One amazing person...

I just want everyone to know how much I love my sister-in-law. She is the one of the greatest people you will EVER meet. She is a great example to me - I hope one day I can be half the person she is...

Here she is with her two beautiful daughters.

Summer Fun

I know it's been awhile since I blogged . . . but it's summer, and I just get really lazy in the summer. Don't you?

On my very long list of "What I Shall Do With My Time When All Three Of My Children Are In School Starting Next Week: Hooray!" is update this blog with our summer vacation pictures. But for today I will just say that $2.48 invested in a Slip N Slide a few years ago that we finally pulled out of the box this year has helped make the summer fun.

The proof:

Fun with the Fechter cousins

And fun with the Ray cousins.

It has also provided entertainment for the kids during a presidency meeting and sanity for me in the late afternoon when I need the kids to get out of the house for awhile.

I love Slip N Slide. I also love Target clearance.

My pantry runneth over . . .

And my refrigerator, and my freezers, and a few cupboards.

I'm still loving Coupon Sense, because how else could I get 5 boxes of Eggos, 6 boxes of Capri Suns, 4 jars of Smuckers ice cream toppings, 3 boxes of baby wipes, a loaf of French bread, 3 packages of paper plates, a Powerade, 5 bags of Wacky Mac, and 5 boxes of Ronzoni pasta for a whopping $4.63?

Pictures from my amazing New York City trip coming this week, so stay tuned :)

Still Alive

It's been so long since I've updated that some of you might have presumed this blog was dead forever. But alas, it lives again! I have been super busy and there is no end in sight to that.

I do not claim to be a great photographer, but I have been enjoying the new camera Joey bought me for my birthday. Our old camera was purchased in 2003 and only had 2.0 megapixels--about the quality of a cell phone camera. It was definitely time for something new.

Here's what we've been up to:

Hannah took 4th place in the Arizona State Spelling Bee. We are so proud of her. (old camera)

Kendall looks so grown up with her new haircut. She's all registered for kindergarten and I am only having slight anxiety (mixed with choruses of "Hallelujah") about all three of my kids being in school. (old camera)

We recently had a great time celebrating the 25th anniversary of our old grade school (and our kids' current one). Joey and I were in the first kindergarten class the year the school opened. We saw lots of old friends and the memories were fun. Here we are with our 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Huskison. She was the best teacher ever. I was so flattered when she looked me up in the phone book the next day because she wanted to chat some more and didn't feel like she was able to talk with me enough that night.

We enjoyed a brief visit with my brother Nathan recently. Here is much of the family after attending a memorial service for a dear friend. Noah is missing from the picture; he was at a birthday party that night.

Hannah and Noah were honored at the school's Honor Roll Night last week. This was the first year that Noah was eligible, hewasexcitedto get his first trophy that he actually slept with it that night. They have both done really well this school year, although it's been a challenge to keep up with two kids and all their assignments. I don't know how people with lots of kids do it!

Here's a picture of Hannah after her first piano recital. She has been taking lessons since September and she's doing so well. I love hearing piano music in the house all the time. (And I do mean ALL the time, she is constantly playing). I'm glad she's loving it, it will be a great skill. I quit after about three piano lessons when I was about six years old.

I was able to chaperone Noah's field trip to the Desert Botanical Gardens this week. It was a hot day but we had a good time. They have these amazing glass sculptures on display.

They also had a fun butterfly exhibit.

I'm also excited to say that I've lost 25 pounds in the past ten weeks! I'm doing Weight Watchers and I really love the program. It's so easy to follow and I have made a lot of changes in my habits that will hopefully be lifestyle changes. I'm even exercising. I am feeling good and excited to lose even more, especially since I don't really think it's that noticeable yet. It will be awhile before I am done but I am off to a great start.

Hopefully we will update more frequently since we have some fun adventures coming up.

