Work Schmurk

I don't know why I didn't remember, but work, is really a lot of work. It takes so much time and effort, and the kids are so , so, so teenager-ish. They mope in with their floppy arms and feet acting as if the class, no matter how entertaining, will never meet their expectations. So I do the painstaking song and dance that I have carefully choreographed and they stare. They stare with eyes that would scare the most gruesome creature. They stare with sightless eyes. No wonder Twilight is so popular... Stephanie Meyer must have known they would identify with monsters. Let me correct that...Vampires and Werewolves. Anyway I made it through my first week. The monsters didn't eat me.

I know I have a zillion things to blog about!


Willow and Poppy started school. Poppy's first day was good. She lookes darling in her new little dress/tunic thingy with leggin's. She didn't seem nervous and took all the chaos in stride. Her only complaint was that the wood chips got in her sandals during recess. She is such a funny little girl.

Willow said, "this was the best day ever at Little Lake", so I think she likes her teacher. Willow's class has about 8 mormon kids in it so she had friends from church to play with.

Phoenix and Lily went to the babysitters (Kimmy)house and had a great time. They played and enjoyed themselves outside on her new swing set. Lily is still getting used to taking her nap a little later. They only see kimmy on Wed Thurs and Friday.

I started school (teaching spanish) the same day as the girls. I will be teaching at a small school in our district that offers excellerated courses. I teach 3 hours a day (2 /90 minute blocks)

Our days are pretty hectic, but it all works surprisingly well.

Willow got Baptized

Dave baptized Willow last weekend and we are as proud as we could be. She is quite an amazing young lady. I don't think I could capture what I really feel about her. Sniff. Sniff. I adore her. She is the lovliest parts of me... (and Dave) NO wonder these little spirits are so valiant. So beautiful. So fair. I wish for her all the blessings the eternities have to offer.

The Hostess with the MOstess

Your guess is as good as mine about how Tim caught this one...

This is definitely the Hostess with the Mostess. This is my sister-in-law, Leca, she's amazing. She took the bull by the horns and decided that it was high time we all got together and saw each other. She called and finagled and made lofty promises and pretty much orchestrated a Family Reunion. We all converged on her house in the middle of July and I was amazed at what I found. NOt only was the house immaculate but it was turned into TAYLOR MANOR. A room for each of us with comfy accommodations and all the clean linens you could ask for. My room was equipped with all the necessary amenities. Portacrib, pillows, sleeping bags, color coded towells,extra blankets, shampoo, and even little unopened soaps so that I didn't disgust anyone when I left a long black hair stuck to it! Dave swears he had mints under his pillow.... but I couldn't find mine, he must have eaten mine too.

But wait! The accolades didn't even make it to the Hostess with the MOstess... my husband, who was all in favor of staying at a hotel, commented many times on how nice it was. How nice it was for the Airport Shuttle (Tim's mini-van) to haul us all back and forth. How nice it was to have a car waiting for us at the rental place (Tim's garage). How nice it was to have a water park at the hotel for the kids to play at (Tim's backyard). How nice it was to have meals planned and prepared for us (Tim's Kitchen).

Then a few days after we arrived safely back home, my husband, paid the ULTIMATE COMPLIMENT to The HOstess with the Mostess... he said to me, "Can you just set up the house, just like Aleca did when my family comes?" Let me tell you she really is the Hostess with the Mostess. So from the bottom of my heart THANK YOU. The family reunion was wonderful because of you!

PS if you want to see pictures of the reunion check out Leca's blog (which never gets neglected).

The Tour de US is finally done

Did you notice that I was gone for a while? Well I did. I would look at that old blog post and think, "when is she going to update that?" then I would remember that SHE was me and that it would be rude to hog the computer while visiting someone elses house. We have had a busy month. With family reunions from both sides, an anniversary trip, a week at the beach, and a couple "sleepovers" with some friends kids. I'll post a couple about the trips and then I'll get back to posting about random stuff. Okay?

