Happy Easter

 

 

He is Risen!

I hope everyone has a Blessed Easter!

Helping Hand

Andy and Tyler offered our neighbor some help in cutting up a tree he had taken down the day before.  Big jobs aren't quite so big when others are there to help you.  Something I should remember....He is always there to help us if we will only ask Him.

Colorful

It was time to dye eggs today, so Andy and the kids pulled out the 3 dozen eggs that he'd boiled this morning.  We've been saving up eggs for awhile, plus the chickens have been cooperating nicely by laying a ton right now.  I think the little one had a fun time with the dyeing.
 

Tay brought this beautiful lunar moth in so I could see it.  We're pretty sure it's a female based on it's markings.  I'm not sure if it was hurt or maybe stunned itself running into something outside, but it could not fly away.  After showing it to me, Tay took it back outside and later in the day it had made it's way to the side of the house.  Later still, it was gone, so hopefully it was okay.

We actually got to watch one of these moths change from a caterpillar to the moth one year.  We happened to find the caterpillar outside, put it in a cage with some leaves and watched it make it's cocoon and then finally hatch after what seemed an incredibly long time.

Kenzie with hatched moth 7/22/2004.  Wow that was a long time ago!

Celebration

I told Ty after he'd gotten his stripe yesterday that he could make brownies to celebrate.  We didn't end up making them last night cause everyone decided to watch a movie.  Although I think they would have been better off making the brownies.  From what I hear, the movie wasn't very good.  I wouldn't know...I went to bed.  ;)

So after church tonight, Ty asked if he could make his brownies.  This is the first time he's tried to cook anything on his own.  I think they turned out pretty good.  What do ya think?

Level Up

Ty had one more stripe to go before he could move to the next belt when he went to class tonight and for once he was actually willing to ask if he could test.  He sometimes gets in moods where even though he knows the material, he refuses to ask if he can test for it.  Tonight was different.  And they were more than willing to honor his request by throwing the best of the class at him.  He ended up sparring 6 upper belts, one after the other, ending with the highest ranked belt.  He was pretty tired by the time he was done but he did an awesome job.  Was able to score some good points and got some pointers on how not to get scored on.  In the end, he earned his stripe which enables him to move up to the next belt level at the end of the month.  This new belt will officially mark the halfway point to black belt.  Way to go, Ty!

Annoyed

Nothing like walking in to work bright and early on a Monday and within a 1/2 hr of being there already have your blood pressure going thru the roof.  I can't begin to tell you how tired I am of people not doing their jobs.  Or actually, maybe I can because I think I've been doing that quite a lot lately.  It seems to be an on going theme.  Which is not a good thing because this is one theme I would dearly love to get rid of.  And it makes me mad that I let these occurrences get to me so much.  I know there isn't a darn thing I can do about it.  I think what is really getting to me lately, is that I know if I was doing this kind of work day in and day out my bosses wouldn't put up with it.  Yet they continue to let us, as their staff, continually have to redo our work due to bad info that we continue to receive for others.   I'm really struggling with how to let this go.  I know it's not good to hang onto anger but I really just can not find it in myself to forgive these guys right now...and that upsets me too.

Exploding Dressers

It seems like no matter how often I talk to the kids, everytime I walk into their rooms I find there dressers like this...

And it's not like there are too many clothes for their drawers even though it does look like the clothes are trying to escape.  Please tell me that others out there have the same problem...and what do you do about it?

I've been in a seriously cranky mood today.  Earlier today I pulled a piece of string out of my pocket and threw it on the counter in disgust...another story behind where the string came from that I won't go into now.  This is what a I saw when the string landed...

Think someone is trying to tell me something?   I'm definitely not feeling it today.  :(

Silliness

I working today, trying not to pay much mind to the babbling going on around me by the two littlest ones.  Finally, my subconscious registers a ton of giggling.  Wondering what in the world is up, I turn around and see...

Adam and Keari

They look pretty darn happy with themselves.  :)

Kenzi had her first PT appt today and I feel much better about the care she is getting in this office than where she was doing PT before.  Someone was actually with her the entire time, asked questions and listened to what she had to say, and followed the requested exercises by her Dr.

