What we have been up to.

Things here are settling down to a dull roar. I had to drop all 3 of my classes the 2nd day of school and sign up for three new ones. I had just memorized my schedule, found the buildings, figured out parking, etc. The same process has now been done all over again and I am really thrilled with my new classes. I was a little worried about returning books and getting new ones but it all worked out fine! Now I have to get busy gathering all the paperwork to prove my residency. The $8404.xx bill from the financial aid office about gave me a heart attack!

Brady's class bowls every Monday after school. He rides the bus and we pick him up at 5 p.m. I was a little skeptical at first but had to go to class. Gary happened to be home so he went and checked it out. For 8$ he gets the bus ride to the bowling alley, a healthy snack and drink, coaching, and bowling for 90 minutes every Monday. He really wanted to try it so we let him. It was wonderful. He made friends, got some coaching and got to bowl. Before I changed my classes; I had class Mon. at 5 every week so we were a little worried about getting him home but my new schedule makes that possible. He will be with the same group on his lane each week and they already are asking to play together etc.

Lexie is still making friends and loving school. She isn't as tired when she comes home as she was when it started. Yesterday the neighbors invited us to swim in their pool. It was fun and relaxing, although the water was frigid and some of us were more reluctant to get in than others!

Lexie's first trip off the diving board was very anticlimactic. She acted like she had been doing it her whole life. I am not surprised given how much all of my kids love the water. Once she started diving, it was hard to get her to stop. It was fun to watch and I am so glad that Gary had the camera and took lots of shots!

Brandon has been working hard to learn the "Band Dance". He finally has it down and had a band trip on Friday to Fostoria; about 40 minutes from here. Isn't he cute in his uniform? Gary's camera does video clips. I am going to figure that out next so you can see his dance. Here are a few still shots of it though.

Alyssa found out Monday that she made the Varsity soccer team. We were very excited for her. She worked very hard for the past few weeks so she could do it and was rewarded by a very complimentary coach who took the time to talk to her a while about why he wanted her and etc. She had three games this week and they won 2 of the 3! Go Bobcats!

Gary has been working in Deshler a little this week. Imagine how happy we all were when they fianlly gave him his laptop! He will do about 10 more days of training and then begin managing his facility. It is a little intimidating for him but he seems to be enjoying the challenge.

Anyway, that is the current update. Hello to all and please drop us a line. We would love to stay in touch.

A day in the life.

Today I went to BGSU and got my books, student id, and met some very helpful people in adult learner services that want to help me unravel my transcript and actually get me to graduation in the next few years. I was so relieved to meet someone with a can do attititude rather than feeling so alone.





While I was there, all of the students were moving into the dorms. Man o man this place is a lot bigger than I thought. 7,000 students, parents, and siblings all descended on the campus beginning at 8 am. I had never had an experience like that. The university was very organized and it all flowed easily and I navigated it with ease. No long lines, etc. BGSU boasts 20,000 plus students which is funny because BG (Bowling Green) the town is only about 26,000. For more BGSU stats check out their web site at http://go2.bgsu.edu/choose/welcome/ you also can see a few pictures of the campus.





The main campus is quite old and very beautiful. The buildings are mostly made of large block brick or stone. There are beautiful vines and foilage growing up the sides of all the stuctures. It has a feeling of being the grounds of a castle or court; the many trees and landscaping offer shelter to squirrels, bunnies, red cardinals, and others. I truly feel like I am stepping back in time when I am there.





I will try to get pictures up as soon as I can.





Brandon went on his first band trip yesterday. He didn't get to march out on the field but he wore the uniform (white shoes, white shorts, and a red polo style shirt), played in the bleachers with the band during the game, and he (and 5 others) held the ladders for the directors during the half time performance. He did go out on the field to participate in the "band dance" which he has worked very hard to learn. It was exciting and scary to send him off to Toledo. I had to keep reminding myself that he was only 25 minutes away--just like driving to Vernal.





He had a ball and has made a lot of friends on the band. They even assigned him a secret sibling so he came home with his first care package from his secret sib. (more sugar than should ever be legal); and pixie stick in his hair!



We ended the night by going to a dutch oven cooking class at some people's house from church. It was really fun to socialize and be able to ask some intelligent questions about the community. People are very friendly and more have direct connections to the West and Utah than we had anticipated so most wanted to talk about where they are from and what brought them here. There are some, however, that are from the East or Midwest and I think they enjoyed us asking them so many questions.



Gary is learning all about the local college football scene and who roots for who; I outed him as a non-BYU fan and so all now have fodder for harrassing him. One guy even invited him to join his college football "smackdown" blog. Gary may whind up needing his own laptop during the fall season!

I'll figure this out eventually.

Because I had to change my e-mail address, I had to create a new google account. Someone out there could probably have educated my on how to avoid deleting my previous blog and starting a whole new one; but that is what I did.

Lexie had her first day of kindergarten today. She insisted that she could go in by herself but I could walk "5 or 8 feet behind" to make sure she made it ok. That is what I did. She did great. I spent the morning pondering the mix of emotions that come with each child starting kindergarten and most especially today with it being my last. I will miss her for the 2 and 1/2 hours she is gone every morning but I have a lot to keep me busy and look forward to the next phase of her childhood. I am already getting signed up and fingerprinted to be a classroom helper.

After school we immediately did "backpack time". Conneaut has a 'homework everyday' mission for the students. Kindergarten homework is minimal so I thought she would like to get it done while she was still in "school mode". The 6 little questions resulted in a mini-meltdown and made me realize that 2 and 1/2 hours of constantly stimulation resulted in major sensory overload. Once all of her clothes were off, all was well in her world.

She is currently relaxing on the floor with her "Joy", "Scotcha", tuna sandwich, lemonade, blankie, and a Sesame Street video. Thank goodness it's Friday!

Starting Over

Because I changed e-mail providers and I am pretty dumb when it comes to the internet, I had to start my blog over. Sorry. I hope this isn't too confusing for anyone.





Here is a picture from Alyssa's surprise 16th birthday party in Roosevelt.
















Here is a picture of me with Amy's (my best friend) grandma Edna. I got to stop in Grand Island Nebraska on the way to Ohio and meet Edna. It was a very emotional and fun thing for me to do.













Sorry for any blogging confusion. I think I have it all figured now!