oh....just stuff

So, we have now experienced a school bus breakdown. Unfortunately, it had to happen in kindergarten! No accident, no problems, just a stopped engine. Nicholas was over an hour late to the bus stop (that sure put a hurtin’ on my planned nap for today!). But, finally they arrived and everyone was well. Actually, Nicholas was rather shaken up. He said he started crying because he thought he wasn’t going to get to see us again. (I’d be scared to). He said that he hung out with Mr. Eddie (the WONDERFUL bus driver!!!).

Good to see George and Danny for dinner tonight. Seems like everyone is doing quite well. I miss them and that portion of my life, but at the same time I am eager to complete THIS one and move onto the next!!!

Lots of school work to do. This weekend is homecoming and Mom is coming to visit! I am so excited. Feels like I haven’t seen her in months! I have not told the children yet as they will not stop asking about it until she gets here (which unfortunately will be late Friday evening!). We still have a pumpkin to carve, hopefully Momma El can help….and NOT burn the seeds!!! I look forward to the Aloha Appalachian Homecoming parade on Saturday (there’s nothing like a college homecoming parade). I remember going to Tigerrama as a child. Not sure how many times I went but I sure remember the silly guys in Cutzu!!!

The World Series is entertaining my husband in the evenings! Actually into the early mornings. Game 3 proved to be the longest (time) game in World Series history. [tied most innings record] Rob woke me up when he came o bed at 2:30 am!!!

One more day of good behavior for Nicholas at school and he will have a FULL week of GREEN cards!!! Then we'll go but him Cowboy boots!!!

Robin’s school portraits are back. They gave them to us on loan to see if we want to buy them. If not we have to return them…that’s weird eh? Anyway, I scanned them and thought I’d share with you!!!

Best week ever!

Just a quick report that last week Nicholas had his best week ever! He tried so hard and obviously accomplished what he intended. We are so proud of him!!! The Parent-Teacher conference went very well. He is excelling at all academic work but received U's (“Unsatisfactory” in the ‘80’s…or the 2005 term “still needs improvement”) for most "social" assessments ("allows others to work without disruption", "does not talk out of turn", ...). She was impressed that he can tie his shoes and seems to reason at a higher level than most. He loves to figure out things and problem solve. Which may have been a large contribution to finding Hayes to play with (one of the only boys in class who does not get in trouble). The teacher commented on his adoration of Hayes and mentioned how they are VERY different. “Hayes is so serious”. The social development will come I'm sure....when he's 25 or so! But in the meantime, we will continue to do our best and love him through all of it!

Didn’t see Robin much today. She just woke up when I left and when I got home at 7:45 I kissed her nite-nite while she snuggled with Daddy before bedtime.

Snow tomorrow! Check out Ray’s Weather among my favorite links.

Looking forward to watching Clemson University’s Habitat for Humanity Student chapter build the Habitat home on Bowman field starting this weekend!

I look forward to hearing from Florida family on the aftermath of Wilma. I hope that all is well. We we’re not home when Pat called Sunday evening. Maybe I’ll check in in the morning on my way to work out!

Off to bed! I can not handle another 12:30 bedtime this early in the week. More Thesis research tomorrow I guess!

more signs of life

Today was a relaxing AND eventful day! We went to a late church service so we slept in and took our time getting there. Then after church there was a catered BBQ lunch for new visitors. It was nice to meet the pastors of Alliance Bible Fellowship.

After a nice afternoon nap, we loaded up and went to CiCi’s for a pizza, pasta, and breadsticks fest! Still very stuffed!!! Walking form the car we found this!

A HUGE Praying Mantis (that's Rob's hand!)…the second for the week for me. I haven’t seen one in years and all of a sudden 2!!!

After dinner we picked out a pumpkin (or 2) to carve. There isn’t much more exciting event than sticking you hand in a pumpkin and messin’ with the slimy, gooey, stringy insides! The children LOVED it (of course)!

Tomorrow is back to the usual…work…school….school…work…family! So until then….enjoy our pumpkin carving with us!

To paint or not to paint...

The Appalachian On Line has reported a story about ASU’s Rugby team games being suspended because of graffiti problems (read about it for specifics). Interesting story following my children’s graffiti experience. See, I revisited Nicholas and Robin’s artwork in the tunnel and was saddened by some new paint. I can’t remember the exact wording but right beside Nicholas’ handprint was “Tell you kids that this s%#@ kills”. I’m not real sure what this means…but I know it wasn’t there BEFORE and it involves children and cuss words…why?

Also, if you look closely on the wall by Nicholas in one of the pictures posted before, I had to paint over some foul language so that my pictures of the children didn’t have bad words! Hmmm.

In regards to graffiti, the university offers this statement…

“Also, please be advised that various people utilize the tunnels to cross under Rivers Street. This includes students, faculty, visitors, children and numerous others. Please attempt to keep your comments and artwork appropriate for all users of the tunnels. Also, if you find materials particularly objectionable or what you consider a violation of university policy, you can contact Ms. Susie Greene, the Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Development and Dean of Students at 262-2060. While this will not necessarily result in a university response, it will help keep of informed when problems arise.”

