Merry Christmas

The Cratchetts

 

Scrooge's visit from the Ghost of Christmas Past

 

The finale

 

Bailee's dance studio put on "A Chirstmas Carol" last weekend.  I thought they did a wonderful job.  Bailee has almost recovered as well, though she is still craving sleep.


I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  We had one of the best Christmas Eves in a long time.  It started with an early morning trip to The Prepared Pantry for neighbor gifts and some bread mixes for Mom.  Then it was time to make deliveries.  So much fun!  Bailee had a great time being our elf.  It also snowed - so we got the White Christmas no one thought would be possible this year!  I was really happy.


We went out to a late lunch at Olive Garden (Bailee's favorite spot).  The snow was coming down heavy, the fireplace was cozy, and it was perfect.  We had a fab time.


After we ate, we headed to St. Paul's for the 5:30 p.m. children's church service.  Our neighbor, Sydney, was in the pageant.  It was cute - all about the best gift of Christmas ... Jesus.  The one draw back ... they did all the singing of carols.  We did get to sing "Silent Night" at the end, which always chokes me up.  Dad and I would always softly sing this carol in German - heads together, softly, just something special we shared.  I felt very close to him as we sang.


After church we came home and relaxed.  We watched some Christmas movies, snacked on Diana's meat and cheese platter, and then decided it was time to reinstate the Zinzer tradition of opening gifts on Christmas Eve.  Bailee thought it was a pretty great tradition.  ha ha


Christmas was leisurely and laid back.  I made a breakfast casserole, and then did a spiral ham in the slow cooker.  All in all, a good day.


I hope your holidays were happy!

Bring it On!

You sometimes get to that point where life gets so hard that you just turn on it and say,  "You want a piece of me?  Fine, bring it on!"  I'm there now.  If life wants to find out how tough I can be, then we are there.  Bring it.


During the past five weeks, as most of you know, Diana and Mom have been to the emergency room five times.  That statistic alone is total insanity.  Who does that?  No one I know.  Just us.  I don't like being the pathetic poster child family for "a rough time."  Those comments of , "Again?  You had to take them to the ER again?" are well meaning, but they might just earn the next person to utter them a smack on the head. 


Luckily, there MAY be a light at the end of the tunnel.  Diana seems to be doing okay.  She hasn't mentioned passing a kidney stone in days.  Of course, she may just be afraid to bring that topic up around me at the moment.  Still, she seems fine, so I will declare her fine.


Mom is marginally better.  The pain seems to be easing up, and she is acting a little more like herself.  She's still got a long way to go, but this is the first real improvement we've seen in two weeks.   I will take that and be glad.


Bailee is spending ALL her time at dance.  What little time she has at home is devoted to homework.  Her school is rather ridiculous in that regard.  She's had 5 large projects assigned for December.  Ugly.


Her studio will be performing "A Christmas Carol" on December 15th.  Bailee is the Ghost of Christmas past ... plus several other roles.  That means that the coming week will be absolutely insane. 

So ... here's hoping we make it through the next week!  Keep us in your prayers - no more trips to the ER!

Rain? Seriously?

It has been pouring rain for the past several days.  Yes, you heard me right - rain.  I have been looking out the window in absolute disgust.  Somehow "I'm dreaming of a muddy Christmas" just lacks a great deal.  This rainy weather and the howling wind that is accompanying it is making me quite irritable.  I figure if I have to live in Idaho, then I should at least have snow at the appropriate times of the year.  This rain is ridiculous.  Enough already!


Mom scared the daylights out of us on Friday.  She told me at noon that it hurt when she breathed.  She's had pleurisy numerous times before, and she said that is what it felt like.  Since I had a workday at school, I told her to call me if the pain got worse to call.  It did, and she didn't.  When Bailee got home from school, she was in quite a state.  She got hold of Diana and ratted Grandma out.


Diana dropped Bailee at dance, then headed up to the ER with Grandma.  Yes, this was our fourth trip to the hospital during the month of November.  Not a fun thing at all!  I did my job at the Dance Shop, then drove over to the studio and picked Bailee up.  Together, we headed up to the hospital.


You know ... I seriously think some nurses need a few classes on how to handle people who are in the ER.  It's a given that they are frightened.  Telling them (and their family members) that they might have a blood clot in their lung and could die any minute is NOT good bedside practice!!!!!!!!!  Do these people think?