She's been diagnosed with Patellofemoral Syndrome.  The exercises she will be doing over the next 6 weeks will hopefully work to correct the alignment problem she now has from trying to compensate for the pain she's been having in her knee.  The PT had her walk down the hall today to watch how she moved and commented how her injured leg bows inward when she walks.  He also had her stand directly in front of him so he could watch her kneecaps and commented that her injured kneecap not lined up correctly.  As I said, hopefully the exercises will correct the problem, because if not she's looking at surgery...but I don't want to think about that yet.

Alex attended Alumni Association Senior Class Mass and Brunch at school today.  He started the morning with the mass dedicated to the senior class.  Afterwards, they were given a luncheon hosted by the Alumni Association.  After that they were free to go for the day.  Unfortunately, he had a baseball game after school today so he couldn't really take the rest of the day off.  He did take advantage of the free time by going by the college and registering for a summer math class.

He then headed back to school to get Connor for the baseball game.  One of the few that they've been able to have lately because of all the rain we've been having.  I don't think our yard is every going to dry out.  I've never seen it have puddles in it for so long.  And they are calling for another inch of rain tomorrow.  Please...make it stop!

Award

Last night, Andy and I traveled to Delaware to watch Alex, 9 of his senior classmates and 70 other seniors representing all 8 Catholic High Schools in the Wilmington Diocese receive the Saint Francis de Sales Award.  This award is presented by the Bishop to select seniors in recognition for excellence in faith development, service, scholarship, citizenship and leadership through out their high school career.  What a wonderful evening and we are so proud of Alex for being selected as one of the recipients this year.

Bishop W. Francis Malooly

Bishop Malooly and Alex

A happy Alex after receiving his award

Alex and his girlfriend Amy

Alex, Joey and their principal Mr. Nemeth

Saint Francis de Sales medal

Awesome crucifix in Saint Joseph's Church in Middletown, DE

Sorry for the color in some of the pictures.  I was trying to take them without flash while we were in the church.


A little about Saint Francis de Sales:
Saint Francis de Sales was an accomplished preacher and is known also for his writings on the topic of spiritual direction and spiritual formation.  He proved with his own life that people could grow in holiness while involved in a very active occupation.  His goodness, patience and mildness became proverbial.  He had an intense love for the poor.  His food was plain, his dress and his household simple.  He completely dispensed with superfluities and lived with the greatest economy, in order to be able to provide more abundantly for the wants of the needy.  He heard confessions, gave advice, and preached incessantly.  He wrote innumerable letters (mainly letter of direction) and found time to publish numerous works.  St. Francis de Sales was beatified on 1661, and canonized by Pope Alexander VII in 1665; he was proclaimed Doctor of the Universal Church by Pope Pius IX in 1877.
Take from the handout given to us by the Diocese of Wilmington during the ceremony.

Happy 15th Birthday, Connor!

Even though I know today wasn't the best day for you, I hope the year brings you many wonderful things.  I'm so proud of everything you have accomplished and what a fine young man you have grown into.  Luv you!

Bad Mommy Award

I totally forgot to wish Connor Happy Birthday before he left for school this morning.  How could a loving, caring mom do that to her just turned 15 year old boy??  I had thought about it early in the morning but by the time the boys got up, it had totally slipped my mind.  By the time it registered in my brain again he was already in school and I couldn't call him.  But to make matters worse, I talked to him twice after school and still forgot!  That's it...I should be replaced!  When I hung up the second time, it dawned on me what I hadn't done again so I called him back.  I started singing Happy Birthday when he answered but he was so not impressed.  I think I need to crawl back into my hole now.

Tomorrow will be a better day, right?

No job?

Sometimes I really wish I could just quit my job.  Too bad I'm the one bringing home the paycheck.  My quitting would have an adverse effect on that.  But days like today just pluck my last nerve.  I'm sick of dealing with people that are incompetent and I'm sick of my bosses not doing anything about it.  I'm tired of being the one having to constantly come up with workarounds and having things take 3 times as long as it should because I'm trying to get around someone else's screwup and having my management think that it's okay.  And I seriously think that I am just too cranky to write a post right now.

Busy Day Ends in Party

Today started off bright an early at 7am and is just now winding down.

