Aloha Montana!

Montana winters do not make me think of hula dancing, but late each January we get the Hawaiian feeling going when we head to the north west corner of the state to get our hula on.

Many years we drive through blizzards to arrive bright and early to the multi-purpose building on the Flathead County Fairgrounds.  Inside the building we hear surfing music and the staff and judges are all in hula attire, including some great t-shirts.

Instead of the sleek, dignified leotards our girls usually wear, it's an explosion of color and flowered leotards, grass skirts and big, crazy sunglasses.

Awards are always fun, last year was a stuffed turtle and this year was a whole bunch of leis and a mini beach ball.  Winning teams brought home surfboard trophies for their gyms and a very excited Dizzy was finally on a winning team (they've been the 4th place team for the last 2 years).

Aloha from Montana, where we are expecting up to 6" of snow in the next 2 days...for us this is nothing and we wish a quick end to the horrid weather that is accumulating east of us.  Onward to our big home meet this weekend, where both Tink and Dizzy compete on the same day and may cause their mother to have a nervous breakdown!

On a humorous note, Bean wore his t-shirt he was given last year that shows a stick-figure skier tumbling down and the caption reads, "I do my own stunts".  Rather fitting, don't you think?

Baby steps

I started crocheting when I was 9 years old.  Those potholders are hopefully gracing the landfill down the 'Root.  I've grown a bit on the over 30 years since and am working on some blankets.

After several "froggings" (Ripping out row after row) and a ninety minute, uninterrupted session, it has graduated from a long skinny scarf to something approaching a blanket.

Now for an edge and it'll be good to go.  So much nicer than the uneven potholders I was making at first in 4-H.

Finished product.  Love it and want one for myself.  That'll have to take a backseat for a little while and I'll need an even bigger skein of yarn.

 Since I had extra, I decided that I could attempt the baby hat that matched it.

One turned out great as a hat, the other I think will be a great cotton ball holder or something for my girls. 

Onwards my dear friends, at least 2 more big projects to be done in the near future, so I'll quit blogging and begin crafting.  Next post will be a bit more tropical in nature!

Seriously?

OK, so we have Bean on crutches, but finally back to school for semester finals.  Shorter days will be better for him and hopefully he'll continue to build up stamina for next week when he has to go back full time.  Should be interesting, as were his toes last night.  Someone (and I wrongly accused one person) drew little smiley faces on each toe, but the cast is now more colorful and full of signatures.  Can't wait to see what tonight's decorations bring.

Dizzy is healing wonderfully.  She sees the doc tomorrow just to make sure that she is fully healed, but she seems to be feeling great and ready to roll at the Aloha meet this weekend in Kalispell.  Note to self, find the hula gear...

Tater had a rough Monday, but is bouncing back and the smile is finally coming back.

The Boss is fighting what appears to be an upset stomach.  Stress anyone?

And I ended up at the doc yesterday.  Sinus infection, allergy based and now am on 2 prescription meds, 2 otc meds and doctor prescribed hot baths.  

Before I head to take that hot bath, I guess Bean would prefer that I shovel the sidewalks so that he has a safe trip into the house.

  Stay safe, stay warm and stay healthy.

Another new view

When we travel, it is always The Boss and I in the front and the three kiddos in the backseat.  I then have the free view through the front window and my own bucket seat.

With Bean broken, he doesn't fit in the back seat.  This means mom got shuttled to the back seat and had a very new view.

Being claustrophobic, it wasn't the most comfortable ride and I seemed to have Tater's elbow in my ribs as she wiggled around while watching a movie.

I was less distracted during the trip and got quite a bit done on the blanket I'm working on.  I'm finding I can take it nearly everywhere and even got several rows done during Girl Scout Cookie Training this morning.

 

 Tomorrow will be another new/old view as we get into the excitement of competition season for gymnastics.  With Dizzy still on injured reserves (for this weekend...she won't stay down any longer and it took coaches to tell her that), this one is all about Tater, who is suffering from a horrible case of the nervous nellies tonight, although I think she has finally fallen asleep.

The picture is a bit fuzzy, but I didn't dare use the camera with the flash (and it doesn't take the best night pictures) but I think she finally crashed.  

Little views

As I sit here in my happy little house, I have to laugh a little.

My views are very limited right now.  I sit in my corner of the couch and watch child #1 sit with his leg on a pillow in a cast from hip to toe.  This includes ice packs on his knee and blankets to keep him warm.  It also includes fetching new glasses of water, snacks, meals, pain pills and new ice packs as he needs.

It also has included fetching homework, pencils, calculators and books as he begins plowing through a week's worth of homework.  This also includes preparing for his first round of semester tests in high school.

He looked at me today and grimaced.  "I thought a week off of school meant I didn't have to worry about school."

Hard to do when you have the end of the semester right after you go back to school.

Child #2 has a minor hyper-extension of her elbow, no broken bones and no signs of ligament damage.  The challenge with her is to keep her quiet while letting that elbow heal.  Easier said than done now that it is feeling better.  She wants to be back in the gym and working out.  Not trusting her to not use the arm, I am keeping her home.

This also helps me in the transportation problems, as I can't leave child #1 alone for too long at a time right now.  Child #3 is feeling a bit left out, and requiring extra attention each night.