Thankfully, the CT scan and chest s-ray just showed pleurisy.  Bad enough, but much better than a blood clot or pneumonia.  Grandma has been in a great deal of pain, but is at least breathing easier now.  We are very thankful for that miracle. 

Let me tell you - I do NOT want to see the hospital again for a good long time! 

Happy Thanksgiving

God bless all of you!  We are thankful for the part you play in all our lives.  I hope that you can take the time today to appreciate the blessings all around you.

Winter? Maybe Baby!

I don't know about your neck of the woods, but we've had a pretty warm autumn 'round these parts.  That changed this week.  Temps plunged and snow fell.  Roads got icy.  Looks like winter is intent on giving us notice that it is on its way (and may soon be here to stay).

Temps will rise a little bit in the coming week (we might even see some 50s), and dry weather is predicted.  It doesn't matter.  You know winter is prowling around, just waiting to jump on us when we least expect it.

My feeling - Just get it over with.

You know winter is coming.  You know the snow will fall.  You know the roads will deteriorate.  It's just a matter of time.  I look on it as that proverbial bandaid.  Quit messing around.  Just rip it off already.

I've got my head wrapped around winter.  I'm ready.  I can handle it.

So let the snow fall.  Let the wind blow.  It's winter. 

Bring it on!

Election Day or The End of the World?

There have been times during this election that I have almost hoped the Mayans were right about the world ending in December.  I'm that tired of the whole affair.

Seriously, if you study Mayan history, they WERE right - their predictions deal more with huge changes to the state of the world.  The last end of the world prediction ushered in the Spanish conquistadors and European colonization.  Yup, that was definitely a world ending event.  One need only read the news to come to the conclusion that our familiar world HAS ended.  We are plowing new ground as we move forward through a crippled worldwide economy.

I'm tired of all the hate.  I'm sorry to say it, but the worst offender in this state has been the Republican Party.  It's been so over the top that they nearly succeeded in turning this Independent into a Democrat.  As it is, I find the Republican candidates totally repugnant now.  They've shown themselves to be the most hypocritical and hateful folks out of the gate in a long time ... and quite frankly, they make my flesh crawl.  They lost my vote, not based on the other candidate, but because of what "they" are.  I don't believe anyone has the right to govern from a position of hatred.

Checking In. Yes, We're Still Alive

This picture was taken during one of the many dance workshops Bailee attended this summer.  This one was taught by Risa Mochizuki, who is from Japan - but works as a professional dancer in Romania.  Bailee adored her.  She was also thrilled because she was actually taller than Risa.  HOPE!  You always hear that ballet companies prefer taller dancers, and that worries Bailee.  She's still growing though.  I'm hoping that she might still his 5'5".  Maybe.  We'll see.

This is a photo of Bailee and her friend, Mary, plus one of their "fans."  Bailee is currently working as a teaching assisstant at her dance studio.  It's her first real job, which is pretty cool.  The "fans" she's garnered are a hilarious perk.  They are so stinking cute.  I'm finding many of the "fans" show up at The Dance Shop" to purchase "clothes like Bailee's."  So funny.

I am continually thankful for the friends Bailee has made at dance.  They're crazy when they get together, but they are so good with one another.  None of that Dance Cattiness one hears about.  They are very supportive of one another.  Such good friends.

Silly, aren't they?

 

 

I love that Bailee is passionate about dance.  We just finished our Red Ribbon Week - which is geared at keeping kids off drugs.  It has been proven that the whole "Just Say No" mantra does not  work when it comes to keeping kids off drugs.  Instead, the research is saying that if a child has something they are passionate about, they are the most likely to stay  drug-free.  So, we're thankful.

 

 

Besides, when you see your child pull off something like this ... you have to be proud. 

 

 



August? Seriously?

