Memorial Day 2009

It's Memorial Day 2009. Unlike Veteran's Day, we don't have school on Memorial Day. Are we teaching our children what Memorial Day is really all about? Is it only a day off from school? A day for barbecues and playing on the lake or the beach?

As for us...we went to the movies. We saw Race to Witch Mountain at the dollar theater. We spent $4 on tickets and $10 on popcorn and drinks. What's wrong with this picture? But it was a good dollar movie. The boys enjoyed it. We were invited by friends from our ward and then saw two other families from our ward. Cue music...it's a small world after all.

When we got home, I watched the NASCAR race that was postponed from yesterday. It was a pretty boring race, but I was so glad to see this one particular part. In case you weren't aware, President Obama asked us to pause at 3:00--wherever we were and whatever we were doing--to stop and remember our fallen heroes. Now honestly, I had forgotten. But while watching the race, they threw the caution flag. (If you don't know anything about NASCAR or any kind of car racing, just go with me on this.) All of the cars slowed down then stopped on the front straightaway. All of the pit crews came out of the pits and stood in a line along the pit boxes. The flags were lowered to half-staff. And they requested a moment of silence. The cars turned off their engines, the people stopped talking (most of them) and for one minute an entire sports "arena" was in relative silence. It was amazing. It gave me goosebumps.

I am grateful for those men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country--for our freedom. My brother is a veteran who served in VietNam. We were blessed to have him come home safely, but there are thousand/millions in our history who have not. I pray for the safety of our country. I pray for the families of all of those men and women who are currently serving and for those families who are remembering a loved one on this day. Thank you.

End of Year Craziness

Maybe it's like childbirth. You have to forget how much it hurts in order to go through it again. Well, May doesn't hurt exactly--at least not physically--but it is so stinkin' crazy! We're going and going and going all the time. So let's see if I can catch up just a bit and maybe when school's out in a couple of weeks (yes--only two more weeks--that's 9 days, folks! Single digits!) I can actually post pictures again and have a complete thought to blog about.

What's been going on?

James earned his bear badge. John has a month to finish up his wolf.

With the end of the year, I guess Chris is our biggest finisher. Last Friday was the last day of seminary for the year. I think Chris missed a total of two days all year not counting when he was gone for the orchestra trip. He got an attendance award. I'm really proud of him for sticking with it all year. He had some really, really long days and he did it without *too* much complaint.

Chris went on a 4-day trip to Branson, MO with the orchestra. He had a really good time and took no pictures. Not a single one. Nor a single souvenir. Such a guy!

We went to his awards ceremony this week. He's ranked in the top 10 of the freshman class. In fact, three of the top 11 (there was a tie for 10th) are from our ward. How cool is that?

And...he started driver's ed. Ack! It's a bit nerve-racking at first, but he's improving every time.

James is in our elementary choir. We went to Sandy Lake last week where the choir earned a Division 1 rating. James had a lot of fun and was a real help to his chaperone (not me) and to a boy in his group with special needs. He's such a good kid.

John went on a field trip to the ballpark last week. He *loved* it.

And to add to all the craziness...they are doing renovations to our school building over the summer. So...we have to empty out our rooms. Everything must be packed. All instruments, books, stuff...everything. All furniture will be moved to the cafeteria and all boxes will be in the gym. By next Friday. Yes, we still have a week of school left AFTER our rooms must be emptied. I'll still have my laptop and projector--and I'm assuming my desk. Guess I should double check on that one.

So Richard and I are just trying to survive the last two weeks of school. We're all ready for some down time. Larry the dog is still Larry. He still goes a bit postal when he sees small dogs through the window and he still has bouts of "psycho doggie mode," but he's improving. Hopefully in the next year or so, we'll be able to invite people over again.

So, that's the roundup. I hope to have some pictures to post later on. But there. I've given a bit of news. It's almost like a Christmas family letter, isn't it?

Spring Break--Again!

Due to the swine flu, Lewisville ISD will be shut down from Monday, May 4-Friday, May 8. School will resume on Monday, May 11.

Wow. What to do? What to do? As much as I really do feel this is a HUGE overreaction, I probably won't travel down to Texas City and see my dad. *If* I've been exposed and *if* I'm carrying the virus, I certainly wouldn't want to expose my dad. He's 90. And we were there just about 6 weeks ago. So...what to do? Maybe a Ranger game? Walk the dog a lot?

Oh...I know! We could spring clean the house! Yeah! Divide the house up into 5 areas. Kitchen, living room, bathrooms, front rooms/game room, bedrooms. If everyone helped out, we could knock those areas out in 2 hours each morning and have the rest of the day to play...uh, I mean stay inside and away from large crowds.

And maybe I could finally start blogging again. I could spend some time catching up on here. Chris still has seminary this week, but it'll be at 7:00 instead of 6:00. They were going to do 8:00, but there's one student who attends a private school and they're still in school.

Here's to another spring break. We'll wash our hands, cough in our elbows and keep our hands off our faces and otherwise have fun! Woo hoo!