The Finger

Lily the wee tiny one at our house broke her finger. She loves to sneak outside. She loves to wander the neighborhood looking for mud, puddles, or morsels of food on the ground. She is one. You see my problem here right? It is not alright for a 1 year old to run around the neighborhood like an urchin. She isn't Oliver Twist. She isn't even Harry Potter. She has two parents who love her, cloth her, and even, yes, feed her. So being outside free like a lark (she must have know that's what I wanted to name her)is her goal in life. About two weeks ago she was trying to get out and Phoenix was trying to get her back in and the door slammed on her left pointer finger. The rest is pure guess because all I saw was the aftermath. I think it was caught in the door and she panicked and pulled it out. By that time it was pretty well squished. The nail was taken right off. All of it. It left a gaping hole where the little bone was exposed. ewww. We went to Urgent Care and waited the mandatory 3 hours and they said that the bone was broken and that the nail was totally gone. Sianarra. Adios. Chao. They bandaged it and plinted it and said to give her the antibiotic and tylenol.

NOw, lest you think I am an awful parent... we did all that the doctor ordered and the finger is looking better. Still no nail, but she is able to use it and the splint came off. The MD's think that the nail will do one of three things: 1) not grow back at all. 2) grow back and be warped, either wavy or bumpy. or 3) It will grow back and be perfect just like new. Hopefully it grows back perfect in everyway. The last thing I need is to be blamed for some horrible accident I couldn't control! I'm sure I will be blamed for lots of things that I can. Bring on the therapy!

SAVE the FROG

Mr. Froggy (IT)


The make-shift bedpan/habitat



Yesterday Lily had a doctors appointment. They needed to take new x-rays of the smushed finger, which is healing nicely by-the-way. We also had swim lessons, and I needed to go to the Ensign Book Store to get some things for Willow's birthday which is coming upon us fast. Anyway it was a fully planned day. I decided that at swim lessons we would shower all the chlorine off there at the Diamond Valley aquatic center so that all we had to do to get ready for the day was dress. While in the shower, Poppy yelled, "There's a frog in my shower!" I go to check it out. Sure enough there's a little tree frog hopping around her drain. Phoenix catches it, and the begging begins. "Please mom, can we keep it? Puh leasssee mooommmmyyyy? It won't be any trouble. I won't let Lily eat it. I'll keep it in my room.....? Please. Please. Please. PLEASE" How can you resist? I actually have quite a soft spot in my heart for little froggies. I think they are one of natures sweetest creatures. So I say yes and we load into the car to go home, ready for the next leg of our day.

You say, but wait I know this isn't all. Yep, not 2 minutes after we get in the car the frog is lost and I am thinking ,"Melissa this has got to be the dumbest thing you've ever done." We search the car when we arrive home, but to no avail. So, already late for the next errand we leave hoping beyond all hope Mr. Froggy escaped the bullet shaped mini-van. We stop at the dry cleaners (be ready today at 4:00). We stop at the gas station to go potty again, and then we get to the mall. We go inside to get some lunch (mmmmm Miguels)and some face cream for mom. After we have shopped and eaten I am nearly sure that I will be smelling a putrid dead animal in my car in a few days. I am pondering how long it will take to go away when I look over at the passenger seat and who do I spy, but Mr. Froggy riding along. When we arrive at Kaiser, I think ,"what am I going to do? It is really hot now and he surely will die if I leave him in the car this time". So I load the children out and MacGyver a shoe box scavenged from the parking lot to carry IT in. We head into Orthopedics and the children are so excited that we found the frog that THEY are jumping all over. While we stand in line to check in, IT escapes and the four of them run off after IT screaming and bouncing. Everyone looks at me. I see the accusatory statements in their eyes. A frog at the hospital, really? Squealing in this place of healing, really? Please keep IT and THEM away from me.

One of the receptionists gets me a plastic bed pan to keep IT in. I take the motley crew outside and in the trash can on the very top is a nice big piece of aluminum foil. I'm all about going green... so I recycle it to make a lid for the bed pan/make-shift frog habitat. Then we put the whole thing back inside the shoe box and it only escaped once more during the X-rays.

When we got home I put IT in a bulk sized ice cream tub with a rock, some water, some dirt, some foliage, and some ants for dinner.

Later that evening I was looking for some info on IT and found that here in my little town of Hemet/ San Jacinto/ Idylwild we have a frog that is endangered. It's called the Mountain Yellow legged Frog and there are less than 200 living in the wild. Let me reassure you Mr. Froggy is not an endangered frog! He isa very common Pacific Tree Frog. I thought you might want to read an article about our endangered froggy (go to the link).

Lily's finger X-ray