Kenzie, Tyler and I headed to Laurel this morning to watch her softball team play in a tournament.  Even though she can't play, she wanted to be there to support her team.  I was a little worried that she'd be depressed sitting on the bench watching the other girls play but she seemed to handle it well and everyone seemed genuinely happy to see her.   We had to leave right before the end of 2nd game but her team had won the 1st game, was losing the 2nd and haven't heard how they did in the 3rd.

We ran home (okay, drove quickly) so we could meet family that was arriving at our house at 2 to celebrate Connor's 15th birthday.  My parents, sister, and my nephews were coming.  As a bonus we got my BIL.  I thought he had to work today but he was able to get off early enough that he made it over with the others.  What a nice surprise.  I think Connor was really surprised with the present from my parents....shown in the picture.  He was pretty speechless as he was opening the items associated with it.  I just hope he remembers that we celebrated his b'day today and doesn't expect something on Tuesday, which is his real b'day.  Hopefully he'll be too busy between baseball practice and piano practice that night that he won't remember.  Is that a bad mommy thought?  ;)

My youngest nephew decided he didn't like the cake and ice cream we served and decided to munch on an ink refill instead.  I should have snapped a pic of the nice ink blob on the floor.  It certainly didn't hurt it any...thankfully we have a hardwood laminate and things wipe up pretty easily on it.  But I have learned the trick of making a paste of baking soda and water and rubbing it on ink marks on good wood furniture.  I about had a heartattack when I saw the ink that covered our wooden chess table but that's a story for another time.  And speaking of ink being on things...my oldest son seems to have a fascination with leaving ink pens in his pants pockets and they are forever being run thru the washer/dryer.  Which is not good for them...or the clothes they come into contact with.  I found another instance of this yesterday.  The silver lining in this cloud was that I've learned to wash/dry his clothes all by themselves so if things get ruined it's only his clothes in that state...not the rest of the households.  As and added bonus, summer uniform starts at school tomorrow so that means that his last pair of pants that just came out of the dryer with ink marks on them are no longer needed.  Yeah, I'm looking for anything to make this better.  ;)

Changes

Today did not turn out how it was supposed to.  Kenzie and I were scheduled to go to Laurel for a softball tournament.  Even though she can't play, she wants to be there to support her team.  Alex/Connor had a baseball game in Easton.  Unfortunately the rain yesterday and overnight changed those plans.  No softball or baseball today.  Sooo, we got to clean the house instead.  ;)  And this kids actually did it without grumbling...a rare occasion around here.  We got everything, other than laundry...a never ending task around here, done pretty early so they have the whole rest of the weekend to play.  I plan on doing some reading and family tree work.

Tomorrow we'll spend some time on at the softball field.  Games have been scheduled to start first thing in the morning.  Then we'll have an early birthday celebration for Connor.  :)

7 Hours

That's how long I was in a vehicle yesterday.  Thankfully it was not a continuous 7 hours but that's a heck of a lot of time to be driving around.  And I didn't really go too far from home.  We had a department meeting at our Washington, DC office so I drove to our Baltimore office in the morning (1 hr).  Caught a bus with the rest of the folks to DC (2 hrs due to traffic).  Spent 4 hours at the office.  Took bus home (2 hrs, again due to traffic).  Stepped off the bus and immediately hopped in my car to drive howe (1 hr).  Headed to Easton for the Parent Appreciation Reception at Alex's school (40 minutes). Returned home from reception (40 minutes).

Too bad we didn't have any free time in DC.  It would have been fun to see the cherry blossoms since this is the time for them.  Our old building used to be in the prime location for viewing the blossoms.  We could walk outside at lunch to the Jefferson Memorial, walk along the water and see all the beautiful trees.  Unfortunately the location of our new building doesn't lend itself to easy viewing.

I was never so glad to work from home today.  :)  And thankfully Andy took Kenzie to her appt in Baltimore so I didn't have to go anywhere near a car today.  I worked some in the morning then took a break when it was time for Adam's nap...he gets just cranky when he's tired.  ;)  Keari, Adam and I watched Tangled during this time.  I love that movie!  Then back to work when Andy/Kenzie got home.

