Ben or I eat with Blue about once a week at her school cafeteria. This picture was taken last year. It is the finished tray of the kindergartner who sat next to me. Yep, appalling.

I entered it into Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution find the Best and Worst Lunches Photo Wall. If you go to the below link you can give it one star and vote for it to be one of the worst school lunches offered.

http://www.jamiesfoodrevolution.com/bestworstlunch/142

The food served in Springfield Public Schools gets me pretty riled up.  I don’t want my kids to be the freak who has never had an Oreo but I do limit the amount of processed foods they eat. Ben and I are teaching them about healthy choices and letting them know that it is OK to have a treat now and then as long as you know it is a treat. It is my opinion that America is fat not only because they eat way to many treats but  also because they have forgotten how to tell if something is a treat or healthy. Don’t you think that public school would be a perfect place to teach our children the difference?

]]> http://www.heydtwylie.com/school-lunch-in-springfield-mo/school-lunch-in-springfield-mo/feed/ 0 http://www.heydtwylie.com/quin/halloween-costumes-2011/ http://www.heydtwylie.com/quin/halloween-costumes-2011/#comments Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:45:50 +0000 admin http://www.heydtwylie.com/?p=245 Continue reading →]]> Last Wednesday my kids received a Halloween Costume Birthday Party invite. The party was for Saturday at 4. (Thanks for all the lead time Susan.) I was planning on making my children’s costume this past weekend but I also was planning on taking all weekend to make them. So much for taking my time…I made my patterns and bought material on Friday and with sewing help from my Mom on Saturday, they were done at ten til four. We were a bit late for the party but Blue and Quin were in costumes!

I love Halloween Costumes for my kids. I am not sure why. Maybe it is because my Mom always made me and my brothers great costumes. If that is the reason, it was fitting that she came over on Sat to help me sew. She was a life saver! I would not of got them done in time if it was not for her!

I think this years costumes might be my favorite. They will be hard to let go of after they are done with them.

Quin is a Pillow Pet and Blue is an Angry Bird.

I have to admit I am pretty proud of these home made costumes. Not bad for my first attempt. Especially considering I created my own patterns. I think I might have to do this every year. It was a lot of fun.

Now lets just hope Blue wins our church Halloween Costume Contest. Quin has placed twice and Blue is dieing to win. The Youth Group judges so let’s all keep our fingers crossed that the Angry Bird Costume will win this year!

Me: Nope, it is not that old.

Delainey: Is a trillion a number?

Me: Yes, it is how much money our government owes.

Sad thing is, I can’t even think of what else is in the trillions.
Washington, You disgust me. Stop spending money we don’t have.
By the way, I am firing everyone I can.

We have a pool in the back yard so I consider my kids knowing how to swim a high priority. Because  Quin had two “sinking” episodes before the lessons even stared, he has never really liked swim lessons. There is always a lot of crying. It also didn’t help that our YMCA pool was closed for over a year do to expansion. There for, stopping his lesson for just as long. Once the pool reopened, I signed him up for lessons. I quickly realized he needed private lessons. If for no other reason, so he did not scare the other children.

It is not that he is afraid of water. He is afraid of sinking. Even now, after months of private lessons, he knows how to swim but he is still afraid he might sink.

Ms. Kayla, his teacher, and I decided maybe he would do a little better with a little competition. Ms Kayla taught Delainey and her friend Chandler and we belief that they excelled because of competing against each other. Maybe competition would at least get Quin to stop crying.

Here comes Beau. Beau and Quin are buddies and have been since birth. Bonus…Beau fears nothing.

Beau and Quin have had 2 lessons together. Quin is still crying but Ms. Kayla and I still have faith that this is going to work. She also realized today that bribing them with chocolate also seems to help.

I will keep you informed on Quins improvement. One way or another  that boy will learn how to swim and learn how to swim well. I keep my fingers crossed that he will some day enjoy it.

Video Coming Soon.

A new home on a new server.
A new focus…More on the family and less on the “working-stay-at-home-mom”
(I am planning on a separate site dedicated to working stay at home mom’s)

And the best part is after I am finally ready to start posting again!

No pictures of the entire family this year…Sorry, maybe next year.

One thing I know for sure…this will be the final year for plastic Easter grass in the baskets. I am still trying to get rid of that stupid stuff.

It has been a long hard summer.
We lost Margaret. I had to clean out her hoarder house so we could rent it out. My relationship with my father feel apart. Ben switched jobs. Blue started Kindergarten. etc. etc. And yes, Ben’s new job and Blue starting school were positive but they did add to the stress of the summer.

