Post Holiday Blues..

I was getting dressed the other day, it might have even been Christmas day, and as I was drying my hair, I thought "I really need to get my hair done". Then I looked a little closer. I have gray hair. A lot of gray hair. I was shocked! I mean, I have been getting "full highlights" in my hair for so long now, I don't often see my natural hair color. Shades of blonde in the summer, warmer blondes and golds in the fall. I don't usually see any kind of "roots" in between, certainly not gray ones! So now coloring my hair is no longer a fashion choice, but a necessity. I don't know if all these old age indicators were there before and I just wasn't noticing, but once you hit forty, these things seem to develop a neon glow. Sometimes that neon glow is generated by a well meaning teenager, who is always happy to point out a flaw for you. There is just something terribly abnormal about having a pimple and a wrinkle in the same spot. Am I over the hill or not? Make up my mind!

Swogorfaulds Christmas-2009

Swogorfaulds, in case you have not figured it out, is a combination of Ogorchock, Faulds and Swartz. We got together last year and had Christmas at Jodie and Alex's house at the lake, and we had so much fun, we decided to make it an annual event, and Swogorfauld's Christmas was born. Jodie put up a beautiful tree with lake-themed ornaments and had candles lit and dinner waiting when we arrived Friday night. She even had made vegetarian dishes for Courtney, which I thought was very sweet and thoughtful. Saturday Caren and I took the girls to see "The Princess and The Frog" while Jodie and the guys got ready for the evenings festivities. We had a big afternoon planned, complete with a visit from Santa and Christmas craft stations. Allison, covered in chocolate and busily moving from one station to the other, told Courtney "I love this day!". She is so sweet and so cute. While Carli opted not to take part in the stations, she was quite entranced by Santa. When he rang the doorbell, Allison said "It's a guy with a beard..." Carli took one look and ran down the hall-she was so torn-Santa was in her territory and that is not the way it is supposed to be, she usually goes to see him-but this was a surprise, and surprises are sometimes a little difficult for Carli. She likes to have a plan. Allison opened the door and let him in-she showed him what chair he could sit in, and Santa went on to ask about all her teachers-he knew their names! He knew what she had for breakfast and knew her friends names-Allison was just chatting him up one side and down the other. Carli, on the other hand, had relocated to the kitchen, where she could watch through the wall cutout and see Santa, but not actually be in the same room. But when he said "Hello Carli!" and waved to her, she blushed and smiled and said "Hi Santa". Then he asked her if she wanted to come over and open a present, she stomped her foot, and was so torn-it was so funny, she really, really wanted that present and it took everything she had to walk over to him and accept it. Then she kind of leaned into him and let us take her picture. Santa stayed awhile and chatted with the girls, and when he left, Allison looked right at her dad's video camera and said "Dad? I think that was Dr. Steve, because he wasn't here when Santa was here." Smart girl. Smarter than us, apparently!
We had a very nice dinner after that, roasted leg of lamb, potato gratin, roasted brussels sprouts and carrots and spinach salad with red pepper vinaigrette. Steve had paired some really nice wines. Then we opened gifts and sat around talking until we all had to go to bed. Jodie prepared us a delicious stratta for breakfast, and we got the house cleaned up and went home. Another marvelous weekend. We are so lucky to have such great friends. We always have such a great time together!
This will be a busy week. I am working three days and still have shopping to do and Mark and I are hosting a dinner for his branch managers this Saturday. Alex will be here Friday night to fly over to visit his mom for Christmas. I am sure she will be so happy to see him. Have a great week everyone-Don't forget to click on the "Wanna see more?" link on the right to see the pics from the weekend....

