A Wal*Mart Christmas Miracle: (and a good read if you want to see just how idiotic I can be)

Here is a Christmas miracle story for you, and true. So very true. (Maybe I should write it as a Christmas book , like "The Christmas Box" or "The Christmas Sweater" or "The Christmas Jar." Why do all the Christmas books have to be called "The Christmas________"? Maybe I should call it "The Christmas Checkout Line.")

So here is goes. Last week was just nutso for me! The week before Christmas requires a ton of work. If you are a mom, you already know this. If you are like my husband, you do not completely understand what all the fuss is about: gifts for teachers (we have a LOT of teachers!) and friends, sending packages to loved ones far away, Christmas cards, (mine require a lot of work), cooking and baking, shopping, shopping, and more shopping. Then throw in all those last-week-of-school activities, parties, programs, and concerts, and all the goodies and gifts that accompany them. But don't discount the regular weekly activities and homework that must carry on despite the festivities. And in my case, toss in a week full of dental appointments carelessly planned 6 months ago (no wonder they had openings that week!), and a hubby who decides last minute to have elective knee surgery that week, leaving him propped on the couch while I run around like a crazy lady not only to care for him in his convalescence, but leaving me with one less driver (it was his right knee, don't you know?) to get everyone everywhere.

Yep. My week was nuts.

I was nuts.

Let that be understood. (If you have ever read the classic Christmas miracle story, "A Christmas Carol" you know Dickens starts by assuring us, under no uncertain terms, that Marley was most positively dead, just as I must assure you now that I was most certainly out of my mind crazy busy!)

It was Wednesday, the day after Dennis knee surgery, and the twins needed to be a scouts at 5. I dropped them off and had a whole hour to get a list full of shopping done at Wal*Mart before I had to pick them up. To make things easier, I had predetermined to pick up some dinner for us at the deli there, but when I first walked in the door, the line at the deli counter was rather long, so I decided to get my other shopping done first, then come back to the deli at the end. So I ran all over the giant superstore crossing random essential items off my list: cello bags for the cheese balls, mini marshmallows, something for the male teachers, filo dough, mailing tape, and heavy cream, all the while scanning the store hoping for some inspiration on what to give my husband for Christmas. When I looked at my clock, time was almost up and I went to the checkout line.

It was long.

So I waited in line, and when I finally got close to the counter I loaded all my stuff on the conveyor belt while a lady in front paid. There was an old man behind her, but he only had one item.

Then suddenly, I remembered I was going to get dinner at the deli! I did NOT want to have to get home and try to figure out something - not this night. So I pulled out of line, explaining to the lady behind me that I had forgotten something.

I had left the line, fully intending on going to the deli and then getting into another line when I was ready.

I went to the deli - there was still a line. Waited. Then placed my order and waited while she carefully measured and weighed my food and printed the label. She handed me my food and when I put it in my basket was SHOCKED to realize all my merchandise was gone! It took my crazed mind a moment to realize where it had gone! Then I remembered: I had loaded it onto the conveyor belt already!!!

My first instinct was to avoid embarrassment and go get all new stuff and go to a checkout counter on the other end of the store, but I had no time for that. What a coward I am!

So I ran back over to my previous lane and the old man with one item who was in front of me was still there. He saw me and was waving me over to come quickly. I did! I ruhsed over to them gushing about how sorry I was, and how I had forgotten that I had already unloaded my cart, and how I had not meant to leave everyone standing there so long!

I sounded like a complete idiot, which, I suppose, I was.

Oh my, that was a long line of folks waiting for me!!!

When I got to the front of the line, the old man just smiled and said, "I stalled them for ya," with a wink, and walked out the door.

I had fully expected to find all my stuff shoved aside or under the counter, so that the cashier could run others through the line, but the cashier had already rung up all my stuff, and bagged it. While I made my payment I explained, again, furiously, to all the folks behind me how sorry I was and how I had honestly not meant to hold anyone up. The lady behind me, who had a ton of kids in tow, poor thing, was so sweet about it. "I know exactly how you feel. You have probably been everywhere today like me, huh? Driving all over town trying to do a million things at once? I completely understand." The folks behind her, all assented in agreement and smiled at me in full understanding.

Thus the miracle.

I mean, I had not just run off to grab one forgotten item off a shelf, in hopes of returning before it was my turn. I had left fully intending not to return, and I was gone a full 5 to 10 minutes!

I know that if I had been in that line, I would have been FURIOUS, especially on a busy day like this.

But all I got from everyone were smiles and looks of understanding.

The cashier handed me my receipt. "Merry Christmas," she said.

