God Be With You Till We Meet Again

Our friend Robin died this morning. He got to go home peacefully with his wife there by his side. If I had to chose a way to go, that would be it.

In our church we get visiting teachers; who are women who come to your home or give you call once a month to see how you are. They can end up being good friends. Robin's wife Dee is my visiting teacher and I am hers. We've forged a good friendship over the last couple of years. She got to listen when I was in college and working full time. I got to listen when she was frustrated about her car dying. We get to tell about our kids growing up and what to expect, she gets to tell me about being a grandma. I am sorry she is going to be alone.

Death is never easy. We miss those who go on without us. My mom used to tell me when I was a kid about her Grandma Sindeldecker. She would tell my mom that when the sun rays would break through the clouds that was when Jesus was taking people up to heaven. That's a nice thought being in heaven with our Savior. It helps take some of the sting out of death knowing our loved ones have the opportunity to live with the Savior again.

When I stopped by the house this evening to make sure she had everything she needed to get through the weekend until the funeral; I got to see such a legacy that Robin left behind. His posterity was there sorting through pictures to help celebrate his life. They were looking through pictures and remembering, mourning, talking, and loving....Isn't that what life is all about? Having a beautiful family and leaving a legacy of love and family, a network of posterity to carry on the family dreams and desires.

Families are Forever!

Just Need to get a Bigger Plate

It seems like often in my life things come in waves. I will be plugging away thinking that life is running smooth and then I run into the proveribial brick wall. I thought I was doing okay balancing all the things required of me and then somehow one thing comes out of balance to let me know I am not keeping everything in check.

It seems this week like work is screaming in my ear that I need to give it more attention. I stayed late last night to get caught up, but my phone rang off the hook for the first hour I was there after students, then a colleague plopped down in my room to talk for 25 minutes. I have to be out of the building 4 of the next 6 work days for professional development and building leadership team meetings. Writing sub plans is not that easy, then catching up from not being there is not much fun either.

Church life is quite busy now too. But I've learned to let the sisters help me. When I do the most amazing things get accomplished, even better than if I just did them myself. For the control freak in me, this is a good lesson learned. It's okay to let people help you. I would encourage you to try it if you haven't.

My children have very busy schedules too. Kayla has three games to cheer at this week, practice two nights, youth activities and throw in a FCCLA activity too. Dakota has practice five days this week, some starting at 8 pm in Ashland (10 miles away). My husband is on call and has been gone a lot this week.

I just decided that my plate was too full, so instead of complaining about it, I just got a bigger plate and now, I have room to wiggle!

Sweet 16 Party

I can't belive he's 16. It's inevitable that they will grow up, but it goes so fast. I still remember the blizzard Kyle drove through to get us to Wooster Community Hospital at 5 am. I was up all night with contractions and finally had enough and went to the hospital. I wanted to make sure since I went two other times and got sent home. We spent all day at the hosptial and final they took him C-section around 4:30 in the afternoon. I still have a lovely scar to prove it!
We got togehter a party today because he didn't want to wait until February to have it. I wanted to do it on a day we didn't have a basketball in the evening. He wanted to do it on his actual birthday...so here we are.

The football decorated cupcakes went over well, the teens devoured those right down. I even piped creme in the middles to make them hostess style.

Fruit punch with sprite mixed in

We used the church for better parking and space. We hooked our Wii up to a projector and displayed it on the wall in the RS room.

The kids took turns playing Wii, and played basketball in the cultural hall.

  Grandma and Grandpa Steigerwalt made it

Grandma and Grandpa Patterson and Aunt Amy and her Carlo, Maddie and Malea all came to enjoy the festivities.

We enjoyed playing games and socializing together. I still can't believe my baby is almost an adult. I wonder when he will start acting like he is one? Does that come at about 30?

Happy Birthday Moose! We love you.

Wicked Weather

Wow! The weather outside was frightful last night...enough to cancel school today! My friend says patients always make it to surgery.....Kyle always makes it to work too. Even though I could have slept in today, I was wide awake at my 5:30 am phone call, that I crawled out of bed and started the Saturday chores of laundry and tidying the house today.

I looked outside and decided to hunker down with a book.

The kids went out with the snowblower after lunch to earn some $$ but they waited too long...everyone was shoveled out.

So I decided to do some baking for Kota's 16th birthday. We are having a small get together of some youth and friends from school at the church. They are going to play some basketball and the Wii and hang out for awhile before the basketball game Kayla has Saturday. Three games this week. We decided that we were only going to one of them. She has three games next week too.

I'm trying to figure out how to make these into a football....I'm going to frost them with chocolate butter cream frosting and add the white lacing to them, but I can't quite get them tight enough...I'll have to see what I can figure out.

Later tonight Kyle and I are heading up to the VA Hospital to visit my friend and her husband. He is having a turn for the worst...life sure has its ups and downs.

