Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of my friends and family! What a wonderful time of year to reflect on all of our blessings. Most of all I am grateful for my girls and Dave. I am grateful to be at peace and I am grateful for my Savior. May peace be with all of you, especially my sweet sister. Losing a loved one is one of the hardest things that we have to face. It is a reminder of how much we need to love and show love while we have the chance.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.

A Little Fun!

Now, I am calling this "Just for Fun" for this reason: My entire research paper to get my degree was titled: "The Invalidity of IQ Tests." My argument was that IQ tests are biased, and therefore invalid. But I would like to think that I am a Regional Genius. BTW, what is that?????????? Thanks Candice and Audrey!

Little Monsters

No, they aren't really monsters. This is just a tribute to Aunt D:

Mikayla: Mom, where is Daddy again?

Amelia: Mikayla, Mom told you, He's in Paul's Mina Soda

Mikayla: Amelia, Daddy is not in a drink.

Me: Mikayla, Amelia said he's in St. Paul, Minnesota

Mikayla: I know, and he's not in a soda; he's on a trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They want me...I think!

I sat in a three hour interview yesterday...no exaggeration. You see, I heard that Horizon Christian Academy had a drama opening right now. It is for 6-12 grade, two classes on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. I am still desperately seeking a decent school for Amelia next year, so I jumped all over it. Anyway, I went in there feeling pretty good. I had no idea it would be so intense. His first question? So, why did you leave Cornerstone after working there three months? Um, ahh, umm, well....and then I rambled an answer. It did go uphill from there.

It will be a lot of shuffling around with the kids, but next year I can teach while the girls are in school and cover their tuition. When I left (after three hours) he informed me that he had interviewed two others and had one more to interview. They are all actors and have been in many productions. I am just a drama TEACHER. I'm not an actress. I was honest about that though and I also told him I was worried about my kids Tuesday and Thursday afternoons while I teach because neither one is in school at that time. I left the interview with an offer to teach ENGLISH next year (6th English, 7th English and 10th grade American Lit.) for just a couple of hours in the mornings. Amelia gets reduced tution and Mikayla can stay at Christ the King for Pre-K. It sounds good. It is a good school and I think it will work out. I will find out about Drama next Thursday, but I think I would rather just do the English next year and leave Drama to the more-qualified.

December Happenings (so far)

This is our fabulous entry into the annual Stout Family Gingerbread House contest. Check out D's blog for her entries. Personally, I think we won the colorful house award.

This is Mary (AKA Amelia) holding her baby, which happens to be the elf that has visited our house every night since December 1st doing random, crazy things each night. I guess he comes to life at night and then stands in for Baby Jesus by day. Last night he wrapped himself in toilet paper and left shreds all over the floor. The day before he built this:

By the way, Isn't Amelia's haircut cute? We both cut off 6 inches.

This was the clubhouse party. So far the list hasn't changed....Mikayla wants a big trampoline and Amelia wants lip gloss.

Okay, and last, Chel and Michael came to visit with Chayla. We got the girls dressed in last year's dresses that we never got their pictures in and decided to do our own. It was so fun and cute. It was nice to have family here. Chell, it's crazy to think that Jaxon is the same age as Chayla. I wish we could have celebrated his birthday with him.

Okay, that's all the December happenings for now. Hope you enjoyed!

Perspective

I've recently met a mom who I liked right from the beginning. Her little girl is in Amelia's class...the one the teacher is holding in this picture:

Anyway, her mom emailed me the following when I asked her about her sister that had recently passed away:

My sister? Well at 39, two days after she ran a Marathon, she was diagnosed with Liver cancer. She lived a painful 10 weeks, leaving Belle-4 and Oskar-1. She was my best friend and hero, it's been the most unbearable thing you can imagine.
She was one of those people that didn't smoke or do drugs, and barely drank, and still had more fun than anyone else at the party. She cheered from 3 until 25. She was soooo healthy, so we thought. Shawn called her earth mother. She was tiny and HYPER. She would wear you out. But you always wanted more. I miss her so much that it actually makes me stop breathing. My Dad is so mad at God, even though, we've tried to explain it's not his fault.

I have AMAZING friends that rallied around me and helped men get through it. Which of course, I will be the rest of my life. I guess it's why I really don't let things get to me that much, in the big scheme of life, nothing is that big of a deal when you get to keep raising your children.

Nothing is that big of a deal when you get to keep raising your children...