Bloggety Blog...

Chapter 1:
Donna - is better and home from the hospital.  She was gonna go Thelma and Louise on them if they didn't let her out when they did.  Yep, the Zuidermeister is a tough one - warrior!

I got her casual text last Friday that she was having a bad day and had clots in both lungs, thus admitted to the hospital. After a few exchanges, I really had a mini-freak-out of "what if something horrible had happened????"  See that smile above?  It's one that I can't live without and I'm thanking God that she is getting better.

Chapter 2:
Jodi - now she is in the hospital.  Gallbladder :(  Really, when we hit 40, does it all have to go to hell in a hand-basket?  Gallbladders, cancer, blood clots - we're 40 for God's sake, not 80!  Hopefully Jodi will be home very soon and feeling much better.  Another dimpled smile I can't do without ;.)

Chapter 3:
Dead Turtle / Sad Siley - Little Turtle man bit the dust.  Uncle Tim found the cute little turtle on the golf course this spring and brought him home to Si...unfortunately, he did not survive our household.  It's survival of the fittest around here - if you can't feed yourself at this point, be prepared to go 2-3 days without eating.  Toughen up.
Silas was very sad though.  It really bummed him out the last couple days. It probably didn't help that we kept the dead turtle in a baggie on the deck for 48+ hours in 96 degree temps.   You've seen CSI and what that can do to remains :(
He's been properly buried with a few kind words and he's with Grandpa J now.

Chapter 4:
Hudson Class Reunion - Last weekend was Justin's 20 year class reunion! Who knew I'd end up with such an older man!  We drove up to Hudson for an overnight stay and Justin reconnected with many friends that he hadn't seen in forever.  I had a great time mingling and seeing people that he's talked about for years!  We both had a fantastic time and Justin was so glad that he went and that they had such a great turnout.

I find it amazing how quickly, 20 years later and worlds apart, the connection can be re-established. I think a great alumni event would be to do a day back in high school.  Backpacks, books, teachers, a happy hour after...hmm...(but no homework!)

Chapter 5:
Chad's Visit - Another fantastic reunion this week was Justin's elementary and post-high school Europe traveler friend visit.  Justin and Chad are T-burg friends and honestly, I feel like I've known Chad as a friend myself all these years because of the stories that I've heard (we know how Justin tends to repeat stories!).  Chad and his girl, Meara AND their two large dogs (Meisha and Bear) stopped for a visit on their drive from the Finger Lakes (NY) to Tuscon (where they live).  I expected complete chaos with all the animals but they were fantastic and Zoe and Cleo were very hospitable hosts.  I wish they had been able to stay a few more days and we'd gotten to catch up more.
Justin and I stayed with Chad in NYC many moons ago (pre-kids).  Chad lived in a tiny apartment above a Greek diner and Justin and I slept on the couch.  Sometime during the middle of the night, I was woken up by mice (quite possibly RATS) rummaging  through the garbage in the tiny kitchen area.  Yeah, it makes me appreciate a rodent-free suburbia!
Chad and Meara are awesome folks - I hope it's not another 15+ years before we can visit again...

(a picture of Meara and Chad that i stole from Chad's Facebook page :)

Chapter 6:
Indian Lake - We had a fantastic time with the Hile's and Lang's a couple weekends ago at Indian Lake.  A weekend of total relaxation, swimming, boating, fire by the lake...greatly enjoyed it and got a terrible sunburn on my back!  The kids tubed and (Silas especially) - were thoroughly exhausted!!

JP all big and burly - he looks like Popeye :)

Coming soon!
BEACH!!!!! One of the things that I love about vacation is the time to take pictures and blog about our trip.  I really hope that I have the time (and internet connection!) to do that this year.

YOSP update - I've been bummed that we were slowing down in our progress but Justin started "officially" on the basement last week and that has been a huge boost in our progress on the house!  Pictures sometime soon :)

Written Word

Sometimes the written word just can't do justice for what is in your heart.  The enormity of love or loss doesn't always roll right off of the fingertips. I've been feeling that way lately.  I just can't connect the heart, the brain and the fingers in a coherent way.

Jen's and her family's babies didn't make it in this world. On April 10th she had 2 baby girls that just weren't ready to be here, though the rest of us were very ready for them to be here with us. All I can say is that our hearts ache for them as they deal with this loss.

That same written word can fail to do justice to the feelings of blessing and gratitude that you can have after something like this happens.  Friends become family and family becomes a lifeline of prayer and support because they love your friends too.

