Two girls, Six awards

Busy day, as it is the final day of any kind of instruction at Acacia School. Caitlyn won 3 awards (writing, citizenship, attendance) and Jenna won 3 awards (Shining Star, citizenship, attendance). We also were treated to Goldilocks and the three Bears by the Acacia Kindergarten class.

Whoo, busy day. Gotta nap

jc

I'm not dead yet...

Just that not much interesting has been happening with me.



Well, a few things have happened.

• I finally went and had the lasik eye surgery at the TLC center here in Fullerton. Worked great, but I now need reading glasses for the morning paper (it was inevitable).
• The puppies chewed my reading glasses.
• We got new sliding glass windows in the back. Soon, a center window will be installed with a doggie door insert custom made. The windows are realy cool, when you close them you almost get a Star Trek "woosh" when the window seal catches.
• The puppies chewed the new trim on the windows.
• Yard work has taken over my life, getting ready for the 4th of July party. Whacked back the hedge with the help of the Jay monster, Mom, and Dad. Planted a bunch of annuals with the help of Mom. Given a few weeks, it should look nice.
• Yes, the puppies have discovered the joys of digging in the dirt. Once, they dug a nice sized hole right behind my back (I was picking up poo, not watching them). It was in the middle of the yard, right where I could step in it and kill myself. Grrrr...
• The back yard grass has realy taken a beating with the dogs. I will over seed this weekend and hopefully get rid of all these small holes and brown spots.

The girls are doing great. Jenna finaly lost her second upper toof this morning.

She looks better now.

She also got an award for being a good citizen at school, and that really made her day!

Caitlyn was honored at the recent "Authors Lunch" at Acacia school, where she read her story of her trip to Carson City. She stood up there and read it to the whole crowd. I was very pleased with my up and coming first grader.

She also "bridged" to the next level in Girl Scouts to become a BROWNIE. Big ceremony, lots of hoopla, and a bunch of pre-second graders got recognized.

Caitlyn is also getting some sort of award tomorrow, so I will keep everyone updated on that.

I know, it sounds like Lake Woebegone, but that is my life right now.

Gotta go get Jenna from school, bye!

jc

Pride

Caitlyn is reading in her room, and I suggested she read a book that I had bought years ago, just for my (future) children.

She is reading The BOOK OF VIRTUES by Bill Bennett. I am so proud, she is only six.

Hopefully, some of it will stick.

Time to yell at her to get to bed (it's late!)

jc

Oh, the styles of kids these days...

Well, when you let them dress themselves, the can be creative!

Sometimes, a bit too creative.

I need glasses.

jc

Long day at an end

Friday night was the end to a long day.

Friday night was the end of a long week.

Friday night was the end of a long trimester at school.

Friday night was at the culmination of a lot of different threads that, hopefully, we can put behind us.

Remember I sad I was busy?

Here is the deal. Start off (every day) with getting up, taking a pill the size of grain of rice. Can't eat anything before, or after for an hour. Wrangle the girls up and get them ready for school.

JENNA NEEDS TO WEAR RED TODAY -- No red shirts fit her.

JENNA CAN'T TIE HER SHOES -- No time to make this a teachable moment.

Oh, Papa is here for the morning performance at school -- let him in (down dogs, quit jumping).

Here Jenna, put on this pull over -- it's red and it is cold outside.

LOAD UP! (down dogs -- what did you tear up?!?!)

Boy, everyone is her for the last day of school and the performance! Traffic is bad, bad, bad. Did Kristin find a parking spot? What about Mom? Good.

OK, lets go in. Great, no good seats. Here come the kids! They keep coming, I don't think they will have enough room for all the classes... oops, a few classes have to go back to their rooms and actually do something (what will the teacher do now).

SSSSHHHH! It's starting -- Jenna is front and center! Look! Damn camera, doesn't take pictures well at a thousand yards. Lets try video. Well, less worse.

(hey, I'm getting sorta hungry)

Well, performance done, lets go to breakfast at Coco's.

Back home, Mike calls. He is coming over. Great, that just killed off an hour (we love you Mike -- you know it!)

Download pics.

Enough time to go up to the accountant to have him look at the IRS notice? Eeeeh, not quite. Time to check e-mails. E-Vite for another Daisy scout party. Sorry, conflicts with two other things. (down dogs -- what the hell did you get into?!?!)

Traffic isn't as bad picking up Jenna. Hmmm, Caitlyn gets out in 40 minutes, enough time go home? Accountant! Let's go!

