Interesting Times

Well, maybe not so much :). It was a long weekend for sure. Friday night I had a business meeting for my chorus and Saturday morning Beth scheduled a group of us for a breakfast and bra fitting at Nordies. It was fabulous fun. I highly recommend having that done. I had no idea that they were actually supposed to be up there. We had a wonderful yummy breakfast and a great time. Cameron had a basketball game that afternoon, and by the time it was over I was wiped out.

Sunday was Becca's competition. We had to leave the house about 6:45am and it was brutal! We actually made it out the door by about 6:47 or so and I was impressed that we weren't later than that. I am still new at the competition thing and it overwhelms me a bit, but I got my act together a lot quicker this time. She only skated one event but she was the cutest skater out there for sure! She wore the same dress as Fall Fling, but this time we skated to a cut of Mickey Mouse March from Disney's On The Record. She skated really well and was so excited to go out and skate that she was hopping around in the staging area. Since she only did about 2 backward wiggles and her dip was very short she ended up 4th out of 4. It was a bit of a sting to the mommy ego- how could they possibly score my baby on what she did! Didn't they notice she was the cutest one out there???- but I noticed a significant improvement from fall fling and that is what matters. We are now busy preparing for a competition on April 1. We are entering 3 events in that competition, so I will be spending most of my day at the rink. Rehearsals start for the ice show on March 16th. We are doing a Viva las Vegas theme this year. I think Becca is going to be in a group of girls that are brides.

Monday night was Cameron's child led parent teacher conference. I was so proud of him. The first station was math and he had a worksheet of problems to answer. Aside from the fact that he seemed nervous he did a great job doing the work. Math is not his favorite subject, but he has come a long way this year. The second station was making inferences from written material. After reading the short story at the station, they were supposed to use examples from the story to define the word obsessed. Even though he didn't define it the same way his teacher did, she was impressed with the way he used his examples. It was definitely an answer that she would accept on an assignment. The last station was a few examples of how his writing has improved over the course of the year. Writing is the area that Cameron really shines. Overall, he is doing very well at school. He has made big strides this year in his schoolwork. His teacher had lots of wonderful things to say about him and how great of a class helper he is.

Last night when David came home from band (at 11pm) he told me about an interview he has today. Of course he needed to have his pants and shirt washed/ironed since he hasn't worn dress clothes in probably 2 years or so. I informed him that if he takes a job that requires wearing clothes that have to be ironed he had better be making enough money for me to take all of his work clothes to the cleaners. At the very least I will be upgrading my iron and ironing board.!

Beth was kind enough to video Becca's skating program, so I will see if I can post it to YouTube. The good news for Beth is that I think I have finally talked David into buying a video camera so she won't have to do it anymore!

I guess it is time to get my day started. I am off to run errands and take Becca to gymnastics and hopefully this afternoon I will get a nap!

the best day ever!

That's what Cameron told me when he got into the car after school yesterday. At the beginning of the day he was chosen as Character Kid of the month, and then he passed his 3 grade multiplication timed tests. When he got in the van I gave him a pretzel rod covered with chocolate and then it was the best day ever. The kids got to play outside for quite a while because it was so warm. It was nice to be out and about after it's been cold for so long.

I headed to craft night with my knitting and David took the kids to drums. Cameron has almost worked his way through his first drum book. He really wants a drum set and my guess is that we will be getting him one soon.

We are gearing up for a busy weekend- between basketball, a fun Saturday morning trip to Nordstrom's with some friends, my Sweet Adelines meeting, and Becca's ice skating competition I don't think we will have a lot of sitting around time.

I got the Skate KC registration mailed off this morning, so more skating fun is on the way! Becca is entered in 3 events for that competition so we have a lot of work to do.

I'm off to pick Cameron up from school, then it's time to hit the homework. blah.

What's new around here-

Nothing!!! Everything seems to stay the same at our house. We have a basketball game and a skating competition this weekend and next week is parent teacher conferences. The biggest thing coming up is Skate for a Cause, a benefit to help Marta's family and another family that lost their mom to cancer in January. It is a night of skating with a silent auction, and we have some wonderful things coming in! Signed hockey jerseys, footballs, and other sports stuff, plus a ton of other stuff. Until Marta was diagnosed with cancer I was totally unaware of how expensive it can be. So many of the the medicines are not covered by insurance- the chemo is, but none of her anti-nausea meds were because they were considered unnecessary. Between the cost of the meds, the cost of spending days on end away from home and the fact that she was only able to work about 12 out of the last 24 months it can become overwhelming quickly. In true fashion, Dan has never complained and only agreed to the fundraiser if it included another skating family.

