Friday, April 3, 2009

CHANGES

SO much has happened since I last posted on here...crazy how time flies! Shortly after I posted last I got really sick with the flu and it literally KNOCKED me out of commission for awhile. The first of March we moved into our new home and there are a few pics on here of that. The kids had their core fair at school and there are a few pics on here of that. Garrett's 6th grade basketball team took second (lost by 2 points I think) in the end of season tourney after remaining undefeated the whole season! Ethan's team WON their tourney in a great game led by him! The Ashton girls basketball team made it to the state tourney which we got to go and watch... I just got back online and am really trying to get caught up on everything...bills, taxes, FB, my blog, some 200 plus emails...etc...Spring Break has come and gone and we painted our shed and got things lined up for a sprinkler system. Did a little fishing and camped out in our backyard in the camper. Work is going well. Mike is a daddy to baby girl Ellis...Greg is getting married this summer...CHANGES...Baseball is in full swing and God has richly blessed us. I'll be back soon to update some more!!











Monday, February 2, 2009

2008 Christmas Letter....Blog Version

2008 McPherson Family Christmas Letter (Edited Version)





We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year (and a Happy Valentine‘s day etc…). The end. I know this is a little shorter Christmas letter than most you receive, but what is there to tell to all of you that is different. My lovely family is all doing well, I couldn’t hold down a job and had to move them again, and it’s snowing. Actually it’s raining now…and there is NO snow on the ground which is slightly different from the previous ten years or so which is…nice…I don’t miss it at all!! Life in a nutshell. If you want any further information about us, too bad as we are in the witness protection program still. And you really thought I wanted to move all these times? Right. Let me give you a very slight insight into our familial situation, starting at the top and moving to the bottom, and if I hear one wisecrack about how much bigger the bottom is than the top, you will be removed from our mailing list for all time. (The bottom is actually getting smaller now too since we’re almost through January and have had a month to work on those “resolutions”.
Macy the Muffinhead-continues to grow rapidly in her decent towards womanhood and at five feels she has almost gotten there already. She prances and dances and does her makeup in front of the mirror while twirling around. If these are five year old hormones, someone turn off the spigot please. She started kindergarten this year and is doing better with this than mom is. She is enrolled in gymnastics at the YMCA and is a natural. She also thinks she is cute and has me wrapped around her finger (much to his dismay I might add!). As if that will happen.
Cayden: aka Calvin- continues to amaze us with his ability to concentrate in school and never make a peep, and then turn into a perpetual motion machine at home. He is in first grade and scored a touchdown in football the first time he got to run with the ball. He’s a fast little sucker when he wants to be. He continues to do well in school in an all boys classroom and is just wacko and off the wall most of the time. Takes after mom. Hmmm…all I can say about Cayden is we REALLY should have gone with the family name of Calvin…seriously! We went to Chuck E. Cheese for his birthday last weekend and the hostess asked him how old he was…he said 8. I said, “how old are you?” He adamantly said, “EIGHT!” so I then I said, “Cayden, you are only 7.” OHHH….and then there was the incident with the short sleeved pants…you’ll have to check out my blog for more info on that and other fine stories!
Ethan the Elder: hence named due to the fact that, as a 10 year old fourth grader, asks questions most 40 year olds wouldn’t think about. Wants to know real answers as well and questions any that don’t sound right. He is once again enrolled in the gifted and talented program at school, but how he got in is a story I won’t tell. (NO, he didn’t sneak in like I would have had to) He played all-star baseball, was the leader on his football team and is now enjoying basketball as the new point guard. We love watching him play as he exhibits knowledge of situations that is way beyond the norm. All very true information here. The only thing I can add is that he has a very sweet spirit and cares about other people…unless it is his older brother whom he can’t seem to get along with. Macy and Cayden just think he IS THE MAN! He is also at a stage where he thinks fair and equal are the same thing….unfortunately they are not!
Garrett the Gargantuan Hunter: continues to be a duck slayer in his spare time. I can’t tell you what I would say to his mother every time he took a handoff in football and made everyone miss on his way to another touchdown. He continues to amaze with his athletic abilities, and he has come a long way as a student who is now 12 and in sixth grade. Well, last week was parent teacher conferences and I had a shock…GMan is a VERY intelligent young man but is struggling a bit with his lack of organizational skills and the new responsibilities that come along with his foray into middle school. A new plan of attack is in order and we are working hard to overcome! He too has a gentle spirit and is VERY laid back…almost too much so. The competitor in me just wants him to figure out HOW good he could do in school and sports if he fired it up a bit…he’ll be alright! We don’t love him because of those things anyway!! Garrett played baseball on the all-star team as well and is now involved in basketball.
