The Stopper Story

Tball

2011-04-13T13:25:00.004-04:00

Eventually I'll get around to downloading the camera and posting a ton of what I'm sure are GREAT action shots of Emma in her first Tball game.

In the meantime, Emma's coach shared this photo of Emma and one of her teammates before the Opening Day ceremonies this past Saturday

Take me out to the Ballgame!

2011-04-07T14:49:00.010-04:00

Finally, after months and months of planning and meetings and tryouts and drafts and paperwork and hassles, the Spring baseball season is finally upon us.

Michael had his first game last night, before Opening Day on Saturday. He is a member of the Major division Marlins. As a 10-year-old, he is only one of a few his age in the division. As its worked out, the team that drafted him is giving him a lot of great opportunities to play pitcher and first base. The team overall is probably going to struggle a bit this season.

But, we won our first game last night - 3-2. Michael pitched 5 innings and only gave up 2 hits and 1 run. He had a pretty good outing for their first game!

And just for comparison, I thought I'd share a photo from one of his first Single A games pitching as a little 7-year-old on the Pirates

I am not a bowler!

2011-04-03T09:33:00.004-04:00

Really, I'm not. I am in a bowling league because Mike is a bowler and well, this is more of a social league than a bowling league

I started off by saying my average was a great golf score!

We are almost done with our second year of bowling. I've gotten better. Still not good, but better

We had to bowl 6 games yesterday. Power Bowling - just the two of us on two lanes. We had to make up 3 games last week we missed for Michael's baseball tournament and 3 for next week we are missing for Little League Opening Day.

6 games - in 70 minutes.
That's about a game every 11 minutes.
That's a frame every minute - you do the math

It was quite a workout. With 10 lb weights!

By the end, I was convinced how out of shape I was, and my right arm was physically sore from throwing weights for an hour.

But, I had all six games over 100. My average before this was 86. Not any more.
In one game I had a Turkey (for non-bowlers, this is 3 strikes in a row). I took a picture because that was never gonna happen again.

By the 6th game, I knew I was cooked. I hit 3 pins on the first ball and 3 more to finish the first frame. My arm was tired.

But, somehow I managed to bowl the best game I have EVER bowled - 166. I took a picture because, frankly, I doubt I'll ever see that score again, or that many marks in a single game. I have had entire 3-game series with fewer marks than this one game.

And my arm is STILL tired!

The boys of ... Winter?

2011-03-25T08:30:00.002-04:00

So, we are scheduled to play our first baseball tournament of the spring season this weekend.

It's been rained out the past two years - two years ago, we got to play one game on Friday night IN THE RAIN before they cancelled the rest of the tournament. Last year, they cancelled it on Thurs evening due to rain during the week contributing to soggy fields that wouldn't be dry in time.

So, here we are Friday morning. It hasn't rained since Wednesday. But, it also hasn't been above 45 degrees. Water certainly has a hard time drying up when its cold.

And on Sunday they are calling for an inch of snow on grassy areas! EEK!

So, do you think they'll give us flourescent-colored baseballs (like they have in softball) so we can see them if they land in the snow!

It's gonna be a COLD one!

EDITED ON Sunday: So, we played two games yesterday in the C-oo-llll-dddd! The second one was miserable. The snow in the forecast for Sun morning convinced us there was no way we were playing. We got a one hour delay at 6:15am while the snow was coming down. At 7:15 we got the word we were on for 9am. Just won that game and waiting to see if we make the top 4 seeds for the semi-finals!

The Horn...The Horn...

2011-03-22T20:13:00.003-04:00

The Horn is Forlorn!

Michael went to "band night" last night - its a night where the band director from the middle school talks to the kids about band and the kids get a chance to try out some instruments, and the band director and the student make a choice of what they think the best fit is. The director also uses this to make sure he doesn't get 95 clarinets and 2 trumpets.

So, Michael tried out some wind mouthpieces and brass mouthpieces and even some of the percussion. In the end, the mouthpiece for the French Horn was really a great fit for the shape of his mouth. The director even let Michael play his PERSONAL French Horn, after many warnings about the value of the instrument, and the sound was good

So, next year for Michael, we'll be hearing the deep honking sounds of the French Horn. But, with only a few in the band, its certainly an opportunity for him to get some specialized attention instead of being in a sea of clarinets or trumpets!

Disney Dream and Wonder Meet in Port Canaveral

2011-01-13T10:53:00.000-05:00

Just another example of how everything is done "Disney" style. Listen to the end to hear the horns!

Epiphany!

2011-01-05T19:15:00.001-05:00

Epiphany. The arrival of the Magi. The 12 days of Christmas.

These are all things you hear when you talk about January 6th. The 12th day after Christmas.

I'm not sure how it has happened, perhaps its Mike's Catholic roots, but we leave up our Christmas decorations through Epiphany.

I think the first year we lived in South Riding, this was even after our neighborhood scheduled their Christmas tree pickup, but they have since adjusted and always have a Christmas tree pickup the Monday AFTER Epiphany.

Our tree is ready to come down. What looked majestic is now looking a bit sad. And I'm ready to reclaim my family room.

So, the decorations will start getting put away after tomorrow - Epiphany - and by the end of the weekend I'll be able to reclaim my family room, and my living room, and my dining room table, and, and, ...

Happy New Year!

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

2010-12-20T12:29:00.008-05:00

Santa Claus is alive and well in our house.

I never understood those who didn't tell their kids about Santa because they didn't want to "lie" to their children. Lying and make believe are two different things. Kids need a creative imagination. Santa is part of that.

Even the government believes in Santa Claus - they track him every year at NORAD.

We have helped keep the Santa magic alive in our house. He always leaves crumbs when he eats our cookies (messy Santa). One year, he left sooty foot prints on the mantle on the way in (thankfully, not on my carpet :) )

One year, he had to leave a note for Michael because his elves couldn't get his Transformer that he REALLY wanted ready in time (daggone FedEx)

I know for certain that Samantha believed at least 2 years ago - when we were discussing her wish list and I was asking for them to put small, less expensive items on their list. Samantha said she would just ask Santa for the iPod since he doesn't pay for presents, he makes them!

This year, Michael's list started with just 2 items and he wanted them from Santa. Whew, he has expensive taste as he wants a Lego and a Nerf Gun, both expensive. But, he made sure that he mentioned he wanted those from Santa

We have always "prescreened" the kids Santa list before going to ask Santa - because that way he can always bring them what they ask for.

Samantha has never told us that she doesn't believe - but I doubt that she does. Michael asks from time to time, but always talks himself out of not believing. Its fun to believe. It adds to the magic of Christmas.

I think I finally realized it when Santa and my mother had the EXACT same handwriting on presents under the tree. We never wrap our presents from Santa so we don't have that situation, but they only get a couple from Santa anyway and the rest come from us (except the ones too big to wrap or we are too tired to wrap on Christmas eve).

But, Santa is alive and well in our house again this season!

Cool marching band

2010-12-18T12:50:00.002-05:00

I was in marching band for 3 years - we never did anything THIS cool.

Marching band kicks football

Giving back

2010-12-17T11:33:00.006-05:00

Last week, Emma and I were given an opportunity to go to Princeton, NJ to participate in a focus group hosted by a diabetes pharmaceutical company. The company had reached out to Children with Diabetes and they reached out to me, as I am a somewhat active poster on their forums.

After asking them several times if they were SURE they wanted Emma, reminding them that she is 5 - and has the attention span of a 5 year old - we happily accepted. I was pretty excited about the opportunity.

It was a bit of a struggle with the planning because they were feeding us, and I had to make sure we had Gluten-Free options. Although the planning was a bit of a pain, it was all good in the end. We walked into a lovely local restaurant and they handed me a gluten-free kids menu (score!) And, the restaurant made her gluten-free waffles and they had gluten-free options on their buffet for breakfast and lunch.

The goal of the focus group was to identify what parents need when they are first diagnosed. Something that this company could offer to families to take home with them as they leave the hospital. They invited a great cross-section of patients and parents - with Emma being the youngest at 5 and the oldest being 17. The kids were also diagnosed at different ages, which helped to get different perspectives on what parents need. I think probably the only "control group" that wasn't included was probably the "less connected". The sheer nature of where this group came from meant that we are all pretty connected - we sought out and found CWD at some point after our children were diagnosed. I know there are lots of families out there that aren't connected with other families with diabetes and we were probably missing someting of their perspective.

Emma made friends quickly and was definitely a hit in the group. She was also complimented on her manners, which I was especially proud of!

There were lots of different ideas of what people felt would be most beneficial when coming home with a diagnosis of Type 1, although most people felt that someone they could reach out to when they want home was pretty high on their list of things that would be helpful. Someone to help them see through the fog of diagnosis. That's what Children with Diabetes does for so many!

It was a long day, plagued by high blood sugars, sickness from what I can only guess was ketones, a pump malfunction and having to give injections, getting 20 miles down the road only to have to turn around to go back and get my laptop that I forgot. But, it was a great day.

For me, personally, I was thrilled to meet Kerri Sparling, of the Six Until Me blog. I don't remember how I found this blog, but I read it regularly and I refer every mother of a teenage girl with diabetes to this blog. This is a great place to see that there is hope for a child with diabetes growing into an adult with diabetes, getting married, and having a family. And her baby is pretty cute too!

We also met a former Pittsburgh Steeler - Randall Simmons - who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes early in his professional career. He talked about how he managed his diabetes in an extremely physical situation and dealing with the emotional side of factoring Type 1 diabetes into your everyday life. Emma has a football signed by him to show for it.

The company indicated that this is only the first time we will meet together - I look forward to any opportunity to get together with this group of families again. We all relished the opportunity to give back to new families what we have learned, coming out of the fog on the other side of diagnosis!

Neglected

2010-12-15T19:02:00.003-05:00

Yes, I have neglected updating here. Sorry about that.

I have a friend that blogged and said she always felt pressure to have pictures with her posts, and that was holding her up on posting. I think I have the same problem.

It has been busy as we have been diving into the Holiday season, and this weekend was no relief from the chaos.

Friday night we went to a party held by a friend from Michael's baseball team. Its always nice to see these folks outside of the baseball field, but inevitably the conversation comes back to baseball.

Saturday night was Mike's annual office party. It has been held for the past few years at the nearby Air and Space Museum at the Udvar-Hazey Center. This year, however, they expanded it to much more of the company. They did a good job of identifying "key areas" for the different groups to meet up, so we still found Mike's co-workers pretty easily. And, since I used to work there, I still know a number of people. Ironically, the first two people I saw when we walked in the door were former co-workers of mine who DON'T work at the company anymore - they were invited because they work for a business partner company. I then ran into a man I knew when I worked onsite at an Army client site - in 1994! That's 16 years ago - and he remembered me!

Sunday, we had the opportunity to attend the taping of "Christmas in Washington" - airing on TNT this coming Friday night (Dec 17). Mike won it in a drawing from all the people who registered to walk in our JDRF walk in June. It originally was for 4 tickets and he was able to get a 5th, so we could take the entire family. We had pretty good seats - 6th row back on the aisle in the side section. It was a nice show and we look forward to watching it on TV to see how its different when edited than it was live. The only bad thing was that it was pouring down rain and chilly, and because the President was in attendance, the streets were blocked off a block or so around the National Building Museum, so we parked a couple of blocks away and walked. It was pretty neat and I don't think the kids appreciated that this is not something you get to do often - I think Samantha asked something about next year and Mike told her that this probably wouldn't happen again.

