Ashley's doings

Ashley is in Show Choir and they will be performing down in Lodi on the 6th. They traveled clear to LaCrosse to find her a black dress that was fitted at the waist but could flow on the bottom. She will be in 4 routines and is excited. Ashley is doing a great job as Student Council President. She is a WEB leader (Where Everybody Belongs). She got through 8 rounds of the Geography Bee. So she is smart as we all suspected. She will soon be starting basketball.

Thanksgiving

What a wonderful day it was. Amanda brought up the kids and we all enjoyed holding the newest. Jerry and Eva came and we found out Jerry's dad has been in the hospital for 10 days. Ashley preformed a sax selection of Christmas music. She is certainly improving each time we here her. The girls chose the names for present exchange and we ate turkey and the works. Today was Sonny's birthday so we called and sang to her. We were glad to have the Horrers join us for the day. We played games and decided to watch White Christmas. Then a terrible thing happened, the house across the street started on fire. The young couple, Pierce's have spent the last 2 years remodeling the old Thrasher House. Robin was home alone when it happened. She stepped out of the shower and the house was filling with smoke. The kids were by the grandparents thank goodness. It is a terrible thing to see flames coming out and not be able to do a thing about it. I hope they had insurance.

Amanda sent baby pics

basketball court, skating rink or bowling alley?

Oh the possibilities, but.....

I think we'll keep it a basement! We think they are doing a good job so far. Cement can be a little tricky, but if you dont do it right it can ruin the whole house and foundation.

I refuse to put another generation of little girls through baldness. Her bangs may be short, and the top may be spikey, but at least she wont be called "bald eagle" as, I believe, Tony B. coined for us as a nick-name.

Just so dang cute, eh?

So the day has come Mary and I have finally convinced Moma to go to "Black Friday" with us. So you might want to talk with her before we go because she might be craze by the time we get home. (Or she will start talking to everyone she sees and we will never make it any place:-) We will be hitting Walmart first then we are going to the East town Mall in Madison and any place that has any good deals. Then after we have all are great deals and are hungry the Olive Garden:-) It's good to be us.

School Again

I attended school with Art on the 17th and 18th at UW-Stout. I enjoyed most of it and learned alot. My least favorite was the morning of the 2nd day. That is his _ _ _ therapy class and I felt evey uncomfortable with it. The younger students it doesn't seem to bother at all to discuss it. I know it is necessary but I felt really ucky during that three hours. For the rest of the time it was fun to watch the students role play trying to decided how they would handle situations. One teacher named Bea discussed the Native American culture. That is her specialty and she is well versed in it. She used to live in Colorado with her husband and lived with the Souther Utes. One teacher discussed the book they had read on an African Sharmin. That was interesting. Can't say I believe it, but it's interesting. The last class was on Diagnosis with the DSM book. That is like the bible of Therapy where it has the code for the different problems that people have so it can be submitted to the Insurance companies and tell the therapist what type of treatment will help the patient the most.
On Monday nights about 1/2 of the class meets at Nate and Christy's home, eat and study the DSM. It was fun watching them all interact. There are very smart kids in Art's class. The are about 15 that make up the core of the group that will work together on their masters degrees.

The Martinez Baby is here

We are glad to have Jonatan Javier Martinez join the family. He was born 11-17-08 at 12:05 AM. He was 19 inches and weighed 7 pounds 6 inches. Mom and son are doing well.