Happiness Is...

Little Treasures Found on my Hard Drive

While moving DVDs of the Broken Clocks onto my external hard drive to be saved forever, I found some really old movies still on my computer.  Four of them were Kaelin's dance recitals from 2006 and 2007.  She was 5 and 6 years old.  The quality of the clips is bad because I filmed them on my old Sony camera, not even a video camera, but these really are little treasures.  After watching her dance at her show last weekend, it's hard to remember there was a time when she stood on stage, looking cute, and watching her dance instructor so she would know what to do.  She's come a long way!

This is her tap dance from 2006 (5 years old)

 

And this is her ballet from 2006...

 

This is her tap from 2007 (6 years old)

 

And this is her ballet from 2007

 

Manners, Anyone??

Earlier today Kaelin and I were at Target shopping for some birthday presents for Collin.  As always when I go to Target, I had a cart full of much more than birthday presents for Collin, and we were walking through the book section.  I saw some books that I thought he might be interested in, and Kaelin and I were discussing what he is currently reading, what he has read recently, and what we thought he might like.  We were ACTIVELY engaged in conversation about the product on display in front of us.  

I heard a little voice say, "Excuse me," but it didn't seem to be directed at me. I looked down and a little guy about 4 years old walked by, not looking at me, so I went right back to talking to Kaelin about the books we were looking at.  A short time later, the boy's mom says, "Excuse me!"  So I turned and looked at her and she told me her son wanted to look at the same display of books that we were looking at.  Even though we were there first, were looking at the books with the intent of buying, she was essentially telling us to move because her son wanted to look and we were in the way.  

Rather than make a scene, we walked off and I explained to Kaelin how rude that lady had been and that she should have waited for us to finish looking and then let her son have his turn after we left.  It would have been different if we had been standing there, not paying attention to the product we were standing in front of.  Then I would have understood her asking us to move.  But since we were, in fact, looking at the books, I think she should have just backed off and quietly waited until we were finished.  Am I wrong here?  

It just seems to me that people these days can't "wait their turn."  We've got to have everything RIGHT NOW no matter what.  And just because you use the phrase "Excuse me," does not mean that you are being polite.  That phrase can be used in a very rude manner...and usually is.  

Can somebody please explain to me whatever happened to common courtesy and good manners?  It's frustrating trying to teach kids good manners when there aren't any good examples for them to see.  

Just Call Me "Rockstar's Mom"

Last weekend I spent my time being the mom of a rockstar.  Brendan and his band, the Broken Clocks, played 3 times - once at the school carnival, and twice at the baseball league's spring fling.  It was their debut performance with their new lead singer, and they were amazing.   When you consider the fact that 2 of them are 14, one is 13, and the other one is 12, they become even more amazing.  And when you consider the fact that one person directs them and teaches them to sound so good, still more amazing.  

I uploaded several of their videos to their Facebook page, but I uploaded one to youtube because the baseball league wanted to use it.  I couldn't miss an opportunity to share it here, because I'm more than a little bit proud and impressed.  

Enjoy the video...I think you'll be impressed, too.

 

The One With the Most Money Wins?

So today I was playing Life with one of my students and we were reading the directions.  I got to the part that said the one with the most wealth at the end of the game wins.  I guess when I was a kid I knew that was how you won the game, but that statement got under my skin a little bit today when I read it.  

I was thinking about how, when I come to the end of my life (assuming I know it's the end of my life), I hope I can look at my life and believe there was more to it than the amount of money I saved.  Because if I'm going to base the worth of my life on how much money I made I suspect I'm going to be disappointed in the end.  I hope whether or not I "won at life" will be measured by the relationships I have with my kids and my family, as well as who I came in contact with along the way and how I treated them.  I want my life to be so much more important than dollar signs.   

I know it's just a game and it's entirely possible that I'm making too much out of it, but when I look around me and see things that are happening in America, and I see people on tv and how they behave, it's not so unusual to see real people living their lives in pursuit of all things superficial.  And I think they might buy into the idea that a successful life really is measured by how big your bank account is in the end.  What do you think?

I'm Elmo and I Know It

Brendan showed me this video earlier and we got a big laugh out of it.  Just in case you don't recognize the song, it's a parody of LMFAO's "Sexy and I Know It."  This would be a more kid-friendly version.  Hilarious!

 

Yes, I Love My Job

Monday and Tuesday I will be out of town for training.  When you work with students who are autistic, you have to give them a heads up about this sort of thing.  So this afternoon I told them I would be gone Monday and Tuesday at training so I could be a better teacher.  One of the kids said, "But you're already a great teacher."  

