YEP! I donated my hair to Locks of Love again :-) I went to Marie's Beauty Salon because the haircut and style is free when I donate (I always leave a tip, though, so they don't feel ripped off). Lindsey did a GREAT job in my opinion. Plus she kept telling me how great my hair is, thick, healthy, beautiful. Of course I love to get compliments and it's been three years since I've had my hair shampooed and cut (shampooed by a professional -- I have shampooed my hair in the past three years!), so I completely enjoyed myself this afternoon!!!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
donated :-)
YEP! I donated my hair to Locks of Love again :-) I went to Marie's Beauty Salon because the haircut and style is free when I donate (I always leave a tip, though, so they don't feel ripped off). Lindsey did a GREAT job in my opinion. Plus she kept telling me how great my hair is, thick, healthy, beautiful. Of course I love to get compliments and it's been three years since I've had my hair shampooed and cut (shampooed by a professional -- I have shampooed my hair in the past three years!), so I completely enjoyed myself this afternoon!!!
early & late
Seth woke up at 5 a.m. because his diaper leaked. Jason changed his diaper and jammies and put him on my pillow while I was in the shower. Seth fell asleep again and didn't wake up even with all the noise of everyone else being awake.
Monday, August 22, 2011
first day of school
It's back to school time -- YAY!!! Joel was so excited that he got in the truck without even telling me good-bye :-( I'm glad he likes school, but MAN! He's supposed to at least remember me! He got a mini-lecture -- never leave the house without telling me good-bye and hugging me!!! He went to school with Jason since he's now on the secondary side of the building -- the big junior higher (with the big head full of ideas that he knows everything, certainly more than his mother does). Yep, he was late to his second class because he thought he knew more than dumb ole Mom. I know, it's normal. I can just see my mom's HUGE smile as I receive now what I gave years ago :-)
Makenzie and Luke rode with me, which of course meant that they were almost late. We did make it to the gym before their teachers took the classes up to their classrooms. Makenzie was so excited and nervous about getting back to school that she woke up before 6 a.m.! Luke had no such excitement/nervousness. I had to wake him up a little after 7 and rush him along all morning. He was glad to see his friends, though. And -- miracle!! -- he didn't get in trouble at all today, not even a warning!!
Seth REFUSED to admit that he was going to school. He kept saying, "No school! June!! June, Seth, Mom!!" June is his speech therapist whom he ADORES!!! I reminded him that he loves Gayle, his occupational therapist, as well, so then he added her to the list of people he was willing to spend time with. So when we pulled into his school's parking lot, he was pretty mad at me. He got over the anger, though, when I let him take Mickey Mouse with him :-)
That backpack weighed almost as much as he did!
He wore his glasses pretty much the whole day. His aide is GREAT about getting him to do what he needs to do! Oops -- his name tag was turned the wrong way. The other side had a little picture and his name on it.
For the first time EVER, Seth told us about his day. When Jason asked him how his day went, he answered, "Short, Crystal, Heidi." His teacher's name is Mrs. Short -- we'll work on the respectful titles later when he can talk better. For now, she doesn't mind that he just calls her "Short." She was glad that he remembered any part of her name. We had to have him repeat "Crystal" and "Heidi" (his aide and his special ed. teacher) because his pronunciation didn't sound much at all like their names, but he was definitely trying to say them. AND when Jason asked him if he had fun, Seth said YES. AND when Jason asked him if he wanted to go back to school tomorrow, he said YES!!! FIRST TIME EVER on that one, too!!!
So what in the world did I do with all those free hours while the kids were in school? I ran to Fred Meyer before taking Seth to school, and then I worked for about three hours. And THEN, I went to lunch with some friends from the Down syndrome group!!! I had FUN, ate at a restaurant without having to discipline anyone, and talked to GROWN-UPS!!
WHOO-HOO for school :-)
Makenzie and Luke rode with me, which of course meant that they were almost late. We did make it to the gym before their teachers took the classes up to their classrooms. Makenzie was so excited and nervous about getting back to school that she woke up before 6 a.m.! Luke had no such excitement/nervousness. I had to wake him up a little after 7 and rush him along all morning. He was glad to see his friends, though. And -- miracle!! -- he didn't get in trouble at all today, not even a warning!!
Seth REFUSED to admit that he was going to school. He kept saying, "No school! June!! June, Seth, Mom!!" June is his speech therapist whom he ADORES!!! I reminded him that he loves Gayle, his occupational therapist, as well, so then he added her to the list of people he was willing to spend time with. So when we pulled into his school's parking lot, he was pretty mad at me. He got over the anger, though, when I let him take Mickey Mouse with him :-)
That backpack weighed almost as much as he did!
He wore his glasses pretty much the whole day. His aide is GREAT about getting him to do what he needs to do! Oops -- his name tag was turned the wrong way. The other side had a little picture and his name on it.
