He’s Officially a Young Man

Today Nathan was ordained to be a deacon. I'm so proud of him for the good choices he makes. But when did he get old enough for this? When Daniel turned twelve I don't remember looking at him and being surprised by how old he had gotten. But I looked up at Nathan today and I was honestly caught off guard by the fact that he is twelve. The time is passing far too fast.

“If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane.” ― Robert Frost

Kev and I gave the kids "experiences" for Christmas. Nathan's first experience was this evening. We took him to see a show at Desert Star Theater. For those of you who have never been, Desert Star is one of those theaters that makes fun of pretty much everything. Kev and I have both been on multiple occasions, our first date being one of them, but the last time we were there was just after we got married. So it has been a good long while. The show Nathan chose to see was "Into the Hoods." We laughed and laughed. Nathan didn't get all of the jokes but he caught a good number of them. I have a feeling he's going to want to go back.

It's an Honor and a Privilege

We’ve been really pleased with our middle school. They have some really great programs and Daniel has been able to participate in several of them. In eighth grade, the kids can apply to participate in PSTA which is this school’s version of service club. Daniel had a great time doing that this school year. For the ninth graders, they can apply to be members of the National Junior Honor Society. NJHS also provides service to the school. Only those who are invited can apply and of those who are invited, less than half get in. Daniel and a number of his friends were invited to apply and most of them, including Daniel, got in. Tonight was the induction ceremony which was a suit and tie, cookies and punch event. I’m so pleased that not only is he excelling in school (and all on his own prerogative), but he has gotten himself all mixed up with a great group of kids. They are all focused in school, fun and polite to be around, and most of them are involved in some aspect of the school’s music program.

Sounds a lot like the group I hung around with in junior high and high school. Most of us were firmly entrenched in the music programs. We performed hither and yon and attended performances of our other friends. We spent nearly every weekend hanging out at someone or others house (I’m equally grateful for all those parents who accommodated our social habits). We consumed unbelievable amounts of M & M’s and root beer (my mom didn’t even get mad when we took to throwing M & M’s). We laughed and cried together. We went through some tough times (teenage emotions can be a killer) and somehow we managed to make it out together. Basically, we were inseparable.

I can’t even begin to express how thankful I am for all those friends. I’m so grateful that I never had to deal with being isolated or ostracized. I will never be able to repay the kindness of those who stood by my side and defended and protected me from a variety of hurts. It makes me think back and as an adult, I’ve realized just how lucky I was to be all mixed up in my very own great group of kids. At the time I think I took it for granted. I thought that everyone had an amazing group of peers with whom they felt totally accepted and loved. As an adult, I know that is not true. A lot of kids come out of high school feeling grateful that it is over. But I cried when I graduated. I knew things would never be the same. And while that was definitely true, it is also true that a number of those relationships have carried over. I’m still in touch with a pretty good number of those friends that I shared my teen years with. Of course, blogging and facebook have definitely facilitated that ongoing connection, but really I think it is a reflection of just how much we cared about each other. They were not friendships of convenience, they were the honest real deal.

So for Daniel it is an honor to be accepted in the NJHS, but it is a privilege to have a group of amazing kids. I’ll pray that they will be able to stick together.

Daniel and a couple of his chums.

 

Me and my cronies.

 

Easy Peasy

Although his birthday is not until next week, Nathan had his birthday party today. He decided he wanted to invite a smaller group and go bowling. Two of his friend ended up being sick so it was just Nathan, his friend Nik, and his cousins Ella, Jacob and Corbin. It was probably the easiest party I've ever planned. All I had to do was bake cupcakes, make frosting and reserve a lane at the bowling alley. Nathan decorated the cupcakes (after a brief demonstration by me as he has never used a piping bag before) and made the invitations and Kevin picked up pizza on the way home from the bowling alley. Seriously easy on my end. The kids had a great time!

