Meditations from Mel

We have been loving the weather in IA. For a change it's not hot and sticky and not icy cold, but about 65 degrees most days, except when it rains, then I get really wet, really fast. I am confident that I can shower outside in the rain if the need ever arises.

October has been very fun for our little patch. I hung up some great drapes that are a deep red with flowers on them. Unfortunately, they clashed horribly with our disco heirloom couch from Grandma Atwood, so I toyed with the idea of recovering the beast and decided to just buy a new one. Then I finally recovered my cedar chest after only six years of delay and it looks great in my drape fabric. Then I worked on Halloween costumes for my little monsters. Kambri was Glenda the good witch, Michael, the scarecrow, and McKayla, Dorothy. I also read the book The Deep End of the Ocean about a three-year-old boy who gets kidnapped and is found 9 years later. Very good reading.

I am looking forward to the Harry Potter movie. Does anyone want to come to IA for Thanksgiving? We could go together.

We had a very successful Halloween, Kambri raided the entire apartment building and brought home more candy than all of my trick or treat years combined! Michael entertained with songs and stories at the old folks' home where we went tr or tr-ing first, and McKayla just really thought the whole night was too good to be true. She wore her favorite ruby red shoes and people kept telling her how cute she was and giving her candy. I made ceviche and pretended to be in Mexico. Andy just kept coaching the kids on which candy to pick. They kept going for bubble gum and suckers instead of the good candy bars!!

Sincerely missing the desert,

Melanie

Marvels from Martha

Well Family, how was the trip?!?!?! Do you have any pictures? I check my email everyday for the pictures. The primary program was okay, nothing too spectacular. My 6th grade chorus (70 cute kids) also sung in a parade this weekend. Since September 11^th, all my choirs have been learning patriotic songs. The 6^th graders learned and memorized six of them. I dressed them up in flag handkerchiefs and red white and blue star stickers for their faces (thanks to a parent who bought them), gave them small flags and then loaded them up on a double-decker flat bed trailer. It was a pretty awesome sight to see so many kids singing "God Bless America." They got me choked up more than once. We won two first prizes--it was pretty cool. One was the Best Musical Selection and the other was a tie with a high school for Best Represented School. It's kind of funny because we not only tied first with a high school, but it was their homecoming parade combined with the local Red Ribbon Parade. If you didn't notice, I filled up my weekend with stuff so I wouldn't think too much about my family partying it up in Mexico. Did any one say "Happy Halloweeny???" It didn't really stop me from thinking about my family, but I had a pretty good time anyway. I hope you had fun. The kids are cute and are doing so well. I still have challenges and still always feel behind with everything. However, I'm enjoying myself nonetheless. Our Christmas concert is December 5th and everyone is invited. It should be good and hopefully I won't trip or do anything too embarrassing--crying does not count!

School is well. I am preparing for holiday and winter concerts in all of my classes. The kids are really doing well, except my advanced band. I wish they would learn the music faster. It takes so long for them to learn a song, we'll be lucky if we have two songs ready for the holiday concert. When I think about last year though, I can't complain. Last year, my challenges were to simply get the kids to play, and then to keep the trouble makers in their seats. If this year my only problems are getting he kids to learn the music faster and then to keep the "trouble makers" from talking, then I guess things are going okay! I'm really enjoying my big chorus class. Things are so different from last year. It's funny because I thought last year was okay, but now when I look back I can't believe how different everything is. My big class sings so well. I don't even have to make threats to get them to sing either. I think they enjoy it. There's this one song we're learning, "Santa is the Man." It's set to the same tune as "We will Rock You" by Queen. The kids get the biggest kick out of it. They really get into the song. They'll sway back and forth and stomp their feet and clap their hands to the beat. I have a few black kids that really get into it. It's a hoot!

With the time change and the cooler temperatures, I'm really getting excited for Christmas. If the principal will let me, which is no worry because he says yes to anything I ask him, I'm going to take my big chorus class to different senior centers and hospitals the last week of school. Because we have school until the 22nd this year, instead of getting out a week earlier, I was a bit nervous about what to do with all my classes on that final week of school. I have stuff for every class to do except my big one. Yesterday I had a brainstorm to take them around to the different senior places and sing Christmas carols. I have the group right after lunch, and we could just go to the places that are no further than 15 minutes away. If I plan it just right, we could go caroling to a different place every day. I'll ask the places first and make sure it's okay, and then I'll ask my principal. I'm excited because I remember when Aunt Gaye took us to a rest home in St. George. It left a lasting impression on me. Maybe it'll do the same for some of my kids. Yano Mom, you could do the same thing. You're kids could write Christmas stories or poems, and then you guys could walk over to the Senior Citizen's Center and read them there. I think they'd enjoy it. I'm also taking the kids, my jazz band and big chorus, to two different malls. Besides those different places, we just have our Christmas concert in December. So with the weather changing, I'm really beginning to get excited about Christmas. And of course the cherry on top of everything is the fact that we get to go to Logandale--yeaaaah! I'm not sure when we'll leave; we haven't talked about it yet. I'm thinking we'll probably go the Saturday morning after classes. That will be a HAPPY DAY!!!

