an expensive reminder

You know those crazy stressful unplanned emergencies that about put you over the edge when they are happening?  Then when it's all over, you realize at least you have a good story and memory to write on your blog!

Monday afternoon I drove to pick up the kids from school as always.  I had a few extra minutes and needed gas so I stopped to fill up.  When I got back in the car, I turned the key and nothing happened!  The car would NOT start.  That has got to be one of the worst feelings in the world. We just replaced the battery two months ago, so I knew it wasn't that (plus lights were on the dashboard).  I grabbed the manual out of the glove compartment and started looking for which lights were on and what they meant. 

I started to panic, knowing my kids would be getting out of school any minute.  I knew they wouldn't be stranded - plenty of people at the school know me and my kids (one of the few perks of being on the PTO Board) and someone would take them to the front office.  But I don't have an emergency pick-up person that would already be there that I could call that I knew my kids would be okay with.

I said a quick prayer, begging Heavenly Father to please help start the car.  As I opened my eyes from the prayer, I tried to start the car again.  Nothing happened.  More panic ensued and for a brief moment I have to admit my faith wavered a bit.  Then I looked up and saw a woman from school coming out of the convenience store.  She & I have waited for our kids by the same tree for over a year.  We chat but honestly I don't even know her name.  I knew in that instant the Lord, as always, answers our prayers, but sometimes not in the way we want. She offered me a ride to school and we talked on the way.  She said she was not planning to stop for a soda, but was running a few minutes early and thought that maybe she should.  I'm so thankful she listened to that prompting!

I got the kids and wondered what I was going to do next.  Kevin was not answering his phone (he was in a meeting, and he works 1/2 hour away).  I called my friend Carolyn who lives right near the school, explained the situation, and asked if we could come to her house until I got things figured out.  She even fed my kids a snack. My friends never cease to amaze me with their kindness.

And of course it was piano lesson day, so I needed to call three other people (the two friends we drive, plus the piano teacher).  Kevin finally called me back and left work immediately.  He picked us up at my friend's house and drove us to the gas station, where the car still wouldn't start.  Kevin pushed the van into a parking place so it wouldn't be occupying a pump space (they weren't very happy that I left it there for over an hour). I drove the kids home in Kevin's car while he waited an hour for a tow truck.  We later found out it needed a new starter.

That night when things calmed down, I was literally brought to tears and thanked the Lord for His tender mercies.  It was an expensive reminder to me that the Lord never leaves us alone, He always answers our prayers but not always in the way we think they should be answered, and to never ignore a prompting. 

spelling bee

Brandon won his class spelling bee, so he got to participate in the school spelling bee which consisted of winners from each of the 4th, 5th and 6th grade classes (12 kids total).  He only had one week and 13 pages of words to review.  And it was Thanksgiving week.  And he had his president report to work on.  Needless to say, there was not a lot of studying that happened!  I was trying to be realistic and warned him that he might not win, especially since spelling is not really his strength (he is fantastic at math and won the subtraction fact competition last year in 4th grade against 5th and 6th graders!).

The practice round went well - they were easy words like TABLE and CHAIR to get the kids comfortable.  The real words they used weren't that hard (in my opinion, compared to some of the crazy words on the list).   Brandon's first round went well, his word was CONDONE and he nailed it!

As soon as they said his second round word: CURIOSITY, I knew it was over for him.  He has misspelled that word several times on tests (he leaves in the U, like the word CURIOUS).  I could tell he was mad at himself, and my heart broke when he sat like this for the rest of the round until the kids who has missed words that round were excused.

He ended up coming in 8th and he wasn't too disappointed by afternoon when I picked him up. I reminded him that 8th best speller out of 800+ students at his school is pretty impressive! We are so proud of you Brandon!

thanksgiving 2012

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year.  We invited ourselves over to Kevin's Aunt Rebecca's house.  She loves to host a party and we're more than happy to oblige!  Her food is always delicious and it was great to see her family as well as another uncle and cousin (Dave & Ethan) who came from California.  There were 11 of us altogether.

Park family tradition stipulates one pie per person, but we somehow suffered through with only 6 pies (2 pumpkin, 1 chocolate silk, 1 lemon meringue, 1 oreo, and 1 cheesecake)!

Do you like Natalie's new boyfriend?  Otherwise known as Rebecca's cute home decor!

It was especially wonderful to see Rebecca's 17 year old son Dylan. Back in January, he suffered an AVM (arteriovenous malformation in the brain that ruptured and bled).  After 42 days in the hospital and 10 months of rehab therapy (which still continues), he is doing great!  His recovery is nothing short of a miracle, and gave extra meaning to our gratitude and thankfulness this year.

5th grade field trip

Not that I needed more volunteer hours this year, but Brandon's class was desperate for chaperones for their field trip this week so I went.  I was a bit confused when they said they were going to a farm, but then I learned it was a special American Heritage Festival event AT the farm that I had never heard of before.  The good news is that it was interesting and informative.  The bad news is that it was the only school field trip day for the event and there were literally thousands of kids running around.  It was very chaotic and disorganized. 

Here's what it states on the website  http://www.americanheritagefestival.com/ which describes it well:
The American Heritage Festival is a grand scale, highly interactive educational presentation of diverse civilian and military aspects of historic American life from Colonial Days through modern times as portrayed by a large and experienced cast of historical interpreters assembled from around the country. We are the largest and most diverse educational living history event in the Western United States, with something of interest to everyone. We also feature Arizona's original and largest display and battle reenactment of the American Revolution. 

