I think I will talk a little about Bonnie today.

Bonnie has been working the past couple of weekend at Camas Meadows Bible Camp which is about twenty minutes away up in the mountains.  She loves working up there and has proven herself to be a hard worker.  They wanted her to work every weekend for the next three months but we didn't want her to miss that much church, so we agreed that she could work two weekends a month.  She has had to learn how to manage her time.  Being at a camp, you can imagine there is a lot of fun and games and late nights. That is all great if you are a camper, but being on staff it can be quite draining.  The first couple of weekends that Bonnie worked she came home exhausted, and it took days for her to recoup.  We had to lay the law down that if she didn't manage her time better and get some sleep then she would  not be able to work there anymore.  This week she came home rested and ready to get back into her normal routine.  Well....she came home rested.  However, it turns out the visiting group took off with all of her luggage.  (roll eyes and sigh...)  Yep,  Bonnie didn't want to have to drag her bag of clothes, toiletries, etc back and forth across the icy roadway every morning and night so she decided to keep her bag in the bathroom under the bathroom counter.  Unfortunately, someone saw it when they were packing up to leave and grabbed it without thinking to ask to see if it belonged to any one in their group or on staff.  Well, at least she came home rested.

Late Christmas Present

During the month of December while I was busy getting Christmas presents for the family, Todd kept dropping hints that what he really wanted for Christmas was

No... not a Red Rider BB gun. He already has one of those.  Todd wanted......

.... a remote controlled helicopter.  

Of course, I had already gotten his Christmas present and that wasn't it.  I figured his obsession would fade away, and the really cool shop vac that I had gotten him would take his mind off his silly little helicopter, but no, he still wanted one.  So finally, with his Christmas money the boys and I picked up the helicopter of his dreams this weekend.

He had so much fun....that he had to take it to church to fly it around the sanctuary.  Boys and their toys!

ok...i am not totally inept   I figured out where the pictures and videos are stored on the Apple.  Bear with me.


This week in AWANA was snowball night which is kind of funny since for the first time since moving here, we have NO SNOW!!!

Anyways, the kids had fun.  I made 200 paper snowballs and the kids set up table forts and threw snowballs at each other.  We also gave the kids toilet paper, hats, scarfs, paper cone noses, and fake buttons to make a snowman.  It was a fun night!  Next week we get to play with balloons!!!

While walking with my friend, Tabitha, this morning, I commented that I needed to take my new camera with me so that I could take some pictures and update my blog.  We talked the whole time and I failed to take pictures.  Guess what?  You're going to get a post with no pictures.

I actually do have some pictures to post and some cool videos but I am still having technology issues.  Part of it is my netbook want allow me to open up my blogger profile because it is intertwined with my son's google account that he has for school.  Another part is I am having troubles finding the pictures I uploaded to the Apple computer in our room.  Ugghhh!!!

So what's new?  Well, I talked to my Aunt and Uncle's niece, Lori, on Thursday and we are planning for our families to meet on next Thursday for dinner.  I am looking forward to it.

It is the end of the semester for Brian so he is in the midst of semester projects and preparing for final exams.  I still have one teacher that I would love to have words with.  I really need to write a letter to the school principal.  Brian's English teacher once again has strayed from the school calendar and changed her plans.  She told the students last week to ignore their grammar assignments.  There were quizzes scheduled and two semester exams scheduled for this week but she told them to ignore them.  Then in her announcement page she told the kids to follow another course of action for this week.  We, or I should said I, did not clue into what was going on until Friday and Brian was now a week behind.  You see I have Brian and I print off the monthly assignment sheet and go by that.  Oh...this teacher also decided to make the switch to the school's Google address this week and has chosen to start to communicate through that site.  Of all weeks to decide to change over, semester exam week is not the one.  It is bad enough that the virtual academy has decided to change to a Google site, but what makes it more confusing is that only a few teachers have made the change so you have to two sites to juggle and manage. Within those two sites you have multiple pages to check and manage for each subject.  It is a lot and personally, for me, it is overwhelming.    Oops, there I go again....venting my frustrations with WAVA.  I know, Sue, I know!

Bonnie is off working at Camas Meadows Bible camp for the second weekend in a row.  Hopefully, she will manage her time there better than before and not come home dog-tired.  My sister-in-law Debbie came over Thursday night and took some awesome pictures of Bonnie.  We will use the pictures for the local newspaper to promote her as Leavenworth's Distinguished Young Woman.  Bonnie is set to compete in the At Large program in April.  She is starting to get nervous.  She really needs to find a dramatic reading for the talent portion of the competition.  I hope she does well and sticks with it.

Well,  that is all you are getting for now.

Family Connections

Last night I received a message from my Aunt Gloria (my dad's sister) in Alexandria.  She informed me that her niece was moving to Leavenworth.  In fact, she (and her family) should arrive this Friday.  Lori is the daughter of my Uncle Weldon's (Gloria's husband) sister.  So although Lori and I are not related by blood we share the same aunt and uncle.  Lori's husband, Kent, is the new associate pastor of the Nazarene church.  Another bit of irony, is that the new senior pastor of the Nazarene church is from Indiana as well and used to live (I think) in Alexandria, my hometown.  My Aunt Gloria knows him as well since he would come to the library where she was the librarian.  Small World!  Oh...and here is one more piece to the pie....Kent's last name is Wright.  My maiden name is Wright.  So....there is another possibility that Kent and I are related as well.

For twenty plus years, whenever I ask my husband what he wants to eat, I get the same response....steak, eggs, hash browns, biscuits-n-gravy, sourdough (homemade) sourdough toast, juice, and coffee.  It is kind of a joke between us.  Today I decided to give in... a little....I fixed top sirloin steaks and eggs for dinner....
minus the rest since I put Todd on the Prism diet ( Todd and my dad challenged each other to lose 10 pounds.) so no bread or potatoes...hence the sad face....

A Day in Leavenworth

 Our friends, The Harpers, are visiting us this holiday week.  The Harpers went to college with Todd and they were married the week after Todd and I.  In our 20 years of marriage, we figured we have spent 14 New Year Eves together.  Yesterday, the men, Todd, Mike, and Zach, went hiking up Icicle Ridge, Brian and Drew went to McDonalds, and the rest of us went to Munchen Haus for a good ole Leavenworth brat.

 After our brat, we went to our new favorite hangout, Fizzy's Soda Fountain and Antique Store.  Fizzy's serves great phosphate sodas and good old fashioned milkshakes.

It was a beautiful, warm day and we had a great time walking around town.  Once we got home the kids settled down for a Dr. Who marathon while Todd, Mike, Sue and I played Rook. 

Happy New Year!