Times were busy leading up to this weekend as well, but that's enough of a quick update of why I HAVEN'T been posting - things are busy in the Stopper house!

JDRF Gala

2010-10-20T20:10:00.004-04:00

For the past three years, we have made a point to go to the gala hosted by our local JDRF chapter. Besides the fact that we don't get many chances to get dressed up and go out nice, its a good way to support JDRF and as a member of the Board of Directors, I feel like its important to support those events.

Our gala this year was this past weekend.

I was excited, as always, to go to the gala. But, this year I was especially excited. I had a formal dress that I loved, but I hadn't been able to wear for the past few years because I had, (ahem), put on a few pounds. I worked hard this past year to lose some of that weight, and the dress fit again.

So, I went and got my hair dolled up, Mike got a new vest and tie, and we got all dressed up to go to the Gala for our JDRF Chapter this past weekend.

It was a really great event, with good food, and lots of excitment during the live auction. The chapter has already raised over $1M and is working to top it off at $1.2M.

And for those who are interested, here is a photo from the back so you can see my pin-up curls.

Emma's soccer

2010-09-12T18:52:00.011-04:00

So, Emma has now entered the world of organized sports that her siblings have been in for years. A couple of weeks ago she started practices, and this past Saturday, she had her first "game".

Game is in quotes because I think that's a generous use of the word. They have 9 girls on a team - they play on half of a micro sized field, so they space they play in is probably 15yd x 15yd. They don't keep score and the minute the ball goes out, they just throw another one in and keep going

Because it was the first week, they had professional trainers come up and work with the kids on some drills and then they started up the game. They were working on dribbling with a variety of games. My favorite was a variation on Freeze Tag - but every time the trainer said "freeze" and there was even ONE girl still moving, all of the girls had to DANCE. I think this was my favorite part because Emma certainly has the biggest smile on her face.

But, they finally got to it. I had forgotten that girls play so different than boys. Here's what happens when GIRLS collide!

But things finally settled down, made a few good kicks, and she had a good time - which was the most important thing.

On the diabetes front, this was a new experience for us. She unfortunately was going low when we got to the field, and probably ran harder than I've seen her run in her entire life - so we spent a good bit of time having her drink Gatorade to not go low, and her post-game snack was "insulin free". We'll figure out how to manage her blood sugars probably just in time for puberty

I apologize in advance

2010-09-09T13:27:00.002-04:00

I don't usually opine here about things I view in society (I reserve those for Facebook and my mutually snarky friends) ...

... but I will NEVER think its right to see a 4-year-old child standing in a restaurant playing a Nintendo DS.

I absolutely believe these types of things ROT THE BRAINS of kids.

My kids were around 9 when they got their Nintendo DS. Their computer time is limited and they are automatically disconnected when their time is up. "Screen time" is one of the first things to go when they can't behave. My 13-year-old still doesn't have a cell phone (*gasp*) and she's not on Facebook like all the younger kids.

I firmly believe the development of a child's brain is dependent on interaction. Interaction that involves all of their senses, their creative side, their imagination. They can't develop enough "educational games" to offset what I believe is lost when a child spends hours a day staring at a little screen.

So there, I've said it. Probably lost 4 of my 6 followers with my "narrow minded" view of parenting but, boy, I just can't stand to walk in somewhere and see what I consider a "baby" playing a video game so that Mama doesn't have to pay attention to him.

Happy "not" back-to-school day

2010-09-07T14:36:00.004-04:00

So, it was back-to-school day for most of the Northern Virginia area, including my very tall 13-year-old 8th grader. For Michael and Emma, its "not" back to school at home with me.

Lesson plans were ready to go and the kids were ready to start this morning. I knew our morning would be interrupted by a trip to the orthopedic doctor to get Emma's cast off. But, that trip took a lot longer than necessary and really threw a wrench in our morning - and the rest of Michael's day was just not the same.

I could tell that Michael just wasn't as excited to be starting up school again. I'm thinking he's not liking the fact that the other student in the house is finishing her work quickly (Emma's lessons for today took a whopping 45 minutes total) and he's going well into the afternoon, but I keep reminding him that he's still finishing before the 5th graders at Little River. And he's studying some of the same subjects.

I did push a few of Michael's things to tomorrow since our appointment took so much longer than it should have. I think that made him feel a lot better

But, I'm going to have to find a lot more reading material for Emma. Her reading assignment for today was 7 pages in our Bible storybook. I read it with her today, but will leave her to her own devices in the next days. But, she wanted to keep reading, and reading. What started as an assignment to read about the 7 days of creation has turned into reading through into Egypt, the Pharaohs, Moses and the Exodus. I think it was supposed to take her 2 weeks to get to that point. Its like the wild horse that you just hold on tight for the ride - there is no doubt with her!

So, our schoolyear has started - exciting for Emma, a bit skeptical for Michael and I'll know more about how Samantha feels about her school year when she gets home at 4, but if she puts as much thought into her studies as she did into her outfit for today, we should be fine!

The End of an Era, ... or is it the beginning?

2010-09-05T16:44:00.005-04:00

What do you call it when your last baby loses her first tooth - is it the end, or the beginning.

Well, Emma lost her first tooth this weekend. She was so excited in June when the dentist told her she had some wiggly teeth. For the last week or so, it had been pretty wiggly and on Thursday she started complaining that it made it tough for her to eat. I knew it was coming out soon - and it did on Friday at of all places, the baseball field.

So, we tucked it away and left it for the tooth fairy who left her shiny gifts in exchange!

Lesson Planning

2010-09-01T21:10:00.003-04:00

Anyone who has met me for, oh, more than 30 seconds knows that I'm a planner. Really, I am NOT a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of person. Perhaps that's why I was given a child with multiple special medical needs - because a non-planner would be much more stressed with the needds of a Type 1 diabetic with celic (but I digress)

Anyway, I'd been thinking for a little while about the upcoming school year but for a while, hadn't done much. I finally got around to ordering the few remaining major curriculum items I needed (I tend to purchase little things throughout the year as I find them) and thought maybe I could get started with planning. But things kept coming up. And coming up.

Finally, yesterday, I realized I needed to get moving. Since I don't always start with new curriculums for the new year, I needed to go through all of the topics Michael had been working on to figure out where he was in each subject, what kind of review I wanted to do, and try to lay it out. I then needed to factor in new subjects into the game plan.

So, it took most of yesterday and today, but I have 4 weeks of lesson plans for both Michael and Emma planned out, written on their assignment sheets, in sheet protectors ready for them.

In the past, I haven't always been good at keeping with the lesson plans if there was a day I just didn't feel like doing a subject (one that involved me, he always has to do the ones he can do independently). But, we're getting into the more important years and I need to make sure things get covered. So, I've laid out 4 weeks of lesson plans and a daily schedule of subject and extra-curricular activities, and Michael will have "homework" if he doesn't finish his work in the time I've allotted. Typically, if we didn't finish in time for something in the past, I'd just shove it a day but I'm gonna try really hard to stay with the plan this year.

Here's what the kids are studying:

Michael:

Emma:

Horizons K Math
Kindergarten Sight Words
Sonlight Core K: Introduction to the World
Sonlight Level 2 Readers
Literature Pockets: Folktales and Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes

Emma's pretty excited about starting school and getting school supplies. I've brought up one of the smaller tables from the basement and a chair for her to have her own workspace, and I've been getting her materials together into her crate.

But, we're starting our year with a "Not back to school" ice cream social with the homeschool group this coming Friday!

HersheyPark - very gluten-friendly

2010-08-31T23:26:00.003-04:00

We've been wanting to go to HersheyPark for a while. I even went ahead and purchased tickets at a group discount rate through our homeschool group this spring - hedging my bets that we'd go.

We finally picked a day to go - yesterday. PA schools started back that day so we expected the crowds to be lighter - they were.

Due to Emma's celiac, we have to do a LOT of pre-planning to go anywhere. We have to make sure she'll have something she can eat, or we have to take it with us. I have to tell you, too, that I've been having some celiac burnout recently from all of the planning that's required to eat (especially eating out).

Anyway, I went onto the HersheyPark web site Sunday night to take a look at what they had to offer for restaurants and see if I'd be able to work something out for Emma. Imagine my surprise and pleasure when I see they have a specific list of gluten-free alternatives that they offer and which restaurants they offer them at. I was pleased to know I'd be able to more easily feed Emma (who gives a little pout each time we tell her she can't have something)

The best thing I can tell you, though, about their gluten-free offerings is that these people are really well trained. Mike ordered Emma a gluten-free wrap for lunch. They moved to a new workstation and made the wrap special so that there was no cross-contamination. I asked the cashier if he could get someone I could ask a dietary question - he told me I could ask him. I asked if the fries were gluten-free. He quickly said that they were, but they were cooked in the same oil as other fried foods. I was about to say that I'd just forego the fries for her when he quickly offered for them to make some separately for her.

It takes a lot of training and awareness to delve into that level of preparations for gluten-free. Most people don't think about the cross-contamination or setting up a gluten-free work area to prepare the food.

For dinner, we went to a pizza stand that offered gluten-free crust. It took them a bit longer to figure it out, but it was clear there was someone well trained there. She made sure she didn't use any of the same tools to remove the pizza from the oven, she put it on a fresh cardboard pizza board, and cut it with a new pizza cutter. And she was quick to stop another employee who almost used the same pizza peel board for Emma's pizza that had been used for the others.

So, I was quite pleased that HersheyPark made it so easy for Emma to be gluten-free there and took one big worry off our minds and enabled us to enjoy the day that much more. Thanks HersheyPark!

As promised

2010-08-27T17:12:00.005-04:00

I finally got a picture of Samantha in her braces. She's been kinda "mopey" around the house the past couple of days because she was sore from getting her braces on.

And I kept trying to get her to smile without her braces, which is how she's been acting around the house the past couple of days. She couldn't do it without laughing:

Braces

2010-08-25T20:20:00.001-04:00

So Samantha got braces on today, and we joined the ranks of the poverty-stricken (boy, they are quite pricey these days)

I'll share a photo in a day or so. Right now, she's pretty sore so it wouldn't be a "happy" picture - so I'm waiting until she isn't quite so sore so she can have a nice smiling picture in her new braces.

Even the weekends are overscheduled!

2010-08-21T14:19:00.003-04:00

There are reports that show as a society we overschedule our children. There are some cases where there is true in our family.

There is no doubt that I'm feeling overscheduled when we have so many events in a weekend:

- Friday - Michael has a party at Chuck-e-Cheese with his piano teacher. He earned it by practicing 200 minutes every week (starting in January, I think)
- Saturday - Emma has a birthday party at Chuck-e-Cheese. Mike is handling this one and just headed out with pizza and cupcake in hand (with Celiac, Emma can't eat the pizza or the cake that they offer). Its been only 6 months but definitely feeling some Celiac burnout, but that is a topic for another thread.
- Sunday - Michael has a birthday pool party (the brother of the girl's party Emma's at today). Emma and I are headed into Springfield for a pool party with several families that have met online via the Children with Diabetes web site and are now going to meet in person.

And this is a light weekend.

