Only a few more hours left in 2006; it’s been a good year and what with blogging I now have a record of the highlights of our year and a few of our happenings.

2007

Hopefully my kitchen will be remodeled, and first-floor bath. Since I do not have control over this ‘event’ I will not place it on my goal list. Ahh, goals for the new year.

1. Lose the weight I gained back over the last 2 years.   It will probable take me all year, but it must come off.  No, I won’t write here how many pounds but it is quite a bit.
2. Put exercise back into my morning routine. (DH and I have had a few discussions about the value of putting a dog into our lives, one that would cry “walk me, walk me”
3. Continue reading Great Books — I made a half-hearted effort this year but I did read quite a few Great Books from Well Educated Mind list this year. Now if I could just remember their titles I’d list them here but I don’t have time to look them up right now. They did include; Job, Gilgamesh, Trojan Women, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and about half-a-dozen more books. I don’t expect those of you who are are book readers, ya know the ones who can read three or four books a week, to understand. But I’m a non-reader of non-technical books. I love to read technical books however, it is really difficult for me to find the time to open that non-technical book, let alone sit and read it day after day. But I’ve been trying and slowly the number of books I can point to on my shelf and say “Yes, I’ve read that” has been expanding. And that is why this goal must stay on my goal list.

So that’s it. Those are my goals for ‘07.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Yesterday SK had 2 friends; 13 and 15yo brothers, over to our home, the first time these boys have been here. SK met the guys at his hs social club; the one connected with our huge hs support group. For months they have been wanting to get together but school, co-ops and other life happenings have gotten in the way. Finally it did happen though and they came over. I left the boys alone, popped onto email, and found an email from MK’s best friend’s mom asking for him to come over for the afternoon. What great timing! MK headed over to MusicKid’s home and returned just in time for dinner.

SK and his friends spent the afternoon playing air hockey, laser tag, Carcassonne, ate munchies while chatting with me about school—hs’ing of course, family, Christmas and never once mentioned videos, PC games, or anything related to pop culture. They stayed for dinner and after 7hrs in our home went back to theirs. It was a really nice afternoon having these boys here. Our neighborhood is full of boys SK’s age but he won’t join them in their games. He doesn’t care for their discussions about videos, PC games, pop culture, ‘other things’, and their language to each other. I have respected his decision and over the years have always been very pleased with the people he has chosen to call as his friend.

This morning I read my email and from my one Yahoo email loop I read the NY Times article Middle School Girls Gone WIld. Whew, am I glad my boys are missing out on seeing this type of behavior by being hs’ed. I know you gals probable know this already but I found the article interesting, in a very sad way. I’m glad I’m missing out on this part of PS life, glad my boys are missing out on it too.

And if Carcassonne is a game you haven’t heard of, do check it out. We’ve had many afternoon or evenings of fun with this strategy game.

SK invited two brothers over to our home today and I went over to pick them up. SK and I went into their home and I met their dog Lucy. What a sweet dog, who greeted me as a friend, leaning her side into my legs so I could scratch her side and gaze into her loving eyes.

My heart melted; a long-lost friend gazed back at me.

In the car the brothers exclaimed that they were really shocked with how Lucy reacted to me. Evidently their pit-bull normally growls at the newcomer, barks a bit, and then is reserved toward them until their next visit. They had never seen Lucy react in such a friendly manner to anyone.

She must have sensed that inwardly I need a dog; that I am a dog-lover who has gone way too long without a dog by my side.

MK would be thrilled for us to have a dog. DH would greet this news with severe reservation about any animal coming into our home. Perhaps I should tell him that the Christmas present he is giving me this year is a dog. I know, Christmas is past, but I don’t consider a new kitchen TV used by everyone in the family as my Christmas present.

A dog?

