the white house at the right time

      One week after graduation -  ACL surgery.  In between surgeries she was subpoenaed in a court case. Three weeks later -  double jaw surgery.   Nausea is a horrible feeling. It is worse when you throw up and the mouth is banded shut.  Emergency cutting of the bands ensued. We both cried. Rough weeks.  The front room became another bedroom.  Younger kids were all so kind and accepting of our no frills, "gotta be a nurse" summer. No way I could leave her to go to girls camp when she was still sucking food out of a tube. Randy rescued me and went in my place. Lots of follow up appointments and rehab. Surprise emergency room visit after she passed out and was cut by falling glass first week of college. Next summer.....senior trip when she can fully walk and talk! Posted doctor and hospital bills on fridge as incentive to go to medical school. 

I think it is funny when I come across a family blog and the blogger, usually the mom, has a darling picture of her child and asks, "Don't you think she is pretty?" or "Isn't she pretty?" I think it is a little odd that there needs to be some outside affirmation that your child is beautiful. Well I am not asking. And if you know me, you know I probably don't really care what you may think (at least on this matter) anyhow. I know my daughter is beautiful. Inside and Out. And birthdays always give me focus time to think that day, of the child, mostly all day long. And I've bee thinking. Yes, I have been blessed. No, the teenage years haven't been too bad. Just because she is "teen" she doesn't have to speak "teen" or act "teen." She is self-motivated. Clean freak!  So helpful when it comes time to clean the truck. Amazing student.  Almost all her projects are confiscated as "examples of excellent work....

Cheers goes out to Makayla and her JV squad - 1st place in Division. "Rah, Rah, Rah." Madalyn and I spent Saturday at the competition watching Makayla.  We left early to get our front row seats.  It was Makayla's first cheer competition.  She did great, as did all the girls.  So fun to watch.  However, there is something to be said about getting older.  I think I would have liked the music turned down a bit.

 End of Makayla's cheer season. Onto competition season.  Next couple of Saturdays super busy! Makayla  has loved being a "flyer", the one going up in the stunts. I always wanted to be a flyer too, but I was a base only going up a few times. She cheered for 9th grade JV football (undefeated season) and basketball (won most games). Of course, she is darling.  Smiles and has energy but isn't all spastic and too over the top or stiff and boring. Just right. Randy loves coming to the games.  Madalyn and Cayden have a lot more interested in the basketball season games since both are in the middle of hers/his league play now.   Even Makenzy can now make it through at least the first half.  Either Randy or I, with some of the other 4 kiddos, have attended every game. I think it is so important to support your kids when you can. Though in classic, teen style, Makayla said, "You know you are the only family that comes to every game?" ...

Cheerleader. Grandma Brusik. Jordan. Me. Hillcrest. Makayla. Tahoma. (Aunt Nikki. Alta.) And surprisingly a lot of the cheers are still the same 40 years later. "Who rocks the house?" Just about every jr. high and high school across America. Since my photo is "no good", I'll identify. She is the one in the middle with her poms up. And "yeah" we definitely think cheer leading is a sport. There is a lot of time put into it. In my opinion, every kid, every adult needs some hobby or some activity outside school, work, or family. Parental biases aside, which of course I have, she really is good. She's good because she loves cheering. Just for fun, I pulled out my old cheer leading outfit and poms. Original cost $350. 1 outfit we kept. 1 stayed at school. Sixteen years later my sweater uniform has found its home in the Halloween costume box. When I hold it up, I think it fits. In the far corner of my closet, is my wedding dress. I think ...

Self starter. Plans ahead. Diligent. Meticulous. Just some of the adjectives that describe Makayla . Academics are important at our house. Because my kids have the capabilities, I expect good grades. Not perfection, but his or her top performance. Whatever grade they get, if they have tried their best, then I am o.k. with it, they are o.k. with it. But 4.0 feels pretty amazing too! Grades are important but not everything. But definitely something. The groundwork for scholarships, good study habits, and time management starts very early on. If she gets an A- or even a B, it won't be the end. Grades are remarkable indicators of performance, but I hope I have instilled in my kids they are not the only defining mark of learning and achievement. In school, I placed a lot of emphasis and a little too much self-worth on my grades. I did well. Over the years I received many academic awards and accolades, received multiple scholarships and graduated with my undergraduate ba...

