She then tried the new tactic of insisting she had to go potty. I told her she wasn’t doing anything until she said sorry with a good attitude. She freaked out and cried for about 15 minutes. She kept screaming “I have to go potty! I can’t hold it!” I would say well say sorry and then go potty. This was a major power struggle. I told her she can sit there and pee her pants because she isn’t moving until she apologizes. She finally did. Guess what? She didn’t go potty after that. She had a great rest of the day.. She was fine this morning. We are taking the kids to a Halloween party at the library. It is FREE!. We may go to the pumpkin patch this weekend. We have also been indulging in some fun not to scary movies. We watched Beetlejuice and Gremlins this week. Good movies that the whole family could watch. I watched Scream with Jordan. I think the next movie will be the Adams family. We have another mild cold going around our house. I figure with 3 kids in school we will probably be the diseased family for a few months. Amiyah was saying 1-2-3! She will say it and then jump or run and fall in the bean bag. I made pizza for dinner and she said pizza. She was telling me “don’t” this morning when I had to dress her. She points to body parts. She knows hair, toes, ear and knee. She says them too. Well love you. I am going to go try out my magic sponge mop. Jenny informed me of it’s existence. I had to buy one.

Alyssa's surgery is done. She is doing great. Posted Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 10:56 AM, CDT by Dawn Alyssa is out of surgery. Everything went well. Hank called and said they are in recovery. Alyssa is awake but groggy. The doc said it went great and she needs to come in tomorrow morning for a post-op check. They will probably be home in the early afternoon. Thanks for your thoughts, prayers and support. I ordered the girls Halloween costumes this morning. Alyssa is going to be a butterfly. Ashlyn will be a ladybug and Amiyah a bumble bee. I’m obviously doing a bug theme this year. I love doing the theme thing. The girls still go along with it. I really want to do Alice in wonderland. Maybe next year. I figured Alyssa could be Alice. Amiyah the White Rabbit or Cheshire Cat. Ashlyn would be the Queen of Hearts. I could see her saying “off with their head!” Amiyah likes Barney now. She dances to the songs and even hops for the Baby Bop Hop song. She says hop, hop, hop and jumps with both feet. She also yelled for Alyssa yesterday when Ashlyn was yelling for her. She said her name clear as day several times. She had a difficult day yesterday at all of Alyssa’s pre-op stuff. We are at the hospital for hours. This didn’t go over with the baby. You know your toddler is throwing a wicked tantrum when strangers stop to see if she is OK. She was tired and doesn’t go to sleep in public very well. She finally fell asleep about the time we went to have lunch. We had a nice quiet lunch with Alyssa. Ashlyn had a good morning this morning. She had a bad day yesterday. She went to the fire station for a Girl Scout field trip. She has already gone there with her kindergarten class. She still had fun. Hank took her. I love him working normal hours. Well I am tired. I got up with Hank and Alyssa at 5am. I am going to have another cup of coffee. Love you all.

A lazy Monday. Comments (1375) Posted Monday, October 13, 2008, 3:45 PM, CDT by Dawn Six Flags was fun. We have season passes and this is our third trip. We will try to go again before the year is over. It was cloudy all day and there was a nice breeze. Hank’s allergies were bothering him a lot even though he took his medicine. He feels better today. Hank and I rode every coaster in the park except one called the Rattler. It was closed. We stayed from opening until closing. The kids rode a lot of rides. Hank and I get to ride a lot of rides because we have Jordan to watch the little ones. He hates heights so he only likes the rides that the little kids like. It works out. Alyssa is getting a little braver. She will go on a couple rides that Jordan won’t. Hank and I will ride everything. Alyssa has her pre-op tomorrow. She is nervous. She gets to miss pretty much a week of school. Today is a holiday. She will go for half of tomorrow and then stay home the rest of the week. One of Hank’s co-workers had a going away party on Saturday. He has a beautiful house. I really think we may retire here. Anyways, I really enjoyed spending time getting to know his peaps. Hank is taking over the Command Post this month. He has already gone to working office days instead of shift work. He may still have to work shift but not a s much. The kids were really well behaved at the party. We even got complements. Today is a lazy day at home. The weather is overcast and kind of rainy. The girls are painting. We watched a movie. Well love you all.