Family Treasures, Lost and Found

Yesterday, as I was picking up Noah from school, his friend Sam was trying to give him a paper and he was refusing to take it. Sam threw the paper on the ground and walked away, so Noah finally picked it up. As we were walking to the car I asked him about the paper and he gave it to me. It was a letter that he had written and given to Sam, and then Sam was giving it back. Here's the text of the letter, including his spelling:

"Dear Sam,
You should be nice to evrewon (everyone). It would be nice to stop fighting Sam. You're mean to evrewon okay. You should be nice to Jalen, Josh, Kaidin, and me. We are all children of are parentes we should lisin and obay. Sam, Dr. Marten Lothe King Jr. said, We shoulde'nt figt with hands We shou fight with words. he said, to all of us. Sam you neve now whos wachen you boy you are in jail. lesen to me okay sam. You're hungrey arent you Sam. I know youre hungrey Sam okay.

Sincerly,
Steve Nash=
Noah"

So I was dying. My first grader wrote a letter telling another kid to be nice and quoted Dr. King!!! Where does he get it? And I thought it was going to say, "We are all children of God" but instead "children of our parents"! And what the heck is up with the hungry part at the end? (By the way, Noah LOVES Steve Nash and always calls himself Steve Nash.) For the record, Sam is actually a pretty good kid, although I think he's a little bit physically aggressive. Noah said he wrote the letter on Sunday when I made the kids go in their beds and take a quiet time after stake conference. Aside from the letter being completely hilarious, I am really proud of him for standing up for himself. This letter is definitely going to be saved, and I now consider it a family treasure. I'm just glad that Sam gave it back so I could have it.

This morning, Kendall was sitting on my lap at the desk and she sliced the letter with my paper cutter into about five different pieces. After freaking out I found all the pieces and put them back together. I am going to put it away now so nothing happens to it.

Where's Your Voice?

I don't know about you, but throughout the last year I've spent a lot of time watching politics. It was the first time I felt like I really figured out my own political beliefs. Knowing what I believe in has made me want to do more. I've been considering starting a blog dedicated to all things political. But to be honest, I probably won't, becauseI typically avoid confrontation at all costs. All of this might just be a result of listening to way too much talk radio these days.

Anyway, I'm sure we all know about the budget crisis facing Arizona's schools. This is MAJOR. Now since Arizona doesn't have the ability to just print up our own money like the federal government, I guess we won't be passing any stimulus package to send our great great great great great grandchildren into debt. So we have to find another solution. I don't think our legislators are looking hard enough to find feasible solutions. I don't want to see teacher salaries cut (let's go ahead and put them below the poverty line, why don't we?), class sizes double, half day kindergarten, a shortened school week, etc.

I was impressed to read this editorial the other day, describing a local superintendant who is speaking out and gathering the masses to say "Enough!". He says the legislature doesn't even have an idea of what these budget cuts will mean for our kids. He started a website, respectforregularfolks.com, to try and make a difference. He has a link to all of the state legislators email and phone numbers. I know I'm going to start emailing.

How about you?

So Far in 2009 . . .

Hannah won her district spelling bee, so on to regionals it is.

Noah learned how to ride without training wheels.

Kendall and I had a great time at the Phoenix Children's Museum.

Joey celebrated his birthday (no he's not three, that's just how many candles I had!)

We celebrated by spending a weekend up north without the kiddos. It was great. Even standing in the snow it really wasn't that cold, but the scenery was beautiful.

I think we're off to a good start.

Shocker

For those of you who follow the Arizona Cardinals, you may say that the fact they are going to the Super Bowl is no shocker. They've worked hard, they had a good season, they deserve it, it's their time, yadda yadda yadda. Personally, I have enjoyed mocking my hometown team's losing record for many years now.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they usually only play on Sundays, or the fact that my husband has always been a die hard Dallas Cowboys fan (picture this: his bedroom growing up had the Cowboys star painted on the wall), or the fact that my dad was never really interested in NFL football, or maybe just the fact that they were always losing, but I just never got into the Cardinals. I could not grasp those die hard, face painting, jersey wearing, tailgating fans of NFL football. I love baseball, enjoy the Suns, don't mind going to a Coyotes game, and I'd watch ASU football any old time, but I scoffed at the use of taxpayer money to build the Cardinals a state of the art stadium. (I mean, the Cardinals? Come on.)

