Cool days, cool nights, but not too cool for school!

Last night just before climbing in to bed I opened the bedroom window - Not for the cool, fresh air that circled the room, but for the sounds of the rain falling on the trees outside. There is such a peace found in nature's sounds. No nature sounds that come from a clock radio can compare to the real, pure, perfect sounds that come from an autumn rain shower. Corey and I drifted to sleep with such ease last night and woke to the smell of freshly watered cedar. I love it when my days begin and end like this. But, in this household, times like those are few and far between....

SCHOOL'S IN SESSION - Oh, help us God. We were warned of the SEVENTH year. And, I mean, 7th grade, of course. I remember my 7th grade year in school - It was a like a bunch of hormonal donkeys had joined together in an attempt to learn something. There were drama queens (A LOT of them), there were the "homeboys," there were the music geeks (ME!), there were the yearbook staff (uh, me too), the cool girls, the dance squad and the basketball players. I attended 7th grade in Portland at an inner city middle school where I was the minority. The Trailblazers were Gods to the students, and if anyone was interested in sports it was basketball - Both boys and girls. I never played sports until I moved to Bend. Lucky for Katie, she's been doing sports since she was old enough to. And, lucky for us, she loves it.

This year is the first year that she has been able to play volleyball - 6th graders are not allowed yet to participate in school sports except for track and field. So, after a little bit of ball dropping on my part, Katie finally joined the team. Yesterday was her first game - I wasn't there to see the first, but I'll be there for the next. The only volleyball that I've watched has been on ESPN, and it's most often been guys, in speedos on a beach somewhere. Not that I ENJOY that kind of thing. I'm just saying, it's a little different than watching inexperienced pre-teen hormonal donkeys try to bounce a ball back and forth over a net. This should be funny.

Cooper has also started preschool. It's the best part of his week, and we have had not even a slight hint of separation anxiety. Not surprising, I suppose. Cooper is such an o

utgoing little critt

er, and loves to be surrounded by people (particularly kids) and by toys, which there are a lot of at preschool. He's mastered his alphabet, is learning spanish and is so proud of the sign language they use in school, too. He's got friends galore and I'm sure will be so excited to have a birthday party with friends included now, too. BUT....If he tries to pull what his father did in preschool, I'm not going to be happy. Corey invited his ENTIRE class to a movie and pizza when he was the same age. There were a few car trips back and forth to town, to say th

e least. Funny to think about, dreadful to imagine happening to me!! haha.

I think that I'm finally beginning to heal after the loss of my sister. I have to be honest with myself though - I regret not knowing my sister better than I do. In fact, many people don't know this, but, before March of this year, I had not spoken to my sister in 3 years. It was the result of a misunderstanding of words - The stubbornness in the blood that we share shined through ten-fold.

If anything was learned from the events that have unfolded the past couple of months it's that life is way too short to have sibling rivalry. No, I didn't agree with all the things that she chose to do. But, she didn't agree with me, either. In her eyes things came easy for me - And maybe they did in comparison to what she experienced and how she lived. But, we both shouldn't have been so damn hard headed. After March of this year, however, we had begun to rebuild the time we had lost. We were in the beginning stages of reconstruction of our sisterhood....... so to lose her when I did was tough. To honor her now, my entire family is reuniting and reconnecting. She'd be proud of us. I think she'd be proud of me.

My mother is now caring for Bobbie's boys - Along with her youngest step daughter. You see, in March, my mom suddenly lost her husband after pneumonia took over his body. So, she barely had time to mourn the loss of her husband before she lost my sister. In all my 32 years, I've never seen my mother as emotionally strong as she is right now. I'm so proud of all that she's doing and hope that the strength continues on for the sake of all the children. My step sister Christy, the one that my mother is currently caring for, is 15 years old and pregnant. Yeah, it's happening all over again for my mom 13 years later. She's exhausted, but so determined to do all that she can for everyone she's caring for. I spoke to her yesterday and she had spent the previous day and night in the hospital with Christy as she suffered from uncontrollable morning (noon and night) sickness which resulted in severe dehydration. After returning in the morning with Christy, she got the boys off to school and rested for a while before getting back to work on the mounds of paperwork she's left to do. And still, that afternoon, she went to my nephew Alec's first football game. Just crazy - But pure love for her kids and grandkids.

There is an account that has been set up for my nephews to help with their care. Columbia State Bank under the account name "Donation account for Alec Jones and Jaydon Reader." She'll be needing as much help as she can get.

It's finally fall! And, it's my favorite time of year. Halloween kicks off my annual holiday rampage and this year is going to be fantastic! We have decided that we're going to dress up for Halloween as a family in some sort of theme. When Corey is involved anything is possible - His history of dressing up in notoriously outrageous stuff intends to continue, so watch out for some Yasui craziness this year!

And, speaking of holidays, I need to get going on the cupcakes with the fondant sorting hats for my niece Aunika's birthday - Yeah, cake art! tee hee!

Happy first day of fall my friends and family!!