And I just found out that all 3 of our kids will have something going on at exactly the same time on Tuesdays this fall - 6pm. Michael will be at baseball practice, Emma will be at soccer practice, and Samantha will be on her way to dance. At least I don't have to drive up to school each week to pick up Samantha, but getting spread 3 ways when one of us HAS to be at soccer with Emma is gonna make Tuesday an exhausting day this fall.

Onward and Upward

I guess this was inevitable

2010-08-11T14:40:00.005-04:00

It sure seems the women in this family are prone to injuries. My mother can't look at a sidewalk wrong without hurting her ankle, my mother has also recently broken her arm near the shoulder, I've broken a leg and a foot, and Samantha broke her wrist a few years back

Well, Emma was running around playing with some kids at a Haymarket Senators game on Sunday. Including a little boy Donovan, who she loves to play with. Anyway, she would come back to the stands from time to time, fussing about this or that, or who said what to who. She came back about halfway through complaining that she fell down and her arm hurt and her leg hurt. She was holding her wrist. We put ice on it a few minutes and a band-aid (the skin wasn't broken, but band-aids are a REQUIREMENT when you have a boo-boo) and she went off on her way to play some more.

But, she complained on Monday that her arm still hurt.
And she complained on Tuesday that her arm still hurt.

Keep in mind - she was still playing and using her hand and everything - just favoring it at certain times.

So, I took her to the doctor yesterday, who got an x-ray and confirmed that indeed, she broke her arm. Its broken up above her wrist, which is why she was still able to use her hand and wrist without much pain. Its a "buckle fracture" which is, as best as I can tell, a clean break where the bone just "buckled". The bones are aligned and everything looked good.

But, this is the type of break that they put a cast on for healing.

So, Emma is the 3rd one in our family in 5 years to have a cast (do they have a frequent flyer program at the orthopedist office because I feel like I've been there at lot).

She chose Purple - and I chose waterproof (because she loves to swim and we NEED to be able to bathe her easily after she spends time playing in the dirt).

Family Reunion

2010-08-09T11:54:00.009-04:00

A couple of weekends ago we went to Williamsburg for a "Liverman Family Reunion". My mother is a Liverman, 2nd child of Marvin and Emily Liverman, of Prince George, VA. Her older sister, Jean, travelled up from Dalton, GA (although her husband, George, didn't. We missed you Uncle George). Her younger brother, Herbert, hosted the reunion (well, probably mostly his wife Joyce:))

Here are the 3 Liverman kids: Jean, Jacque, and Herbert

and with the spouses (missed you Uncle George - should we photoshop you in?)

We were fortunate that just about everyone was able to make this event. We were less fortunate in the fact that it was over 100 degrees all day this Sunday - so instead of being able to enjoy their wonderful yard, and a boat on the water, we all visited inside with the kids taking short trips outside before deciding it was too hot.

The Clarke wing of the Liverman family (Jean Liverman Clarke). Milton and Melanie Clarke came up from Dalton with Jean, Bix lives in Williamsburg, and George Ryan (Bix's son) and Charles live in DC. Stacey (Bix's daughter) and her husband Stuart couldn't make it - with a new baby at home and a busy ice cream shoppe to man in California, its no wonder.

The Gwaltney wing of the Liverman family (Jacque Liverman Gwaltney) was a bit larger. Larry (son), Heather, and Gavin came up from Charlotte, NC. Emily (daughter), Marshall, and Morgan came in from Houston, TX, and Mike, Nancy (daughter), Samantha, Michael, and Emma came down from South Riding, VA. Bruce (the oldest son of Jacque) was unable to make it.

The Liverman wing of the family (Herbert), is BY FAR, the largest. Jeff, and his wife Jo live in Danville, VA. They have 3 kids - the oldest, Alex is married herself. Then there are Emily and Sophie. Todd and Andi live in Richmond and have one daughter, Maggie. Eric and Shelley live in Chester, VA and have 2 kids. Rick and Kim have 2 kids, Cameron and Katie. Karen and Rick have 3 kids, including Blake and the two youngest at the reunion - two sweet 9 months old twin girls (Carli and Tori) that couldn't be more different if they weren't related! (one of them is missing from this shot because we all know better than to wake a sleeping baby).
. Herbert and Joyce have the pleasure of all of their kids and grandkids not too far away!

So a total of 43 of us got together, the first time in 10 years, and had a great time. As Joyce said during her pre-meal prayer, Marvin and Emily would have been proud.

Champions!

2010-06-17T09:55:00.004-04:00

Michael's Little League team, the AAA Red Sox, battled all season with ups and downs, winning great games, and losing some games ugly. In the end, they ended up the regular season champions going into the playoffs.

In the semi-finals of the playoffs, his team played well, making good plays and getting good hits, and won their way into the finals.

The finals were played last night. And by night, I mean night (notice the light in the team photo). While we started at 6pm, we didn't end until after 9pm. It was a 3 hour, 10 minute, 10 inning epic battle to the end! The Red Sox got down early, giving up 6 unanswered runs due to numerous errors in the field - so numerous that the only outs recorded were 6 strike outs by Michael. The Red Sox battled back and by the end of the 5th inning, it was tied up at 8! Both teams played tight in the 6th inning to take the game into extra innings. All time limits went out the door when it was clear this was going to be an epic battle to the end.

The 7th inning saw no runs given up by either team, but the Red Sox found themselves in scoring position several times, just not able to convert.

In the top of the 8th inning, the opponent scored and we were afraid that might be it for the Red Sox. But, we answered with a run and came CLOSE to scoring the winning run, stranding 3 runners.

Another scoreless inning for both teams in the 9th inning left the teams tied at 9 and the daylight quickly escaping.

So, in the top of the 10th inning, our opponent scored 2 runs and went ahead 11-9. Coach Caroline kept the tone positive and let the boys know that it was 2 runs to tie, 3 runs to win - knowing full well we had no innings left because we were getting ready to play by moonlight at this point. 1 walk, 1 put out, and 3 hits later, with the last hit made by one of our weaker hitters, the Red Sox took the lead 12-11 well after the 3 hour mark to take the championship.

Quite the battle. Congratulations to Michael and his team!

Internet and Computer Woes

2010-05-01T13:51:00.001-04:00

So earlier this week, I didn't have internet for a couple/few days. Don't know why but the internet modem just stopped working. So, I got a little bit of Internet access at night when Mike was home and we could go through his Blackberry internet connection. And I have my Blackberry so I can read and respond to basic emails.

So Internet got fixed with a new modem - yay!

Now this morning my laptop welcomed me with the "Blue screen of Death".

Don't know why it stopped working, but Mike is trying to figure out how to recover it. He feels confident all my data and documents are in tact, but it won't boot.

So, I'm back to basically not having computer access. I can get on the internet on the new-ish office computer we have (Because that one died after living a long and fruitful life), but I don't have any of the documents that I need to do what I need to do.

Frustrating

How a 2-car garage becomes a 1-car garage

2010-04-16T13:34:00.002-04:00

It happens slowly, when you aren't looking.

You buy a 2nd refrigerator for the garage and have to move your tool storage around.

Now your bicycles have no where to be, so they are right up against the car.

Then, you get a little baseball equipment. Not much, but its easier to keep here at the house instead of taking it up to the field.

And maybe your microwave dies and you get a new one - and put the old one in the garage.

And maybe a few folding chairs, winter boots, deflated balls, roller skates, sidewalk chalk, moon sand, jump ropes, and other kids toys don't always make their way back to their storage place.

And before you know it, you only have room for 1 car! The other is in the driveway.

And to every single one of you laughing right now, I know who you are! :)

Tiny Toes Dance Academy

2010-04-14T11:07:00.008-04:00

For the past couple of years, Emma has been taking a preschool-level dance class at a local dance studio - a teacher at the studio for older students has formed a dance school for preschool age.

Emma has taken ballet for several sessions and now has added in tap. I like that these are fun little classes, with no recital or costume pressure.

She'll start a regular ballet/tap class next year at the same studio that Samantha takes dance, and if I'm lucky, Samantha and Emma's classes will be at the same time on the same day!

Opening Day

2010-04-14T00:07:00.002-04:00

Mike and I have been working tirelessly for months to help get our local Little League to the point we did this past Saturday - Opening Day.

I'll share more photos later - including hopefully a panoramic shot of all 609 players in 50 teams in the Opening Day parade. But for now, I wanted to share one photo of Michael in his uniform - he's on the AAA Red Sox.

This is probably one of the best photos I've taken (or had taken) of him. He knew I was taking pictures of him but I finally got him to turn and just look at me instead of trying to pose.

Especially for my brother, Bruce

2010-04-13T13:07:00.003-04:00

I've been woefully neglectful in my blog recently. I'm going to put up a few different posts with what has been going on in our extremely busy lives.

But, this weekend, Michael came running in all excited that the birds are back. More specifically, our robin's nest that it tucked in the cross of two rose bushes underneath the big window of the family room has another growing family.

This is the fourth year in a row that nest has been home for a new bird mama - and it was 3 times last year.

My brother Bruce is often asking about things going on around our house, especially in nature, so I know he would appreciate knowing that our nest has some fresh, new touches and is expecting again! 4 as far as we can tell!

Trees!

2010-04-13T09:00:00.001-04:00

"We have ... weak ... trees!" (a favorite line from "The Money Pit"). Well, that seems to be the case in our yard.

We lost two trees in the February blizzard. I think the really wet ground, heavy snow on the top branches, and strong winds were just too much. We were just thankful that they didn't fall on our house or the neighbor's houses.

As soon as it warmed up, the snow melted, and the ground hardened enough for folks to get in the back yard without sinking into a swamp, we got them taken out. We considered whether we could upright the large one and attempt to salvage it, but the recommendation would includ taught metal wires to hold the tree up, mounted in the ground 10 feet away from the tree, for more than a year. Uh, ok, thanks but no.

So, now we have an even bigger open space in our backyard. We'll put something back in, we just haven't decided what that would be yet.

Black Belt!

2010-03-04T15:30:00.004-05:00

After training for 2 1/2 year, participating in 9 separate belt tests leading up to this, Michael participated in a grueling 3 1/2 hour black belt test this past weekend. It was a complete demonstration of all of the skills he's learned over the past two year, interspersed with lots and lots of pushups, jumping jacks, and other physical fitness techniques.

I have a ton of great photos and I'll put them in a photo stream soon, but for now, here are the five boards Michael had to break in order to complete his test.

If Disney did diabetes ...

2010-02-15T12:20:00.005-05:00

This is a cute blog post from another diabetic who loves Disney as much as we do - obviously.

Disney does diabetes

27", 2 trees, 4 bushes and more to come

2010-02-08T16:24:00.004-05:00

So, the final tally from the snowstorm this weekend.

27" of snow
2 large trees in the backyard down (uprooted)
4 arborvitae bushes on the side - 6' tall - down. At least one has a split trunk

Loudoun County has closed schools for the remainder of the week. They believe it will take through through the weekend to get the parking lots cleared.

Tuesday's forecast into Wednesday mid-day is for another 10-20" of snow!

Shoot, we've had winters where we didn't get that much all winter, and here we are with our potentially 4th storm.
-- Dec 19: 22"
-- Jan 30: 4"
-- Feb 3: 6"
-- Feb 5-6: 27"
-- Feb 10: 10-25" (predicted)

Is it spring yet?