For the first time EVER, Seth told us about his day. When Jason asked him how his day went, he answered, "Short, Crystal, Heidi." His teacher's name is Mrs. Short -- we'll work on the respectful titles later when he can talk better. For now, she doesn't mind that he just calls her "Short." She was glad that he remembered any part of her name. We had to have him repeat "Crystal" and "Heidi" (his aide and his special ed. teacher) because his pronunciation didn't sound much at all like their names, but he was definitely trying to say them. AND when Jason asked him if he had fun, Seth said YES. AND when Jason asked him if he wanted to go back to school tomorrow, he said YES!!! FIRST TIME EVER on that one, too!!!
So what in the world did I do with all those free hours while the kids were in school? I ran to Fred Meyer before taking Seth to school, and then I worked for about three hours. And THEN, I went to lunch with some friends from the Down syndrome group!!! I had FUN, ate at a restaurant without having to discipline anyone, and talked to GROWN-UPS!!
WHOO-HOO for school :-)
Sunday, August 21, 2011
matching
I braided my hair like I braid Makenzie's, but this picture doesn't really show that.
Then I put our hair up with our beautiful butterfly clips.
I have a funny story about Makenzie from Costco shopping today. I had forgotten my list in the van, so I asked her if she remembered what we needed to get. She very smoothly listed off diapers, wipes, milk, goldfish crackers, and plums. The funny thing about that is that plums are NEVER on my shopping list (because fresh fruit in Alaska is EXPENSIVE), and she knows that!! She was trying to be sneaky :-) I was laughing out loud most of the way down the Costco aisle!
Then I put our hair up with our beautiful butterfly clips.
I have a funny story about Makenzie from Costco shopping today. I had forgotten my list in the van, so I asked her if she remembered what we needed to get. She very smoothly listed off diapers, wipes, milk, goldfish crackers, and plums. The funny thing about that is that plums are NEVER on my shopping list (because fresh fruit in Alaska is EXPENSIVE), and she knows that!! She was trying to be sneaky :-) I was laughing out loud most of the way down the Costco aisle!
Saturday, August 13, 2011
quite a day!
This has been QUITE a day!! Makenzie and I went back to the Saturday Market and found lots of great stuff! A Christian mom with a special needs child makes these beautiful fused glass creations:
Makenzie spotted a jeweled butterfly in one of the booths. We stopped in to look, and the lady explained that it was a hair clip and offered to show me how it worked. She put my hair up with this clip, but I couldn't do it. Then she suggested I try putting it in a bun. That one I could do, so we bought them for Makenzie . . .
Later in the day, Jason, Luke, Seth, and I went back downtown so that I could get one for me, too.
I have A LOT of hair, so I was really surprised that those things could hold my hair up tightly.
We found THE BEST jewelry booth today!!! They had so many beautiful things, and they were each just $5! And if we bought five things, we got a sixth one for free!
And I found these tiny little opal earrings for half off:
Makenzie and I had FUN walking around together buying beautiful things! When our time was up, we went back to the van which had a green envelope tucked under the windshield wiper :-( I didn't read the parking coupon that had in big bold type at the top "PLACE FACE UP ON DASHBOARD OF YOUR VEHICLE," so I got a ticket!! I called the number and got a recorded message about faxing a copy of the ticket and my parking coupon. Maybe I won't have to pay the ticket. THEN we got into the van and realized that I had left my lights on for the entire two hours we were in the market :-( I've done this so many times, it's embarrassing!!! Thank goodness a nice couple parked next to us were just getting ready to go in, but waited long enough to give the van a jump start (haha -- ironic -- I got coffee at Jump Start before we went downtown this morning). I'm going to make a big sign to put on the driver door to remind me to shut my lights off when I get out of the van!!
When we got home we saw that Jason, Luke, Seth, and our little neighbors had been busy because the tree that used to be in our driveway . . .
. . . was gone:
YAY!!!!! That tree attracted moose in the winter who often decided that our front yard was a good place to sleep since there were crabapples to snack on whenever they got hungry. It attracted birds in the spring who would poop everywhere and hop around in the branches and drop crabapples on the van or on us if we were dumb enough to walk near the tree. It dropped crabapples all over my driveway and yard for us to step on and drive over and track all over the place even without the birds' help, not to mention the million leaves someone had to rake each year. I'm more than glad that it's gone!
We ended the day with game night. Jason won the game of Sorry, Luke and I each one a game of Racko, and then Luke became the grand champion of the evening by winning Monopoly Deal.
It's been quite a day :-)
Makenzie spotted a jeweled butterfly in one of the booths. We stopped in to look, and the lady explained that it was a hair clip and offered to show me how it worked. She put my hair up with this clip, but I couldn't do it. Then she suggested I try putting it in a bun. That one I could do, so we bought them for Makenzie . . .
