Jesse's 4th Degree Black Belt Graduation

Well.

I'm hoping others will share pictures and videos. Our camera stopped working after three pictures. I asked two other people to take pictures and videos for me. Both of their devices' batteries died.

I don't won't to go into the rest of our day. If you want to know, check Facebook because I put the entire list of items there.

I just want to go to bed and hope tomorrow is better than today.

Another "first" rehearsal

The girls had their first rehearsal for "Alice in Wonderland" tonight. I'm not sure who was more excited. Chloe was so excited to see Gabby, and Jesse was so excited about being the Tin Man. I think rehearsals went well, with one exception.

Seems like Chloe always attracts the not-so-nice people. There are five girls playing "Alice". All the Alice's were asked to go on stage (at least that is how I interrupted the story). Somehow they got on which number "Alice" they each were. One girl said she was "Alice #2". Chloe said, "No. I'm Alice #2. "No, you're Alice #4," the girl said. "No, I'm Alice #4," another girl said. This went on for a few minutes, when Gabby, Alice #1, suggested Chloe take the girl to Jerry. Jerry corrected the situation. They later found out the girl was a playing card. Well, no wonder she wanted Chloe's part. :)

I'm glad Chloe stood up for herself. I'm also glad there were other girls around her who were willing to help her out. Good friends are hard to find. We all have to hang on to the good ones.

There was also a young boy who was hit, by a car, on his way into the theater, to pick-up his younger brother. I don't know how he is. He was taken to the hospital. I heard his other brother (there were three of them) say his brother couldn't feel his knee. I hope he'll be okay.

I didn't mention it in my last post, but we saw the LEGO movie yesterday. We loved it! It was totally awesome! lol

Today, we ventured out into the world. The world of RVs. Yep, we went out to look at RVs. We didn't find one we wanted, but we did figure out what we don't want. That's a start at least.

A few pictures

I've been promising a few pictures, so I'm posting a few. I still have more to download (the sleet/snow storm from this week), but I thought I'd post a few anyway.

The new swings that John built.

A snowball Chloe kicked up for Hank to play with.

SPLAT!!  He LOVED it. The next frame was of him eating it.

We did take pictures of Rosie in the snow, but they have not been downloaded. They were taken on the camera's memory rather than the memory card. I'm hoping to get them done soon.



Sleet and more snow/sleet

We wound up getting about 5 inches of sleet here. The one thing we prepared for was not having power. It flickered a few times yesterday, but never went out. We were lucky. John's sister, Kim, texted this morning they had no power. He called her to talk for a few minutes to find out, after he talked to his Mom last night, her power went out too. As of tonight at 8pm, Oma still had no power. We are really hoping it will get back on for all of them soon. But the news is reporting it could be up to five days.

The girls entertained themselves today. Another game of PayDay, some art projects, TV, reading and now Big Game Hunter, or something like that anyway. The three of them are quite animated when playing.

I've spent more time to day researching. I looked at some RVs, but spent some time looking into tent camping. Did you know you cannot camp in a tent, or pop-up, at Disney with dogs? I didn't. Now, I'm seriously not happy with Disney right now. Now that we have two doggies we are not going to leave them with my parents for our vacations. I'm not sure what we'll do, but we'll figure something out.

I did manage to get some laundry done today. Okay, I still have to fold everything then put it away, but it is still washed. ;)

Snow! Not exactly.

Well, since they were calling for an inch of ice, I suppose I'm happy with about 3-4 inches of sleet. There was some snow that came down for awhile this morning, but it began mixing with sleet about 8 or 9 this morning.

I could have spent the day downloading my camera; however, I didn't. lol  Surprised? Probably not. I did take a few more pictures though. I'll get to it one day. Maybe tomorrow. I haven't decided on school for tomorrow. We didn't have school today, but two days I think would be too much. I'll put it down as TBD.

We had a good day anyway. This morning we all played Payday together. Jesse won with over $45,000. I came in last, only because everyone else continuously landed on "Deal". I landed on it once. Oh, well. The girls wound up playing another game with Chloe winning it. She had over $100,000!

John and I both did some internet research. I was looking for RVs, of course. I'm not sure what he was doing, but last night he was looking at compost toilets.

I think the funniest thing today was Hank. We can always count on Rosie to not want to go out when it is wet, but Hank is always up for going out. He loved the last snow. This, however, was not snow. It was some snow with sleet. I was talking to my Dad, when John opened the door and Hank ran out turned around immediately and ran back in. I laughed so hard. He said he was having none of that! lol

I think I'll bug John some more and go look at RVs more. :)

A lesson learned

At first I was going to write about horrible children. Then I decided to write about parents who do not parent. But rather than either of those (for now), I'm going to tell you about Chloe.