I hope all is well. Take care, Love, Martha

Hello my family! Nick and I are doing really well. October sure seemed like a long month...it must have been all that looking forward to the Mexico trip! Well it sure was worth it. Nick and I had a great time hangin' with the fam'. It was a little bit of a different kind of vacation for him. He pictured going to some fabulous hotel right on the beach and eating out in the nicest American restaurants. He calls himself a city boy when it comes to vacationing. Living like a Mexican, as Nick put it, was sure fun! He even tried ceviche for the first time. In fact he got so into it that he had to buy a Mexican hat like everyone else! He also got to meet Jill and Bryan, so he heard another side of all Jill's and my stories. (You know, like the Joe Aldrich and Mrs. Anderson adventures.) After he heard her versions he laughed because he said that when he heard my versions he always thought that I was just misunderstood and mistreated. He pretty much thought I was an angel who had a mean teacher and rude neighbor, which really is the way I remember it! So after he heard Jill's stories he decided that I was devious, cunning, and quite the little trouble maker who egged on the behavior of my so-called enemies. Me??????? Overall we really had an excellent time in Mexico, and we're already talking about going again sometime soon.

Nick took his pharmacy exam two weeks ago. Pretty tough. He feels good about all of the sections but is a little concerned about the math part. Here is one sample question of the math section: 0.698543 is what percent of 15/33? He felt a little rusty in that area. I guess the normal math questions were fine, but about one third of them were these percentage fraction formats. We'll get his results back in the middle of November.

School is going pretty good for me. I just traded in my bassoon for an oboe and my French horn for a trumpet. I sure miss the bassoon, although I don't miss trying to hold it up! At least I can carry my oboe with only my pinky if I want to. I aced my last theory exam. I got a 96 percent! Yahoo for me! (Notice I only tell you about the good grades I get.) Also, I finally got the scholarship that Dr. McLaughlin has been talking about for just about as long as I've known her. Turns out she got me a $125 scholarship and a financial aid instate waiver. Pretty cool!

Well both Nick's and my cars are back from the shop and they look good! We made a deal with the car body repairman. I'm going to play at his wedding in March for a discount on Nick's deductible, plus he fixed the dents from the tree branch for free! Pretty good deal.

And now about that contest that Mom talked about last month. Does November 3rd win???? He he he he he he he he !!

Talk to you later! I love you all!!!!!

I know these guys have news, but all I can get from them is this: No, Becca did not win the contest...

I LOVED YOU ENOUGH...

Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates a parent, I will tell them: I loved you enough... to ask where you were going, with whom, and what time you would be home.

I loved you enough... to insist that you save your money and buy your clothes for yourself even though we could afford to buy them for you.

I loved you enough... to be silent and let you discover that your new best friend was a creep.

I loved you enough... to make you go back and pay for the bubble gum you had taken and tell the clerk, "I stole this yesterday and want to pay for it."

I loved you enough... to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room, a job that should have taken 15 minutes.

I loved you enough ... to let you see anger, disappointment and tears in my eyes. Children must learn that their parents aren't perfect.

I loved you enough... to let you assume responsibility for your actions, even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.

But most of all, I loved you enough.... to say NO when I knew you would hate me for it. Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm glad I won them, because in the end you won, too. And someday when your children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them...

Was your mom mean??? I know mine was. We had the meanest mother in the whole world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches. And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different from what other kids had, too.

Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She had to know who our friends were, and what we were doing with them. She insisted that if we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less. We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work. We had to wash dishes, make the beds, and learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, and empty the trash and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.

She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time we were teenagers she could read our minds.

Then, life was really tough! Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. They had to come up to the door so she could meet them. While everyone else could date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16. Because of our mother, we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced. None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's property or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault.

Now that we have left home we are all educated, honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean parents just like Mom was. I think that is what's wrong with the world today. It just doesn't have enough mean moms.

Firstly, I have a confession to make. Last week on Tuesday I was watching the nightly news and a movie trailer for the new Harry Potter movie came on. It intrigued me and I picked up book one in the series....BANG!! I have become addicted and cannot put the dang things aside!! Since then, I've read the entire first book and am pages away from finishing the second. Plus I eagerly await the grand opening of Harry Potter on the big screen! I tell you what, if I were Mr. Money Bags, I would have already flown to London to watch the first premier. Well now that I've gotten that out of the way...

Dalley's theatre practice is in full swing. We are working mightily into the hours of the night to get Arsenic and Old Lace ready for the week after Thanksgiving. I thought we were doing pretty well until Dalley explained that we have only six practices left until dress rehearsal infront of the middle school. Yippers! It's going to be a bang up production and even though I'm not the lead man, my character breaks the ice to get the humor rolling. And a special side note, I was the first one to have my lines (I should say line) memorized, "CHARGE!"

My tromboner buisness is going well as well. Inbetween Jazz Band gigs (I am the "bust a fat solo" king) and marching left and right for the football team, I haven't had any time to prepare for all the honors and auditions Mrs. Delgadillo has signed me up for. We also applied for a very special and elite honor band and workshop for the entire southwest held in Tuscon, AZ. I'm especially looking forward to that one!

And let's see, what else is there? I've been falling a wee bit behind in my studies this last week (all my time devoted to studying has been devoted to Harry Potter, like I said, it's addictive!) and I got an unsat from Mr. Earl in Spanish. It said "student is not dressing for class." The sheet for filling out unsats is a scantron. Mark [a] for one message, [b] for another, [c] for another, [d], [e], [f], and so on. I am getting an A in the class so Mr. Earl marked box [a] for me. The big goof sent every one of his students an unsat on accident! But other than those two items, classes are great. In a Physics class full of genius senior valedictorians, I pulled the highest grade on the last test so you can gage it by that.

In my free time I like to breathe. But with my busy schedule I don't get much free time and am frequently feeling dizzy and lightheaded. But even though, I still have been getting empty nest syndrome, maybe even more than Mom and Dad, but who can say for sure? Anyway, I can't wait until the next time I see any of you. I hope soon!

Luvvies, Matthias B.