Yami’s Mindless Chatter

Back to school.....(8/26/09)

nobody@vox.com(Yami) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:41:38 -0700

So, we really went back to school on 8/20, but I'm just now getting on here and getting pictures uploaded. Abigail requested that we do pictures in front of the school this year, so that's where we took them. Also, since I'm at school now, too, I had my picture taken. I think Abigail did a pretty good job.

Both kids seem to be settling down into school already. Rich is coming home with green behavior days, which is a good thing. I hear he's working hard. Abigail is already starting a PowerPoint about herself that is due next Friday. Actually, most of it's done, she's just adding pictures to it. She is definitely a go-getter when it comes to her school work.

As for me, I love the all the children are back in the building. It really makes it come to life. After being there through a complete cycle of school in, school out, registration and school starting back up, I finally feel like I have my feet underneath me. Of course, that means that sometimes a little more crankiness shows through at the office, but I try not to let it get the best of me.

This weekend is my kick-back and relax weekend with the girls. Going to a scrap weekend from Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon. When I went in February, they about had to kick me out. Then I missed the next 8 days of work with pneumonia. That will so NOT be happening this time around (the sickness, not the kicking me out!)

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On your mark...get set....SWIM (part II)

nobody@vox.com(Yami) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:10:10 -0700

So, I guess I should have saved that title until after the first swim meet, but obviously, I just wasn't thinking. Abigail swam in 4 events today. 50M Free, 50M Back, 50M Fly and 200 Free Relay. She was first in her heat with the 50M Back and her time was somewhere around 58:00. Don't know if that means she'll get a ribbon or not. We'll find that out on Monday.

Here are a few shots of the day.......

Coach said to make a grid on their arm showing what they were racing and when. Abigail has small arms, because we used both of hers to get all the info on there!

Here is a picture of most of the team, getting their final directions before the meet starts...(Abigail is the one with the blue circle around her head).

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Finally, here's little brother Rich who was sooooo very patient through the entire swim meet.

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I helped volunteer with the timing. I think I helped time about 5 races. We didn't have a lot of activity in our lane, but it was good practice for when there are bigger meets. Coach also wants parents to learn to be officials. I also already said I'd be on the board, as they need parents for that, too. This team is just starting up, so it's going to be fun watching and helping it to grow.

We went out to Taco Bell for lunch afterwards and just got home a little bit ago. When we were leaving Taco Bell, the sky opened up and we got DRENCHED just going a few feet from the restaurant to the van.

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On your mark....get set....SWIM!

nobody@vox.com(Yami) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 05:26:26 -0700

Yes, that's just about all that our family is thinking about these days. When can we get back in the water? Maybe I should change the layout of this blog from purple to blue...nah, I really like the purple!

Abigail has her first swim meet this Saturday. It's a local invitational, just to get the swimmers used to swimming competitions. She's excited. Wants to know if we can go out and celebrate afterwards. She's still loving it and wanting to learn how to improve her strokes. I love her dedication.

Rich is doing well in his swim lessons. He had to swim 25 yards last night in lessons. He needed a little help, but I think he's getting there. he's got all the pieces, just can't do them all together yet.

Richard and I are still in our adult lessons. I'm glad we took it first in June when it was just the two of us. There are 6 or 7 in our class now, and that makes it hard for our teacher to give us individual attention. Richard is working on mastering all the strokes. I just want to be able to go up and down the lane freestyle and do flip turns. I can do the freestyle part....I'm working on the flip turns. I tend to flip more and turn less, so I come up going the same direction I was headed in the first place.

The bathroom is coming along. I've been working on mudding the walls. I decided to avoid the step of sanding by texturing the walls instead of trying to make them absolutely smooth. I think this is going to be a much better idea. I have all the new towels, curtain, and accessories. I'm going to go buy the paint today. It's going to be beige with an accent wall of bluish/green teal, but not really teal. Kind of hard to describe, but I got the color from the shower curtain.

Some of the Yamamoto side relatives are coming out in about 1 1/2 weeks, so the kids are about ready to drive me crazy. I caved in and signed them up for summer camp next week. It will keep them busy and out of my hair while I work on the bathroom and getting the rest of the house ready for our guests.

I was looking at the Halloween picture of Abigail and Rich where they're Hannah Montana and Billy Ray Cyrus and thinking that I really need to update that picture. Maybe I can get them in their swimsuits one of these days (ha ha ha) and get a new picture (or two or three) to share. They've grown a lot this summer....along with our grocery bill!

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Tah Dah! Yes, we are alive......7/9/09

nobody@vox.com(Yami) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:22:46 -0700

Okay, so I guess it's been a while. Well, a LONG while, right? So, what have we been up to?

