Colors

Earlier in the week, I'm getting breakfast dishes on the table and Willy says to me Mom look out the front window. And of course in a mom doubting way I say why. In my mind I'm thinking I've got to hurry and get everyone off to school, can't this wait. He insists come on mom you've got to see this. He sprints into the office to retrieve the camera, and says mom you'll want a picture of this. "Oh great what has he done now." I trudge into the hallway and look outside the sky is lit up with this amazing color of pinks and reds and oranges. It's bright pink not just where the sun is peeking through on the eastern horizon. The whole sky is enveloped in the coloring of a beautiful new day. Willy snapped a few pictures. The beauty of the sky soon disappeared and I am glad a young man wanted to share the sunrise with his mother.

Later in the afternoon I had been doing laundry for the most part of the day I looked down at all the colors of the folded laundry and noticed the colors of many days. I know it's a little far fetched but the laundry, probably because it was done, and full of pinks reds, blacks oranges and blues reminded me of the sunrise earlier that day.

Honorable Mention

Emily has had a very long day!! After school at 4:00 Emily returned to the school for her big science fair. We joined her at about 7:30 to see what the judges had decided. She had been texting us so we knew that she qualified for the second round of judging. Emily's experiment fit into the area of Biochemistry. Seven of her peers were competing in the same area. She received an honorable mention and a second place was given in this area and no first. The first place of each area goes onto regionals so no one in this area was top enough to go on to regionals. There were some really cool displays but all of the kids were anxious to get home after a very long day, so we didn't get to see too many of them. Congratulations Emily on all your hard work!



This is Emily with her good friend Kaitlyn who was also a participant in the science fair

Lydia In The Middle

Jessica really likes Math and she really likes to help others. Put that together and she tutors Math. Today Crissy came over and Jessica helped her with her Algebra. Once Lydia got home she was all over in the middle of it. You would have thought Lydia was the one trying to learn Math. Lydia tried to have Crissy decide for her what books she should get at the book fair. I'm not sure if Crissy ever got her Math done but we enjoyed having her over.

Just as Crissy left Joe came over all dressed up in his scout uniform. Austin and Joe are good buddies that really like to play on the their DS's. They didn't get much time together without Lydia into their business. Joe couldn't even get his coat off before she made them stop and show her the DS. She just has to see what is going on with everything. The boys were so good just to let her tag along. Joe stayed for dinner. Which I must say he was so polite and he even helped set the table. I hope my kids are that polite when they go other places.

Lydia did stop and do her home work. She completed her letter writing it was so fun to see how she continues on the Harrison tradition of sticking out her tongue when she concentrates. I do the same thing. Well as usual she stops what she is doing to see what else is going on and as the mailman appears she runs out to get the mail. She has to be in the middle of it all.

Try Not to Over React!

I woke up think about how I had sent Jessica to the store last night and how the front wheel area of the car grazed the garage opening. The dent and the white scratch are a new look for the van. And the house needs a hammer to the trim. I know it can be a little tricky getting out of the garage when the suburban is parked to the side of the driveway. I know because I hit the suburban one time and have a damaged back bumper to prove it. I must say I was proud of Bill for not over reacting. Knowing us we'll keep the look on the van for a while.


This is the snow pile it's hard to tell but it is about as high as our mailbox

Bill loves to play in the snowbanks with his suburban. It's an ongoing adventure. You know that as long as there is an available snow pile to run into he's going to do it. There is a nice size snow pile in the culdesac in front of our house. at least twice a day he has to drive through it. This morning he informed me that he got high centered and it was hard to get our of. When Willy got home he told me that Dad was even worried for a little bit and that it felt like they were going to tip over. All I can say is that I'm glad I wasn't watching. I probably would of over reacted. I can't wait until all the snow has melted then I won't have to worry.



With Willy I am never sure what to expect when he comes through the door well today he came in with his black hood over his head, which is not that accepted among his peers, so I knew something was up. "Willy show me your face." " I'm going to go use the bathroom." "No show me you face." He preluded the unveiling with this story " I fell asleep in my English class and this girl wrote my name on my cheek in marker. The kids kept telling me there was something on my cheek so I asked the teacher if that was true. She said yes then she got mad and I stood up for the girl so she wouldn't get into trouble." Later he pronounced this as his good deed for the day. I tried not to over react by laughing. I think his peers got the better of him this time.

F H E

This morning I woke up wishing today was Friday. Yet I know that I shouldn't wish my life away. It's just that I look forward to having some family time and after family home evening on Monday it seems that life doesn't give us much together time until the weekend.
Bill is the teacher of our family he knows how to give a life lesson in about 30 minutes. The kids usually stay focused but last night Emily was having a hard time staying awake, Willy and Austin kept talking and doing strange things. Lydia kept interupting. Jessica seemed the only one intent on learning. However, we continued and were able to evaluate our rally cry. We improved with one green and two yellows. We are focused on our Rally cry, but, we have to continue doing other tasks. So we decided that the other two changes that we will monitor are:
#1 Do a Good Deed Daily
#2 Use Patience and Unity to help us when we have conflict.

I even forgot to get a treat ready for refreshments so the kids had granola bars before bed. All I can say is we continue on.

A New Sunday Dress

Lydia looked so pretty in her new Sunday dress. I know it's weird timing for a new dress, but I saw this dress and couldn't pass it up for 15$. She has grown so tall over the last six months, that she's had only one Sunday dress for a while. I couldn't wait until Easter to give it to her. She looks so grown up like a princess in pig tails.

Yes camping! Yes bowling!

The idea of camping in the cold has never been something that I would want to do, but for some reason camping and scouts is a year round adventure. Last night Willy went camping with the young men and and their leaders. Willy always has a way that makes me laugh and worry.. Lets just say he doesn't always take my advice and act on it. So though I know he won't lose fingers and toes he may have an awfully uncomfortable night. He may decide that wearing wet clothes to bed will be okay and that wearing his tennis shoes instead of his boots will be best. I have to stand back and let him make his choices. I'm sure that he will laugh it all off when he gets home and I pray that he has an opportunity to see that his choices have consequences even the small ones.

Austin is an 11 year old scout but, he's not quiet old enough to go with the older scouts. So Austin and Bill invited his friend Joe and his father to go bowling. They bowled two games and then went to five guys for lunch. Bill enjoyed talking with Troy in fact so much that he mentioned it several times during the rest of the day. It must have been great because Bill isn't one to say it unless it's really fun. Austin had a great time and I hope Joe and Troy did too.

Willy arrived home about two in the afternoon. He had a lot of fun. He still had all his fingers and toes. He never put on his boots so he had cold toes. I don't know if he took my advice about changing into dry socks before he went to bed but that was up to him. He did get a little wet at night because he slept near the edge of the tent. He used the hand warmers in his socks and loved them. He learned some new knots, and did orienteering. A big thanks goes out to all the leaders who made this camp out possible. I'm glad he's home even if he isn't!!!!