Laura's Blog: July 2007

"Busy, Busy,Busy"

6:34 PM | by Laura

I have not had time to scrapbook lately, so you have been getting pictures . I am hoping to get some pages done in the next week or so. Been busy at work and at home. I want to change my blog design too (with someones help) hint, hint. One of these days. I have so many unfinished projects I wanted to complete before the girls got home. Won't see all of them done, but they will be surprised. I don't want to tell them any of it. I wish my cupboards were going to be in by then, but at least we can have the living room and kitchen all painted and ready for the cupboards. There are not enough hours in a day or I just wish I didn't need to sleep!

I talked to Rachel tonight on the phone. She had a very late night last night seeing kids off and new ones in. As she was talking to me she let out a very small "aah" like you would for a bug or a spider crawling on you. I asked her what was wrong and she replied, "Oh we have a very bold mouse in our tent." And oh so calmly carried on with our conversation. This mouse just scurried over someones foot as we were talking on the phone. Did I have the right child? Someone must have kidnapped her. This is the kid who almost made me hit the ditch on Circe Drive when she was about 5 or 6 yrs old because there was a bee flying around in the car and she let out the most bloodcurdling scream you ever did hear. I thought someone tried to kill her. This cannot be my child...she could hear the bzzz of a mosquito at 300 yds and couldn't sleep nor let anyone else sleep until we killed it and every last one of them in the house. This is the child who was afraid of ladybugs, dragonflies, grasshoppers, aphids, flies,... you get the drift. You talk about someone conquering fear...Rachel has conquered fear and overcome! Her favorite part of cadets is FTX's... where you are outside on the ground roughing it. The rougher the better. No running water, no comfy beds, no white porcelain, etc. God is amazingly awesome!!!!

"First Graduation Parade"

6:17 PM | by Laura

Mr. Wayne Emde took this picture of Rachel saluting the reviewing officer as he is about to inspect her platoon. When I see an obvious picture like this I think of the Sesame Street song, "One of These Things is Not Like the Other." Her first parade is over. Today, her next intake of cadets arrive. I have to say, she looks sharp. Is is wrong for a parent to feel pride for their child's achievements? I think in this day and age, our children need all our support we can give them. So, one down and two more to go. Has it been a walk in the park? Nope, but she will have grown again in leaps and bounds. There is nothing we face or go through as a child of God that is wasted. That is the beauty of serving Him. He not only walks with you side by side, but everything has a purpose in Him.

"Stylin' and Profilin'"

9:21 PM | by Laura

This is too funny! Styling and profilin'! Now, if I suggested she wear something like that, you could imagine the fight on my hands. It reminds me of Big Bird. Sorry Rach, this is scrappin' blackmail material! But then again, they are used to it. Thank you Francois for being at the right place at the right time.

"Cousins"

9:16 AM | by Laura

I was trying to get a picture of the three of them but there were too many people for me to back up far enough to get them all in and Brandon was just too stinking tall! So he had to crouch down to his cousins level so I wouldn't cut his head off in the photo. Some day I'll scrap these!!!

"Brandon's Grad"

7:55 AM | by Laura

There is a right handsome boy. I have to say he was the best looking boy there that night (not that I'm a tad predjudiced). It was funny to see him duck a little when he walked through the door when they called his name. He is 6' 4-5" not sure which. At that height, one more inch really doesn't matter to shorties like me! When I give him a hug I hug his belly button he is that much taller than me! He makes a big production of squatting to hug me the goof.

"2 Day Bike Trip"

10:36 PM | by Laura

This is Adventure Platoon. Jenna wanted to switch into this company when she got to Vernon. With the advice from her Commanding Officer, he thought it best she stay where she was. For several years now she has been plagued with pain that flairs up periodically in her right leg. We don't know what it is, but extreme exercise would only aggrevate it. This course is nothing but extreme exercise/activity. It would have been perfect for her if she didn't have a bad leg. They biked for two days. Mile after gruelling mile. The neat thing is, when they get back from this tiring trip, the CO and other senior officers at the camp are standing outside welcoming them back to base. It makes for a nice welcome back. I posted this picture because one of "Mama P's" adopted boys is in this platoon sitting in the middle front row. Next to the girl in the orange shirt. He never fails to give me a hug every time he sees me at the armouries or where ever he is. It doesn't matter who is standing around, how many of his friends are there he still hugs me and calls me Mama P. It gives me warm fuzzies because I don't have boys, so I have to adopt them :). Sean is perfect for this course as he is very active. We'll see how he does. As you can see the scenery is something these kids will never forget as some of them come from as far away as the Maritimes and Quebec.

"The Interview"

10:07 PM | by Laura

I missed Jenna's call today by five minutes. Arrggg! She got to shoot the C7's today and she told Shannon that she loved it! When I asked her dad how she shot, he told me that she was the third highest shot in her platoon. I thought that was pretty good. Knowing her, tomorrow, she will strive to do better, "shooting" to be the top shot! Sorry, I couldn't help the puns.