Happy Thanksgiving-2009!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope everyone else did, too. We had Alex visiting, he had planned to go to New York with friends, but realized that he had so much homework and studying to do, so he decided to come here instead. We were so excited to have him! He is always pleasant and helpful to have around. He fits into our family like he lived here all his life and we are always happy to see him. The poor guy has been sick almost the whole time he has been at school, and looked terrible when he got here. Courtney immediately gave him a sisterly lecture on getting rest and taking care of himself-and he did. By the time he left he was all better and all of his homework done, with just a little more to do in the library this morning. He is still settling into a routine and balancing his studies, and we all just need to trust that he is good kid, extremely smart, and will do the right thing. He is in no way perfect, and we all need to step back and remember what we were like at that age. He has our unconditional love and support, and I hope I speak for everyone reading this.
We also had Casey and her boyfriend Nick for Thanksgiving. Casey has been dating Nick since the summer and dated him in high school, also. She was a bit nervous about bringing him here, and he was nervous, too-who wouldn't be nervous? But it was all good. Nick was perfectly polite and pleasant and we had a great time. I made him a cheesecake-his favorite, and I think that may be one of the reasons they committed to coming for Christmas! It was great to see them and we had a great time.
After dinner and Casey and Nick had left, we all went over to Steve and Caren's house for Pictionary. We played guys against the girls- it was fun. Caren's son Josh and his girlfriend showed up and they played for a while, then they left just as our friends Jodie and Alex showed up! Jodie and Alex were here having dinner with her sister, who lives here near us. So we got to see everyone! We had a glass of wine and chatted for a bit. It was such a nice ending to a great day.
I am putting up some pictures of Carli raking leaves today. The weather was nice today, but should be getting much colder this week, so she was outside enjoying the warm sun!
Make sure you watch for Courtney next Saturday morning on the Today Show-her class is going to New York for the weekend and will be outside the Today show trying to get a little face time. Her teacher says they always get on! We will be setting our DVR and hopefully will catch them!
Courtney finished out the cross country year by lettering in varsity cross country, not easy to do as a freshman and we are very proud of her. Her report card was excellent, too. She has already started indoor track and has practice everyday after school. It seems like we hardly ever see her anymore!
Have a great week....

So many things happened this week!

Well, we had a very busy week! On Thursday night Mark, Steve, Caren and I went out to dinner for Caren's birthday at a restaurant called Lemaire's. It is in a hotel called "The Jefferson", it is a Richmond landmark. It is very old and beautiful. The restaurant was outstanding. We were joined by another couple,friends of Caren and Steve's, and we had a great time. After dinner, Steve arranged a limousine to pick us up and take us to The Tran Siberian Orchestra. It is mostly Christmas music, but not all. It was 3 hours long! A bit long, really an hour or so would have been plenty...but it was much, much longer....anyway, we were all very tired after that and, showing our age, went right home and went to bed!
I worked on Friday, then Saturday, Mark and I split up to spend time with each of the girls. Mark took Courtney to her last cross country invitational, which was in Hanover. She did really well, she finished first in sub-varsity for Cosby High School. She really wanted to run varsity, but she has 3 more years to do that. She is very determined and works hard at cross country. Courtney never does anything half-way, she always tries her best. I love that about her, although sometimes I wonder if she doesn't put too much pressure on herself. Anyway, she did great and we were all very proud of her.
While they were off doing that,Carli, Ruby and I went to an apple festival in Charlottesville, Va. Caren and Steve picked us up in the morning and we all went together, and we met up with our friends Jodie, Alex and Allison up there. It was so so neat to meet up with them and do something together-the six of us and our kids have become like family and don't go long without getting together. We had a great day, it is a small family-run festival and they have a few local farmers selling their wares, there's a bluegrass band, and a hay ride, a few food vendors-that's about it, but it's very quaint. We went last year, too and Ruby is always quite popular there!
We had lunch on the lawn while Carli jammed to the bluegrass band, Allison and I got freshly made doughnuts for dessert (yum!), and then Caren, Jodie and I checked out the antiques and purchased some fresh chevre', fresh organic meats and chestnuts and of course apples! What a great day! Tonight Caren and I prepared a dinner featuring all of our purchases-we had homemade butternut squash soup, roasted brussels sprouts and apples, fresh organic pork marinated in rosemary, olive oil and garlic, homemade applesauce, and fresh apple pie. It was all soooo good.... so all in all, it was a good week. Today I let Courtney pluck my eyebrows. Random, I know, but she is really good at it and I have been admiring hers for awhile, so I figured I would let her try. I warned her about overplucking, and she did fine, although it did hurt-bad. Other than that, it was just your ordinary laundry, grocery shopping day, followed by a delicious dinner. Have a great week everyone!

So with Carli feeling better, Courtney and I left Carli in Mark's capable hands and met Brandi at Alex's Washington and Lee's Parent's Weekend. It was so fun! Alex is an awesome cousin-he kept such close tabs on Courtney he almost scared some of his friends! We had a great time-pics are on Facebook, because I did not take my camera! Bummer!
On a sadder note, this week my grandmother passed away. Grandma Whaley lived on a beautiful ranch at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains in Shell, Wyoming. It is breathtaking out on the ranch, but to grandma, it was isolating. She failed to see the beauty of it, looking for something else instead. She left her children several times, looking for that "something else". Sadly, the "children" are now left trying to function as a family, when they really were never taught how to function as a family. They fight so bad it is unbearable to listen to. As soon as grandma died my sister and I got on the phone and discussed our own mother's funeral wishes, as grandma's were destroyed right from the moment she died, due to lack of communication on the children's' part. I am sure when they read this they will all be mad at me for airing our dirty laundry, but honestly, why keep it a secret? That is not the way family should function. I hope the memorial they talk about is planned and I hope all of my aunts and uncles will attend and that everyone will at least pretend to like each other, just for the service. I hope that all my cousins will come, the ones I grew up with that I never see, and their husbands, wives and kids I have never met-wouldn't that be so great? I saw grandma two years ago and I am so glad we made that journey out west. Mark, Brandi and I pulled campers all the way across the country, and we went to visit grandma and our kids have a memory and a picture of that and I am so glad. Brandi and I spent a night alone at grandma's house "tucking her in" and although we laughed our butts off that night, I am so glad we did it. We have a memory of grandma that is special-of grandma laughing and making us laugh so hard-it will always be special to us. Rest in Peace Grandma and tell Grandpa we all said hello and we have missed him!!!

