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!

Our first spiral!

Becca is really working hard at her skating lessons lately. She started back to lessons at the beginning of the year after a Mom imposed hiatus because of her behavior and I think she got the point. It sure has been fun watching her progress, and we are currently preparing for 2 competitions.

Today her coach taught her how to do a spiral- think skate on one leg with the other stretched out behind you. The requirement for mastery of the skill is at least hip height and we were managing mid calf, but she was all smiles while she was doing it. I will try to get a picture of her doing it on Thursday.

It is just such a thrill to see her loving this. Every morning she asks me to take her skating, and on the days we do go there are tears when we have to leave.

Cameron isn't feeling that well so we bagged off on basketball practice for tonight. I sure hope that he isn't on the way to sick and he will feel better tomorrow. I am ditching the family and going to Omaha this weekend for a Sweet Adelines Music School. It's the first time I have been away from all of my family at the same time- I always have to take at least one of them with me- and I am pretty excited. I hope it doesn't snow!

A busy week!

I have officially been gone every night this week. I started singing in a chorus that meets on Monday nights, Tuesday is basketball practice, I had craft night last night, and tonight was 3rd grade music night with a side of CiCi's. I find that lately I am keeping myself quite busy.

Music night was great. I really like Cameron's music teacher. She came over from his old school and she is really good with the kids. Plus, she puts on short and sweet music nights that are fun to watch. The kids sang about 10 songs and we were out of there in 30 minutes. We then headed to CiCi's with both sets of Grandparents and treated ourselves to a wonderful pizza buffet. :)

Cameron is having a bit of a hard time lately. He will be seeing his doctor on Monday and hopefully we can get it straightened out. He has gotten himself wrapped up with some "friends" that he plays basketball with during recess. In reality, I am pretty sure that these 2 boys play him so that they can pick on him. He is being tripped, having basketballs thrown at him, and just in general being mistreated a little bit too much for me to believe that it is normal boy playing. His big excitement for week was getting a Webkinz- it is a virtual pet that you have to keep healthy, happy, and fed.

We decided to enter Becca into 2 more skating competitions, one the end of February and one the last weekend in March. She will be wearing her polka dot dress again, but she will be skating to Mickey Mouse Club March instead of Good Ship Lollipop. She will also be in the club ice show in April and we are thinking about going to ISI Worlds in Chicago this summer. She has just started back to her lessons and is progressing much more quickly than she was before. It makes for a busy mom driving to the rink 3 times a week, and now we are adding a 4th trip so that she can prepare to skate her first competition on an ice surface that is not her home rink. I love watching her skate though. It makes her so happy to be out on the ice, and no matter how long we have been there she always cries when we have to leave.

On a sad note, a good friend of mine is dying of round cell sarcoma. She is one of the original cool hockey moms and Cameron played hockey with her son for 3 years. She was first diagnosed almost 2 years ago, and we thought that all was good after chemo, radiation, and surgery. It wasn't supposed to come back, but she was told that if it did there wouldn't really be much that they could do to stop it. They were right. The first of December she thought she had a sinus infection that turned out to be a brain tumor. Just 6 weeks later we are about to lose her. I always thought I had a handle on death, losing my mother and then a year later my daughter. But this just seems too cruel. She is in pain, she is paralyzed, and she just doesn't know how much longer she will be able to hang on. The one thing I do know is that being around her made me a better person. I am lucky to have had her in my life. She has been so strong and peaceful throughout all of this and that has made it easier for those of us around her. Cancer sucks.

Picture update

I still can't figure out how to post pictures to the blog, so there is a link on the right side of the page to Kelley's shared pictures. I will just upload the pictures there and you can view them. I fixed the link and it works now. Maybe someday I will get it straightened out. grrrrrrr

My first post of the new year

Gosh, I never thought I would go so long without posting!

Our holidays were pretty good this year. We did pass some horrible virus around the family right after Christmas, be we all seemed to heal well and everybody made it back to their normal schedule on time. We are full into "real" life again. I am back to running to gymnastics, skating, basketball, and the like. I will see if I can get some pictures posted, blogger is now out of beta so I might be able to get it to work! I'm off to see what I can do....

Snow day x2

So we have another snow day today, but I'm not sure why. I know that most of you in our fair metro area are digging out from inches of snow. Me, not so much. My kids waited oh so impatiently for the piles of snow that the weatherman said were coming, but aside from the teaser flurries that we got around 1pm the was not one flake to be found. Oh well, maybe it will be our turn next time.

Hopefully this will not cancel my Cool Hockey Mom night out tonight. A night on the Plaza is something that I have really been looking forward to. I would really like to get some pictures of the lights.

The kids get to start opening their Advent calendars today. Cameron has one from Lego and I picked one up for Becca that is Playmobil. They are so excited! I can't believe that we are already so close to Christmas.