But then, something weird happened. First, I like the respect that the stadium brings to the West side. And then, yesterday, I was checking the score online before church, and even turned on the radio in the car. I forgot something at home and so I went home during Sunday School, and when I got back to church, I didn't want to leave the radio because I was dying to know the end of the game. I was actually happy for the Cardinals. I wanted them to win. I cared about the outcome. That's the real shocker here.

Call me a fair weather fan if you will. I don't care. I just say that I didn't waste all those years paying attention and being disappointed by a losing team. I read a fan quote in the paper last week that summed it up well: "A lot of people have been trying to find a reason to love this team for a long time." So I'll root for the Cardinals in the Super Bowl with my typically low expectations, because they finally gave me a reason, and whether my love will continue past this season is yet to be seen. I make no promises.

Remembering

When I realized the date today, it took me back twelve whole years to when Hannah had surgery as a baby. I thought I'd write down the story.

She had been sick for a few days, with a fever and just not acting quite right. She was 8 months old and just starting to crawl. She all of a sudden stopped crawling and when she would sit up she would lean to one side strangely. I took her to the doctor and of course she acted fine while we were there. The doctor went ahead and ordered x-rays of her leg and hip just to make sure nothing was wrong. That was on the 13th. The next day she seemed a little better, and the doctor told us that the x-rays were normal. That night, she had a raging fever all night and didn't sleep, it seemed like her hip was hurting, and my mom and I knew that something was definitely wrong. We took her to the doctor as soon as they opened (January 15th) and they did some blood work. They did a test to find her "sed rate" which measures inflammation in the body. A normal range for her would have been 0-15, and hers was 40. They also reviewed the x-rays again and realized that the x-ray technician had not done the hip, just the leg. They immediately sent us to the hospital.

I was supposed to start a new job at Wells Fargo that day, and I had to call them and tell them what was going on. I was worried I would get fired, but I obviously didn't care about anything but Hannah at that point. When we got to the hospital they did some more tests, including a spinal tap. They did not let me come in the room and I just stayed out in the hall crying and completely freaking out. They determined that she had a bacterial infection that had settled in her hip joint and needed to be cleaned out through surgery. Some time that evening, they took her into surgery. I cannot describe the feeling of having your child taken away on a gurney and realizing that you have no control over their life at that point. I'm so thankful that she received a priesthood blessing.

The surgery went perfectly and they were able to completely clean out the infected area. We still to this day do not know exactly what caused the infection. It could have been an injury that we didn't realize she had, or just an infection that thought her hip would be a nice place to live. We will never know. She stayed in the hospital for nine long days after that. I would sleep in one of those reclining chairs each night next to her metal hospital crib which looked more like a cage. At some point she would end up in the chair with me and I would fall asleep nursing her. My mom would come to the hospital every morning so I could run home and take a shower, and then come straight back. We had a great medical staff that took care of her, from nurses to our pediatrician to the infectious disease doctors and her surgeon.

She had to have a pick line put in her shoulder so that IV antibiotics could be administered to make sure that the infection was completely taken care of. We had to learn how to do that and keep it clean Amazingly she has no scar from the surgery and just the slightest scar from the pick line. My mom had started a new job right before this happened and she was absolutely hating it. When Hannah was sick she called and quit her job, which turned out to be one of the biggest blessings. Being a single mom I already relied on my parents a lot, but I would not have been able to work or go to school if my mom had not quit her job and taken care of Hannah during that time. I also think about how young and uneducated I was about everything that was going on. Thank goodness I had my parents to ask questions and keep up with the medical side of everything.

We had to follow up with the surgeon for several years after that, because there was a chance that Hannah could have had one leg shorter than another or other permanent damage from the surgery, but by the time she was about 4 they determined that she would have no side effects from the experience. That was such a relief as well.

I know many of you have experienced traumatic moments with your children and can relate to how scary it is. I'm grateful that we were so blessed. (Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that while all this was going on, my brother Chris found out that he was going to have brain surgery! When it rains, it definitely pours. Thankfully there was a happy ending to that story too.)

I wish I had a scanner so I could post a baby picture of Hannah!