Retrain the Brain

When ever I think of dessert is almost always has something to do with chocolate or chocolate and peanut butter. I have to retrain the brain, because Kyle is supposed to each chocolate sparingly. It is one cause of kidney stones. We will find out what his stone consisted of in a few weeks when it come back from the lab.

I have been trying to use more of my food storage and what is in the refridgerator for a change instead of throwing away so much food. I found that I had two containers of sour cream in the fridge and deciced to surf the net for recipies; this is what I came up with. Not a single drop of chocolate in it, plus I used one of my containers of sour cream. Win-win, except if you consider the lose 20 pounds this year. Oh well, can't win them all.

I just felt sorry for my hubby for having the pain of removing the stent yesterday. He said he would rather have a kidney stone then have a stent removed again. He looked terrible when he came out of that office. He was sweating, looked like he could pass out any second, he actually looked worse than he did last week. But he is on the mend today an is starting to feel better.

Life is interesting with all its bumps and bruises. In a few weeks/months he won't remember all the discomfort, only that it hurt A LOT!

I know one thing is for sure, we are going to try having our affairs in order, so next time if it is more serious we have talked about everything...as hard as it may be.

I have a friend whose husband just found out he has terminal cancer. He will find out his life expectancy on Monday. I'm sure she wished her husband just had kidney stones too.

I got a chance to slow down a bit last week, more like I was forced to slow down. I remember what is most important in life--our family! This is an unconcious known, but sometimes it is good to have this in the forfront of my thoughts.

So we will continue to retrain our brains, maybe we can lose a pound or two doing so...if I stay away from those sweets....na!

Grandparents for the Weekend????

Welcome our newest addition for the weekend, Karson Kyle Crawford....aka Dakota's Family and Consumer Science Project for the weekend. UGH! I thought Kota was just going to get some skills in homemaking so he would be okay when he's out on his mission.

The baby goes every where Dakota goes. He is only allowed to have so many babysitters. It's kind of funny really, until Dakota loses his cool; which is really quick.
The baby brings a lot of attention, just like the real ones do. We had an elderly couple sitting next to us that thought he was real. They were embarassed that they asked...You know when I was in Family Consumer Science it was called Home Economics....we carried around a hard boiled egg for a week.

Dakota with his new (I mean 1st) girlfriend Mandy. What a way to start dating, with a baby in tow.
You know in the three hours we were at the basketball games, that baby got its diaper changed twice, fed twice, and just needed to be held a couple of times. Dakota is finding out that a needy baby isn't something he is ready for. Maybe they (the FCS teacher) are smart by having the life-like infants. It might knock some sense into a few teenagers (boys at least) that this isn't as easy as it sounds.

Well another winning weekend for the Falcon boys. Both JV and Varsity won again. Someday I'll have a better camera with a better zoom.
Kayla is rockin out to "Life is a Highway." She makes me laugh because she has a hard time smiling, because she is too worried about doing the next move....But she keeps getting better

For Granted

It's amazing how when your are in the normal humdrum of life how many things you over look. I realize that I don't alway appreciate the small things....like going to bed with your husband...you know to cuddle and get cozy warm with....otherwise the bed is cold and empty.

...or how often I don't have to do dishes because he prefers dishes over laundry.....

..or just having him healthy and with us...

I'm glad things went well this week for him. I also got to remember why I teach today. I got a letter from one of my students who always works really hard. She addressed the envelope to Mr. and Mrs. Crawford....In side it said. I hope you get well soon, I'll be praying for you. (Aw, how sweet!) Then PS. Mrs. Crawford you are the best teacher ever, I really miss it when you are not here because the class is really bad!

I will have to tell Kyle he's not allowed to have anymore kidney stones so I don't miss much more class....I'm sure he won't mind complying!

Rolling Stone

After spending a week worring that my dear, sweet, husband might have cancer or a tumor, or a cysts we find out he had a kidney stone. Whew! we were sure relieved at the non-life treatening alternative.
The teens visted to watch their dad sleep. Illness is hard on them too. But they seemed to take all the news well.

Kyle squirmed, groaned and sweated for an entire day trying to pass that kidney stone. But, cat scan confirmed his stone was one millimeter to big to be passed. He had to have surgery to get it out. I have never seen my husband whine about pain like he did yesterday. I knew he was in extreme pain. I wished that I could take at least half of the pain for him so he wouldn't hurt so bad, but I couldn't. I admire him though, he could have been a contanciourous patient, but instead he chose to joke with the nurses. I'm not sure I would have been that gracious.

You have to have a large amount of patience in the hospital. Each person has to wait on orders from another...it took a day and a half to find out when our surgery time was. They just kept telling us they didn't know. It wasn't until yaya told us we were on the schedule for the end of the day that we heard anything. That was a bit frustrating, but it was still better than battling cancer.Kyle came out of surgery, hungry and looking almost painless. He has some discomfort urinating, but that too will pass in a day or two. We are glad to have him home tonight. I hope he never has to experience this again!

