Locks of Love & Shaved Heads

At Gresham school on Friday there was a special event held to raise funds and show support for one of the teachers who is battling cancer. An assembly was held for the last 2 class periods of the day. A whole lot of hair stylists came and donated their time to cut hair and shave heads. In all there had to be 50+ people who participated. I was surprised at the number of girls who donated 10 inches of their hair to Locks of Love. Some did it with no regrets, but there were others who had lots of tears during or afterward. It was a fantastic show of support!

Here's Clare with her 2 ponytails. She and Erin both went over by Ann later in the afternoon to get an actual style. The ladies cutting the inches were strictly there to take the hair and give you a blunt cut.

Tom and Sammi showed up for a few minutes. It was enough time for Jeana to take care of what little hair Tom had to begin with.

These two buddies both got in on the act.


I think Erin was the first girl in the school to bring back the permission slip in order to donate her hair. Way to lead the way!

I don't know if Andrew was dreading the shave or just nervous to do it in front of a lot of people. I think it was the latter. I do prefer him with a bit more hair. It will be interesting to see the young men at church on Sunday. Most of them were shaved so we should have some "clean looking" young men to participate in blessing and passing the sacrament.

I'm extremely pleased that my children are unselfish in such a personal way. In the evening there was a talent show. It raised quite a bit of money as well. A very fun and worthwhile day!

A house FULL

Last night we had a house full of family and friends. It was a wonderful experience. Clare and Cami came over in the afternoon to do laundry and visit. Clare had activity days so she was coming anyway, I just invited her to come earlier. My niece Alyssa with her husband and daughter came over for a visit. We haven't seen them for close to 2 years. My dad came over for supper as he wanted to visit with them as well. Clint came from work and joined us. Then Pat came home from his presidency meeting. Finally, with Lys and Clare over, the Youngs joined us. We haven't seen Whitney and Lloyd since before they left for Korea and we got to meet baby Jordan. She's beautiful! It was a fun household with memories shared and lots of hugs and laughter. What a great thing it is to have loved ones!

On another note, it was really fun to watch Isabelle and Cami together. Belle is almost 3 and Cami just turned 2. They were like any other kids with not wanting to share, but mostly they giggled and laughed and played. One of the highlights was watching them color themselves with washable markers. They started with paper but ended up drawing on their bellies and arms and whatever else was naked. Someone took pictures but unfortunately it wasn't me. In the end they had a very "colorful" tubby together.

Oh say can you SEE?

Sammi came home without much of her luggage. Her friend Sara is bringing it next month. Packed in those suitcases are her glasses and extra contacts. For some reason she doesn't have a contact lens holder. You know the kind...everyone who wears contacts has at least 6. Well, she doesn't have any at home so her contacts were in solution in 2 spoons this morning.

Tom, trying to be helpful, dumped out the spoons and put them in the kitchen sink. Sam came to put her contacts in and they were gone. We managed to find one but the other wasn't found until it was starting to dry out. Technically she's only half blind as she has one eye that can focus. She can't go to work since she can't see well enough to drive.

Tomorrow Clare is taking her to Green Bay to EyeMart to get new glasses. The old ones are the wrong prescription anyway. A new set of contacts would have cost $80 to overnight them here, so I figured the glasses were a better way to use that money.

Bliss

On Saturday the Gourleys moved out of our home and into their own apartment. Good for them. They've needed their own space for a while. While they moved out, Sammi moved back home. She's either going to continue her education here or serve a mission. I guess this is a good place to be until she figures that out. No rent, no grocery shopping and a job.

I began my track season last week and so far, so good. I am a lot busier as I have to run to Bowler several times each week for practice. I guess I'll actually earn my pay this year. haha I do love the track season. I love the competition of the individual competitors as well as the team aspect. There may be many winners without the team actually winning.

This week started the maple sapping season in our area. Rosy has taken off for at least a month to do her maple syrup making. That leaves me at Tilleda full-time. Or does it? With Sammi working only part-time at Arby's (which she detests) she is available to work more hours in my place. Thank you Sammi!

Yesterday I had this wonderful day in which I was the only person in my house all day. Tom went with Sammi; Erin and Andrew off to school and I was left alone to accomplish my laundry and prepare my seminary lesson. It was Bliss!

My Angels

Once each month our ward choir sings a special number in our Sacrament service. Today was our ward conference and we sang "The Lord is My Shepherd." I found the arrangement on ldsmusicsource.com. We don't have a huge choir and very few exceptional voices. In fact we were missing a few voices today as the missionaries were in Shawano. Once again though, I felt angels singing with "my angels."

At times we sing whatever it is we've practiced and it comes off good, but other times it comes off in a whole different way, a very spiritual way. Those are the days that I feel unseen angels singing with those angel voices that come to practice each week. I am truely blessed to have the calling as choir director as I get to hear the finished product. I love those wonderful people who give their time and talents to make our meetings more spiritual. Kudos to Suzie for her talents which far outshines anything I can say or do.

Generations of Dresses

Pat loves to buy dresses. Shortly after we got married he started buying dresses for me for all the major ocassions such as birthdays, Mother's day and Christmas. (Now that I think of it, he also helped pay for my wedding dress.) When our daughters started coming along, he bought dresses for them as well. On Tuesday he came home with a jumper for Cami. He's quite pleased with the deal he got as it cost $2.86. He's also pleased that he's been buying dresses for three generations! Here she is modeling it.

Swapping Sports

I believe the weather is warming up ever so slightly. At least I hope so. The evidence was in the thermometer this morning as it was 31 degrees warmer this morning than yesterday. The seminary youth were so disappointed at not having to go out in that cold on Monday or Tuesday. I sure didn't want to go out in it, so why should they? Call me a softy.

Basketball season is officially over in our home as of Saturday when Tom plays his games in the district competition for Special Olympics. On Monday the track season begins. That's why I'm really hoping the weather is warming as we'll be outside.

Yesterday Mr. Davis and I met with potential track athletes from Bowler who will be part of the new Gresham-Bowler track team. I think my job just got a lot harder considering I'll be running the practice at one facility or the other. Mr. Davis and I will divide and conquer. It was much easier being all together and we will do that as often as possible. I do enjoy the track season a lot. It was my favorite to participate in when I was younger and more agile. I enjoy seeing the individual athletes do their best. So, for the next 3 months I'll be busier than ever with practices and meets.

That is my life. Just as one thing slows down another takes it's place to keep me busy. It all involves my kids though, so I'm okay with that. I have 5 more years of going to ball games and such so I'm just going to enjoy it.