Reading First Family Night

Tonight the boys and I went to Alex's school for Family First Reading Night. They had it all set up where the audience could play a guessing game with remote controls. Made me feel like I was on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire"! They had various games in a few of the classrooms, including Alex's. That made him really happy. He even got his name plate for his desk, and kept raising his hand like he was in class! They also had a free raffle for games and movie tickets. Alex didn't get the game he really wanted and that brought a few tears to his eyes. But, we were successful and won 4 free movie tickets to the State Wayne here in town! SWEET!!!!

Yesterday we went to the Pioneer Day event at Nankin Mills. We had an awesome time. We got there exactly 15 seconds after Senta, so our families were able to go through it together. Unfortunately, Carl had to work and missed all the fun! :( The boys really enjoyed themselves. They had many different kinds of demonstrations, including butter churning, open fire cooking, blacksmithing, leather crafts, woodworking and pioneer toys. They also had a hayride and a tiny train that you could get free rides on. Jacob was very brave and tried a bit of duck stew at the open fire pit. Of course he proceeded to spit it all out in the nearest garbage, but come on! The kid actually tried duck!!! Is this my child? Alex participated in the sack race they had against a few other kids.

Us on the tiny train ride.

Waiting for our turn on the hayride.
Jake and I on the hayride. (also, half of Senta's son Nolan's head)
The other side of Nolan's head, me and Alex.
Alex posing with his chick at the petting farm section.
Alex attempting to master the pioneer games.

Jacob doing likewise.
Lucas, Nolan and Alex watching the blacksmith.
Alex after competing in the sack race

Are you smarter than a kindergartener?

So the other day, I was picking up Alex from school. He was telling me about all the new shapes he had learned. The red was a square, the blue a diamond and so on. Later, he is telling Carl about the same things. Red is a square shape, blue is a rhombus...and I'm all "wait, I thought you said that blue was the diamond?"

" Mom, a diamond is a rhombus."

"oh"

(To make things more humiliating, I wikipedia'ed rhombus to see if he was right...he was!)

Still on the run...minus one

Thank you Dad for you continual updates!

Ashley has not been found, but they have been very close. They just missed catching her in Salt Lake City, by 20 Min. They (all 4) stayed at someone's house there last night. Now they are on the run again. They made it to Burley, ID. this morning....Amanda decided she did not want to run any more. They dropped her off at a gas station in Burley and she called her mother to come get her. The other 3 took off and left Amanda on her own.

Now which direction have they gone??? We are just waiting to hear any news.

Seems they are getting closer

Thanks to my Dad for this fresh update:

Last night Jill and Aaron had a visitor come to their door. It was a boy who asked he could get sweat shirt that Ashley had borrowed from him. So that put some suspicion on their minds....who is this guy?? How does he know Ashley? They were able to get his name. They noticed he did not have a car if front of the house. They told him no, and he left. They noticed he went down the street and went around the corner. They watched out the kitchen window and saw the car that he drove off in with others in the car. So Aaron jumped in his car and followed after them. Once they noticed him following them; they took off as fast as they could go......they got up to 90 miles an hour and Aaron backed off. A neighbor said he had saw the car parked by their house, and their was a girl in the car with two boys. Jill and Aaron told the Police about what had happened.

Then today we find out the Police went to Amanda's house (the girl who had last seen Ashley when she disappeared) to talk to her.....she was not there. They then went to see Amanda's mother at work and she said that Amanda had not come home last night, and see was looking for her too. So now we have Amanda and Ashley both lost.

The day before all this happened....a friend of Ashley, Johnathon, had gone to Amanda's and asked if she had seen Ashley or if she was there. This Johnathon (good kid) had seen Ashley in Wal-mart the day before in Rexburg, and talked to Ashley. At that time he did not know that Ashley was missing, until he heard from a friend that she was. So he called Jill and asked if Ashley was missing. He said he would start looking for her.