Peace Be with You

Kyle had his ultrasound today. I was zipping back from the Columbus Temple to be in the room with him. I got to the waiting room at 2:27, his appointment was at 2:30. They wouldn't let me go in the room because he was already in there. I was disappointed. So I just waited quietly in the waiting room for him. We will get his ultrasound results early next week. Waiting is a hard thing to do. But we know that no matter what the outcome Heavenly Father will make us strong enough to handle it. In the mean time we are going to try to live life like normal. The shock factor is over.

We went to Kayla's basketball game tonight. We got to watch the JV win a game tonight. The varsity won by a lot. 72-28. One of the players dunked the ball and the crowd went wild! Kayla reported after the game that the Chippewa cheerleaders were rude. She said they were making fun of them the whole game. Poor sportsmanship from their bball players too. Which is too bad.

Today was a healing day. I feel better since I took the time going to the temple. I feel like I can be supportive where I need to be now.

Discouraged

You know that feeling when you get that brand new toy or new white tennis shoes and then you get a scuff on them? You know you will never get the scuff out so it doesn't quiet have the same appeal as when they were fresh off the shelf. That's how I feel all scuffed up just four days into the new year.



I had a great lesson plan for my 5th grade students. Instead of learning about what Williamsbury colony was like by looking at pictures and reading a boring text book, it planned hands-on activities for them to expierence some colonists life activities. I arranged for field corn to come into the class for the kids to shell and grind, so that we could make homemade cornbread, literally from scratch. They would get to make their own butter. I also was learning how to hand spin yarn from wool, and letting them hand sew a doll sized pillow.



Sounds great right? I'm the best teacher ever, right? Day one was wonderful. Day two however, I had a bunch of yahoos goofing around with the hand grinder for the corn. My personal from home handgrinder. They changed the settings on the grinder making it too lose for the corn while I was working with the pillow sewing group. Long story short, they cracked the stone burrs on the grain grinder. Only a $50 goof up. UGH! So needless to say my temper soared internally, thank goodness I didn't find it until the culprits where already out of my room. So I went from Williamsburg experience to book work in 2.0 days.



Then to make things better the same day I have this classroom disaster, I get bad medical news for my hubby. I'm feeling a bit emotionally battered. I know that Heavenly Father doesn't give us more than we can handle, sometimes I think, I wish I couldn't handle as much, because I feel pushed over the edge! I actually am having a hard time not spilling tears when I'm alone. I have to keep the game face on for the family, right?



Kyle is going to have an ultra-sound on Friday to see if he has cancer, tumor, or a cyst. I know this isn't the end of the world, but it feels like it right now. This too shall pass.....Pray for us please.

Knowledge

Kayla is working on completing her personal progress for Young Women at church. She works on various projects throughout the year, usually at the arm twisting of her mother. I made her find her book tonight and we noticed that if she completed her 10 hour project in knowledge that she could get another ribbon for her bookmark.

She decided upon learning to take care of clothing. She has to learn how to wash, fold, iron and repair clothing. She can also learn how to make alterations to clothing. She started tonight with learning how to sew on a button. She lost a button off her coat last week and wanted me to show her how to sew it on anyhow so this worked out well. Too bad grandma Robin weren't a bit closer for this project, she'd come in handy.

While sitting at the table her kitten Athena wanted to check out this new project too. I wonder if it was the flash of the needle in the lamp light or the dangling string the peeked his curisoity.

Speaking of knowledge...we thought when we got the two bundles of joy this autumn that we had twin sisters. Dakota made the discovery a couple of weeks ago that our greek godess Athena is a greek god. We've tried to rename the poor fellow, but Zeus, Apollo, Posiden, just won't stick. So he will forever be our family joke of Athena the boy godess.....

Welcome 2011

It's always fun starting over. Techically, it's just a continuation of life, but the newness of it brings hope to life. I think it is neat the date 1/1/11. It will be fun for all the babies born today.
My birthday is a fun date too 7/5/75.

I've decided to journal some of my goals, because when I write them down I tend to make them happen.
1. Pray more often personally, not just at meals
2. Learn how to do something new
3. See a moose in the wild (maybe when we go to Maine?)
4. Go to Maine on Vacation (hopefully with our friends Casey and Christina)
5. Survive my school year, hopefully cheerfully (I've got a tought group this year)
6. Maybe look for an Administration position (not sure if I'm ready yet)
7. Learn to play the piano better
8. Scrapbook with my daughter
9. Read a book on my list (or two, three or four....)
10. lose 20 pounds (or more, but you have to start somewhere)
11. Excersise with my husband before work 3 days a week
12. Take more walks
13. Enjoy quiet moments with the teens
14. Get to MN for Christmas
15. Get to know my dad again

Okay, my list is getting pretty big. I am a dreamer at times. I have a lot of hats to think about and when I make goals for all of them it can get pretty lofty. I am pretty excited about getting started. I shall see how the year goes.