A Visit to Kendall Elyse's House!

Whitley-IPOD NANO Kendall-Pink Butterfly

The two little girls in blue and the white pony are friends of Kendall and her family. The Jumbo plumber is Kendall's brother Cameron and the Transformer is her other brother Taylor. Whit & Kendall are in the background.

A close up of Kendall's brother Cameron. And of course, when he turns around...there's a "plumber's crack"!!!

We had a great time with Kendall & her family; such gracious people!!! Her Mom, Kim, put on a fabulous spaghetti/lettuce/garlic bread dinner. The kids had a blast trick-or-treating the hood. Kim & I stayed home and passed out candy bars and caught up gabbing.

We plan to spend Thanksgiving with them at Kim's Mom & Dad's place, and Sean's parents will be there as well. It will be the first time we've met Sean's parents. Our next event after that, will be for New Years! We are so thankful that our families are so close!

Anyway, after the women folk did their get-to-gether planning, the kids arrived back with the dads. Sean made some expressos with a little Bailey's and Cream in it, and served it up with a slice of pumpkin cheesecake. UMMMM.....what a perfect way to end October. Now that's what I call starting the holidays off right!!!

FUN FALL MEMORIES

Halloween 2005-Candy Corn Girl

Halloween 2004 - Tin Min and Scarecrow

Halloween 2002- Mad Chef and Spaghetti Girl

This year carving pumkins-2007

What Kind of Apple?

What kind of apple is Whitley going to go in costume as this year for Trick or Treat??? Any guesses?

A Granny Smith?

No, try again.

A Fuji?

Uh-uh.

A carmel apple?

Nope, but I made some for her 5th grade class fall party; YUMMMM!!!!

Give?

How about an APPLE IPOD NANO WITH VIDEO????

YES!! How did you guess?!?!?!?

After 10 years of making her costumes I could not resist. The idea is uniquely my own and I've yet to see anyone duplicate it. Being a "tween" she really liked the idea; not too babyish is key.

It's an amazing what a mom-in-college might think of when given a hot glue gun and a exactoknife!

Well tonight we did the test run with the outfit, carved pumpkins, made "Dirt & Worm" cups and caramel apples for her class party. It was another full day. It is a busy time of year, with her birthday just 3 days away as well! I'll get a few photos off to you and catch up after she turns 11!

Trials and Tribulations

Trail and tribulations....we all go through them from time to time. Over the past week our family has three has faced some challenges together. For starts, John's blood pressure decided to enter another biosphere as it reached 211/148 Sunday evening. Like most men, he refused to go to the hospital. His irrate wife insisted that he see his doctor the following day. Lucky for him, and her, he was still breathing the next morning and he went in to be checked. She (the doctor) wanted to admit him as well as his BP was still 190/138. She started him on some medication and now after seven days it coming within normal limits.

Whitley has been struggling with her new school. We are trying to decided if the move there is a good thing or not. The first grading period ends on Wednesday and there are three more grading periods to go. It is too soon to tell. Let's just day that we have seen a few "gooseeggs" on some daily assignments and they weren't laid by a duck, or our dog (Goosebumps). She is ramping up for trick-or-treating (probably her last year). I'll surprise you with her costume on our next post. We are going to see our foster daughter on the 31st and have dinner with Kendall Elyse and her family. As for the grades, it feels like an awful trick, but maybe with some hardwork, the treats will come.

My laptop crashed on Friday...the net loader went out. I had not done a back up in awhile and therefore, a lot of school projects were on there. So, it is sitting at a computer medic's office having my data extracted (68 pg. psychology report and 18 page biology experiment were of great importance) . After we retrieve that, John will try and rebuild the thing!

Well, today is Monday and a new week. It's amazing what a day or two can make. Most likely, happier days and blogs are ahead.

What Girls Do For Fun These Days

This is Whitley's friend Marika

Here's Whitley

And the two photo- journalist-editor-publishers!!!