A List

Since I haven't had much to blog about lately, and I left my camera at my brother's house so I don't have any current pictures from Christmas, etc. to post, I copied this from Callie's blog. You copy and paste and then put in bold the items that you have done before. With sarcastic comments, of course.

Started your own blog (you're reading this aren't you?)
Slept under the stars (girl's camp)
Played in a band
Visited Hawaii
Watched a meteor shower
Given more than you can afford to charity (does tithing count?)
Been to Disneyland
Climbed a mountain (not a big one though)
Held a praying mantis
Sang a solo (I sing solo all the time, but actually solo, as in no one else is listening)
Bungee jumped
Visited Paris
Watched a lightning storm at sea
Taught yourself an art from scratch
Adopted a child
Had food poisoning (most likely)
Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty-I have seen it from a distance though
Grown your own vegetables
Seen the Mona Lisa in France
Slept on a train (I did recently ride on the light rail though)
Had a pillow fight
Hitch hiked (just for fun though, I wouldn't have really gotten in the car)
Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (of course!)
Built a snow fort
Held a lamb
Gone skinny dipping (don't ask)
Run a Marathon-how about walk a 5K? does that count?
Ridden in a gondola in Venice
Seen a total eclipse-I think I might have when I was little but I'm not sure
Watched a sunrise or sunset
Hit a home run (I used to pick weeds in the outfield when I played t-ball)
Been on a cruise (I wish)
Seen Niagara Falls in person
Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (if Kentucky counts)
Seen an Amish community
Taught yourself a new language (taught myself some sign language when my kids were babies)
Had enough money to be truly satisfied (not currently, but in the past)
Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
Gone rock climbing
Seen Michelangelo’s David
Sung karaoke
Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
Visited Africa
Walked on a beach by moonlight
Been transported in an ambulance
Had your portrait painted (maybe by my kids??)
Gone deep sea fishing
Gone without food or water for 24 hours or longer (I used to go long periods without eating in high school, but I'm not sure about 24 hours)
Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
Kissed in the rain
Played in the mud
Gone to a drive-in theater
Been in a movie (home movies?)
Visited the Great Wall of China (are you talking about the real one or the restaurant with the same name that was by our house growing up?)
Started a business (the joys of home day care)
Taken a martial arts class
Stayed up for 24 hours with NO sleep at all (aahhh, college)
Served at a soup kitchen
Sold Girl Scout Cookies-I've bought my share though
Gone whale watching
Got flowers for no reason
Donated blood, platelets or plasma
Gone sky diving
Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp (are the Nazis still keeping people in concentration camps?)
Bounced a check
Flown in a helicopter
Saved a favorite childhood toy
Visited the Lincoln Memorial
Eaten Caviar
Pieced a quilt
Stood in Times Square
Toured the Everglades
Been fired from a job
Changed a lightbulb
Broken a bone
Been on a speeding motorcycle (high school boyfriend with a motorcycle!)
Seen the Grand Canyon in person
Published a book (Shutterfly)
Visited the Vatican (no, but I've visited Temple Square, the LDS equivalent of the Vatican, and I've been to the National Cathedral and the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and St. Patricks in NYC)
Bought a brand new car
Mowed the lawn (just a few weeks ago for the first time ever)
Had your picture in the newspaper
Read the entire Bible (that Old Testament scares me a little)
Visited the White House (didn't go inside though)
Killed and prepared an animal for eating
Had chickenpox
Saved someone’s life (my friend Lisa from grade school swears that I saved her life in the pool once)
Sat on a jury (I've been to jury duty one time though)
Met someone famous
Joined a book club
Lost a loved one
Had a baby
Seen the Alamo in person
Swam in the Great Salt Lake (why would you want to?)
Been involved in a law suit (why do you think I'm so rich?)
Owned a cell phone
Been stung by a bee

Copy and paste on your blog, if you want to!
By the way, I got my haircut today. It's fabulous. I'd post a picture but I don't have my camera.

Merry Christmas

If I would have had a Christmas card, it might have looked like this:

Merry Christmas, and here's to hoping that 2009 brings more frequent blog posts from me!