I just walked down to a friend's house about 1/2 mile away. I saw geese flying overhead in a V formation. I think they've decided its got to be better in Canada than it is here right now, and they're headed home.

Damn that groundhog!

23" and still coming down (along with two trees)

2010-02-06T10:24:00.005-05:00

We woke up this morning to 23" of snow on the ground - it was about 12" when we went to bed.

Woke up at 6am to no power - don't know how long it had been off but it wasn't cold yet, so it must not have been long. It came on again right before 8am.

Mike headed out to shovel, with Michael for a while and now with Samantha. And when Samantha looked out her window, she noticed a tree down in the backyard. What she didn't realize is that it was TWO trees. The two main ones on that side of the yard. I guess the snow, rain, snow, more snow, and wind was too much for the roots - they are definitely uprooted and I see the roots coming up out of the snow.

So, after the snow cleanup, we'll have tree cleanup we have to tackle!

The other shoe

2010-02-02T19:15:00.005-05:00

Almost 3 years ago, Emma was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease, one of many in a family of auto-immune diseases. There is often a relationship between these auto-immune diseases. As a result, Type 1 diabetics go through routine screenings for other auto-immune disease antibodies.

A few months ago, some of Emma’s antibodies came back elevated and we started working with a gastroenterologist to further delve into the situation. After further blood tests and a quick but invasive upper endoscopy last week, the gastroenterologist has indicated that Emma has Celiac disease. He is waiting for the biopsy results to absolutely confirm it, but his observation during the procedure was sufficient for him to tell us to proceed.

Celiac disease is an auto-immune disease where your body has an adverse reaction to gluten, primarily found in wheat. When a person with celiac eats gluten, it causes a reaction in their intestines and causes damage to their intestines. Most celiacs identify the problem because of gastro issues after eating but others, as in Emma’s case, show no outward symptoms and are identified because of a screening. The good news is that the damage to the intestines caused by gluten is easily healed – by removing gluten completely from your diet.

So that is what we have started to do – remove wheat, rye, barley and other gluten from Emma’s diet. A no wheat diet is not an easy one to adapt to, but we are fortunate to have so many other products available to us that weren’t available even 5 or 10 years ago – including crackers, frozen waffles, pastas, and even cake mixes. I came home from the Whole Foods store last week with 4 grocery bags full of gluten-free products, and we had a completely gluten free taco dinner our first night, including soft corn tortillas and regular corn crispy taco shells. Where we can, we will eat entire meals gluten free with Emma, and in other cases, we will have a meal where we eat the same food but Emma’s portion will be gluten free and the remainder of us will have gluten (such as pasta).

This transition definitely has its challenges and we will go through times when Emma will absolutely hate that she has restrictions on her diet. Its much like an “allergy” in that respect but unlike those who have allergies, she has had the foods and enjoyed them, and now can’t have them – so we are trying as much as possible to find replacements for many of her favorite foods. We’ll be splurging a little too, with gluten free cupcakes and cookies, as rewards for trying foods she might not otherwise want to try.

I just wanted to share with all of you what’s going on with us these days. We’ll be transitioning as quickly as we can to a gluten-free diet for Emma, and we all may be a little extra grumpy as we figure this out, but everyone is still healthy, and happy, and we’ll make this transition with a child who still spends all of her days relatively happy!

Happy 13th Birthday Samantha!

2010-01-23T10:20:00.003-05:00

Thirteen years ago, I became a mother when Samantha was born. She came into this world backwards (Breech) and has been bucking the system ever since!!

We now officially have a teen in the house!

Happy Birthday Samantha!

(picture is fuzzy because its a zoom in of her in a group shot and it was such a good picture of her, I wanted to use it!)

Ready for Black Belt

2010-01-21T11:43:00.006-05:00

Michael completed a Tae Kwon Do test this past weekend - this was the last one before his black belt test. He is currently a Red belt and when they reach that level, they need to "relearn" all of the routines they have learned at all of their previous levels. He has participated in 3 tests since his Red belt, each time demonstrating the routines that he was relearning.

He is now ready for his black belt test - scheduled for Feb 27th!

Michael above is demonstrating a routine (called a form) and a kicking technique. And in the photos below, he is demonstrating some of his self-defense techniques, including taking down his instructor, Instructor David.

We are very proud of Michael's accomplishment and look foward to celebrating his black belt in a little more than a month!

Done (enough)

2010-01-02T12:45:00.003-05:00

So Mike put my new cubbie shelves together last evening and I got to work organizing my supplies. I have TOO MANY scrapbooking supplies, especially for the amount of time I spend scrapbooking (not enough).

So, anyway - here it is. I'm pretty happy with it. There are a few little things I still need to do, but they are little. I have a huge "leaf-sized" bag of garbage that I cleaned out from double/triple memorabilia, etc. The black shelves are still right beside this space, but the only things left on those shelves are things I'm currently listing on eBay to sell.

And notice on the top row, second from the left, are the light switches for the room. I have to keep small stuff in that cubbie but it works well!

Maybe this will motivate me to scrapbook a little more!

Happy New Year - 2010!

2010-01-01T16:45:00.004-05:00

Well, another new year.

In the spirit of the New Year, I'll share a few resolutions.

I'm going to get some more of the C.R.A.P. out of this house. It is amazing how much stuff you can accumulate. I've been doing ok recently, especially with kids stuff, by consigning items twice a year as a fundraiser for Michael's baseball team. But, there is so much more I need to get rid of.

We went to IKEA the other day (ugh, I hate going to the store but I love what I got) and got these new shelves for the basement. We have replaced a cheap set of plastic shelves with these nice cubbies. Easier for the kids to keep it neater because they are only dealing with one cubbie at a time, instead of an entire shelf.

We've moved all the games into the cubbies and I need to start getting into the toy closet and purge, sort, and organize into these cubbies.

And, I went back today (yes, two trips to Woodbridge this week) and got a smaller set of these shelves. These will be to organize my scrapbooking stuff in the basement that is currently on a table, under a table, and in a corner. These are the before photos - I'll share the after photos after we get the cubbies up and I get my stuff sorted into the cubbies.

Oh yeah, and I'm gonna lose weight. But that's not just a flippant resolution. I'm already 8 lbs down on my 25 lb goal (I started the day before Thanksgiving). I look forward to being at my goal weight by the time I'm done wearing sweaters for the season! (end of March)

Cheney

2009-12-31T17:32:00.005-05:00

I was playing with the camera yesterday and Cheney was making faces at me, so I took his picture.

This picture is such a reflection of his personality - he's very "perturbed" that I was disturbing his sleep to take a picture

I have just become my parents ...

2009-12-16T18:13:00.003-05:00

... as if that hadn't already happened.

I just met up with Mike in the parking lot of Harris Teeter to hand off a child! I had done two drop-offs and he was going to go do two pick-ups, and Emma was just along for the ride. I'm off to a meeting and Christmas shopping and he's feeding the kids and home for bed.

Memories of another time!

Straight As!

2009-11-11T17:59:00.005-05:00

Samantha returned to public school this year after three years of homeschooling. We've had an adjustment in a lot of areas, including an adjustment by me to not actually knowing what she's studying since I'm not the one teaching her.

She brought home her first quarter report card - All As. This includes two classes for high school credit (Latin and Algebra) and two additional honors classes! We are very proud. Samantha hadn't gotten any "letter" grades in elementary school before we started homeschooling, this is the first real time she's had a bunch of assignments with individual grades that add up to an overall grade.

Good Job, Samantha!

2009-11-01T13:33:00.002-05:00

Happy Halloween

2009-10-29T19:59:00.005-04:00

Emma had her Halloween party at her preschool today. I thought I'd share a couple of pictures. I'm not sure why they're grainy - I think maybe I had the wrong setting on the camera.

But her costume was easy - we just dug into the dress up box and look what we found. At one point, it was complete with long gloves, a magic wand, and a bejeweled ring!

All of her class looked cute - I thought I'd share that photo as well!

Next stop: Daisy, Chip and Dale, Goofy ...

2009-10-28T12:30:00.002-04:00

One day a few weeks back I was dropping kids somewhere - I don't even remember the context - and I said something to the effect of the title above. The kids chuckled but didn't quite know what I meant. I told them that the tram drivers at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World when you were going out to the parking lots would say this to let you know what part of the parking lot you were approaching - all of them were named for Disney characters. For some reason, this memory has stuck in my mind from when we went to Disney World in high school.

Emma recently laughed and said she was remembering when I said this in the car.

But my kids are deprived - they have never had this experience. When we go to Disney with them, we stay on property and we don't rent a car. So, we don't park in the parking lots and we take the bus. So they have never had the experience of having the tram drivers announcing the names of the Disney character-named parking lots!

Smart Cat

2009-10-22T13:13:00.003-04:00

I didn't really need any more evidence that we have a smart cat, but I got some today - daggone cat!

A few months ago we noticed that Cheney was losing weight. Through a bunch of checking and testing, they realized his thyroid was overactive - pretty common in a 16-year-old cat. So, they gave me some medication to slow down his thyroid. It was supposed to be 1/2 pill, twice a day. By the third day, Cheney would see me get up from the couch to go into the kitchen and he would go running - and the great chase had begun. I finally asked the vet if I could do a full pill once a day - not because I had trouble actually giving him the pill, but because the great chase was wearing me out! Smart Cat!

Well, for a couple of reasons, we have stopped the medication for a little while. But last week, we started giving him one package of moist cat food a day - in addition to his regular cat food. He's picky - he'll only eat Meow Mix dry cat food and it turns out he'll only eat Meow Mix moist cat food. I've been giving it to him usually around lunch time. We leave out his dry food all the time. After the first couple of days of shunning the dry in hopes of the moist cat food, he has finally settled in to eating both the dry and the moist.

I just came home from taking Michael to art class and I walked in the door to Cheney yelling at me - how DARE I leave this house around lunch time WITHOUT giving him the moist cat food first. You'd think I was starving him.

Smart Cat!

Summer, Fall, Winter, Fall, Huh?

2009-10-21T11:27:00.002-04:00

The weather has been quite unusual recently. We went from really quite warm to outright cold last week - the high one day was in the 40s. And it was raining. A lot. It rained for 4 days straight! And the wind blew. It was miserable.

The high today is projected to be 72.

Can we please just pick a season and stick with it - my sinus pressure goes nuts when we change back and forth, because each one is a result of a changing weather front and each change wreaks havoc on my sinuses!

Travel Baseball - Fall 2009

2009-10-16T20:30:00.003-04:00

Not long after the last summer tournament of 8U Eagles was over, Michael started right in with tryouts and then practices for the new 9U Eagles. New age group, a few new rules, a couple of new teams in our league, but a continued positive outlook.

We've had a pretty good season so far - we are 7-1 in the regular season and placed 3rd in the USSSA Fall State tournament in Petersburg, VA the first weekend in October.

Michael is doing a great job pitching - is pitching consistently more than 60% strikes, with a decent number of strikeouts each game and few long hits. The other thing we have noticed is that the Eagles defense seems to really work well together when Michael is pitching - it enables the coach to put each player where they play the best and we have the strongest outfield - so all in all, the team really plays their best with Michael pitching.