After a very draggy sick weekend I seem to be on the mend just in time to head out to craft night!:) It is at Beth's house, who recently found out that she was expecting a little Herbert in June. We have been calling the baby Pearl and she since the pregnancy was discovered, but it appears that we were wrong. All the same, it will be exciting to welcome a new little guy to their family.

I am knitting my very first scarf- all in knit stitch. After I finish that I will knit a scarf entirely in Purl stitch and then I think I will be ready to go. After that I think I might be able to make something that isn't in a rectangular shape!

We are closing in on the 30 day mark- David's last day of work is April 2. I am not sure what I am going to do with him here at home. Wish us luck on the job search.

I think I am going to run get a couple of things done before David gets home from band, and then I am headed to bed.

She will be missed.......

Marta Smith, 40, died at home after a two-year battle with cancer. Marta was born January 22, 1967, to Ruth Link Deuschle and the late Erhardt "Dutch" Deuschle. She loved growing up in Prairie Village and attending St. Ann's, playing CYO sports and SM East High School. She played volleyball and was active in the honor society, and the international club. Marta graduated from K State in 1990 with degrees in History, Social Science and an emphasis in Art History. She was particularly proud of her intern work at the Eisenhower Museum in Abilene and her recorded history of Rock Springs Ranch that she completed for the Kansas 4-H club. She worked for Crown Center for over 20 years, where she loved working with people and promoting Kansas City. Marta's most recent employer was Horn Aylward and Bandy, where she worked as a paralegal. In 1992, Marta married Dan Smith and began her family. Delia Ruth Smith was born 9/23/96 and Josiah Erhardt Smith was born 4/23/98. More than anything, Marta loved her family and raising her children. Blood donation was important to her and would donate every eight weeks when the blood bank requested. An annual blood drive is being set up in her name at the Highlands Community of Christ congregation. Marta was a member of the Highlands Community of Christ for over 10 years and taught Sunday School with her teaching partner Kathy. She also helped with Vacation Bible School and Christian Education. She is overwhelmed at the support that our congregation has given in her time of need. Thanks for loving my family. She also loved musicals and reading. She loved to play volleyball and softball as well as ice skating and ice hockey. She loved watching her family participate in the same sports. The environment and recycling are important to her as well. Marta leaves behind her husband of over 14 years, Dan, her daughter Delia and son Josiah. She also leaves behind her mother, Ruth Deuschle, her sister Lisa Deuschle, and brother Steve Deuschle, all of Prairie Village, Kan., her sister Anne Deuschle of Kansas City, Mo., and many relatives spread around the country. Also Murray and Elizabeth Smith of Portland, Oregon, Melanie Cooper and family of Portland, Oregon, Beth and Charlie Seefeldt of Derby, Connecticut, and Dawn and Randy Yoell and family of Windsor, Ontario Canada. She also leaves behind her dear friends, Carrie, Laura, Maggie and Marika, her cool hockey mom's group of Amy, Barb, Kelly and Maggie. Marta was an active member of the Line Creek Figure Skating Club on the Synchronized Skating board and enjoyed being a part of the "skating family" at the Line Creek Ice Arena. She loved watching Delia skate on the Go Figure synchronized skating team and her son Josiah play hockey for the KC Fighting Saints. There will be a memorial service held at the Highlands Community of Christ and her ashes will be scattered at the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, along the Lake Michigan shore in northern Michigan. May God bless Marta's family and friends as we continue our journey here on this earth. Her memorial service will be on March 3rd at the Highlands Community of Christ on N. Platte Purchase Drive in Kansas City North. Arrangements: Heartland Cremation & Burial Society,

Trying to post a picture

The house of ills

We are all some degree of sick around here and have been for about 3 weeks. It seems like we are never getting better! LOL It's been so bad that we have started missing activities- Becca has missed skating and gymnastics last week and Cameron didn't go to school one day.

I went to Omaha last weekend for a sweet adelines education symposium. It was my first trip alone since I had kids. I had a good time, but we sang for about 10 hours of the symposium. I haven't done that since my college days and my voice was pretty stressed by Sunday. It was a fun time though.

We are busy preparing for Becca's skating competition in a couple of weeks. We get to wear the same dress that she wore in November (yay!) but we have new music. She is skating to a jazzed up version of Mickey Mouse Club march. We are going to skate this program for at least the next 2 competitions and maybe in Chicago in July.

Cameron has been playing basketball and really enjoying it. He really likes his team and they are doing pretty well. It's been adjustment for me, going to a situation where I don't know the parents at all. I guess hockey parents are just something special- you all bond when you have to be at a game an hours drive away that starts before most people get up in the morning.

I have decided to teach myself to knit. I am about 1/3 of the way there. I am still learning how to purl. Sometimes I have it and sometimes I don't. Once I get that down I am sure you will all be getting knitted gifts. (or in reality, I will be starting knitted gifts for you and you will never see them)

Hopefully we will all be better soon!