Tenth Grade

The great race to squeeze in all of the school years continues. Here we are at sophomore year already.

This was a good and active year for the Schnoogs. After doing PE her freshman year, Holly learned that she could take an activity that would serve as her PE credit, making her least favorite task of running laps a bad and distant memory. A few of her friends from church and classes were in Color Guard, so Schnoogs walked on the field on the first day of school, tried out and made it.

We later learned that it is pretty rare that someone gets to just walk on and try out, especially once the season has started (they gear up through the summer to be ready for the competitions in Fall). This just proves what I have been telling my child for years...she can do just about anything when she puts her mind to it.

Too bad she wasn't as interested in putting her mind to homework during sophomore year. She just about killed me (or was it the other way around?) with the ongoing relaxed approach to homework. By the way, when I say "relaxed", I really mean "refused."

Thankfully, time and maturity have marched on, resulting in a student who does not have to be nagged to do her homework!

A Memorial Day to Remember

Memorial Day was a busy one this year. The day started off with a 4:45 wake-up call to get on the road for the Laguna Hills Half Marathon. Things went along smoothly enough until I got to the starting line, walked over to register and realized that I left all of my gear in the car. Back across the lot I go (a quarter mile or so in each direction) to get suited up. As I am adjusting my iPod and hat, I hear them announce the start of my event...whoops! It was a bit of a hectic start, but I still made it out in time.

The day and the course were just about perfect, cool weather and some rolling hills; they are somehow always more fun when going downhill! I got a nice surprise between mile 5 and 6 when I see Elizabeth (who was celebrating a milestone birthday...welcome to the club) sitting on the curb with her camera. She took an entertaining shot of me as I sped by (don't believe everything I write!) with another 8 miles or so to go.

The 1/2 ended well, although I decided that 10 miles is about the point that I am over any event, so that last 2 miles or so were spent just wondering when the whole gig was going to be over!

Next stop...swimming at the Brown's new pool. Who wouldn't want to christen their new pool with a sweaty 1/2 marathoner?? We enjoyed the pool (what we could use of it with the crazy dozen or so kids splashing around!), had a nice BBQ and sang Happy Birthday to Elizabeth, all the while keeping our eye on the tasty Birthday/Memorial Day cupcake cake.

The drive home to catch up with the Schnoogs and David was a long one and we were all happy to flop down for the 30 minutes or so before everyone decided that it was time to go to bed. We definitely maximized the day for activities...not things centered around remembering those who served, but indeed in appreciation of having the freedoms that we do!

Those Kids Aren't Coming Back

More stories from Holly's drama class. You might recall from a few posts ago the pie-in-the-face play that Holly and some of her classmates did for a group of 2nd and 3rd grade classes. There were apparently 2 days of performances of Fable Factory and from it comes what I think is a VERY funny story that Holly told me.

It would seem that there were two different productions in the same session. Thumbelina was the musical option that everyone had to try out for. It was considered the premier play, relegating anyone who didn't make the singing cut to the "reject" option of Fable Factory. My kid, having inherited the singing pipes of her parents ended up in the Fable Factory group pretty quickly.

On the first day of the production, Fable Factory went first and was a big hit. Thumbelina was up next...they started off awkward and it never fell into place. The cast had never practiced the whole thing together, and it showed. The music was playing slower than the pace they had practiced, so all of the songs were off. Many cues were missed, lines were blown; it was something of the theater train-wreck.

Even getting to intermission was tough. One of the characters was supposed to shout out, "intermission!!" but forgot, so the whole cast stood on stage looking at one another until someone shouted it from backstage. The kids got up, filed out...and then that was all.

After 10 minutes or so, it became apparent to all that the Thumbelina group was not going to be able to present the rest of their production. Someone in the Fable Factory group muttered, "those kids aren't coming back." That was all it took, the phrase caught on like wildfire and it became the explanation for anything that went wrong.

Even funnier to me was the fact that they had to show up the next day and do it all over again.

