Thursday, April 30, 2015

Jillian at the 2015 TOPA Talent Show

 

So proud of this girl!!!!! Jillian chose to participate in the talent show again this year and, again, wanted to sing. She is so passionate about singing and music. The song she chose also has a message she is passionate about. It is by Dove Cameron and called "What A Girl Is". The song sends the message that all girls are perfect just as they are and don't need to conform to someone else's idea of beauty.
Here are some of the lyrics:
"On a scale of 1-10, I am perfect like I am.
And the stupid magazines want me to change my everything.
It don't even matter, they're not taking my power.
I'm so over all these voices around, they've said enough its my turn, lets get loud!

I'll show you what a girl is, cause all of me is perfect.
Who cares about the dress size, its all about what's inside.
I'll stand up now, and won't back down.
We're breaking through the surface, to show you what a girl is."

She didn't get to sing the whole song because of the two minute time limit given to each act, but she did a great job!!

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Lucky Girl

This was part of my journal entry for Christmas Eve:

Today is Christmas eve, 2014. It's actually very close to Christmas day as its about 11:40 at night. Christmas day will be Thursday – Monday night I had surgery on my ankle. That set of circumstances leads me to a hospital bed in my living room surrounded by a knee scooter, bottles of pills, and assorted items to keep me occupied while I'm on bed rest for at least a week. Christmas definitely doesn't look "normal" this year but, with the small exception of a few moments this afternoon when I learned I wouldn't be able to stand the pain of the ankle brace that would allow me to attend Christmas Eve services at our church, I've been upbeat and so very thankful. On TV right now is Christmas music and the image of a fireplace decked out in Christmas finery. I smell coffee coming from the kitchen because Dad and Lowell are in the garage having another marathon session of pool. I can hear them laughing. Chloe is asleep on the floor next to me because Grandpa is supposed to be sleeping  in her bed. Checkers occasionally meows from the bathroom; we're letting her stay inside overnights right now because she's so old and her foot is broken. There's a cat on the TV fireside video – a little orange one. :)

Lowell bought me the knee scooter. He said he was going to WalGreens but, in fact, he went to Goodwill and then, after coming up empty handed, got on Craigslist and found one in Tartesso. He was proud of himself because he called the person on his own and set up the time to go and get it – all by himself. If you know Lowell, that’s a big deal because he doesn't like that type of thing. He said he even stayed and talked to the guy for about 30 minutes because "he was lonely". Such a caring guy I have! He really is wonderful. He bought me a treadmill, my scooter and an Arizona Cardinal's sweatshirt for Christmas. But more than that, he put in the effort to go and get the scooter, he's been watching the games with me and Dad, he's taking care of me and helping me get around in the house, he's had the kids come and spend time with me, encouraging them to do a skit for me and then having Nathan come and play cards with me when I was upset about not being able to go to church. He's so thoughtful. He loves me.


I just wanted to post this to show what I wonderful husband I have. There are many other details or stories like this I could include but this is a good example of how caring and generous he is. I love him and I'm so lucky to have him.

This Year So Far



 Recent life has included many varied experiences including sending my oldest off to the other side of the country, spending days working with a physical therapist to improve my ankle, a birthday, a day at the park, family day at the mall and many other moments of both joy and sadness.
The picture here on the left is of Wyatt playing at physical therapy. He became quite a little superstar there and was always welcomed by name. He got familiar with all the equipment and "helped" me do my exercises for 6 weeks until I completed my therapy. I'm not back to normal yet but I'm on my way!

Above right is the night we said goodbye to Nathan when he left for his DC trip. It was stressful to let him board that bus for places unknown for 6 days but I was so thrilled he was blessed with the opportunity to go. He had a great time!
Here are Jillian and I at the mall on our mommy/daughter day. She's holding a sign that describes her and she picked one for me too. :) We had lots of fun together. 
 Jillian turned 10 on March 15th. Chloe and I made her cake and totally scored with a HelloKitty cake pan that was accidently returned to Walmart's store instead of online.  She loved it!
Wyatt loves his trains. One morning, while the biggies were at school, Wyatt and I got out a lot of his train pieces, most that came from Christmas, and built a huge train track. We had lots of fun playing together and just lounging around. He has such a great imagination; I just love listening to what his little mind creates and how his little brain works. He is such a joy and I feel so blessed to be able to spend time with him!
In addition to trains, he's recently begun expressing his love for music by dancing to his favorite songs. We've gotten a couple of his dance sessions on film and I adore them! I can't wait to use them against him when he gets older! :)


 Because they had Friday off school and their mom had to work, there was a day my surrogate daughters came over to spend time with us. We went to Goodwill and then to the local golf course to feed the ducks where we discovered ducks that were afraid of people. So, now that Wyatt was intent on feeding ducks, we loaded up and went to Friendship Park in Goodyear to find ducks were knew were friendly. Armed with a cheap loaf of bread and 6 children between the ages of 16 and 3, we set off. The girls are great and I love spending time with them. I've also taken them to the playground right near our house where they played on the equipment, dug in the sand at the volleyball courts and played football.
Upcoming events include Jillian's field trip to the Grand Canyon; Nathan, Chloe and Wyatt's birthdays; school getting out; my job moving locations; Lowell having a couple days off; another camping trip; lots and lots of swimming and more general chaos. Next week the kids have standardized testing, this year called AZMerit. At least it means no homework this week. Right this minute, Wyatt and Nathan are riding around the back yard - Wyatt on his Jeep and Nathan on his dirt bike. They both look so happy! Looks like lots of good times ahead!