We have a tough opponent this weekend - the Manassas Generals who have been in our league since the first season. We look forward to strong competition this weekend (as long as the weather holds out).

I think the twin bed will come soon!

2009-10-16T20:27:00.003-04:00

We have kept Emma in the toddler bed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that its closer to the ground - and she still manages to find a way to come close to falling out of the bed, despite two bed rails.

But tonight as I tucked her in, with her head near the top of her pillow at one end, her toes are starting to hang off the end of the mattress. Of course, the mattress on a toddler bed is just a crib mattress, but I think she's getting to the point that she's getting too long for the toddler bed and we'll finally have to pull out the twin bed and upgrade her.

Who told these kids they were allowed to grow up?!

8 interim reports, 8 As

2009-10-09T10:47:00.001-04:00

Samantha has adjusted pretty well to going back to middle school. For my part, I wish to see that she had a little MORE work so she isn't looking at school as "easier than home" (although it sure appears to be right now - guess my standards are just a lot higher)

Anyway, mid-way through the first grading period, each of her teachers gave her an interim report. It breaks down, assignment by assignment, what their grades are and what the overall grade is.

She has 8 classes - and has 8 As!

We're pretty proud of her!

Chopped Liver!

2009-09-08T17:03:00.001-04:00

So, I just asked Emma a question and she answered, "No, Thank You". She was so polite. I told her that she had great manners and I asked her where she got those great manners. Her answer? "Granny and Granddaddy".

What am I? Chopped Liver! :)

Back to School

2009-09-01T16:10:00.003-04:00

Its almost time for "Back to School". For us, this year's back to school will be a bit different - as Samantha is LITERALLY going back to school. After homeschooling for 3 years, she will be going to Middle School this year. And the adventure is heightened because they redistricted the area middle schools and all the kids from our immediate area are going to a different middle school.

She received her school schedule last week - twice - because there was one class that I didn't think was right. She starts off every other day with Algebra 1 and Latin 1 - fun for her!! I'm thinking those will be big homework days!

I was going to start up with Michael this week, but decided instead to register him in a last minute baseball camp at a facility I really like a lot. We hadn't been there since lessons last fall, but within 5 minutes I was reminded why I liked it so much. The men that run the facility are so good at working with the kids - they help them understand the "what and how" of what they are teaching them, and this year they have incorporated lessons about leadership. Even on the table in the lobby are books about raising gentlemen out of your boys!

Emma's preschool starts up in about 2 weeks. We already have her "first day of school" outfit picked out and she has agonized for weeks about WHICH lunchbox she should use to take her lunch!

Dance, art, and piano will all be starting up soon too - I guess it really is almost fall! Where did the summer go!?

ECTB World Series

2009-08-01T13:55:00.006-04:00

Michael's 8U Eagles travel team travelled to Allentown, PA for the ECTB World Series tournament July 24-26. The team qualified for this tournament by taking 2nd place in the fall end-of-season tournament.

The team finished the tournament with a 3-2 record, but there is so much more behind that record. The two losses were both to the same team - the Lehigh Valley Stealth. They are a professionally trained tournament team. They had an ace pitcher that was pitching faster than just about any kid we've seen this year. And they had one huge hitter that hit 2 home runs (in the park) in our first loss to them, and 2 triples a double and a single in the 2nd outing against them - we considered the fact we held him to a single at the end a great accomplishment for the game!

Michael had a good weekend and one fantastic game. After pool play, we were ranked 2nd going into the elimination round. We played the York Young Revolution, a team that had just beaten the Manassas Generals - our ODBL tournament champions. Michael took the mound as the starting pitcher in this game - and never got off the mound! He pitched a complete game! This is a pretty outstanding accomplishment for an 8-year-old. He pitched 6 innings and about 65 pitches, giving up no runs and only a handful of hits.

Michael also was a consistent hitter for the team - not always getting on base but consistently putting the bat on the ball and the ball into play.

This entire year with this team has been a great experience for Michael, with an exceptional coach, and we look forward to our fall season (provided he makes the team after tryouts this next week)

Memories

2009-07-23T14:59:00.002-04:00

Its funny what you do and don't remember from your childhood.

I grew up around a lot of baseball. My brother played it and my dad was involved with the league as well as a coach.

I'm around baseball a lot now!

One thing I was recently reminded of was Little League pins. When players play in a Little League tournament, they get a pin. I can now distinctly remember my dad having a hat full of pins from various tournaments.

Recently, my husband was the tournament director for the local district Little League tournament. I kept score for a few of the games. As such, I was given an all-star hat for our league (since we hosted).

And I earned my first Little League pin! Hope there are more to come!

Eagles Baseball!

2009-07-15T19:24:00.007-04:00

Michael is wrapping up his second season on the 8U Loudoun South Eagles travel baseball team. This has been a really positive experience for him and we're thrilled with his team, his coach, and the overall league. Michael is shaping up to be a pretty strong pitcher, especially for his age. His percentage of strikes to balls was close to, if not exceeding, 60% - which is really unbelievable for his age. Because he's a lefty, he also has a natural curve to his pitches, which make him even more valuable as a pitcher because kids his age just can't hit a curve ball yet.

Michael's team had a great regular season - 10-3. He pitched a lot in the last half of the season, including pitching 4 complete innings in the last regular season game, which the team won! He also pitched a "complete game" of 4 innings in the first round of the playoffs, as the Eagles won 12-0 with the "mercy rule".

But alas, the team didn't do so well in the playoffs - not even making it to the semi-finals. It was a disappointing way to end such a great season.

We have one last tournament in Pennsylvania next weekend - the "World Series" for the league our team is affiliated with - a tournament we qualified for when coming in 2nd in the playoffs in the fall. The boys have been practicing and I think they're ready to go. We hope they do well, but whether or not they win, this has been a great season and we look forward to moving forward onto the 9U Loudoun South Eagles in the fall!

Emma Talk

2009-07-14T16:54:00.002-04:00

I could sit her all day with my computer open to write everything down, and still wouldn't be able to capture all the funny things that Emma says in the course of a day.

In the past five minutes, she has said two pretty cute and funny things I wanted to share, just to show you how funny she is:

- I wish I had lipstick, so you could see my kisses. When I'm a Mommy, I have to wear lipstick to church.

Then, she asked me what color daisies are, and I said they are white. She was sitting there for a minute, and I asked her what she was doing, and she said, "I'm trying to figure out how to draw the daisy, because my paper is white!"

She's too funny!

Maternity Ward!

2009-07-10T21:33:00.001-04:00

It must be. That's what our rose bushes are. Because for the third time this season, long after what I thought bird baby season was, we have blue robin's eggs in the nest in the back. That nest has been there for three years now, and we don't want to touch it. Well, after no visitors for weeks and weeks, a robin starting visiting, and yesterday there was one blue egg - and today there are two.

We will never be able to prune our rose bushes - but we're looking forward to some new babies in a couple of weeks.

Red Belt!

2009-07-09T11:50:00.008-04:00

Michael recently had his graduation test for his Tae Kwon Do Red Belt. The Red Belt is a pretty big milestone because its the last belt before Black. Once they earn their Red Belt, the requirements and testing needed to get to Black Belt are a bit different that previous belt progressions.

In addition to learning the new skills and form for the Red Belt level, in order to earn a Black Belt, Michael needs to "re-learn" all the skills and forms from all of his previous belt levels, demonstrate each of these in several belt tests, and ultimately write an essay answering questions about things he has learned in Tae Kwon Do.

We're all pretty proud of his earning his Red Belt - this is a major accomplishment and we look forward to the next step - Black Belt

Dance Recital!

2009-07-05T17:43:00.006-04:00

We've been busy since the piano recital. The irony is that we have been busy enough to have lots to share, but so busy that I didn't have a lot of time to sit down and share.

Samantha had her dance recital the weekend of June 19th and 20th. This was her first recital at her new dance studio - Encore Performers. I have really enjoyed her dance classes this year and was looking forward to the recital - and it didn't disappoint. I am actually looking forward to getting the DVD so I can see it again and share it with family.

Samantha was in 3 dances - tap, ballet, and jazz. Her tap and jazz used the same costume and just changed the skirt.

They hire a professional photographer to take photos during the recital that we can purchase - and I look forward to seeing them in a week or so - in the meantime, these were mine taken without a flash during the Saturday night recital.

Boy, things have changed!

2009-06-17T19:48:00.002-04:00

It used to be - a computer cost $2000. Didn't matter which model you bought - laptop or desktop - it was $2000. Then, technology improved, it was time to get a new computer, and the new computer was, you guessed it - $2000.

Not any more.

Last fall, the monitor on my laptop stopped working. Mike took the hard drive out of my computer and put it in an old laptop shell from work. That has worked for a while, but the internet card was slow and the computer is just in need of replacing.

So, we finally went to Best Buy tonight (not my first choice but other electronics stores in the areas have closed down) and bought me a new laptop. Base cost - $399! That's right - $399. We paid an extra $60 to upgrade the memory, so the total was $459!

That unbelievable! Thus, the end of the $2000 computer!

Piano Recital

2009-06-01T21:25:00.004-04:00

Samantha and Michael had their annual piano recital this past Friday. I thought I'd share videos of their performance (please pardon the dark and grainyness as it was especially dark in there and also pardon the foreground movement from another student who was unable to sit still)

Michael's hymn: Down in the Garden

Michael: Dangerous Journey

Samantha's hymn: Battle Hymn of the Republic (I missed the first couple of notes because I pushed the wrong button):

Samantha: Pachabel's Canon in D:

Duet: American Patrol

One BIG Happy Family

2009-05-29T11:39:00.003-04:00

We've been watching the robin's nest in the backyard. A few weeks ago the first babies left and 5 new eggs were laid.

Last Saturday, we were blessed with four new babies. They had clearly just been born, as they had no feathers and were teeny tiny. There was still one egg in the nest for the rest of the day. Sunday it was gone so we were sure that it didn't hatch.

We've been watching this week as they have gotten a lot bigger and more feathery. Today one of the kids noticed that there were indeed 5 beeks poking out of the nest. Its been hard to tell since usually they are just a big pile of bird, but we indeed saw 5 beeks - so all 5 eggs hatched.

We stood quietly on the porch and watched as two different robins flew around the back yard and approached the nest - and then both of them flew to the nest.

I guess with this many babies, it takes both a mom AND a dad to feed the babies.

This nest has really afforded us some fun bird watching over the past few years.

(photos are grainy because I'm taking them through the screen of the porch - I don't want to go out and get close enough to get photos for fear of scaring away Mom and Dad)

Start of a busy weekend

2009-05-29T09:50:00.002-04:00

So we have a busy weekend planned this weekend.

It starts this evening with the kids piano recital. Samantha will be late to it as I will be taking her straight from her dance lesson.

Tomorrow is actually our calmest day with Michael's little league game at 9am.

On Sunday, I head out bright and early to DC to work at the DC JDRF walk (our walk is next weekend). Mike and the kids will go to Michael's double-header travel games - I will arrive just as the games start at 1pm

Sunday night Mike and I have to run to a meeting kicking-off the planning for our little league to be hosting the District level all-star tournament for 11s and 12s.

Wake me up when its Monday.