Those kids aren't coming back!

Ninth Grade

Feeling very pressured here to get all of the school years blogged before graduation hits in two weeks. Again, a very good parallel to how life is moving these days, because we can all certainly remember as if it were yesterday (really? wasn't it?) Holly getting ready for her first year of High School.

I think that there was another big transformation between leaving 8th grade and starting up the 9th grade. It seems like the picture I took of the Little Schnoogs in front of Los Cerritos Middle School was one of a young girl, still looking like a 'tween. Here in front of us now is a sophisticated, mature young woman, all ready to take on the world.

Holly's first day of High School was as exciting for me as it was for her. We took a few pictures at home (naturally), a picture or two in the car while waiting at the stoplight, and then a hearty, "Make good choices" was shouted out the rolled down window as she walked towards the freshman lockers. Man, I am funny!

Pick-up on the first day was even better. I got to the school early enough to get a good spot at the curb, rolled down the window and waited...camera in hand. As soon as Holly got close enough to the car to lean into the window, I snapped a picture with the name of her school artfully in the background.

Holly was not as impressed with my photo skills as I was. She will learn to appreciate me!

What a Hitter

Movie night at the Newton household was this past Friday. We opted to crack out an oldie but a goodie...A League of Their Own. Timeless entertainment, in my book. We all know some of the famous lines including, of course, Tom Hanks and his rant of, "Are you crying? There's no crying in baseball!!!"

The whole family got involved with this movie, no dozing or relaxing with their eyes closed (a famous Holly quote). In some cases it was anticipation of what was coming and in others it was forgetting about some of the little jewel moments that are in the movie.

My personal favorite? "...and how about that Marla Hooch? What a hitter." I laugh EVERY time I see it. In fact, as soon as the newsreel starts up about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League I start chuckling in anticipation of it. That and the far-away shot of Marla waving. Good stuff.

It is interesting to read the many, many opinions on this movie out there on the web. Most of them are pretty favorable, but some are rather critical about the "syrupy" nature of the movie. I disagree. Penny Marshall has constructed a great film that entertains, brings together an awesome ensemble cast, lets them do their thing (the facial expressions alone are brilliant), and the whole project endures. We watched the credits all the way through to the end to learn that it was made in 1992...17 years ago.

What a hitter!

Fat Actress

The highly-anticipated debut of Shadow on the Animal Planet's Groomer Has It finally happened this week; we caught the 8:00 pm showing on Saturday.

It was very exciting to finally see our little celebrity on the small screen as the filming actually occurred back in early November; blog followers might remember the post. The theme for the groomers was how to groom larger (translate...fatter) dogs to minimize their girth. I wasn't super excited about that category when we first went down to LA for the filming, and I must admit that I was even less excited about it when I realized that the name of the episode was "Piggies" (there was also a challenge to wash pot-bellied pigs...a cute connection, I suspect some producer believed).

There was also a tone to some of the groomers that the owners of this group of dogs was irresponsible in not taking care of their dogs, feeding them too much and not exercising them enough. Not the case, as the twice per day walks (often totaling more than 4 miles) and daily activity that all of the Newton dogs get. We are also not big on the table scraps for the pups. Letting all of that judgement fall to the side, how did Shadow do?

Cassandra, the groomer assigned to handle Shadow seems to be having some sort of personality conflict with the judges and the other participants, which netted out as a 15-minute penalty slapped on her by another groomer, Marco (he got kicked off, so his strategy didn't pay off in this case). Cassandra was fairly bothered by the penalty and combined with the difficulty in grooming Shadow, she landed in the bottom 2 for the episode.

The judges recognized that Shadow was a difficult case to groom (things have never been right since someone shaved her to her "dog in a sheep suit" look over a year ago), so Cassandra managed to hang on because the job that Marco did on his dog was worse by comparison.

Either way, Shadow has lived her 15-minutes of fame, albeit with the title of fat actress!