Carli and the Great H1N1 Virus

Maybe we should write a book!
Last night at dinner, we weighed our options with the Tamiflu, and Steve, who also happens to be a Dr, convinced me to go ahead and give it to her, but to give it to her along with food that I would not mind cleaning up later. So I let her have ice cream (hey, she's sick) and gave her the medicine. She seemed to keep it down for about 30 minutes, then came and asked me to put her to bed. But it was only 7:30. I thought, maybe she is just tired from being sick, she didn't sleep all day. Well, 15 minutes after she was in bed, we heard her crying. Sure enough, the pediatrician was right, she threw it all up. And then threw up about 3 more times. We changed sheets, pajamas, sheets, pajamas until about 11:30, then she fell asleep. But she was unable to keep the Motrin down, so she woke up with a fever of 103, sore throat, and dizziness. Mark had to carry her from the bathroom to the couch this morning. I gave her Motrin at 8:15 and her fever has dropped to 101.4, which to her, is okay because she is happily playing and drinking right now. I am so glad the Motrin works for her, I have heard some kids keep the high fever despite the Motrin or Tylenol. Her lungs sound clear, too. So far, so good. It would have been nice if the Tamiflu had worked for her, but it didn't so we will just have to ride it out.

I find myself a little annoyed with the whole Tami flu experience. Nobody has ever told me that it would make you this sick, or that some people just can't take it. It has kind of been marketed as a quick fix, don't worry if you get it, you can take Tami flu and it cuts your symptoms and duration time in half, as long as you get it in that first 48 hours of symptoms. I work in a major hospital, were this flu has been on the forefront of all our meetings and discussions, and I did not know this. Is it a secret? Even the pharmacist didn't mention it!

Have a good day everyone-I will keep you up to date on Carli's recovery!

H1N1 formally known as Swine Flu as invaded our home!

So it is. I have been really careful about following all the CDC recommendations at work. I wear the mask that is so tight and uncomfortable it leaves marks on your face for an hour after you get home. Not to mention the goggles, the gown, the gloves. Oh well. Turns out Carli brought it home from school. She is really miserable, too. I have Tamiflu for her, and I gave her the first dose, but I have to tell you, it tastes like ass. I got her to take it tonight, but twice a day for 5 days...I don't know how I will con her into taking it again! She really has a mild case, 100 degree fever, runny nose, that typical H1N1 barking cough, but she really hardly ever gets sick, so she feels really bad.
In fact, she put herself to bed at 7:30 tonight.
Courtney and I are supposed to meet Brandi at Parents weekend at Washington and Lee friday night. We will have to see how Carli is tomorrow.
On a happier note, Courtney ran the cross country district meet today, and did really well. Her best time is 24 minutes and 47 seconds. But today she finished in 22 minutes and 44 seconds, two minutes off her personal record, or PR as they call it! They run a little over 3 miles in those meets-she did really well and we are very proud of her.
Have a great weekend!

Aaahhhhh....What a relaxing weekend. I was invited this weekend to a "girl's weekend" at my friend Jodie's vacation home at Smith Mountain Lake. Those of you who have read my blog, have surely seen the pics and heard the stories of our trips to the lake to visit the Fauld's. But this weekend was just for the girl's. The grown-up girls, of course. Jodie has done this before, and she tries to kind of "mix it up" with different friends at different times. Last year we had a different crowd and it was so much fun, but this year it was different. Jodie had invited two friends, one from Long Island and one from New York. From Richmond there was me, Caren, and our good friend Fiona. The overall mood was different right from the start. Right away, we all clicked. We talked so much about every topic. Spirituality, organized religion, books, music, art, gardening-so many topics-it was like a weekend talk show. We laughed and danced and covered concerns with our kids and gave each other advice-it was amazing. We arrived there as strangers, not really knowing what to expect, but we left as friends. Thanks Jodie, for a great weekend, and for being such a great friend.