When I played alone as a girl, I played with Barbies. When I played inside, with other kids, we played house, school, store and board games. In the winter, our outside games consisted of building three room snow forts, snowball fights and even setting up someones discarded tree after Christmas and re-decorating it with items we found lying around. In the summer, we played hide and seek, started a game of baseball, pitcher and catcher if there was just two of us, rode bikes, had foot races, fished, swam in the strip mines or a creek and the list could on and on. We were gone from early morning, popped in for lunch when the noon whistle blew and home before dark. We combed every inch of our little midwestern town and somehow managed to live and circumvent serious injuries. Sure, I crashed into a 50 year old oak tree learning to ride my bike, got zapped by an electric fence, thrown from a horse and rolled a 4-wheeler, one incident of which I got grounded for. And yes, there were scraped knees too many times to count, bruises from who knows where, rusty nails in the feet and a splinter to be pulled from my finger...but somehow, I survived. And you know what? It was great fun....some of the best memories I have today.

But today, the parks are empty and if they are attended, an adult is present. Nobody walks home from school, especially at age 6! Your Dad is vacationing with his other kids, your mom is on a business trip and your teacher has suspended you for telling a boy he looks like Zac Efferon. Now, go to your room, and do your homework, before you really get it!

In other places, like LA, kids sleep in bath tubs to avoid stray bullets flying from gang crossfire. But the actual threat to kids is perhaps less important than the perception of danger. There were almost 36 million American children between the ages of 5 and 14 in the US in 1991, and only 519 of them were murdered. The mortality rate has dropped steadily for decades since we started immunizing to less than 50% of the 1950 figures. This is because influenza killed more children than all the child predators and drive by shooting in history. However, the fear of crime is almost a separate phenomenon from the real danger it poses. Today, fear is to be feared.

It subtle, but it's there. Architecture, for example, used to have porches on the front. Houses orientated themselves to community and kids playing in the streets. Today, we have privacy fences and back patio with yards where kids play alone or with a friend whose mother may drive them over. More glaring signs are are security systems, some on your house and some on your kids! Video cameras, NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH signs, kids texting on cells to their parents to let them know they are okay.

No one can blame parents for being protective of their children or wanting to keep them safe, but I never thought I, or we, would be this hyperprotective. Disease still kills more kids than stalkers.

Of course there are the Polly Klaas's, the Jon Benet's. But why is this only in America? Why do kids stil run up and doen the market street of Panama? And walk home at 7 from school in Canada? Who killed the innocent age of childhood in America?

Perhaps, we all did.

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The above statements above are revised from some work I've done in my Human Growth and Development class. I am touched by the importance of childhood play and am determined to start taking a few more risks in life with my child to see that she is able to make the memories I had and learn the "street smart" skills that comes with a few bumps and spills.

Whitley had a great weekend. It snowed again, about 7 inches here at the house. She had a blast playing in the snow! She also had a friend over this weekend and they used my digital camera palying "modeling" and running a "magazine" all weekend. They took their pictures and then went to the phot editor on the computer and really added some sophisticated touches to their work. I noticed their pictures captured lots of emotion and feelings that they felt kids could relate to. They even had a section in their magazine that dealt with "Depression". Hmmmm. I was really proud of their diverse work, their resourcefulness and their creativity. It's interesting to see them use the tools and electronic toys of today, to play!

Enjoy and once in awhile, even if you're 50.....GO PLAY!!!!!

MONEY, MONET

I mentioned a post or two ago, that our old digital camera konked out on us this week. We replaced it with another Kodak, very inexpensive , 5 megapixel, straight forward little camera. I have been playing around with the various settings for the last two days and decided to use the macro setting. I picked up a fresh Autumn Boquet of flowers from the local grocery to use as my "still-life". The little camera is savvy enough ,that the art of shooting flowers seems effortless. Here is the first photo I took. It's evidence that the "hardware" is smarter than the "meatware". Man has technology improved and expanded over the years! For very little money, I feel like a Monet!

Soup & Snow

We knew it was getting close. The furnace had kicked in a time or two. The sweaters have been brought to the front of the closet and we had two squalls of snow that didn;t add up to anything. But this morning, when I awoke, I found the first measureable snow, sicking to the ground, while still falling overhead.

So it is, October 14, 2007 marks the first new school at the Samuel's house. Hmmm..what sounds good for dinner? I think I'll bring out an old favorite: Cheezy Ham, Potatoe and Veggie Soup.

Dinner's at 5 anyone????

