Mathletics

This week Ryan is participating in the American Math Challenge with kids all over the country ages 9-14 where he gets points for every right answer to math problems. He broke the top 100 yesterday and is working hard to stay there. He has been as high as spot 53. He has spent probably 6-8 hours a day, maybe more, working on math problems-- and even decided to come straight home after scouts instead of going to basketball with Stephen so he can do more problems and earn more points. I guess he inherited my competitive streak. Stephen would NEVER have chosen math, or anything academic, over basketball.

It is only for this week and next week, so I figure he can do as much math as he wants and is excited about during his free time. I'm still having him do his writing and other school work. He will go do one of his assignments and come back to do more math. He was marking off his assignments and I told him he could count this for math this week and he was totally excited. It was pretty funny-- This doesn't seem like schoolwork to him, even though he has done over 1000 problems in the last 2 days. (His regular assignments have 22). He is already planning to get up early on the last day because it ends at 7 am our time and the kids on the east coast might slip ahead of him. It will be interesting to see if his enthusiasm holds.

I wish the contest was for a scholarship or something like the high school level of MathCounts (the program sponsor). The top prizes for this one aren't as cool. The top 3 kids, nationwide, get a medal and the top 25 get a certificate. Not nearly as good as money for college. But, he is motivated and is working so hard I told him if he ends in the top 100 either of the two weeks, or both, I will buy him a half gallon of ice cream to share with the family and he can have a "free" day to just read instead of doing regular school-- he'll have earned it.

Going on a Cruise

Stephen and I are going on a cruise in December to Catalina Island and Ensenata, Mexico. We leave from San Diego. It is for our 10 year anniversary, which was actually last May, but Lincoln was too little to leave-- he'll be just over a year. I am super excited. Ryan is going to fly down to Utah to stay with grandparents there and is counting down the days. The other kids are going to the other grandparents or Aunt Karma's. They all think they are getting the best deal. We had planned to go in January or February, but I found a good deal on plane tickets ($150 RT from Boise to San Diego) and then the price of the cruise for this week dropped to $149 per person for an oceanview room. That will leave me more money in my budget for excursions or shopping! If anyone has been on a Carnival cruise to Catalina or Ensanada, let us know what you recommend.

October Update

October was crazy and busy. I gained a huge appreciation for Relief Society as I tried to help my friend whose husband had passed away. She is not LDS and didn't have that built in network to call on. Then my in-laws came to visit and we had a fun weekend Christmas shopping and driving around the area and just relaxing at home. Soon after they left, we got hit with the dreaded swine flu-- and it was MISERABLE!!!! Lincoln and I got it the worst, but no one had serious complications. We had to alternate Tylenol and Motrin round the clock to keep his fever down and I would have coughing fits so hard they would bring me to my knees. It was NOT fun!!!! The other kids all got it for a few days, and by the time it ran it's course, I hadn't left the house for 2 weeks.

On a positive note, the boys are in a Christmas showchoir and Ryan was selected to sing the solo. He is very excited! He loves to sing. The older kids all had a wonderful Halloween with lots of candy and fun dressing up. Lincoln slept through most of it-- he's fighting another cold.

Life is short, treasure it

Thursday night I had taken the boys to 4-H and spent the evening visiting with my friend and watching the kids have fun. I came home to my husband and kids, she went home to find out that her husband had passed away unexpectedly from a massive heart attack. She is just older than me, 34, and her husband only a few years older than that. They have 3 young children.

I was up all night that night thinking of how easily our places could be switched. She had no warning, he wasn't sick or ill or anything. People aren't supposed to die young. (I'm sure it's hard later in life too, but this just seems unfair.) I kept thinking how much I take my husband for granted. I cannot even imagine her pain and sorrow right now. She is an incredibly strong person and I know she will deal with everything, simply because she has no choice. Although I am sure it would be tempting to just find a cave and hide. I talked to her yesterday morning and again this afternoon and my heart just breaks for her and her kids. What do you say, how do you bring comfort to someone in this situation? Flowers, food. . . . it all seems so. . . . . simple.

So, if you are reading this, get up now and give your loved ones an extra hug and tell them you love them. And next time they do something that annoys you, think of Dave and the big picture, and let it go. Life is so fragile and death is so final. (I mean final in that you can't undo words you've said in anger, you can't say "I love you, " you can't tell the person what they mean to you, you can't go back and spend more time with them.) I know that death is not the end and that we can be with our loved ones for eternity, but we can't undo or "fix" it here on earth. It has made me think about how easily I take for granted that I can go somewhere for the evening and come home to everything the way it was when I left.

Grocery Bargains

I need a positive post, and still haven't had Stephen pull of the pictures, so I thought I would share my most recent coupon adventure. It mostly used catalinas, those receipt like things that print out at the end of your order at Albertsons and rebates.

I bought 12 Tombstone frozen pizzas, 10 packages of Chips Ahoy cookies, 4 packages of Planters Trail Mix, 4 Velveeta single serving mac and cheese, and 6 mini Hagaan-Daaz ice creams. My total was $55.80 and it will cost me $1.76 to mail them in, but I have $10 in coupons for my next Albertsons shopping trip, and I will get $70 back in rebates. SO, I will end up making $22.44 on the deal!!!! Pretty sweet!

Not Chosen

I just heard and we were not chosen to adopt Trish. They said we were "in there right until the very end" and "our training and background would have been a good fit, but. . . " like that's supposed to make me feel any better. Anyway, we're pretty disappointed. It's just frustrating not to be able to do ANYTHING and to have the decision made by "the committee," a bunch of people who have never even met us.

Adoption Meeting

Since my last adoption update, we've submitted our homestudy to several states, mostly on younger kids. We also read about a 16 year old girl, Trish, who was featured on Wednesday's child and both Stephen and I felt completely at peace and that she would be a good fit for our family. Out of all the kids we've sent our paperwork in on, she is the one who we haven't been able to stop thinking about. If you want to read her profile it is here.

Anyway, we are one of 3 families that they are considering for her and we had the chance to meet her this past Monday. Because of her age, they are letting her meet each of the families and have some say in the decision. I can't imagine being in her shoes right now and how hard that would be. I know how nervous and excited Stephen and I were to meet her. We went out to lunch with her and a couple of social workers and I think it went really well. She seemed very sweet and both of us left with a strong feeling that she would be a great addition to our family.

The committee of state workers who will make the decision is meeting on August 12.

It will be a long 2 weeks. We're praying they will make the right decision for her, and hoping it is us!