So now with the disruption of the car and the name of the kid that came to the front door; the Police know who they are looking for. They have now put out an all points bulletin in search for all four of them. Two boy's and two girl's. Amanda's mother is more involved, because of her daughter is missing too. All police force's are looking for them.

You will have to tune in for the next episode tomorrow.

Update

I got this update from my Dad:

We heard some news today that she has been seen in the Rexburg area......One boy that knows Ashley said he talked to her two days ago in Walmart. At that time he did not know that she was missing until he seen this ad in the paper. He called Jill to let her know that he had seen and talked to Ashley.

So she may have not gone to Colorado??? The Police are going to Walmart to look at a surveillance video to see if they can see her in it. Supposedly, She was there with an older woman. Ashley said she was watching her children; the woman lived in St. Anthony. So we have a new lead.

The Police in Colorado, have taken in Ryan for questioning today , if he knows anything about Ashley. We have not heard back yet. The police have shown a picture of Ashley to Ryan's father that lives near Ryan. He said he has a girl he has been hanging around with that looked just like Ashley; but her name is Laura. ???? so... we will have to wait and see.

Others have said they have seen Ashley around this area; between Rigby --- St. Anthony. We get our hopes up, then they fall again.

Thank you for putting something on your blog. The more people know...the better chance of finding her. What the Police are now doing they should have done a week ago.

My niece

My niece has been missing for 12 days now (I believe, could be more). Her parents (my sister and brother-in-law) believe that she ran away. I hope that they don't mind me airing out our "dirty laundry" for all to see, but I think that the more exposed this is, the faster she can be found.

These are from Oct. of last year.

Ashley (left) Chelsea (right)

Chelsea (left) with Ashley (right)


Her name is Ashley Marie Pace (Zimmerman). She is 16 and was last seen in Rigby Idaho. She was out of the 5-C (Juvenal hall) on probation. Obviously, she has been having some issues lately. We are all trying to figure out where she might have gone to. There are a few possibilities, but nothing conclusive. She left without her things, only what she had on her back. She didn't even pick up her paycheck before skipping town.

We are all very concerned. It makes it extra difficult not to be in Idaho with my family during this. I would appreciate anyone who reads this, to pass along this information. In 12 days, you could hitch practically anywhere. I will post when I have more information.

And he's off!

There goes Jacob, off light a speding bullet to school. I only got a moment to get one of him before he booked it out the door. Tried to get one of him opening the door, only to get one of it closed again! Then the camera ran out of film and I said heck with it!! So there you go. As you can tell he is excited as can be. Even got up at 6:30 with little protestation. So did I to be honest. I am just as excited. And, not only because I need a break from him for at least a day, but because I know that he genuinely loves his teachers and learns more there than I can ever teach him.

Alex did really well yesterday. He said they did hand prints on paper, colored in a picture, did shapes and letters and read "the Kissing Hand" (makes me weepy when I read that one). He also said there were toys, but he was not allowed to play with them. There was snack, but I forgot to pack his. And, he made no new friends. So, I guess we take the good with the bad, pack a snack, and hope for the best today!

Update on the house

Today is the day of the auction on our house. We have indeed decided to allow the foreclosure to take place. We are in the middle of trying to find a new place to live, but we will have 6 months to make a final decision. This is the amount of time we are allowed before we will have to leave the house. We thank you all for your prayers and ask that you continue. We have a long road ahead of us!

Why I named my blog what it is...

I wake up this morning, all peaceful and rested. (There are distinct advantages to having afternoon Kindergarten after all!) Then the phone rings. It's Hoover calling to say that they tried to register Alex, but he isn't supposed to go to Hoover, but to Roosevelt. "I know," I said, "but we did this through school of choice."

". . . .When did you do that?"
"When it was time to do school of choice forms. I turned the form into you."

