12 Day of Christmas

So if you don't read the whole post today (yes, I know I'm long winded -hehehe), make sure that you read the part about how the school "lost" one of my kids yesterday. Really :)

We had a FABULOUS day yesterday!! My dad couldn't get to his job site (show), so he came back home and got the day off. Well, off but not paid. Anyway, because it snowed yesterday up in the coastal mountains, he said that we should drive up there with the little boys before Joe's afternoon kindergarten started. It was a FABULOUS idea!

There was about a foot or more of snow once we got to the top of the mountain. And we only got stuck a little bit. My dad has MAD driving skills, so I wasn't really worried. Not that much. One time our rear end came dangerously close to the edge of the mountain, and I started to get a little bit worried. But then some nice guys came by and offered to pull us out - LOL. I'm sure glad Heavenly Father was watching out for us that day. hehehe.

Here's some pics from our trip. Look at those incredible snow covered trees. I just LOVE Oregon scenery.

Me in the snow. I figured out how to use the timer on my new camera :) And it's not a tie, it's a scarf - LOL!

My dad. My sister thought he looked like a mountain man - hehehe.
Jimmy. He's a bit cold. At one point, I looked over, and his pants and come undone, and were around his ankles and he was screaming. Poor kid. He has permanent plumbers butt.

This kid makes the FUNNIEST faces. I just LOVE my Joe Joe faces - hehehe. He should be a cartoon character.

No really, they did have fun. These pictures were just taken right before we decided to head back home. That's why they're so frozen looking. LOL. Here's Jimmy.

These were a bit earlier, when they were still happy and warm-ish

And here I am, with my hair hider and all - hehehe.


Joe forgot to put on his coat when he first got out of the truck. We didn't realize it for the first few minutes. Poor kid. He was much warmer once we realized it.

It was a relatively easy drive up the mountain, but when we got ready to go, it was a bit more tricky. We had to go up a slight hill, in over a foot of snow. We were going back and forth in the road, and we were fish tailing pretty bad. Good thing my dad is an EXCELLENT driver.

But we did get stuck a few times. My dad brought a shovel (genious!) so he was able to dig us out most of the times.

Yeah, see those dirty parts in the snow on the bottom left? That's where we were before they guys pulled us out. Close to the drop off. Wow! It doesn't really look like a drop off, but those green snow covered trees are really tall, and they start down in the drop off.

And here's the nice guys who pulled out our truck. My dad said that he really had it, that it was just seconds from coming out by itself, and while I believe him, I really did feel a bit better that they were there, with the truck hooked up to their truck. I knew I wasn't gonna go over the edge.

It really was a fun snow trip. We made it home just a bit late, and Joe was 10 minutes late for kindergarten. When we got back in cell range, I found a message from the school saying that Eme needed to come home because she was coughing so bad. She has Asthma, and whenever she gets a cold, she gets a HUGE coughing fit. Most kids get sniffles. She coughs till she almost pukes. Poor little girl.

Oh yeah, one more story. So I had an appointment at 2:00, and my dad was watching Jimmy (3) and Eme (7 - remember, she came home sick). I got back at 3:11, and my mom was off work already. And Tom was home. Weird. The bus doesn't get there until 3:50. I asked how he got home so fast. My dad said he'd been there for an hour. Now I was really confused.

After calling the school to find out what happened, and talking to his teacher, here's what I found out. On Mondays, Tom's class goes to the library last period. They take their backpacks, and line them up in the hall before they go to the library. Then they walk to the library room, and their teacher stays in the classroom. The library teachers release them to the bus after school.

Well, Tom missed the part where he was supposed to leave his backpack and go to the library. He got his backpack, and went to the bus line. Obviously, no one was there. He figured that he missed the bus, and WALKED HOME!!! He had to cross a major highway to get here, too! Highway 101 is a 5 lane highway. Luckily there's a stoplight with a crosswalk, but STILL, he's 9!!!

But the part that upset me most is that NO ONE AT SCHOOL KNEW HE WAS MISSING. What's up with that? How do you lose a kid, and not even know they're gone. I'm gonna have to go into school tomorrow and talk with the office about it. Tom was safe, and it all turned out fine, but what if it hadn't been Tom? Or what if he'd got hit crossing the road? Or taken on the way home? Not a great thing, school people. You really can't lose kids. Not good!

Woohoo! It's my day at the Orchard!!!

And just for today, my store is on sale for 50% off!!!!! So, now's the time to buy that WordArt you REALLY want. You know you want it :) Click HERE to go to my store.

And check out this CUTE series that I decided to make for you guys. AND YOU GET IT ALL AT ONCE!!! Aren't I nice!!! Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to get the zip file. It's in my store, but it's FREE. Just make sure you're signed into the store to get it.

And you know me, I can't just do something easy. I have to take it further than really necessary. So, here's a DIFFERENT version of the same series. But it's only available on my blog. Click HERE to grab it from my box.net account. And as always, please leave some love if you like my work.