It has been awhile since I've gone on a field trip with Makayla. Either my name wasn't chosen or babysitting just didn't work out. But this time it did. The 7th grade class went to the Cedar River Watershed to study the importance of clean drinking water. The lake is off limits to the public. We could stand on shore to see it, but not go in. Which we wouldn't have. It was a cold, cold day. Makayla's friend Lucy brought handwarmers and shared. Thank you! Makayla and Lucy. Gathering data.

Makayla needed to try something new for her Renaissance project at school. Think differently. Be open to new ideas. Try something new. So we did! Kaiten sushi. Masa , Makayla's former choir instructor , from Japan told her about the conveyor belts restaurants awhile back. Little plates of food coming around on a conveyor belt. Watch it come swirling by. Pick what you want. Food in motion. It sounded so fun. We thought we'd have to go to Japan. We didn't. We went to the Blue C Sushi which has a few locations around the area. On Friday we tried the University location. But they were busy and we had other plans that night. So on try two, Makayla and I went to the South Center Mall location, after lunch rush and just before dinner. Plus, it was free pretzel day at Aunt Annie's, so we downed a regular and cinnamon covered one before heading over to Blue C Sushi. Plus we wanted to shop, without a two year olds attention span to limit us. Food, good. Price average. A...

I took my Madalyn McCall to McCaw Hall to see the Nutcracker for her birthday. Makayla came too as a a birthday guest. I've seen the Miss Margene's dance school's Nutcracker, nice but not quite the same as this. Sitting on the fourth row, we were able to see all the set and costume detail. The sets were designed by Maurice Sendak , author of "Where the Wild Things Are." It was also wild to find out that the construction of a tutu can take up to 200 hours of labor and cost around $5,000. All day with my big girls, we ate out, rode the monorail into the shopping district, bought shoes, ate out again, and added one more memory to our family cache. The magic set in when the Clara and the Nutcracker walk from the Stahlbaum drawing room out into the Land of Snow. The lighting, the dancing, it was so real, so ethereal. The girls were most entertained by the Pasha's dancers, a Moorish couple, a brilliant peacock in a gold cage , a Chinese tiger and his attenda...

The Sopranos- The Bass and maybe some sopranos - Makayla's school choir singing during Winter Fest at the Seattle Center. Makayla signed up for all year choir. It's not quite One Voice Children's Choir she used to sing in, the spin off from the 2002 Olympic Children's choir, but it isn't bad. She really enjoys her choir teacher, who tried out for American Idol when it came to Seattle, is very patient and has picked a range of songs that appeals to the kids. Before they sang, they all went ice skating, FUN. Randy came over on his lunch break to see Makayla sing and literally snatched up the kids. Afterward, Cayleb was in control of the village train display for 3 loops, that's all the suggested $2 donation allowed. He loved it. He could make it stop and go, and stop and go, and stop and go.

The youth in our stake just put on this program. It is a musical production along with spoken parts and scriptures that artistically illustrate how the Book of Mormon speaks to us today. It creatively shows how the scriptures have relevance to us here and now. At first, Makayla was a little reluctant to participate. The practices usurped their regular weekly activities and had additional practices on Saturday. Yet, she decided to use it as one of her young women goals. At the conclusion of this testimony building production she was so glad she was a part of it. Thank you to everyone for all of your work. Our family truly enjoyed it and was moved by it so much so we are buying the CD and uploading it to our i-pods.

Makayla and Maddie - Social Studies Department Honor - Makayla Presidential fitness certificate- Makayla 4.0 All Quarters, All Year Award - Makayla What can I say, I am proud one proud momma. The picture of the trophies was enough, she doesn't want them out in her room, but said I could have them in my room if I wanted. Nice program but, outside it was the warmest day yet, in fact one of the warmest on record for this time of year, 92 degrees outside, high school gym, full of students, parents, grandparents, and a few siblings too, no air conditioning, except if you consider the program accordion folded into a fan. Yes, we went out for ice-cream. We definitely had a reason to celebrate and cool off!

So while the boys were at their camp out, the girls had their friends over for a girls night, I skipped out for a bit to play games with 3 other couples, I went stag, had fun, ended up "being the lesser peon" in the Great Dalmoodi game, shucks missed wearing the crown, it matched Sara's shirt perfectly anyhow, I think she planned on winning early in the night. Makayla and Maddie - Hannah and my Maddie - Makenzy just being the cutest toddler there is -