No snappy title came to me this time...

Wow, what a week. I've been getting up at 5:00 a.m. every morning (which would be 6:00 a.m. without the time change so it shouldn't seem so early but it sure does) and having to go to bed earlier so I don't fall asleep every time I sit down! We transferred a Chinese student from another elementary school so he can gets more hours of service but he has to ride the bus to the middle school which leaves and arrives an hour earlier. I meet him in the morning and then escort him back in the afternoon. Everything has gone fairly smoothly with the transition except on Friday when I went to meet the bus there was no Qi (pronounced Chi). I figured he was either sick or had just missed it and maybe someone from his family would bring him later. Around 8:30 we got a call from the Principal at his former school saying he had ridden the bus there and gone to his old class. She packed him up in her car and drove him over. He looked a little embarrassed but we didn't think any more of it. Later in the morning my teacher called his family liaison and I talked to Qi. From the family we found out that little Qi had told his auntie (who he lives with) that his teacher at our school had told him it was ok to go visit his old school! From Qi I found out that he "just wanted to visit my old school and teacher"!! I hope he gets in at least a little trouble for that lying. I know it must be hard but still!!

H was in Mexico for most of the week, leaving Michigan on Tuesday morning and not coming home until late Friday night. He flew in to Mexico City, drove two hours to a town called Pueblo and spent the week there for a VW Expo. Unfortunately for him (and us) he didn't make it back in time for bowling Friday night. :-(

So for bowling it was just me, Judy and Bill. His thumb is all healed up but somehow he bowled worse than when he was injured! I, on the other hand, bowled fabulously!! Best series I've had in ages. I bowled a 149, 163 and 181! I actually beat Bill two games and beat Judy all three! That never, I mean never, happens!! I had a 493 series, almost 500!! Fat lot of good it did us though as we only took 1 point unfortunately. Before Friday night we had moved up to 5th place but that's probably lost now.

Saturday morning H and I headed for the Farmer's Market to pick up some eggs. We took the Mustang since it was a nice, sunny day though it was too chilly to put the top down. Last week the weather was really nice except for Tuesday when it was foggy and drizzly all day. It has been unseasonably warm for Michigan in November. Often we've had really cold temps and snow by now. Then today dawned and it was gray again. This is how the sky looked most of the day:



Today when I took the pups up to the high school it was really chilly. It was about 40 degrees but the wind was blowing so I'm sure the wind chill was much lower! I guess Winter is finally showing up, or pre-winter anyway. My hands were freezing and we couldn't stay long. And for some reason my camera was taking really crappy pictures. I'm blaming it on the grayness. They were either dark or out of focus.

These two came out ok but no good jumping shots today.



But I did get these two videos. Ok, they aren't the best, but it's hard to film and throw at the same time!




In other news, we are expecting a visit from a certain little someone in just 5 days! Next Saturday we will be laying some serious kisses on this little cutie!

She's 10 months old already!! That's so close to a year old I can hardly stand it!!
She really is something else. Just look at this pose!

Oh My Goodness. Serious cuteness there!

I also saw this great pic of Ty. Apparently he's doing a little sight seeing there in South Korea. I snagged this pic off his Facebook so I don't really know what's going on but he was visiting some kind of village I think. Maybe some day he'll update his blog and we can all find out what the heck he is doing over there!

I miss you son.

So that's really all the news worth reporting. I am so looking forward to Saturday and our few days with Quinn and Amber. They are coming in a few days early and then Andy will come on Wednesday so they can head over to the west side to visit the Porters for Thanksgiving. Then they will all be back here in a few short weeks for Christmas! This will be a wonderful Christmas. The only one missing will be Ty. He can't afford to spend the $1,500 to fly home for just a few days. Guess we'll just have to wait until May.

Have a great week!!

Festivals, Clocks and other stuff...