Summer's a Bummer for Girls Who Like School

Malia is officially done with her first year of preschool. We ended the school year with a short program where the kids got to show off the skills they have learned this year by singing a few songs and reciting a couple of poems. Then there was a picnic at the park so she got to play with her preschool friends one more time before summer. Luckily for us, one of her friends lives right next door so she will have someone to play with all summer. And almost all of the same kids will back in her class in the fall so that is also a bonus.

Malia has absolutely loved school and is already asking when she will have school again. She's not the only one who will miss preschool. Having two hours alone twice a week has been nice. At least Daniel is almost done with school as well. That way I can still get out and run a few errands solo now and again.

Snip Snip

Today was the first haircut day ever for Malia. She loves her hair long (Rapunzel is her favorite after all) so she made sure tell everyone that she was just getting a little trim. And that's really all she needed. As she has never had a haircut before, the ends were pretty uneven. So we just evened things up a bit.

She wasn't nervous at all and she did a great job sitting still although she did get bored near the end.

C is for Cookie

I was browsing Pinterest recently and discovered a recipe for one BIG cookie. I tried it and while the cookie itself was mediocre, the kiddies thought it was a great idea. So we used our regular cookie recipe and made head sized cookies for FHE. The kids thought it was great! I still prefer normal sized cookies as I think the texture is better, but I can see a variety of situations in which a gigantic cookie could be fun. Note to self: remember how to do this because one day soon one of my sons is going to want to ask a girl to a dance (eek!) and a face sized cookie could come in handy...

I'm in a Funk

I have tried a lot of different approaches to treating my headaches over the years. About a year ago I started seeing a headache specialist and after giving her the rundown of everything I’d tried, she started tossing new ideas at me. In October I started taking a new medication. This doctor’s theory on medications is to give it six weeks and if there has been no improvement increase the dose and give it another six weeks. If there is still no improvement, that med is probably not going to help so it is time to try something else. So I started the new med and six weeks later there had been no improvement so we increased the dose. The next two weeks were rough. I had more headaches than usual, they were more severe and they were lasting longer. But I stuck with it knowing that sometimes it can take a while to adjust to a new drug. After two weeks, things improved. Instead of having a headache two thirds of my days, it was down to about half my days and the headaches I was having were much less severe and were not lasting as long. So after the first six weeks I did another couple of months to make sure that first stretch wasn’t a fluke. And it wasn’t. It really was improving.

With some definite improvement as a motivator, my doctor increased the dose again hoping to see even more improvement. Again, the first weeks were rough. For about a month things were pretty hard. And then it got better. In twelve days I had only two headaches, neither of which were very severe. In addition, I know exactly what triggered both of them. That hasn’t happened in years. And not just a couple of years, years in the double digits. I was feeling so good that I was able to finish Malia’s baby book, a project that got set aside two years ago because it got to the point where I could only sit at the computer for five or ten minutes before I started to feel the beginnings of a headache. (It’s all printed and everything. I think it turned out fabulous.) Unfortunately, I was also having some pretty severe side effects. They were severe enough that it warranted a change of medication.

Yesterday was my first day off the original med and I woke up at 4:00 this morning with a raging migraine. To say that I’m frustrated doesn’t really begin to express how I feel. I’ve been dealing with these chronic headaches for nearly twenty years. I’ve tried numerous medications, lifestyle changes, food eliminations, etc. I choose not to participate in activities knowing that if I do I’ll end up with a migraine. I feel like I plan my entire life around the probability of headaches. So I’m discouraged. I’m frustrated. I’m worn out from the rough parts of the mediation trials. My doctor has switched me to a new medication that is in the same category as the previous one hoping for similar results with fewer side effects so I’m back to square one. I expect the next little while to be rough. I’m usually pretty okay with that because I can keep the big picture in mind, but after having my life back for a little while, it’s hard not to see this as a huge step backwards.

So if I’m in a pithy mood for the next little while and missing out on more activities and gatherings than I have in the past few months, at least you’ll know why…