Later in the day, Jason, Luke, Seth, and I went back downtown so that I could get one for me, too.
I have A LOT of hair, so I was really surprised that those things could hold my hair up tightly.
We found THE BEST jewelry booth today!!! They had so many beautiful things, and they were each just $5! And if we bought five things, we got a sixth one for free!
And I found these tiny little opal earrings for half off:
Makenzie and I had FUN walking around together buying beautiful things! When our time was up, we went back to the van which had a green envelope tucked under the windshield wiper :-( I didn't read the parking coupon that had in big bold type at the top "PLACE FACE UP ON DASHBOARD OF YOUR VEHICLE," so I got a ticket!! I called the number and got a recorded message about faxing a copy of the ticket and my parking coupon. Maybe I won't have to pay the ticket. THEN we got into the van and realized that I had left my lights on for the entire two hours we were in the market :-( I've done this so many times, it's embarrassing!!! Thank goodness a nice couple parked next to us were just getting ready to go in, but waited long enough to give the van a jump start (haha -- ironic -- I got coffee at Jump Start before we went downtown this morning). I'm going to make a big sign to put on the driver door to remind me to shut my lights off when I get out of the van!!
When we got home we saw that Jason, Luke, Seth, and our little neighbors had been busy because the tree that used to be in our driveway . . .
. . . was gone:
YAY!!!!! That tree attracted moose in the winter who often decided that our front yard was a good place to sleep since there were crabapples to snack on whenever they got hungry. It attracted birds in the spring who would poop everywhere and hop around in the branches and drop crabapples on the van or on us if we were dumb enough to walk near the tree. It dropped crabapples all over my driveway and yard for us to step on and drive over and track all over the place even without the birds' help, not to mention the million leaves someone had to rake each year. I'm more than glad that it's gone!
We ended the day with game night. Jason won the game of Sorry, Luke and I each one a game of Racko, and then Luke became the grand champion of the evening by winning Monopoly Deal.
It's been quite a day :-)
Thursday, August 11, 2011
wish i'd had a camera!
Yesterday the kids and I went to my sister-in-law's house to watch her kids while she went to work. They have a giant back yard, so the kids all went out there to play -- until they saw some piles of dog mess. I figured that Joel's surely old enough to clean up dog mess, so I gave him the job -- and learned a HUGE lesson! My kids are not used to having to work. How did I miss this important part of parenting? They seem to think that life is all about them having fun and being entertained. They'll do a little work now and then for a reward, if the reward's big enough and if the work doesn't interfere with their fun AND if the work isn't in any way unpleasant. That looks like the road to "brat-ville" to me. Joel first of all threw a little fit about having to work while everyone else played. Then he threw a bigger fit because scooping poop is gross. Then he started gagging and even went to the bathroom to throw up (was he thinking I'd feel sorry for him and let him stop? apparently he doesn't know me very well -- i have NO pity for melodrama!) He finally got the job done pretty well, but all of this opened my eyes. My children need to learn that God didn't put us in this world to sit on a couch watching movies. I'm going to be looking for opportunities for us to volunteer somewhere somehow. I'm starting the example in a small way tonight by becoming a volunteer in the local Down syndrome group. If we all learn that serving other people is more important than entertaining ourselves, maybe we'll have less yelling, fighting, and selfishness.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
neighbor black bear
Joel took this picture last night when he was out selling coupon cards for school! And you can CLICK HERE to see a two-second video of the bear in the tree :-) And then this morning on my way home from work, I saw the bear running down the street!! Moose are one thing to see in the neighborhood, but a bear is something else :-(
Friday, August 5, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Sunday reading room
Makenzie and I went to the library to sit in the reading room to read Sunday afternoon. It was completely silent in there, even though there were three other people in there. SILENT!
We also picked up my prize for the summer reading program. I won an Alaska atlas. I'm going to refrain from commenting on that except to be glad I won anything for my efforts of recording my reading over the summer.
This morning was an incredible Bible morning!! First I read from Matthew 5 about being a light. "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven." In the middle of all the popular "churches are so legalistic -- what about grace? i'm free to do whatever i think is ok" mentality these days, it's always good to remember that God's Word is the real standard, not my own opinions. And then Charles Stanley gave an excellent sermon about the Holy Spirit, ending with a HUGELY important point: Galatians 5 says that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are all fruits of THE SPIRIT, not fruits of a Christian. I had to think about the difference there. A Christian doesn't necessarily have those traits. The Holy Spirit absolutely, unquestionably DOES. Only someone who lives in the constant presence of God's Holy Spirit will have these traits because they are really not traits of any human being. They're the fruit of THE SPIRIT!!
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The Hofacker Family 2008