Homecoming '09

Last night was Cosby High School's homecoming dance. They had the game friday night and it was a cold, rainy night. Alex was home for the weekend, (thank god!) so he took Courtney and friends to the game. He had enough about and hour into it and came home to wait for them to call him for a ride home! They were home about and hour later, way before the game was over. Saturday night was still cold and wet for the dance.
Mark was gone this weekend on a golf trip, so I was so glad Alex was here-he was a huge help. Caren came over at 4pm to stay with Carli and Ruby, and Alex and I took 18 kids out to dinner before the dance! Luckily, one of Courtney's friends mom, Sandy, stayed and had dinner with us and was a big help. I had to leave early to get to the school-I was a ticket taker-very important assignment that apparently was going to take an hour of training before the dance. So Alex and Sandy drove all the kids to someone else's house for pictures, and then on to the dance. After all that, Alex went home, stayed with Carli until I got home at 10:15, then went back out at 11:30, picked up Courtney and Rebecca, and brought them home for me. He was awesome!
The dance was a lot of fun, and I managed the ticket taking and ID checking without any difficulty. It was really fun to see all these kids that have grown up that I remember from elementary school. Some of them I didn't even recognize until I saw their names on the tickets! And some of them were showing me a drivers' license for ID, which is very bizarre.
So today, we just took it easy and did nothing all day. Alex woke up with a raging case of pink eye, which he has never had before and caused a moment of panic this morning when he woke up-but he is okay-he left at about 4 so he could get back to school before the clinic closed because they will give him eye drops there. I made him some white chili and a batch of brownies to take back with him, so he was happy.
So a good time was had by everyone this weekend. Mark will be home soon, and we are leaving the kids home and going out to dinner with friends. Have a great week!

Luray, 2009

So once again, this weekend, as we have done for the last 7 years, we packed up the kids and headed to the mountains of Virginia. We have gone here for years, with different friends, by ourselves, with the Daisy scout troop, in pop-up campers, fifth wheel campers and cabins. It is a really nice campgrounds and very pretty. We have, for the last 5 or 6 years, had a cabin that we reserve every year, or we have friends that rent it every year for the same weekend in October. The whole month of October is Halloween at Jellystone park. Everyone decorates their campsite and then there is trick or treating in the evening. After all that and dinner, we make a big fire and sit outside until late into the night. Courtney has brought her best friend Lee with us for four years, and our friends the Faulds and the Swartz family come, also. Sometimes my sister is there, or my cousin, it just depends on everyones schedule, but we have been based at this one campsite for the last 7 years. It is so much fun. We have had chili cook-offs, years of haunted house and trick or treating fun, not to mention wonderful gourmet meals and wine pairings! This year they added a big bouncy thing, kind of like a trammpoline that sits on the ground that Carli just loved. We are also close to the playground, which makes her very happy.Courtney and Lee are old enough to wander the campground and check things out on their own-and Allison, this year, was old enough at 5 to make the trek across the field to our cabin all by herself! Check out the pics-they are so cute!

Hello again-

I have been updating the blog only once a week, with the kids back in school and us back to our regular work schedules, there really isn't that much to talk about!
Next weekend we have our annual camping trip to Luray in the Shenandoah mountains, that's always fun and I am sure there will be plenty of pictures to post and stories to tell when we get back!
Courtney has adjusted well to high school, she is having fun and enjoying being on the cross country team. Last Saturday they ran in Williamsburgh at William and Mary, this week they went to Leesburg, Va. She did really well at both meets, and ran varsity this last weekend. She is a superstar!
Carli has also adjusted well, she doesn't seem to mind the new school or the longer bus ride. We are very happy with her new school and teachers. Last week she did discover the clinic, though. Mark was out of town and I was really busy at work. Mark called and said Carli was in the clinic and I might need to go pick her up. I was in a procedure, had two more scheduled and was already running 20 minutes behind. He called Caren and asked her if she could go pick her up, and of course, she dropped everything and went to get her. Well, long story short, Carli was very happy to see that if you go to the clinic and lie down for awhile, your very favorite Caren comes to pick you up and take you home! Well, of course, Carli was fine and was not even the littlest bit sick. So on Monday, the teacher calls me again and says Carli is not feeling well. I said "No way, she thinks Caren is coming to rescue her-send her back to class!" and that was it. She hasn't gone back to the clinic yet. She is so sneaky, that Carli!
Last night Mark and I went to dinner with our friends, Greg and Christine, then we went to see Jerry Seinfeld. I tried to take an illegal picture for you guys, but it didn't turn out. But I did get a lovely shot of the sushi we ate before we went!! Enjoy!

Just what I have been waiting for...

