WAX ON, WAX OFF

Growing up as a Johnson, there was something that we could always count on during the winter... SKIING ON SATURDAY. My father spent many, many years on various volunteer ski patrols. I think he did this for many reasons. First, because he loved skiing. But it was also a way to fiance skiing for a family of eight.

I have many great memories of skiing (it being my favorite sport). But one that came to mind last night was a memory of wintry Friday nights spent with my Dad, in a cold garage, tuning and waxing skis. Our local ski resort, Schweitzer Mountain, has been open for skiing since Thanksgiving weekend. But since Kirk and I prefer to ski on snow rather than tree stumps, we opted to wait for a few more storms. Today was our first day on the mountain. In preparation, we dug out the ski wax, iron, file and edge tuner. I am not as diligent as my father, but I do enjoy a good tune and wax now and then. Especially in preparation for the first day of the season.

Thanks Dad for all you taught me and for all of the time you invested in our skiing. It has been a great source of enjoyment in my life. I love sharing skiing with my kids. Tomorrow is their first day of the season.

**Thanks, Dad, for supplying our family photos on CD. I love to have them available. Kudos to Kirk for the new photos. He's getting pretty good, isn't he?

Honor Roll

We have reached a different stage in life. As a 4th grader this year, Hannah is receiving letter grades now. No more vague 'satisfactory' or 'unsatisfactory' marks on report cards. From now on, it's the real thing. Her homework comes home with a percentage correct instead of just a smiley face. I feel so fortunate that she has Ms. Litvin this year. She is great at challenging each kid at their level as well as motivating them to do as well as they can. Hannah came home from the first week of school with a determination to get straight A's. And... she did it! She is one of four kids in her class who received all A's this past quarter. This not only got her a great report card, but put her on the school honor roll. I am so proud - especially because I know how hard she worked to achieve this. On top of great grades, she has been a great information resource since starting 4th grade. Ask her any question on Idaho state history and she'll probably know the answer. Very handy.

No Sugar - Grand Finale

Actually, there was no 'Grand Finale'. After 10 days we called it quits. Cutting all treats out of my diet was just plain torture. I bought a wonderful bag of mint M&M's at Target and have been eating a few every day. Just enough. My brother (a diabetic since age 8) gave me the best advice...

'A little here and there, but only when planned for. Plan well.'

Kurt, I hope you don't mind if I quote you. Thanks for the sage advice!

Rough Morning

Paige is learning about responsibility... the hard way. This morning she just couldn't seem to stop playing and start getting ready for school. I try not to nag (although sometimes it just comes out, no matter how hard I try not to), so I gave a gentle 10 minute reminder before her ride was due to pick her up for school. Then I bit my tongue - several times - while she played, and talked, and looked for clips for her hair, and talked to Izzy, and played some more, etc. When her ride showed up she wasn't even close to ready.

I pulled out some Love and Logic techniques and said 'Oh no, it looks like you will miss your ride to school today. How do you think you will get there? I hope you don't miss anything important. That will be so sad.'

First Paige reacted with excuses... 'I was hurrying as fast as I could', 'Izzy was in my way', 'I can't find my socks'

Then with rage... 'I'm going to miss school and it's all your fault', etc.

Finally with pleading... 'When can you take me?'

My reply... 'Well, I'm taking Maren to preschool in 45 min. I'd be happy to drop you off on my way'.

When she realized this would result in her being tardy and possibly missing some school, she was in tears for quite some time. By the time I dropped her off at school, she was meek and repentant. I can't wait to see how early she gets ready for school tomorrow.

The problem with parenting is that it's never cut and dried. One minute I want to yell at her for not doing exactly what I say. The next, I want to do everything for her so . Someday (before they are all grown up) I hope I find that happy middle ground where I teach them to be responsible for themselves and also let them know how much I love and support them.

No Sugar - Day 8

No Sugar. What a stupid idea! How did we ever come up with that? However, I have to say that I have done pretty well. Definitely not perfect. But the cinnamon roll was my only major slip up. What I have really figured out this past week, is that I think about treats and baking way too much. I've also realized that it's not nearly as much of a temptation if it's not around. I haven't been baking and I haven't had anything too tempting near at hand. That has helped. Only one more week. Yippee!

25 Days of Christmas

In order to get into the Christmas Spirit, we spent one night this week planning out activities for each day leading up to Christmas. Now we have a calendar full of holiday events to look forward to every day. Some are big - like the Nutcracker. Some are simple - like reading a Christmas story or baking cookies. Fun ones include skiing and caroling. Others are our yearly traditions - like a Shepherds dinner and decorating the Christmas tree. Tonight we did something new. We attended family night at the local Festival of Trees. It was fun to see all of the different and clever trees. Unfortunately, we missed Santa by a few minutes. But the girls assured us that it was OK, because that wasn't the real Santa anyway. How could the real Santa travel all of the way to Sandpoint right now? He's too busy getting all of the gifts ready, right?

Thankful

Unfortunately, I don't have any great pictures of Thanksgiving. Just some cute ones of Maren dressed up for her Preschool Feast. But that doesn't mean Thanksgiving wasn't great. We spent it with Kirk's family. Kim & Lared hosted dinner at the farm. Leave it to the Whitby's to provide two different kinds of Turkey plus a Ham. The food was delicious and being surrounded by family was even better. The rest of the weekend was spent shooting, shopping (Kirk's idea, not mine), running, haircuts at Verna's salon, late night games of Rummikub, a temple session and, of course, plenty of eating (including sugar!). We have so much that we are thankful for. Spending the weekend with family is one of them.