I'm still smiling.  It was one of those unexpected moments that reminded me why I do what I do and how amazing it can be.  My heart is happy.  

Those Super Bowl Commercials

I thought that the majority of this year's commercials during the Super Bowl were rather un-entertaining.  There were a couple that actually made me laugh, but this one was my absolute favorite:

 

"Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it"

-Ferris Bueller

Huge Sigh of Relief

Earlier today I was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief.  I've been waiting almost 2 weeks for it, and I'm very blessed that I was able to do it. 

Over Christmas break I had 4 very important doctor appointments.  Three of which were due to family history, and the other is just good practice for anybody - especially somebody that grew up going to the beach all the time.  Those appointments were a colonoscopy, CT angiogram of my brain, a mammogram, and a skin cancer check.  I kind of had to fight for the colonoscopy, and the reasons I fought for it were a combination of family history and personally knowing 2 people not much older than me who have (are battling) battled it.  

When I scheduled these procedures I really didn't think much of any of it.  I thought I would have the procedures, the doctors would say the results are clear, and then they'd tell me when to come back.  The one I was most afraid of was the CT angiogram.  I spend over half my life trying to function with a headache of one kind or another, so it was a little scary knowing that I was about to see if, in fact, there was a little something extra in my brain causing it.  And it made sense to me that there certainly could have been.  The one test I was worried about is the one test that came back perfectly clear.  I wasn't worried about the colonoscopy - I had 2 polyps.  I wasn't worried about the skin cancer check - my doctor removed a mole from my back that turned out to be "abnormal."  I wasn't worried about the mammogram - I had to make a return visit for more scans.  

In the midst of receiving all of these results I was starting to feel like cancer was a shark circling around me just waiting to attack at its most opportune time.  Thankfully that didn't happen, but instead of getting "all clear/nothing to worry about" and getting these results that were just a little too close for comfort left me feeling a bit nervous.  I am so very thankful that I have a doctor that does such a good job of tracking family history and is a big believer in preventive medicine.  And just to clarify, it's my gynecologist that ordered the colonoscopy and the mammogram.  I also see a P.A. (mainly for migraines) but he wasn't terribly concerned about my family history of colon cancer.  His mistake. 

So back to my huge sigh of relief - I breathed it this morning around 10:00.  I had my return visit for the mammogram and I had been told they had seen something (nodular asymmetry) on the original scans, and for this visit there would be a radiologist on hand to look at the scans immediately, and I might have to have an ultrasound.  I found this out about 2 weeks ago and I've been so busy I really haven't had time to let my neurotic personality get the best of me, but last night was really hard and at one point I had myself convinced that they were going to find a big lump and that shark would have, finally, attacked.  But I got lucky, was blessed, whatever you want to call it.  On the second set of scans they used a different angle and it turns out there is nothing suspicious present at all.  So I got my all clear!

There is a lot more I could say about all of this, but my point of writing this blog post was not simply to inform everybody of all the fun I had over Christmas break.  There are a few things I'd like to emphasize about my experience.  

1.  Know your family history - I can't stress this enough.

2.  Be your own advocate.

3.  Don't think you're too young or "it can't happen to me."  That shark can get anyone at anytime.

4.  Know when it's time to get those preventive tests done...and do them! 

My life has returned to normal.  I have avoided the shark for now.     

Late Christmas Greetings

Those who know me are well aware of how much I love to send Christmas cards.  I can think of one year in the past 16 that I did not send Christmas cards.  That year I sent new year's cards instead.  This year when I realized I was not going to get Christmas cards done I briefly considered sending new year's cards again, but then I decided I would do a nice Christmas blog post instead.  Christmas came and went and that didn't happen.  So here I am, on January 1, doing a "Christmas" blog post.  

Along with my Christmas card is always my Christmas letter, that gives a brief account of what our family did during the previous year.  I love remembering the events of the year and reliving the memories.  I missed taking that trip down memory lane this year.  

So if I had written a Christmas letter it would have said that 2011 was, overall, a good year.  One of the most exciting things that happened this year was in June when my parents moved 5 minutes away from us.  This has been a wonderful situation for them and us for many reasons.  It's nice to be able to drive around the corner and be at their house, and their help with the kids has been necessary countless times.  I don't know how we ever made it without them!

Cole is still working for Velcro USA and still enjoys it.  His clients that he has to visit are in places like southern California, Chicago, and New Mexico.  Who wouldn't love a job that involves regular travel to those places?  He coached Collin's baseball team in the spring and fall, and stays plenty busy helping me deliver children to various activities pretty much every day of the week.  