"Merry Christmas," I replied, and "thank you and sorry again," to the good people in line behind me. Then I rushed out of the store to go pick up my kids. (This time I did not leave my merchandise behind!)

I realized I had just witnessed a simple, yet profound Christmas miracle of love and generosity in the hearts of complete strangers who were probably every bit as busy and stressed out as I was.

What I had experienced was miracle of the real possibility that Peace on Earth and Goodwill To Men, really can, and does, exist on this Earth.

I know. I saw it in the checkout line of Wal*Mart.

A Day at the Park

When our school district decided last minute the extend the Veteran's Day weekend, our Relief Society decided to take advantage of the free time and the terrific weather to have a get together at the park. The purpose was to thank our dear friend, Denice, for all the wonderful work she had done as our Relief Society president.

We all had a great time together! While the kids all played on the playground and on the grass, the ladies had a chance to talk and catch up.

On this particular occasion, a momentous thing happened! Luke dragged me away from my girlfriends to show me something - he showed me that he now knows how to pump himself on the swings!!! My youngest child no longer needs me to push him! It is the end of an era in parenthood, and the dawning of a new day of freedom at park visits! Yippee!

The kids, both young and older, had a great time together running in the grass, tossing the football, and ice blocking down the hill!

It just felt so great to be outside and together!

How I love visiting with my girlfriends (even if some of them didn't want to see me and my camera!)

And where there are Relief Society ladies, there are babies! Cute ones, too. (I can never resist snapping pics of cute babies!)

We all had a blast together, and when it was all over, my boys tried to convince me that they needed to keep the ice blocks.

Um, no.

It was a GREAT time for everyone! We should most definitely do it again! How about during Christmas break,... after Christmas, of course.

Been Busy on my Photo Blog!

I have been busy with my new little photography business! Come by my blog, The Attic Window, for a visit and see who has been keeping me hopping!

Move Over, Jet Li!

A few weeks ago, our martial arts school was having a commercial filmed and they had us all come looking our best, ready to show the cameras what we've got.

Well, as it turned out, the camera was drawn to this kid - Dylan! The commercial makers couldn't get enough of him and his high flying kicks!

All the bright lights that were set up for the shoot also made it possible for me to get some pretty great photographs. Is that a cool picture, or what?

They had Dylan do take after take after take of some of his cooler kick combinations. He never even got tired!

The producer's favorite was this move where Dylan kicks his way UP the bag! He really get some big air! It is amazing how far this kids gets off the ground, defying gravity!

Just for comparison, look how much higher Dylan can get than the two other kids who are best that that same move. He has a couple feet on them.

Is it any wonder that Dylan's nickname at taekwando is "Flying Squirrel"?!?!

Of course, Dylan wasn't the only one who got his chance in front of the camera. We all got a chance to show off our stuff.

Luke got to break a few boards for the cameras - and he is only a white belt. It was his first time ever breaking wood and he thought it was very cool!

The women got to show some self defense, which means I got to throw Dennis to the ground like 20 times! Now that was fun! At one point the cameraman actually got on the ground between Dennis and I and shot up, so I had to throw Dennis over the camera. Awkward.

Nate with his his support cast waiting for their big break.

Black belt Nate, showing off his trademark martial arts move, the noogie.

And Caleb's trademark move - the splits.

Then the kids got to put on their sparring gear and spar for the cameras. Not me. I conveniently forgot my gear. Darn. And I just look so good in that headgear, too.

Then Master Gu showed us his stuff by doing a fancy combination, full speed at the expensive camera, missing it by just an inch or two. The cameraman didn't even flinch. The old man still has it, apparently. I guess they don't make you a 7th degree grand master for nothing.

Move over, Jet Li! Dylan "Flying Squirrel" VanBuskirk has all the moves!

The whole commercial shoot was a fun experience for our family. It is amazing how it takes hours and hours to shoot a two minute commercial. Can't wait to see how it comes out.

Go Knights Polo!

Alex decided to start his freshman year of high school by playing on the water polo team. It is a young team and a small team - when the season started, they didn't even have enough boys to make a full team, but after a few weeks they were able to recruit a few more so they could actually play games with other schools. The good part about being on a small team is that everyone gets to play a lot, which was really a great experience for Alex.

Many of the boys have never played water polo before this season. It was actually quite fun to watch the boys improve as they learned, and to see their teamwork get better and better as the season went on. We noticed that they actually were very competitive score-wise, and were even sometimes ahead, during the first half of the games, but their scores would start falling behind in the last half as the boys got tired and didn't have a big enough team for fresh replacements. Teams that were 3 times the size had 3 fresh teams throughout a game.