We are waiting for the inevitable growth spurt (he’s seriously like a pre-pubescent time bomb just waiting to EXPLODE!) when he will catch his mom in height and be able to rest his elbow on her head as I once thought of doing with mine. (of course I would never really do that)
Melissa the Magnificent: As has been the case for the past 15 years, (my gosh, she has actually put up with me for that long? I know…sainthood awaits…and it‘s actually been almost 20 years since we first met…) Melissa is the bondo (crazy glue is probably a more likely choice! I really do go a little crazy every time we move. I think it‘s just an adjustment period but this was the hardest for me. I left my best friend, coaching job I loved, my dog, my horse, “family”, on and on…but God has blessed us here and I think I’m almost back to “normal” whatever that is!! ) that keeps our family a cohesive unit. Few people actually know that we had to move because Melissa went ballistic and had me fire all of her co-workers in coaching. It was a messy ordeal, but needed to be done. Now she is busy overseeing the family, keeping me in line, yelling at construction workers (actually I was over playing black jack with them the other day during their lunch break…uno mas…no mas!) , and working at the YMCA. She seems to have boundless energy and insists I am the cause of her newly found grey hairs (It‘s really not fair because gray is SO distinguished looking on men…thanks dad…and apparently I have some sort of allergy to things like shampoo and hair color so it‘s either gray or nothing…hmmm) . I keep trying to tell her that gray hares are really good to eat, but she calls me an oxymoron and we go on our way. I guess this is better than the “fatty acid” she used to call me. So much for science jokes.
Me: I got laid off as basketball coach (still one of the BEST basketball coaches ever in my humble opinon and it never ceases to amaze me how life just goes on without you…) and AD because I worked too much and now am enjoying life in the sun as an administrator in a large school in the Boise area. I deal with problem kids all day long and can use love and logic with the best of them. Sometimes I forget and use an illogical boot instead, but I haven’t been fired yet. I am so happy to be out of coaching and teaching that I actually looked forward to returning after Christmas break.
It was a tough year for our pets. With the move came the giving away of two family members. Q, our Chessie, went to a family that hunts ducks and geese a lot, but he only had a few months with them before he got run over. Dylan. Our 15 year old black lab, died a couple of weeks after moving over here. He had a great life though. We had him cremated and took his remains down to Ashton and buried him with his buddy Jake by the river at Bev’s. Melissa’s dog Bailey also went in the move, but we will get a part of her back when she has pups later this year. Assuming she ever HAS pups!! We only have one dog left, and he is even growing on Melissa, like a fungus. I finally had to come to the conclusion that Dreck is NOT Jake and it’s really NOT his fault and the fact that my husband spends so much time with him shouldn’t really make me jealous and it wasn’t REALLY his fault I had to leave Bailey and Q in Ashton and so on…We are in the process of building a house as we couldn’t find one that fit our needs and Melissa’s lack of knees. She has a blog page going that will keep all of you informed as to the progress of that adventure, but we should be moving in and accepting visitors around the end of February. Please forward the $400 nightly deposit to us by a week before your arrival. This will guarantee clean sheets and witty humor. Depends on who you ask about the humor…Hahanah!
I can’t think of any other news, so I will forward this to my wife and she can finish up. Please bother us at any time. Bye. Editorial closing remarks….I deeply miss some things from Ashton (and LOVE things here like swimming close by, recycling, garage door openers…sunshine!) but KNOW that God is with this recent move and after going through the initial move depression have settled into a bit of routine. We are very blessed and hope that 2009 finds you all the same…Merry Christ-mas (wishing you all more of Christ this year!) I do have our blog page at http://www.idahaomcphersonfamily.blogspot.com and have made contact with TONS of old friends via face book (an addictive time sucking internet option you should all join if you haven’t yet!!).
Our NEW new address is the return address on these letters and if you need to reach us before then or are just getting the internet version email me and I’ll fill you in! My email address is moeslish@yahoo.com and Mac can be reached at cmcpherson@vallivue.org Have a Blessed 2009...

