Like the Big Kids

When the other kids headed back to school after winter break, Jalen Andrew began his school career.

He's doing a little pre-school with some friends. Each of us Moms take a turn teaching, and we're BOTH loving it!

Not Going to Jail but I Did Get Pulled Over

As I picked up Christine from school, and took her to play practice, I noticed that my mini-van wasn't behaving properly. The radio wasn't working, the windows wouldn't roll down, and most annoyingly it kept pinging at me that I didn't have my seat belt buckled. (And of course, I did.) It was a little later when I returned to pick her up from play practice, to take her back to the high school for her jazz band concert, that I realized that my headlights weren't working either. (It was just starting to become dusk). I successfully picked her up, and got to the high school before it became too dark outside. She did great at the concert, but the boys and I had to leave early to retrieve Rebekah from her jazz band rehearsal. Still the van wasn't working right, including the headlights, but Rebekah was expecting us, and her school was just up the street. Carefully we drove, picked her up, and headed back to the high school for Christine. All I wanted, was to get everyone home, and ask Erik about the van when he got home. 30 seconds away from the high school, a police officer pulled up to the four way stop that we had just come through. I knew as soon as I saw him, that he was going to follow me, and he did. He turned on his lights, and followed me into the school's parking lot. I got out of the van, and told him what was going on. Of course he ran a check on my license plate, but he was pleasant to me, as he lightly chided me for being on the road with no lights. He had me send Rebekah in to retrieve Christine, and then suggested that I try my hazard lights. They worked - don't know why I didn't think of turning them on- and he decided to leave, trusting me to only drive home, and he didn't give me the escort home that he had been planning on giving me. Turns out that the van was having electrical connection problem that Erik fixed for me. All's well that ends well, and I didn't go to jail, even though my boys were sure that's where they were going to send me.

Hoop - There It Is!

She's been waiting, and waiting, and waiting . . . and it finally came!

Girls' basketball season!

Yes, she made the team! And so did her good friend Monique!

And?

They're both captains! Congrats Rebekah!

I'm Not Smiling . . . or . . . Three Eggs Later

• He's cute. I'll admit it, but underneath that flashy smile and past those big, brown eyes is the heart of a 3 year-old a.k.a. MISCHIEF!

I didn't take a picture of the 3 eggs that he tried to cook on my family room floor and couch. Raw eggs. In the carpet. On the train table and couch. And from his bird's eye view in Time Out, as he watched me try to clean up his little masterpiece, "There's some by the t.v. too!" That one was a perfectly cracked egg, yolk in tact, and nicely contained on the tile in front of the fireplace. Thanks buddy, thanks for your help.

• Oh, and let's not forget that during Family Home Evening, the other night, Jalen Andrew crawled into the little alcove between the couch and the wall, to retrieve a pint of blueberries, that he had stolen from the freezer and stashed for safe keeping.
• Now, THAT one was funny, and we ALL had a good laugh (mostly because the blueberries were still frozen, and hadn't oozed blue juices all over the carpet!).

Home Again

• 9 days this time - I don't really count the night of admittance.
• He came home on the 9th right after our staffing meeting.
• He missed his baptism, but I don't think he has even realized that.
• Unfortunate timing, and I'm sorry that Erik's family came to visit without a baptism to grace it.
• Don't know when we'll re-schedule it. Don't really want it marred by the mood that's permeating his world right now.
• No answers - only shakes of our heads in disbelief.
• He's not ready to be home, and we all know it. All of the things that landed him in the hospital in the first place are still painfully present.
• No answers. Just hospital bills, for a very expensive vacation that we all greatly needed.
• Now what?

Back in Again

• Yesterday at the dentist office, necessitated re-admittance.
• Erik took him last night, and they spent the better part of the night waiting, just waiting, in the . . . well, for lack of a better word - the waiting room.
• Threat to self & others - that's how one describes it - but that's only a neat little package of words, that doesn't do any justice to the gravity of the situation, or the life, or the challenges.
• Here we go again . . . and yes, I mean WE. He doesn't walk this path alone, WE are with him every hard step of the way.
• The energy has been knocked out of all of us.
• We knew it was coming. The honeymoon of him coming home, didn't last very long. School was a real challenge to him, and the impulses and the lack of impulse control were there, pretty soon after he came home.
• We knew it was coming - he could probably sense it too, but 2 weeks! He's only been home for 2 weeks.
• Sigh.
• Here we go again.
• This time? Answers please!