i feel dizzy

I normally try to avoid lots of extra curricular activities with the kids I really don't enjoy the fast paced life. I think because I do work during the week that I just want to hang out with the kids on the the weekends. I know it's practically a sin in the great state of Texas not to have your son in a million different sports but Jake has actually never been on any organized sports team. The girls don't take gymnastics or cheer leading (another big no no in Texas) we just sort of hang out as a family on weekends and that's how I like it. After our last weekend I think I have an even stronger testimony of our relaxed weekend lifestyle. Here is what we were up to over the past couple of days (you may want a pen and paper to take notes on so you can try to keep up).

THURSDAY: Jeremy, Jake and Brooke leave Amarillo at about 1:00 p.m to drive to Dallas for Jake's Dermatologist appointment on Friday. Dallas is about 5 1/2 hours away so they thought they would get there about dinner time and then check into the hotel and get plenty of rest for their day of fun in Dallas. After work I rush home to pack a small suitcase for Riley and Morgan because our very dear friends Garth and Brooke were willing to watch the other girls for me this weekend while I went on an over night field trip. Garth picked up the girls at about 4:30 leaving me kid less for the night (early Mother's Day present... is that rude?)

FRIDAY: I have to wake up at 3:30 am so I can be at my school at 4:30 am to leave for our annual Imagination Celebration in Ft. Worth. Imagination Celebration (I.C.) is a two day event for all the deaf high school and middle school age students in Texas. The kids look forward to this big trip all year long. Our local deaf education program didn't have all the money needed to pay for the big trip so my students have been working hard for a year now to save enough to cover all the costs. The big trip includes workshops, meeting famous deaf people, socializing with other deaf students, a big dance, a nice dinner and of course all the fun one can have riding in a big yellow school bus for about 6 hours (we didn't earn enough money for the nicer bus this year so we used a school one). This year I.C. had a wild west theme to it. We were on the grounds of Ft. Worth's historic Stockyards where we went around visiting experts on many different topics such as; the Civil War, spinning wool into thread, Indian dancers, early photography, and the use of camels in the south. It was interesting but a little unorganized. Lots of students using bad maps and given too much time to look at little outdoor exhibits. We all got a little bored while waiting for dinner to start so Chelsea (another interpreter) and I decided to make up dances with cheap replicas of wild west souvenirs.

While I was melting in Dallas and sweating more than I do at the gym (I think I might be skinny if I lived in Dallas) Jake was being seen by Dr. Menter who was thrilled with his progress. He really looks so much better. The meds he is on are doing their jobs. Other than his scalp and hair line he really doesn't have ANY plaque on his body. Dr. Menter wants to keep everything as is for now and then when we go back in July he might reduce Jake's MTX down to just one pill a week instead of three. After the doctor's appointment Jeremy and his crew traveled from Dallas to Lubbock to meet up with the rest of the family. Mean while in Lubbock I was talking to Brooke (my friend not my daughter... I know it's really confusing) and she was saying the girls were doing really well. Morgan had a little cold but I felt like she was in great hands since Brooke (once again friend not daughter) is a pharmacist. Riley's report was very good, I was told that Riley was being such a help. It felt so good knowing that while Jeremy and I were busy our girls were being well taken care of. Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!

That night we had a nice dinner catered by Outback steakhouse followed by a dance. You have never been to a loud dance until you have been to a deaf dance. I'm talking HUGE speakers everywhere and everyone is practically hanging on them.

The kids LOVE to dance and me and the other interpreters all got into the action. My favorite part is when one of my students would turn to me and ask me, "what kind of music is being played?" Was it Mexican, rap, slow, or country? Once I would let them know what they were dancing to they would do an amazing job I was so impressed!!

This poor kid (not my student) fell asleep right as the dance was starting and didn't move from this position until it was pretty much over. He must be deaf to sleep through all that noise. Matt came with us as a staff member to help out with the boys we brought. He graduated two years ago and is now attending West Texas A&M University. We decided to go ahead and take a picture with this kid, there was a lot of sillyness going on. After the three hour dance we all loaded up in the bus and headed to the hotel where we had pizza in our hotel rooms and crashed. I was beyond tired!!!

SATURDAY: After some much needed sleep I had to get my girls up nice and early for our 6:45 am breakfast time. We ate and then got ready for the another long day at the Stockyards. We had some more workshops including Indian bead making, an amazing and emotional speech from actors who were portraying a famous Indian chief from Texas named Quanah and his white mother Cynthia Ann Parker, and line dancing. I thought Saturday went a lot better. The workshops were more interesting and fun for my students. We had box lunches and then ended the day by attending the Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show. The show was really fun however I did notice a huge flaw in the planning of it. The biggest part of the show was a singing cowboy... the audience that was intended to be entertained was a deaf group.

Jeremy and Garth spent part of the morning golfing while my crazy friend Brooke decided to take all my kids and her son to a children's museum. I guess Jake was a little bored, tired and defiant because they weren't at the museum very long before Brooke came to her senses and left dropping Jake off at the golf course with his daddy. They all hung out in Lubbock until at about 4:00 then they packed up and headed back to Amarillo. We left from Dallas at about 3:30 and arrived in Amarillo at 10:30 at night. All in all I'm glad I went to Ft. Worth but I'm also glad that this event is only once a year.

SUNDAY: I had a very nice Mother's day but not exactly a work free day (isn't there some kind of rule that says you don't have to actually be a mother on Mother's day?) In Primary our presidency had decided to give the teachers a little break and allow them to go to their Relief Society or Preisthood meetings. The music people (me and Sarah, our pianist) and the presidency all stuck around and helped the kids make a lovely gift for their moms. Jeremy was on meal duty for the day and I rested up from my crazy weekend. You may ask, "What's on the agenda for next weekend???"

NOTHING which is just how I like it!