Thursday, January 29, 2009

House Update

Latest update on the house and a few pictures... Things are still moving along..I'm so excited to be getting closer to move in day! Everything is painted inside, cabinets should be going in today or tomorrow, lights should be installed today, formica and tile next week, doors hung today...all that fun stuff. The fireplace was finished up and looks great. The driveway froze so it had to be taken out and repoured last week as well as the sidewalk and patio and back stoop...Not much else to say right now...I wish you could see it!!









Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Tonight....

Macy and Cayden were talking in the van on the way home tonight and Macy said, "Kenzi is in love with you Cayden. She told me so!" Cayden replied, "No she's not." Dad said, "You're so cute" Cayden, "I'm not cute at all!" Macy said, "She is in love with you, she told me so!!" Cayden unbuckled his seat belt and came up to get Macy. Dad said, "Cayden get back in your seat!" Cayden, "I just wanna beat her up....smack her around a little!!" So goes our evening entertainment....

Monday, January 19, 2009

Mel's Monday Musings Volume 3

Hey there...and it actually IS a Monday... I think?!? Okay, it is. Yesterday was Cayden's 7th birthday...quite an uneventful affair. Macy and I flew down to Colorado on Friday night, had a birthday party for Michelle (33 more than Cayden) then flew back to Boise yesterday. The boy's picked us up at the airport and we met up with Steve and Nancy and headed off to Chuck E. Cheese for a little lunch and birthday fun! I guess I should throw in my birthday 8 days before that as well (4 less than Michelle). Anyway, it was fun...Macy and I had a fun time but it was TOO short...not enough time to recover the plane trip over before we had to fly home!! The trip home was First Class however and I did have a little orange "juice" which helped me relax a little bit...the trip to the lav at the back of the plane was a little bumpy though!! We had a lot of fun and got to see a lot of family and friends. Mom also flew in Saturday night as a surprise addition to Michelle's party. Saturday morning we also had breakfast with Lisa and Joe and there 3 little ones, Jason and two of his boys, Ron, Lori and Stacy, Tam, Mik and Gina, and missed a few others I was hoping to see. Maybe next visit we can get together.

The house is really coming along quickly...we're hoping to be moving in around the end of next month which will be amazing. The painters are supposed to be starting tomorrow. We need to go pick out some stone for the hearth. I do have some more pics and I will try and get them posted sometime. Charles has written our 2008 Christmas letter as well which I need to still edit and then I will post it on here for all to see.

I am really thankful for no snow on the ground and kids being able to play outside, my new job at the YMCA, recycling and a garage. I guess that's it for this edition. IT was SO nice to see everyone...love you and miss you. I'll add pics as soon as I get a minute or 10!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Mel's Monday Musings Vol 2 Tuesday edition






I think it's time for the second edition...I keep waiting to be home and able to work on a Monday...and now the phone rings! So... I have another few minutes but it's no longer Monday and it's not even December anymore let alone 2008 but oh well...I'm going to finish what I started! We had a nice Christmas vacation. Spent time visiting with friends and family... a long drive in the car...well ride for me actually as I didn't drive at all and we were in the Suburban which has so much more room!! We had dinner with my Grandma and Aunts and Uncles and Cousins and Sister which was great, spent a week with the in-laws and then another couple of days with friends before we headed home. I took these pictures of our house before we left and then added to them when we got home. Yesterday (January 5th) I went by and they were putting in all the insulation and stuff. It's been snowing like crazy for around here... nothing compared to what we are used to but more than what the people around here are used to for sure! I am going to put a few pics on here and also ask for prayers for mil Jean as she was injured yesterday riding their horse.

We've picked out all the flooring for the new house and paint colors and appliances and light fixtures and....I think the majority of the major decisions have been made. It's good that someone else is doing the house building because I think that if Charles and I were actually DOING it we would either be divorced or one of him wouldn't be around anymore!! Haha..just kidding but it is kind of stressful and I really haven't figured out why. I guess because we both have our opinions about what we want or like but they aren't necessarily always the same and it's really hard to accept other peoples wrong opinions...but opinions really aren't (or shouldn't be) right or wrong they are just opinon!

I saw a quote at the church in Olney Springs that I really liked..."Christian=Being able to walk side by side even when you don't see eye to eye" or something like that. I just really appreciated that. Okay, my Tuesday ramblings for Monday's musings are over! Have a blessed 2009!!!