Kilroy Was Here

2009-05-15T21:30:00.008-04:00

Samantha has been a member of a drama group associated with a nearby church for this past school year. Throughout the fall, they had drama lessons, culminating with auditions for their spring production. Throughout the winter, they rehearsed their play with more and more rehearsal hours each week, leading up to 3 2-hour long productions over a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the end of April.

The play was called Kilroy Was Here. It was based on the World War II character that began showing up all throughout the European theater of the war, and became the American calling card.

Samanthas was Mrs. King, the supervisor of a Long Island USO.

I really enjoyed the play. It had lots of singing and dancing and the kids did a great job - much more sophisticated than I expected for kids from 3rd grade - 8th grade. The costumes and the hair and makeup were perfect for the 40s era. I was overall very, very pleased with the production and I know that Samantha had a great time doing this play and made some great friends in the process.

(You can click on any photo to see a larger version)

Nature takes care of itself

2009-05-08T11:34:00.003-04:00

The eggs in our birdsnest hatched a couple of weeks ago. We have been watching the birds and they've been growing quickly, getting their feathers, etc. Its been raining for about a week, and a few days ago we looked out to see all the birds gone. I thought that was unusual because it was pretty quick and I hadn't even seen the birds flapping, etc. I looked to make sure they hadn't fallen out of the nest (this happened to one last year) and concluded that maybe Mama took them to another, dried place.

Today, there are new eggs in the nest.

Do you think the birds getting ready to lay eggs told the other Mama she needed the nest and Mama moved her birds to another location? Sure seems to me. Seems we have the most popular nest in town - for the third year in a row.

Three-peat!

2009-04-17T10:10:00.003-04:00

For the third year in a row, we have a robin that has taken up residence in the nest built between two rose bushes on the back of our house. Last year we actually had two cycles of eggs and babies.

Mama robin is staying pretty close to home these days, keeping her eggs warm with this unseasonably cold weather, so I don't have a good shot of the eggs, but we're excited to see the babies when they're ready to hatch!

"Spring" Break

2009-04-08T13:18:00.002-04:00

I think not!

I had great plans for some outside things to do this week of Spring Break. But, its not Spring Break. At least, its not spring. I do not call 45 degrees with winds gusting 20-30 miles spring.

So, the flowers I bought on Sunday are sitting in the garage waiting for it to get warm enough for me to plant them.

The sand that I wanted to get out of the sandbox and mix with the topsoil in the garden is STILL in the sandbox.

The tree that has decided that it is happily poised on the neighbor's fence is still there - hanging over their yard - because I couldn't start chopping away at it.

Maybe it will be warm enough by July!

Bliss!

2009-04-03T12:45:00.003-04:00

Last Thursday, Emma started wearing a Continous Glucose Monitoring System (CGMS) full time. We have done a couple of trials before but this is now OURS. The proceess to acquire it was actually pretty painless, which is surprising because most people find themselves in a months-long process with multiple insurance appeals - ours was approved in 4-5 business days.

So, we went into Children's Hospital last Thursday to get trained on it and insert our first sensor. The sensor sits right underneath the skin and attachs to a rather large radio transmitter. That transmitter sends readings of Emma's glucose readings every minute to a receiver that we can have up to about 20 feet away from her - which means we can receive these readings on the reciever on MY nightstand while she's sleeping at night.

It alarms us for highs and lows in the hopes that we can catch them sooner than we would with just a planned or unplanned finger stick.

Our goal is for Emma to be within her target blood sugar range as much as possible. What this picture is showing you is bliss. The grey bar across the screen represents her target blood sugar range. And the black line represents the readings that were taken all morning by the sensor on the CGMS. So, from 7am until noon, Emma stayed almost perfectly in range. And after breakfast is usually the most difficult time to control, so I'm thrilled with this.

I look forward to a lot fewer highs and a lot fewer lows as a result of the CGMS.

Oops, it just alarmed that she's going low - guess its time for a finger stick to make sure!

Brown-Stripe Belt

2009-03-29T09:41:00.003-04:00

Michael is consistently working his way closer and closer to a Black belt in Tae Kwon Do. A couple of weeks ago, he earned his Brown Stripe belt. This is the 10th belt that he has earned in 18th months (White, White-stripe, Gold, Gold-stripe, Green, Green-Stripe, Blue, Blue-Stripe, Brown, Brown-Stripe) and he displays them all proudly on a belt rack he got for Christmas last year (which is now too small as his next belt will put him beyond the size of his rack)

There is one major level to earn in his belt progression with new material - Red Belt. At the Red Belt level, he learns a few new techniques, but mostly he goes through the process of relearning everything he learned at all the lower belt levels and must demonstrate all of these skills and techniques in order to earn a Black Belt. His Master Instructor thinks that he'll probably earn his Black Belt around October.

One thing Michael has to his advantage is that he has a great memory. He remembers lots of things so I think it won't be difficult for him to remember all of the forms that he has learned to get to this point. A form is a sequence of moves that are put together in different orders highlighting increased knowledge and skills as they move up belt levels. I think the biggest challenge will be remembering which ones are in which forms, since he's had so many, but I have no doubt that it will all come back to him quickly. I hope he earns his Red Belt before the early summer and then he can have the summer to do the 10-week focused training that they do for Black belt. The summer is a lot less busy for us and he'll be able to focus more on it.

Congratulations Michael!

Play Ball!

2009-03-22T18:13:00.007-04:00

After having indoor workouts all winter, and a couple of chances to get on the baseball field in the past week or so, Michael's travel baseball team, the Loudoun South Eagles 8U team, played their first game today. Our opponent was a new team in the division this season, so we didn't know what to expect.

After going ahead in the first and second innings, our bats finally starting ringing with some hits and we had some very smart base running and we finally got ahead. In the end, we won the game with a score of 16-9.

Michael did well today. There are more boys on the team this season, so more that the coach wants to rotate in and out of the field positions. Michael played 3 innings and sat 2 innings, but they bat all the way around so he got up to the plate 2 or 3 times.

Michael had two great hits - one blooper and one strong hit. Of course, he hit each of these with 2 strikes in the count - its almost like he needs pressure before he'll hit the ball!

And, he scored a run, as seen by his running to home!

Another funny video

2009-03-18T12:18:00.001-04:00

After watching yesterday's "Danny Boy" video, I saw a couple of other really funny ones and wanted to share this one as well with you:

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T13:22:00.002-04:00

This video, commemorating all that is Irish, was shared by a dear friend on Facebook today.

Warning: Do not be imbibing your Guinness whilst watching. This web site is not liable for any keyboard or computer monitor damage incurred as a result of watching this video while imbibing!

Two years

2009-03-16T10:54:00.003-04:00

Two years ago this past Sat, March 14th, after a trip to the National Zoo with the kids in the morning and a very lethargic afternoon, I took Emma to the Emergency Room at 10pm at night where she was dignosed with a blood glucose reading of 585, large ketones and Type 1 diabetes.

She has had Type 1 diabetes for 24 months and 2 days. She was diagnosed at 25 months old. She has basically had diabetes for as many months as she didn't.

Two years later, things are pretty good for us. Yeah, we have to deal with this sucky disease (which feels even suckier on her anniversary), but she wears an insulin pump that makes her management so easy, she has her finger poked without even batting an eye and she's happy and healthy and has a great life. She goes to a fantastic in home preschool where the teacher has learned to check her and dose her for snack and lunch, which is certainly a God send for us - Emma LOVES her preschool.

I'm thankful for the advances of the past 100 years that have made it possible for her to still be here with us and to be flourishing and I look forward to the advances in the future that will hopefully mean a cure for her and all of those who live with this disease!

And this morning I got the call that insurance approved our request for the Continuous Glucose Monitoring System (CGMS) so that we can have more timely access to her glucose levels and hopefully fend off some of the highs and lows before they hit - more to come on that in the future!

Beautiful weather

2009-03-08T16:43:00.002-04:00

After getting about 6" of snow on Monday, this week has ended with some beautiful weather. Yesterday's high got into the low to mid-70s with a lot of sun. Today was the low 70s with overcast, but still warm.

Its nice to have the cahnge in weather - I hope it lasts. Yesterday, Mike went with a bunch of parents from travel baseball and Little League baseball out to the main baseball field for the league to do some field maintenance to get ready for the season. Today a neighbor called to have Mike and Michael go play some baseball at the school down the street. Its nice to be able to have the kids outside more.

I just hope it will last. I'm still suffering from the loss of an hour last night!

Been busy

2009-03-05T10:59:00.002-05:00

I haven't been posting much just because we've been busy. We're trying to trudge along in schoolwork although February is always a rough month. Never ask a homeschooler if they will homeschool next year during February - my answer probably would have been "send them now".

So much is up in the air in our county that I can't even think about what decision to make about next year. Our area of South Riding is potentially being sent to a different middle school due to overcrowding in our current one. I would be fine with that - taking an entire section of the neighborhood, instead of what they do now, which is just cherry picking the new people in the neighborhood and sending them to the other middle school.

There are also budget cuts that are affecting potential options for Samantha's high school algebra requirement. She's ready to take Algebra next year and needs to get the credit through the school system. She can 1) go part time just for that class, at which point I would be driving her to and from every other day (M/W/F one week and T/Th another)- not ideal; 2) go back full time and take it as part of her course selection; or 3) potentially learn it at home with me, then enroll in summer school the summer AFTER (Summer 2010) and take it AGAIN through the school system, take the SOL test through the school system and get the credit, and then start back to school full time in the fall of 2010 with a slate full of high-school credit courses.

All of this because Loudoun County won't transfer in a homeschool credit - even if the child "places out" of a course through a placement test.

And, then once Samantha starts in, its figuring out the right answer for Michael at the right time. And Emma has 1 more year of preschool before she's technically a Kindergartener, but I see little need to send her right away when I can teach her more in less time at home and still manage her diabetes a little longer myself until she can do more self-care.

So, there's a quick status of our schooling at the Stopper Academy

For need of toilet paper

2009-03-01T15:38:00.002-05:00

They are finally calling for a decent snowstorm tonight - now that its March, of course! I have wanted a good 8"-12" snow storm all winter to no avail. Now we are supposed to get one tonight. I hope we do.

People in Washington, DC get a little crazy when the weather gets bad here. When it starts snowing, people start driving like complete idiots on the road - and I mean idiots. There is a DJ on the local radio station who as a joke comes on when the first flakes blow, yelling "The snow is coming. Abandon your vehicles where they are and walk to safety". Yes, people have been known to abandon their vehicles on the beltway because the snow made it difficult traveling. I don't get it.

But the funniest thing is the run on milk, bread, and yes, toilet paper at the first sign of snow. Like we are going to get snowed in for so long that the 24-roll pack isn't going to be enough.

We were already stocked up on milk, bread, and of course toilet paper, so we'll happily stay AWAY from the grocery store today and enjoy the snow coming down - when it actually STARTS coming down, that is.

I'm 4!

2009-02-16T08:25:00.013-05:00

That's what Emma said when she came in our room this morning - "I'm Four!"

Four years ago after being on bedrest in the hospital and then back and forth to the hospital for daily tests, the Doctor decided that we'd ALL had enough; and at 37 weeks and 2 days into my pregnancy, it was finally time. We knew Emma was breech from all of the bio-physical profiles I had had done in the past few weeks, so they planned for a C-section. After getting the older kids settled for the evening, Mike came to the hospital and it wasn't long before Emma was born!

