The ACUTAL after pictures

This is a little late coming, but I finally have the actual after pictures to show! Just a reminder-- This is the before picture:


And this is the after! Ahh. It's so nice to see it finished. Nothing waiting to be done. Jason Merryweather did the siding, and I gotta say, He is the man! He's a perfectionist, and it really showed on everything he did. There was a lot of weird stuff going on that made it more difficult, and he didn't cut corners at all. (Okay, technically he did "cut corners," but that's only because he put siding on the corners, and it had to be cut. :))


In fact, he suggested the opposite. Our original siding was put up almost fourteen years ago. As you can guess, they don't make that exact shade anymore. Or that exact texture. So, there was a good chance it would look a little (or a lot) not right. Jason suggested we take all the siding from this side of the house...


And use it on the front, back, and other side of the house, so we could put all the new stuff together on one side. As you can see, it worked beautifully! Like it's been that way all along.


If you are local, and ever need anything done (from replacing a bathroom floor, to cooking a gourmet meal (both of which I can attest to)), see if Jason has the time to do it for you. I can pretty much guarantee you'll find the results fabulous!

The Chicken or the Egg?

Remember how I said that parkour inspires me? It got me wondering which came first... the chicken or the egg.

Does my love for parkour make me love watching Alecia do it?
Or does my love for Alecia make me love watching parkour?

Either way, Alecia + Park = Happiness

Reality?

Kyle is in 8th grade, which meant he got to do the NUMBER ONE thing eight graders get to do.

Reality Town!

They gave each kid an occupation with a monthly salary, based on the kid's interests and grades, assuming that they are 30 years old. Some get a spouse and possibly kid(s). They took their monthly salary and had to go around to each station, where they wrote out real-looking checks to buy things like insurance, housing, a car, utilities, daycare, groceries, clothing, and even things like pets and vacations.

I think it's a fabulous way to show that a) effort in school affects what kind of a job you get, and b) that things cost a lot. I've even heard reports of kids being extra grateful toward their parents after going through this experience.

Kyle was born wanting to be a husband and father. He lucked out and got to be both! His daughter, Jenna, was two and apparently, she was adorable.

He also lucked out on occupation. He signed up to be a dentist because he saw how much money they made. With his grades, he actually got to be a dentist.

He had loads of money, a wife, and a kid.

Needless to say, he was thrilled. For a small moment, he even contemplated failing eighth grade just so he could do it again.

With everything working out as peachy as possible, I'm not sure he really learned how tough "reality" can be. But it looks like it may have made him appreciate me! "Check" out what he gave me when he got home from school:

Looks like being the mother of a dentist is already paying off.

Third time's a charm

This was Alecia's third year playing flag football.

The first two years rocked. She didn't care that she was the only girl in the league. She just liked playing football and wasn't going to let a little thing like that stop her.

This year, though, was different. Something was wrong.

Mostly because of way too much "Girls aren't as good as boys" talk going on at the soccer field by the plethora of boys that play during recess with Alecia. She lost her confidence. She wasn't sure she had what it took to compete with them anymore. It was a sad day.


And then, through a blessed series of events (involving the football field, the soccer field at school, and a fourth-grade boy to whom I would like to give a big, fat kiss), she got her mojo back. She realized she had what it took to compete all along. It was a happy day.


Honestly, I don't know how many games they won. They don't keep track, and neither did we. Half, maybe? I just know that she won. And that she had a great time with her teammates, especially Dallin and Mason from her school class. And that she REALLY loved being the center. Or kicker. Or running back.




And sometimes, after her game when we are in the middle of watching Cory's game, she'll go off and do something crazy like climb eighteen feet up a chain link fence to grab a kid's shoe that got stuck in the netting, with nothing to catch her but cement.


'Cause that's what you're supposed to do when you get your mojo back, right?

We Are The Champions

Lance coached Cory's flag football team this year.

I've always know that Lance is a fabulous teacher. Every time I've witnessed him teach, I am impressed. I gotta say, though, he makes an even more incredibly amazing coach. Awe-inspiring, really.

He told the kids at the beginning of the season, "Some coaches tell the kids, 'We are just going to go out there and have fun.' But what's fun?" And they all answered, "Winning!" So he told them, "We are going to work hard and win."

They didn't win all their games.
But they worked hard.
And they played hard.
And they won a lot.

On nights when they had football practice, I would go into Cory's room at bed time. He'd lay down and complain that his muscles hurt. Then he'd pause a moment and say, "I'm really glad dad is our coach."

I am, too. I love when my kids have rockin' coaches.

This picture was taken on the day of the championships, at the beginning of the semi-finals.


Yep--- most of these kids are wearing SHORTS. And a lot of them, just T-shirts.


And then it started to rain. But, at the end of the game, THEY HAD WON!!!


They were thrilled. And a little drenched.


Okay, maybe a LOT drenched. They had rain dripping off their hair, ears, noses... It looked like they were all in the middle of a freezing cold shower.



Then they went straight into the championship game. That's when the rain really came down. And the wind blew. I was subbing the one extra player in and out, so I got out our biggest umbrella and stuck it in the ground. Whenever a kid came out, I wrapped a blanket around them, gave them a towel to dry their face and hair. They tried to get as warm as possible for four plays before running back out to knock them dead again. Every one of them likes to play every single play. But I sure saw a lot of HUGE looks of relief on faces when they knew it was their turn to come under the umbrella!




And in the end, all their hard work paid off.


They won!

The Most Exciting Part

Guess what?!

I finally got to The End in the book I've been writing!*

It takes me F-O-R-E-V-E-R to write a first draft. Eleven months for this one. And I really, really, really love this book.

(This isn't me, but you can pretend it is, since it's so clever!)

I'm ecstatic and relieved that I'm to this point, because it takes me to the most exciting part--- Editing and Revising!

That wasn't written with any sarcasm. It really is the best part. It's when I get to take this thing that is finally real and whole and tangible, and then make it into something even better. Editing is like a drug. It feeds a small but constant stream of pure thrill through your veins that you just can't seem to get enough of.

I've written out a plan for the next four months and taped it to my desk. The plan says this month I am editing like a crazy obsessed person, starting today. This, obviously, is not how I write, so I'm going to have to bind and gag the part of me that constantly whispers about all the other things I should be doing, and toss her in the corner.

Because the master plan says I hand it all over to Beta Readers in a month.

If you're ever curious as to how it is going, I've got the progress bars over there on the left if for no other reason than so I can see my progress. I've also got to get the word count close to 50,000, so I'll list how it goes with each revision. My critique group has seen all but the last two chapters, so everything has been through Revision 2. I can handle tough critiques like nobody's business, but it's not like I'm going to give it to them without revising it all I can first! Part of the book has already gone through Revision 3 as well, taking my critique groups suggestions into consideration. How many revisions will it take? I dunno. Five? Six? Ten, maybe?

I guess I'll know in thirty days.


*The book is called Through the Bomb's Breath, and it's about a twelve-year-old girl whose town lives in one of the giant craters left behind by the "green" bombs of WWIII that wiped out virtually all the earth's population. A group of bandits attack the town, taking it hostage, and the girl has to escape with a couple of her friends to save the town.