Alyssa is getting her eye surgery. Ashlyn had a good morning. Posted Friday, October 10, 2008, 10:35 AM, CDT by Dawn Ashlyn had a chipper morning this morning. Her good attitude made for a smooth morning for everyone. I went to the Second Cup of Coffee at the school Media Center. They talked more about the resources the school has to offer. I got a library account at the school. I can check out books there. I love their library and am happy to be able to go in there and check out books for the girls. Alyssa is having eye surgery on Wed. This is just to tighten the muscle in her right eye. Her eye is starting to drift out slightly. This happens a lot to kids who have had strabismus surgery at a young age. It isn’t very noticeable. It will get worse though so we are fixing it now. It is considered cosmetic. The doctor said he is amazed at how good her vision is considering her eye condition. Her new glasses prescription has helped some. Hank is going to take her to her pre-op appointment. I think he may take her for her surgery. It is a same day out patient procedure. It depends on the time of day they schedule it. If it’s really early or when Ashlyn gets out of school I will just let him take her. She has been under anesthesia a couple times in her life so I am not worried. I am very blessed that Hank is close to his children. Hank has a work get together on Saturday. He told everyone that I will bring Carne Asada. I have made it several times and it is GOOD! I hate cooking for others though. I will go to the commissary later and get what I need. We are going to Six Flags on Sunday. We have season passes. We love this time of year. Halloween time at Six Flags is so fun. The kids don’t have school on Monday so we can go all day and stay late. I think we may do zoo and orChildren’s Museum year passes for the girls for Christmas. It only costs $60 for a family pass for each place. It costs us more than half that to go one time. Jordan would like the zoo. I was also thinking about getting them a swing set. They had one in Guam and loved it. They all play outside a lot. Thank you all for your supportive comments on dealing with Ashlyn. I figured it was a way for her to assert her control. We had a really bad day with Ashlyn yesterday. Like I said she had a great morning this morning. I asked her why she is so happy this morning? She said “I taked enough sleep”. We always say Ashlyn needs her inner beauty sleep. She got up on her own this morning. If the kids get up on their own or are easily roused then I know they are getting enough sleep. If you have to drag them out of bed then you may need to slip back their bedtime. I got Ashlyn to bed by 7:45pm. Amiyah saw a book about cats at the library and she pointed at it and said “row.” It is hard to type how it sounded. She made a cat sound. She also dances to songs when she watches Barney. She calls it Bop. I guess because of Baby Bop. Well I am off to do chores. Love you all.

Fire ball Ashlyn! Posted Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 8:52 AM, CDT by Dawn Ashlyn is a fire ball. I am not sure what to do about her. She is going through a tantrum faze. Today she didn’t want to go to school. This is nothing new it’s almost daily now. She also threw a tantrum when it was time to go to Girl Scouts. She wanted to go but didn’t want to get ready. She was happy as soon as she walked in the door though. We try to make sure she gets enough sleep. I would say she usually gets about 11 hours. No less than 10 on a bad night. She wouldn’t even walk with me on the wat to school today. She would stop and say “I am tired of walking and I’m not going to school.” I would calmly say “You walk every day and if it takes an hour for us to get there you are still going to school. It actually takes about 8-10 minutes. Today it took about 15 minutes. She started to cry a little when I dropped her off. I kissed her little face and told her to cheer up she always has fun. Thank God for Mrs. Black. She took Ashlyn by the hand and treated her like she normally does. “We are making our bones today, you’ve better get started”. I had to go get a tardy slip and when I came back to give it to the teacher Ashlyn was still pouting. I talked to Mrs. Black and told her Ashlyn does have a little cold. I don’t think it is that though. I think it is more of a control issue. Ashlyn is a very stubborn kid and doesn’t like to be told what to do. Hank and I are not sure what else to do. We have found that when she does it at home if we put her in her room and tell her come see us when you are feeling better she will eventually come downstairs and then we talk with her. Not sure what else to do? The problem seems to be getting worse. She behaves at school so that isn’t currently a problem. It must be something with Hank and I or she would throw tantrums with everyone else. She has always been spicy hot tamale. I know Aunt Mary must have had at least one fire ball child out of 5. What do you do?

Hank's birthday was great. Posted Monday, October 6, 2008, 8:22 AM, CDT by Dawn Carlos Mencia was hilarious. We went to dinner at Texas Land and Cattle first. This restaurant is downtown on the River Walk. We had a birthday coupon. That is pretty much how we eat out now. You can get coupons for a lot of places. The food was great as always. We then went to the show. It was 4 hours long. There were a couple other comedians that came out first. Carlos was on stage for about 2 and half hours. He signed autographs after the show. It was late by then and we didn’t feel like waiting in line for hours so we left. Hank had a great time and really enjoyed his birthday. He said the highlight of his night was the halter top I wore. Hank and I got a good laugh over Aunt Mary’s stories. We also appreciate you looking at Alyssa’s pictures. I read that to her this morning and I think that made her day. I let Ashlyn stay home this morning because she was a little stuffy and wasn’t feeling well. We have a cold going around our house and the first day or two of it is the worst part. I kept her to see if she was going to feel better after she got up and got moving. I think I am keeping her home the rest of the day. She is grumpy. I figure if I send her I will get a call from the school nurse anyway. She is only in Kindergarten and can already read so she can afford to stay home for a little cold. The big kids on the other hand have to be pretty sick to get that luxury. The baby hasn’t pooped in the tub for a while. Hank gave her bath last night and had a poop free experience. He then dressed her and clipped all the girls nails. Then he brushed the little girl’s teeth. What a great husband I have. The baby slept in this morning. She is so big. She plays pretend with her little people farm. She talks and moves the animals around. You can’t understand much of what she is saying but she knows. I let all the kids paint yesterday. The baby finger-painted for the first time. She was unsure about getting messy at first. I showed her how and then showed her my hands. After that she was more into it. Well I am going to go have breakfast. Love you all.

