Seeing Santa 2013

I love traditions.  One of our favorites for the holidays is going to Breakfast with Santa.  This breakfast is for children who attend the special needs classrooms in the Weber School district (maybe more than just our district).  It is so fun.  This year Josh has really wanted to give Santa a picture.  He has drawn/colored countless pictures and had me write "I love Santa" on them.  So when we went to see him we brought one of them with us that said, "I love you Santa.  Thank you for bringing presents.  Love Josh" with a scary picture of Santa and a million stickers.  Josh has been into drawing pictures of people with a bunch of little circles all over their faces.  I am not sure if it is the pox, freckles, or in this case maybe a beard, but it is freaky.  

Josh started feeling embarrassed or shy in the line and was worried about giving it to Santa.  People kept commenting, "Oh, you brought your list for Santa?"  No way!  Not my kid.  He brought a thank you note.

Afterwards we eat breakfast while we get entertained by magicians, jugglers, elves, singers, and other such entertainers.  Josh still was antsy so we took some pictures.  

Such a great time.  I love that boy and his craziness.  We listened to Christmas carols and sang all the way home.  That was the perfect way to start our day.  

My last day of school

Wow.  Here I am in the commons area of a building I have been coming to almost every day since August 2011.  It feels weird to know that after today I will rarely be coming here.  I have spent most of that time with the same 29 people and 10ish professors.  I thought that today would be full of excitement and joy to know that I wont' have to write another paper but I can't help but think about the people I will miss and the scary new world that awaits.  I still have another 12 week internship and then the board exams but after that...having a real career is intimidating.

I have spent what feels like my whole life semester to semester; every 6 months to a year what I am doing changes completely.  Many semesters I have gotten through by saying, "It is only 16 weeks.  You can do anything for 16 weeks.  They could torture you for 16 weeks and as long as you knew the end date you could take it."  There is no end date now.  I think that is the most scary part.  There is no summer break, winter break, fall break or spring break.  I won't get that time off to finally clean my  room again (yes, it is literally the only time I actually clean my room, don't judge me), spend time with Josh, see friends, and get to that thing that I have been meaning to do.

I don't know when it happened, but school has become my comfort zone.  I may not welcome papers, projects, presentations, and busy work but I know it so well.  I can pump out a professional 5-10 page research paper every week and although I may complain it doesn't break me.  Some time I became one of those people who reads professional studies and articles and actually understands what is going on without falling asleep.  I remember how difficult this was my first semester.  I have learned to sleep on almost any bus any time of day and still wake up for my stop.  I know how to get around SLC and Ogden (to a degree) using public transportation.  I have, through some miracle, learned to study on the bus without getting car sick.  In fact, I am more likely to get sick if I am NOT studying.

And here it is, the end.  I have had two faculty members state that they won't get too upset about me leaving because they think I will be around, working for the school, working across the street at the clinic the professors run, or coming back for my doctorate.  Even that is a little intimidating!  But I made it through the day and the past 2 1/2 years and I suppose I will continue to make it through.

School friends

I have made friends at school.  Friends that mostly know the school me so now that we are nearing the end and getting out of the school mode they are a little disconcerted by me.  First of all, they all know me as Katherine.  It totally freaked them out to find out my name to everyone else is Katie.  Blew their minds.  Some of them call me Katie to freak me out but then they find I didn't notice the difference and it is only their fellow students that are freaked out.  "You have been LYING to us for 3 years?!"  Yup.  And I never once until now thought about how awkward this might be.

We had to take the color personality test for one of my classes.  I guess that nowadays it is popular for HR departments to make employees take this test and then learn how to work with other "colors" productively.   If you have never taken it and you are interested HERE is the link.  Take it now and then come back to the story.  Your answers are supposed to reflect how you felt as a child, not necessarily now with the thought that who you are as a child is who you truly are.  We do change but deep down at our core we often feel like we did as children, we just learn to react differently.  Anyway, I took it and you shouldn't be surprised, I am a white (peace seeking) with almost as much blue (relationship seeking) and very little red (power seeking) or yellow (fun seeking).  My school mates were shocked.  You see, school Katie (or Katherine I suppose) is very much a leader, a little bossy, not afraid of making decisions or of conflict (all very against white personalities).  "You're not a red?!"  Nope.  "But...you don't act like the other whites."  I think the difference just that.  I feel the same as the other whites but I have pushed myself to react differently.