Eighth Grade

Time is ticking along here as I race to post all 13 of Holly's school years before she graduates in (check the calendar...) 17 days.

As I look at this picture, I am startled at the evolution from kid to almost-a-high-schooler.  She looks so grown-up here that I had to double-check with her what year this was; in my mind it could have easily been her freshman of sophomore year.  Gone are the braces and the glasses have now slipped into her backpack for classroom use only.  

A friend of mine had asked Holly where her glasses where and the Schnoogs answered, "I don't wear them as often because when I took them off, I received many high quality compliments."

High quality compliments?  What a funny kid.  We still use that phrase around the house to tease her, particularly when I want to make sure she is wearing her glasses to drive.

The Artist Formerly Known as Schnoogs

Holly and I share the desktop computer at home (David could too, if he ever used it himself), and she has recently started to upload her photos into iPhoto.

I opened the application today and found a host of very entertaining shots of Holly and her friends, all demonstrating very clearly that my kid is very artistic...and a bit wacky.

The photo here is pulled straight from the costume/make-up that Holly wore for a play she did in drama.  It was something about Aesop's fables, but there was a whipped cream pie to the face involved in the whole thing; I am not sure that I really understood the concept or plot of the play.

What I do know is this was an event that her drama class did for some local 2nd and 3rd graders, so the pie in the face was a BIG hit.

Apparently, so was Holly's make-up, or at least she thought so!!

Racy

This goes in the "I am SOOOOOO glad that wasn't me" file.  

I was in Ventura last week for an Emmaus Board Meeting, followed by a Chrysalis picnic. The Board meeting finished early and I was waiting for Holly to come pick me up so that we could go to the picnic together...I was the source of both the food that we were bringing and the funds to park (someone is only 40% of the way through paying me back for the $553 they owe for that speeding ticket in the construction zone!).

Since I had some time to kill, I walked to downtown Ventura, where I chanced upon a bike race that was going on.  It was some sort of stage race, meaning they cyclists went out in groups around a track that was probably a mile through the hilly portion of Ventura, drumming up as many laps as they can in 45 minutes.

The group shown here was the 20-29 year old women, all looking ready to go.  The official stepped out in front of the cyclists, gave them the quick rules, sounded the air-horn, and they were off.  About 2-minutes later, someone comes running up behind me, yelling for us to move and here comes a cyclist in the group...she missed her start time.

For the record, 2-minutes in this kind of race might as well be an hour.  It is SO hard to catch up, especially when your adrenalin is pumping and you are struggling to get your shoes clicked into the pedals, I felt really badly for the biker and she wore her frustration all over her face.

I hung around long enough to see a few laps and the late cyclist close the gap to the last rider, but she was a good 3/4 lap behind the leader.  I heard the person who rushed her through say that she actually thought that she was going to win this and there was no good reason for her missing the start; they just lost track of time.

Not that I ever intend to win any event I do, but I usually sleep only so-so the night before because I think that I am going to oversleep and miss the whole thing. (As if I ever sleep past 5 am without waking up)

I'd better check my alarm clock for Sunday night!

In Training

Memorial Day brings about my latest and greatest activity; the Laguna Hills 1/2 marathon. A pretty easy run (so long as you don't mind running 13.1 miles), it loops around the Laguna Hills mall for what I would call a victory lap and then sets out on the streets of Laguna Hills and Mission Viejo, winding onto some cool chain of paths that keep us out of traffic and out of harm's way.

I know that it is looming and have had good intentions to get in some longer runs to prep for it, intentions that have not yet turned into action as the longest spell I've done in a while is 5 miles., a decent length, but not quite what I need in terms of building/maintaining endurance.  I ran up 4 long flights of stairs from the Red Line this morning (and walked the 2 shorter flights as I huffed and puffed along), but I'm not certain that is really going to be the prep that I need.

I realized that the LA Marathon is also on Monday...put into that context, I've got an easy time of things by comparison.