Teacher walks by, grinning "Sugar them up -- Send 'em home!"

Off to Brea. Good, dump the docs, he isn't here. Great Jenna hates the elevator (it is very dark), RUN DOWN THE STAIRS!

BACK to BRAIN: "Not good -- Less bounce, more glide. Want more ouch?"

Man, more traffic! Everyone gets out at 12:30 today... MOVE IT you idiot... not you baby... thankfully I find a spot to park.

LOAD UP! Dang, you got a bunch of stuff... WE ARE OFF TO DISNEYLAND! Crap, forgot the camera. STAY IN THE CAR. (down dogs -- what is that smell?!?!) We're off!

Jenna, wake up, we are here!

Crowds not too bad today... it must still be early. Dang, my feet hurt (note to self, get new shoes).

ICE CREAM! Good job girls, keep your face clean!

Matterhorn! Wheeeee!

BACK to BRAIN: "Not good -- Less jerky. Want more ouch?"

FEET to BRAIN: "MOAN -- What happened to the new shoes?"

"Hey girls, just remembered that we have to get the dogs some food... Let's go!"

Wow, Disney legend Bob Gurr is on Main Street chatting up some young folks. Hope they know who they are dealing with.

"Dad, why did we park so far away?"

BODY TO BRAIN: "Why did we park so far away?"

Wow, traffic into the park is MUCH worse. Escaped just in time.

Pet store choice: Huge bag of food or a less huge bag of food. Girls barely get it into the cart. Now the fun part: a treat for the pups.

Home! (down dogs -- what did you do, you look guilty?!?!)

Pizza order. Why do they make it so f#*@&%! tough to just order. Pop ups, small buttons, counter intuitive flow. Can't order it to be delivered in an hour, so I have to wait 20 minutes. Grrrr.

Mom's home! (down dogs -- why do you stink?!?!)

Pizza guy is here!

Harriet is here!

Where are the decorations?

Have a beer, egg nog, and a break.

Pictures!

OMG -- Girls get ready for bed, Dad take the dogs on a walk, 'bye Harriet!

Download pics.

E-mails, editing, snail mail, wow how it builds up (where is the paper?).

OMG time to go to....

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

New additions

These two little bundles of furry fun were adopted by us on Sunday. We finaly named the girls, Blue and Daisey.

I wanted Black and Blue, Kristin wanted Harley, Jenna wanted Molly, and Caitlyn wanted Lizzie. This is what we ended up with.

Well, they do quite nicely in the crate, and if we can just get them to eliminate out doors, things would be terriffic!

Oh, tomorow I get to go have a bone marrow biopsy. F-ing joy.

'night.

jc

...it's quiet...

shhhh!

Hear that?

It's a pin dropping!

The girls are in school today.

Oh, what Joy!

Oh, what Quiet!

Oh, what to do...

Zzzzzzzz......

Two new threats to the Universe...

The Universe just got a little more unsafe. On Saturday, two of the meanest, dirtiest, low downest Yellow Belts were unleashed onto the unsuspecting world. They expect to rule us all with in the week!

Earthquake Damage

Well, not exactly damage, but changes in my general environment...

The crack in the front porch closed.

Wow.

Oh, and the gourds I have in the garage fell to the floor.

Devastating.

Here it is, a few days after the quake, and not only has life returned to normal, no one even talks about it anymore. Just another non event in our lives.

It shouldn't be that way. I am looking at some things around the house to "quake proof" and seeing that I have done a good job in keeping things in place. I'll do a few more things, but most of it's done.

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Still absorbing (coming to terms, getting used to...) the City of Hope news. I have a bit of reading to do on post transplant procedures. That is what I am mostly concerned with.

Up to the point of coming home, things are pretty much taken care of for me. One way to do it, no deviations.

Coming home will be relative anarchy. Such basics as food, air, and water will be my biggest worries. I am not used to living "super clean". I actually like having a bit of dirt (or paint, or sawdust) under my fingernails. It's manly! I even encourage the girls to get dirty, digging in their part of the garden.

Not for a while. How long? I need to figure that out, because late summer-fall is the time to start working on the garden.


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Caitlyn is now a woodworker! Just ask her. She helped me put together her new computer desk from Ikea. She used the hammer, screw driver, and the power drill!

Gotta say, she has skills. More than some folks I know. If I can only get her to follow directions better, she could go pro.

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Gotta go, lots of little projects to do today.

jc