Heart Matters

Joy, smiles, & more joy are critical!

In the ugliest of days,

or in the deepest of sorrows...

we must still seek joy!

Dont ever withhold telling someone

how much you love them,

because one day you may not

have the opportunity.

Who Knew?

1970's Stars & Stripes Motorcycle Helmet:

This is listed for sale on craigslist for $200.
Who knew it would be worth $200?
Growing up my Pa had a helmet like this. I cant say I remember him wearing it when he rode his motorcycle but I think us kids did when he would give us rides. I definitely know I played superheros wearing this big helmet. Funny to think this could possibly be the same one I played with as a kid. Seems I remember picking at the black padding on the inside, and the ad mentions needing new padding inside. Moderately bummed I dont have an extra $200 that I could thrown down for ol' nostalgia sake . . . . I know my kids would love to play with this as well.

Happenings

Alan enjoyed the annual men's roundup a week ago. For more info:
http://www.mensroundup.com/
Alan been working late often, which is a blessing but also difficult not getting to spend times with the kids. We know it is just a season.
We are committed members of Next Church in Brightwood. Alan, Payton & Darla may be joining a multi-church choir. I will be attending Wednesday eve Womens Bible Study.
Our church is very casual & welcoming. . . . everyone invited to check it out. For more info:
http://nextchurchministries.com/ You can even listen to Pastor Keith's sermons online.

Amy starting medifast diet again. Please pray that I can remain committed to this goal. In all areas of my life I can be sooooo motivated, committed & an encourager to others. This personal goal of losing weight is my personal battle I have yet to really fight.

Payton is on his 2nd week of no available work at DQ. . . . slow season. He was successful in saving $1500 over the summer towards his 1st car. We are very proud of him! Amazing to think he is a JR in HS. He's off to a great start! He just announced that his college/career goals are to pursue mental health tx. He hopes to treat / serve the mentally ill in his profession. We are currently researching local openings for volunteerism and/or paid PT work in this related field. Keep your ears open for us! Payton will begin college Fall 2011, the same Fall where I will get to return to the workforce since Nolan will be 1st grade & in school FT. I could possibly finish my college degree at the same time. The thought did dawn on me that perhaps Payton & I could take some college classes together?! Isnt this any boys dream? LOL

Darla is loving 3rd grade & having a male teacher for the 1st time! He is very funny & a great teacher. Her BF Tierra is in her class, which is icing on the cake. She has decided to play basketball which starts in a week.

Elijah is in 1st grade & says it is a lot more work. He lives for recess so he can play basketball of course! He is very bummed out that Mtn Storm Basketball is not open to 1st graders yet. In a month they may offer an open gym for his age group tho. We hope so! This boy of ours literally wore out his black outdoor tread basketball so extensively it had zero tread & several holes. He was crying when his papa said he couldnt inflate the ball anymore. We will keep this ball forever tho for him, as his "1st". The boy could be famous someday. So that kindergarden ball was retired & now he has his black NIKE 1st grade ball.

Nolan is officially a big kid! He declates he is not shy anymore. He is attending the best preschool ever, Joyful Noise in Boring. . . same school D & E attended but new location. He has made some great new friends, and never needs me to stay with him longer than 10 minutes in the class. Amazing! Nolan's bike chain finally got repaired by his papa, so our 5 year old is in heaven without any complaints. Nice!

4 front teeth & aortic systolic ejection murmur

My poor baby Elijah had to have his top 4 baby teeth pulled, two of which were really loose & needed to come out. When our boy was 2 yrs old he bonked his mouth on the metal part of Wildwood Park's play structure chipping 1 front tooth & weakening all 4 top ones. The dentist at that time recommended grinding down the 4 top fronts & putting silver caps on them to strengthen them. Well our insurance only covered the silver crowns, but he did add this paint on white fake fronts which have only discolored & deteriorated causing our handsome boys smile to look decayed. This week a crown fell off & it would be $900 per tooth to repair. Elijah asked to just have all 4 pulled. We were blessed to be able to attend a free medical dental clinic on the mtn today where the dentist agreed with our plan. Elijah was such a trooper & finally 6 hours later his top lip isnt huge swollen. He is VERY excited to put FOUR TEETH under his pillow for the tooth fairy tonight. We ask for prayer for Elijahs swift recovery.

Our youngest son Nolan was having his ears checked when the DR decided to also listen to his heart extensively. He then got a 2nd DR to take a listen. Both DR's confirmed Nolan has a "Aortic Systolic Ejection Murmur". They were suprised to hear how active Nolan is . . . he is our runner afterall & he keeps going & going. Follow up tests to occur soon, and in the mean time Im researching online. It is very unsettling to read terms like "mortality rate" etc., To be blunt Im worried & scared. This isnt the innocent type murmur which Darla temporarily had which went away when she was very young. I have read there is a chance of misdiagnosis, which Im praying for in this case. Otherwise it sounds like surgery is imminent.

Refund Deadline TODAY Fri 9/18!!!

Only requirement to receive refund from PGE is that you were a PGE customer between 10/1/00 - 9/30/01. Avg household to receive $23 but so many people will miss today's deadline the refund could be much higher for those of us who are applying for this refund.

Click on this link to apply online - but must be done by 5pm today!!!!

http://www.portlandgeneral.com/about_pge/current_issues/trojan_refund.aspx

Here is the link with info about today being the deadline:
http://www.portlandgeneral.com/about_pge/news/09_17_2009_pge_reminds_customers_deadlin.aspx

NOTE: If you lived at more than 1 property during this time period (like we did) . . . it allows you to submit more than 1 claim. Happy refunding!! P.S. Spread the word to your family & friends.