Included are reenactments, dramatic portrayals of famous men and women, musicians, artisans, craftsmen, singers, colonists, pioneers, mountain men, soldiers and more ranging from Colonial times, the American Revolution and Founding Fathers through Frontier and Pioneer days, the Civil War, the Old West and on into the 20th century, the World Wars and the Vietnam era. An 18th century style church service in the fields based on the "Great Awakening", speeches by famous Americans of the past, live historic music, an historic fashion show and of course battle reenactments are just a few of the many special features. Historic men, women and children are portrayed in diverse roles with something of interest to all. 

I was in charge of a group of six boys.  They were well-behaved, but each had very strong opinions about what they wanted to see and do, which was challenging.

The battle reenactments were the best part.  Guns and shooting and cannons made for a great field trip for these boys!

donuts with dad

The kindergarteners get to do "Donuts with Dad" in November (and "Muffins with Mom" in May).  They have breakfast together, share the things they made, and sing a few songs. 

My favorite part is the stuff they write:

What is your dad's name?  Kevin
What do you call him? Dad
How old is he? 38
How tall is he? 225 ft
How much does he weigh? 20 Pbs
What color is his hair? brown
What's his favorite drink and snack?  Dr. Pepper cookies (apparently their 5th grade buddies that were helping them didn't know how to spell Mountain Dew so Natalie changed it to Dr. Pepper)
What does he cook? Daddy noodles (this is what my kids have called Pasta Roni for many years)
What is his favorite TV show? Football
What's his favorite thing to do with you? Play
What does he like to do for fun? go to football games
What does he do during the day? work
What's the one thing he says to you most often? I love you

If I was a dad, I would...
I would love my kids.  I would woch (watch) football and drek (drink) rootber.

And of course the cute songs!

fall festival

These past few weeks are what I've been dreading since I signed up to the PTO Vice-President.  The Fall Festival is our largest fundraiser of the year and requires many, many, many volunteers and hundreds of hours of work.  We did not get as many volunteers as we needed, so there were about eight of us doing the majority of the work.  Thankfully I work with amazing people who are fun and have become my good friends.  I feel like most of the time I am running just to keep up with their talent and dedication.

Weather is always our biggest fear.  Last year was rain, wind, and a dust storm, and this year there was rain in the forecast.  We all prayed and mercifully the weather held during the day for set up as well as during the festival itself.  You can see the dark clouds threatening in all the photos.

 

We had about 25 game booths, catered BBQ dinner, concessions stand, 5 bouncers, a rock climbing wall, 10 vendor booths, 52 raffle prizes, and 9 silent auction items.  I spent most of my time inside running the raffle and auction because we never got a volunteer to coordinate it.  Of course that's the one thing I DIDN'T get a picture of!

Only a few incidents that I know about. Karl, our PTO president, almost had to break his car window to get the raffle and auction prizes out because he lost his keys.  Thankfully he found his keys before he found a hammer!

Also a 4th grader fell off the monkey bars, breaking his arm and elbow in three places, so we had a 911 call and a paramedic visit.  But other than that, everything went pretty well!

A huge thank you to my niece Brooke (shown above) who came and helped with the face painting booth for four hours!

My pedometer stopped working during the festival at 20,000 steps (about 10 miles). After 14 hours of standing, walking, and lifting, I am utterly exhausted, but it's DONE and it was a success!

mission accomplished!

When Kevin's parents left on their mission to Ukraine in May 2010, I told them I would put together a mission book for them, compiling all their emails and photos. I'd like to say it was purely kindness and love that motivated me.  But mostly it's because I wanted their mission recorded for my own posterity and I know them well enough after 15 years of marriage to know that they would probably never do it on their own! 

Little did I know what a huge undertaking it would be.  Mainly because the program was the most uncooperative software I've ever encountered.  But my goal was to have it to them before their one year anniversary home, and I'm proud to say I make it with one week to spare!  It was definitely a labor of love, and I shudder to think how many hundreds of hours it took, but it was worth it and I'm very happy with how it turned out.  It is 128 pages.  Here's a glimpse:

natalie's principal award

Each year, every student in grades Kindergarten through 3rd receives a Principal's Award for something special they have done or achieved (good behavior, grades, etc.). Natalie received hers this week.  She got it "for having role model behavior in the classroom and for doing everything with a smile on her face."

The woman on the left is her teacher.  Same teacher as Tyler had two years ago.  She has become a friend of mine. We love her dearly and she is an amazing teacher!

The woman on the right is the principal.  I've had a lot of interaction with her through the PTO board and have really grown to respect her as well.

The girl next to Natalie is Sadie, my friend's daughter.  They are not in the same class, but from everything my friend tells me, they are basically twins.  I'm not sure I want them to become friends - they could easily take over the world together with their cute smiles and feisty behavior!

We are very proud of Natalie - she is having a great Kindergarten experience and loving every minute of it!

new piano!

You know those things you hope and wish for that are always on the "someday" list?  Not anymore folks!  One of our dreams has finally come true.  We are now the proud owners of a baby grand piano!  And we may or may not love this thing more than our real "babies!"

And because I'm a sucker for "before" and "after" shots and want to remember this beautiful antique piano that has served us very well.

Fills the area quite nicely, doesn't it? It's almost like we've had it mentally planned there for four years...probably because we have!