Figured it out, kinda sorta

I stayed up way too late last night because the Google Reader thing STILL wasn't working, and it was driving me crazy. I think I finally got it to work correctly, the only problem is that in Google Reader it lists my blog as being called "Family Gems", but it is feeding my posts correctly. I suppose you can rename it in your Reader, as I still haven't figured out how to correct it.

On another note, I discovered that Blogger essentially has NO customer service, just some help topics and a help forum. No way to contact them directly. Nice.

Don't Give Your Husband the Password

So . . .

My wonderful dear sweet husband (who by the way RARELY reads this blog unless I tell him to) asked me for the blog password a few weeks ago. I thought, "Maybe he's posting something. Cool!" Turns out he added a feed from LDS Gems onto our blog. (LDS Gems is a service that sends you inspirational quotes from church talks each day). It was a great idea. I mean, who doesn't need inspiration every day, right?

Well, turns out that my blog stopped sending its normal feed into Google Reader (what's Google Reader? If you don't have one set up, you should. It's awesome.) Anyway, even though I deleted the LDS Gems feed because it was going wild, now Google Reader is still taking people directly to lds.org when they try to go to this blog. (I promise that I am not trying to send subliminal messages to all my non-LDS friends). So, on Google Reader you will probably have to click "Add subscription" again and put this blog address in http://www.joemeg.blogspot.com/ and then hopefully it will correct the problem and you will start reading my blog again.

Have a great Saturday. I will be working all day, but I hope you're not :)

Election Day

Well I'm a slacker and never got back on here to share my election recommendations. Since it's pretty much too late now, I'll just say that only ONE proposition got a "yes" vote from me. In general, I don't like propositions. I like the direct democracy in theory, but I think most propositions are put forth by special interests and too many of them just don't make sense.

Propositions are usually:

-way too vague, which is guaranteed to end up in court for a judge to interpret, or

-they advertise that they are about one thing to play on emotions but carry a lot of consequences that people don't realize, or

-they institute programs without taking into account the fiscal impact.

Studying the propositions really makes me appreciate the job that our legislators have to do. Maybe I'll try writing a proposition one of these days, I bet I could do better than some of these clowns. I'm also setting a goal to stay more informed about what is going on in politics.

In other election matters, you should know that the Fechter household has been just as divided as a lot of the country when it comes to the presidential candidates. Specifically, the twelve and under crowd vs. the parents. All of this has taken place on the refrigerator. For instance, this would appear on the fridge in the morning:

And then it wouldn't be long before someone would change it to read

OR

(Sorry John, apparently we never quite had the right letters to spell McCain).

So at dinner last night we gave Hannah a chance to defend her candidate and all she could come up with was: He's nice. Hmmm, that's a pretty good quality to have in a president I suppose, but it wasn't quite enough to convince the registered voters of the household. But I just want to say that I love Kids Voting because it really does let the kids become involved in the process. I don't mind if my kids' opinions are different than mine, I'm just glad that they're interested in the process.

It is a very good thing that the Obama campaign didn't find out that Kendall was a supporter though, because her endorsement alone may brought in enough votes to seal the deal for him (although she frequently changes her mind and says that she wants to vote for "John McCain and the girl." She really likes "the girl"):

Why are you still reading this??? Go vote!

Are You Tired of Politics?

Because I am. But I still want to go there.

I have never considered myself much of a political activist, but I am somewhat of a news junkie. If I had cable I would watch the news channels all day long, when I wasn't watching HGTV, that is. I really like to weigh all angles of an issue before making a decision, and that sometimes takes me a long time. I am often surprised by the quick judgment of others. I've learned that sometimes that judgment comes as a result of experience and wisdom to know what is right and quickly identify it. I've also learned that too often that judgment comes from acting before thinking, often followed by regret. It took me a long time to see that my tendency to reserve judgment is a gift, not a character flaw. It has served me well many times. It can also be overwhelming when there are so many issues to consider on the ballot.