Catching Up

Well, it' s been a little nutty for the past few weeks. I made it through mid-term finals and I am really pleased with my grades; it was worth all the hours of studying. Aside from a letter grade, I have really learned alot about the world around me. I am more in awe of God's creation than ever before: from the unique properties of water, to ionic bonding, to a cell. I am so amazed!

Whitley is coming along in her school work. Her new school has really challenged her but she is rising to the occassion. Her renal ultrasound is scheduled for Nov.1 and we expect to have a good report on her kidneys! She started harp lessons last week for the first time. Her teacher is so talented and Whitley responds well to her. A whole lot of the lesson was about form and fingering techniques; I hope Whit sticks with this! I'm going to attach a few pictures of her practicing here at home.

John is still licking his wounds from that roof project on our house and is still not quite back to himself yet. He has been dinking around on the internet and has been assembling all the equipment for he and Whitley to go skiing this winter. All 5th graders in the state of Colorado ski free. It is really a great marketing tool to ensure the next generation of skiers. The opened a new resort area just 12 miles west of us last winter called Echo Mountain. A years pass for John was super affordable. Not only is it close, but it has lighted runs at night with music, so they can always get a run or two in after school for a little exercise. We have had one squall of snow here at the house that didn't amount to much, but we are expecting and acculmalative amount tonight. Looks like it won't be long before father and daughter are hitting the slopes. I told them I would try over Christmas break; this should be interesting!

We replaced a lot of things this week: the over the stove microwave, the refridgerator and our digital camera. We're taking it in stride and I'm just pretending that my birthday came three weeks early. We decided to go with stainless steel appliances for a change, so half my kitchen is in that now. We had really good luck finding some decent deals out there at this time of year. We bought our fridge from the Sears scratch and dent sale. We got 50% off a brand new s.steel side by side w/ indoor icemaker because it had a dent on each side. Lucky for us, the fridge butts up to a wall on the left and the counter on the right and so it looks flawless. The product comes with the full manfr. warranty so we were pretty excited with our find. We are pleased with the microwave and increased the wattage. It's kinda scary how fast it cooks things. As for the camera, the old one was only a two magapixel, so it had seen better days and we got our money out of it. These things happen from time to time.

Well, I hope this blog finds all of you well. Here's a crazy thought: only 73 days until Christmas!! Where did 2007 go?????

Harping about Dollars and Sense

Do you remember when you brought your band/orchestra instrument home for the first time? Oh how those clarinets "squeaked"! And what about that ring aroung your upper lip from the mouthpiece? Or the gurgle that accumulated from hot air and spit in the body of your brass instrument? And how about that drum set that magically ended up in your garage or basement one day when you got home from school? Hmmmm..who could have moved it???? Your Mom? Your Dad?????

Well, John & I have been spared all the above, but unfortunatley our wallet has not. Whitley has decided to take up playing the HARP! It was a really tough decision, but the pieces came together and we felt lead to give her this wonderful opportunity!

Since the instrument is somewhat rare, we'll give you a little education on the harp. For starts, she will begin on a 26 string "Ravenna". The harp is about 5 ft. tall. It has a very beautiful voice. Standing harps can vary between 19 to 36 strings. They are usually made of cherry, rosewood or maple. The style of the harp is unique to a specific style like Celtic, Folk, Traditional,etc. The particular harp that Whitley will start on, retails for about $2,500.00 (used), but we can rent it for the first 6 months. After that, we can apply the 6 months rental to the purchase price is she is excelling and we wish to purchase it.

So here's what I want to know, "How did David, a poor shepard boy in the Bible, afford his harp???? I'm not quite sure, but here's our plan.

If she is still playing by high school, we can look at the Pedal Harp which runs between $11,000-$55,000.00!!!! I know, we choked too.....however, the demand for harpists is so great that there is a high probability that she could get a full ride to college on a music scholarship...which in turn would save us about $100K in college tuition. Now, with that being said, it seems like it might be worth the investment.

For now, she will start on Mondays after school with a private instructor just a few miles west of her school. She is required to practice 30 minutes a day 5-7 days a week, and we'll just have to see what happens from there!

She is really, excited. She said tonight that when she gets good enough, she wants us to have people over for a formal dinner and she will play dinner music with her harp! Now there's an idea!! Maybe we'll just start charging at the door! Or do you think maybe, just maybe....



she might end up herding mutton??????