Seventh Grade

Holly hates this picture, I do not. It is the perfect representation of the infamous "tween" phase that we all go through. Glasses, braces, maybe a little gangly...I think it's cute.

Seventh grade was a quick transition into changing classrooms, lots more homework, juggling priorities and getting a bit more focused on schoolwork, all of which the Schnoogs embraced with grace and aplomb.

This is also about the point when she started to demonstrate a strong affinity for English and Math as her favorite subjects. Her English teacher commented on her great vocabulary and command of the language (I think that she managed to bust out the words genre and magnanimous in the appropriate context in class over the course of the year).

I don't think that I could have been more proud.

Dogbook

I have been on Facebook since September, with the bulk of my activity in the first few months when I first joined up. I found (or was found by) a myriad of friends, acquaintances and ex-colleagues whom I would likely not interact with were it not for the wonders of social networking and the Internet.

My experiences with FB aside, I soon found an application that I thought was super fun, although not widely utilized...Dogbook. It is the same basic concept as Facebook for dogs, including profiles, status updates and the like.

I set all three of our dogs on it but admittedly don't tend to it much anymore because let's face it, there isn't a whole lot of diversity in the life of our pups.

In Facebook status update style...

Daphne is pestering someone to pet her.

Shadow is asleep.

Scooby is hiding in the back of the truck, hoping for a squirrel or rabbit to run by.

Cute, but not the read of the century by any stretch!

The New Frontier

For me, the Hubble telescope repair mission was like the Olympics (for those who remember my obsession last summer); I just couldn't get enough news about it.

From the planning of the spacewalks to the contingency plans for rescue should space debris disable the shuttle, I was completely fascinated and enamored with the entire process, sneaking peaks at updates on the Internet throughout the days.

I do vaguely remember all of the joking and mocking that went on years ago when the Hubble was first launched and had so many technical difficulties. It looked like it was going to be such a bust in terms of taxpayer money and then they got the cameras fixed...suddenly, we had a whole new view of earth, space and the solar system.

Who's laughing now?

Sixth Grade

The end of the elementary school years arrived just in time, as far as Holly was concerned. We had discussed and agreed to the choice of keeping her at the elementary level versus bumping her up to middle school (it was an option at the time), which was the right thing to do, but it certainly made the last month or so painfully long, as I am sure the Schnoogs will attest to.

The metamorphosis from little girl to pre-teen continues, as we have added braces to the mix. Pretty cute stuff and boy, is it ever going FAST!

Creating Space

Another stop on the "Who knew there were so many sights within 1/2 mile of the office" tour...LACMA.

Positioned right next to the La Brea Tar pits, this monstrous museum sits on some prime real estate along the miracle mile.

I've had my eye on a modern art display aptly named "Street Lights" and also noticed that there is a breeze way filled with tables and chairs between two of the buildings at LACMA, creating some nice space to get out, stretch out and observe.

Jax and I planned this lunch hour the right way: have the meal planned out and ready to go, walk up, sit, eat and enjoy for about 30 minutes, and then walk back (opting to go the "quiet" route through a neighborhood, of course!)

It is amazing just what a difference an hour of fresh air can do to create some space...and contentment...in a person's life!

Tar Pits

Riding down Wilshire Blvd two days a week, I often get a glimpse at the many different cultural, historical and just plain unique attractions that LA holds, including the La Brea Tar Pits.

I have intended to make the 1/3 mile or so walk up to the Tar Pits for the last 6 months, but finally made it happen this week, dragging Jonathan along with me at lunchtime.

We had a short amount of time plus had to drop something off to be shipped and order Jax's lunch, but we do at least get to claim success at making it to the perimeter to see the pit with the giant statues.

We'll take the nostalgia tour next time we venture out, allowing for more time to walk the perimeter and read the signs.

Of course, we'll have to get in line behind all of the 4th graders on tour.