You may be wondering why I have a big travel cup on the blog. I have, for years, been in search of the perfect travel cup. Perfect, to me, means it can go in the dishwasher. I have looked everywhere for a nice dishwasher safe cup for taking to work in the morning. Caren heard about this cup at work the other day and ran right out to get us both one! It is called a Contigo. She got it at Costco-two in a pack for $20! What a deal! Keeps your coffee hot for hours, doesn't leak,dishwasher safe-I heart it!
As for my near-death experience the other day with the blood pressure issues, as soon as I stopped taking the birth control pills, the issue resolved itself. It took no time to get it out of my system. I got all my labs in the mail and everything was perfect. So, I am back to thinking I am 20 instead of 41. I must admit, I did enjoy the diuretic that I took for two days-it helped me shed a delightful 4 pounds! Tomorrow I am getting back outside for a good long run and I can't wait!
Courtney had a cross country meet in Williamsburg today at William and Mary. I didn't go because Mark is in Pennsylvania moving his mother into assisted living. She had to leave at 5am, so we were up at 4:45. They all ride the team bus anyway, but I still would have like to have gone. Getting up at 4:30 and getting dressed and driving to Williamsburg would not have been a good time for Miss Carli. She spent the day entertaining herself with her movies, swing set, painting and playing with Ruby. Courtney ran well, and then they all went to lunch and got home at about 4pm.
It's just a quiet weekend with the girls-last night Caren and Steve came over and we made dinner, Courtney went to the football game. Tonight the girls and I watched a movie...and of course, tomorrow night will be Christian Dinner night-Hooray!!

I thought 40 was the new 20?

So, yesterday I went to my Obgyn for my annual appointment. No biggee, I go every year. However, this year I was not completely compliant and did not get my mammogram before I went,so I was expecting a lecture. I was prepared for it. I was going to counter with "but I went the year before, and I run several times a week and I eat healthy and my weight is fine, etc, etc..."but I didn't even get that far. I sat down and they took my blood pressure, which is always normal or even a little low-and it was 136/93! So we went ahead and completed the exam, then went back to the blood pressure again-140/95! We went over any changes that could have caused this, and the only thing I can think of is that they changed my birth control pill to the generic version-Tri Sprintec. Dr West said that may be what is causing it, and to check my blood pressure 3 times today. I went home and thought about it and I have been feeling less-than-100% the last two weeks, which is about how long I have been on this new pill. I was even thinking the last few mornings that I looked a little puffy, and felt a little headachy-not a full out headache, just a distant woozy-ness. I just didn't put it all together until the doctor mentioned it.
Today I went to work and checked my BP three times-it was higher than yesterday. I called my OB doctor and told her I was not taking that pill anymore and I was going to my family practice doctor. I left work early and when I got there, my blood pressure was 150/105! Yikes!
She is optimistic that it is just the new pill and told me to stop taking it, start taking the diuretic she prescribed for me and hooked me up with some lab work. I have to track my BP for the next month. So hopefully I will just pee my brains out and go back to baseline. She kept asking me "You feel okay? Are you sure?" I said yes, in fact I went for a 3 mile run yesterday! She told me not to do that anymore until she tells me it's okay! Bummer...

First Day of School

Hooray!
I have to admit, I am one of those parents that craves the structure of the school year. Courtney would have been happy with another month of bikini-clad fun, but Carli was ready to go back. So Carli is now in middle school. After all the stress of the possible school change, she is exactly where we want her. The program she is in for middle school has an excellent reputation, and we are so happy she is there. We went to the open house last week and were so surprised at what they have to offer. They have a huge classroom space, complete with a full kitchen and apartment setting. This space is to be used for life-skills training-putting sheets on beds, using a kitchen and cleaning up, and a full laundry room that they will run a laundry service for the school from! Carli will love doing all those things. Of course, there is a full sized regular classroom. The program received several grants this year to add a lot of new equipment to the program, which is quite rare here in Virginia. She had a great first day and told Dad over ice cream that she was ready to go back tomorrow!
Courtney also had a great day. She has been getting up and going to the school everyday since the first of August anyway, for cross country practice, but she is so excited about being a freshman and seeing all her friends again. I think she was more excited than she was letting on!

Alex is officially in college!