They did win their first game near the end of the season. Alex was so proud and couldn't stop talking about it.

Their last game was at my own alma mater - Indio High School, in the same pool I have spent many hours splashing around myself. Weird to see my own kid competing in my old pool!

Earlier in the season we played Indio and lost something like 24:2, but this time they only lost something like 12:5 - so they doubled their scores and cut the other teams goals in half. Now that is real improvement, I'd say!

Next year, if they can recruit more players (Nate will be there!), I think they will really be surprised at how well they will do!

In the above picture Alex (#10) assists in a goal by grabbing the ball and throwing it immediately right to Jake Orduno, who scored! Great play, Alex! After, his amazing coach, Michelle, congratulates him on a good play.

Alex wasn't so sure he wanted to play water polo, but did finally take the plunge, and it has been such a great move for him. I have seen his confidence really soar this season, not only in polo, but in many other areas of his life, like taekwando. He is starting, for the first time in his life, to think of himself as an athlete, which is huge for him. (Back when Alex had that same kind of Ah-HA moment about school and being an academic in middle school - his grades went from bad to nearly perfect.) We have learned that when Alex decides he wants to do something, he does it, so he might just decide that he wants to be a great polo player and do what it takes to get there.

And Alex has worked HARD! Water Polo is a difficult, exhausting sport, and they practice for hours every day. Alex has lost at least 10 lbs during the season! That is impressive and an indication of how hard he is working. (And he has trademark crispy hair, red eyes, and usually reeks of chlorine - ah, the joys of aquatic athletics.)

On the day after the last game, they had an informal awards ceremony at the pool. Each boys got a certificate of participation. When it was Alex' turn, coach Michelle said that unfortunately it wasn't until late in the season that they learned the secret to Alex's success - candy! Lots of it right before a game (which makes sense, because sugar makes him aggressive. Too much and he really starts picking on his brothers. We knew he had the aggression in him, the trick was how to get him to transfer his aggression from his poor brothers to the other team. Candy, that's how.)

What a great bunch of boys we have on that team - and 3 of them (that's like a third of the team) are LDS, which is fun. After the awards the whole team, including the coach got in the pool for one of their favorite practice games, 2 on 2. It was fun watching them play and laugh together.

Water polo really is a fun sport, and like Alex says, when he sees those poor football players out there sweating it out in heavy gear on a miserable hot desert day, he knows he is in the right place!

The Ransom of Emily Jane

Both Nathan and Dylan were in their school play last week, "The Ransom of Emily Jane," an adaption of O. Henry's classic "The Ransom of Red Chief." It was quite a fun and clever play.

Dylan made his acting debut as a boy on a scooter. Literally. His official role was of a "townsperson," Yep, that's right. He actually got to ride his scooter in front of the stage, out the doors, and then come back around behind the stage and do it again... and again...and again. That's it. He went to play practice day after day after day so that he ride his scooter across the front of the stage about a dozen times!

During their first performance, Dylan rode across the stage and out the doors of the multi-purpose room. I could see him outside through the glass doors. The vice principle saw him of his scooter on campus and bolted towards him and started chewing Dylan out for having his scooter on school grounds. Dylan tried to explain that he was in the middle of a play, and that he was not actually riding his scooter - it was all just acting. Luckily the drama teacher saw what was going on and ran out to verify Dylan's story before Dylan got dragged to the principle's office right in the middle of his play!

Nathan had a much more substantial role. He plays the father of the kidnapped girl, the richest man in the county. Nate did a great job, and had a fun role because he got to deliver the big punchline of the whole play. The little kidnapped girl was such a little brat and drove her kidnappers crazy so much that instead paying the ransom, the father (Nathan) had a counter-offer. He would take his daughter off their hands for a fee. The kidnappers gladly paid the cash be get rid of the girl!

Nate did a great job, as always. Nathan is really good at getting in character and staying in character, and this time he played his part to a T.

Curtain call. Take a bow, boys!

Lego Competition

The twins just loved being on the Lego Robotics team at their elementary school, so they were really excited just a few months ago when their middle school started their own team. They have been working hard to get it together in time for their first competition this past weekend. Nathan is also on their team, but didn't attend the competition since he and Alex were at the all-day stake missionary activity (right where he should be, I might add.) So the other boys and I went to the robotics competition to cheer the twins on. Here they are with their robot and their great coach, Mr. Dolan.

Their cute friend Connor was also on their team at the elementary school.