Cereal Eaters

Food is a big deal in the Newton household. Not so much in an obsessed, unhealthy way, more of a true appreciation and enjoyment fashion. Volume is an issue too, as David is a big guy with a big appetite who works outside all day, so he burns it off about as fast as he eats eat (he probably burns it off faster, because he is one S-L-O-W eater, but that is a story of a different nature). Any way you look at it, we get focused on our good eats.

The latest love in the house is cereal. Particularly Honey Graham Oh's. I am not sure what it is about these crunchy, slightly sweet little rings of flavor that gets us all going, but we can burn through a box in a day pretty easily, especially if David has some for breakfast and dessert in the evening.

Tired of going for the Oh's only to find them gone, I made a trip to the grocery store and decided to load up. Holly opened the pantry and saw the boxes all lined up...she laughed out loud because she knew that I was both making a point and reserving myself the promise of at least one baggie of the cereal (I like to eat it at work as a midday snack without milk).

I suppose that this makes us all serial cereal eaters.

Live in the Along

I saw some poetry in an unlikely place - the 920 Express to Santa Monica - and it was compelling enough for me to write it down and look it up.  

It is by Gwendolyn Brooks and is called Speech to the Young:

Say to them,
say to the down-keepers,
the sun-slappers,
the self-soilers,
the harmony-hushers,
"even if you are not ready for day
it cannot always be night."
You will be right.
For that is the hard home-run.

Live not for battles won.
Live not for the-end-of-the-song.
Live in the along. 

This is a good philosophy...live in the along.

Fifth Grade

Holy Toledo, the years are going by quickly as I try to beat the clock to graduation...a tad over 4 weeks away at this point!

You can see from the picture how very quickly Holly is transitioning from a little girl into a pre-teen/young lady.  Nail polish, very posed, all as cute as can be.  I seem to recall that this is about the year that the name "Schnoogs" started.  We were at a softball game (Holly was forced to play a sport by her overbearing Mother.  If she didn't pick something, I was going to enroll her in soccer, so she opted for softball because there wasn't too much running involved), cheering on our little player when I realized that calling out, "Go Schnoogie!" may not help her reputation too much.

We had a conversation about the nickname, and on a whim I suggested that we could make it cool by shortening it to "The Schnoogs", or just Schnoogs.  Holly agreed (I don't think that she was ready to give up her little title), and it has stuck every since.  I think that she even put it on the back of her softball jersey, it was always entertaining to me to listen to the other parents try to pronounce it!

We are fast approaching the end of the elementary school years...zoikes!

Playing for Change

A friend sent me a cool video...I like it because the song is good and the overarching message of one world is very appealing to me, not to mention the fact that I admire the creative energy of the person who thought this up and put it together.

I looked up the website listed at the end of the video and learned that Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music.

What a talented and wonderful world we live in!

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2539741

Text Your Mother

Happy Mother's Day.  We had a nice, quiet celebration around the Newton household, just the way I like it!  

There was an event larger than Mother's Day that occurred on Saturday.  The Schnoogs has been in need of a new phone for a while, so we made the time to trot down to the Sprint store to check out the latest and greatest options, signing up for another 2 years on the contract.

It might be hard to believe, but Holly has never had texting capabilities.  When I first got her the phone 4 1/2 years ago, that was a conscious decision that I made because I did not want to experience the kid who has her nose stuck in her phone all of the time, texting away and ignoring the people and events right in front of her.  A bit controlling, perhaps, but it was the thing that got me in the space to agree to get her a phone before she was in High School.

Since she is on the same plan that I set up for her back in December of 2004, the texting option has never been added on.  Oops.  I would hope that the Schnoogs at 18 can figure out when it is or is not OK to be texting.  Perhaps I should loosen the reigns a bit.  Props to Holly for never complaining or bugging me about it, even if she is the last person in Thousand Oaks to get the feature on her phone.

So, on Saturday we made it official and upgraded her plan to more minutes and texting, bringing her up to speed with the rest of the world and now able to communicate even more efficiently and easily with her family and friends.

