Kids

ServPro checked our basement yesterday.  The man who I spoke to said we were doing everything possible to get it dry.  Without elaborating too much, I told him we had dried out water leaks before.  He offered us a job with ServPro for the next few weeks.  I declined.

The insurance adjuster showed up this morning.  Not much to report there.  He looked.  He measured.  He talked.  A lot.  He will turn in an estimate to our insurance.  My goal is to get things put back together without insurance paying anything.  Our deductible is high, and we will get little from the insurance except higher premiums in the future.


 John is doing great today.  He doesn't have much pain and is up and about.  I will know he is fully recovered when he starts agitating Emily again.  He's not there yet.

SCHOOL PICTURES

 

JROTC 2013 

John wants to stay in ROTC next year.  If he does, he will have to take Latin online to meet his foreign language requirement.  He and Emily took a one semester health class online this year so they could be in both band and ROTC.  The online courses aren't too bad so I imagine he will choose to do Latin online next year too.  He's not ready to drop band.

 

John was promoted last week.  He is now the same rank as his sister.

Emily must now cease teasing him about being a 'slick sleeve' though I'm not sure they are using that term correctly.

 

John's busy working on his music including trumpet at school and piano at home.  His new interests are the acoustic guitar and the banjo he received for Christmas.

He has announced he does not plan to play baseball this spring after participating for six years.  We'll see if he hangs up his cleats for good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

JROTC 2013

 

 

Miss Emily likes ROTC too.  She is NOT in love with wearing her uniform.

She will retire from military life at the end of her freshman year with no regrets.

 

Emily is taking piano lessons and playing her flute in school.  She plans to continue with band next year though she would drop piano like yesterday's news if her cruel mother would allow her.

 

She isn't playing any organized sport, but her big love is horses.  She loves to ride.  I only wish we had more opportunities to ride.  It seems like there is always something that needs done more urgently.

 

 

 

 

 

3rd Grade

 



 

She is the master of multiplication and division facts to twelve.

She is preparing to lose her seventh tooth and will soon become the newest member of the family to sport braces.

Also, she just graduated from the swim program at All About Kids because she has completed the highest class they offer.  I shall henceforth refer to her as Aquagirl.

Not really.

 

 

 

 

 

1st Grade

 

 

No tie in the picture, but the spiked hair was his idea.  He got his inspiration from a little boy in his class that has spiked hair daily.

He too has mastered the multiplication facts to twelve and has started reading chapter books.

He is our sports loving, cat toting comedian.

 

 

 

Love them all.

 

T is for.....

Teeth  - John had his surgery this morning.  He was a trooper about the whole affair, not complaining about the no food/water last night or missing school today or the pain and discomfort that has ensued.  We were home by eleven o'clock this morning.  He has been sleeping ever since.  He has quite a bit of swelling already, but I'm hoping with plenty of ice and rest he will bounce back quickly.  The doctor said the procedure went well and he is scheduled for new wires on his braces weekly starting next Friday.  After nine weeks, they will reassess how he is doing and see if he is ready to switch to a slower maintenance schedule of adjustments to his braces.  Oh, the price of beauty!!  Actually, it was more than a cosmetic fix, but we still like to tease John about getting handsome for the girls.


Time - Time is ticking by slowly as we continue to dry out our basement.  Neither insurance nor ServPro have made an appearance to tell us what the real damage is.  This area was overwhelmed with homeowners fighting the same frozen pipes that we experienced.  A carpet blower will bring a king's ransom right now in this town.  There is not a rental place in town with a blower available.  I did track down a couple at Grainger.  I have them set up along with some fans from work trying to dry things out.  The dehumidifier is chugging away as well.  Hopefully, the inconvenience is minimal and the damage is contained to a few pieces of furniture.  I dread thinking about having to cut drywall or rip up carpets. 
At least there is comfort in knowing we are not alone this time!  It makes me hopeful that we are not under some strange water curse given the many and varied ways water has affected us through the years.  We have dried out all or part of houses five times in twenty-two years.  That does not take into account the numerous bailouts from the Olney house's defective drain tile.  Every significant rainfall equaled water backing up in the fire escape window and into the basement.


Thankful - I am very thankful.  I have no reason to complain about life's bumps in the road.  Big or little, they're still just bumps.  Water dries out.  Teeth will heal.



Thanksgiving -

Speaking of thankful....

 



Grant's first grade class put on a skit for Thanksgiving.

Here are Grant and his buddy following along with their classmates.

 

Grant played Strong Bear, an indian a Native American.  He memorized his lines and did a nice job speaking slowly and clearly so everyone could hear.  That is an accomplishment for our fourth child!!

 

Ties - I had to take this picture before school on the day of his play.  Both kids dressed up for their Thanksgiving parties.  Grant insisted on wearing his tie. 

The tie came home with me after his skit was finished.

I think he'd had enough of it by then.

 

 

 

 

Grant dresses up a lot now.

See?

This picture was taken on my birthday.  Both kids insisted in getting dressed up for the occasion even though they were already in pajamas and ready for bed.  He loves his tie.

 

We've come a long way from the loincloth wearing ruffian who insisted on wearing shorts and flip flops and not much else two short years ago.

 

 

 

Have a great weekend!

 

 

 

What would life be....

without a little water in it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or in our case, a LOT of water.

 

 

Yes, you guessed it.  We've got water.  AGAIN!

 

 

 

 

I took the kids to school Wednesday morning and then proceeded to run a few errands including spending a small fortune at Wal-Mart for groceries.  David called as I was driving home.  He found a water line in the basement spraying water everywhere.  Why was David home?  He was changing clothes to head to the farm where the automatic waterer for the cows was frozen.

 

 

 

Do we ever feel like maybe we've got a bit too much going on?

 

 

 

 

 

Nope. 

 

 

 

To coin a phrase we used in college....

I can sleep when I'm seventy, so let's go!!

 

 

And go we shall.

I'm off to finish drying out the basement and chat up the plumber fixing the leak.  Hopefully he will get our water back on so we don't have to spend a second night in a hotel.

 

 

Happy Thursday, everyone!!!

Christmas Vacation Plus Two

The kids have been on Christmas break since December 20th.  So have I it seems.  We've traveled, visited, played and worked the past two weeks.  What I haven't been doing is blogging. 

We have enjoyed every day off from the hectic pace of school life.  I hope you have had an enjoyable break as well.

 Ours has been very cold the past few days.  School closed Monday and Tuesday due to extreme temperatures.  We didn't even get much snow, just cold air!!  We had more snow accumulation in the days before Christmas.  It was a treat to see Christmas decorations on a blanket of snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I could have wept today while sorting pictures when this one popped up on my phone.  Ohhh for the long hot days of summertime!!

 

I took this one evening while driving home from the pool.  Grace and Grant like to drive his truck to the pool which makes for VERY SLOW trips.  I would walk alongside them, but I look like a pack mule carrying everyone's towels, goggles, sunscreen, toys, snacks, .......yeah.  You get the idea.
I'll drive.


Anyway, it isn't summertime right now and doesn't look like it is going to be for several more weeks.

The kids have not minded the extra days at home to start the new year.  The five of us (excluding David who was at work) have not left the house since Sunday morning when we got home from church.  That is a Christmas miracle all by itself!  I must say a few years ago that much time hibernating with the kids would have been insanity inducing.  It has almost been relaxing this year.  We have gotten a lot done and played a lot in between all of the work.

School starts tomorrow.  I think we're all ready to get back to a little bit of reality.


I wouldn't mind getting back to a little bit of warmer weather either!

Goodnight!!