I love you, too

I spent Tuesday night digging through my dance bag. As many of you know, I'm not just a mom and scrapbooker, I'm a ballet instructor, too. The bag that I drag back and forth to dance class collects many things, including: sweatshirts, CDs, snacks, water bottles, class notes and hair ties. (It's a big bag...)

I also throw in little notes that I get from my students. Anyone who is a teacher, especially for little kids, knows about the love notes you get. Sometimes I'll get a picture that tells a whole story, sometimes a picture that I must interpret. They're all precious because I know that they gave them to me because they love ballet and that makes them think of me.

A couple months ago, I got one from a little girl who is in my 4-year old class. I have taught her two older sisters throughout the years and they are all sweet girls. This one just loved dancing and I enjoy seeing her every week, the kind-of girl with the round face and the constant smile. Her mom purposefully told me a couple months ago that she didn't like dance last year, but likes it this year because I'm her teacher. Ahhhh, melts your heart.

Then Tuesday I found out about this and realized how quickly your life can change. She has, thank God, been upgraded from critical to serious and we're all hoping she can come home next week.

I also found what I was looking for in my dance bag, the love note from Chanelle. It hangs on my refrigerator now as a constant reminder to pray for this little girl... and to hug my own kids.

Snow Day!

Snow is a big deal here in the Willamette/Tualatin Valley... It's something that we maybe see once a year, unless we travel the hour+ up to the mountain. Days off from school are rare - but inevitable if there's any accumulation - as no one here is ever prepared for snow.

Unfortunately, our school district called off school AFTER I had woken up the kids, so no sleeping in today. But the girls don't seem to care, any chance to stay home, play outside until their fingers are numb, then spend the rest of the day in their long underwear drinking hot chocolate, watching TV and playing.

... and (finally) AFTER

For those of you who have been anxiously awaiting me cleaning my scrapbooking "space", (please tell me you haven't) I finally did it today. As you recall, I posted an entry on my blog about what it looked like before. I spent today sorting pictures and memorabilia, moving or throwing away things on my desk that shouldn't have been there (example: a dead balloon and ceramic pig) and organizing my paper.

I will repeat that last part in case you just glossed over it... I organized my paper.

For those of you that are true scrapbooking geeks like me, you know what an enormous endeavor that was. But, a necessary evil. With as much paper as I collect, it gets out of control quickly. (If you're interested, I decided to keep whole sheets together and my scraps in a completely different location. This, unfortunately, may prevent me from using the scraps, we'll see how it works out)

I still have a lot more to do. As mentioned in the previous entry on this subject, I still have things in my daughter's room that need to placed in the organization system within my work space. But one of my goals this year is to clean out one room of my house a month. When I get to her room, I'll work on that.

Kitty Love

Today we celebrate Epiphany, which if you're not Episcopalian or another denomination close to it, might not mean much to you. It's the "13th day of Christmas", or the day the wisemen came to visit baby Jesus and give him gifts. It's also the day, for me, that I can no longer justify having the Christmas decorations up. Until that time, I can say "It's still the Christmas season! The wisemen haven't shown up yet!" Not anymore.

So today everything will come down, I can no longer procrastinate. The one who will be as disappointed as me, will be our house guest, Fiona.

Fiona is a cat, who officially belongs to my husband's parents. She's a beautiful, loving cat, who turns 3 this month. My in-laws, however, had had enough of Fiona torturing Figaro, their older cat, who they've had longer. Last fall, Figaro was at the vet for a few days and when he came home, Fiona decided she ruled the roost and started cornering Figaro and not letting him eat or use the litter box.

As my daughters LOVE Fiona (she's the one who let's them pick her up and play with her) my in-laws asked if we wanted her. Well, of course we would, but the reason we've never had a cat before is that my family (mother, sister, nephews) are allergic. But we said we'd take Fiona for a while and see how it goes.

We've had her about 3 weeks and so far so good, my nephews have spent the day here and been fine. And Fiona has been a good girl... BUT, (tying this back to Christmas decorations) her favorite resting/hiding spot has been the Christmas tree. She climbs up almost to the top and just lays on the branches (because of MY allergies, it's a fake tree) Once in a while she chews on a branch or bats an ornament. It will be interesting to see where she goes tomorrow...



If you have trouble finding her in this picture... look on the left side of the tree above the lamp.