Cameron Adam Meyers...

He now goes by Cam with his friends and teachers. He does not go by Cam at home. There's nothing at all wrong with the nickname Cam. It's the first three letters of his name and also his initials. However, I love the name Cameron, and that's what I'm going to keep calling him.

Cameron is in Show Choir and he had a couple of roles in the fall musical "AIDA." He's a Sophmore in high school. Show Choir is not like the Swing Choir when we were in high school. Swing Choir 'back in the day' was an extracurricular activity for students that liked to sing and dance. Show Choir is a competitive sport. It's relentless practice and training. These kids have to be able to dance hard using their bodies head to toe and also sing as if they are standing still. 'Back in the day' Swing Choir was contained to bleachers with limited hand and body movement for dance and cute little costumes. Show Choir today is a full stage production with costume changes. There's the history and Cameron loves, loves, LOVES it.

Looking back it all makes sense now. When Cameron was 3, all he wanted for Christmas was "My Black Cat" movie. He asked relentlessly for at least a month. Mommy was growing anxious as Christmas approached. Then, one Sunday on the front page of a Toys 'R Us flyer was "MY BLACK CAT MOVIE." It was a VHS of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway production of CATS. The movie box was black. Suddenly it all made perfect sense. He watched that movie every day, and most days it was multiple times a day. He loved the singing and the dancing. Anyone that was at Cathy & DJ's wedding knows that Cameron was the hit of the dance floor. He learned his moves from CATS.

I hope this show can be a fall musical before he graduates in two years.

Second 6-month Sabbatical

Yeah, I know. I said I'd resurrect the blog after the November 2010 to June 2011 sabbatical. I didn't stick with the plan. I'm giving it another shot, because there's a lot going on that I want to chronicle for the kids. I need to get over my laziness and just work on it!

Mid-June 2011???

It is June 18, 2011. My last post was November 3. I ran out of steam with the blog. I felt like I ran out of material. I was burned out on blogging. It's constantly been in the back of my mind, I just haven't felt the desire to type it out. About a month ago I realized that I'm letting some really good stuff go unblogged.

Emma designed a dress and Grandma Misterka made it. She is growing like crazy both physically and emotionally. Miss Emma Carole Meyers is turning out to be a lovely young lady who has a heart full of love and compassion. I've never heard a more accurate summary of person than the one that my sister made of Emma about 7 years ago... "There's a whole lotta Emma in that little body!" Charisma and love for life flows out of every pore she has.

Cameron Adam now prefers to be called CAM. Really the initials of his name matching the first three letter of his name were purely coincidence. I think he was two when I remember Cathy making that observation. I had never thought about shortening his name to CAM and I will not call him CAM, but it is a natural nickname, and one he likes. He played his first paying gig (a wedding ceremony). He tried out for a made Carroll High School's Show Choir. He is researching an Eagle Scout project.

Christopher decided that he wanted to ride his bike from NE Fort Wayne to Bloomington. He made it to Muncie (about 90 miles) before the blisters on his ass prohibited him from biking any further. Momma (me) bought him a bus ticket from Muncie to Bloomington. Now he's back and beginning a new endeavor playing music.

Todd, well Todd is Todd. He works like a crazy man and plays hard with the kids.

Me? Hmmm, I have new responsibilities at work that have been challenging, rewarding, and frustrating at times. I thought about going to grad school. I thought seriously about it. I decided not to do it yet. Instead I am going to volunteer in a new outreach at church. I will have to blog about that in the future after I have more information.

Funny stuff... Todd just called on his way home from work. He said that he noticed on Facebook that I commented about resurrecting the blog. He didn't know that the blog went dormant.

Poker face

Emma loves games. She excels at games. She kicks my butt almost every time. It struck me tonight that she loves cards most of all. A simple deck of cards brings her great joy. She loves to shuffle and she loves to deal. She loves to play Garbage and she loves to play Go Fish, and she is good. While playing Go Fish tonight, I noticed how calculating she is. The cards talk to her. She shifts her eyes as if others are playing with us. She avoids eye contact with her opponent. I'm waiting for her to slip on a pair of sunglasses in an effort to conceal her eyes just like all the professional poker players do.

The most scary part that I noticed is that she has a poker face. She does not give up what is in her hand. She does not let her face show any emotion at all. No frustration and no excitement. She has a perfectly beautiful poker face and smiles her wide and brilliant smile as she kicks my behind.

It's genetic. She gets it from both the Meyers and Misterka genes. I think both grandfathers should be proud and frightened.

Election Day Irony

I put Maui (our dog) out on his chain. After a few minutes he was scratching at the back door to get back in. Emma ran to the door to get him.
Emma: "Mo-oM, you put his chain on wrong!"
Me: Blank stare at her.
Emma: "You put it on the left way instead of the right way. The left way is the wrong way."
Me: "I wish more people would see it that way!"
Emma: Blank stare at me.
Me: "You're right, Sweetie. The left way is the wrong way. Always remember that."