Ella art - 2007

Odds and Ends and This and That

Nothing major (well maybe a few things major) and yet so much on my mind.  In no particular order...

1. This week I FINALLY booked the beach house for the summer Outer Banks vacation. Back to Nags Head this year. Loved last year's trip to Emerald Isle and it will be fun to switch it up again and go to our spots in Nags Head.  I hate to wish my life away, but I am ready for the beach...and it's not until August so I have a long wait!!

2. Justin and I had a rockin' Friday night with our annual CF Wine Opener AND The Black Joe Lewis concert. We only stayed at the wine event for about an hour and then took off to the Newport to see Black Joe. We met up with Donna, Lee, Sarah and Brian.  Such a great band!!

3. Speaking of Sarah and Brian...looks like we'll have a little one (hopefully for Sarah, smaller than 10 lbs. at birth!) due to arrive in October :)  Our family is due for another (no pun intended...). Congrats to them and I'm ready to payback my babysitting dues! (How any times can YOU use "due" in one little couple sentence update?) - by the way - I (really) went to the library today and returned 8 overDUE books. seriously.

4. Speaking of babies and heart attacks, dear friend and neighbor Jen about gave us both this week. At 21 weeks pregnant with twins she had some preterm labor issues. After a lovely week in Riverside - she's resting comfortably at home on STRICT (the emphasis for her in case she checks the blog) bed rest. I think with all the conversations about her cervix in the last few days..she may not be as private as she once was...
(Seriously, it got very scary last week and it's been amazing to see her friends and family rally to help her, her husband and preschooler with dinners, playdates, hospital visits and a showering of love). Prayers, love and lots of positive vibes have and continue to be sent their way.

5. Speaking of cervices (I just had to pause and look up what the plural of cervix was- cervixes? cervi?  cervix+  Now I know).  Really, there is no way for me to lead that into soccer or track...in any appropriate way.

6. This week started the kick-off of soccer for both Ella and Silas (both coached again by my darling husband).  Si played on Saturday and it was about 35 degrees outside and raining. Sucked but the boys played great and most importantly - got their snack after the game.
Ella played on Sunday and scored 2 goals! Last month we read a Mia Hamm book and she also played indoor soccer over the winter - she is wired for soccer sound now!


7. Mason had his first home track meet today.  I was bundled in 2 pair of running pants, a turtle neck, my down winter coat and was still freezing.
Poor kid!

8. Stuff like this continues to be the downfall of my (already messy) house.  Silas made this Jack be Nimble, Jack be Quick candle stick in school in January.  Can't get rid of it because Silas likes to jump over it and (really) it's just too cute to toss so soon. So there it sits. being jumped over. and stepped on. and moved around from place to place.

I won't know what to do when all the school art stops coming home.  I love it :)

9. I know that I need to update the picture at the top of my blog...I just love it -the kids all look like they aren't growing up as fast as they are in real life. Soon...

10.  Ella's favorite band right now is Vampire Weekend.

11. I went 12 days without running - I hurt my knee and couldn't put any weight on it running or going up/down stairs.  It's better now and I ran on Sunday and it did pretty well.  I missed it terribly!

This, That and the Other

To continue with my updates from earlier in the week...

Last weekend I met up with some high school pals.  As I was getting ready to go, Ella asked me where I was going.
"I'm going to go hang out with some high school girls."
To which Ella exclaims  "oh, oh, I want to go too! I want to hang out with high school girls!"
I had to grudgingly admit - "honey, it's 40 year old high school girls...not girls in high school now."
"oh, never mind then" she said all bummed out.
Do you remember being young enough that you thought 40 was pretty much synonymous with the early bird special and hip fractures? 

What was fun about this group is that (with the exception of Sherry), I didn't hang out with these girls in school.  Our paths crossed in various activities and because of other friends but we wouldn't have just called each other up or gone to the mall together.  With the advent of Facebook, we all connected on there and keep in touch.  Rhea (bottom left), who I cheered with in middle school and some of high school, has had a lot of health issues since we graduated and she wanted to get together and see us - so here we are!  We had so much fun and it was so funny to get all our different perspectives on high school and who remembered what. I'd never want to go back to high school but the memories are fun :)

~

Last week, I attended Famous American Night in Ella's classroom.  All of the 2nd graders had written a report and designed a slide show (on a Mac none-the-less) and we got to view all of the slide shows, plus a few skits that involved the kids reading from scripts.  They all did a wonderful job.  God love these teachers, I don't see how they do it. Kids + other kids = chaos!!
Ella's famous person was Amelia Earhart and as she was doing her research, there was a lot of new information about her possibly having been found after all these years. Pretty cool.

