It’s Father’s Day again. I’m glad. I’m glad there’s a day where we can remind you how much we love you and how much we appreciate you. I hope you realize that you mean more to your daughters and I than you can imagine. You are an excellent father, caring, nurturing and encouraging his children. In the business of life forget to tell you all of it, but know, today, that we are very thankful to God and to you.

• Thank you for raising, in the nurture and admonishment of the Lord, two beautiful children.
• Thank you for educating our children through hand-on events, games, stories, explaining, and personal experiences.
• Thank you for taking us on grand adventures, planned and spontaneous, that binds us together as a family.

We love you.

More photos and the full article on making this project is available as

Father’s Day Gift Idea

at Scrapjazz.

It’s official. I am 40-years-old now. How does that feel? On one hand, it does make me think I’m on the other side of my life. On the other hand, I don’t feel sad about it. I’m not anxious, worrying about missing something. I’m not feeling let down for not having accomplished something special. God has blessed me beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I have been blessed with a wonderful faith, family, friends, and little everyday things that make me happy. 40 is good.My official birthday, June 16, included a trip to a pancake breakfast (cooked by my daughters), presents, visiting a few scrapbook stores, a relaxing lunch (including Cold Stone Creamery) and a party. Mike arranged a nice gathering of my friends for that evening. The biggest hits of the night were a quiz on me that Mike hosted, the New York Times front pages that Mike doctored for important dates in my life, and the game Apples to Apples.

For the quiz, Mike asked things like the following:
“Where did Denise volunteer when she moved to California?”

Answer: CA Marine Mammal Center

“What scrapbooking website does write articles for?”

Answer: Scrapjazz

The funniest question was “What did Denise do to receive an in school
suspension in high school?” It was multiple choice and the choices were the following: refusing to do science dissection, staying home to watch a baseball game on TV, fighting and “Are you kidding? She never received a suspension.”

The correct answer is…

Staying home to watch baseball. It was opening day and at that time in my life I was a baseball nut…

A lovely day from start to finish.

June 12. After a hectic last week of school (Hectic here meaning “insanely busy to the point of exhaustion”) our family enjoyed just relaxing at home for a whole week. The girls and I made no plans and we had no agenda. Every morning I woke up to a new day, which I labeled a “may” day. On my favorite message board, DML, I wrote:

My schedule has NOTHING!!! I may run an errand, I may work on my CKU album, I may do some deep cleaning, we may go on an evening hike, etc. I love saying “may.”

Ahhh, peace…

From Brownies…

On to Cadettes.

Jackie’s troop celebrated and bridged to the next level of Girl Scouts. They planned and led their own ceremony and did a super job. They have come a long way from those Brownie days.

Sweet.

Kudos to Orion parent Julie Brodie, a professional photographer, who for the second year in a row agreed to photograph Orion children and donate the proceeds to Orion. Thank you, Julie.

For a couple days Julie needed someone to watch her children while she photographed. I volunteered.

Meanwhile, I desperately needed some good photographs of myself for my CKU class I would be attending in a few weeks. Julie came to the aide. Here are a few of her creations. These are the best photographs I’ve had of me in ages. I am so pleased. You did an awesome job, Julie!

After graduation we enjoyed at potluck dinner at Stafford Park. The new graduates ate then played games of all kinds in the park. The parents ate and gathered together to discuss a wide variety of topics. It was a nice evening and many families did not leave until 9 p.m.

Driving home Mike shared a thought with us.

“Tonight I figured out why Jackie has had such good friends at school, ” Mike said. “Because they all have such good parents.”

Here’s another reminder to me not to underestimate my influence as a mother.

At the graduation ceremony, each student was introducted to the audience. The teachers announced the student with a brief description. One student the teacher described with the fact that when he started teaching 5th grade this year, he was surprised at how well this 5th grader could write. He really thought this student must be older because of the quality of her writing. At this point, no one flinched. Everyone knew whom the teacher meant. They turned to Jackie. He finished his introduction by saying he would not be surprised if she wrote a novel in the future.

After their introduction each student recieved their diploma, a rose and shared something – a memory, a brief thank you or something they were looking forward to in Middle School.

When Teacher Ben called Jackie forward, she read the memory she had written:

June 8, 2006. It’s a bittersweet day. It is the date of Jackie’s 5th grade graduation from Orion Alternative School. She had six great years of education and our family has enjoyed being in the Orion community. In these hectic days, it is hard to find a good community. Orion is one of those good communities…especially Jackie’s class. The involved and dedicated parents would hang out at school and see each other at activities. So even though Jackie’s graduation is exciting, we will miss our Orion friends and the community in this graduating class. Next year we will be in a new school with great opportunities and fun programs. Next year will have new friends and new activities. The changes will be good but it will not be the same as Orion. That is bittersweet.

Jennifer looked into my hands. I was holding a box. It was the latest Scholastic book order I had received from school. Knowing there were books inside for her she wanted to look inside the box. I flipped the lid and let her take a peek. She exclaimed with glee as she picked up each book. Then she turned to me and yelled, “You rock Mom!” I smiled. Thanks, dear. I love you, too.

Our Girl Scout troop and others in our Association spent the day down by the San Francisco Bay at the Marine Science Institute in Redwood City. The girls spent a fabulous day with lots of hands on activities and learning opportunities. In a series of stations they

• took a “mud grab” of the bay and investigated the invertebrates in the mud
• touched invertebrates, fishes and a leopard shark from the bay
• collected fish for examination
• collected a water sample and looked at the contents in a larger viewing microscope
  

Every girl thoroughly enjoyed the visit!