Witness the fine communication we had going on Mother's Day!

Gaud-like

This is not intended to be disrespectful or blasphemous (you know that this is going to be a good entry if I have to lead off with a disclaimer), but there is a point (in my humble opinion) in which ornate crosses the line and becomes too much.

We were recently witness to just such a display a few weeks ago while visiting an unnamed church in an unnamed city for an unnamed service (I am observing anonymity rules to risk insult or injury to those involved!).

Elizabeth was my partner in crime, and as we were sitting in the pew facing forward, I leaned over to her and whispered, "I'm not sure how I feel about all of that bling on the cross up there, especially the turquoise wood strips that jut out from the sparkle-gold background.". Elizabeth agreed, we giggled a bit and the service carried on.

After a few minutes, the lighting changed, dimming the sanctuary overheads...then a spotlight --- a red spotlight --- came on over the cross. A bit much for me, so I shared with Elizabeth my opinion, "That is a little more gaud...and I am talking G-A-U-D then I like to see in church."

I am thankful to report that we were neither kicked out, stoned or struck down for the snickering that ensued. Funny is funny and we should rejoice!

Fare Jumpers

I have returned to my regular commute schedule, taking the bus-train-bus routine into LA on Thursdays and Fridays. I must confess that I am surprised by the number of sheriffs and MTA police present of late.

The fare system here is a little loose compared to other cities I've traveled, leaving some gaps for opportunists who want to avoid the $1.25 one-way or $5 day pass fare, particularly on the orange line and all of the rail routes.

In the past, I could go on almost any portion of my trip and not be asked to produce evidence of a ticket or pass. Now, there are officers standing on the platform as you step off the bus or train, asking to see your ticket. Don't have a valid pass? They are armed conveniently enough with a hand-held ticket machine and will quickly issue you a $500 citation for fare-jumping.

Suddenly, the train just got a whole lot less economical for those people who opted to play the system!

Double Down

It arrived. The ticket. Holly speculated it to be about $150. David thought maybe $200. I had already warned that I thought it was double.

The envelope please...$469!! Want to go to traffic school? Make that $526. Add in the cost of traffic school and the total damage is...$553. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

That is a whole lot of lawns that the Schnoogs is going to be mowing this summer to work of the debt to her mother (the source of funding in the short term).

Having your kid realize that their actions have direct consequences and an impact on their life...priceless!

Fourth Grade

Thirteen years of school is a lot to get through! 4th grade marks a shift in the elementary school focus - class sizes get much larger - and it also marked a shift in where Holly went to school.

The Open Classroom program at Conejo Elementary was a great program and one that really helped the Schnoogs to come out of her shell. In fact, she got soooo comfortable with the program and had the same teacher for 3 years, that she got a little ahead of herself. When I learned that she was deciding when she would or would not do projects in class near the end of 3rd grade, David and I made the tough decision to shift things over to a mainstream public school and make things a bit tougher for the young Schnoogs, who seemed to have everything dialed in.

Welcome to ParkOaks Elementary and the very tough-teaching tactics of Mr. Hedin!! Life was different here, but in a good way...even Holly admits it. Mr. Hedin (I referred to him as Doug-E because his first name was Doug and he had something of a scary-if-you-crossed-him but cool surfer vibe going on) was a stern disciplinarian and expected a lot from his students...there was no opting in or out of assignments here!

Life is full of change, even the young Schnoogs could attest to that!

Where's Schnoogie?

This is just us being goofy.

Holly and I trekked over to "The Lakes" for some CPK a week or two ago (David is not a big fan of what he calls "The pricey pizza and fancy salad") because David was not going to be home for dinner. It was a nice evening and we were just strolling along, enjoying the scenery.

The roses are really starting to burst with color, so I cracked out the Blackberry for a photo. While I was lining it up, you-know-who thought that she would be funny and pop her head in...as if I wasn't going to notice it.

