I now have a new blog... believe it or not.... www.lifeasaseventhgrader.blogspot.com. check it out!

Catching up

Well, I guess I have some catching up to do. I haven't had access to a computer lately, so I haven't been able to. For those of you that are interested in my family, read this paragraph. Otherwise just skip to the second one. Alex is doing pretty well, just four days short of 11 months. He has been sleeping more and more in the past few weeks, a very good thing for us. He has started saying 'buh buh buh' and ' puh puh puh' lately, and is getting a lot of praise for it! I tried to show them all the sounds I could make, but they just didn't seem as impressed. My dad is very happy at zoo school, and I hope he stays there until I am in high school, so I can have him as my teacher! That would be fun! Mom is consistently amazing us with how hard she works, while still staying as cheerful as ever!
I am enjoying my mentor a lot. I feel like I am learning much more from her than I was in the other class, although I loved that too. Right now she is on a trip to Europe and won't be back for a couple of weeks, so I have to be responsible and get my work done on my own. Mika is being more an more obedient, and is impressing me with how much I can trust her off leash. It is amazing to think that a dog can learn so much in a year! Well I hope I can see all you guys soon. I miss you all. mj

Ok. I now have a baby brother. I know this is bazaar, but I do. His name is Brody, but we think we will change it to David. It is awesome finally being a SISTER!!!!!!!!!!! mj

I have a new blog! Now this is just Mark and Mae's blog, Mary is out of the picture! well, anyway, my new blog address is www.myishadow.blogspot.com. please click on the link, and take some time to view it. Thanks, my friends, Mary Eliz

Is this what I think it is?

Yes, this is what you think it is! It is a live lobster, at Christmas time. Unfoftunately dad boiled it, and some of the people present ate it.( I was not one of them). We were allowed to have fun with it for an hour, and then, they actually put it in the boiling pot alive, and bpil it to death! Ewww, gross, disgusting! Oh well, I'm sure it tasted good:-)

OK, I guess I [Mary] should really be paying more attention to this blog. I seem to have used up all of our pictures, and blogging without pictures...... Well, it just doesn't compare. So, time for the update. We are doing pretty well. Mika [my dog] is very contentedly snoring on my lap, not a whole lot of inspiration. I'm in volleyball again, fun stuff. Our team was almost undefeated last year, we won all but the first game. I'm also back on with the lawning, got a raise, now I am getting $6 per lawn. I was looking online today and saw a Welsh Terrier going for $3,000.99!
No kidding, I actually did! I'm going to be rich when Mika has puppies!

veni, vidi, vici

The problem with letting your daughter run your blog (in addition to the purple haze effect) is no longer having access without special dispensation! Mary has temporarily granted me editing priviledges so I can give a short update.

Perhaps "conquered" is too strong a word but at least I can say I "survived" the marriage weekend. And "survived" is far too negative. We really had a good time and enjoyed having the time to make a marriage self assessment and initiate some improvments. So...we are in the market for a new husband for Mae. Thoughtful, sensitive, good with money and not given to 8th grade humor.

Actually, we have been having some trouble finding a match and so are going to try to "renovate" the existing husband. Caution: work in progress.

They gave us this great book to take notes in and I dont know what Mae's notes look like but I I found myself writing "get to the point" more than once. There was good stuff going on but there was alot of fluff as well. I came away from Friday evening thinking "yes, we all know about those problems, the question is what do we DO about it?" But then, Ive had 14 years to identify the problems and there was one couple there who had just gotten married the weekend before! They probably still think their mate is the only person in the world who doesn't get morning breath! Or maybe they have as many problems after 5 days as we did after a decade. I definitely like that way of seeing it...

In the mean time, we had alot of other stuff going on that really deserves its own posting. Nothing bad, in fact a very exciting, but unlikely, potential opportunity for something to maybe happen. More about that later, possibly.

We were (ok, I was) a little dissapointed with the lack of practical advice by Saturday afternoon so we skipped the last session to deal with other matters (see obtuse notes above). I was tempted to skip out on Sunday morning as well but we got up, time change and all, and lo and behold the whole weekend became worth it in one short session. They separated us into guys and girls and the mens seminar was exactly what I had come there for: a solid scriptural reminder of just what it means to love our wives (and be good fathers - so watch out Mary there are changes coming!) I dont know why they took 3 days to get to the point but there you have it. In the end Id say "go for it" for those with an opportunity to attend something like this. Its worth it in the end.

As for the sweater, they never mentioned it! It did occur to me that the one session we skipped out on was the "sex" seminar....coincidence?