Family New Year Letter Part Two

Princess Three is attending University living only a few minutes from one of my brothers. She is living in the same housing as her sister did and both have LOVED it. She has settled in nicely now that her first semester is done. She is on academic scholarship and was just chosen to be on the “A” team which is a group of advocates for students at the college. It is a paid position which is VERY nice as it has been hard for her to find a job in a college town. She has been dating lots and we don’t hear from her often as she is so busy and social but love when we get a visit which also isn’t often with the school being on the opposite end of the state. It’s over five hours one way through many mountain passes which makes it hard to come home for the week
end in the winter.

Princess Four is at College. She graduated with Honors and as the Student Body President spoke at graduation. She received many compliments on her great speech. She was also chosen as the Regional Sterling Scholar Runner-Up for Science receiving a cash prize which she used as her spending money for her graduation tour to the Eastern States with many of her friends. She has an academic scholarship and is an ambassador (hosting visiting students recruiting them to the school) as well which adds another scholarship onto the academic which covers her books and fees which allows her to attend school for free other than housing. She recently picked up playing the guitar and is getting good. She became a Certified Nursing Assistant this year. She LOVES college life and is looking at a business degree. She works on campus and has done such a good job that they want to hire her for the summer as well. She enjoys her work and it gives her spending money. She had a scare on a school visit, coming over a mountain pass, hit ice and ended up in a snow bank where they couldn’t open their doors and the wheels were way off the ground. They were rescued after about five hours in the car. We are grateful she didn’t go off the other side as it was a cliff. She laughs about it but one doesn’t think about not having food or a bathroom stuck on a windy cold mountain for the day.

Princess Five is no longer the “Baby” at almost 16 she will be a legal driver soon. She has had her drivers permit for some time now and is getting better at chauffeuring me around. The longer trips have been good for her to get her hours driving in and I look forward to the day she can drive herself to all her activities as she is every bit as busy in High School as her sisters were. She branched out this year doing something new. For 15 years I have had someone in drill team. I am THRILLED to report, I no longer do! She chose to be a cheerleader and I think I can speak for both of us that we LOVE it! No more early morning practices, not one weekend activity in December! That is a first in YEARS. Her first competition for Cheer was last week and they took first in our region. State is this weekend. They perform at every sporting event in the school in teams and then they all attend the major basketball and football games but those will be over in a month or so giving her time to devote to theater. She competed in State with her sister and they did well in the Musical Category. She was selected to represent the school this year in a duet from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as the Music Box singer/dancer. We will get focused on that after Cheer is over. She is also involved in the summer play of Cinderella coming this summer. She is hoping for the part of Cinderella as she was the lead “Lucy” in “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” last summer. She keeps me busy for sure. She was also recently selected to attend  “HOBY” which is a worldwide youth leadership summer camp for students going into their Jr. year. She is involved in 4-H as well. She still plays the guitar and got an electric acoustic for Christmas.

Mom is busy with the house, yard and cars. This year I scrubbed and waxed the double garage door, pruned the fifteen trees in our yard. I usually do the fruit trees only but the others were getting out of control. I was doing our HUGE tree in the back alone until one of the branches hit the ground and bounded back splitting the branch and hitting me in the chest on the top of the extension ladder. I had to call her for help as I was holding the saw, the branch which was falling and pushing me off the ladder and holding onto the tree while calling her on the cell. I had a bruise for a week and since then have called for someone to finish the job. We have a good wood pile from what I did get done and hope as soon as the weather warms to get that tree done. I painted all the trim on the house, painted the front door, cleaned out the gutters twice and put up netting to try and keep them from getting so congested. I refinished my trailer last year and this year taking all the windows out, every vent, door etc off and resealing it
and painting the entire frame, undercarriage and bumpers and finished by waxing the entire thing. It took about nine months but it should be good for a long time to come. I fixed up the car that hit the deer doing most of the work myself other than the axle and also the main house and yard maintenance as well. I would think doing all that, I would look and feel great but I am still dealing with some health issues of the thyroid and adrenals as well as back issues. So, I keep doing what I can on the days I feel good and pray at some point I can get everything working well again and start to feel better.

My parents are much the same and I am grateful they are still mostly well. My mother has good and bad days where she doesn’t remember much but with her short term memory loss due to her accident years ago and her Leukemia, I think she does well. I hired a woman to go in twice a week to shower, wash and clean which has been a blessing to us. I hope we will be able to keep my mom living as normal as possible as long as possible. My dad is still VERY active and just helped open a charter school which three of my siblings children attend. It is new age and cutting edge and I think it will do well and be the “School to attend” in a few years as it builds momentum. There are 52 grand-children and now, about 13 great-grand-children. In a few years, I am sure that number will magnify very quickly. It is wonderful to see the amazing things my nieces and nephews are doing in the world. My siblings are also doing things in the community and world.

This year, especially this holiday season, has been my best in years with no surgeries, no family accidents, everyone staying well, no out of town competitions every weekend etc. I LOVED having all the girls, son-in-law and grand baby here for the holiday. It was so much fun playing games, visiting and laughing. I wish every year could be so wonderful. You can search my blog for pictures of the events listed in the news letter.

I hope your holiday and New Year were wonderful.