We then spent a good 5 minutes trying to line up a shot so that it looked like Holly was floating amongst the roses. We couldn't get that look without having her actually getting into the midst of the bushes (an idea that we nixed for both the impracticality and potential pain involved), so we just settled for this silly pose.

We cracked up not only ourselves, but the people sitting outside of Ben & Jerry's watching us.

Speedster

Schnoogs had a day last week...she got her first ticket. She and two other motorists on Moorpark Road were pulled over for doing 45...I think that the posted speed limit is normally 35 mph, which is bad enough, but there is some construction going on along the side of the road and the orange signs read 25. You might see where this is going.

Hurdle #1: telling me. I must say that Holly was pleasantly surprised...I did not get worked up at all. I listened, asked how she was with the officer (very polite and pro, of course) and then warned her, "You own this one. I'm not paying it for you AND you have to do traffic school to keep it off of the insurance.". I also warned her to brace herself for sticker shock, I am pretty sure that the rule in the great state of California is to double the penalty in a construction zone.

Hurdle #2 is next...seeing just how much this ticket is going to cost her!

Record-Setters

Sunday was the PCRF 5K/10K/Half-marathon in Irvine. This event holds significance for a couple of reasons. The PCRF is a great group that does a lot of good work for kids with cancer. I have had the privilege of doing a number of events with them and have a couple of friends who serve or have served on their Board.

Even more noticeable with this run is the fact the event-posse has grown! Elizabeth, Kris and I did the 10K (Elizabeth's first 10K ever and only her 2nd event...we did the Surf City 5K in February). Lynn and Terri also joined us by doing the 5K, both for the first time in an event and both blowing away their previous personal records for that distance!

Having people you care about at an event, cheering you on and encouraging you for being active is an awesome thing...it certainly shows up in the big grins and record-setting milestones!

In Flight

Holly went on a retreat weekend last week called Chrysalis...it is intended to serve as a spiritual renewal for young adults; an age group of course that Holly fits right into.  

Originally, Holly was scheduled to go on the flight last fall and I was going to work it; it was postponed to the last weekend in April, which also happened to be the Ragnar Relay for me with the MIMs (the thrilling details of which you have already read).

Serving as a reminder that things always work out the way they are supposed to, it was perfect that Holly had the opportunity to go through her weekend without me present...while she freely admitted that she would have enjoyed having me there in the background, she realized that it was good for her to strike it out on her own and go through all of the experiences with her new Chrysalis friends.

From a timing persepective, things worked perfectly, I dropped her off Thursday night, did the Ragnar Relay and made it home by 7 pm on Saturday, just in time to shower and go to the candlelight service at 8 pm.  Our friend Elizabeth came out for the candlelight service, which was a huge surprise for the Schnoogs to see not just me, but Elizabeth as well...that is such a cool and special service!

When I showed up for the closing ceremony on Sunday (let's just put it out there, you know that I cried all the way through it!), all of my Emmaus friends who worked the weekend kept telling me how much they enjoyed Holly and how she seemed to have such a great time on the flight.  One of them even mentioned that after a particularly silly/funny thing that Holly did she said, "I am my mother's daughter."

I love that kid!

Third Grade

The Schnoogums and her school days journey continues, I need to stay on top of this or graduation will arrive and I will still be reflecting on 6th grade...not at all unlike real life!

3rd grade heralded some changes for the young Schnoogie.  The shyness and hesitation?  Gone.  In its place, a confident, opinionated, assertive kid who has no problem saying EXACTLY what she is thinking (where does she get that from??)  

I remember being at a birthday party for someone's kid and Holly was making her rounds, talking to everyone about whatever was on her mind and a friend who hadn't seen Holly in a while said to me, "What have you done to Holly?"

Just letting that natural charm shine, I suppose!! 

How do you title this?

This one is for my friend Elizabeth, lover of the crazy signs. Here is a sign that I came across today (on the internet, not in real life)...what could have possibly been going on that someone spent the time and energy to produce this?

I really don't think that I have anything else to say about that!