Organized?

I'm getting there. Thought I would share a couple tips for back 2 school routines & organization.

Every start of a new school year brings loads of paperwork for mama to complete. I send back duplicates for reuse by the school. I promptly complete & return the others to the school. As I receive info from teachers re: weekly classroom schedules I jot it down on a piece of paper. Once I have all the kids schedules I form this quick reference card (shown below):

The column on the left lists the weekdays & each of the kids (P, D, E, N). This helps me help remind them to return library bks on library day, to wear tennis shoes on PE days, etc.,

If its my childs snack day I put that on the master family calendar as that ties in with our budget, grocery shopping etc.,

The column on the right are phone lists for quick reference, bus schedules, routes, etc., (blacked out for privacy), lunch & student # info, & our High Schoolers schedule which helps bcuz when contacting teachers they always need to know which period your student has them for. Also if there is an emergency & you need to contact or retrieve your child you know where to go. You would be suprised how quick you can forget the bus barn's # when the bus passes your house & keeps driving off with your kindergardner (last yr). This quick reference card is super handy in our house. I keep one on our bulletin board in our kitchen & one in my planner notebook.

EMAIL TIP:
I add all my kids teachers email address' to my email address book. For the highschooler I do periodic check ins w/ all 7 of his instructors w/ 1 email (so i create a email address group containing his 7 teachers, cc: his counselor & myself). This worked very well last year. Often times Esis (the online tool that shows your childs grades etc., is not current data), so most teachers prefer email coorespondence to keep up to date. It is a lot easier to help your child if you know right when they're starting to fall behind than repair damaged grades. Payton is doing fantastic this year!

ATTENDANCE OFFICE AT H.S.:
Another tip for parents of high schoolers would be to contact the attendance office about notifying you the day of any absence your child has. Otherwise you wont know till a week later by an automated phone call . Since enacting that system last yr there were no more mysterious absences from math class. Another helpful tool.

GRADE SCHOOL KIDS BACKPACK CONTENTS:
For our 8 and under kids we have one drawer in our dining room hutch which holds their homework in progress & library book storage. My kids know the minute they walk in the door they put all their papers & books from their backpack on the dining table. That way it is there staring me in the face till I deal with it, which is usally immediately. I review completed work, praise the kids, often we discuss something, and then we recycle the work. Special items I add the date to w/ note & add to their scrapbooking drawer. The weekly newsletter I have asked to receive electronically instead of hard copy. Other paperwork I take action on - some are items to add to the calendar - some are bills - if I know my kids are not going to play fall sports then I recycle the flyer, etc.,

MULTIPLE CALENDARS WITH DIFFERENT INFO:
Our School District prints a district wide calendar which only lists some basic data on each school in the district, & there is a separate H.S. planner calendar w/ sporting & HS events on it. The grade schools inform us of monthly happenings in the weekly newsletter. It all makes for a lot of highlighting what does apply to your family & what doesnt & consolidating the data all on 1 calendar. I wish our school district had these different calendars available electronically where we the parent could checkmark the items you want printed on your familys calendar & then print at home. It is quite cumbersome.

SPORTS:
Currently none of our kids are playing sports but when that happens all those practice & game times are on our family master calendar. I use a lot of color coding for quick reference.

Always Remember

List of 9/11 Victims Names . . . . even to only start scrolling thru them gives me shivers down my spine & truly helps me recall the depth of this tragedy:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,62151,00.html

Granny Garber Visits Oregon & OF COURSE ...

. . . it RAINS!! :-( But yet notice how the 7 day forecast preceeding her visit does not show one drop of the wet stuff in our area:

It didnt stop us from enjoying a nice visit with my mama. She rented a neat old farmhouse in the hawthorne district (I think that's what it's called) and we had a feast at my brother Ryan's work, a ultra cool southern style bistro. I tried for the 1st time: fried pickle, fried green tomato, banana foster pudding, & a hazelnut latte' martini. A new member to our family also joined us, Michelle, and she is beautiful inside & out. Following dinner Alan & I said our goodbyes to our 4 kids . . . they were having a sleepover with Grandma. Then the following day we had to pick them up at 3pm to rush Payton back up to the mountain to be to work by 4:30. It is sad to say goodbye to Grandma Lori but we are very grateful she was able to make the long drive up here. Perfect last summer memory....thanks Ma! P.S. She brought Nolan a super adorable "rocker/guitar" dress shirt for his birthday (he is opening the gift below) & he has already asked if he can wear it to his 1st day of school.

There Are Good Times . . . .

. . . . then there are GREAT TIMES like these:

Hibberd Family Reunion ~ Sunday, September 6th 2009 Above sits 4 generations of Hibberd men (back row L-> R) Payton's Grandpa Bob, Great Grandpa John, Uncle John (front row L->R) Payton, Johnny (son of Uncle John).
Above is the beautiful Great Grandma Delores. She is a sweetie pie & has been married to Great Grandpa John for 67 years!

And a visit to Grandpa Bob & Grandma Vickie's would not be complete without driving their golf cart. Pssst.....Grandpa Helps! We love this Hibberd family so much!!!

Fashion Show Becomes Flashcards

A sampling of the kids school clothes..... . . . a fashion show modeling their new clothes for Papa . . . . . . Became flashcards for the kids to pick their clothes out for the week . . . I printed & cut them out. They each have their cards.

It's their responsibility to make sure they have their chosen

clothes ready for the school week ahead of time.

This will hopefully decrease the days where the boys try

& wear the same outfits over & over again.

I hope to have it make mornings easier as well.

I will let you know if it was an utter waste of time.