~

We've had some funky weather here this winter.  Snow, rain, ice out the ying-yang, and then hail and terrible thunderstorms and tornado watches (in February!) last Sunday. They woke Justin and me up many times throughout the night - our bedroom has a skylight and it's like the Flashdance strobe light scene in there when the lightening gets bad.  Silas was the first to come in our room, about 5 minutes after we put him to bed. Ella came in around 2:30am. Zoe came upstairs at some point and peed in the floor, she was so scared. Even Cleo came  up and slept with us. I thought that Mason was being brave but when I asked him the next morning...he hadn't heard a thing all night. He slept right through the storms.

 ~

I plan to post an end of Feb YOSP update this weekend, but one related goal is my running. I can't remember ever feeling this happy and excited about physical activity. I've been one to make myself exercise but I've never been this excited about strapping on running shoes and my iPod and just go. It's been 2 months and 2 days and I feel SO much healthier and still in shock that I actually can run. I started logging my runs soon after I started and put a widget at the bottom of the blog - if you notice me slacking, call me on it :) So far, last week is the only week that I missed some running days. I was sick and only got 2 days in what should have been a 4 day running week.

Part of me wishes I had started running a long time ago but most of me is really just happy to have something new to get me motivated right now.  It's fun to start something new - especially something new that is good for you too. 

Snow Days and Luaus

The kids started the week with Monday out of school for MLK day.  We had a pretty lazy day at home.  My children would stay in their pajamas for days, weeks even, if I let them.  Silas played with his Legos a lot. I don't know why but I am amused when I see his Lego space plane with Woody and Chewbacca on it together.

On Wednesday night, I had to go to the school to pick up Si's Kindergarten registration pack.  I can't believe my baby will be heading to kindergarten.  Seems like just yesterday that he was grabbing and sucking on his toes.

So the kids now-a-days (and I remember Mason did this a time or two also) have this ritual that they do when they want a snow day.  They turn their pajamas inside out and backwards, and wear them to bed like that.  They also flush ice cubes down the toilet.  Apparently 6 is the magic number. 

Thursday is started snowing around 8am...and snowed and snowed all day.  I think we had 5 inches here. Ella had a ball walking home from school in all the snow.

And last night right after tucking the kids into bed, school was canceled.  So they had another lazy day at home!  The only reason that Ella got out of her pj's today is because she had a Girl Scout event in the evening. She went to a Paradise Island Luau and came home with a painted face and flowers in her hair.

While Ella was gone, Si had his friend, Carson, over.  They had fun playing Wii.  During MarioKart, Justin told the boys to come eat after their "race" was over.  Silas informed him "we're not racing...we're just driving to see who finishes first!"  Got it :)

(A long winded) Bye-Bye Bulls

Wow, was it really 5 years ago that I nervously watched out my front window, checking out the people that were coming to see our house for sale across the street? Peeking out through the blinds I saw the young couple getting out of the car and getting their infant out of the backseat. I instantly picked up the phone to call Justin and then my sister to say "Yep, them - that is who I want to buy the house!"  They were fun looking, they had a kid and (Hallelujah!) they would take over the mortgage payment after 2 or 3 months of double payments!
But it was a tough thing to think about who would move in, who would redecorate, who would make fun of our paint colors, who would love that house as much as we had??  How could they?  This house had been a labor of love and hard work for us - the building process, the work equity, the landscaping from the dirt up, turning the closets (master and 1st floor) into bathrooms, finishing the basement...we had moved in as "kids" and grown into a family there.
I saw this video recently and the lyrics struck me...



1st thought - the house that I grew up in and 2nd - almost just as immediately - 2878. The "house that built me" is also that house where I grew into myself. Where I grew my family, learned to garden, learned to cook (kinda), experienced infertility and what hard times can teach you about yourself and your relationships. It was the house that brought me to some of my closest friends...

(1997)

I never should have worried a bit about someone loving that house as much as we did. It was obvious from day one that this house quickly became a home and would be coddled - the lawn and landscaping always immaculate, the improvements and upkeep full of pride. And most importantly, the abundance of love within those walls...for each other, friends and the new local "family".
  
Bulls...in this house your family has grown, you have built a foundation of love, support, tradition, fun,  achievement and Doctorhood (!!) while here. You learned to be a Buckeye (as long as we weren't playing Penn State). And it's been a wonderful pleasure to watch (and sometimes photograph :) this happen over that 5 years.

