8th grade

I cannot believe my little Hannah is almost old enough to go to high school. Help!

Today is the 8th grade banquet. They will be taking a bus downtown for a fancy lunch and awards ceremony. Next week is the 8th grade promotion. I like that they call it promotion, rather than graduation, but I wish both activities were on the same day.

Hannah and I (mostly) had fun shopping for just the right dress. Finding something with sleeves, knee length, cute, and not too grown up was tricky, but I think we did okay.

Don't you think Hannah looks just adorable in her pink dress? I'm wondering what happened to the awkward years.... Would a couple years of frizzy hair and klutzy elbows be so bad?

I took several pictures this morning, but the low light and the slow shutter-speed made for some slightly fuzzy photos. bummer! will try again this afternoon.

Have a fun day, Hannah!

Brrrrr-ing Brrrrr-ing

Hello, Who is it?





Hi Dad!



John loves to talk to his dad on the phone. For the last 5 months, each and every time they have talked, John has told him what he wants to do for his birthday. New things every time. A trip to the waterslides, bowling, a movie, back to the waterslides, to the beach, on a bike ride to the park, and so on. John is so excited about his birthday. Only 3 more months....




John is a fun little dude.

Isn't he cute?

Here is a poem about the dangers of using the phone:

Eletelephony
by Laura Richards

Once there was an elephant
Who tried to use the telephant.
No, no, I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone.

(Dear me, I am not certain, quite
That even now I've got it right.)
How e're it was he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk

The more he tried to get it free
The louder buzzed the telephee.
(I fear I'd better drop this song
Of elephop and telephong.)

I wonder if my kids could even visualize that. Do they know what a phone with a cord looks like? Can they see that elephant with is trunk all tangled up in the curly telephone wire? I'm not sure...

Aloha Friday

It's Aloha Friday!

Today's Aloha Friday topic is Vog.

Vog = volcanic fog

or something like that.



With the Kileaua volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii in an active eruption, it is spewing ash and volcanic gases. When the Kona winds blow (wind from the southeast), the vog journeys to Oahu from the Big Island making the air thick and the horizon fuzzy.

Kilauea is the home of Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess. The caldera was the site of nearly continuous activity during the 19th century and the early part of this century. Since 1952 there have been 34 eruptions, and since January 1983 eruptive activity has been continuous along the east rift zone. All told, Kilauea ranks among the world's most active volcanoes and may even top the list.

Yesterday was really voggy and my eyes were irritated. It is not supposed to be as bad today, but on my run this morning I looked east across the valley toward Wahiawa and I couldn't see the mountains or the sunrise. I think vog isn't too good for breathing.

Remember when Nathan and I stayed at Kileaua Military Camp?





That was fun.

Happy Aloha Friday!

YooHooo, Blogger -

Why don't you email me comments any more?

You used to send me an email whenever I recieved a comment, but not anymore.

Did I do something wrong?


I miss the good old days when I would find little Looky Here, You Got A Comment! emails from you in my inbox.

I can see that there are 6 comments in yesterday's blog post, but I only got one email from you. That doesn't seem like a big deal, I know, but what if someone was catching up reading my blog and left a comment telling me how to solve my fire alarm trouble, and I never noticed the comment because I never recieved an email from you about it, and then what if the alarm started squawking again in the night and I woke up all fluttery and scared, when I could have been snoozing soundly if I had just read that one comment? That would be terrible.

Is this fixable?

I just hate missing comments...

Your Pal,
w

Science Project and a Package

Tomorrow is Sydney's day to be the classroom Expert Scientist. It's been a while since we last did a science project.

This time our project is simple and fun.

Sydney has a bag of Jelly Bellies to share with her class.


She will ask her class if they think smell affects taste. Then she will give each of her classmates a jelly belly and instruct them to plug their noses before eating. They will plug their noses, chew, and then unplug their noses.

You gotta try this.

It is amazing how much more you can taste with your nose involved.


Then she will explain that your tongue can only taste a few things (sour, sweet, salty, and bitter) but your nose can recognize over 10,000 scents. When you eat, your nose and your tongue send messages to the same spot in your brain that recognizes flavors.