Source: ASU CSIL

(The part about nothing being done about it is particularly encouraging.)

My opinion…out with graffiti. It was fun to let my children play…but I’d as soon stick to the “write only on paper” rule if will be less controversial.

On a lighter note. Rob and I are off to our first parent-teacher conference! I doubt that 20 minutes is long enough!!! I’ll definitely report on that…in the meantime, here’s one of the kaki boys taken this afternoon!

Nicholas and Daddy chillin’ on the couch on a early release school day…

...that boy!

While playing with Nicholas’ wonderful new Vegas sword and shield…Rob “got” Robin back! Well, this was not ok with her so she runs over to me and pitifully she exclaims, “Mommy, that boy hit me”. I can not begin to explain what this did to us. We laughed and laughed and laughed!!! For so long I have been “that girl” or “she…”. So for this little Daddy’s girl to say “that boy”…it was almost music to my ears!!!

Nicholas went to a 6 year old birthday party for a classmate on Sunday. Conveniently, Hayes’ dad is a ball-playin’ friend of Rob so dad went to that one and I stayed home with every intention of studying. Did not happen! I snuggled with Robin on the couch for about 2.5 hours while she slept. Sometime I just have to do that!

Nicholas reports a MUCH better day today at school. When I asked him what made the difference he said, “I only played with Hayes all day!” He consistently seems to stay out of trouble when he play with Hayes…so we support this friendship. (Hopefully Hayes will continue to influence Nicholas and not the other way around!).

Workin’ out what to do about a conference in November in St Louis. I’ve been invited to a closed planning meeting my the Executive Director, so I GOTTA GO!!! I think it’s come to a carpool with 2 fellow grad students who are presenting. Looks like about a 9 hour drive in his Suburban at $100 a tank! BUT with a 3-way split and 3 or 4 fill-ups…that’s a LOT cheaper than flying. Even if we choose the multi-city layover across 12 hours! I told the guys I'd bring my DVD player and they can watch movies or play video games while I drive!

Still not real motivated about school. Something has got to give!!!

Nicholas' Kindergarten photo...

Back from Vegas!

It is so nice to have Rob home from Vegas!

While he was gone the children and I were entertained by different aspects of campus. We went for a walk Sunday afternoon around the school and decided to paint the in one of the tunnels under River’s Street. They LOVED it. For the most part…all paint ended up on the wall…not them. I had a discussion about why it was ok to paint on these walls…who knows if it sunk in!

Then we went to feed the ducks and they (again, they were very happy to see us!!) We fed them saltines (and had a few “ourselves”).
Then we heard an announcer up at the stadium, so off we go to investigate. This time it was the Men’s soccer team. What a treat. The match had just started and we got in for free. The children sat for a while and had a snack then ran all over. It was nice to have the stadium (mostly) to ourselves. Nicholas was very impressed with how far the Goalie could kick the ball! At one point I looked over at Robin (who I’d been watching out of the corner of my eye…) and noticed she was chewing gum….I didn’t give her any gum! She spit out the nastiest black gum…..it’s ok to shiver at this point…I did!

Then it was off to the house to load up the van and surprise daddy at the rendezvous. A colleague was to bring him home, but we beat him there and played in the vacant parking lot while we waited. We made a big “Welcome Home” banner with side walk chalk and outlined the children’s bodies (to include Robin’s pigtails). Everyone was so happy to see everyone else! Daddy busted out the souvenirs right there in the parking lot! Later, Nicholas and Robin both enjoyed Nicholas’ swords and shield!

So, Fall break is over and I return to the “real world” tomorrow. (What is that exactly?)

busy, busy, busy...

Momma’s wooped!! After a very long week of work and school and Dad in Vegas…it’s been hectic. I had class Thursday evening and no Rob…so CJ came over. The children LOVE him and he’s great with them. Here’s some evidence…
A construction lesson from the Building Science major!!

A destruciton less form the 5 year old!
Saying goodbye to CJ!!

Thanks CJ! I owe you more than Chinese takeout!!!

So, right now, Nicholas is in the tent in the living room watching The Increadibles and Robin is finally asleep …for now. She has been up a lot these past few evenings. She complains of her teeth hurting and a tummy ache. I determined that it’s 2-year molars and gas! So, Hopefully she’s well taken care of with Tylenol, Oragel, and Mylacan drops!

This Monday and Tuesday is Fall break…should I have said “…are Fall break”??? I have to work on Monday to finish up some crazy projects. Richard Burr is coming and will be visiting our Appropriate Technology and Building Science programs. I am the designate “Poster Girl” in an effort to advertise the Zero Energy Home in Hickory, Affordable Passive Solar design, Building Science, and Fuel Cells. I’ll post some prints when they are finished Monday.

The TEC graduate program is on the web now. I did not design it….but made changes and updates to it. I am working on a new Building Science web site. I need some new pictures for the header and I’ll be good to go! It got put on the back burner this week with the Burr train coming to ASU! Also been busy at working planning for the NC Energy Star Conference.