Well, we just got a look at our future.  The schedule for Studio One came out this week.  Bailee will be dancing 4 hours on Monday, 1 hour on Tuesday, 1.5 hours on Wednesday, and 1.5 hours on Thursday.  She'll also be have rehearsals on Friday night and Saturdays for the studio's upcoming performance of The Christmas Carol.  No moss grows on that child!  She just finished a month long contemporary dance workshop, and starts another ballet workshop on Monday.  That will run 3 weeks long, and will be taught by two dancers from the Romanian ballet company in Sibiu.  She'll have Sunday off, and then the regular dance year starts.  She's proving to us that dance is her passion, as she just can't stand NOT dancing.  We'll be reminding ourselves of that when she spends a portion of the summer down in Salt Lake at Ballet West next year.  It's going to be hard to let her go, but she'll be nearly 15 ... so the time is right.  Now, we just need to raise the money to pay for it.  ha ha



On the garden front, the basils and other herbs are doing really well.  Let there be pesto!  The bird nailed every single cherry before they were really ripe this year, and they are in the process of stripping the chokecherries.  This is not a real great year for fruit thanks to the late frosts and the horrible heat and lack of moisture.





Speaking of heat, we are SO tired of temps in the higher 90s day after day after day.  Next week they are threatening temps over 100.  Come on autumn!  Even if it means returning to school, we are more than ready for a change in season!  Caribou, our resident "snow dog" spends every afternoon sprawled on the kitchen floor by the window air conditioner.  Poor guy.  He usually likes to spend every minute outside during the summer, but this year he wants no part of it during the afternoon hours.

Bailee has been spending her time trying to eat as many raspberries as possible every day.  Thank goodness for Sam's Club!  Next year I'm going to take another stab at growing raspberries in a raised bed, since they HATE our soil here in Ammon.

The summer is winding down, and we're preparing to head back to school.  The family is looking forward to getting rid of all the school stuff I brought home to work on.  Me too.  It will be nice to have the house back.



Photo Updates

I had a few friends request that I put some of our Instagram photos on the website.  Happy to oblige!

#1 - Bailee Mutant Ninja Turtle!

#2 - In solo costumes for the Studio One June recital.

#3 - Fossils costumes for the recital

Video of dances:

http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b240/rbmcmjr/family/?action=view&current=MVI_0003.mp4

http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b240/rbmcmjr/family/?action=view&current=MVI_0007.mp4

The End (?) of the Dance Year

Last weekend Bailee and many of the other girls from Studio One performed in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" as the finale of the summer intensive program at Brindusa-Moore Ballet Academy.  They did a fabulous job.  I still can't believe that they put together a full scale ballet in 3 weeks!


This weekend the studio did a casual recital showcasing the younger students, with featured dances with the older girls.  Bailee did her "Aquarium" solo from  The Carnival of the Animals, and the group number, "Fossils."  It was an enjoyable evening.


Bailee will be taking a workshop through July (but just 2 days a week) with one of the dancers from Odyssey Dance Theater in Salt Lake City.  In July, she'll be doing a weeklong intensive workshop with Risa Mochizuki from Japan, who is currently dancing with a ballet company in Sibiu, Romania.


The regular dance year begins in August.  Like I always say, our lives revolve around dance.  However, we're hoping to enjoy some different activities during July.  I'd like to make a few road trips.  After working like dogs throughout June, I feel like we're entitled to a little fun.

Farmers' Market Fun

We tended our friend, Dalene's booth at the farmers' market yesterday.  She sells goat's milk soap products and easily has the best smelling booth around.  One of the pluses to working her booth is that you also get to check out all the other booths AND see the things that seem to be popular with the shoppers.  We saw a lot of people carrying around cups of mangoes sprinkled with spices and drizzled with something red.  Interesting.  People were LOVING it, RAVING about it, and telling everyone all about it.

It's fresh mango with chili powder, salt, lemon-lime juice, and hot sauce.  It sounds weird, but it was delicious!  We had to get two cups, and we'll be trying this at home.  We brought some home for Mom, but she was totally grossed out by it.  ha ha  I guess generational taste buds vary.




The booth next to ours was selling crocheted items, and Bailee freaked out when she saw a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle hat.  She has a friend who is a huge turtle fan, so of course it was something she had to get for Aleks.  She also had to wear it for awhile.  She also ordered one for herself.  She texted photos of the hat to her buddies, and they ALL decided they had to order them.  The vendor was thrilled that we were set up beside her, and that we had a teen with a phone.  We also have a teen who has maxed out her data for the month.  She did better this month than last, so I guess we're making progress.  Once we warn Bailee that she's close to her limit, she has been great about avoiding any more data usage.  Such a good girl.



