Spring Break 2010

I have been back from Utah for over a week now.  If I wait until I get everything done before I write about this trip I might have to wait until after Christmas.  First, I want to thank Deanna and her family for allowing us to crash at their house for the week.  We had a great time.

The week started with Joe Caringella's Eagle court of honor. We are so proud of Joe.  Everyone in the family pitched in and it was a fun and enjoyable evening.

Our Joe  is in 6th grade and we were able to get him a Utah 6th Grade Ski Pass.  We went to a different resort everyday.  What a week!

Monday, Brighton

Joe, John, Bob, and me.

Joe Caringella and Deanna.

Tuesday, Alta

Joe and I prepare for the day.

Bob and Bonnie. 

Joe treats Flat Stanley to lunch.

We just couldn't get too many pictures of Flat Stanley.

John, our Alta-holic.  We were all tempted to get the Alta-holic t-shirt but no one wanted to spend the $20. Alta is nice for skiers because there are no snowboards.

On Tuesday we stopped to see the Fishers.  I was struck by how tall Joe was compared to Alise.  This was funny to me because when Alise was living in Dallas Joe as a preschooler or a kindergartener.

Wedensday, Solitude 

We just kept having gorgeous weather. 

We thought about doing Honeycomb Canyon but decided we did not want to take the chance of Joe freaking out half way through.

But Joe took Flat Stanley on the other side of the double black diamond ropes.

Thursday, Sundance

John borrowed Joe's aviators for the Top Gun picture.

We never tried Bishop's Bowl.  It looked like an icey mogul field to me.  Joe did a face plant at Sundance and ended up with a really deep rasberry scratch on his chin.  We had to go to ski patrol for a bandaid.  While at Sundace we met up with the Poulsens and Ryan Thorsen.

Friday, The Canyons

Deanna was able to come with us!  We really liked the Canyons.  Deanna fell out of love with the place when she forgot to clamp a boot and ended up taking a hard fall on Another World.  We think she bruised her tail bone. 

We would cross paths with John occasionally while we were skiing, but I have to admit he likes to ski the double black diamonds and I have no desire to kill myself.  Joe has no desire to be taunted about snowplowing down a mogul field, and though Bob has the skills to keep up with John, he lacks the stamina, or, as he puts it, "John needs to ski with people who have fresh legs." 

It was pretty cold on Friday.  We had to wear extra layers and goggles because we got quite a bit of snow.  All in all it was a good week.  My knee that I twisted at Alta has healed and I am not limping anymore, nor am I taking 5 ibuprofin every 4 hours, and I was able to take off the knee brace on Sunday.

In N Out

One more picture of Flat Stanley with Joe, Joe, and John.  We love In N Out Burger and went there several times while we were in Utah.  We also went to Cafe Rio a few times during the week.  We also stocked up on See's candy.  Unfortunatley, it was all consumed before Easter.  Now if we can only get In N Out in Dallas...

Here Comes the Sun

I was up at the school today and I overheard my freind Karen Fields talking about her June wedding,  What!  I am the mother of a 6th grade boy who doesn't run home and tell me all of the relationship news.  She has been engaged since Christmas Eve to Tom Evans.  I am so happy for her.

I am also happy that we have had three days with sunshine in a row.  There isn't even an icey breeze to take away the joy of the day.  Spring is coming.

Congratulations Karen and Tom.  Love the beautiful ring.

Cold, Hungry, Blind and Mean

If you are in a good mood, immediately close this post.  I must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning because I have a bunch of complaints. 

The Answer is Blowin from my Neighbor's Yard and Gutters

Isn't it amazing that when my neighbors hire a bunch of Mexican illegals to do their lawn that all of the sudden I have twice the leaves at my house?  And what happens to all of the leaves that the school grounds crew blows away from the school?  I am sick of being the repository for all of the neighbor's leaves.  Here is the deal.  Leaves don't dissapear when the blower blows them away.  If you are so intent on getting the leaves out of your yard then bag them or blow them into the storm drain and let the city deal with them.

I am Tired of Wearing a Woolen Burka to Church

When I woke up this morning I was depressed and hurting a little in anticipation at what church was going to hold today.  I do not know why the church keeps the temp set between 55 to 63 degrees.  It is flippin' freezing.  I have to wear layers and keep my knee length winter coat on the whole time, along with keeping a blanket around my legs.  I have thought of how funny it would be if I came to church naked under my coat because I have had to wear it to church every Sunday for at least 5 years.  I don't think anyone has ever seen any dress that I own.  I would do it too, but, did I mention how cold it is and how I have to wear multiple layers under my coat to aleviate the hypothermia that I experience every Sunday.  Some may think that the church is just trying to conserve energy.  I don't think so.  The summer temps inside the church are just the same.  The only redeeming quality about summer is that I can go outside and sit in the car with the windows rolled up for 5 minutes in the Texas summer to warm up.  Fast Sundays are the worst.  You don't really realize how food helps to keep you warm except for when you are sitting there freezing and starving at the same time on Fast Sunday.