Yestersday Jenna was reviewed by an officer. Kinda reminds me of a job review after three months. Only this happens on a weekly basis and I believe by different officers (I'll have to ask her for sure). A little nerve racking if you ask me. I hope I can talk to her tomorrow. I want to find out what kind of questions they ask you. Todays pictures on Vernon's website are awesome. I may try and download some more.

I found out that Jenna shot 197/200. Now that's what I call shooting! Someone else shot 199 and someone actually shot a 200. There are 34 people in her platoon, so she did pretty good.

"Where's Jenna?"

6:50 PM | by Laura

Can you find Jenna? This is almost like "Where's Waldo?" Really isn't that difficult. The only skirt in the bunch kinda gives it away. The first Sunday afternoon they have all the cadets get together on the commons and they have a bunch of skits etc...I don't know if Jenna's platoon did one or not, I haven't had the chance to ask her. Last year Rachel's platoon made local television when they did their skit and Rachel had a random lady come up to her and tell her she saw her on the local new channel the night before! Rachel was rather embarassed to say the least. Sitting directly in front of the band has to be hard on the ears, though. I do know that they have a great bunch of girls in her platoon!

"Girls in Vernon"

1:32 PM | by Laura

Jenna sitting in on a lecture under a tent. Hot, great comfortable chairs. Sounds like fun? Not my idea of a great time...give me air conditioning anyday. I remember as a kid living outside (mostly because if I was inside my mom always found some work for me to do)! I wonder if I gave her that option at home what the response would be? Hm, I might have to try it. I am starting to get some great parenting ideas lately....this could be scary.

Here is a photo of Rachel at the airport in Kelowna picking up an intake of cadets. The camp photographers Francois Arseneault and Wayne Emde follow the cadets around from the time they open their eyes in the morning until they turn out the lights at night for the duration of the six weeks. They then compile a DVD of that six weeks for the cadets. I have been given permission to post photos of my girls on my blog from the photographers. I have had the pleasure of talking to Francois on the telephone a couple times and he is as passionate about photography and the cadet program like we are about scrapbooking!

If you get a chance to check out the Vernon website to see some of the shots he gets of the cadets, go to: http://www.armycadethistory.com/ Then click on the Vernon website on the left. If you check out last years pictures (2006) towards the end of the summer, the last week of camp Fri, Sat and Sun pictures are awesome. Enjoy them and let me know what you think. They put alot of time and effort into this website for us parents to keep track and maybe get glimpses of our kids while they are away. Drop me a note and I'll pass it along to him.

"You Are Amazing"

9:24 AM | by Laura

My baby is growing up too fast. She is still my tomboy in disguise, though. The bottom picture truly shows Jenna's personality to a T. She can be all dressed up, and if someone challenged her to climb a tree she would find a way. She is amazing and I miss her!!! I admit it. I love the scalloped paper and these titles (I forget who makes them) sorry Ralna :) a little bling, some bling cardstock.

Well, everyone gets to see a picture of Shannon and I together. Miracle! What a job Denise had too! Between Shannon and his dad Gordon, not cooperating, she had her work cut out for her. We had lots of fun and she did get some good pictures of us. For people who are usually holding the camera, this is a good thing. It will probably be another two years (Jenna's grad) before we get more family pictures taken, because we love it so much!!! Once again, trusty old Basic Grey patterned paper and rub-ons. A little glaze on the rub-ons and we are finished. Oh, and the buttons.

I love this picture of Lana and Will. I have had it for almost two years. I wanted to do something special with it and the paper I was using just wasn't working. So I kept putting the picture aside and doing something else. I pulled it back out recently determined to do this page. I went on the hunt for paper and low and behold good ole trusty Basic Grey was perfect! I love the colors and of course, I ended up using a design I did before (not quite the same) but when you are in a slump, you just sometimes have to get a page done! This was my picture, but I know when my sister sees this page, she is going to want it for her album. How can I say no? Ink, bling, rub-ons, and a little chipboard and patterned paper. That's it. Simple.

"Life's Lesson's"

8:09 AM | by Laura

Well, I received another phone call Monday night from Rachel. Still chuckling about it. She is coming down with a cold which is what happens to her when she doesn't get enough sleep. That's not what has me laughing. She started telling me how "she wants to come home, this isn't so much fun anymore." She didn't go as far as to say "I want my mommy" though, that would have been a little too much too soon. She has one cadet from Saskatoon who shall we say, is a rather unique individual, one cadet who was throwing up, and one cadet who was homesick. This was just Monday nights dealings. Just two days after they arrived!!! Of course I started to chuckle because it started sounding like being a parent...the only difference was, she was getting paid cash!!!! I was going to encourage her and tell her that it was okay that things were going to start getting better when I realized that yes, they would get better....just in time for these kids to go home and the second set to come in and the process to start alllll over again!!!! So I wisely kept my mouth shut and listened to her as I as quietly as possible chuckled under my breath.