Very cool! Good luck Professor Syd.

++++++++++++++++

It is package time. Sometimes I have a hard time knowing just what to send, so I'm posting this list in case you are looking for ideas. I have loved reading BW's care package lists. And, well, I just like lists. In front of me on the desk is my list of things to do tomorrow. And next to that is my list of things I should do before Nathan comes home (including get a new driver's license...but I've still got a couple months... actually a little more than a couple, but almost less than a few...) Anyway, back to the care package:

Nathan, cover your eyes if you are reading this.

I am sending:

A bag of Jelly Bellies
2 wood turning catalogs
a superman pez
pencil with a scary eyeball eraser
sunflower seeds
more CD's of Conference
blank DVD discs
a funky ball
tuna and crackers
chapstick
fruit rolls
random kid art
and an assortment of chips (sun chips, doritos, cheetos) in single serving bags.


I think that's all. Not terribly exciting. Next week I'll need to gather up a father's day care package. Any ideas?


Happy Monday!

On Your Mark...

Get set...


Go!


Do her feet ever touch the ground?


The hand off...and she's going....


down!
(excuse, me...I can't see.)
Are you okay, Syd?


I asked sydney what happened and she said as she came in for the hand off she was going too fast and couldn't slow down. She passed off the baton and just kind of crashed.


But she's okay!

I do have a home

Three times in the last week I was asked about my "hometown".

Each time I gave a different answer. And now I'm wondering: Do I have a hometown?

Is my hometown the little Oregon city where I graduated from high school? We have Oregon plates and file taxes in Oregon, but we only lived there a few years. My parents don't live there any more. My sister, Heather, is the only McB still in Oregon. I love beautiful Hood River, but is it my hometown?

Maybe my hometown is the Utah town where my parents currently live. I've never lived there, but going "home" makes me think of visiting my parents and sisters. I love visiting there, but I'm not sure if it is "home".

Or is my hometown the California city where I was born? The same city where two of our children were born. Where we lived for the first 5 years we were married. Where Nathan's parents still live. Is that home?

Maybe my hometown is the last town we lived in, where we hope to return on our next move. Hawaii feels more like home, but I don't think I can call it my hometown...And our poor kids. Where will they call home?

Do I have a home? (I do have a home, I know I do, said the baby bird)

I may not have a "hometown" but I know what home is. Home is with Nathan. Something is missing around here. It just doesn't seem like home without him.

"I cast my lot in with a soldier, and where he was, was home to me." (Martha Summerhayes, nineteenth-century Army wife)

Where is your home?

Happy Mother's Day to Me

Portrait of me. By John.

I think this is the first time he has drawn a picture of me.

I love it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had a lovely MOther's Day, and I hope you did, too.

Nathan called early to wish me a happy mother's day. Then Hannah brought me breakfast in bed (an egg sandwich on a toasted bagel.) Then I got to open all my cool gifts! A necklace, a bracelet, a couple cards and pictures, a few "good for one free ..." coupons, and a sweet photography book from Nathan.

Being a mom is the best!

I stayed in bed all morning reading, and Sydney brought me hot chocolate chip cookies in bed. Mmm! Yea for kids who can safely operate the oven (with supervision!)

I wore my new paper bead and yarn jewelry to church, where I was given some chocolates and flowers.

All in all a good day.

I sent my mom and my mom-in-law lei's for mother's day. I hope they wore them to church. Mom? I love you! Happy Mother's Day!

Here is my favorite poem for Mother's Day. It reminds me of my mom.


You are the trip I did not take;
You are the pearls I cannot buy;
You are my blue Italian lake.
You are my piece of foreign sky.
- Ann Campbell

Smile Experiment

The "appetizer" in Donna's Friday Feast asked:

When someone smiles at you, do you smile back?

I love that question!

Smiling at other people is one of my hobbies. I love to smile at people. I smile at shoppers and baggers at the Commisary. I smile at kids at the school. I smile at the librarian and the gate guards and strangers on the street. If I miss my chance to smile at someone I feel kind of bad.