They Can Put a Man on the Moon...

I hate the attittude of Optomitrists.  I have been to several trying to get optical correction so that I can see up close and far away.  With out fail the doctor says, "You are going to have to sacrifice some of your distance vision if you want up-close correction."  Okay,  What the heck?  That is like saying, "You are going to have to lose your thumb if you want to use your fingers."  Why can't they develop the technology to correct up close vision with out sacrificing my ability to read road signs.  On top of this, the correction gives me headaches.  So I have to have headaches and blurred vision in order to avoid wearing reading glasses?  I am also annoyed by the fact that they hand me contacts that are deficient and tell me that I might get used to them.  Yeah, right.  If they don't work in the doctor's office, how is time going to improve my blurry vision.  Am I going to say, "You know, I really don't care if I cant see very well,"  after running into things for a week.  Again I ask the question, What the heck?  They can put a man on the moon.  We can see individual rocks on the planet Mars.  Why can't I get contacts that do not require a sacrifice? 

I could continue complaining, but then I would have to name names and embarrass family members.  So I will end for now.  I will probably be more patient tomorrow or maybe later today after I eat a good meal.  If I were anyone else I might avoid me for a little while.

Laundry Confessions, or How to Manage Your Children's Clothing Choices

It is really easy to get your kids to wear modest and appropriate clothes.  Just don't buy them anything that falls outside of your standards.  But what about when they get older and start buying clothes?  Or when our creative types start modifying the clothes that we have provided?  We, conniving moms, have a few strategies to deal with these problems too.  It is amazing how stained and filthy these clothes get.  The best cleaning method involves bleach.   When the offending item comes through the laundry, consider treating those troubling spots.  If a little bleach is accidentally spilled on immodest or inapproriate articles, the clothes some how lose sex appeal, but what can you do?  Adding color is sometimes needed.  That cute, showey little white see-through blouse won't be as white or see-through after it is washed with a load of brand new jeans.  Another one of the best methods is to use the missing sock phenomenon.  "Really, I have no idea where (and by where I mean in which land fill) that ended up.  Did you look under your bed?"

For some reason my kids started doing thier own laundry when they were teenagers.  I can't complain about that little unintended benefit.

Weighing in On Women's Downhill, Super-G

I love watching the winter olympics when they aren't figure skating.  My favorite events to watch are the Women's Downhill and the Women's Super-G.  Sure, the races are exciting to watch and fast-paced.  But my favorite part is right before the race starts when the name, the height, and the weight of each competitor is posted.  Has anyone else noticed that these women are not emaciated runway models?  Lindsey Vonn weighs 165.  Back in 1998 Picabu Street weighed 157.  Unlike the skaters, I bet these women can enjoy a plate of pasta.  I imagine they eat bread and occasionally have dessert.  I just want to cheer strong, healthy, beautiful skiers.  The wind isn't going to blow them off the slopes.

Don't You Just Love Boys?

I admit that in the past I was a little dissapointed when the sonogram tech annouced to me that the baby I was growing was a boy.  It's not that I didn't love boys.  It was just that I really liked girls clothes, and pink is my favorite color, and I had 4 boys in a row.  So when Megan told me she was expecting I had to develop a plan so that I could be happy no matter the results of the sonogram.  After all, what I really desire for my daughter and her family is a healthy baby.

In preparation for the sonogram Megan had to drink a bunch of water and I had to go shopping for boys clothes and toys.  I even bought a baby boy's Christmas ornament set.  When Chris texted me from the Doctor's office to let me know that their baby will be a boy, I was elated.  I already have a little layette set, a rockin' cool airplane ride-on toy, and an adorable ornament set, all waiting for Beatty Jr.  I am so happy!  My strategy worked.  We are looking forward to the most wonderful little boy this world has known.  After all, look at his parents.  They are smart, good looking, responsible, and fun. 

Megan has been doing pretty well.  She hasn't been sick.  Her due date is July 1.

Those Canaan Days

Joe and two other students from Spring Creek were able to be in the RHS production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.   They were part of the children's choir. 

 

This is the group of 6th graders who performed.  They did a really good job along with the rest of the cast. 

One really fun part for Joe was making new friends from other schools.  This kids was so fun.  He is the kind of kid everyone likes because he is so friendly. 

My friend Laurie took this picture of Joe while he was singing in the show.  This is the part where Joseph is in prison.  The children were holding little candles while singing encouraging words.

