Happy Halloween!

Zack has been undecided about going trick or treating all week. Today he decided that he was not going to go and that he and I were going to see the movie Astroboy instead. That is until his friend Luis called at 3:45 and asked Zack to go trick or treating with him. He was all for it so we turned to our default halloween costume - the boy's old karate uniforms.

Zack and his best buddy Luis before going out trick or treating.


This has nothing to do with Halloween but Jon rarely allows his picture to be taken so I thought I'd post this.

A typical Friday afternoon in my classroom. Gotta love it!

Ollie: aka TROUBLE!

I swear he has had at least 5 baths this week alone! Of course 4 of them had to be given by me! Jerry gave him one during the day while we were at school. This was him tonight after spending about 20 minutes outside on his chain.





He is not a big fan of baths; tolerates them while he is in the tub but then runs around like a rabid animal for about 20 minutes afterward - growling and rubbing his body into things to help him dry. Jeez - you think he'd learn to stay out of the mud!

Regional Champions!

The Valley Christian girl's volleyball team competed in the regional final game tonight. The games were close and well played by both teams - but in the end, Valley Christian won in 3 games (all close games) to become regional champions! Now they move on to sectionals Thursday night.




Here is the team and coaches with the regional championship plaque.

Ollie: aka the big baby!

My friend Carey came over for coffee on Saturday and picked up the dog. He sat like this for quite awhile and it just reminded me of a little baby! He loves attention.

Valley Christian Homecoming Dance

Saturday night I went to the dance to see the Homecoming court presentation. When I arrived the dance was in full swing and it looked like the kids were having a great time.




At 9:00 they began the court presentation. Here is C.J. walking in with his female counterpart, Kayla.


The king and queen got to pick the court dance and they picked the Waltz! So, here are C.J. and Kayla doing their best to waltz together - while C.J. is also doing his best trying NOT to look at me!



The next dance was, believe it or not, the YMCA! Now there is a song from my days as a youngster. They had a blast doing it.


After the YMCA I left for home. Remembering from when I was kid, there is just something about your mom there that makes you feel uncomfortable when around your friends. He enjoyed the rest of the night and got home about 11:30.

Valley Christian Homecoming 2009

My son, C.J., was elected to be on the Homecoming court this year as the senior class representative. During the presentation at school this afternoon, I got to walk him into the gym and then pause for a picture and a hug. So Proud!


This is C.J. with the girl representative for the senior class.


Tomorrow is the dance and they will also go out for dinner beforehand. The dances at Valley Christian are a bit out of the ordinary as there is no slow dancing allowed. And all songs having to do with drugs, drinking, or sex are not allowed either. Unfortunately, that eliminates 90% of the most popular songs today. They do have a lot of fun though!!!

Child Troubles

Okay, I need to use this blog as a forum, if I may. My youngest son - 10 years old - was diagnosed about 2.5 years ago with ADHD. He is more the non-active type, not a run around crazed person, just a bit impulsive. But without medication, the boy just cannot think straight. He cannot follow directions and loses focus often. When he was originally diagnosed he was put on Concerta which seemed to be effective in controlling the syptoms, but he quickly lost close to 30 pounds in three months so they had to take him off of it and put him on Straterra, which is a non-stimulant drug. For two years this was a wonder drug! Last year he even managed to acheive staright A's. Socially, this medication saved him. Until...... BAM! During these past two months the medication seemed to be not working as well. I thought he needed an increase in the dosage so I brought him in and they increased from 25 to 40mg but a week later - still not much change. He was doing horribly in school (especially math which requires focus from the beginning of a problem to the end), and was especially having trouble following more than one direction at a time. So, back to the doctor for a switch in medication. I had all my hopes pinned on this new medication (adderal) being the answer to his struggles but after just one week he has been banned from taking it due to stomach pains and now are back on the Stratera. And back to square one. Last night I was a wreck. I know, in the scheme of things, people have it much worse than a child with ADHD. But when it's YOUR child - you take nothing lightly. And just the fact that I have to give him drugs to help him function normally is hard to accept. It is worse when those drugs do things to hurt his little body like stomach pains. Has anybody out there experienced something similar?

A Day of Volleyball

So, I finished with the laundry, cleaning, and garbage (we have to take our own garbage to the dump on Saturdays) in time to catch our high school's varsity volleyball team participate in their conference tournament on Saturday. Coming into the tournament there were three teams, including us, tied for conference champions with only one loss this whole season. We were under the impression, going into the day, that whichever of those three teams won the tournament, also would win the conference. Our girl's (Valley Christian), quickly eliminated one of the teams in the morning by beating them. Later in the day, when it came down to the chamionship game, it was just us and the other team with one defeat - which just happens to be a Catholic High School in our same city. There has been a friendly, but competitive, rivalry between us in volleyball for the past two years. After two very close, hard fought games, the other team walked away as the tournament champions. However, because they unfortunately had been forced to forfiet a game this year (their only loss), they did not have enough "points" to win conference champions so that title went to us! It was very nice to see both teams walk away with something and after the game we made one huge circle around the gym and prayed together. "In all things, God works for the good of those who,love Him."
On a different note, hubby gets home tonight from hunting and has the next two weeks (of weekdays) off - he will still have to work on the weekends. He has promised to help me catch up on things that need to be done around the house. And I don't have to worry about cooking meals for the next two weeks :)
By the way, it was 28* this morning with a high today of 43*! Ugh! I am definately NOT a cold weather girl. Before marrying my husband 4 years ago, I was living in Florida and enjoying every minute of it. I was convinced by my wonderful husband that "winters aren't that bad anymore" in Wisconsin. HA! NOT TRUE! I know we'll end up there again someday... all my family is there, my oldest son will attend college at Central Florida next year. And I am sure my other two boys will escape back to Florida as soon as they can too - they are always saying how much they hate Wisconsin. I have to agree. But, for now, this is where God has led me and I am pretty content despite the weather.

Woman's lib - blah!

Who's idea was this woman's lib thing anyway? If I met any of these "libers" today I would definately ask "what were you thinking???" Now, I have a pretty decent husband by most standards. He works extremely hard at his job and will cook a meal or do laundry when he has days off during the week. But he has just finished working 10 out of the last 11 days - 12 hour shifts - 5:00 pm to 5:00 am. He has been working at night and sleeping all day. After all that work what does one do with a little time off? Take off and go up north hunting of course! Leaving said wife to do all the laundry and cleaning for the second week in a row! Ugh!

Hello Blogging

It seems that blogging is the thing to do. I have been a lurker of other people's blogs for years now and have always wanted to start my own..... but.... I thought... who would be interested in reading about my life? Well, even if it's only me and my family.. I'm okay with that.
To start with, I'm a 40ish mother of three boys ages 18, almost 17, and 10. I also have an 18 year old step-daughter. My husband and I have been married for a little over 4 years now and we live in the country in a five bedroom house we had built a couple years ago on almost 5 acres. The newest addition to our family is a four month old puppy named Oliver. I teach fourth grade at a Christian school in Oshkosh Wisconsin and I LOVE IT! Christianity is a belief, not a religion, so I attend a Community Church that has no religious affiliation (not that there is anything wrong with organized religion - it's just not for me).
Well, that about sums me up for now.