Riley's Reading Levels

Riley took a reading level test in high school, and the results came back. A score of 1300 or above is ADVANCED COLLEGE LEVEL, as they label it, and the highest bracket they have. Riley scored a 1530.... The highest in his entire grade!

Ame's Midterm Report Card

Ame's starting off Middle School in the right direction!

Sunday Pictures

Beginning a long needed and long awaited period of rest! Here are some pictures from the house (cranes) and from Ame's Soccer game!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150343289553257.364216.683213256&l=4303f14887&type=1

Pictures

Ame Ran

Ame ran an 8:54 second mile in school today! Fastest 7th grader in the school!

The Day is HERE!

Wedding day is here.  Bride is in Silver Lake getting her hair done, I'm with the boys contemplating all that is before us and what is to come and what is right now before me.  Moment by moment.  Pictures will be taken, so look for them soon!  Love to all!

Wedding Prep

We are really coming down to the wire here!  And it is exciting.  6 months of work for a beautiful weekend.  I got my wedding band and everything is looking good.  Ah.... it's really happening!

School!

The kids are back in school! Asher is a Senior, Riley a Sophomore. Ame is in 7th grade at Rocky Mountain Middle School! Asher has college classes he's taking, psychology and art.

Wedding Engagement Photos

Click HERE for wedding engagement photos


https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2170882843829.112862.1599498417&l=38d5a1617f&type=1

Ame's Artwork

Ame spent the day yesterday (August 8th) painting with her friend Phoebe. Here is a link to her art for the day!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150293544873257.351640.683213256&l=1482da2b18&type=1

Soccer Camp & Driving

Ame, even though she has a broken arm, has been attending soccer camp all week. The coach gave us some feedback today that I thought I would share with everyone:

Ame's doing great. She is in the group of good players on our team. She would make a great full back because she is fast and aggressive and doesn't like to get beat! Her area to work on is she needs to get her head in the game, she tends to be a little in la la land or have mice in her brain :))

Next item is Driving. Riley got his Driver's Permit so me and Papa have been driving around with him a lot, and he's driving very well. I'm impressed.

It is Quiet

Ame is at Girls Camp. It's quiet around the house....

Pictures Around the House

If you enter this link on your computer internet browser, it should take you to a string of new photos I just put up on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150232334363257.335215.683213256&l=4d84400ed6

Here is a link to click as well: NEW PHOTOS

I've tested this and it works for me, so I hope it works for everyone else as well. This set includes pictures of animals, rainbows, Asher, Riley, and Jennie.

Riley's Grades - Asher's Grades

Finally, Riley's grades:

Beginning Theater: B-

Geometry: C-

Woodworking: A-

Guided Study: A-

Foundation: B-

Biology: A

PE: B-

English: A

GPA: 3.13

And here are Asher's Grades:

Physics: B

Economics: B

Us History: B+

Guided Study: A

Body: B+

General Financial: B

ACT Math: B+

English: A

GPA: 3.37

June 12th, 2011 - Sunday - The Chariot

Gus the Lion

I was ten years old, May 1979. We had just moved to Heber, Utah from Hidden Hills, California. This is me with our lion Gus.

Ame's Grades

Ame's Grades went DOWN.... she isn't happy about it, but they are still very good. She is a very active young lady, so I think some of her activities caught up with her. No excuses though, she knows she can do better:

Math: B+ (this was the grade that dropped from an A)

Keyboarding: A

Language Arts: A

Library Media: A (What is this? I have no idea)

PE: A

Reading: A

Science: A

Social Studies: A

Spelling: B (this was the second grade that dropped from an A. This is weird because she's a great speller, but she missed a few assignments which dropped the grade. She did get an A on the final test).

Music: A

We need to watch the Math. If she follows the path of the boys, who were both STRAIGHT A Math students at this time, then slowly fell down and away from it. I know it gets harder and is a real challenge. Riley started taking some tutoring and I think we need to consider getting Ame some regular Math tutoring next year right from the start to keep her Math skills and confidence high.

