Funny How My Family Always Sneaks In

Guess what! I was completely surprised to be named the school district's Outstanding Bus Driver of the Year for 2018-2019. 

Sadly, it seems I have forgotten to take a picture of my shiny, new, magnetic plaque, which is now hanging in my bus, so you'll just have to look at a picture of Sophia reading to kids at the library instead. I think that's much more entertaining anyway.

Little girls love sparkly crowns. Big girls also love sparkly crowns.

Quick (ha!) news shorts:

Elannah snagged the plum casting she wanted as Anita in the high school's production of West Side Story. Anita is an alto and Maria is a soprano, and Elannah has no illusions that she can belt high enough up the register to do Maria's part, so she was thrilled to be cast as Anita as her last big hurrah in her senior year (plus, her beautiful best friend, who has a lovely soprano voice, got cast as Maria, so they get to work together). She's also the dance captain for the drama department, so she's been working hard to teach her choreography, which (in my humble mom opinion) is really good. She tells me about her experiences in trying to herd a group of dramatic and mostly uncoordinated kids through the steps, and I've been thrilled with the leadership skills she's had to learn.

Here's a short video of Elannah dancing with her ex-boyfriend (who was also her ex at the time, although they've been able to establish a good post-breakup friendship) dancing at the last Christmas concert. Elannah had to choreograph some moves for this, and I only remembered to record the last little bit because I was so engrossed in watching the concert without a phone in front of my face.



Sian, Nathan, and grandson Tyler are all doing well. Nathan just interviewed for a well-paid intern position writing software for a military contractor, and it looks like he'll get hired on in early March. Tyler is sitting up all by himself and is a happy, contented baby who is the light of his Nanna's eyes (in case you weren't quite sure yet how much I adore my grandson). And Sian has not gone insane while taking care of an infant and living in a very small apartment when it's too cold to go outside a lot and she doesn't always have a car. Seriously, when you're a mom to infants, not going insane can be a big win, even if you love your baby more than life itself.

He's old enough to start grabbing his parents' glasses off their faces.

Sophia and Gabrielle are both rising stars at their work (they work in the same place). Each of them has different strengths, and they're being given leadership positions in different departments, where their individual strengths shine. Gabrielle, for instance, saw a need in the training department and wrote training manuals that now allow them to effectively train far more people in a much quicker time-frame than before. Sophia is heading into customer relations, where she and a couple other kids are shaping the new and growing customer relations department. They plan on getting Elannah an interview there after she graduates, as there are no objections from the higher-ups about hiring multiple members of the same family--although they warn that Elannah will have to live up to some high expectations set by her sisters. I'm sure Elannah is up to the task.

While Gabrielle has developed a good group of friends where she lives, Sophia still comes up here every weekend. Her boyfriend lives and works up here, for one thing (he's the head trainer at our local VASA gym. He's a really good guy), and she often has to do things in her Miss [Our City] capacity. Plus, she and Elannah are very, very close, and I know they miss each other so much when they're not together. I would love for Sophia to make more friends where she lives, but at least we get to see her on the regular, while Gabrielle doesn't often travel up here, and I miss her.

Husband created a mantel around our previously boring and unremarkable gas fireplace. The trim was a gift from his parents for Christmas, and he did the tiling with laminate wood flooring samples arranged in a random pattern. 

Joseph just got approved for the homebound program with his high school, where a teacher is assigned to him and visits him on a regular basis in our home. His social anxiety has been a huge obstacle for him in attending traditional school, so I'm glad there are options. One thing he's doing that he has found very helpful is to play online games with other people. He knows not to share personal information, but he plays with people from all over the world. He has to talk to them one-on-one, and that forces him to develop his conversational skills while giving him the relief of not being face-to-face. This experience is helping him reduce the stress he feels in social interactions, which is mostly caused because he has an inflated sense of worry about making a mistake and being found out as a total loser. His anxiety and depression have been a very difficult thing for him and for us, as his parents, to deal with, and it's been heart-breaking in many ways. But Joseph also found a way to earn money for himself as a survey-taker. It doesn't pay much, but it's money he makes on his own, and he's really proud of getting checks for that work. It builds his self-esteem. He used some of his money to create a printed calendar that includes some hilariously terrible photographs of internet memes. My kids have a very specific sense of humor. I think it's very dry and British, and Joseph's calendar is an example of it. We spent quite a while laughing over it.

Here, Joseph and I discuss bird anatomy while I have Mrs. Puff, his albino parakeet, sitting on my shoulder.



Little Gary is shooting up like he wants to go buy new trousers and shirts every week because he's growing out of them so fast. He hates shopping, of course, but he refuses to stop growing, so that's a conflict that won't be resolved for the next five or six years at least. He's still best friends with our neighbor, Molly, who is growing up to be a darling young woman. The fact that she puts up with Little Gary and some of his more annoying youngest-child quirks makes me love her even more. Little Gary is developing a real talent for writing and drawing. Gabrielle has been encouraging him in his art, which makes him really happy because he deeply admires her drawing abilities, and his dad and I have been encouraging him to write, write, write.

Me and Little Gary, who is not so little anymore.[

I was going to write something else entirely, but my family just snuck in there, as usual. It's been a while, so I guess it's good that I chronicle our adventures in case anyone is interested. Me. I'm interested. Maybe my kids will see this in the future and have fond memories.