There are a few items on the ballot I feel strongly about. One is the Dysart School Board election. My votes will go to Jennifer Tanner and April Allen for sure. My third vote is still uncommitted, but it is currently split between Bonnie Schroader and Anthony Piazza. I know that both Jennifer and April are honest, hardworking, reliable women who will serve this district well. They want what is best for kids and families and teachers. Please pass on the word to anyone you know in the district.

Also, two issues that I don't get to vote on, but many in the Valley do, are district realignment and bond overrides. I have studied some information on the proposed realignment of school districts and I just think that it is bad for kids, teachers, administrators, and tax payers. I think that there could be a better plan that I might support, but this is not it. Also, if you have the opportunity to pass a budget override for your school district, please vote yes. Kids will lose many valuable programs if these overrides don't pass. Don't take the economic crisis out on our kids.

Okay, more to come on the propositions.

Halloween Fun

We were cool enough to make it on the guest list of Glamma and Mr. Fabulous' halloween bash, and they spared nothing to make it an amazing party, from the invitations to the decorations, it was truly "fabulous".

We had a good time as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, hanging out with the "best costume" winners, the "Phantom couple".

There was also the well-known golfer Phil Mickelson and his wife, the Otter Pop.

We enjoyed the company of some scary witches, a spider, and a lovely swimmer (who wouldn't take a dive in the pool for us.)

Hmm, what are these guys up to? What exactly is in those bottles, pirates?

And what are you smoking there, Mr. Ricardo?

I think we need a priest so these guys can make confession. Good thing there was one at the party.
Well, looks like he needs to confess a few things himself.

There was dancing,

contests,

and a good time was had by all. Thanks for the invite!

(Someone really needs to alert the pope about these two below).

Good Riddance, September!

Beware: I needed to vent!


I thought I was never going to make it out of September alive! It was honestly one of the busiest months I've had in a loooong time. Getting back into the routine of school, with Kendall in preschool and a new carpool schedule. Working more because I started a third survey for the Census Bureau (what, you didn't even know I had an actual J-O-B?), I worked about 60 hours in September and put 800 miles on my car just for work (that's about double my usual work schedule)! Even though it was nice to make the extra money, we spent a good chunk of it eating out because we were so busy. Yuck. I'm sick of fast food. Busy as ever with my calling of Enrichment Counselor, as we had our quarterly enrichment meeting and I made most of the food for the dinner, on top of teaching the first Sunday lesson as well. We also had doctor and dentist appointments all around, I reviewed a book for the school's library committee and I'm working on another one, threw out my back for a few days at the end of the month, got most of my visiting teaching done, shopped for a lot of Coupon Sense deals (I have toiletries and granola bars and Powerade galore!), did some serious reorganization in my house (kinda unfinished though), went on a Dysart bus tour (and got my picture in the paper), almost switched my kids' school, chauffered Hannah to her ever increasing activities/lessons, and just tried to keep up with the normal housework, homework, etc. Thankfully Joey helped out with a lot of that stuff, but I felt like I headed out the door almost every night after he got home and we hardly saw each other. I'm craving a family vacation or a weekend without the kids (guiltily though, because I feel like I haven't seen them enough lately). And I'm going to be just as busy with work at least through December, so I don't even know how I could possibly get away for the weekend! The good news is that I'm mostly done Christmas shopping, so the fact that the holidays are coming doesn't stress me out so much this year. And by the way, September was hot! So I'm just glad to be in a new month and looking forward to cooler weather and fun holidays.


This week Noah had to do his first book report (which he received 100% on, good job!). I sat with him while he did the writing portion of it, and then I had him start drawing the picture while I got some things done around the house. When I came back to check on his finished product, I couldn't help but laugh. See if you can figure out why:



Do you see something out of place there?

In case you couldn't figure it out, check out the "Parent Signature" line. He's hopefully not heading into a career of forgery. It gave me a good laugh though.

How was your September?

Do You Disney?

If you love Disneyland as much as I do, you need to take advantage of this deal! In 2009 Disney will be offering free admission on your birthday! I'm going to try and get a trip out of this next year for sure. If members of your family have birthdays on the same day you are really lucky! If you have an annual passport already you can get some other special offers instead. You do have to register for this in advance though. (You people know how much I love FREE). You have to register and then you can add your kids. Your spouse will have to do a separate registration. Now, I must go plot whether I can go in February, April, May, June, and August when each member of my family has a birthday! I love Disneyland.

