Aaron's Big Day

Aaron is my stepson (on the far right). Dave and I started dating when he was 8 or 9. On December 5 this year he turned 18 years old. I think we have a good relationship. We are both easy going and we enjoy talking together. He has never been a problem. Kari and I love to try explain what and why girls act and do things they do, which (of course) is confusing to him. He attends a Christian high school in the area so his exposure to many things is limited. He will learn soon enough. All his best guy friends have taken over the house today. There are three TVs playing video games. Pizza and soda is available on the kitchen table. At 5 they plan to leave to meet up with other friends at the skating rink. It looks like a very successful party.

I lost a half of a pound this week at Weight Watchers. I have decided, as I told you last week, that I am only hoping for maintaining since I have faced (like many of us)holiday parties. I guess what I have been doing has helped. Soon it will be January and I will have thousands of people trying to do what I am trying to do. I feel good that I started long before January. I believe in resolutions... not only at a new year but January through December. I am always trying to improve on something.

Later tonight I am going to Kari's church to back her up in singing "Mary Did You Know" and I am to set up the story of Jesus' birth before we sing the song. We went shopping so that we had something nice to wear. Everything I wear tonight except for my shoes will be new (pampering myself again). I plan to take Riley to see Santa before we go to church. The line was too long earlier today.

Wish me the best tonight. It has been a while since I sang. I talk all the time to many people but this is a little different even though we practiced.

Shhh, It Is So Quiet Around Here!

Finals for the students ended yesterday. Today they have all probably hit the malls to catch up on Christmas shopping. It is so quiet here at the college we step out into the hall just to see if anything is happening. Nothing. We've got nothing. The odd thing is this place now is rid of the feelings of anxiety and stress. So if you are looking to rid yourself of any holiday stress, go to your local college campus after finals week. You will be very alone.

I will be the only one in the office during the time between Christmas and New Years. I am taking time off prior to Christmas to get things done; shop, take Riley to the ear, nose, and throat doctor, and do some fun things.

Dave may have to go out of town next week. Yes, the week before Christmas. That would be a bummer (old word) but there is still hope he won't have to go.

I took the opportunity at this time when things are slow to move to another cube to work. We will be hiring more people soon so I moved to a new spot. It gives me the chance to organize and get rid of stuff. It is true that inviting company or moving helps one clean up.

Getting rid of stuff is like a part time job or hobbie with me these days. I think it is my age or something because I wasn't so anti-stuff as I am these days. It is in the form of layers. I go thru closets etc only to return to do more and more. Simplicity now! Is what I cheer. I only want things that I will use or "experiences" such as gift cards to go out with my sweetie.

I have an open house to attend so I better get going.

Wow Is It Dark Outside!

Here in the Northwest at this time of year we only have about 8 hours of daylight. Plus, most of the time we are dealing with clouds and rain. It is amazing it's dark still at 7 am and dark easily before 5 pm.. The first day of winter is the day the light begins to return. It is so exciting to think that we are going to have more light about February. You can almost hear me saying "Wait for it... Wait for it..." as the clock changes the calendar page to February. Once someone told me that we gained 10 minutes of light each day (but of course, we lose that much going back the other way, but I don't know how true that is. It seems right though. In the summer it changes to having only about 8 hours of darkness and 16 hours of daylight in the summer. In June the sun is still out at 10 pm. Not helpful at 4th of July, I must say, when we must wait for fireworks. However, the darkest works well with Christmas lights and it's sad to see them gone in January.

Yesterday was uneventful which is nice once in a while. We did see Renee at lunch today. We have about a month to wait to learn the gender of her baby. She and her husband is trying to pick out names.

Have a wonderful day.

Do You Want To Blog?

I titled this blog after the song "Do You Want To Dance?" I went to a "webinar" yesterday which gave instruction on how to have a blog for a college campus. It looks like we as a college may try to do some blogging to reach out to more potential students. My learning how to blog is timely. At least I will have some idea what we are doing. Maybe. I am just a beginner. I am excited to have students on campus use blogging as a way to communicate. There are a lot of possibilities.

The count down to Christmas is two weeks. (Soon it will be the 12 days of Christmas and BTW I don't really like that song). What am I saying? It will be summer soon. Christmas is gaining speed and is upon us like a snowball rolling down hill. So how are we holding up? Personally, I am feeling the presssure. I am trying not too. But there is a ton of stuff to do. And then yet to enjoy doing it... With love? I am just trying to do it with balance and grace. I suppose a little more planning of details are in order about now.

Last night we watched "Evan the Almighty" which was funny and gave us some laughs. That's always important. Eatting well and sleep too is important especially at this time of the year and I am probably not doing my best there either. I guess I will start again right now beginning today.

We're half way through the week. Have the best day yet.