Anyway, I think that it is funny that here at the end I am surprising my fellow classmates so much.  I have worked hard to create this tough leader "Katherine" persona.  It is the same one I use for doctor's offices.  Come to think of it, that is where it all started.  I began writing "Katherine" for my name at Josh's doctor's offices and I had to learn to stand up and fight, fake confidence until I convinced people, and be extremely vocal of my opinion.  I like this Katherine however, I never thought how weird it might be for other people.

I am not exactly sure where I am going with this to tell you the truth.  It has just been on my mind.

Josh got glasses!

I decided to take Josh to get his eyes checked.  He has had his acuity checked and it was okay but I have noticed that his eyes like to wander a little.  The ophthalmologist was able to say that he has a hard time accommodating with his eyes and he has trouble focusing on things close up.  So we are trying glasses.  Josh got to choose the frames.  He actually looks a lot like Tyler.  So far he has been okay with them although he keeps ripping or chewing on the little rubber nose pieces.  He actually likes wearing them so I am glad it isn't a fight and he mostly keeps them on his face.  I am hoping this helps with his reading and writing.

Halloween 2013

Josh isn't able to carve pumpkins yet but he is tired of painting them.  I found this idea on Pinterest and it worked well.  Some metal cookie cutters, a stake, and a rubber mallet.  Voila!  A carved pumpkin.  We did break a couple of the cookie cutters but it was worth it.  

This year Josh wanted to be Raphael for Halloween.  Throughout October he was Wolverine, Spiderine (Wolverine mask with Spiderman body), and Wolverman (Wolverine body with Spiderman mask), but in the end his love of Ninja Turtles won out.  

Tyler was "hipster Superman"

And I was the female Rufio (from the movie Hook).  I was actually surprised how many people recognized me.  All day people chanted, "RUFIO, RUFIO, RU-FI-OOOOO!" when I came into a room.  It was great.  

Tyler carved a Ninja Turtle jack-o-lantern 

Sadly,  we didn't go trick or treating very long before Josh got sick and we had to go home.  But it was still a great Halloween.

Yup. He is my son

Josh is afraid of vampires.  I think it is the sight of blood mostly.  But a vampire with a trickle of blood can send him screaming out of the door.  However, skulls, witches, mummies, werewolves, and practically anything without blood is alright.  Don't get me wrong, we can't walk through the Halloween sections of stores because there MIGHT be something with blood and he can't stand that.

He even seems to have an odd fascination with skulls and skeletons which makes me proud.

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I know, he is adorable isn't he?  I also would like to believe that I pick up on his sign language much faster when I am not looking at him through a tiny screen.

Color Run 5K

I am so proud of my husband.  Last September he decided to make a life change.  He began changing how he eats and working out everyday.  He tends to be a little obsessive so he has taken this new experience and jumped in head first.  He has learned all about nutrition, how to build muscle, etc. and he lives it and breathes it.  He has been "hiking" which is really more running up a mountain all summer long.  On one of these runs he happened upon Eli (Abby's brother) and they have become workout buddies.  I think it was meant to be. They decided to run in the Color Run, Tyler's first 5K.  Josh and I had a fun time waiting near the finish line.  It was freezing cold and everything was covered in frost.  Josh spent a good amount of time playing with the steam coming from his mouth.

When people began trailing in, Josh would get super excited and I would have to say, "It isn't Dad yet".  Then I saw two bluish figures that could be them.  I wasn't sure until I saw Tyler push his glasses up his nose in the way only he can.  Here they come!  

Tyler says the only thing that was clear when crossing the finish line was Josh's ear piercing screams of joy.

They came in after less than 30 minutes of running.  I believe they were between 20-25th place although I am not sure.  

Josh was worried that Tyler might get him dirty.  

Not long after, they began to feel the cold.

Totally gross but kind of awesome

Eli gave his sunglasses to Josh.  Josh loves sunglasses and I love what a ham he is.

There were free massages for the runners and Tyler and Eli decided to get one.  Josh was so full of energy he decided to blow off a little steam.  

After laughing at Josh's antics, I turn around and Tyler is getting his butt rubbed by two young ladies.  Josh laughed so hard he could hardly stand.  

They had a couple of guys there using leaf blowers to get off some excess color.  This guy looks like he loves his job.  

By this time, my toes had gone completely numb and Josh thought that he was freezing to death.  Tyler gave Josh his hoodie and we got a few more smiles out of him.  

I love this ridiculous picture.  I wanted to get one more picture of Tyler but Josh (now given more energy from the warmth of the hoodie) wouldn't stay out of the picture.  Tyler would stop, I would lift the camera, Josh would jump in front of him, Tyler would try to move, repeat.  It was adorable though.  

It has only been one year but I can't believe the amazing changes that Tyler has made.  I am so proud of him.