The competition was fierce. Each round is only 2.5 minutes long and the pre-programed robots have to complete as many tasks as possible in that time.

So that meant we there there ALL afternoon to see less than 10 minutes of action. Whoot whoot.

In the end they didn't score so high (they were right in the mid range) - but they did a GREAT job, considering how little time their rookie team had to get it their robots designed, built, and programmed.

But they did get a special award for exemplifying the 7 core values of the robotics competition, including teamwork and good sportsmanship - just as important as scoring high, if not more important, if you ask me. Out of the 17 teams there, only 4 special awards, so it was a real honor for them!

Good work, Team STAR! This is just the beginning of good things to come.

Halloween Continued...

All of the Halloween fun continued on Saturday Night with our ward's Trunk or Treat! This year it was held in the Thatcher's huge backyard.

They had a few fun surprises there, like the fact that we enjoyed music all evening played by a skeleton on the grand piano. Awesome!

Tonight Nate was a harmonica playing hobo, but had to share his favorite bench with a fat ballerina, a.k.a Ryan.

There were several fun games for everyone including a cake walk, relay races, and a good old donut-on-a-string-eating competition. Such glamorous shots of everyone, don't you think?

So fun to see everyone in their costumes,...

except for my dad, who had a long gray ponytail and his shirt open to reveal his ripped chest. Gross!!! I couldn't stand looking at my sweet, clean-cut father like a dirty old man. Eeew.

Mom seemed to like it though.

After the games everyone enjoyed the trunk or treating as well as the hot cider and hot chocolate, and my personal favorite, Shea's pumpkin cake, possibly the most delicious, decadent thing I have ever eaten.

Luke and his buddy Logan helped Dennis pass put candy from the "trunk" of our golf cart.

I decided last minute to go as a black belt, a Korean black belt, donning my chuks and a black wig, just for fun. Most folks agreed that I am better as a blond (plus, I think a 6 foot Koran gal is just not very convincing.) I did like being a brunette, though. Maybe I'll throw that thing on sometime,just for fun.

My dear friend Staci planned the whole evening. She did a great job! Everyone had a great time!

Then on Halloween night, since it was Sunday and we couldn't go trick-or-treating, we decided to invite all of Dennis' and my local family over for our traditional freaky food night. Kids may not have gone trick or treating, but they still got their fair share of candy thanks to a humongous pinata.

As tradition, we also celebrated all the VanBuskirk birthdays for the month of October, including Caleb who got another chance to make a wish and open more presents.

No freaky food night would be complete without my sister Lisa's kitty litter cake. Gross, but good, if you can look past the cat turds (melted tootsie rolls, ok).

All in all, even though Halloween was on a Sunday, I actually think this was our best Halloween yet because it wasn't just one crazy busy night, but for our family Halloween went on for 4 nights in a row! Crazy fun week!

BOO BASH

Halloween week was crazy fun. On Friday night the boys got dressed up for our elementary school's big Halloween carnival, the Boo Bash.

Thanks to the Rick Riordan books Derek and Dylan decided to be Greek gods this year. Derek was Hades, god of the underworld, and and Dylan was Poseidon, god of the sea. They made their own costumes, and I think they did a great job!

Luke was a cool Top Gun pilot with his aviator sunglasses, and Caleb, as you know, was Obama. (see previous post)

Nate had suddenly gone blind - I think it was "soap poisoning."

The Boo Bash was fun! We ran into so many dear friends - but first we had to recognize them in their costumes.

My kids loved the spook house, but their favorite spot seemed to be over at the gold fish game. I think they won an entire school of goldfish!

Their other favorite booth was ring the soda bottle. We don't drink much soda at our house, so for my kids, the idea that they could have their very own bottle of soda was very appealing to them.

In the end we came home from the Boo Bash with 9 bottles of soda and 16 goldfish!!! Not a bad catch for one evening.

Mistaken Identity

On the Friday before Halloween, Caleb's school had a costume parade. Here he is with his class. He is the tallest kid in his class, and the tall top hat didn't help any.

First, the classes went trick-or-treating around the first grade classrooms.

Then the whole school had a big parade around the field. It was so fun to see everyone showing off their costumes, and the kids got a kick out of all the comments they gave each other.

Caleb was a bit stressed that nobody knew who he was. He said, "Mom, everybody thinks I am Obama."

"Obama?" I asked in disbelief, " Why would anyone think you look like President Obama?"

"Because of my hat."

"Do you mean President Lincoln?"

"Oh yah. I mean Lincoln."

Love that kid!

Then again, I could see how one might easily confuse Obama with a ring leader at the circus.