Welcome to the world Emma!

I'm 1 ............................................. and I'm 2!

Then Three............ and now I'm four!

Samantha's new room

2009-02-15T14:29:00.004-05:00

I'm finally posting photos of Samantha's new room. Its not quite done yet - as we still need to rehang her trophy shelves and the watercolor pictures we have. We also have bright pink "sheer" type curtains to create a "partition" in her room.

The colors were chosen by her with my guidance, and I'm glad I convinced her to let us put the turquoise in the corner I see down the hall.

From the door looking in, and then down the wall with the door, looking to the left-hand corner:

From the left-hand corner, looking to the wall with the door and from behind the bed, looking to the bathroom door:

And then there's her closet. I love that its bright pink, even the ceiling, because it contrasts well with the white modular ELFA closet that we have:

6.9%

2009-02-12T13:45:00.002-05:00

This was Emma's A1C at her quarterly Endocrinologist appointment today! That's a pretty good reading and equates to an average blood sugar readings of 145. I'm pretty happy with that, especially since it was down 0.2% since last quarter. The bad part of that is that a lot of this is because of the number of lows we've been experiencing. The good news is that we aren't experiencing as many as we were but we're still experiencing them, and Emma doesn't feel them any differently than other readings, so we don't catch them as quickly as we'd like. I'd be fine with a higher A1C if it meant fewer lows.

The other positive news is that her endocrinologist has agreed to approve a Continuous Glucose Monitor for us. This will enable us to see what her blood sugar is doing without sticking her finger as much. And hopefully we'll be able to start catching the lows before they get too low.

There are 3 CGMSs on the market these days. We've piloted one before (the Minimed Guardian) but there are 2 others on the market that we haven't tried yet so I'm not sure which one I'd like to get. The Navigator was hyped as the most accurate of the three, with readings being only 7 minutes behind blood sugar readings. But the size of the transmitter worn on the body is pretty big and I'm not sure we want to do that yet. The third one - the Dexcom - is used by a lot of people happily and others hate it - I think you either love it or hate it and not much in between. So, I'm not sure what we'll choose between the three but I think we'll try the other two and then decide which one we want.

I'm not sure what kind of insurance battle we'll have. Some people get immediate approval for CGMSs. Others have to fight and appeal and others are just flat out refused. The endocrinologist thinks that having a good A1C (6.9% is pretty good) will make it tough for us, but weeks and weeks of documented low readings and zero awareness of lows should help. So, our amount of documentation will be very helpful.

It's just cold!

2009-02-05T10:13:00.003-05:00

No other way to explain it - its just cold.

Its been warm-cold-warm-cold for a few weeks now. We got about 2" of snow last week, topped off with sleet and ice, which just made it dangerous and not fun. Mike took the kids up to Ski Liberty to go snow tubing, so at least they got to take advantage of the snow.

Samantha has a birthday party at the local pottery place - the girls all painted mugs and they were all cute.

Two days later, we started redecorating Samantha's room. We had a painter come in and repaint the walls and woodwork - they are now bright shades of teal and pink. I'm holding off on pictures waiting for some new bed lifts to lift her new bedframe off the floor. She has new bed linens from Pottery Barn Teen and soon we'll be hanging bright pink curtains across the middle of the room.

Mike and the kids of course were happy with the results of the Super Bowl. I had told them up front that they weren't staying up until the end, but then the game was close and I didn't have the heart to make them go to bed - so they got to see the exciting ending to the game!

I don't know why the first of the year always feels so busy - perhaps its because Christmas is barely over and I need to plan for Samantha's birthday and by the time I'm done with that, I need to plan for Emma's birthday, which is in about 2 weeks. For lack of a better idea, we'll be having her party at McDonalds where they can play in the play room and then have Happy Meals and cake! Sounds like a party to me!

Is it Spring yet?

Happy Birthday Samantha!

2009-01-23T16:43:00.005-05:00

Today is Samantha's 12th birthday. Happy Birthday Samantha!

She was born at 1:48am, so her actual birthday has occurred. She was born on a Thursday, after we went to the hospital around 11pm on Wednesday night, in labor. Little did we know that Samantha was breech, having turned AFTER my weekly checkup the week before. I actually challenged the doctor when he told me and he brought in a sonogram machine to confirm it.

So they quickly prepared us for a c-section, a possibility we hadn't really prepared for, and rolled me into the operating room where Samantha was born.

Samantha was born at Fairfax Hospital, the busiest hospital in the area, and at 1:48am was already the 8th child born that day!

Happy Birthday Samantha!

My son, the engineer

2009-01-22T11:15:00.006-05:00

We have remarked for a while that we think Michael is going to be an engineer when he grows up. When we ride rides at Disney World, he spends most of the ride looking at the mechanics of the ride. And he loves to build things.

He compalins a lot these days that he's bored, since its been basically too cold to play outside. My threats of finding some cleaning for him to do are usually met with his running off to find something to do.

The other day he found his box of math manipulatives and decided to build something. The result - the teddy bear movie theater, complete with large screen and stadium seating for all teddy bears. Click on the photos for better detail of the bears in the seats - they are color-matched so its tough to see!

Basketball

2009-01-17T19:51:00.007-05:00

Michael is playing in a basketball league in our neighborhood this season. There are a lot of boys and girls that play. They start with 2nd graders having an "instructional" league and they go up through middle- and high-school ages and even host travel teams. Its nice because all of the practices and games are at one of the local elementary schools.

Michael's division is 3rd and 4th graders. Our team has a LOT of 3rd graders. You can really tell the difference in the size of some of the kids.

Michael is a strong defensive player. He's agressive and doesn't hesitate to get his hands into the face of another player or on the ball another player has.

And Mike helps out as assistant coach of the team this season!

Tea Party

2009-01-13T19:53:00.008-05:00

Emma decided that she wanted to have a tea party today. So she got out her tea set and all of her food and worked on having a tea party. I came into the family room to see her surrounded by food - I guess that's just how it should be for a cook, huh?

For want of a Nor'easter!

2009-01-12T14:34:00.004-05:00

We still haven't had any snow this season. Right now, our weather report calls for an "Alberta Clipper" on Thursday. Clipper is a very onomatopoetic word - its sounds fast. Albert Clippers are quick snow storms that drop a little snow and move on.

Not good enough.

I want a good ol Nor'easter. A storm coming up the coast, picking up steam and moisture, with a lot of cold air coming down from the North, colliding right over top of us and dropping a whole lot of snow.

Does the shape affect the taste?

2009-01-09T13:53:00.003-05:00

So, my question of the day is this:

Does the shape of the chocolate affect the taste of it?

I ask because I have sitting beside me a couple of wrappers from Hershey's Miniatures Milk Chocolate and Hershey's Kisses. The Hershey's miniature is obviously in a rectangle shape. The Hershey's kisses are obviously "kiss" shaped (is there an official name for it?)

I think they taste different!

So, is it the shape that makes the difference?

Do you think there's an official study to be conducted? I'd be happy to be a taste tester!

Stop the Madness!

2009-01-08T12:02:00.004-05:00

Ever since election day, all the talk in the DC area has been about Inauguration Day. How its going to be the biggest ever and all that. Fine, whatever. I don't have any interest.

But, as time has progressed towards Jan 20th, its gotten worse. We keep hearing of more and more road closures on that day. And yesterday they announced that ALL of the bridges from VA to DC would be closed that day. You are UNABLE to drive into DC from VA. Because of that, they are closing I-66 and I-395 to inbound traffic inside the beltway. Why, because they don't want to have to deal with exiting the cars BEFORE they get to the bridges.

So, everyone who actually has to work in the city on Jan 20th (remember, there are a bunch of parties, and balls, and hospitals, and hotels, and other things open on Jan 20th), or anyone who needs to travel anywhere within the 10 mile radius of the beltway has to find another way to get there. So, if I had to travel from my house to Arlington, I couldn't take I-66 and would have to take another way in - with a million of my closest friends also diverted with these ludicrous closures.

Someone who needs to travel from my area into the city actually has to take the beltway over the river into MD and then come into the city - along with a million of their closest friends all having to suffer through the same ridiculous closures.

And keep in mind that they are already saying that Metro is going to have more than hour long delays due to the increased volume.

Most people calling into the local news radio station thought these were ridiculous, except the one man who was celebrating the fact that his boss gave him the day off because there was really no way for him to get to work.

This is all just utterly ridiculous.

Democracy vs. Republic

2009-01-07T16:25:00.009-05:00

Many people believe that we live in a Democracy. We don't - we live in a Republic.

I'm OK with that. I actually think a Republic is better than a Democracy. While I think that our Representatives need to spend a little more time voting on the wishes of their constituents, I still think its better than the ACTUAL people weighing in and voting on every issue.

Evidently our school board doesn't feel the same way.

Drawing school boundaries is never an easy process. There are always going to be people unhappy with the decision. There are ALWAYS going to be people that think its OK for everyone except THEIR child!

This past fall, our area of Loudoun County lost its plan for the next, much-needed middle school. Things were going well and they were waylaid by a small group of people from a single neighborhood who didn't want it in their backyard. And then other supposedly well-meaning people who thought proposing alternatives would be a PRODUCTIVE step in this process. Anyway, the Board of Supervisors voted against approving our next middle school.

It's desperately needed. The current middle school is already overcrowded and the current solution is to take any NEW residents in our district and bus them to the next one. That's a HORRIBLE solution for the new people, but definitely appeases the "Not My Child" constituency.

So, the schools have decided to redraw the district lines to stop the "cherry picking" of kids that's happening now. And their process seems quite ludicrous. They aren't drawing up multiple proposals of how to redraw the districts and asking for input - they are just asking for input. Blank slate, here's a map, give your input.

Who decided that letting the selfish, all-about-me neighbors propose our school boundaries is a good idea? The school administration definitely has a set of objectives that have to be met with any plan (transportation, class size, demographic, etc) but I'm trying to figure out how they think that going into a community that is so completely divided by the ugliness of our previous school fight is going to result in reasonable suggestions.

Personally, they would never consider my idea. They should take the newest elementary school in our area and turn it into a 6th grade school (or maybe a 5th and 6th grade school) and get the 6th graders out of the middle school. It would require no new infrastructure and the transporation impacts would be limited because it would keep the kids in the neighborhood. But I'll propose it just like all the other crazies that are going to propose plans that only benefit their kids and their friends.

And why do I care about any of this? While I homeschool now, my children will be going to public high school (unless we win the lottery to send them to private school) because our county doesn't accept homeschool class credits towards high school graduation requirements. These boundaries start to affect me next year as I'll be enrolling Samantha in Algebra through the school system so that she can have the math credit, and right now I don't know what middle school she'll be attending.

Where is winter?

2009-01-06T16:59:00.000-05:00

So far this winter, we've had a couple of bouts of cold, and other bouts of precipitation, but not at the same time.

The couple of times its been cold enough, we've had a little bit of ice or sleet.

I'd like a good, old-fashioned snow storm.

I don't even like to really play outside in it so much anymore. But I do like the look of it, and the coziness of the ground and trees covered in snow.

Just a little please.

I'm tired of being tired

2009-01-05T11:12:00.002-05:00

I posted that this morning on the Children With Diabetes message board and it rings true.

