Sam's New Accessory

Two weeks ago I received a notice home telling me Sam had failed yet another eye exam at school. He failed these frequently in preschool and every year we would go to the optometrist and he would tell us that yes his eyes were off but not enough to warrant glasses at that time. One year he had us eye patch him while he was watching t.v. or playing on the computer, that didn't last long. So yet again we headed to the optometrist. This time the verdict was glasses. We picked up the glasses this afternoon. After the technician put them on him she announced she would have to adjust them for his long eyelashes. He is pretty excited to have them, however I think the novelty of having them will wear off soon. I already find him taking them off and putting them down in random places. His Nana has told me several stories of his father doing the same thing as a child, I have no doubt we are in for the same trouble.

Snow!

(These pictures are of the snow after the 1st storm, we had 2 more!)

Last year's winter was cold but the snow was not so plentiful. This month however seems to making up for last year's weakness. In the last two weeks we have had over 2 feet of snow drop on our home and more is coming this weekend. Our driveway sits on the back of our house off an alley way. Our home sits at the middle of a T with intersecting alleyways. So, this means when the plows come, we are the recipients of their spoils which turns into a wall of snow in our back yard. Ronny and the boys think this is awesome and have plans for snow forts and snowball fights when they get off track this next week. The boys are concerned it will melt by then. I assured them that 4 feet of snow will not melt before it is time to play!

Yesterday I was out shoveling the front walk and porch. The snow has reached the level of the porch (4 steps up) and it is beginning to be hard to find a place to put the shoveled snow. After finishing in the front I turned to walk through the yard to get to the driveway. I soon realized that this would not work as the snow in some places was up to my hip. So I walked around the corner and down the alley to get to our driveway. I looked at it and decided I would need a break and a glass of water before I started on it. (I was already tired!) I went inside to sit down for a few minutes and then heard what I thought was a plow going down the alley. I opened the garage door and discovered our sweet neighbor going up and down our driveway with his snow blower. I grabbed my boots and ran outside to give him a giant hug! What a life saver he was yesterday for me!

This morning I woke up with my back aching and couldn't remember doing anything that would make it hurt so bad. Then I remembered the hour I spent outside shoveling that snow. We are just starting the winter. I am already looking forward to spring!

Birthday Spoils

Dear Nana,

Thank you for sending me money to buy new church clothes. Mom and I and my friend Rachel went out last night for dinner and went shopping. We found the black dress last night and then we went to Down East Outfitters this morning. That's where we found the aqua skirt and tops. Mom bought me another cute sweater dress too. She says it will be one of my Christmas presents. We decided that we will just go there first from now on. Its the best! Mom then took me to the shoe store to find shoes for my new outfits. We had lots of fun! My grandma also gave me some bracelets and necklaces so I can accessorize my new looks too. Now I have more than one outfit to where to church. I'm excited.

Love you,

Charley

She's Growing Way Too Fast!!!!

(She is very into posing for pictures lately!)

Happy 11th Birthday Charley!!!!

The boys have been home sick all week long. Ronny and I have been up the last two nights with Joseph trying to keep his breathing under control so we didn't have to make an ER trip if possible. Charley came in this morning before I was completely coherent and asked if she could have hot lunch at school today. We rarely let our kids have hot lunch just because its expensive and I feel we give them healthier stuff from home, so I said no. Immediately her eyes teared up and I asked what was wrong. She said that usually kids on their birthdays at her new school have their parents bring in a special lunch and eat with them. She said she knew that I couldn't come because the boys were sick but would really like something different than the stuff she usually takes. I felt terrible!!!!! Of course I said, as I just am now realizing its the morning of the 4th and its her birthday. She was so sweet to realize that the boys needed me at home and asked so nicely for something so simple as hot lunch at school. I even failed to get treats for her class and called to Ronny to hurry so they could stop at the store on the way to school. (With the boys sick I haven't been to the store yet this week!) The two of us have plans to go out tomorrow once Ronny gets home from work.

She is growing way too fast for Ronny and I. I can't believe she is so grown up already! When did that happen???? I'm seriously tearing up right now thinking about it. She is the best big sister the boys could ever ask for. She is so patient with them and really looks for opportunities to help them and us whenever she can. She's a contentious worker and just an easy going girl. No drama from her! We have had a few friends and family ask us what we did with her to make her so wonderful. We really just shake our heads and say sometimes you get lucky and get a Charley. (The same people never liked that answer until we point out that we are the same parents of "the boys" and then they always laugh and nod their heads!) We love her so much and are so lucky to have her in our family and leading the way for her younger brothers!

She really wants her ears pierced for her birthday. I had mine done at this age. Her Dad has told her no! He wants her to wait until she is 16. A few months ago she came to me begging to get it done. I told her it wasn't me preventing her, it was her Dad. She couldn't believe it. The look on her face was priceless, like her father had betrayed her. She was so sure it was me that wouldn't let her get them done. It was just a few weeks after that she and I went to the hair salon and I let her get the red highlights. I think now she appreciates that when it comes to girl stuff Mom is usually not the hurdle she has to pass, its Dad! (He wants to keep her young as long as he can, I don't blame him but sometimes I do help her out!)

Our Right To Vote

So as you all know yesterday was election day. This was the biggest mid-term election I can remember in many years. Ronny and I tried to re-register with our new address and found we were too late to do so. We did find out though that because we were already registered at our old address we could vote a provisional ballot by bringing in two accepted pieces of mail showing our new address. We would have to vote on paper ballots but we really didn't care if it was the computer or the paper as long as we could vote. We live in a developing area so I figured there would be quite a few of us needing to do this.

We arrived at our voting location and stood in line. When we reached the front we showed our i.d. and two approved items to verify our new address. We signed in and were instructed to go to the table that had paper ballots. When arriving there we stood in another line and watched the ladies there encourage those standing in the previous line to come to their table if they didn't want to wait so long and vote by paper as opposed to the computer. Then they realized they were running out of ballots. When we made it to the front they only had 1 left for our precinct. I was a bit frustrated as these paper ballots were intended for those voting on a provisional status with address changes. Considering how many new homes get completed daily here you would think they would have been encouraging others to wait in the line for the computer so that everyone else needing the provisional ballots would have one.

I nicely told her that she needed to figure something out as she was now denying my right to vote. She excused herself to make some calls to find out what to do. When she came back she made the announcement that only provisional voters could vote the paper ballots. NO KIDDDING!!!! Wasn't that covered in the training to run a voting station????? I appreciate them wanting to make the voting process a little less tedious and not make people stand in long lines, but not at the expense of someone not being able to vote because they ran out of ballots. In the end they received permission for us to vote on another precinct's ballot and write our number at the bottom. I don't have too much faith in having it counted as any discrepancy seems to throw so many ballots out. We were given a number to call and verify our vote was counted but we would have to wait two weeks to call. What's the point then???

We are now re-registered at our new address so that hopefully we won't have this problem again. I take some responsibility here as we didn't do that soon enough, however running out of ballots should not be an issue in this day and age!!!