Right now if you ask Asher he will tell you: "I'm just not good at Math." So his confidence is in the toilet. And he used to be a Math WHIZ.

Okay, next will be Asher.

Pictures

If you click on this link you can see a set of pictures I just uploaded to facebook. That makes it a lot easier than uploading them here one by one.

Included are pictures of Jennie in her Black Swan costume. One of me, one of the two cats, and one of Asher and Boo with the flower pots full of herbs.

If this link works, let me know. If it doesn't, let me know. I don't think you need to be on Facebook to make this work:

FACEBOOK

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150227327838257.333368.683213256&l=0fd7be7c90

June 8th, 2011

Well, this is the first week the kids are out of school. We have grades, and by and large they were good. I have them at the office, so I will put them into the blog toady, hopefully. Ame made the A steam in Soccer, meaning she's in the upper division. Her team was split and half the girls are in the B team with some newcomers. I bought her new shows, shin guards, and a new soccer ball. Her first practice of the new season is this morning, at 8:00 AM.

Susie stopped by the office to say hello yesterday, surprising us all.

Lots of wedding planning going on, balanced with yoga, and work. Summer seems to have finally arrived and my 17 year old son wakes early every morning for a meditative walk.

I cooked an Indian food dish with a Kidney Beans that was really good, in a reduced tomato sauce.

New Video

A little video of Churchill, Figgy, and Ame!

Even MORE pictures

Another selection of Photos scanned tonight. Most of these my Dad took of the kids, though there are a couple that are school photos.

Another Picture of the Boys

At some B-Day Party

Monday, March 21st, 2011

So what is going on? That beautiful spring weather we were having has turned sour and cold. Long walks are now bitter cold affairs, and not entirely enjoyed. The crisis in Japan has caused Disasterorders to go up. This weekend we watched Megamind with the kids, and went down to Josh's house for dinner with he and Nicki. Indian food was great, and long talks into the evening. It was a great time. Cleaning my office this even as Jennie went to Yoga without be because I had to work late due to increased orders. We put a few videos up on Youtube if you can believe it, for the game store. More of a hobby thing than anything serious, but it sure was fun. I wish there was more to say, but when you try to sum things up like this instead of writing them down every day, they lose their punch and I forget most of the details.

A few More Pictures

Some of these might be repeats, but worth seeing again!

Wallet Pictures

I found these old wallet pictures of my kids! I scanned them. The quality isn't great, but it is fun to see them.

Riley with BLOND hair... Riley Age 4, September 2000

All three kids in 2001. So that makes Ame 3, Riley 6, Asher 8

Riley

Asher Unknown Time

Asher 1999

Riley's ACT Test Scores

9th Graders take a test ACT to see how they will do. Meanwhile Asher took the REAL ACT a week ago, but we won't learn his results for a while. These are Riley's results, even though his test of course doesn't count, he's still two years away from taking the real one . His Composite Score is a 21. I think I got a 24 on my ACT (but hey, that was like 23-24 years ago, so don't quote my memory). He got a 19 in English, 22 in Math, 23 in reading, and a 18 in science. So he knews where to improve. his scores were actually high in comparison to the rest of the school. He scored better than 93% of the other students in the school, so he's in the top 10% of his class. And he has two years to work hard on this.

We talked today about going to school, and what he wants to do with his life. I'll have to tell you more about that next time I write! :)

Ame's New Clothes

For getting straight As again, Brandy sent Ame a set of soccer pants shirt and jacket. Ame was busting excitement to wear them tonight so I decided it would be a good idea to take a picture of her in them and put it on the blog!

Sick

Jennie has the Gombu. As she calls it. Upper head and respiratory infection. I put her down last night early. (Which means putting her to bed early). :)

Grades are coming this week. Preliminary look at grades was all As and Bs for the boys, but we'll see how it all shakes out.

