Thanksgiving Weekend

Some of the highlights of this wonderful Thanksgiving weekend....

Thanksgiving day was spent at our house with my brother Doug and his family joining ours. Will was able to impart some of his vast knot tying abilities to a willing member of the next generation. Way to go Duane!

Saturday I enjoyed hosting a family bridal shower luncheon for my niece Venisa. (Thank you to my good friend Candace Trower for loaning her beautiful Christmas dishes!)

Baby Jamison went for Lucy's shiny boots...

I had to have a picture of Aunt LeAnn with a few of her nieces and great-nieces.

Last night we went to the Duane's football playoff game and cheered as Santiam Christian won. Next weekend they play for the state championship!

Today my boys were all back for my turkey noodle soup and leftover shower goodies. We were also blessed with a visit from my great-niece and nephew, Brenden and Jenna. They helped me by decorating some of the extra cookies I had made for the shower. Brenden had to keep telling Jenna to go wash her hands every time she licked her fingers!

I spent a good part of the long weekend preparing for guests, having guests, and cleaning up after guests...our dishwasher stopped working so I washed a LOT of dishes! I am very thankful for the friends and family who I enjoy so very much and for great health and energy to go and do and keep busy. Now I look forward to going back to work so my dishwasher hands can heal up!

Refrigerate that Leftover Turkey!

It can be pretty interesting when parents call to excuse their kids from school.

Today, a parent explained her son's absence this way. "I think he has food poisoning, and I think I have it too," says she. "Can you believe it? Usually we don't get food poisoning until after Thanksgiving!"

Once again, my amazing self control allowed me to hold my giggles until after I hung up the phone!

Principal for the Day

I get to meet the coolest kids at school We finished up our fall fundraiser a few weeks back, and the top seller this year got to be"Principal for the Day". A sweet, quiet 6th grade girl received this honor, and today was her day!

She came to the office this morning and read the announcements with great confidence. She was about to go turn in the day's homework to her classes when the principal introduced her to our assistant principal, who said, "OK, I guess you're my boss for the day. Is there anything you'd like me to do?" No hesitation, little Miss Principal handed over her homework and said, "Yes, would you please deliver this to my teachers!" The A.P. was a bit taken aback, but she followed orders! The young lady also directed the principal to go to her science class and take notes for her!

I gave her a photo id badge with her title to wear on a lanyard for the day, and also gave her some business cards with her name, title and picture. I heard she gave a few to her friends while she was supervising in the cafeteria at lunch.

I look forward to getting to know this student better in the next few years and watching her leadership skills develop! I have no doubt she can do whatever she wants when she grows up! The other fun thing is, I got to meet her mom and found out that they live nearby and I walk by and admire their house all the time.

I love my job. If I could get rid of all the paperwork and just visit with all the awesome people around me, it would be just perfect!