It seemed like all I was doing was trying to not completely fall apart.

I lost weight. My hair was falling out. I started smoking again.

Breath in. Breath out. Keep telling yourself everything will work out. Life will get back to normal. Life will get back to happy.

So is it back to normal?
Getting there. Getting to the new normal. Some good things have happened this summer and I am focusing on them. I am also focusing on things that I know are positive steps in the right direction. Yes, including stopping smoking (again).

Am I ready to start sharing what has happened and is happening on this blog again?
Not sure. Still trying to figure it all out. Still taking it one day at a time. Still trying to figure out if Blogging about my life would be positive or if I should keep my wagons circled for a little bit longer.

My Margaret passed away on Memorial Day. My Mother in Law, Ben’s Mom, my babies Grandmother and a wonderful friend to countless others. All of our hearts are broken right now.

The sadness engulfs all other feelings right now. There is no stress, nothing really seems to matter. On things like cleaning out her house, even as full as it is, or dealing with the detail of someone dieing, the only thing I can think is “it is what it is”. I just have to do what needs to be done. I will do what ever I can to make this time even a little bit easier for Ben.

Tue there was a visitation and on Wed we buried Ben’s Mother and Father’s ashes at the Veteran’s Cemetery close to our house. Because it was the burial of both of Ben’s parents we only had Ben, me, the kids, his half sister and her husband attend the burial.

Margaret was a Capt. in the Army and John was a Retired Capt in the Marines. Both received full military honors. Twice we heard taps play, twice there was a gun salute and twice their was a presentation of the American flag to the family. I am sorry but I can not even begin to write about how I felt during this beautiful and emotional tribute to Ben’s parent.

Here is what Ben wrote for the paper:

Margaret Elizabeth Wylie of Springfield, MO passed away in her home May 31st, 2010. She was born in Springfield on December 28th, 1926 to Clyde and Laura “Shug” Theuer and was one of four children-Robin (deceased), Jerrol (deceased), and Dorinda.

After going through School in Springfield and getting her degree from Missouri State Teachers College (now known as Missouri State University) she served her country proudly in the Women’s Army Corps. While serving, she met the love of her life, A Marine Corps Captain named John Wylie, whom she would remain happily married to until his passing in 1999. They were an example of how marriage and love should be for their family and the rest of the world to see. She then went on to a career in Elementary Education and had a lasting and positive effect on many more people. After her husband passed away, she was an even stronger example of strength, kindness, acceptance, giving, and love for all that knew her and loved her. She always had a warm smile and a kind word for anyone she met, not to mention treats and hugs for her two adoring Grandchildren any time she saw them.

She is survived by a sister, Dorinda; a son and loving family: Ben, Kim, Delainey, and Quin; a stepdaughter, Sandy Pollard; and many others who carry her spirit with them. We will all miss you very much. A Memorial Visitation will be held Tuesday, June 8th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home-Brentwood Chapel in Springfield, MO. Internment will be at a later date at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations in her name to either The Kitchen (1630 N. Jefferson, Springfield, MO 65803) of Southwest Missouri Humane Society (3161 W. Norton Road, Springfield, MO 65803) would be appreciated.

We all miss you greatly Margaret. I so wish I had told you more that I loved you. I know you knew but I wish I would of said it more. The only thing that makes our sadness bearable is that we know you are by John’s side. The place where you are happiest. Tell him all about the babies. We know that is why you stay around as long as you did after he died. We are grateful for that. We know how much you missed John we can not thank you enough for the extra time you gave us.

We look forward to seeing your beautiful smile in heaven in someday.

Love you. Miss you. Kim

Me: I don’t know, what are you thinking?

Quin: I love you a lot.

Me: Yes. I am thinking what you are thinking.

My heart smiled all day long.

I know it has been awhile since I have had a post but Corner Designs has had a surge of work and I have been a very busy bee. Another couple of weeks and it should slow down a bit but after the year my company, Corner Designs had last year, I am happy to work a few weekends and nights to get all my work done.

If little old me, small business owner, is a sign of the economy turning around, I would say “don’t throw a party just yet but you can be hopeful”.

First quarter and the start of the second has rocked for this small business. Personally, I hopeful and excited to see what the rest of the year will bring.

I will keep you informed about my new projects once they have been completed. Yesterday I launched a site I did for a local (and fabulous) caterer in town, The Traveling Chef. You can view the site at thetravelingchefcatering.com

Feel free to let me know what you think.