It was a busy weekend though really I didn't do that much. Maybe I should say instead that it seemed to pass so quickly! But before the weekend came the busy week. Work was busy, as usual, but with some added work because we in ESL were preparing for the 2nd Annual Latino Festival on Thursday night. Things were being gathered around the community and then on Thursday we were running around picking up donated items and then getting the cafeteria and gym ready for the big fiesta! The doors opened at 5:00 so we only had a couple hours to get things ready. The parents showed up in full force and started decorating and soon after that the food started arriving. At 5:00 sharp the mariachi band started, followed by the dancers, both kids and adults. I somehow ended up being the photographer for most of the evening but I wasn't using my camera so I don't have any pictures. It was all very colorful and enjoyable though. I purchased a dozen tamales at the end of the evening to share with Scott and H. We ended up having them for dinner Friday night but I have to say, they just weren't as good a day later. The Festival ended at 8:00 but it was 9:30 before we were finished cleaning up and were able to go home. On Friday we were all dragging but kids still must be pulled and taught so there was no rest for the weary. Ok, I'll admit it, we did put a movie in for our very last group but I've been told ESL children need to watch more movies to understand dialogue, etc.

Saturday H and Scott helped me out at the garden. We were supposed to go out there to turn over our plots and work in manure but unfortunately no manure was delivered. Instead they just turned the soil over and we smoothed the plots. We will try to top dress the plots if the manure is delivered in the next couple weeks. It was disappointing that no one had let us know as we could have waited and done it all at once. I wasn't much help as I've been having shoulder pain that just doesn't want to go away and doing things like shoveling and raking makes it worse. When we got home I planted about 70 tulips in the front yard and just that motion has made my shoulder hurt all weekend.

We also spent a few minutes skyping with our favorite girls!


Quinn really seemed to be able to see us and was waving and saying hi but soon lost interest and just wanted to wiggle and squirm on her mommy's lap. I can't wait for the day when she realizes it's Mimi and Grandpa H that she's talking to!

After our chat I took the pups up to the high school field for some frisbee play. After a week cooped up in the house they were very anxious to run and play. When I got home I fixed H and Scott a nice dinner of chicken enchiladas as a thank you for all their help at the garden. During the prep I happened to look out the window and saw this beautiful sunset. They are pretty rare around here and unfortunately the trees block most of it but it's still a pretty sight.






After setting all the clocks back this morning (man do we have a lot of clocks) and fixing breakfast I decided to head out for a little shopping. Now that the cold weather has arrived and I'm having to give up my capri's for long pants I realized I only really have 3 pair of pants (plus jeans that I can only wear on Friday) to wear for 4 days which means I'm wearing one pair twice. Not good. Plus I wanted to pick up some things for H's brother's son's (our nephew Aaron) new baby, Caleb. Shopping for baby boy clothes sure is different than shopping for baby girl clothes. Everything is gray or tan, with a little red or blue thrown in. I managed to buy 4 pair of pants, including cords which I probably won't wear until it gets a bit colder, a couple tops and a sweater. They are playing Christmas music in every store and have all the decorations up and gift displays everywhere.

After my successful shopping trip I took the pups back to the high school field. The light felt so weird as it was only 4:00 but felt like 6:00. A good time was had by all!










This next week should be interesting. I have been offered another hour a day of work. Unfortunately it comes first thing in the morning, like at 7:00 a.m. Let's just say, I have enough trouble getting to work by 8:00. Getting there by 7:00 should be interesting. I'm definitely going to have to go to bed earlier. No more staying up until 11:30 every night. A student I see at one elementary school but only 2 days a week, is going to be riding the early bus to the main school where the program is housed. Kids at that school, who are lower, are seen every day. Plus I will be giving him one on one tutoring for that hour in the morning. This is a 4th grade boy from China and he has only been in the country since February. He can already speak a little English but has a reading level of about a first grader. He's really good at math though and is very sweet. So, we'll see how this goes. I'm really not looking forward to this getting up at 5:00 or 5:30 though. I wish I wasn't so high maintenance, like a natural beauty who didn't need make-up or a gal who could just put her hair in a pony tail and go. Unfortunately, that is NOT me. I need maintenance time. Wish me luck.

Have a good week!