Good news...bad news

Good news is that it looks like we finally have an answer to what's been causing Kenzie to be in pain since her soccer injury in October.  She was seen by a University of Maryland dr today and he said that the pain she is having is almost always is associated with a knee cap injury.  He did a bunch of different tests on her and they all pointed back to the same diagnosis.  So yay, we finally know what's wrong with her.  Thank you God!  Bad news is, no sports til this issue is healed, she has 6 wks of physical therapy.  If she's not feeling any pain at that point, she should be good to go otherwise she needs to go back and see and he did mention that surgery could be needed if PT didn't help.  She has her first PT next Friday and we'll see how things go from there.  Dr said that this type of injury does not show up on MRI's (of which she's had 3) and can only be diagnosed in the office by doing physical tests...which none of the other drs she saw did the tests that this one did today.

We'll definitely know better for future sports injuries not to mess around with the drs/PT offices over here.  I'm very upset because if she had gotten diagnosed correctly at the beginning she'd probably be ok at this point, even if we ended up going the surgery route.  Hard to believe this has been going on for over 6 months now and we've gotten everything from stress fracture to there's nothing wrong, do you're normal sporting activites.   I wonder how much additional damage was done by her continuing to try to do softball and ref soccer games?

Appreciation

Alex is getting closer and closer to graduation and tonight his school hosted a Parent Appreciation Reception for the seniors and their parents.  It's the first of a number of activities that will be happening between now and May 26th.  It was a night set aside for the kids to say "Thanks Mom!  Thanks Dad!  Thanks for putting up with us thru the years.  Thanks for always being there for us.  etc.  It was a lovely evening.  Started with a prayer because he does go to a Catholic High School.  ;)  They had a slide show of each of the kids thru the year from baby thru now, pics of them doing their favorite activity, pics of their entire family.  After that, they had interviews of the kids giving a message to their parents, saying what they would miss after they graduate, impersonating their parents...one kid was hilarious.  He impersonated his mom yelling at him about having only one thing to do and how could he have forgotten to do that ONE thing!!  LOL  It sooo could have been our house.  :)  At the end, each of the kids gave their parents a flower and a hand written letter that told their parents thank you in their own words.  It was a wonderful evening.  I'm having a hard time believing that he will out of school in a few short weeks.

Almost human

A Worthy Cause

Our church does a lot of services for Our Haven Shelter, a temporary winter shelter for the homeless in our county.  On the first Tuesday of every month, the Hardee's in our area donates 20% of the cost of all meals purchased to the shelter.  Tonight, our youth group helped out at Hardee's serving dinners to people that made purchases.  Kenzie is part of the youth group so she volunteered her time this evening to help out.  Connor is also part of the group but because he is still sick Kenzie had to carry the torch for both of them.  I'm very proud of the time that the kids donate to the needy through out the year.

Adams Goofiness

This child continually makes me laugh at the silly things he does throughout the day.  Over the weekend, he was sitting in his chair while I was clean up from lunch.  I can hear him making funny noises but that's just Adam, so not really paying much attention.  I look over to find that he's suctioned cupped his cup to his face.  You know...stick the cup over your mouth and suck all the air out so that it adheres to your face.  Yup, that's what he did and when he'd get it unsuctioned, he'd start babbling about it and then repeat the whole process again.

Another thing he likes to do is make piggy sounds.  Now I think everyone, every now and then, will make snorting sounds thru their nose.  He likes to do it continually, he'll snort and then start laughing at himself, then snort again and more laughing.  It's an endless cycle for awhile.  And anyone who happens to be in the vicinity of him when he starts this just can't help but laugh with him.

Tonight we had french toast for dinner.  To give you a little background, we have plates that when you cut on them make the most atrocious noise...like nails on a blackboard.  Half of us feel like we are getting knifed in two whenever some cuts something and the others that it doesn't bother do it purely to torture the rest of us.  Adam has watched the commentary about the squeaking plates for quite a while which usually entails someone covering theirs ear while yelling at the culprit to stop it.  Tonight Andy was cutting his french toast and as soon as he started Adam put his little hands over his and started repeating stop it stop it over and over again.  Glad to see we've trained him well.  LOL  ;)

He's in a big hugging stage now.  Every time he sees me he wants a hug.  In the middle of a diaper change, he wants a hug.  Walking down the stairs, hug time.  And don't even think about not giving it to him.  He might be little but he gets his point across when he starts tugging on you.  And watch out when he starts demanding kisses!  ;)