This Dream

I keep having this dream. It happens every few weeks. The idea and setting are the same, the only thing that is different is place the plane crashes. I am always at home with my whole family here, and I am looking out my back window. I am watching this airplane come towards my house and I am thinking "what do I do, there is nothing I can do". So I just stand there. At the last second it veers east and hits the grocery store parking lot. My house gets pummeled with burning debris and I have a few minutes to run frantically locating everyone, and getting everyone out of the house. This time I looked out of the babies window, and there were already truck backed into my yard picking up the debris. One of the men on this crew looked at me and asked me if I was going to go put that fire out because their job was clean up, not fire fighting, so they couldn't clean it up until it wasn't on fire. I ask him if it was a gas tank and wasn't it going to explode, and he replied 'well, you better hurry then'. The whole time I am assessing damage to see if we could still live in the house, because I am not moving back in with my parents. (that whole part is a little comical to me. My house would have to be hit be an airplane to have to move in with family. Of any sort)
My kids always end up okay, even though the babies room has been hit in a few dreams. Sometimes I am able to get my kids together as the plane is crashing, and we get into the basement. (that must be my safe place because that's were we hold up in case of a zombie apocalypse  too.)
Last night, my final thought as I was waking up....... maybe I can get a new house out of this. Maybe these dreams are about still not having the main parts of my house finished, and just wanting to get out of it. A little extreme? maybe.

This are going pretty normally around here. If you haven't heard yet, we are having a girl in march. I am tired and my joints are stiff. But, I am old. And tired. And pregnant.
My in laws sold there house of 30 + years. Kind of huge.
We just go on from day to day. Nothing too exciting. Which is prefect. Our ward split a few months ago. Which caused me to be released from RS President, and Trent called as YM's president in our new ward. I kind of miss it. I liked having something important to do. Well, important out side of the house. And then, I don't miss it.
Trent is registered to start school in January, which I am so excited about. It's time.

Doritos

I hate them. They are on that list of foods, only kids will eat. Like Twinkies, Cheetos, marshmallows, any sugar cereal, hotdogs, fast food, suckers, Sweethearts, Necco wafers, fruit snacks. Okay, in a pinch, these things can be consumed by adults, oh I just remembered Velveeta, but not enjoyed. Or, on a trip, as in car food. Why do I even bring this up? My kids are on a Doritos kick. And, I have to admit, I like those Chili Limon ones. What I don't like is what we used to refer to as Cheeto herpes. You know that orange stuff left behind on your hand after eating a few. The desert part of the childhood Cheeto consumption? As a parent, I  hate the stuff. It's on the wall, it's on the couches, it's on the shirts, because after the fingers are licked, they are then wiped down the front of the clothes, or if mom is watching, on the shorts. And, because they are into the chili limon flavor, it's bright red.

 I feel a little guilty giving out my blog address with so few posts in the past year.

 It's already mid June, summer is in full swing and we're as busy as ever. We have already taken the kids camping, the older three are in their school summer program and # 4 is begging to go back to school.

This first picture is from #7's bout with fifth's disease. How we got that in our home again, I will never know. Both babies got it this time, after avoiding it in January. It is not fun. But, I am glad they got it as babies. Trent had it in Feb. and it was rough on him.
This summer is looing like it will be a hot one. But oddly enough, I am not minding the heat this year. Anything over 80 to me is miserable. But this dry heat makes 90 not so bad..
Our babies have very different personalities. #8, is feisty, serious, and will not hesitate to push her brother around. Number 7, is a big bowl of smiles. Someone asiked me the other day if he was always smiling. Yes, he rarely cries and takes his sisters beating pretty well. They are completely opposite. Even in the food they like. I will put the same thing on their tray for dinner, and he'll eat the meat and potatoes, she'll eat the fruit and cottage cheese.
# 1 turns 12 on the 30th. for her birthday she wants us to take her to do baptisms . We are so excited she wants to start her 12th year this way, and wants us to take her. # 2 turns 11 2 days before that. He will be in his dad's scout group and gets to go camping as an 11 yr old scout on Friday.
We're gearing up for our week of birthdays, (#4 turns 7 July 1st) and my sister should be having her 1st baby with in the next week. I took all of them to the Dinosaur park last week, and even came home with everyone. # 8 is starting to stand, and taking a few steps. I am excited for this summer. I am excited for all the big things happening.

The Big One

My babies turned one.