I will think of you all as you spend the morning shoveling snow.....:)

A new link

Okay- since I can't seem to figure out how to post pictures since I switched to Blogger Beta, I added a new link to my Picassa Web album. The good news is that I put a ton more pictures on my Web Album than I ever did on the blog! :) Hopefully soon I will get this whole mess straightened out, but right now I have a partially decorated tree calling my name. Hope you enjoy looking at the kiddos!

A nice Thanksgiving

We really had a great time this past weekend visiting my Granny for Thanksgiving. Granny is nearly 87 and still going strong! There were 19 of us there this year, and thankfully the weather was wonderful. We put the kids outside and they entertained themselves for 2 days. My aunt and uncle have 40 acres and my kids are used to about a quarter of an acre, so they had room to run! Plus they have a trampoline so Becca was in hog heaven!

We had been there about an hour on Wednesday night before my nephew Andrew fell on the fireplace and busted his eyebrow open. The glory of a small town is that my uncle called his doctor friend and then they ran to his office so that he could fix Andrew's eye- at 10pm the night before Thanksgiving, for no charge. My guess is that they would still be filling out paperwork at one of our local emergency rooms.

We had a wonderful turkey dinner complete with Granny's homemade dumplings. It is definitely a challenge to feed 19 people, but we got out tables and ate on the deck. We basically had a lazy day of sitting around and eating, then watching football. Aunt Janet had a cage bingo game that the kids loved playing and I got a chance to do some knitting. Later that night we got out the sale ads from the paper and planned our attack for Friday.

I skipped the 5am trip to WalMart, but left with the crew around 7:30 and we headed to Springfield. First we hit Target, then off to the mall, and then back to Target. Compared to the shopping trips of my childhood (where I can vividly remember closing down Venture and not getting back until after 11pm) we were not very ambitious, but we certainly put a dent into things!

We headed home on Saturday. Cameron does not do well away from home and Thursday night was was very upset about being away from his home. It was nice to come home with a day to prepare for going back to school and work though. I think we will try to get down there again this summer. Overall we had a great time.

grumble grumble grumble

I have been trying to post pictures of Becca's skating competition, but I can't get my posts to show up on the blog. I will keep working on it though.

She was wonderful! She loved that a ton of people were there to watch her skate and really put on a show for her 61 seconds of fame. And I might be a biased mommy, but I think she was the cutest skater there! She loves her medal, and has worn it for the better part of the 3 days that she has had it. We are eager to compete again!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Becca and TV

We have a couple of DVR's from the cable company at our house. I love to have them because nothing I watch is on at a time that I can actually watch it. There are a few shows that Becca enjoys and we record those so that we can have them on hand for times like today- I have a raging headache (yes, the stupid thing is back) and I don't feel like parenting in a vertical position. This morning I loaded up a show for her and laid down on the couch. The next thing I know Becca is saying "Mom! MOM!! I don't want to watch the commercials. I don't prefer them." I was totally entertained by the fact that at the tender age of 3 she has decided that advertising is bunk. Pretty smart girl!

Good news is that I am feeling a bit better since I picked Cameron up from school.

David is off all next week and we are looking forward to a nice Thanksgiving with Granny. All we have to do is get past the skating competition tomorrow and we are all set. Hopefully I will post pictures tomorrow night of our little medal winner- she is the only one entered in her division so we are pretty sure she will win. :)

Gearing up for the weekend!

The big weekend has finally come- Becca's fist competition is almost here!! The dress is almost finished, I have sewed (yes, *I* did it, no laughing) ruffles on boot covers, and I only have to come up with a way to make the boot covers look like shoes. Her competition mentor called the other night, I think it was the first time I answered the phone and somebody asked for Becca. I am quite sure it won't be the last!

Last night was week 2 of the new swimming lessons. They are at the same place and by the same swim school, but the old director moved to Texas and a new director took over. I am less that impressed with the changes she has implemented so far. She has moved all of the parents out of the pool area- which I don't really have a problem with- but there really isn't any place for us to be. The gym is divided into 3 areas, and they are having cheerleading, volleyball, and some kind of basketball practice at the same time. I got to listen to a weird variety of cheerleading and dance combined with some kind of rap music that apparently helps volleyball players practice better. She has taken the floaties away from the class that Cameron is in, and the reason why I put Cameron in that class was because they had floaties, and instead of putting the docks in the water for the kids to stand on they are all sitting on the side of the pool freezing while they wait their turn. We told Cameron that he was taking swimming lessons until he knew how to swim, but we may have to take a break while I find somewhere else to take him. He has come a long way though. He will get into the water without the floaties now and at the beginning of the last session he wouldn't. As long as he can hold on to the side of the pool or the instructor he is fine. I am hopeful that he will be able to swim a little by the end of the school year. I told him that once he could swim the length of the pool he could quit swimming lessons.