Of course I am thinking that they should know all this since they sent him a postcard saying Welcome to Hoover!!!! But who am I? Shall we continue? (BTW, this is the conversation as best I can remember, not true quotes! :) )

"We don't seem to have the form. Do you have any way of verifying this?"
"No, I don't. I gave the only form I had to you."
"Hmmmmm, perhaps if we called the Board of Education they would have a copy."
"Would you like me to call them?" (sigh)
"Yes, thank you and then call me back."

So, off I go to do her job. I call the Board, they get all snippity like this is my fault and why would I be so dumb as to actually GIVE the form I was supposed to give?!?! Really, I should have better sense in the future! Well, long story short, the matter is resolved. They did in fact have a copy of something that they are reluctantly faxing to Hoover and we are still on for this afternoon. All I can ask it what's going to go wrong now!?

Of course!!

No school for my little man, as dreaded. And yes, I did freak out as promised! Just picture: me, bawling my eyes out in the office in front of the secretary, principal and his new teacher. They said that it was because they didn't have a desk prepared for him. Well, if he's not gonna be there until the afternoon, why not find a desk, slap him name on it and there you go!! Yes, he got the afternoon shift instead of the blessed morning one I wanted. Oh well. I am better now, and he wasn't too upset. So, tomorrow is our first day. I will post the events as soon as I can. My digital camera is a piece of crud, so I will have to wait to get the photos developed before I can post them.

One more day

Today was the last day for Alex to be a crazy wild boy. Tomorrow, he will start school and I am here tonight nauseous. Not because I fear for him, or because I am sad, but angry at my own procrastination of the inevitable!

I have yet to register my son for school!! Yes, I am dumb. I started putting it off because of the whole school of choice issue. Then, it was because I couldn't find ,y wallet for almost an entire month. That made it impossible to do because of lack of ID. Then, I put it off a little bit longer, realizing that when I was finally ready, the school was officially closed for the summer until a week into our vacation. While on vacation, I realize that we had skipped out on our scheduled appt. for the school physical sometime a while ago, and I call to make another appt. They are swamped and can only get him in after school starts. They said it was no big deal, so I was ok with that. We get home, and then there are all the things to worry about with the house. So then I put it off for a couple more days. I call the school on Friday of the week before last to confirm the things I need to bring in. I tell them about the doctor and they say no big deal, but we need the from from his last physical. Ok, sure. I call the doc, they say he didn't get all his blood work last time, so I will need to get that done. Ok. Blood work, check. (very brave kid) Now I have to wait..........Friday, they finally get it in and done. Ok, no biggie. So I go get it. BUT Friday, the school is closed for Labor Day Weekend. AUGHHHHHHHHHHHH Of course that means Monday as well. AUGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!
So, here I am today, a sad woman. I am sick with worry that they might not let him go tomorrow. I mean, I don't even know if he is morning or afternoon! I seem to have also lost the immunization record. It is on the form from the doctor, but I can see them giving me a hard time. I am not happy. If they don't let my poor little boy go to his first day, I will freak right out!! I will let you know tomorrow.

DONE!!!

Mandy, Franchot, Lauren and Trey are officially moved into their new home!!! Yay!!

I am so happy for them, and I am also relieved that the rest of us get a few days off from moving! Now the real journey starts though. I can remember moving into our house, and the weeks of unpacking all the stuff. WE still have at least 2 boxes that we have not unpacked!! Also, Lauren has no official room. She is going to be residing in their sweet basement, but her side is still concrete and spiders. Ugh... So, they are going to build a privacy wall, cover the concrete and bricks with drywall, get some carpet and behold, a bedroom! Until then, Lauren in residing in the finished family room side of the basement. Also, they need to get the carpet steamed, blinds washed and/or replaced and ventilation cleaned due to the evil cat that used to reside in the home. Poor Mandy and Lauren are SO allergic. I am hoping that their first night wasn't too sniffly!

We love you guys! Congratulations!!!!!