I’ve had 5 dogs in my life; each very special. Sgt Pepper was my first dog. A Siberian Husky who had a short life however he was my dog and I so remember playing with him even though I was only 3 or 4yo. Then there was Sparky, a mutt from a farm, who I grew up with, my dog from age 5 to 21. Yes, he lived a long, long life. Then the month after we married Benson, a Great Dane who stood 39″ at the shoulders came into our home as my dog and my first baby. Little did I know then but I learned valuable parenting skills through the obedience training classes I took with Benson. At age 4 though he flipped his stomach, something that can happen with large chested dogs, and died shortly thereafter. I was devastated and swore I would never get a dog again. Such pain. Then a man tried to break into our home one night and I changed my mind. Alex, a German Shepherd, came to us from the Monks of New Skete, and was my next dog/baby. At age 4 he was hit by a speeding car in front of our home as we played ball. A few months later we welcomed Oscar, a German Shepherd, home and that same month I learned I was expecting SK. Things between SK and Oscar were never wonderful; so when a friend suggested that Oscar move in with her dog, and the two got along wonderfully, I accepted her offer. That was 6 years ago.

6 years without a dog. Amazing. Over the 6 years I have met many dogs, played with my friends dogs and always walked away thinking—a dog is nice but so is life without a dog. Less dirt in the home, no doggy dirt to pick-up outside, no barking while I’m on the phone, no scratches on the woodwork, no kennel to find when we travel, but never have I had a long-lost friend gaze back at me like I did today.

Where do I find my Lucy?

10yo MK just asked if tomorrow is a school day. 

Me — “Of course not.”

MK to 14yo SK — “See, it is not a school day.”

SK to MK.  “What?…. And, so what will we do?”

He is concerned that he is behind.

Behind?  Where did he get that idea??   We were still doing school on Friday afternoon; or rather they were doing school on Friday afternoon while I baked.  And SK wants to do school tomorrow.

Fine, he can.  He’s free to school himself, he does that most days anyway.

I’m tired and just want to go to bed, however I cannot.  Military Kid is lying in bed, wide awake waiting for Santa to arrive.  He has a camera close by his pillow so he can catch Santa in the act.

Now it is a waiting game; will he fall asleep before I do?  The presents cannot be placed around the tree until he is fast asleep, and I’m the one to do that.   ScienceKid informed me that MK has figured out that we are Santa but I think he is still on the fence.  Several of his friends still believe in the mythical guy too which helps perpetuate it.

I hear him moving around, probable going into the hallway to see if Santa has come yet.   Ahh, the waiting game.

This is the best Christmas story I have read for a long time!Perhaps you are in the same boat I am, having a child who still believes but not wanting to tell the child that Santa isn’t real. It took me until I was well into my adult years to realize that Santa is real!  Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Santa Adventure With Grandma

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: “There is no Santa Claus,” she jeered. “Even dummies know that!”

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her world-famous cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. “No Santa Claus!” she snorted. “Ridiculous! Don’t believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let’s go.”

“Go? Go where, Grandma?” I asked. I hadn’t even finished my second world-famous, cinnamon bun. “Where” turned out to be Kerby’s General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. “Take this money,” she said, “and buy something for someone who needs it.

I’ll wait for you in the car.” Then she turned and walked out of Kerby’s.

I was only eight years old. I’d often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten- dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.

I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church. I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock’s grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn’t have a coat. I knew that because he never went out for recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn’t have a cough, and he didn’t have a coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!

I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that. “Is this a Christmas present for someone?” the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. “Yes,” I replied shyly. “It’s …. for Bobby.” The nice lady smiled at me. I didn’t get any change, but she put the coat in a bag and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) and wrote, “To Bobby, From Santa Claus” on it — Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker’s house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa’s helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby’s house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. “All right, Santa Claus,” she whispered, “get going.”

I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his doorbell and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven’t dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker’s bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.

I still have the Bible, with the tag tucked inside: $19.95.

He who has no Christmas in his heart will never find Christmas under a tree.