 

(2006)

And to watch our kids play, grow, learn and enjoy what childhood is meant to be...

(Ella and Gavin in 2006)

You have definitely touched many, many lives while you've been here -the neighborhood, the hospital, the preschool, wives club, the stamping group...bringing so many people together in so many ways.

As the old Irish Blessing says...
May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back.  May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields.  And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand. 

God Bless you on your journey to Japan and all the places you go in life as you leave Buckeye Country

- you will be VERY MISSED around here!

Race for the Cure and Chicago

Saturday, May 16 was my very first Race for the Cure. What an amazing, inspiring event. I have never seen so many people at an event like this!
I was on the Heather Pick team (with about 6,000 others!) so I got to wear the pink wig.

Me and Margie

Donna and me

Margie and Sarah

Wonderful walk and I'm already looking forward to next year's!

Immediately after the walk, I ran home, threw my bags together for a 4 day trip with Beth to Chicago to help Andrea out with baby Lucy while Tom was out of town. And OH, she is gorgeous!!

(yes, my ovaries are sending me subliminal messages about needing another baby...)

While I was gone, Justin held down the fort, and did a great job as usual.
He even gave Si a haircut, which was desperately needed.

Doesn't he look like such a big boy??
He's also getting very tall. I think he's going through a growth spurt because he's been sleeping almost 12 hours at night. Which means all those shorts and t-shirts I just bought him won't fit much longer!!

Transcending...

I saw this on the BTeam blog - and just had to share it because it is oh, so true.
Author Kelly Corrigan wrote this moving essay about women and their remarkable capacity to support each other, to laugh together, and to endure...
*could possibly make you cry...just maybe

New Friends

This week - something odd happened - we have lived next door to our neighbors for over 3 years now. We see their kids out (they have 4) and I'm sure they see ours out - we say hi but that is about it. All of a sudden on Monday - they all started jibber jabbering over the fence. Ella and the little girl (Areej) started talking and then I looked out to see Si and the boy his age (Samii, I think) throwing the ball over the fence at each other. It was so cute and they were having so much fun.

Last night they started again and then asked if they could go over and play. I opened the gate with strict instructions for Si - NOT to go outside of the 2 backyards. They have had a ball the last few evenings - and it is a very nice distraction for them while dinner is cooking.




(Pardon the bad pictures - I was taking these through the kitchen window and tree branches!)

Tonight the kids went inside to play with them for awhile and are now in the backyard again playing....it's one of the small miracles (which includes Soap) while we try to regain our sanity and deal with stress!

20 Years - Seriously?!?

I have spent the last 2 evenings catching up with so many friends and classmates - and if I had a dime for every time someone asked - "can you believe it's been 20 years?" - well, these hardwood floors would be paid for! I was amazed at how easy it was to slip right back into the same friendships without missing a beat - felt like we'd been hanging out at each others' lockers the day before.

Of course, I wanted to look good for the reunion, so I asked for some help in taming my crazy-girl hair (as we call Ella's when it's going nuts).

Courtney was a doll and played hairdresser for me at Beth's

Me, Sherry and Gretchen - 2 of the reunion planners and my running around pals from the day.
Rob B - (one of my best pals from HHS) - and Me

It was a ton of fun both nights and I am sad that it will be another 5 to 10 years before I see most of them again...

A Perfect Weekend Getaway!

We had a fantastic weekend! I always forget how beautiful Hocking Hills is and it is just an hour away from us. The weekend went off without a hitch - the cabin was wonderful, the weather was beautiful and the company - well...perfect of course!

We ate, drank and were very merry. We played games, roasted marshmallows, sat in the hot tub, danced, fished, hiked and gabbed and gabbed away. We had a few oopsies - one when someone fell down the stairs and another when a kitchen chair broke and someone landed in the floor...no injuries though luckily!
Of course there were some things forgotten - toothbrush, underwear, pancake syrup, make-up, tobasco for bloody Mary's and we all forgot to pack body soap...so there was a Walmart run made.

We have a ton of photos from the weekend but here are a few of my favorites and I'll upload an album sometime this week.

Here we are on our hike - I found a log to put the camera on and set the timer.

Keith, Jen, Justin, Me, Jodi, Kevin, Greg and Beth

The boys - being silly :)

Greg was the perfect picture spotter - he found me all kinds of things to take pictures of - here are a few.

Mushrooms on a log

No idea what these are but they were beautiful- they reminded me of grapes.

Purdy 'lil flower

Another group picture in front of the cabin -

Thanks guys for a fantastic weekend and to all our sitters for watching the little heathens!