Union, Teachers and Tenure, oh my

Let me first start out by saying I LOVE teachers. I think the job is one of the hardest. Not thankless. The satisfaction of teaching a child to read, improve reading skill, would be the greatest thank you. And as I am typing this, I am leaving an open ended invitation to add your 2 cents worth. Nicely please, because don't have ill intentions.
What is the reason for a teahers union. Well, the question is for any union, but my mind had been on teachers unions lately. I 100% agree will the movement to get rid of teachers unions and tenure. Why can we not higher or fire a teacher and pay a teacher according to their merit, experience and successes. Mostly I pose this question to the good teachers out there. You know who you are. Most likely, you are the ones that LOVE your job and our kids that you teach. Wouldn't it be better incentive to do a great job, if your raises depended on it.
My oldest has had her share of crummy teachers. As a matter of fact, she had one teacher that didn't even know her name at the 1st SEP 3 months in to the school year. She was a whole grade behind in 2,3 and 4th grade, until we got her a tutor in 5th.Every teacher would say, don't worry, she'll catch up.
My 3rd, couldn't speak intelligibly until this year, and the first time any of his teachers mentioned anything was 2nd grade. Then she asked if she wanted her to initiate a speech eval, and I never heard about it again after she agreed to do it. This was after I took him in to be tested at 4 through the school district, and they told me he wasn't delayed enough qualify for speech therapy.
Anyway, enough about my kids school experience. They are now in a local charter school, and I am thrilled with where they are. #1 is thriving. She is completely caught up, and loves school. They even deal with #2's free spirit pretty well. They are in a group with 10 other kids, so they are better able to customize learning to where they are at.
So, back on topic. I read the other day, the superintendent in NJ schools, when fired, was given a 741,000$ severance package. On top of 120k a year to retire. And that was someone let go.
In this same state. Spending in a class room was 341k for the year. the teachers only made 57k of that. The rest of it went to administration, and school lunches. The janitors are making 6 figures. I don't have statistics on UT schools, but I will look those up also.
Wouldn't it make more sense to cut administration, and give their salary to teachers that were good, no great at their job? Or hire more and cut class sizes?
Why not? tenor. and Unions. My husband isn't entitled to his job. If he sucks at it, he would get fired. It's the way life works.
I could go into why these two things are connected. but do I need to? can you not see the unions fighting for and voting on job security like tenure.
Unions in America were first started for good reason. Child labor, dangerous work environment. Those things are not necessary anymore.
I am betting that if we cut administration, paid teachers on according to their abilities, the ones that loved their jobs would be making 6 figures. I would be happy with that.
Is my view flawed? What do you think? Do you take my thoughts on school reform as criticizing teachers? I think it's opposite. I think good teaches ought to be rewarded. I think crappy teachers should loose their jobs. They do damage to the kids they are teaching. They should not be given an early retirement .(which was the argument I over heard at a dinner the other night. Because as it was stated, by a teacher, that was the only way to get rid of them. How backwards is that)
Please tell me what you think.

We Went, We Saw, We Came Home

Last weekend we picked up and went to Vegas.
This here my friends, is what I consider a trip to Vegas. Not your typical Vegas vacay. We don't gamble. We don't drink. We don't smoke. What we do in Vegas, doesn't need to stay in Vegas. As a matter of fact, that slogan makes me cringe.
Our family has now been without network TV for 18 months. Besides Netflix, we don't watch it. Imagine our shock, when we turned the TV on at the hotel, and what we were bombarded with. The commercials were worse than the shows. We saw one add, promoting a service the cable company provided, to now label the adult movies you paid to view, as something generic. So you could hide that purchase from your wife/ employer/ children. (now that there is a commercial for that service, it's no longer discrete) What happened to morality? Values? If pornography was an honest good activity, there would be no need to hide or disguise it.
This place is called the Valley of Fire. It is one of my favorite places in the world. We spent many a family vacations here. Ward camp outs were always here. When I think about going to Vegas, this is the first place I want to go. It is such a beautiful place. When Trent talks about how much he loves the desert, I can agree with him when I think of here. I was so excited to share it with my kids. Next time we come, we will pull the camper with us, so we can stay here, instead of the hotels in town.
Vegas really is different. It even has a different feel to it. I have family that lives out there, so we will go to see them. But, it will not be a destination for a vacation.
It was a quick down and back, we had dinner with my sister and then my mom. It was a nice weekend away. And in true Whipple fashion, we took the long road back. We came up through Caliente and the back side of the Great Basin National Park. Then up through Wendover. We haven't seen the Ghost towns of western UT, those will be another trip.