Rich finished Kindergarten. With flying colors, this proud mama might add. He did a little bit of summer school and was familiarized with a new computer (BrailleNote) that he'll start using fairly regularly next year. It's quite a fancy piece of equipment. We're working on teaching Rich that it's not a toy. He is intrigued because it has different synthesized speech voices and speeds. The faster he can make it, the more the words sound like Alvin & the Chipmunks. He is also taking swimming lessons this summer. He's doing really well. He can jump off the side of the pool with no hands, likes to find the bottom, and is swimming about 10 feet by himself. In his classes, they're also working on smaller dives. His comment a few days ago was "can't we live under the water, mama?" So, we spend a lot of time at the Y.

Abigail is on the 2nd squad of the swim team at the Y. It's a new team that's starting up because the Y itself is brand new. She has practice 3 times a week in addition to all the family time we spend at the pool. She is getting anxious to start 4th grade.

Richard and I have been taking adult swim lessons at the Y and we are both getting very good. He's intent on learning all the strokes, where I'm more concerned with swimming freestyle back and forth, building up endurance and figuring out flip turns. Those have taken me a while. Richard has mastered breast stroke, free style, back and side. He just started working on butterfly tonight. In June, we had the teacher to ourselves. Now, there are several other people, so we don't get the individual attention we did. I'm glad we have that foundation to build on, rather than trying to get more time with the instructor.

Richard is still busy at work. I'm off for July and trying to get a project done in the bathroom. I have all the wallpaper down. Now, I need to re-mud the walls and get it painted. Then I can hang new towel bars and such. I'm looking forward to getting it done. I've been dawdling, so it's not gotten done as quickly as it could have.

The pets are all doing fine. The dogs need to visit the vet, but I haven't told them that yet. It's certainly NOT their favorite place to visit.

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February 14, 2009.....yeah, really.....

nobody@vox.com(Yami) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 18:23:32 -0800

Yeah, it's been *that* long since I've updated. There has been so much going on, that I'm not even sure how to catch up on it all, so instead, I'll just updated about my last week :)

Last weekend, Fri-Sun, I went scrapbooking for the whole weekend! I stayed at the hotel and had a great time. I got 33 pages done!!! Unfortunately, I was sick, too, while there. Once home, I went to the doctor (I do have priorities, right? LOL!) Turned out I had bronchitis. Dr. wrote me out for Monday and Tuesday. I went back to work on Wednesday, was there about 1/2 hour---45 minutes and my boss pretty much told me to go back home. On Thursday morning, back to the doctor I trekked. Bronchitis was pretty much cleared up, but in had moved.....pnuemonia. Dr. said I have to stay home at least until I see him again on Tuesday. Oye! Turned out to be a very expensive scrapbook weekend. LOL!

At least I got a lot done.

I have almost all the pictures from last Summer done, but forgot a set of them. I was not nearly as organized this time as last year. Maybe next time (if I go again...can't afford another weekend like this again soon) I'll get the rest of the summer pictures done and start on Christmas 2008. I also have kids birthday parties, Halloween and Thanksgiving to scrapbook too. I guess that's what I get for taking so many pictures :)

Speaking of pictures, I have so many that I want to share, that I'm not sure where to start, so I'll just be even and pick one of Rich and one of Abigail to share....at least to whet your appetites for more, right???

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Muffins with Mommy (10/10/08)

nobody@vox.com(Yami) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:33:58 -0700

Today was muffins with mom at Rich's school. What a treat that I was able to sneak away from the office and spend this wonderful time with him. He is such a gregarious little boy~~taking time to introduce me to his friends and people he hadn't even met yet (like the other kids' moms!) Silly, silly boy, but what a great ice breaker, too!

Since it was muffins with mom, they performed a little song.....

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Also, we got a picture taken of ourselves....

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Yes, I was brave enough to wear my Cottonwood t-shirt to Martin today. Hey, at least it's all blue, right? LOL!

Rich and I counted m&m's, too. We had 80 of all different colors, then had to sort them into colored piles and make a graph. Rich did great counting over and over. I helped with the sorting. The graph he made was tactile, but the teacher wanted to keep it, so I'll have to share that a little later.

Abigail has soccer tomorrow. Today, after school, she went to a friend's house, where they made posters for Student Council. Week after next, is Red Ribbon/Live United week, so they're having a fundraiser and different days to dress up. Abigail and her friend had to make a poster for their class and also a younger class, since they are representatives on the STUCO (student council). So, it was a busy week all the way around!

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Dang it all! (10/6/08)

nobody@vox.com(Yami) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:22:04 -0700

Okay, I seriously cannot believe how long it's been since I've posted on here. OVER a month? I totally missed September! Geesh! If any of y'all out there are still checking in, I hope this sort of makes up for it.