Until about mid-November, we had pretty good numbers for Emma. A few random lows and highs but we treated them and moved on. And then November struck. And for no reason, her numbers have been going crazy.

She's been running high during the day. To the point that we are questioning her insulin, her pump sites, her tubing, her rates, everything. Corrections with insulin don't always work but sometimes they work too well.

But then there are the lows. We don't like lows. A single low is more dangerous than an entire day of running high. And for the past few days, Emma's been getting them overnight. And its not a single low that we give her juice and she's back to normal. Its a low, followed by juice and more low. Followed by more juice and another low. For the past two nights, it been from midnight to about 4am and then she goes high and wakes up in the 200s.

I finally got the 200 tamed this morning but we are getting tired of getting up all night. We are both going to bed later because we are testing a lot around 10pm to midnight. And then we are having to set alarms - every hour - to catch the lows. I gave Emma a huge drink of juice overnight (2-3x what she needed) with the expectation that she would finally be in range and set my alarm for 90 minutes - no luck.

So tonight I will change all of her overnight rates, expect her to go high in response and then we'll fight this rubber-band swinging of highs and lows again!

New Year - Lesson Planning

2009-01-04T21:19:00.002-05:00

Well, I finally, after 2 weeks of staring at the books, sat down tonight and put together the lesson plans for the week. All of the kids assignments have been checked and ready for them to move on. I even have the history reading written down on their individual assignment sheets instead of just pulling it out of my Instructor Guide when we sit down.

Now if I could just find the book Samantha is supposed to be reading.

I actually expect that I'll find it either in Samantha or Michael's room. Its a mystery book about Rome, so there's a good chance that Michael has already pulled it to read.

I have a great activity book that is a companion to our main history books. It includes some suggested additional reading for each chapter. So, I sat down tonight to run queries on the library web site to see which of the books they have. Only to find they are doing catalog maintenance. This is, unfortunately, not the first time I've run into this. I don't know why they think 9pm is a good time to do maintenance - I'm sure I'm not the only one searching for books online at that time.

I also picked some Science activities to do this week - this is still my subject that challenges me but I've gotten some new magnets and copper wire and we're gonna play with magnets this week!

So, I'm hoping we get back into the new year with a great school day tomorrow. Back to getting up early and getting Emma fed, lunch packed and off to preschool, and then lessons with the other two!

Hey Hey! Wait a Minute Mr Postman!

2009-01-03T18:33:00.002-05:00

Many argue the tradition of the "annual Christmas card" is going by the wayside. Certainly, the proportion of "photo cards" to "non-photo cards" has changed over the year - with more than 75% of my cards this year being photo cards. I love to see the photos of everyone's kids and how they've grown, especially since this is probably the only time I have seen them since LAST Christmas.

I have a spreadsheet where I keep all my addresses (my electronic address book) and I pull it out each year to address my Christmas cards. Its the only place I have any addresses, so in the unlikely event I receive a "Change of Address" card (which hasn't happened in years), I make the change there.

A sad part of Christmas is the slow trickle of returned Christmas cards each year with a "Return to Sender" sticker from the post office. Most of these are a "No Longer Forwarding" sticker which means they moved well over a year ago.

How hard is it for someone to pull out their Christmas card list when they move and send a quick note that their address has changed. The sad part? I think every one that I received this year was family! I had already removed 2 family members whose addresses aren't current and now I have at least 3 more to add to the list. I guess I'll be spending a part of this new year communicating with other family members trying to fill in the blanks and get my info current.

So my Public Service Announcement for the day: If you move, at least let your family (and yes, that includes aunts and cousins and anyone you get a Christmas card from each year) know your new address

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T18:35:00.003-05:00

We just returned from church and had a rare moment to take a family photo before eating some dinner and trying to tuck the kids off to bed!

Merry Christmas!

Ready for Christmas

2008-12-24T13:54:00.002-05:00

I think we might almost be ready for Christmas. I think Mike is dipping the last of the Oreo balls. I have wrapped every present that is going to be wrapped (Santa doesn't wrap presents at our house). The tree is up and finally decorated (last night).

We are headed to church for Christmas Eve service tonight and then dinner will be hors d'oeuvres and hopefully getting the kids in bed around 9pm.

And despite the fact that they haven't been able to drag themselves out of bed before 7:30 in about a week, I can guarantee you they'll be up at 6am! Last year we put up baby gates to block their ability to go or look downstairs until we are ready. I think I got rid of all of those, so we'll need to figure something else out.

For the first time in a really long time, we'll be staying home for the entire Christmas Day. We won't head to Roanoke until Dec 26th and stay for a couple of days. Return home and turn around for Williamsport for a couple more days. Mike's parents offered to come down, but Christmas is the only time we guarantee we can get up there and see Mike's grandmother, who is really up in years now, so we'll head up to see her. We'll return on New Years Day for a couple of days of relaxation before school and sports and dance starts again!

Busy Christmas Season

2008-12-22T15:18:00.011-05:00

Its been a busy Christmas season. Perhaps because I didn't really get a chance to "start" preparing until about the 12th of December. Really cuts the time short.

We've also been busy with other activities. A few highlights.

On December 12th, Mike had his company Christmas party at the nearby Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum. It was pretty neat to have the party laid out around the airplanes and space shuttle.

On December 14, Emma's preschool put on its Christmas program. They sang three songs and did a little skit. It was very cute and Emma had a good time. She really likes to sing and do all the motions with the songs.

We found a great preschool for Emma. Its an "in-home" preschool run by the pastor's wife at our church. There are only 8 kids there and she has been very willing to take on Emma's diabetes care, doses her for snack and lunch and calls me for any high or low readings. The moms have also been supportive, collecting carb information for any food at parties so that I can dose her properly. Its really a great preschool and we're very fortunate to have found it.

On December 19th, we finally took the kids to see Santa Claus. We got up and moving early because I didn't want a line at the mall, and I inevitably pick a day with a line. Well, we arrived at 8:45 and there was no line. We walked right up and saw Santa. The kids all told him what they want for Christmas, and that they behaved and did everything they are supposed to do. I didn't hear the entire conversation but I think something involved Emma brushing her teeth! I always like to take the chance to take some photos of the kids with the decorations around Santa too, because the mall does such a good job with them.

And finally, on December 19th, Michael earned his Brown belt in Tae Kwon Do. He has really progressed this year and it was nice to cap off the year with a belt graduation. He only has 3 belt levels left to Black - Brown Stripe, Red, and then Black. I would expect that on this pace that maybe by the end of 2009, Michael will have earned his Black Belt.

We have dinner tonight with some old friends from AMS that we haven't seen in years - after a reconnection on Facebook. I'm pretty excited to see them again!

So, its been a busy few weeks leading up to Christmas. The wrapping has started but is nowhere near finished. Two gifts still yet to arrive - expected on Christmas Eve, no less. I'm excited for the gifts I got the kids this year that I WANT them to have, and I'm sure they're excited about the gifts that THEY want. I also know they are enjoying the reduced school schedule we've been running the past couple of weeks.

She is just TOO smart!

2008-12-15T12:44:00.004-05:00

I'm sitting here laughing in amazement at Emma.

She has a bunch of paper off the paper roll from her easel. She's trying to roll it nicely but of course its trying to roll on its own. She was getting quite frustrated at the paper for rolling up from both ends while she was trying to roll it nicely.

So, she went and got a small box of books to put on one end of the paper to keep it from rolling up until she could roll from the other end herself.

I'm not sure the 11-year-old would have figured that out!

Home and lots to post

2008-12-11T15:50:00.002-05:00

I have been a bit under the weather since we got back from Disney, so I haven't updated.

We had a great trip. Always sad to leave and wanting to know when we will go back.

Emma said on the last day "I had fun being here". I think that sums it up.

Cheney stayed at the vet for this trip - we usually leave him at home and have someone come in but he usually goes on a hunger strike. I hoped by putting him in the vet that he would have more attention and eat. They called me 2 days in that he wasn't eating and they were going to have to force feed him.

When I went to pick him up, all of his food was gone and I was shocked. They said they actually let him roam around the front treatment area and he then started eating fine.

Did I forget to tell them that he thinks he's a dog in a cat suit. He does. He needs the attention like a dog. And that's nothing compared to now that we're home - he won't leave my side. If I'm on the couch, he's on the couch. If I'm in the bed, he's right beside me - literally. At least he's happy to see us!

More on our trip later. We did a couple of different things that we enjoyed on this trip - always trying something a little new and different.

In less than 2 days, we will be at Disney

2008-11-30T12:39:00.002-05:00

While its dreary and cold and wet here, I can imagine what it will be like in TWO days when we are at Disney World!

Here's the weather report for our trip. Not too bad with only one day with any real chance of rain (30%) and my birthday is looking good (Dec 7):

Mon, Dec 8:
Sunny
High of 77
Low of 55
0% chance of rain

Sun, Dec 7:
Mostly Sunny
High of 76
Low of 51
10% chance of rain

Sat, Dec 6:
Partly Cloudy
High of 71
Low of 51
10% chance of rain

Fri, Dec 5:
Few Showers
High of 71
Low of 50
30% chance of rain

Thursday, Dec 4:
Partly Cloudy
High of 75
Low of 52
10% chance of rain

Wednesday, Dec 3:
Mostly Sunny
High of 72
Low of 52
10% chance of rain.

Tuesday, Dec 2:
Mostly Sunny
High of 65
Low of 40
10% chance of rain

Mom, don't forget to mail Morgan's birthday card if you haven't!

Weather report is looking better!

2008-11-28T13:39:00.003-05:00

Well, all of the rain forecast on YESTERDAY's weather report is gone from today's. I think that's an indication of how volitile the weather can be. We've been when its freezing cold, and shorts weather, and lots of rain, and none. All of these weather reports within the same couple of weeks of the year.

So, here's where we are today:

Sun, Dec 7:
Mostly Sunny
High of 75
Low of 53
0% chance of rain

Sat, Dec 6:
Mostly Cloudy
High of 73
Low of 54
10% chance of rain

Fri, Dec 5:
Partly Cloudy
High of 77
Low of 54
0% chance of rain

Thursday, Dec 4:
Partly Cloudy
High of 75
Low of 55
10% chance of rain

Wednesday, Dec 3:
Sunny
High of 67
Low of 51
0% chance of rain.

Tuesday, Dec 2:
Partly Cloudy
High of 64
Low of 40
0% chance of rain

The trip seems to be starting off with a little cooler weather and then getting warmer during the week, which just means we need 2-3 seasons worth of clothes, as well as medium-weight jackets in addition to some shorts. Makes for some fun packing - NOT!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T10:41:00.005-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope you are enjoying a safe and happy holiday.

Today's weather forecast has a little bit of rain during our trip. But since I've see so many changes, and we are still a week out, I have confidence that it will get better (and I have shipped the ponchos down, just to be safe)

Sat, Dec 6:
Showers
High of 73
Low of 55
40% chance of rain

Fri, Dec 5:
Partly Cloudy
High of 75
Low of 54
10% chance of rain

Thursday, Dec 4:
Showers
High of 75
Low of 54
60% chance of rain

Wednesday, Dec 3:
Sunny
High of 67
Low of 51
0% chance of rain.

Tuesday, Dec 2:
Partly Cloudy
High of 64
Low of 41
0% chance of rain