Oh What a Febuary

We started out February with a party. Our little #5 turned 4. So my sister showed me how to make tutu's and wings, and we made 10 sets of them. Then invited a bunch of little girls over to party. My older kids put together the games and the wings and tutu's were prizes. Then we let them decorate their wings and we danced and ate cupcakes. My 10 yr old son, even ran the 'fairy school' where they learned to use their wands. She had so much fun.
Here's where my little bug is most of the time now. They are both crawling, and she can now follow me and cry to be picked up. Here's what happens when she catches up. The boy is still pretty content and will entertain himself until he needs something.
Here's the girls decorating wings.
Then the sickness hit. It started with Lu, getting spots all over her face. We took her in and she had a strep rash. Then I got strep. And because I never could get in to get antibiotics, It lasted 5 days. Then, #5 got a rash. So we took her in to get her looked at. Fifths disease. Ok, no biggie. Then I realized, my sisters pregnant. Yes biggie. 5th is dangerous to women in the beginning of pregnancy. And she had just spent the day with #5. Luckily she hadn't been contaminated. Trent was the only one that got it. 5ths is kind of like chicken pox. Not a big deal if you are 5. But, if you're 40... not fun. It took 3 weeks for the swelling and aching joints to start to subside.
While all this was going on, our ward did a funeral (which I was in charge of) my first, so I was gone a lot.
The, croup hit. Both babies. Hard. My little boy go it bad. croup is one of those sicknesses that lasts 10 days, and they are just miserable. Times that by 2, and that is what my life was like for 2 weeks. Plus, Trent has been working 10 hr days, with 5th disease. He did not want to come home and take care of sick babies. It has been a hard month.
On the up side. #1 finished off her Faith in God program. This Sunday it was our turn for the Whipple family dinner. There are 43 people in our family, and once a month we take turns at a different home and eat. We decided it would be a good idea if we got everyone together to talked about #4. We explained Down syndrome, and how to include #4. We talked about why we should include her, and why her disability made her learn and understand the way she does. It was a good night.
We are only half way through, and it feel like February should be over. We have another funeral to go to today, another birthday on the 20th (#3 turns 9) and I am in the middle of getting these horrible tattoos removed, and my next treatment is tomorrow. THAT is a painful process. And we still have a trip to Vegas to take. I think it'll be fun. We are going to spend time with my family, and go to the Valley of Fire. As long as everyone can stay healthy.
I am excited for March. I want to get my peas in, and start on the yard again. I have some projects to tackle this year.

Unsolicited Advice

Long time no see.
I took the babies into the doctor yesterday. We have had the flu run through our house, and they seemed to take a little longer to get over this bug. So I had their ped give their ears and lungs a look over. There was a mom there, who had brought her 2 week old twins in for their first visit. we nodded our 'hey, we have something in common' hellos, and went our separate ways. You know that nod. If you have a child with a disability and see another mom in the same boat. It's like an "I get it" nod. I have found moms of twin have that same nod. It's comforting. It's unique. It is an instant bond. It means you can sit down someplace with this complete stranger, and have a conversation. You are part of the same club.
There are 2 kinds of encounters with people in this club. (The twin club, not the down syndrome club) You have the ones who smile, nod, then if they talk to you, they ask what week they were born, weight NICU time. Then you have the others, who no matter what age your babies are, proceed to tell you that you haven't hit the hard part yet. I am tired of these people. You don't find this in the Ds community. There is never anything negative said about raising a child with Ds. We have enough trials with learning, medical, physical.... we don't need anyone telling us that it may or may not get harder.
I have decided that the next time someone tells me how much worse raising twins is going to get, I am going to let them know that the worst part about raising twins so far, has been all of the people telling me how much worse it's going to get.

A Time For Waiting

January is a time to wait.
We wait for winter to be over
We wait for W2's
We wait for return money
We (impatiently) wait for #5's birthday
I wait for #7 to catch up to #8 and start crawling
And #8 to catch up to #7 and finally get a few teeth
We wait for cold/ flu season to be over
and for it to be time to plant peas!

I am going to let #5 have a birthday party. And # 3. I am doing February birthday parties this year. I think we will rotate. Next year it will be my June birthdays then the next year #6 and #4. Although I should do #4 this year. I am afraid if I wait too long, all of her church friends will be so far ahead of where she is, they won't really be friends. Even as it is now, there are only 2 of them that interact with her. I won't go in to that, it hurts my heart.
So we wait, until the next thing.

I Need a Bigger Plate

Trent recently cleaned the computer, and I don't know where he put all of my pictures. I don't even know where to begin looking.
As most of you know, I have accepted a calling to be Relief Society President. How on earth did that happen? I remember vaguely one day as I was running, thinking to myself that I was ready for anything that was in store for me. I was feeling like I was starting to get my life back in order and was feeling back on top of my home and family. I wasn't meaning this. Although I had been feeling like this was going to happen someday, that feeling had intensified over the recent months. But, my babies were new, the current RS presidency had only been in since December of 2010, and Trent was put in as YM president that same month. And he LOVED his calling. And he was good at his calling. I felt safe. I was a little shocked when I was extended the calling Not surprised, just shocked. SO much so, the next day, I called trent and asked him if that had really happened. I had pictured it happening so many times, I wasn't sure if it had actually really happened.
I have now been set a part, and have been in for just over a week. The week after I was called, I was wondering if I could turn and run. I am finally starting to feel like my feet are under me. Hopefully in the next few weeks I can move from a walk to a run.
I keep trying to stand still in my life. I get stuck in my ruts, and I am comfortable in them. Then I am given something that makes me have to move forward. I can't be an effective RS President if I'm not reading my scriptures, praying, and doing things that put me in a good place. I had gotten myself into the habit of drinking soda. Something I never used to do, and I was finding it hard to concentrate. I need to be able to receive direction an think clearly. I'm sure my lack of sleep isn't helping, but caffeine definitely wasn't. And I'm hoping no soda will help with the last 20 lbs I have.
So here's to a new year with worthy obtainable goals. Meeting and exceeding those goals, and finding joy in serving.