We dropped Alex off this morning at Washington and Lee! We all got up bright and early, hit Cracker Barrel for breakfast (Carli ate a pancake-Hooray!) and headed off to college. It is about 2.5 hours from here, past Charlottesville. It is beautiful up there. They aren't big mountains, but they are pretty. I can't wait to go back in a few weeks for parents weekend when the leaves have turned! Anyway, Alex was very excited. He had the car all packed and ready before we were even up!
Once we got there and he checked in, we helped him unload his stuff. Carli helped, too, and Courtney got right to work making his bed for him. Sometimes those two are like an old married couple. His roommate is a nice kid-Alex went to school with him at Episcopal,so they are already friends. The room is so small-and there is no air conditioning unless you have a medical condition. Alex is already in the process of thinking one up, but honestly, they are in the mountains so it's cooler, and in that very small room they have 3 fans, so I think they will be okay. It is very close quarters, I told Alex when we got out of the dorms I was going to go get a TB test! But the best news, Brandi, you will enjoy this-I know his RA and she is directly across the hall from him! Her name is Katy and she went to school with Casey when she was at Clover Hill Elementary school. She was a few years behind Casey, but her and her family also went to our church. Small world, right? Alex was thrilled, as you can imagine.
So, we got him unpacked for the most part, then went and got something to eat outside, it was nice. We left him so he could finish unpacking and get to rugby practice. He texted Courtney after we left to see what we were doing, so I think he will miss us more than he let on! He will be fine though. We can all send packages as soon as he gets his PO box, which he was going to try to do today, but he might not get it until Tuesday. Anyway, check out the pics on my flicker account, there are some cute ones!

Dinner-not made by me!

I have not been updating my blog like I should, and I must confess, it is mostly because I have been dipping into a new guilty pleasure, Facebook. I avoided it for a long time because I thought it would be time consuming, and it is! I thought, "Why would I want to to get in touch with people I have not seen in 20+ years? But, I must admit, it is fun, and I can be selective about who I talk to and who I don't. However, I have yet to be "friended" by my own daughter (Casey-that's you) and my niece (Lindsey). But that's okay...maybe it's best if I don't know what the 20 year olds are doing!
Tonight, Alex and Courtney made dinner for Caren and Steve and Mark and I. It was, in a word, amazing. They made Brandi's pear bisque, (so good!) it was a chilled bartlett pear soup with whipped cream and cinnamon, salad with a homemade dressing-Alex said it was the bonefish house dressing-I don't know how he got the recipe, but it was complicated and it was soooo good-garlic bread, and then they made chicken tetrazinni-really, we all said the best we ever had!
Mark said it was better than mine, but, you know, whatever!
I am kidding, it really was the best we've ever had! Courtney was his sous chef. They are a great team. They were talking about opening a restaurant and arguing about where they would put it by the end of the night! They are such good kids and I love their relationship-they are like brother and sister, they look out for each other and get along great! They have the same sense of humor, and he is such a great role model for her. He has been driving her and picking her up from cross country practice this week, sometimes taking Carli with him- our kids are awesome! We will be sorry to see him go tomorrow, but I know he will be back soon, and Steve is looking forward to getting him into the OR to show him what a surgeon does. Courtney and Alex will graduate in 4 years together, he with his bachelors, her from high school, and we will have to do a big family trip. We are thinking Greece. I don't know what Carli will find to eat in Greece, but there must be something.
Stay tuned this week to hear about Carli- her back to school visit was amazing. I have high hopes for her this year!

I know-it has been a whole week!

These weeks I work 7am-3pm really screw me up!I feel like I can't get anything done!
I am so lucky, though. This week my cousin Brandi left in my care her 18 year old son Alex, who we love to death. He is staying last week and this week with us until we take him to college at Washington and Lee next weekend. He is so great. He helps with the girls and shuttles them around, he cleans, he does the dishes-I keep telling him he is the son I never wished for! He laughs at that! He is great and we are happy to have him.
Other than that, the only big thing that has happened this week was Carli getting her shots for middle school, which turned into a traumatic event. She got the meningitis shot, which has a 2% chance of terrible side effects. Well, she got terribly sick. Fever, vomiting, diarrhea, arm swollen-she was really sick and she was scared to death, because of course, she doesn't understand all of this. Poor thing. She is better tonight, but she still looks a little pale. I am going to call the Dr. office tomorrow to report it. I just don't know what to do about immunizations. Friends with children with Autism really argue against them, and what they say makes sense, but my kids never had any problems. But when you see a reaction like Carli had, it makes you wonder if you are doing more harm than good. I just don't know if I had any more children (which I won't!) what I would do.
Anyway, have a good Monday everyone!