Last night Riley and I spent an hour building a model with Ame yapping at us. Before that all three kids and I did 30 minutes of Tai Chi (I'm teaching them this martial arts). It was really fun. We have to stand still and breath and take poses of balance for minutes at at time. Riley is by far the worst and most fidgety of the kids. He's got to get that under control, but his body is growing crazy so he's really uncoordinated. Ame is the best.

That's it for last night's report, though we all did eat Jennie's fabulous chicken as leftovers for dinner.

January 25th, 2011 - Tuesday - The Hermit

Today we got The Hermit card, the 9th Trump. It is ruled by the Angel of Inner Wisdom and Introspection. Right off the bat this tells you what? You are going to go on a journey today, and which direct is the journey? Inside. Go INSIDE. See that little three headed dog on the bottom right corner of the card? Those are the Hounds of Hell, the Demon Dogs. And that is what you need to go face today! Go inside and face your shadow.

Shadow is such a strong theme in the Tarot for a good reason. We are all filled with shadows, and ego. When we let the ego run rampant in fear of the shadow, we usually are shriveled little zombie dolls. Shadow exists. It's part of the Duelistic Universe. Two. Opposition. It's just the COURSE of this universe.

If you think of it, why would it be that way? We can't even picture a world where it isn't TWO. The eastern traditions often think of God as ONE. The universe is ONE but has been shattered into this big duelistic thing.

For what it's worth, such questions are interesting, and perhaps worth pursuing some day, but while we play in THIS realm, we have Shadow to balance our light, and so the way to play is to face it, play with it, and not let fear run you.

One bit of advice today is to practice being still and quiet. Today is a good day to meditate. You should be doing breath work and meditating a bit every day just as a matter of course, but if you aren't, start today.

Be quiet. Be still. Look inward. Write. Sit.

Weekend of the 21, 22, 23

This this weekend we took it pretty easy. Friday we came home, didn't go out to date night, and just relaxed and did some practice (that means breathing eye contact practices, along with meditation, etc).

Saturday morning I surprised Jennie and woke her up early and took her to play racquetball! We had a lot of fun. Then we went to Yoga, then to Cafe Galleria for bagels and tea. Then we came back, Jennie took a nap, I read, and we ended up having a quiet evening together. We did some more practice, meditation, and so forth.

Then Sunday Jennie got up early and dragged the Creature out of bed (the Creature is our name for Ame, who is always a 'creature' in the morning. Tangled hair and sour attitude). She dragged her to Yoga. For me it was cleaning day. And I mean cleaning! We rented a rug doctor and went to work, kitchen, couches, carpets, bathrooms, you name it.

Then... THEN... we watched the Green Bay Packers vs. the Chicago Bears playoff game for the NFL. Jennie's family is from Wisconsin, so they are big Packer's fans. We had a fun time watching the game. I rode the bike for an hour during the game to exercise.

PACKERS WON.

So then we went down and Jennie cooked us her famous malibu chicken dinner, of tender breaded chicken with ham and swiss cheese. I made the salad and cleaned up afterwards. My Dad came by for dinner and we just had a nice time eating and watching the second football playoff game, Steelers vs. the Jets. Steelers won.

Then it was off to bed! Relaxing weekend.

Stuff

Happy Martin Luther King Day! Above we have three items. Two are skill certificates Riley earned in school, and another is a piece of artwork from Ame. All three kids are skiing today at Park City!

Monday

Here is a picture of Churchill!

Monday, we are all getting back to our daily schedule, sinking into the new year. Asher took Ame out for a movie and lunch yesterday, and it was good to see them hang out as Brother and Sister. Riley worked at the shop all day (on a Sunday!) That was cool. He had customers come up from Salt Lake which was awesome. While we sell most of all our products across both ranges online, it's nice to see the kids develop a few in state customers who come all the way from Salt Lake even to buy stuff.

Anyway, I hadn't posted in a long time, so I wanted to say hello to everyone!