Good night for now, all 3 chickadees are home and sitting in their assigned spots for a few before bedtime.  Much better than spending the night separate with some in the hospital and others at home like we did this weekend.. 

In the blink of an eye...

Do me a favor when you read this.  Hug your children (two and/or four legged), your significant other and all of those who mean something special to you.  Things change in the blink of an eye.  I had a coworker lose a close friend this last week.  I smiled as I read the posts she shared of stories from times they had together.  It was obvious that they had made some wonderful memories together.

I survived my first gymnastics meet.  You may find it funny that I put this right after a post about things changing quickly, but as I watched my daughter finish her floor routine today, looking amazing, I saw the smile on her face go to a grimace and the tears begin.  She hyper-extended her elbow doing her back handspring.  This is something she has done hundreds of times, working past mental blocks so she could challenge for top spots at the meets.  A meet where she would have had her highest all-around score and placement went downhill.  She had to scratch her vault, the elbow would not have taken the pressure.  She did it with Dizzy-style and a smile, but I knew her heart was breaking to be at the bottom of the list.  Thanks go out to her coaches that were there, the vault judge who left her a little note on her scorecard to get well soon and to the host staff, who were right there to help and do what they could including an explanation of her score and why she had just touched the vault and not actually done it (this allows them to have an all around score). 

Scary, and we thought that was bad enough, medical bills and time out of gymnastics which has a very limited season as it is.  Then as we're getting close to home the phone rings.  It's the ski hill, my eldest hurt his knee while skiing with his buddies.  They recommended we take him in to get it checked tonight (ie the hospital er, since it was so late) and my husband went to meet the group he was with as they decided they were done for the night and brought him part way to town.  Not only did he hurt himself, this one requires hospitalization and surgery.  Broken tibia. 

At 3:30 today, life was grand.  The gymnastics meet was going well and B was enjoying a fun night with his close friends to celebrate one of their birthdays.  Blink twice and I have 2 injured children and am a basket case.

Please, tell those in your life that mean something important to you that they do.  Seize the moment and have fun, make memories.  Embrace the joy that life brings to help you through those rougher times.

I have children

I am never shy to admit that I have children.  I love the look on people's faces when I tell them I have 3 children to chase every evening. 

I often am asked if my job is full time or part time.  I chuckle when I tell people that work part time so I can chase my kids after school.  They look at me funny, especially those who have grandchildren my kids' age.  We were never this busy as kids.  I know my mom never had to put together a day planner with everyone's schedules in it so as to not forget this conference or activity.  

I was thinking about the signs in my house that I have children, especially when I went to take a shower this morning and discovered that my bath towel has developed feet and wandered out of the bathroom.  Hmmm, which child has it on their bedroom floor?  Tinkie.  That would be due to the fact that her bath towel is in the living room in the basket of clean clothes I haven't had the desire to fold yet this week.  Then it's the band-aid that didn't make it the 2 feet to the garbage can when it fell off, the 3 pair of kid's shoes by the front door, the copy of "Fantastic Mr. Fox" on the couch and the half finished art project on the kitchen table. No problem finding signs of children in this house, even if you don't look at the pictures of them on the walls.

I'm threatening to turn my son's bedroom into my own personal, indoor beach when he leaves for college and/or is out on his own.  Tarp the floor, dump a bunch of sand into the room via the window and have it deep enough to bury the plastic kiddee pool.  Add a few full-spectrum lights and pump in a ton of heat and I have  my own beach to have my "toes in the water and (tush) in the sand" as the song goes.  Finish it off with fun drinks with umbrellas in them and I'm set to happily survive our Montana winters.

No complaining this week about the weather.  It may have been -5 Monday am when I took the kids to the bus (actual temp, I refused to listen to the radio to find out how cold the wind chill was--but north-eastern Montana had -59 for a wind-chill).  Today it topped out at 38 while I was in town and the sun was shining.  Can't complain about that for the beginning of January!

Grief

Tink hasn't been sleeping.  Therefore, mom and dad aren't sleeping.  This is not good, as a sleepless mom is a cranky mom.  We've tried asking her and having her journal and routines and many a night, letting her fall asleep with us in the living room.  Last night, as she gave dad the puppy eyes and was awarded my spot in the bed (I am claustrophobic and can't do 3 in our bed), she told her daddy she missed Shadow (our nearly 16 year old cat who passed away in July)

and she was afraid to go to sleep and wake up to Tigger passing away (she's 15 years 10 months--this is a possibility) or waking up to all of her family gone. 

How scary!  Where do they come up with these things? She does better if she is close to one of us and to assist in this, I have cleaned out a spot next to my bed (Dad will be so happy the clutter is gone) and brought in a pillow for her.  I'll fold a blanket near-by and she can come in and sleep near us anytime she wants.  I've also raided my favorite place (the library) and found several children's books on grief to read with her this weekend to help her work through this and I will hunt down the great picture I have of him to put in a frame so she will always have him near.

This winter might be tough, with a cat who turns 16 in March and a Springer Spaniel who turned 14 last month.

On a more positive note, I received all of the kitchen supplies I asked for so we will begin eating in a new and healthier way.  This could get interesting!