She then asked me if Jenna told me about "that guy" to which I replied "yes" and started laughing. She got a little testy with me and said, "Mom are you laughing?" To which I admitted to doing. She said "Mom, it's not funny." This poor fellow is staffing in another company that is on the other side of the highway 2.2km away. I guess he kinda likes Rachel and he also walked up to Foxtrot where Rachel is staying just to "see how she was feeling" on Monday night. I asked all the usual questions how old, ( 17-18) what's his name, (I don't even know his name, mom!) and the laughing started all over again! I felt bad for her. She doesn't want this but it is all apart of life and growing up and learning to deal with situations that you face that just don't go away. Life overload. With multiple situations at one time and not lose it...... life. She is afraid he is going to ask her to mess dinner and believe me some of those guys go all out! So she has her work cut out... to let this guy down as gently as possible, as nice as possible.

The one story I have of Jenna is her barracks inspection on Monday went well. Her staff Sgt used guess who's bunk as an example to follow? Yup, Jenna's. "See this bunk? That's how I want to see everyone's bunk to look like." Do you think she was everyone's favorite? Not. Besides their bunk NOT passing inspection, Jenna's was used for an example and now she is liked by the staff. You know how teenage girls are. I wonder how I can get her to do her bunk like that at home? Maybe I should do an inspection every week between the two of them...hmmm have to put some thought into that one. hee, hee, hee.

So until the next phone call and the next story, I will end it with that! I know Jenna will be shooting C7's at the end of this week or the beginning of the next week. I am sure I'll have some stories about that! And Rachel gets to take the kids out in the bush for three days. Ha, ha, ha! Should be interesting. So until next time, bye for now!!!

"Everyday Life in Vernon"

11:12 PM | by Laura

I finally got my call from Rachel just after midnight tonight. Just as I suspected she has been running like crazy trying to get ready for about 600- 700 kids coming in starting on Friday. She is working in the company called Foxtrot and she will have 3 intakes of cadets that stay for only 2 weeks at a time. I think she is pretty excited because she likes working with this age group the best.

She is up by about 6am, has breakfast and her day is in full swing. She told me that she spent 6 hours doing lesson plans yesterday and she got 99% on her drill mutual today. That is her strength, just like shooting is Jenna's. Cleaning out barracks and just everything that goes along with running a camp of that size is overwhelming to me. She said she will find out tomorrow what rank she is for the entire 6 weeks. She is garanteed a sgt because that is what she is now, but she could get promoted to warrant for the summer. We will wait and see!

More later.

"Almost Empty Nest"

7:35 AM | by Laura

Well, come Friday and I will have an empty nest for 6 weeks when I ship Jenna off to Vernon to join Rachel. The girls will be there for the summer again with Army Cadets taking a summer training course. Rachel is staffing it so she will be doing the teaching and getting paid while Jenna is taking a 6 week rifle coach course. She gets to spend 6 weeks shooting air rifles and teaching young cadets how to shoot air rifles for six weeks. She will also get to shoot C7's this summer which are equivelent to M16's. Big guns. When she is done her 6 week course, she comes home and basically trains the cadets back home here how to shoot air rifles for the corps and for any new recruits trying out for the range team which she is apart of.

I find it isn't as hard to let go this year. I've been through this, I can do this. They are a year older. I'm okay. Then why do I worry when I haven't heard from Rachel in two days? Stupid isn't it? She went up a week ahead of all other cadets to prepare for intake. I know they are busy, I know they are extra busy because they are short staffed this year. So my kid doesn't call for 2 days, big deal? It is a big deal! I want to hear it in her voice that she is okay. I am and still always be MOM. Do I call the cops? You feel like it even though you know nothing is wrong. But you just want to make sure. I know I have to let go, but it sure is hard and when I can't see her and when I can't hear it in her voice that she is okay, I worry. She is still my baby.

This letting go and cutting the apron strings isn't what it's all cracked up to be. It just plain sucks.

So to all of you who have told me you haven't heard form me in awhile, here is overload. I should be able to do more this summer with no kids around and a husband who goes to bed at like 9pm to get up with the birds! So, I should be outblogging everyone for the next 6 weeks. Lookout Julie!! Maybe with luck, I'll have some more hillarious stories from camp to share with you this year. Knowing Rachel, I'm sure there will be something, if not wild boar than her tales of curbing the attempts of 12 years olds trying to prove how cool they are by seeing if they can sneak out of their tent without getting caught! Can't wait to hear the stories.

"Hair Do's & Don'ts"

5:52 PM | by Laura

So, I wanted to do a fun page of Rachel getting her "3 feet" of hair done because everyone, and I mean everyone, asked about it. From the time it took, how many rollers, to the amount of hairspray, and "did it stay in all day"? Melissa is truly amazing when it comes to doing hair! When she called me earlier that morning and asked me "Auntie, do you have elastics to hold the rollers in because the clips won't hold Rachel's thick hair" I went on the hunt. It's amazing what you can find in your kids drawers and how many elastics they "don't have" when you actually look for them. I needed 49 and I had extra! I also know when Rachel looks at this page 10 years from now, she will remember that day, and the huge part her cousin had in making her feel really beautiful that night when she had so many people compliment her and ask her what salon did her hair. After all ladies, isn't this what scrapbooking is all about?

3:23 PM | by Laura