I've been kinda buried in work, school, and finding old friends. Not necessarily in that order. Richard has been steadily working on the outside of our house, getting it ready to paint. It's kind of polka-dotted right now, because he primed the "raw" wood yesterday and it rained today. Not sure what he's planning for tomorrow, but he hopes to be done by the end of next weekend.

I am still totally LOVING the new job. Well, it's not so new anymore, but I still really enjoy it. I love seeing the kids and helping out the teachers. It's a great job. Just enough gossip to keep me happy, and I don't have to deal with the drama. That's someone else's problem! LOL!

Kids are doing great. Rich knows 18/26 of his braille letters, plus the period symbol and number symbol. Kindergarten is going great for him. Abigail is excelling in school as well. Her parent/teacher conference is tomorrow, and I don't expect any surprises. She tested in the gifted range for reading and missed the math range by 4 points. Not bad. She has 100% in science and not less than a 96% in any of her study areas. I'm impressed with both of them this year. Well, I'm almost always impressed with them. I just sometimes don't realize how much they really are absorbing.

Not much else is going on. My scrap room is still packed up, which is fine. I don't have a lot of time to work on it right now. I am planning on a scrapbook night with some friends in November. I can't wait!! I think I'm going to work on my pictures from this summer. I only took about 300 of them.

Oh, and Abigail has been taking pictures like crazy. I need to download some of them soon to share.

Okay, I need to get going, but felt like I *really* needed to get on here and give y'all an update!!!

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First day(s) of school (8/20/08)

nobody@vox.com(Yami) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:02:36 -0700

I suppose I owe y'all out there an update. A couple of weeks ago, getting ready for the office to be ready for school to start, I pulled a 57 hour work week. Thankfully, I get paid time and a 1/2 for anything over the 40 hours.

After a week like that, you'd think I'd be ready to run for the hills. Thankfully, such is not the case. In fact, I love the job more and more. Today, I had to come home sick (really sick) and was SOOOO disappointed. I guess that's a good sign, huh?

Okay, I'm ready to share the kids' first day of school pictures. I'm not sure what I was thinking (or not thinking), but I didn't think to have anyone take MY picture. Duh!!

Without further ado....here's Abigail and Rich on their first days of school:

Abigail started on August 15 and Rich started on August 19. They are both off to a wonderful start!!

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Home Sweet Home.....(8/5/08)

nobody@vox.com(Yami) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 05:30:46 -0700

We made it back from our whirl-wind trip around the western part of the United States. All in all, it was a GREAT time. We came home exhausted, but full of memories and happy smiles. We were glad to see Richard/Daddy again and of course, all the pets. I think Skittles the cat was a little mad at us for being gone so long. It took her 2-3 days to really warm up to me again. Not sure how she was with the kids.

Now, it's photo album time. I just downloaded pictures and took 244 while we were gone. I promise not to share all of them, but there are a few that I just have to share! And, in going over all the pictures, I think what I'll do is just share a few with you each time. Then, take more and more and more. I just gotta say, that I'm loving digital, cause you can pick and choose what you want to print--no more blurry prints or fingers over the lens or pictures that make you think "what the heck was that *supposed* to be? Kinda like this one:

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But then, there are ones like these, that even with the *old-fashioned* was of developing film, made it worthwhile:

From left to right, a picture of breakfast at YOCF (Your Order Comes Fast) restraunt (at Auntie Di's house), Abigail striking a pose, and Rich & Abigail taking a dip in Auntie Di's hot tub. (We won't mention that Rich didn't have a suit--oh wait, I guess I just did!)

We had dinner at Carolyn's house while we were there. She and her room-mate Kris (Chris?) made us yummy enchiladas, salad, fruit and brownies. Yum! Here are a few shots of that evening.....

Carolyn, Rich, Debbie, Abigail and Di......Chris (Kris?), Abigail, Carolyn, Rich, Di...........Debbie & Steve

Well, folks...that's about all I have time for this morning. Next time, I'll wrap up the Davis leg of the trip and possibly get to the Merced part. School starts next week and I'm already working lots and lots. Still loving it, too!!!

Until next time.....HUGS!!!!

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California heat

nobody@vox.com(Yami) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:13:05 -0700

Well, we're done with the first leg of this summer adventure. We left Grandma and Grandpa's house yesterday. We had a great time visiting with grandparents and all the aunties and cousin Carolyn. The kids went bowling, swimming in a spa and several sleep-overs. They had a great time. Abigail had mixed feelings about leaving. She's looking forward to the next stops, but was sad to leave the family.

Rich was ready to move on. So, now, we're spending some time with Grandad and Grandma Vicky. We're going swimming this afternoon. Not sure what else we'll do while here. It's a much quieter pace of life, which is a nice change for me to recharge my batteries.

Richard reports that Maisy's ear is gettng better. So, that's good news, too.

Unfortunately, no new pictures to share. I'll have some after we get home, I think.

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