Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtaxed.

Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtaxed.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Well, its been so “insane” that I wasn’t able to get an actual newsletter out the past two weeks. So, this one may be a little long.

Marisa: Holy Cow! This is one very busy girl!
· She started getting sick Wednesday and got progressively worse. She had a high fever, cough, aches, chills, running nose, sore throat, and no appetite. She missed 5 tests (including a final), the French club outing, the All-state dinner today, and the stake Halloween dance that she had been looking forward to for months! She is on the mend and the fever finally broke today. I REALLY hope I don’t get this thing!
· She is busy in several clubs. She has VOICE every week, which is a club with all the foreign exchange students and she loves it. She is also in T.R.Y (teens reaching youth) and they will be traveling to the elementary schools and middle schools to talk to the kids about staying off drugs and talk about anti-bullying stuff.
· We found out Monday that Marisa will need to get glasses. They should be in next week and we will take a picture. The ones she picked are so cool!
· Marisa is starting AP World History this week. Her book is HUGE and has to read and take notes on the first several chapters before class even starts.
· She has a VERY busy week ahead of her. She has an orchestra concert on Tuesday at Coe College. She has a symphony orchestra concert at UNI on Friday. Then she has All State auditions all day on Saturday. Our fingers are crossed for her. She is a little worried that she has lost practice time since she has been so sick, but I know she will do great. Then she has ANOTHER concert the next Tuesday. Keep her in your prayers so she can survive the next couple of weeks.

Kayla: I think we have found what Kayla loves to do!
· She has found a love of sewing and cake decorating. In her FCS class she made a pillow for her bed. She loved it so much, she came home and rummaged through my material to find stuff to make another one. She had Bob take her to Hancock this weekend to get even more material and stuffing. She is excited about making dresses too.
· She is also extremely excited about learning how to decorate cakes. I may need to look into classes for her. Maybe I can talk her into doing Tyler’s
· She was in a volleyball tournament with a friend of hers. They decorated their t-shirts for it. It was a huge competition that lasted several hours. Kayla and her team played 12 games and they got 1st place!! We were so proud of her!

Tyler: Guess who woke up with a high fever today? I hope he doesn’t end up as sick as Marisa has been and misses all week of school.
· Tyler has been involved in a lot of extra-curricular activities at school: chess club, intramural golf (was a 3 weeks session), fantasy book club, quiz bowl, and he starts basketball this month with the parks and rec.
· Tyler had his first vocal concert this week and it went really well. They have a big group this year.
· Tyler’s eye prescription changed so he had to go to school without his glasses which did NOT work well. He couldn’t see and got a huge headache.

Alayna:
· Alayna has been enjoying gymnastics. She won a backbend contest on who could stay up the longest. I should get a picture, because she is really good.
· She got a GLOWING report at her parent conference. She is one of the top readers in her class, is well behaved, and just had some wonderful things said about her.

Other Stuff and Happenin’s:
· I finished up Parent Conferences this week. We do two nights at 5 hours each. It made for one very long week.
· We LOVE the new series “FlashForward”. Its like the new Lost. Are any of you watching it?
· I got a clear bill of health from my doctor. I have healed really well and am back to my normal routine.
· The lettuce and cilantro are still doing well in our garden despite the frost. We have it covered with a pink sheet. Yesterday, Bob and I made 3 lasagnas (using the tomatoes we canned this summer), 2 pans of enchiladas, and 2 tortilla soups (again using the stuff from our garden) We are trying to get a jump on the week.
· HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA CUNNINGHAM!