On Saturday we visited our favorite tree farm and picked out a tree. We didn’t have much of a choice but I think it will be just beautiful. We have a slightly smaller tree this year, around 9′ tall while last year we had a 14′ tree. The guys adjust the stand:

Not everyone is happy about having to do this chore holiday tradition:

But I leave the room when the lights are put on the tree. We have found that it works best that way, DH just puts them on –

Finally it is time to add water to the tree base:

My favorite ornament. Through Survivor I placed ornament on after ornament — every year I have purchased a few ornaments, and now there are soooooo many. The tree is up, but really there’s many more ornaments on there than can be seen. WHEW!!!

Maybe later in the week the boys and I will string popcorn to finish it up.  And we have to find our tree skirt and angel.  The tree skirt is really precious.  When the boys were 4yo and newborn we placed their hands into fabric paint and then onto the tree skirt.  We did this year after year until the skirt was full.  What a treasure!

Merry Christmas!

Finally December 3rd arrived and we flew to St John, USA Virgin Islands,

for 10 days in the sun. Our long anticipated vacation that DH surprised us with way back in April to Maho Bay Camps in St John was here! The flight was uneventful -– we flew from Philadelphia to San Juan to St. Thomas. From the airport we caught a taxi over to Red Hook Ferry — where we were greeted with porters ready and very willing to take all our bags to the ferry. We gladly let them, and enjoyed a short ferry ride from St Thomas to St John. Cruz Bay had just started their Christmas parade celebration and we really didn’t mind since it meant we were stopped in traffic and got a front row seat to watch the parade. Steel drums, excitment, and lots of dancing.

After a 20 minute, very bumpy taxi ride pick-up truck ride we arrived at Maho Bay Camps. The registration desk clerk announced that we were assigned to Cabin E15 just as we requested. Strike One. We didn’t request the E camp area which we soon learned was 1000 (OK DH says it was only 350) steps DOWN to the beach. This was my only complaint about Maho Bay Camps, the long walk to the beach.

Oh how I wish we had really requested a particular cabin in the A or B or C or even D sections. We shared our cabin with geckos who worked on catching all the bugs in the cabin. Our view from the deck and the bay we swam in is the little blue water shown in this photo! See! It was a LONG way down there and we hiked it at least twice a day; down and back, down and back….

Dinner was delicious as was every meal thereafter. I swam enough and climbed enough steps to come back without a weight gain!

The water was crystal clear most everyday. SK, MK and I swam and swam or snorkeled and snorkeled. We spotted sting rays, turtles, angel fish, a rare spotted drum fish, and two 5 to 6′ wide spotted eagle rays —- one day SK and I swam 2 miles to Cinnamon Bay and back; another day we swam over to Cinnamon Bay and continued on to Trunk Bay. MK and DH met us there. Trunk Bay is rated in the Top Ten Beaches in the world. I believe it and the snorkeling was quite fine too. We also snorkeled one day around Waterlemon Cay and another day around Whistling Cay.

One day we left the west side of the island and joined Hamilton Tours for a little trip over to the east side. We stopped at Drunk Beach where folks use the coral to make all sorts of sculptures:

We actually found a photographer to take our family picture there!

and hiked past Salt Pond:

to snorkel in beautiful and protected Salt Pond Bay.

DH did join us a few times to snorkel but spent enough time reading to make it through 3 books. When MK wasn’t snorkeling with us he spent his time hunting sand crabs while SK and I snorkeled and swam.

MK made numerous Origami flowers, birds, boxes, sea horses,…. for all the Maho Bay Camp employees. MK’s mask making class was canceled until the instructor learned that it was MK who had signed up for the class. Deidra then arranged a special class just for MK and spent 2-1/2 hrs instructing him on the entire mask making process. MK also took a glass blowing class and pressed a sun catcher  (it is the green glass piece in the object in the above photo). He insisted that we spend every evening watching the glass blowers and soon got to the point of knowing just what Jake would be doing next.

Too soon we had to return back to the states. Christmas presents need to be purchased. Our Christmas tree is still on a lot somewhere in this area, but DH and I are trying to determine how soon we can return to St John.

Oh, it did rain every night and every day and we saw rainbow after rainbow.

So do you call it industrial arts, or shop class, or Construction 101 — pipes to the garage:

No words needed –