I’ve been considering removing my Blog. I love this form of journaling. But I may have to do it with Word and remove this from the net. I try not to put extremely personal info on here…but where there’s a will there’s a way. In light of the recent tragedy in Virginia (is that right), I may consider. So incase you return and I am gone. It is for our safety and I know you will understand!

We’ve had rain since Thursday and still falling. Check out the local rainfall totals:

Ray's house 3.74"
Boone 3.26
Blowing Rock 4.49
Rutherwood 4.11
Valle Crucis 2.69
Aho 4.51
Banner Elk 3.5
Newland 3.96
Sugar Mtn 3.58
Linville 7.45
Jefferson 1.76
Phillips Gap 2.75
Sparta 2.81
Spruce Pine 2.8

I need to look at my course work. I have neglected my studies all week! I’m sure I will have a lot of catching’ up to do!!!

another day....

After telling Robin about an order of events. She repeated it all back to me. I said:
“That’s exactly what happened”. Her response…..”Skaklee what happen”.

Nicholas is having a lot of good days at school. Rob surprised him for lunch on Tuesday and he had been great 2 days in a row. The biggest problems are touching other children (rouch play, hanging on them, holding them…) and talking when he’s not supposed to (can’t imagine where he gets that from). So when Rob was visiting he spoke to the teacher assistant. He explained how they had gone fishing and Nicholas added “My daddy says I talk too much when we go fishing”. Ms Isaacs sarcastically replied with “Really? I can not imagine that!”. Seems they know him pretty well. Ms Blakely reports that he is very bright and really retains the information they learn. That’s good to hear because every day after school he can’t remember anything!! Guess I understand though. It’s 12:45 am and I’m not sure what I did today…but my shoulders are very tense!!!

Senator Burr will be at Appalachian on Tuesday. We’ll be showcasing the renewable energy projects and publications. I have been up all night and busy all day making posters and logos.

Robin is having a rough night. Yep…is. She just woke up again screaming. She has been up several times and earlier she was real uncomfortable, saying her tummy hurts. After a bowl of Cheerio’s and resins…she was off to bed once more. Right now she is in my be (which is where I want to be).

So I’m off. Another busy day tomorrow with the Energy Center, school ,family and whatever else crosses my path.

Time Flies...

Let me just show you why it is so hard for me to want to go to the library and study...

No matter how hard I try I can not bottle any of this. Photos, video, recordings, journal....they still grow up and they will one day leave home. I have to constantly remind myself to treasure each day, capitalize on each moment and welcome even the hard times. Because I know there will come a day when we are no longer their central family and I will long for these days, whining, crying, talking back and everything!

Speaking of them growing...here's A few of Nicholas...


Nicholas at Robin's age now...

The world is my Oyster!

Today I took the children for a walk to the duck pond. Boy were they glad to see us with our Cherrios! We soon hear the marching band and moved up to the stadium to investigate. Much to our pleasure the marching bad was practicing and we got to sit and watch. Nicholas ran all over the grassy hill dancing and marching. Robin sat very cautiously in her stroller nursing a very slimy, green Fruit Roll-up (which she offered to share with me).

This evening we went to the park and I played with Robin while the guys fished. Nicholas has fallen in love with fishing! It is VERY hard…ok impossible for him to remain quite while fishing, so it’s not usually a very productive outing. Today, however, Rob caught a small Trout.

Last Thursday I got an email from Greg! So nice to talk to him on the way home from class. Seems he doing VERY well! He just began rehearsals for The Woman in White, a new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical to start on Broadway mid September. He is in the Ensemble and is the understudy for one of the leads. Rob and I are planning a Christmas trip to NY to see him and Bridget. I’m not too interestedin the story line, but hear that 90% of the set is digital projection! Aside from seeing Dreg and Bridget (Happy 1 year Anniversary!!) I look forward to seeing the graphic design of the set!!!

Nicholas had a pretty good week at school. 2 yellows and 3 greens but the best part is that the greens were all in a row….Wednesday-Friday!

This weekend Rob goes to Las Vegas. Sure wish I could go with him!!! Especially since I’ll be home with the road to our house closed and the hot water off all weekend….pretty sure I’ll be traveling as well. Not sure where though? Columbia to Walhalla???

On a professional note: My Master’s Thesis is on accreditation of the Graphic Arts and imaging Program at ASU. I wil performa a self study using the 16 standards of the National Association of Industrial Technology. In an effort to get a little information about theses new standards (only in Beta-testing phase at this time), my Department Chair called the Executive Director of the NAIT so I could ask some questions. Through this conversation (I guess he was rather impressed because) he invited me to join him in a closed session team meeting at the upcoming national conference in November. Apparently the team who generated the new Outcomes based standards model will be having a meeting and I input must be of value!?!?!? Rather exciting.

Also, went to the Career fair this past week and had a blast! I took a “world is my oyster” approach to the whole thing and left there with LOTS of leads and career ideas. Since then I have made several contacts to ad agencies and print shops and downloaded my resume to Duke Power! Long story but simply put, I sold myself to them…actually to their corporate offices! I am of value in the marketing industry because I understand the print industry.