The last summer blast

This weekend we went to visit our friends Alex and Jodie and their daughter Allison. They are going to be at their lake house on Smith Mountain Lake all week and asked us to join them-we could only go for the weekend, but it was still so much fun! Carli loves to go, she loves being able to swim in the lake, the boat rides, but most of all, she is very comfortable there. She knows which room is "hers" and where to find all her favorite snacks, and she like to see Allison and their dog Murphy. Murphy and Ruby are big buddies. They run and play and wear each other out all weekend. Ruby loves the freedom she has at the lake, but she never gets in the water. She was very sad when Mark and Alex took the girls for a boat ride and left her on the dock-she ran right up the hill to the car, like she wanted me to take her to go find them!
Courtney didn't go with us this weekend, her cross country team had a cookout and she stayed here with her friend Rebecca so they could go. She had a great time-being on this team before school starts has really been fun, she is getting lots of exercise, and she has met lots of new friends. She is loving it.
Caren, Jodie and I relaxed yesterday while the kids swam with the guys, then we made dinner and Jodie opened her gifts. Our birthday is on the same day and we usually try to spend it together, but she went to visit her mother this year, so we had to celebrate a little late. This morning we got up and after Jodie's usual bed and breakfast-quality breakfast that she always prepares for us, we started making sauce to can. That's right-we have tomatoes going bad, so we had to take the show on the road and Jodie was more than willing to pitch in and help. Caren brought all of the canning stuff and we made a delicious Marinara sauce. 6 Quarts. After lunch, we headed home. We weren't there long, but we packed in a lot of activities!
Poor Stevie, he was on call this weekend and couldn't join us. He was nice enough to make dinner for us all tonight when we got home. Ruby needed a bath, she was covered in Murphy spit, and I am sure he was equally disgusting. Caren and I are going to try to get together this weekend around work schedules and can more tomatoes and hopefully some green beans. Sometimes it is hard to go to work when there is so much to be done at home-oh, but wait, I don't get paid at home....

So much to talk about!

It has been a week since my last update-we have been so busy!
After my birthday, which was wonderful, we spent the weekend staining the deck. It turned out good, and the swingset we stained the weekend before looks like brand new. All this manual labor is definitely a sign of the times-we used to hire someone to do it for us! Oh well, it's good for us.
On Monday Courtney and I finally made it to Busch Gardens for the roller coaster check-off. She did great, we rode them once, then went back and rode them in the front seat! We did not, however, ride the Griffon, which we both agreed was way too scary. We were on the Loch Ness Monster, and looked at the highest hill on the Griffon, and it was almost twice as high. Too much. We rode Apollo's Chariot, which is also higher than Loch Ness, in the front seat, but somehow, it just didn't seem as scary. We had a great time. We had to get home early though, Courtney's cross country schedule is brutal. She has to be at the school at 7:30am and they run 3-4 miles and work out every morning. She seems to be enjoying it though. Some of her friends from middle school are on her team and she has made lots of new friends, too. In fact this weekend they are having a cookout on Saturday night with a DJ and she is going to stay here with her good friend Becca to go to the party, rather than go with us, her loving family, to the lake! Go figure!
So this weekend we are off to the lake to spend the weekend with our good friends Jodie and Alex, at their beautiful lake house at Smith Mountain Lake. We love going to visit them there. It's always so fun. Caren and I have been canning tomatoes this week, and we are not done, so we are going to pack it up and take it all with us so Jodie can help us-it'll be fun! The guys can take the girls swimming while we hang out in the kitchen-we will have a great time. Stay tuned for great pics-
Well, back to work, I have been off all week and it has been wonderful. Carli will miss me when I go back to work tomorrow and Friday-but she has the weekend to look forward to!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was my birthday-I had a great day. I started it with a nice long run all by myself, then Courtney took Carli to the movies, just the two of them-Carli thought she was such a big girl-leaving me one and half hours of pure shopping bliss. I browsed Barnes and Noble for most of it. I love to have the time to go to Starbucks, then spend time checking out the books. The only way it could have been better was if it had been raining. There is just something about finding a great book to read on a rainy day.
After I picked up the girls and came home, Caren came over to begin preparation for the celebratory dinner. Mark picked up the wine on his way home-and excellent choices they were. I wanted to help make dinner, because that is my favorite thing to do, pour a glass of wine and cook a fantastic meal. We made the most amazing seafood paella I have ever had. It had mussels and clams and shrimp, mmm... it was so good. Caren's parents Dick and Nancy were in town, so they joined us for dinner, it was so nice to see them again. Courtney baked me a yellow butter cake with chocolate frosting and it was beautiful. She even put a "41" on top.
I received so many nice cards and phone calls and text messages and emails yesterday, thanks again, everyone!
You will notice in the pictures from yesterday, I am wearing the new apron the girls gave me for my birthday, as well as my very special birthday hat, which Caren gave me last year on my birthday. Mark showered me with plenty of flowers, gifts and cards as well. It was a lovely evening.
Courtney and I had to reschedule our Busch Gardens trip, there were thunderstorms in the area all day long and I did not want to a)ride roller coasters in the rain, or b)have to leave early because of the storms when I paid to get in. She was fine with it, we are going to try again on Monday.
Have a great night...