Dang, she's cute.

After the Farmer's Market, we grabbed some lunch, dropped Bailee off to do some baking with her friends, ran to pick up her prints from the photographer, got some gas and groceries, picked Bailee up, ran home so Bailee could change clothes for a performance, and then headed off to the Carr Gallery. 

Her dance studio was doing a fundraiser for the owner's son, who is suffering from a head injuring sustained in Romania (where he's dancing).  They did a bake sale and silent auction, plus taught swing dance lessons.  They also did 3 numbers. 



We got home about 10 p.m.  Very tired, and more than ready for bed.  Life with a teenager is never dull.

Hi Again

As part of her present to all the mothers on Mothers' Day, Bailee participated in a photo shoot.  It went really well.  These are two of the photos.  Such a pretty girl!  Inside and out!

This month we are busy with ballet summer intensive down in Pocatello.  We leave around 10:45 and usually get home around 8:30.  Small wonder they call it intensive!  Bailee is loving every minute of it though.  They're putting on the ballet "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Frazier Hall at ISU on June 23rd at 7 p.m.  It should be amazing!

What a Week!

This has been one of "those" weeks. 


Diana has had a bad week.  She nearly passed out at school, and found that her blood sugars were down to 50.  Yipe!  Her colleagues panicked and fed her too much sugar, which sent them up to 300.  Double yipe!  Gotta get that girl to carry glucose tables!  She took the rest of the day off and went right in to the doctor.  Found out that the cause was a severe sinus infection.  She's on meds now (some pretty heavy duty ones), and is doing much better.  Pretty scary though!


Bailee had her presentation in science, and had to dress to the nines for it.  I'm sorry, I think that her teacher was out-of-line on this one.  I have no problem with asking the kids to dress up, but saying that only a fancy dress (no skirts or simple dresses) will be acceptable isn't right.  Especially when she allowed the boys to wear "nice jeans."  I guess if we thought that kind of inequality was a thing of the past, we were wrong.  Boo!  The worst part was that one student took over 30 minutes for their presentation and there was no time for her to present.  Maddening.  She looked pretty though.

Bailee also had a FULL week of dance.  Busy girl.  She spent her allowance for the month in one fell swoop on Saturday.  She had her nails done.  She is such a girly girl sometimes.

Those are crushed sea shells on the end.  Who would have thought?  Bai also came to work with me last night.  She (and her friend Mary) modeled a few items so I could add the photos to the studio/shop website.

This has been one hectic week for me as well.  My stupid, it's always something, van had to go into the shop for $800 worth of work.  Ouch! That meant we were down to one vehicle for four days.  Pretty crazy trying to get everyone where they needed to be.

 At school, we had some of the teachers come in on Wednesday from the junior high to observe how we differentiate instruction.  I'm used to being observed, but you still feel a little stress

ed --- are you doing what they came to see?   My principal and our head teacher also told me they want me to apply for this state award for math/science teachers.  I find that kind of thing embarrassing.  It also looks like it's going to be a LOT of work.  I also don't think I have a chance in the world of winning.  I'll do it though.  Our school needs the money.

On a personal note, found out that two more people I know have been diagnosed with cancer.  One is already beyond medical help.  Also, one of our first year teachers found out that her unborn baby has a tumor in its lung ... and that it is starting to send tendrils toward the heart.  She goes down to Salt Lake this coming week for tests on the child's viability.  If they can, the doctors will take the baby and operate immediately.  If that isn't possible, they will try to operate in utero.  Poor girl!  She's not only frantic that she will lose her baby, she's terrified that she will lose her job because of the new state laws which stripped teachers of all our rights.  So sad.  I also found out that one of my old college roommates is having more health problems.  She's had a terrible year health-wise, and I am really worried about her.  Seems like everyone you meet is being absolutely hammered by problems these days.  It's easy to get discouraged, but I'm going to keep chanting my new mantra:



You only fail if you give up!

All we can really do is just keep walking forward through these troubling times.  I also read a quote on Pinterest the other day that said:

It will all be okay in the end.  If it is not okay, then it is not the end.

I'm holding that thought close too.  I'm thankful that we're all relatively healthy, happy, and that we have a wonderful little girl that is the center of our world.  She keeps us smiling - that's for sure.

