April 15th- this has been a very long month. I left for my cruise last month and it was all I imagined and more. The
painting part went great...the beaches were great....my Mom was great....and the food....great...are you seeing a theam there?
On the next to last day I got an emergancy phone call...I knew what had happend. Gregs Dad had passed away by himself in
California in his home. I felt very trapped on the ship and needless to say all I wanted to do was get home...hug the kids
and then get to California to be with Greg. That is just what I did....so 6 plane flights...11 hours total driving later
I was with Greg at his Dads to help pack up his home and just be there while he and his sister did what they needed to do.
I hurt my back...probably because I don't lift things properly...and was in sooo much pain that I need a cane.....Greg drove
a moving truck back and I drove another truck and trailer through the mountains back to ND. I wanted to get home so bad I
drove the last 19 hours straight....anyway...that is a breif synopsis (SP) of what has been going on. Greg had to turn around
and go to Bismark for a meeting...then the next day to Devils Lake for a meeting and now in Bismark again for training. We
miss him. It will be good for him to get back to a regular schedule to help him deal with everything. Thank goodness for
my Dad. We never in a million years could have acomplished all that we did if he was not here to pick up all the pieces and
take care of the kids, dogs, paper routes and house for us. Off I go to sleep....be good everyone!
March 13th! I finally updated! Good greif....we have been a busy bunch. We have had ice skating competitions, Ice skaing
show preperations, gigs for me, Greg has been gone to Califonia for almost 3 weeks and a bunch of little stuff. The girls
are all doing fantastic in school....Miranda and Sienna both have all A's and a B+, Olivia and Jillian are both getting almost
all perfect papers. Little Livvys speech is coming along also...lots of progress this year.
I am gearing up for my cruise next week. My only fear is my plane being delayed and not making the ship. Once I get on I
have no doubt they will love my painting. I am booked for more cruises this year so I want to do a great job to get recommeded
to more ships. The ships I know I will be sailing on this year are the Jewel of the Seas and the Liberty of the Seas both
with Royal Caribbean. Check them out. Long day tomorrow...so off I go to listen to Miandas Ipod to get to sleep. Don't tell
her. Be good!
Feb 20th- Can you feel the dark cloud above us? I can....at least that is how it seems lately. You would be bored to
tears if I went into details....so I will pass on doing so. Health wise we are all well for once. Olivia will be getting
braces, headgear, and someother metal thing next month....a lot of stuff for a 7 year old. We are being proactive with her
underbite and if we nip this in the bud now she will avoid the invasive surgery like Greg went through in college to correct
his.
Ice skating is getting to be all we do lately. The three little girls have a competition coming up early next month and all
4 have a show in the middle of March. This years theme is Country....Their costumes cute and very traditional country...chaps...plaid
shirts and all.
Greg is going through a difficult time now as his father is very ill. I hope we will be able to send him out to California
soon.
My life is the same old stuff...just kidding ...I always have something (as a good friend just put it) ridiculously intersting
going on. Someone must think that I do a good job on my facepainting. I was tipped a $100 bill at a hockey game the other
night. That was very unexpected. only one month, one day and 23 hours and 23 minutes seperate me and my cruise. The timeing
is not good with Gregs dad being sick right now....but I am under contract.....off I go to rest....that darn bunny that I
am allergic to was acting all cute and stuff so I picked her up and carried her around the house...got me all stuffed up and
red eyed...so 2 benidryl later I am tired. lol
Good night....bad snack...
Every Monday we have what we call Family Home Evening. Many memebers of our church all over the world do this very same
thing. Tonights was on working together. I threw corn kernals all over the living room (it was kind of fun) thousands of
them. Some in piles and some scattered. Each girl was given a handicap...Olivia could not use her hands, Sienna could not
see, Miranda could not see or use her hands and Jilly could use everything. I let them loose to gather their corn kernals
as best they could. (I likend the whole thing to turkeys searching for food in the wild...) it was so fun to watch. Olivia
sucked them up in her mouth and ran to the larger piles to get some....Sienna used her arms in a raking motion across the
floor....Miranda ran into everything and did not get one kernal...and Jilly ran to the blind ones piles when they were not
looking and stole from them (that's why Miranda did not have a pile!) When 5 min was up we were done. The girls discussed
for almost 10 min some lessons they learned. Then it was time for step 2....the girls were paired up and allowed to do the
exersize agian. This time I made sure someone was paired with a sister that could at least see. Same handicaps....I let
them go...guess what...at the end....both teams had the same! Miranda was quick to point out that the first go around one
turkey would have starved...2 would have been barely ok and one turkey would be well fed with some to spare. But when they
worked in teams all 4 had plenty. Now...this is kind of a liberal lesson (I firmly believe in competition...you know...the
cream of the crop rises to the top and all) but with the 4 girls always looking out for themselves and not each other it was
a lesson we needed this week. Then it hit me. We will only be a family like this for a few more years...in 5 years Miranda
will be off to college.....and the other girls will all be on their way to being young women. I pointed this out to them
how now is the time to form the bonds of sisterhood. The oppertunity will not always be there. We talked about this for some
time until Sienna got all choked up about how much she loved her sisters and began to cry....I love that little girl.....
so all and all it was a good FHE.
I made gluten free banana bread tonight....it sucked....I did my part fine...it was beautiful...smelled great....but ugh....it
was so dry...like many gluten free mixes....I have another one of the same brand and I will see this week if I can work my
magic on it....wish me luck.
We have lots of things coming up. Skating shows, competitons, gigs for me, Greg may be going to California, I am going on
a Caribbean Cruise, and Mirandas big birthday is this weekend. My first official teen-ager!
