The new year -- 2009

Wow! Hadn't realized that I hadn't posted in that long... ah well, life has a way of getting away from me!

What has happened since Thanksgiving? Let me think: Well, Tom and Jason took the belt promotion tests at Tae Kwon Do -- Tom is now High Green and Jason is Green. There was a lot of worry for awhile since Jason didn't have the stripes he needed to test but, bless Master Lewis, he went in the last Saturday before the test and Master Lewis, noticing the absence, asked about it. Jason explained that he hadn't had the oppurtunity to try for his stripes so right there, Master Lewis tested him on all of them. He approved the stripes, telling Jason only that he needed to 'get up higher with your back kick.' Jason was thrilled -- so was Xander. When he heard, he immediately sat down and made his big Bah Bah a congratulations card.

Hmmm... and what else? Well, Christmas, of course. And it snowed and it snowed and it snowed. Tom was sent off to Texas on the 19th (I think) and it had just started. Mom arrived on the 22nd -- and had trouble getting out of the airport (which had been closed due to weather and a severe lack of de-icer for the airplanes!) but thanks to Old John, was collected and taken home. Ice and snow everywhere for more than a week shut down a lot of things -- and then, after Mom left and Tom was home, the snow went away and it rained and rained and now there are flooding problems. On Thursday last, Tom found himself stuck in a two hour traffic jam as a result of flooding on Highway 169. The police shut it down and the traffic went via Petrovitsky. Problem is, Petrovitsky is a small road with lots of stop signs -- and the police never bothered to provide any traffic control! Sigh.

What else? Mind you, I am writing this is the dark of the morning. Everyone else is asleep though I shall have to wake Tom soon. (He is planning, poor man, to work this whole Sunday.) Haven't had coffee or a shower yet so my brain is not functioning at full capacity! (LOL)

Boy stories:

1) The other day, as we were rushing off to go on a field trip to the Enumclaw city hall, a small red and white dog appeared. No collar and looking rather nervous, it approached the car. It allowed me to pet it and pick it up but I could find no clue as to where its home might be. When I put it down again, it immediately headed for the car. Jason got out and talked with it and it answered him politely and shyly and... headed for the car again! I finally figured out that the person it was interested in was Xander! I didn't know what to do. We had to leave but I didn't want it to get hit by a car. I saw that our neighbor across the way had arrived home. They seem to know many of the folks in the area so I went over and asked him. He allowed as how, no, he hadn't seen the dog around but if we had to leave, he would be happy to see what he could do to help. Gratefully I left the dog with him. But still, I keep seeing that little red and white face looking hopefully at Xander... I think the Universe may be trying to tell us something here!

2)Jason has a crush. I noticed it Thursday at Tae Kwon Do. The kids came out for a water break, Jason right behind Micheala, the older sister of his friend, Cobin. With his chin tucked to his chest and a bit of a strut to his stride, he said (deepening his voice) 'HELLO Micheala' She looked at him and smiled 'Hello Jason' but as she started to say something else, he turned towards the wall and posed! (Grin). She gave him a puzzled, rather quizzical smile and got herself some water. When she returned to the Dojang, he followed on her heels, still in that posturing pose. Later, I asked him if he 'liked' her and he said 'yes.' Tom, who hadn't been there, said 'Well, of course he likes her. He likes lots of kids in his class.' Jason and I looked at each other and I said, 'Yeah, but I think maybe Micheala is special.' Jason agreed. A while later, Tom came to me, rather puzzled and said 'Isn't he a bit young?' I said 'No. This isn't what it will be when he is 15 but it is not that unusual to like someone older...' Grin.

3)Several evenings ago we were having a discussion with Jason about authority figures. Tom asked him, 'Who should you obey?' Jason said 'Well, Mommy. And Daddy...' And a small voice piped up 'And XANDER!' We all looked at him and he gave us the sweetest, most impish smile...

4)We are back to Dinosaurs again in our studies. We started with Darwin and Evolution -- mostly because the boys had been using the words re: Pokemon and I wanted to be sure that they understood what the word meant. (Please note, my youngest said to me, very firmly when I was fussing about this: 'Mommy! Pokemon is Make Believe! The same rules don't apply!') Jason was/is fascinated and we have been reading books and watching videos on the subject. We even had the oppurtunity to go see the Lucy exhibit at the Pacific Science Center. Well, I didn't see much of it, truthfully... the boys were eager to see 'the bones' and so skipped through much of the background. They did like 'the bones' though and Xander surprised one of the docents when, at the interactive skeleton, he proceeded to put all the bones in their right location! (grin, she should've seen what he did AFTER THAT!) Xander, though, while he likes the bones part, is not so interested. He likes FOSSILS! So we are doing Dinosaurs again.

People are starting to wake now so I will continue this later.