Early in the morning I go running. It's usually just me out there on the road, but sometimes I pass soldiers out for a run. I always smile and say "good morning." Most people say hello back, but sometimes I get ignored. After a few mornings of getting ignored I started to wonder if I was the only person out there who smiles. So I did a little experiment.

I decided not to smile.

One morning I passed people and didn't even really look at them. There is a moment when you get close to someone where you have to choose to look at them and smile or just look away. I looked away.

and no one noticed. I passed 8 people without a smile or a hello. It was really depressing.

And then someone ran by and said "good morning!" and my faith in humanity was restored...

I stopped my experiment and started smiling hello again. and I felt better!



~~~~~~~~~

Smile at someone, you'll feel better. - me

Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day. ~ Author unknown

A smile confuses an approaching frown. ~Author Unknown

The world always looks brighter from behind a smile. ~Author Unknown

Smiling is infectious,
You can catch it like the flu.
Someone smiled at me today,
And I started smiling too.
~Author Unknown

Smiling is my favorite exercise. ~Author Unknown

You're never fully dressed without a smile. ~Martin Charnin

On Stage

Hannah is having a great time performing in Cinderella. Isn't she a great townsperson? (watch-out cinderella...)


Here's a closer view.


Sing it, sister!

I took about a jillion pictures, but with the low light and slow shutter speed they are not so great....

Here's how it went down -



Cinderella got in her pumpkin carriage

Danced with the prince,

lost her slipper,

ran away...

If you want to know how the story ends, Hannah (and the Tri-School Performance crew)will be performing again this weekend!

Can't Sleep

It is 1:39am and I can't sleep.

The stupid fire alarm keeps squawking at me.

So I dragged over a chair and changed the 9 volt battery.

And it still squawked at me.

So I dragged the chair back over and took the whole dang thing out of the ceiling and took the new battery out. And it still squawked.

So I wrapped it in 3 blankets and put it in my closet and fell asleep for about 1 minute....until it squawked again.

I took that bundle of blankets and the fire alarm and stuffed it out in the storage room in the garage. Problem solved.....

I thought.

Until I heard another squawk and realized there is another fire alarm upstairs.

I didn't even attempt to change the battery. I carried a chair upstairs and took the whole thing out of the ceiling and walked it directly out to the car.

I really need some sleep.



ps - I hope the house doesn't burn down tonight...

pps - I can't believe it. I just heard another

squawk....

HELP!

Three Things on Thursday

#1 John says Hi.

John made me laught at dinner tonight at Taco Bell. Sorry. I'm a rule breaker. Don't be hatin'. I had no choice. We had to drop Hannah off at the high school to get ready for her final dress rehearsal and then wait an hour before we could watch the family-only preview presentation of Cinderella. There wasn't time to go home and fix dinner, and Taco Bell was just across the street. Sheesh.

Yeah, so back to dinner.

John got up and was kind of jumping around behind my seat. Taco Bell was empty, and you are allowed to do that kind of thing there. That's why we were at Taco Bell and not some fancy schmancy black tie restaurant. I wasn't really paying attention until John grinned at me and said "I have a little squeaker in my shoe."

I didn't know what he was talking about. And I was actually a bit leary about what that squeaker might be. So John showed me. If he jumped just right, his shoes made a rather pleasing squeak, like the squeak of basketball shoes on a bb court. He was so proud. Cute little squeaker!


#2 - I'm going to post some photos, but before I do I need to warn you that these are really bad shots. I wanted them to be good, but it was getting dark and the light wasn't good and the kid I was trying to photograph kept moving. So the photos are out of focus. Mz. Booshay wouldn't be caught dead with them, but I'm still posting the pictures because the kid that was moving is so stinkin' cool. You gotta see what she can do:


Here is Sydney demonstrating her very own "Hula Hooping While Riding the Wave Board" trick. Dave Letterman here we come.

We've discussed Sydney's sweet wave board skilz before. Syd Rocks!


And she never crashes.


and #3 - I bought new shoes. They are lovely. They are clean. They smell good. I'll take 'em out tomorrow and let you know how they run.