Now, to end with a funny story about Mom.  Last week she came upstairs with some frozen food.  She walked up behind the rocking chair in the living room and started talking to Bailee's giant bear which was sitting there about the food.  We were all staring at her ... this is where Diana USED to have her chair, and it was obvious that she thought she was talking to Diana.  A simple mistake, right?  However, when she walked around to the front of the chair and shoved the food in the bear's face and demanded to know why it wasn't answering her ... well, that's when we lost it.  Too funny!  We sure needed the laugh at the moment.  Thanks Mom!

Source





 



A Sad Goodbye

Today we attended the funeral for our friend, Mike.  The tribute his family shared was truly beautiful.  There were lots of tears, but there was also lots of laughter.  Mike was a wonderful man, and I will always remember him with a smile on his face, his eyes lit up with mischief.  I'm so glad that this part of his personality was honored.

We're going to miss him.

In Memoriam

Mike, right before shaving his head during chemotherapy.

Our dear friend, Mike Thompson, passed away this afternoon.

He has been a part of our family for so long, that I cannot imagine going on without him.  I will miss so many things about him.  Mostly, I will miss the big bear hugs he always gave us when he left, saying -

"I love  you ladies so much."

We love you too Mike.  I hope you know how much.  

Time Passages

Mike's son and daughter-in-law, Nadine, and Mike.

Right now our lives are centered on the final days of our friend Mike's life.  His battle with cancer took a horrible turn a few weeks ago.  We went from his being pronounced cancer free at the Huntsman Center in Utah in late October to hospice in late December.  The word "cruel" comes to mind, but it doesn't express the depth of anger any of us feel.  You really do feel "sucker punched."

Over the ten years we've known him, Mike has become a member of our family.   He is so very much like my dad that he just seemed to "fit in" the moment he walked in the door.  We love him dearly, and saying goodbye has been beyond hard. I cannot imagine living life without him.  Just the thought sends tears streaming down my face.  

I cannot believe how fast this has progressed.  Mike was sitting in his lift chair only a week ago, watching BYU play football and celebrating his wedding anniversary.  By Monday, he was bedridden.  That's the day that we went to see him.  Holding his hand, I knew that he was saying goodbye.  I will never forget how he took Bailee's hand and spoke with her.  I don't think she realized that he was saying goodbye, or that in those few precious moments he was leaving with her his hopes for her life. 


He felt so badly that he had missed The Nutcracker.  I had hoped that the DVD would arrive in time for him to see it, but I doubt he will be able to.  He is spending most of his time sleeping.  The hospice workers are doing their best to keep him pain free.  He isn't really able to speak now.  The end is very close.


I am thankful for having Mike in our lives.  He is leaving behind so many precious memories.  He will live in our hearts until we are reunited with him.  I guess that is what makes heaven - heaven.  No more goodbyes.  So ... I won't say goodbye to Mike.  I won't.  If we get the chance for one last time together, I have promised myself that my last words to him will be - "I love you Mike, and I'll see you later."

Such a Crazy Life

Life is crazy. Really crazy. I have been one really terrible blogger as well. My only excuse? Too little time. School is killing me this year with all its demands. I'm still doing lesson plans and common core standard alignment for the fifth grade, but I am also tackling the following:

• one of the more difficult classes I've had
• developing Math Teaching Initiative lessons
• teaching science to the entire fifth grade
• teaching the advanced math/language arts intervention group
• working on the reading committee

I also took on a second job at The Dance Shop. It's owned by the woman who runs Studio One (where Bailee dances). I've learned alot. I work Friday and Saturday nights. It helps pay for dance. I also keep really busy with the studio. We just finished The Nutcracker, and I was involved with costuming, props, and as a dresser. Studio One put on five different shows this year, four of which were for elementary students in Idaho Falls (over 5000 students).

This photo of Aleks, Mary, and Bailee (taken in between performances) really says it all. We were TIRED out.

The holidays found us worn out and sick. Diana came down with the stomach flu on Christmas Eve. Bailee and I came down with colds right after Christmas. Not much fun!

The older girls at Studio One were asked to perform at the Snake River Animal Shelter New Year's Gala. It was quite an experience for Bailee. It was really her first look at how the more affluent folks live. lol Her friend Aleks lent her a semi-formal dress, and as you can see - she's becoming quite a beautiful young lady.