Science Fair Grand Prize Winner

Take a good look because this is the Joe's last science fair entry.  I have it from a good source that projects are not required in Jr. High, and if they are not required we are not doing them  The project was based on a structural engineering question.  Which is the strongest shape for a pylon: a cylinder, a hectagonal prism, a rectangular prism, or a triangular prism?   We made the shapes from ordinary copier paper and tape.  The conclusion was that the cylinder is the strongest, followed by the hectagonal prism, followed by the rectangular prism, followed by the triangular prism.  Every angle strengthens the pylon.  A cylinder has an infinite amount of angles, but the definition is 360 angles.  Imagine that every angle is a strong man helping to hold up something over his head.  The more men, or angles, the more they can hold up.

We put this picture on the project of a bunch of plebes from the Naval Academy lifting a log during Sea Trials to illustrate.

Joe gets to go on to the regional science fair!  Okay, he really isn't very excited about this either.  As a matter of fact, he was pretty upset when he found out that his project won because that means that it is not over.  And when you finish doing the Science Fair, you are really grateful that it is over.  

Speaking of dissappointing experiments, who else is disappointed by Target's...

Big Bomb

Every year after Christmas for the last 5 or 6 years Target has put out a merchandise movement that it called Global Bazaar.  It was a fun, eclectic collection of home decor and furnishings from all over the world.  The movement only lasted a couple of months and was cleared out to make room for the spring and summer garden and patio merchandise.  I just loved going to Target and seeing what they had.  Much of my home is filled with Global Bazaar purchases and this was where I got a lot of the wedding and shower gifts I would give during the year.  But this year, because of the bad economy, Target decided not to take a chance with  the good stuff.  They filled the Global Bazaar aisles with super sized Sams/Costco packs of various things.  How fun!  When I went to Target today because Joe asked if he could go play the video games while we were shopping I realized I had not been in there in over a month.  That must be a record for me.  Word to the wise...If you want people to come into your stores it would be a great idea if you had exciting merchandise.  The more I go to the store the more incidental spending I do.  I am sure that I am not the only one.  So Target might blame the bad economy on decreased sales during January and February, but really it is poor merchandising decisions that have kept shoppers away.

 

Last Valentine

Today Joe celebrated Valentine's day for the last time as a kid.  This was his 6th grade party. 

Last night he addressed Valentines to all of his class mates.  The boys got football Valentines and the girls go kitty and puppy Valentines, except Asia, she got a football Valentine.  He was really funny because he did not want to address the girls cards because he thought that they might think he like-liked them.  Of course I made him address them.  What is the purpose of a mother anyway? 

For a few weeks the boys in Joe's class planned to go to school today dressed as nerds.  I am not sure why anyone would want to go to school dressed as a nerd  for the Valentine's party,  but the result was that the girls had to regret giving any of those boys the special Valentine card.  Joe and his friends all wore white tshirts, too-short levis pulled up and  belted at the chest, tall white socks, greased back hair parted on the side and combed in a ducktail in the back.

The moms put together a really fun party.  We started with a hip-hop lesson taught by an Eaglette.  The girls loved this and a few of the boys loved this (maybe too much).  Next the kids had refreshments of chocolate fountains with all of the dippers you can imagine and nachos.  It was really funny to see the nerdy boys get chocolate all over their white shirts and faces  Next came Karaoke.  The girls sang Single Ladies-Put a ring on it .  The boys sang Love Story while all of the girls performed as back-up dancers.  The Pruski's put together a disco cut-out so that the kids could stick their heads through and get their pictures taken.  The moms and dads spent way too much time at the chocolate fountains.  I am included in this group. 

What a party!  I wouldn't have missed it for anything.  I know this is the last year that it will be cool for the boys to all be nerds together.  It is the last year that Joe and the other 6th graders will hunt for the hidden meanings in the goofy little Valentine cards they have sent to each other.  And, yes, Joe found what he thought was a secret message from one of the girls saying that she thinks he is cute.  He couldn't be happier.  But if you asked him about it I doubt that he would give you the strait answer.

Getting Lost

I was thinking about the Lost Season 6 premiere tomorrow night and I started to get mad at Joe. I just know that he is going to be talking and or asking questions during the show. Then he is going to want a snack. Then he is going to ask me to look over his math homework for accuracy. He is going to ask me to help him make his lunch and then, even though I have to perform a minor miracle any other day to get Joe to practice,  he will  pick up his French Horn and start to spontaneously practice in the middle of the family room, where I will be. And all of the time I am going to want to catch all of the little clues, innuendos, and drama of the best show ever made.


Poor Joe, maybe I can lock him in his room so that I won't be frustrated with him.