Relay Update

Our Relay for Life team is now up to $150.00 towards our team goal of $1000.00.  Thanks so much to those of you who have donated online.  If you're hesitant about donating online with a credit card you can print an offline donation form and mail a check  to the American Cancer Society or to us and we can turn it in at the next meeting. Alyssa has the most money donated so far.  Thanks again, Heather and Alyssa

Simple Pleasures

This was another three game weekend for Noah's basketball team, and Forrest put in a whole morning helping draft Noah's baseball team. But the best part of the weekend was Sunday afternoon. The rain was bouncing off the skylight in the bathroom, and Forrest and I were curled up on our bed. Forrest was watching NASCAR while I was reading next to him under a grandma afghan. The drone of the cars circling the track provides great "white noise" for reading the latest Maisie Dobbs mystery. I even dozed off for a brief Sunday cat nap. Sunday naps, a good book, and my sweetie beside me are the prescription for a peaceful afternoon.

American Cancer Society's Relay for Life

Please visit our team's site and consider making a donation to this worthy cause.  Alyssa's National Honor Society team will be walking all night to earn money for cancer research.  I'm on the team as a chaperone.  Alyssa is the captain of our team.  I'm very proud of the leadership role she is taking.

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=14556&team_id=381880

The Gift of a Free Weekend

You did read my title correctly. The Jones family had a free weekend without basketball in the middle of the season. This is an unheard of phenomenon. Noah's team didn't have a tournament appearance for the holiday weekend as originally planned because of a scheduling error on the part of the tournament hosts. Hurray! With all of this free time we were able to do as much or as little around the house as we felt like. Alyssa even had a babysitting job get cancelled. As my husband will tell you I am a list maker so here is a list of things the Jones family accomplished with our basketball free weekend.
1. Two beanie caps crocheted in the now defunct Seattle Sonic green and gold
2. Two books finished
3. Fridge cleaned out
4. Master bathroom cleaned
5. All three dogs taken for a long run by the slough
6. A visit to the beach near our house, one seal sighted at sunset
7. Lancome gift with purchase enjoyed from Macy's
8. Valentine's prime rib dinner
9. Got caught up on "Monk" and "Psych" on DVR
10. "Confessions of a Shopaholic" enjoyed by Alyssa and friends
11. Final baseball tryout attended by Forrest and Noah
12. Forrest finished his top draft picks list for his baseball team
13. Scraggley lavender cut back in rose garden
14. Daytona 500 enjoyed, Nascar is off to a new season
15. Trip to orthodontist for Noah on President's Day

To top it all of it was a rain free weekend in Northwest Washington in February. As the old adage goes, those are as rare as hen teeth around here. The weekend got off to a rocky start with the Saturn ending up in the shop Friday afternoon. The mechanic "believes" it is the crankshaft censor. It should be ready on Wednesday. But it definitely improved dramatically after that. Forrest will be out of town this week in class in Olympia. Alyssa and I will juggle getting Noah to his commitments. As usual we'll be on the run. Thankfully I have no evening meetings this week.

Busy, Busy, Busy

We had a great weekend!  Mom and Dad came up from Portland and we celebrated their birthdays and Alyssa's belatedly.  Alyssa was able to buy an ipod Touch with her birthday money and earnings from her job.  We had great meals out (except for the quick meal at McDonalds between basketball games).  Noah had three basketball games.  His team won two and lost one. 

 Alyssa went to an ice skating birthday party.  Forrest went to two sessions of baseball tryouts to

 scout players for the draft in two weeks.  He is an assistant coach.  Noah attended one session of baseball tryouts after his Sunday basketball game.  I just followed everyone around or provided transport, food, and drink.  I did manage to continue my recent streak of accident prone behavior by getting nailed in the knee by an errant pitch.  It's purple and very tender this 

morning.  

Dad took a few photos and we didn't manage to get a good one of him. 

If the ipod Touch was a  little bigger

I think Dad would get one as it's a very portable way to check email on the road.

Here are the Photos as Promised

Hot pink leggings, pajamas, and more.

Masterpiece sundae

Back: Alyssa, Yuki, Randi, Amye

Front: Marie, Amanda, Danine

All About Alyssa

My plan was to update my blog with photos of Alyssa's birthday slumber party while Forrest and Noah are at basketball practice, however, the camera is in the car so I'll have to load photos later.

On Friday, Alyssa's 17th birthday, six of her amazingly intelligent, beautiful, and talented friends descended on our house for movies, Wii, Chinese food, ice cream sundaes, and tons of laughs. My daughter sure knows how to pick quality people to include in her life. Her friends are all good students. Some are involved in sports, some in dance, church, or other worthwhile pursuits. They are all members of the National Honor Society. One wants to be a pharmacist and another plans to attend Stanford and become a lawyer.

My daughter wants to teach kindergarten. She has volunteered in the kindergarten class of a friend of mine since 8th grade. She works at a daycare center, and she still does some babysitting too. Alyssa is a natural with young children. Everyone who has seen her at work in my school tells me that. She is planning on getting a teaching certificate with an emphasis in early childhood education and possibly special education too. She took the SAT on Jan. 24th. Alyssa felt very confident about the reading and math but not the essay as she ran out of time, 45 minutes goes by quickly. So she'll probably retake it in the spring.

Every week we receive emails, letters, and postcards from colleges: Western Washington, WSU, Saint Martin's (her top choice), Pacific Lutheran, University of Portland, etc. We'll start planning visitations soon.

I'm very proud that Alyssa has chosen The American Cancer Society's Relay for Life as her National Honor Society project. She is a team captain for her NHS group. Alyssa has meetings to attend once a month to aid her team in fundraising and organizing. The kids and chaperones (including me) will walk all night in shifts to raise money for cancer research.

Attention family members who read this blog, Alyssa will be emailing you this spring to ask for your donations to support this worthy cause. It's tax deductible and can be done all online. She'll direct you to her team's webpage when the date gets closer. The relay will take place the weekend after Memorial Day.

I've painted the picture of an almost perfect teen. But she still rolls her eyes, talks back, and squabbles with her brother. Despite those minor faults she's a good kid and I love her to bits.