Capers and Candy

I remember high school. Really, I do. I also remember my mom complaining about some of the teacher's requirements. Two memories immediately come to mind. An English teacher (straight out of college) wanted every student to provide a cassette tape so she could "talk to us" as she was grading our papers. Dumb idea, and my mom let me know it. Spanish II had a study of the culture and food of the regions of Spain. Mom had to find and then buy saffron so I could make my dish for the class. Prior to her shopping excursion neither of us knew that saffron is the most expensive spice sold. She found out when she was shopping for it, and she sure as heck let me know it when she got home.

I don't remember any high stress high school experiences with Christopher that involved stupid teacher ideas or me hunting to purchase something. However, I had the pleasure of experiencing both with Cameron.

Spanish II is having a culinary section. (I guess not much has changed in Spanish II after all this time.) He found a recipe online. He chose Fricase de Pollo. The recipe was printed and I was requested to go to the store to purchase the ingredients. All was going well until I started looking for the capers. What the hell is a caper anyway? They weren't with the spices. I spent a good 5 minutes reading every label on the spice shelves. No capers. So, I moved on to the next ingredient... stuffed green olives. We hate olives, but the recipe calls for them. Lo and behold! Right next to the olives were the capers. Killed two birds right there. I spent $40 on all of the ingredients, but he was set to cook.

The very next night I was handed a list of candy that he needed for Biology. "Why in the world do you need candy for Biology?" I asked. "So I can make an animal cell. The giant gumball will be the nucleus and the Nerds rope will be the DNA" he replied (smiling large because we all know how much Cameron loves candy). "That's dumb" I said. "What's wrong with styrofoam balls, pipe cleaners, and construction paper?" Still smiling, Cameron said, "She is making it fun."

So on my lunch hour the following day I headed to Dollar General. I picked up the Jolly Ranchers, regular M&M's, and peanut M&M's. Next stop was Wal-Mart. I got the pull-apart Twizzlers. I was slowly making some progress. After work I went to Meijer and got lucky finding multi-colored Rainbow Twizzlers. All I needed was a large gumball and a Nerds rope. The young lady that was helping me look for these last two items recommended that I go to the candy store at the mall. I tried Gander Mountain first because they have some obscure candy and it was much closer than the mall. I struck out and headed towards the mall.

I walked into Inside Scoop at the mall. It is a store with candy floor to ceilling and hundreds maybe thousands of stuffed animals. It was a Willie Wonka candy room that I stepped into, and under normal circumstances it would have made me smile. Picture this... I walked into this candy store and an absolutely adorable young store clerk, who was as effervescent as shaken ginger ale, and who had a smile from ear to ear bubbled, "Hi!!! How are you this afternoon?" My reply was short and to the point, "I'm tired and I'm frustrated."
Clerk: "Aaawwww!!!! That's too bad. How can I help make your day better?"
Me: "Lead me to a giant gumball and a Nerds rope and I will be very grateful."
Clerk: (giggling and smiling) "I bet your child is making a cell for Biology. Right? I just had another mom in here buying these."
Me: "Did she buy anything else?"
Clerk: "No. She was having a hard time finding these pieces of candy too!"
Me: "Makes me feel better."

So now I type this and I think to myself that my mom is smiling as she reads this. She probably has a smile as big as that candy store clerk's smile. Her saffron and cassette tape are my capers and candy 28 years later.

Oh, and the olives that led me to the capers? Cameron wouldn't use them even though the recipe called for them. He very much dislikes olives also. I have a reminder of my journey in the pantry.

Copied from Cathy

I imagine many of you follow our family as well as Cathy's family. For you guys, please excuse this duplication. For everyone else please read the entry Cathy made on her blog. Every time I think of this I laugh.

Every. Time.

Twindom
Here's the situation as I saw it: Faith had a Strawberry Shortcake cup of water, without a lid sitting on the counter. It's a cute cup, really. Eva walked into the kitchen and saw that cup. She put down her milk and started frantically reaching, signing, grunting for Faith's Strawberry Shortcake cup - again, without a lid. I told her no, but I offered her another cup of water, with a lid - which started a huuuuuuge, size toddler two, temper tantrum. She got down on the floor, face red, screaming as loud as she could, smacking her little arms and kicking her little feet. I was just watching - I'm a believer that tantrums are much easier if you just let the kid scream and throw the fit (as long as they are safe.) Cawood came and found his twin horribly worked up. He very calmly walked over to her, patted her back, rubbed her head, picked up the water sitting beside her and offered it to her. It was very, very sweet watching him care for her. But when he offered her the water she lashed out at him, smacked in his direction and pushed him away. That little boy took the cup of water that was in his hand (still completely calm,) bopped her over the head with it and walked away.