Last night was also our first basketball practice. Cameron has wanted to play basketball for a couple of years now, but it never fit in with his hockey schedule. There a 9 boys on his team and he really seemed to have fun. We have 2x a week practice until January, and then we replace our Saturday practice with a game for the next 8 weeks. Most of the boys come from another school in the district, but he did know one boy from his old school.

Cameron has drum lessons tonight and I have craft night, so I will have a few hours to devote to finishing Becca's skating costume. I would like to have everything finished for her practice tomorrow. David's band is playing at a tree lighting Saturday as well and we are having family dinner Sunday since we will be out of town for Thanksgiving. It will be Christmas in the blink of an eye I am sure!

The tale of the toy eating tree.

Yesterday while I took Becca to public skating the boys got out Cameron's glider. It was a beautiful day, and while they were out there the neighbors across the street came to play along. Jim and Cameron were tossing the glider and it ended up in the tree between our house and the house next door.The first attempt to remove the glider was to throw a Blue's Clues playground ball at the glider. David assured me that it wouldn't get stuck because it was round. I foolishly believed him. A couple of tosses later the Blue's Clues ball joined the glider stuck in the tree. David disappears into the garage and returns with a basketball. Okay.
After he succeded in getting the basketball stuck in the tree (the current count is 1 plane, 2 balls) he decided to try and climb the tree. Yes, my grown husband decided in his infinite wisdom to try and climb the tree. Being as it's a Bradford Pear he didn't get too far. He was unable to shake anything out of the tree, so he climbed down and went back into the garage and returned with....... another basketball.
Luckily the teenager down the street had a long pole that we borrowed to get the stuff out of the tree. It took a good half hour getting all of the things in the tree down, but we got it done.
At least we have our stuff back now! :)

 

Happy Halloween!!!

We had a busy wonderful Halloween day! Becca woke us up bright and early at 6:15- she hopped up on the bed and yelled "Happy Halloween Day". We sent Cameron off to school and get Becca ready for school. Becca had her first ever Halloween party and she was thrilled! She got a ton of candy and loved playing the games. Then we headed off to Cameron's school and hit another party. The big kids seemed to have a good time. My friend Jean and I treated the kids (ourselves really) to Dairy Queen after school, because the best thing to get right before you go trick-or-treating is ice cream. We headed home and rested for a few minutes before heading out trick-or-treating with Dad. Our neighbors across the street went with us and we hit a couple of streets before Becca and Drew (the cute pumpkin in the picture) were wiped. David had to go to band anyway, so we came in and handed out candy. we finished the evening with pizza for dinner which has been our tradition since the first time we took Cameron trick-or-treating.

How many days until Christmas??? 

YAY Cameron!!!!

**note: full on Mommy brag** :)

I went to Cameron's Parent/Teacher conference last night. His teacher had nothing but wonderful things to say about him! This is our first year of letter grading and he got straight A's, plus his percentage breakdown was great! He had a 98% in Reading, a 96% in Language Arts, a 95% in Mathematics, and 96% in Science, and a 97% in Social Studies. He has achieved mastery on 3rd grade addition facts and is 1 test away from mastery in subtraction. Everything else he is either at or above where he needs to be. There are still ways for him to improve and we set a couple of goals last night, but overall he is in a great place after the end of the first quarter.

He still has no friends, although she mentioned that the kids seem to like him well enough. He is almost always the last to "buddy up" when they do group activities, but I don't think it is because he isn't liked. I just think that his personality is more suited to working alone and he doesn't like to choose a partner. His teacher and I are working on a plan to help him interact with the kids in his room more.

Overall it was a very positive conference. I really like his teacher and I can see the positive influence that she is having. She has really inspired him to learn and to love school. The only big disappointment to me was that the full time para in his class was not at the conference. She has been such an integral part of this school year and he has really grown attached to her.

Anyway, it was a great night and I am really proud of Cameron.

The rest of the Weekend-

On Saturday we went to see Open Season with Emma and Tommy, and then Sunday we went to BOO!! at the Zoo. It was a beautiful day and there were a ton of people there. There are stations set up throughout the zoo where you can trick-or-treat, and lots of crafts that you can do. This year we just played outside and Trick-or-treated. Becca is "Married Princess Ariel" for Halloween and Cameron is a CloneTrooper. It was almost too warm- or maybe I don't expect that kind of weather at the end of October. We had a very strange event while we were at the zoo. I heard someone say Becca Boo so I turned around- it was a mom talking to her Becca-boo who just happened to have the same costume as my Becca boo. And she had curly hair. And she was naughty. And she just happened to share the same birthday with my Becca boo, but she was born in 2004. At that point it got just a touch too creepy for me and we parted ways.

We left the zoo and went home to watch the end of the football game. I ran to the store and before we knew it, it was time for the kids to go to bed. So much for that extra hour we gained!