Riley: The Bravest of Us All

On Monday Riley had a "wellness" doctor appointment. He is four so he was suppose to have a wellness check when he turned four in August. I got off work at 2:30 and picked him up from daycare to be at the appointment at 3:20 pm. I couple of years ago Riley was developing slowly so we had him assessed to see what the issues might be. It was not easy to go to hear from a doctor what a person might be afraid of hearing in regards to their child. Autism cases are on the rise. My opinion is that a child needs to be advocated for regardless of fears and we need to do right by Riley. The doctor at the Children's Hospital decided that he could have a high functioning autism but that his gaps may close as he developed in time. So at the age of 2-3 he had speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. Kari and I worked really hard with him. I knew sign language (I'll explain that later) so I began to work with him with speech and signs. Today he speaks pretty well... and talks a lot. He still has some issues but he also has developed well and most of his gaps have closed. Like I said, he still has some problems... He still has some problems with textures in food... but I think that he is getting better there too. It is not uncommon for those that have levels of autism to have issues with texture. Riley may not have autism exactly. He is higher functioning so if he does, he is on the line. So much has changed we don't know what we are dealing with now. He does have some form of learning disability. His mother was just diagnosed this past summer with ADHD. I know I might sound a little bit like I don't have emotion about any of this but we have to do all that I can do for Riley. Believe me in my private moments I have really felt the emotions and fears. I have prayed while taking steps of faith forward. Regardless we must have him assessed again at the Children's Hospital to see where he is in development since Kindergarden is possibly coming up next year and I got that referral from the doctor. I am really happy about that because we will learn what's what. I believe the report will be more positive than we believed 2-3 years ago.

Riley also got 4 shots. 2 in each arm. He didn't cry or whine... he took it like a man (better than some men :-)). I think he liked the crayon bandaids too. So that is why he is the "bravest". I was really proud of him. When I was his age, I would tear up the room if I was going to get a shot. It took my mom, more than 1 nurse, the doctor, and plenty of bribes to get me to take a shot. This picture is of Riley last year after the children's church performance on Christmas Eve. He likes to see his picture published on my blog and he deserves a "Hooray for Riley".

The holiday potluck was very good. There wasn't the same amount of food that there has been in the past, which is probably good. Anyway, I ate but didn't over eat. I had one small sample of a dessert and called it a day... or an event. Hopefully my food choices wheren't too costly in points.

Have a great day everyone...

Taking Time With My Sweetheart

Yesterday while Kari was with the boys, Dave and I headed out of town and went to North Bend, WA. There was a very light dusting of snow on the ridges going there. The forecast has been for some showers with possibility of wet snow. It was snowing ever so lightly this morning when we left the house. It would hit the ground and disappear... it wouldn't "stick". I like that kind of snow!!! We love going to Snoqualmie and North Bend. In fact it was where we had our honeymoon, right at the base of Mt. Si. The link (I hope this works) for the City of Snoqualmie http://www.ci.snoqualmie.wa.us/ which has pictures of Mt. Si, the Snoqualmie Falls, and the train depot. I bought some more ornaments for the tree and we ate an early dinner at one of our favorite restaurants there. I could see Mt Si starting to cloud up and so I took a picture. As you can see, it looked like it was starting to snow on the mountain (3:30 pm) so we left in order not to get caught if it did start to soon snow at our elevation where we were in North Bend.

The train depot is a favorite of the boys since they love trains so much (thanks to Thomas the Train). Some times they have train rides to North Bend and then out to the Falls... it is a very beautiful scene... like in the fall at Halloween. They decorate the Halloween Train up with fun decorations for the kids. The train has pumpkins on the front of it. The kids get to wear their costumes and they get a dollar off the ticket price if they do. Right now the are running the Santa Train (same train and train ride but decorated for Christmas). The kids get to visit with Santa and have hot chocolate & cookies. Because I took the boys on the Halloween Train, I didn't take them on the Christmas Train. However, one year I might do both or switch to Christmas. It is all about making memories with them.

In July, Thomas the Train actually does come to the Snoqualmie station for a couple of weeks. I took Riley to be on that train a couple of years ago... the engine looks like Thomas. I think it was the hottest day of the year and we melted. Although it was miserable... it was memorable. I will probably try again for Brady's sake... because he too would want to ride on Thomas. You can Google Thomas the Train and see if it will be visiting near you to take the kids. They have more than just the ride, they also have activities, songs, and a gift shop.

This week will be a lot lighter than the weeks for the past couple of months. We are so happy to finally get some office and desk time in to catch up on our paperwork. There is also the holiday potluck, so it is getting to be more slower in all the departments. I am cooking something right now to take tomorrow. It is finals week and after this week we won't have students on campus until after New Years except for those that are registering for classes for Winter quarter. The high schools close on the 20th til the 2nd or 3rd of January.

Have a fantastic Monday!

"With Every Christmas Card I Sign"

Today my goal is to get my Christmas cards signed and envelopes addressed. I may have a Christmas letter written but I am not too sure what I would say yet. The boys pics are in so I will be able to mail everything this coming week.

I am also going to make sure I get to the store today for this week's food for lunch and dinner so I am not unprepared. I also have to prepare a dish for Monday's Christmas potluck at work. Planning and taking my lunch always helps with managing my points.

I plan to make something that is Mexican food for the event tomorrow. I also usually bring cream puffs from Costco to this event every year. This potluck has over 20 plus feet of food. I have to plan my points etc for this dangerous feast. Luckly that was our discussion was about at WW yesterday.

We have clear skies here which makes it colder. We are in the 30's in the daytime. The weather people are bring up the possibility of snow again. The photo is Mt Rainier on my way to WW yesterday.

The boys loved the lights and jumped with joy when I put up the tree. They are so excited. They are a ton of fun and make it all more exciting.