Chloe is quiet. She is somewhat shy and nervous around new people. She is always polite. Chloe has a generous and kind soul. If she knew her friend needed anything, and Chloe had it, she would offer it to her friend without any other thought. She wears her heart on her sleeve, which in this world can be treacherous.

While she is not an all A student, she is very intelligent and articulate. She has a way of looking at situations and seeing the good, no matter what. Though some situations, it takes a bit of time for her to find the good. She loves to read, and do all sorts of art projects. Some are easy for her and others require great effort from her. She rarely gives up. Okay, she says she is giving up often, but I always find her back trying again after a brief break.

She will eventually find the good in any situation, as I said, and today she had to do just that. She had to forget the cruel words said to her a birthday party, and find the good. This afternoon, swinging with her sister, she found the good. She spoke happily of her friend, the birthday girl, and our old friends from taekwondo, who were at the party too.  I could not be more proud of her.

While I'm waiting for breakfast

I thought I'd try to post something quickly, while I'm waiting to be able to eat breakfast. Every one else is still sleeping, so it is just me. :)

I haven't posted in awhile and here is why. Tuesday and Thursday nights are tough because of taekwondo. Wednesday night I received a text from a friend that she was going out for coffee. John and the girls insisted I go, so I did. Friday night, I admit, I was home but after driving to Aiken and back I didn't want to blog. Now, you know what we've done this week. lol

I was hoping to download pictures from camera Wednesday while Jesse was volunteering, but instead was a good homeschool Mom and graded papers. Then I thought I could do it Friday while Chloe was volunteering, but we changed her schedule some so we could go to Aiken. So, I still have not downloaded pictures yet. I suppose that is a good thing because today we have a birthday party to attend and I can download all the pictures at once. Which may, or may not, happen tomorrow.

We have a week before rehearsals for the next play starts. I'm trying to not focus on it, so I can enjoy the down time but it is still in the back of my mind. I know there are going to be some challenges with getting them to rehearsals, if they are scheduled, on Thursdays. I think John kind of enjoys these weeks, because he gets A LOT of John time. lol  I just don't think he likes most of the meals we eat. Neither do I.

Well, it has been an hour since the meds were taken, so I can now rummage up some food. Yes, the rest of the gang is still asleep. I'll try to find something quick. I'm enjoying the quiet.

Vertigo, vertigo, vertigo

I've been bothered by vertigo all day. I've had to move slowly and not tilt in any direction. I still managed to get some laundry done (and even put away). The girls did some school work and some cleaning did happen all around the house. So all-in-all, I think today was a good day.

I forgot to mention yesterday that we (as a family) received a gift from Burma. A friend of ours went back to visit her family and thought of us while she was there. The gift is a beautiful wind chime made of beads. I think we are going to hang it in the classroom, so the weather doesn't damage it outside.

I WAS watching the Super Bowl

But geez! 43 to 8, Seahawks over the Broncos, is beyond embarrassing!

The final show for "The Wizard of Oz" was today. I haven't heard anything about the show today, so I assume things went well. Chloe loves her new t-shirt, but wishes the cast party had gone better so she could have had it signed by her friends. But it matches all of her other shirts that were not signed, so I think, in the end, things will be okay.

My heart almost stopped during the cast party when I saw kids getting cupcakes when most of the cast still had on their costumes. Oh my! Costumes and light blue icing don't mix! I'm really hoping there were no accidents. Jesse said she even saw one kid eating a cupcake while still in a costume.

When we got home from the theatre, the girls went to swing for awhile. They are loving the swings! Now, I just need them to focus on some school work this week and forget we have a swing. Wish me luck! lol

I won't tell you the story, because Chloe was already embarrassed by this; however, I think I need new glasses and for my sinuses to clear up (help my vertigo and vision). I mistook someone for another person (I don't know) today. In my defense, the person was a good 100ft away and it was her mother. However, I believe Chloe wanted to hide. I, of course, laughed it off. Poor Chloe.

Almost done!

Chloe had two shows today. Exhausting! She and I left at 9:16 this morning and didn't get back home until after 5:00 tonight. I know it doesn't seem like much, but it really is a tiring day. And I am so grateful John was able to take the day off today. The first show used to be at 10am, but now it is 11am. The second show is still at 3pm. So, the time I had between was no longer enough for me to get home, let the dogs out, eat lunch and get back to the theater. I think Jesse was glad he was home too, or she would have been with us. lol

I volunteered today. Today I worked concessions. We had a little girl come by to purchase a "Break-A-Leg" for her sibling and friend. Her name was Morgan. Later, she came to the counter for popcorn, and of course, I remembered her name. She was all smiles when I asked, "Miss Morgan, what can get for you?"

Tomorrow is the last show and as always we get excited and sad. It is the day when t-shirts are handed out. It is also "Junk Food Day" at the Morgan household. You know that "big game" of football. ;)  So, tomorrow should be a little more relaxing than today with just one show, then home to stuff our faces. :)