Register here!

I Waited 30 Years . . .

. . . to finally have a sister. I have two older brothers, and always begged my mom for a little sister. When I was 11 my hope was renewed, but I got a baby brother instead.

I actually cried on the way to the hospital, until my cousin Jennie who was driving me to the hospital said, "It's okay, we can still put him in dresses." Of course once I saw him I loved him and didn't mind that he was a boy.

But since my brother graduated from high school this year, my parents weren't quite ready for an empty nest, so they decided to adopt.

Her name is Winnie, and we got to babysit her over Labor Day weekend so that my parents could go out of town. And after all, they deserved a break because having a newborn is hard work.
She's a Maltese/Yorkie mix (Morkie, according to Jessica). It was fun, and a lot of work, having her for the weekend. Noah and Kendall are a little scared of dogs in general so it was good for them. I can safely say that Kendall has overcome her fear of "Winnifer" (as she sometimes calls her), but the jury is still out on Noah. In his defense, Winnie can be very rowdy, barks a lot, and she does bite sometimes.

So I guess I have a little sister now, although I think that she bears a stronger resemblance to my three brothers.

Remembering . . .

Not to be cheesy, but since I was just listening to people on the radio share their "Where were you?" stories from September 11, 2001, I thought that I should record mine. Even though I'm sure my own experience is not significant to anyone but me, I think that it is an event that we will always reflect on and think about throughout our lifetimes and someday I probably won't recall the details that I still remember now, seven years later.

At the time, we were living in Joey's parents' house, and his sister Kristi and her husband Mike were living there with us (his parents had already moved to New Mexico). I was in my first year of teaching at Barcelona Middle School and Hannah was in kindergarten. I remember that I was blow drying my hair in the bathroom and Joey walked in and told me to come look at the TV. We sat in our bedroom for awhile and watched the events unfolding, still really uncertain of what was going on.

I would take Hannah to my parents' house on my way to work so that she could ride the bus to school with Andrew, and as I dropped her off I got really emotional. I was terrified of planes flying into buildings across the country, imagining that it would keep happening all day long. Since my parents both worked downtown I was afraid for them, and I was also scared of letting Hannah go to school and being away from her. I remember that we said a prayer with my mom before I left for work.

Being in an 8th grade classroom that day was an interesting experience. As teachers, we just felt speechless and shellshocked. We would listen to the radio and check the internet periodically throughout the day, trying to find out more but without having access to a TV I felt a little bit in the dark. I spent a lot of time just talking to my students, trying to explain the facts that I knew and trying to disspell the junior high rumors that had already started spreading. It was similar to the day I spent as an intern in another classroom on the day of the Columbine shootings. I felt a great responsibility to my students on those days.

I of course remember the terror and the disbelief and the sadness, and just being glued to the TV, trying to understand why this would happen. I remember being grateful that we had just returned from a trip to Kentucky for my grandma's 80th birthday celebration, and that if the party would have taken place on her actual birthday (September 18th) then we wouldn't have been able to fly there. And I couldn't forget the amazing stories of patriotism and love and kindness that came out of September 11th.

It just so happened that we were trying to conceive at that time. It must have happened within days after, because about a month later I found out that I was pregnant with Noah. There was a little baby boom at that time, and when I was delivering him the stories were all over the news about how hospitals all over the place were overflowing with deliveries from what they called "September 11th babies". I've never considered that anything but a coincidence since we were already trying before September 11th, but I love the idea of all of these sweet spirits being sent to earth at that time to bring comfort and love and help people remember what really matters.

Visiting "Ground Zero" in 2005 was an interesting experience. It was hard to connect that big hole in the ground with what I had seen on TV. It was a solemn experience but I had a difficult time making an emotional connection when it looked completely different from what was on TV (and thank goodness, because if it looked the same it would have been overwhelming). I felt that it was necessary to go there, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time there. It was a sad, empty place.

On a happy note, I love America! I feel so fortunate to live in this country.

The end.