We can vote. Dumb blonde moments. Posted Saturday, October 4, 2008, 10:41 AM, CDT by Dawn I spent this morning registering Hank and I to vote. Since I am not really a resident of anywhere, I was able to register in the state of Texas. Hank has to go through WA. I went online and was able to get both of ours done. I did Hank’s within a day of the deadline. UE, I am so excited that you had such a good time. I was thinking you and UF should of went to a taping of Oprah while you were in Chicago. Well I am glad you had a great time at Tina. You are very blessed that she is touring again. This may be the last time. Did you get your cake? I am feeling better today. I am glad to hear GMA is having a nice visit. Hank is playing Guitar Hero. He is having a lazy birthday at home. That is the best gift I can give him. I have to go to the commissary later. I hate grocery shopping. I will clean out my fridge, make a menu and then a list. BORING! We must eat though. Jordan had a dumb blonde moment. He was doing a paper for science about a lab they had done. He was asked to draw a conclusion and he literally did. He drew a picture. Hank and I laughed a lot over that one. Jordan is actually really smart. I think it happens to all of us. I will give you guys a famous Dawn dumb blonde moment. When we were living in Italy I bought our first charcoal grill. I had never cooked with charcoal before and Hank was sleeping for a night shift so he was no help, so I called my best friend who lived a couple miles away. I said Tanya how do you light charcoal? She says “you get your lighter fluid and squirt it all over the charcoal and then you light it. When the coals turn white you can then put the grill on and cook your meat.” I’m thinking OK this is going to be freakin' easy. The previous tenant had left lighter fluid under the kitchen sink so I figured I would use that since I had forgotten to purchase any at the store. I squirted the lighter fluid and lit it. It went woosh and then went out. Tanya said it wouldn’t woosh, I wonder why it did that? I did this several times. I put newspaper in with the charcoal, squirted the lighter fluid all over and lit it. It then went woosh burned the newspaper and went out. By this point several Italian neighborhood children had gathered near by to watch. I called Tanya back and she said “I comin' over.” She came over in less than 10 minutes. She said “Ok. Show me what you are doing.” So I repeated the squirt and Woosh. After she stopped laughing she took the can from me and said “I meant charcoal lighter fluid not actual lighter fluid”. At 25 years old I didn’t know there was a difference. I don’t smoke and hadn’t ever used a charcoal grill so I never used any kind of lighter fluid. My dad got a huge laugh when I told him. Tanya still occasionally pokes fun at me over it. Love you all.

A cell made of food. Alyssa and Amiyah look like sisters Posted Thursday, October 2, 2008, 10:15 PM, CDT by Dawn UE, I hope you have a great time seeing Tina. It sounds like you and UF are both enjoying your trip. I know you posted a comment a while back about Sea World and how they help animals. This is probably why I came to the same conclusion so quickly. I think we may get season passes next year. I think I enjoyed it more than the kids. We were looking at family pictures this evening and Hank pointed out how much Amiyah looks like Alyssa. Hank and I have been saying this since she was born though many of our relatives disagreed. I think the darker hair when Amiyah was born threw people off. I think out of the 3 the girls those two are the most similar. They both look somewhat like me as a kid. I have been sick but now I am feeling better. I still have a headache and stomach cramps but I feel way better than yesterday. We didn’t buy school pictures. The girls are not selling anything for the PTSO. This made life a little cheaper and easier. Ashlyn has her first field trip to the fire station on Tue. Jordan had to build a cell out of food. I helped him. I figured out using a cantaloupe would be easiest. It worked out he scooped it out and put different foods as the different cell parts. I don’t usually help Jordan with his homework but it worked out well. Hank helped him with math this evening. Well I am off to bed I’m tired. Aunt Mary and Aunt Jean, I hope you are both enjoying your stay with GMA. I know you two have a good time together. I think all of you guys are a good team when it comes to caring for GMA. She is blessed to have loving full time caregivers and her lovely part time caregivers. I think most people wish to be so loved.