As for me, I had quite the year.  Not only did I turn 40 in September, but I also started my first teaching job, which has proven to be both challenging and rewarding, and I believe 100% that I am right where God intended for me to be.  It took long enough for me to get here, but I love the people I work with and I love my students and that's really all one can ask for.  I celebrated my 40th birthday for an entire month with activities that included Keith Urban and David Crowder*Band concerts, as well as a fabulous birthday party and a performance by Brendan's band, The Broken Clocks, and the big event, finally meeting Jack Blades and enjoying a Night Ranger concert with 4 of my oldest friends.  I used the phrase "...because it's my birthday month" for any reason I could possibly think of during September and it was truly the most enjoyable birthday month I've ever experienced.  

Brendan just turned 14 and is in 8th grade.  He has developed his talent and quite a passion for playing guitar, and he just upgraded from his Fender Squier beginner model to an Epiphone Limited Edition 1966 G-400 reissue, paid for entiredly by him.  No small feat for a 13 year old to save $400 and I'm really proud of how hard he worked to earn the money.  He loves his guitar and has already had the opportunity to play it at the youth New Year's Eve lock-in at our church, where he has just become lead guitarist for the youth band.  He gave up his last season of baseball so he could be in the band and he's very excited about it.  He competed in the UIL one-act play competition in early December.  His character was an angry brother and he was quite good at it since he gets a lot of practice being an angry brother at home!  He is looking forward to trying out for a part in the spring musical, Bye Bye Birdie.  

Kaelin's first love is still dancing, although we discovered during summer choir camp that she has a pretty singing voice.  She continues to be a part of a dance team, and takes dance classes 3 days a week.  She was asked to take part in the Christmas Eve service at church and she was able to sing and dance.  The service was incredible and Kaelin did a beautiful job with her part of it.  She's hoping to add voice lessons to her schedule, but we haven't really pursued that yet.  It's hard to believe she's in 5th grade (okay, not really hard to believe she's in 5th grade, but hard to believe she'll be in middle school next year), but she loves her teachers and she's got a really good group of friends that she hangs out with.  Her new interest is Justin Bieber.  He's not my favorite, but my mom wasn't a huge fan of Andy Gibb and I adored him for several years when I was in elementary school.  She could make worse choices than Justin Bieber!

Collin is as cute as ever and provides an excess amount of comic relief at our house.  His sweet little heart was evident before Christmas when he went to work making gifts - and wrapping them - for every member of the family.  He played baseball in the spring and then Cole and I lost our minds and agreed to let him play baseball AND flag football during the fall.  He loved it, but there were some crazy days this fall!  He scored his first touchdown when he caught a pass and ran the ball into the end zone.  Currently he's beginning his first season of basketball.  He's playing on a team that consists mostly of boys that he already knows and he's very excited.  They are the Lakers and I'm very excited about the purple uniforms!  Collin is in 3rd grade, likes school, hates homework, loves video games, Pokemon,  and Beyblades, and particularly enjoys PACE math and recess.  

We still have our sweet cat, Cookie, and she is dearly loved by all of us - even Cole although he denies it.  She lives a life of luxury for a cat, and her favorite places to sleep are in Collin's bed (top bunk...she climbs the ladder to get to the bed), my super cool accent chair that came from Pier 1, the chaise lounge that is my favorite place to sit when I read, and most recently, my Bevo pillow pet that I got for Christmas.  She is spoiled rotten, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  

If I had sent a Christmas letter I would have wished you a very merry Christmas and would have asked you to keep in touch.  And I really would have meant it.  I love hearing from people  - especially those that we don't see all that often.  

And if I had sent a Christmas letter I would have mentioned that my family and I are incredibly blessed to be surrounded by the people that we live our lives with.  We have friends and family that continuously make themselves available to us and keep us smiling.  We are living proof that life is much better when it's shared with people that love you just the way you are.  

Since I didn't send a Christmas letter, and I'm not going to send new year's cards, I will just say that I hope you all had a merry Christmas and you have a wonderful 2012.  And I hope we get to see you some time in the new year!

My Least Favorite Christmas Song

I've always found "The Christmas Song" to be dull and boring, and, anytime it was played on the radio I automatically changed the station.  It's my least favorite Christmas song.  Until now.  

 

Yes, folks, that's Keith Urban singing "The Christmas Song."  And I have to say it's the first time in all 40 years of my life I've enjoyed hearing that particular song.  The fact that it's a video doesn't hurt anything...Keith Urban in a suit!  Nice touch.  

Okay, I still don't really like the song, but I have to admit Keith Urban makes it sound *really* good!