Problem solved...for now!

Good news! Our friend Angela Karousos works for the school system and gave me an email address to contact the Asst. Director of Chesterfield County Special Education. I emailed her about a week or so ago and yesterday she sent me an email asking me to call her today. I called her, and sure enough, there was a big mix up. Carli was on the transportation record for Robius, which is where she was supposed to go, but someone apparently decided she was closer to Bailey Bridge, and changed her paperwork to show she was going there. Theoretically, she could have been picked up on the first day and taken to Robius, but all her paperwork would have been at Bailey Bridge!
So, anyway, this very nice lady straightened it all out for us and assured us that Carli is indeed going to Robius, which is what we want. She is on track to go to Robius.
So that's a relief. Thanks, everyone that called wanting to know what was going to happen and if there was anything anyone could do to help!
Tomorrow Courtney and I are going to Busch Gardens to ride roller coasters. She has always been afraid, but she is determined to learn to ride them tomorrow. Her friends all go, and she wants to overcome her fear so she can go with them. She asked me to go with her. Yeah. I am not a huge fan, but I will ride them-it will be fun!

The Weekend

We had a very busy weekend! Casey came for a visit, and Casey and Courtney and I went shopping all day Saturday, while Carli and Dad went to get her a new movie and some ice cream. Casey and Courtney bought me an apron from William-Sonoma for my birthday, which is Wednesday. That is one of my favorite stores! We had a lovely afternoon, shopping, lunch, more shopping, then ice cream for the way home. Later that night, we all played Cranium-Mark and I won the first game, Casey and Courtney won the second. It was alot of fun. Carli enjoyed her new movie.
Sunday morning Casey went home and Courtney and I started the dreaded summer project-staining the swingset. UUggghhh. We bought the swingset about 6 years ago and we have never stained it. It was starting to look pretty faded. Carli plays on that swingset everyday, rain or shine-she swings every night just before it gets dark. We call it "The twilight swing". She looks out her window to check how much light she has left-then gets out there right at sunset and swings until dark. Every night. She is a funny girl.
Anyway, Mark power washed the swingset last weekend and Courtney and I stained it this weekend. It took all day, and it was like 100 degrees. I think I gave myself a little heat exhaustion. I came in and had to take a cool shower and a nap! I still don't feel so good tonight, and it was a very loooong day at work today.
I did finally get an email from the school board today, with a phone number to call tomorrow and they will be "happy to talk to me". So we shall see how that goes. I am off until next Thursday-I took a week off every month this summer to spend time with the girls. Courtney started cross country practice today for Cosby High School. She said it was so hot out there-it's hard to believe it is almost time to get them back to school!

Time to start the back to school fight...

This is what it is like having a child in the school system with special needs. The schools really don't want to deal with these kids, they do it because they have to, and they are always an after thought.
We had Carli's IEP meeting, which is her education plan meeting, back in May. She is moving up to middle school this year, which is something I have been dreading for a long time. Middle school is difficult for most girls, especially if you are a little different. Girls can be so mean . We have worried about so many things for Carli, changing classes, PE, everything. Not to mention, she will no longer be at our home school, so she won't even see familiar faces at school like she does now. The kids in our neighborhood have always been so good to Carli. She is not going to have that safety net anymore-everything is changing. She really won't understand it until the first day of school. So I let everyone know how uneasy we were feeling about this. When we had the meeting in May, one of the teachers came from Robius Middle, the new school,and explained how carefully they plan the kids school year-how they do PE seperately and-one of the best parts-they take the kids swimming at the same pool where Carli did her Special Olympics swimming every other week! They were so excited to be getting another girl in their class and were very welcoming. We felt so much better after that. We signed the IEP and relaxed a bit. Then, the very last week of school, we get a strange message on our answering machine-Carli's teacher is telling us it looks like they are opening a new program at a different school - Bailey Bridge Middle School-and Carli may have to go there. She said she does'nt have any information but she will let me know as soon as she finds something out. She never calls back or responds to my notes. I ran into the school principal one day and ask her about it-she says she knows nothing about it. As far as she knows, we are still following the IEP we signed. We are thinking, maybe it is just a rumor and Carli's teacher got a little ahead of herself repeating it to us. Then Tuesday night I get one of those pre-recorded messages from the principal welcoming us back to the school year, and letting us know what the dress code is. Guess where he is from? Bailey Bridge Middle School. We don't know anything about this program. We have gotten no letters from the school board, no notification at all that things are changing. The office at the school is not open yet. This is how we are treated by the school system. They think they can just jerk these kids around, and we should be grateful for it, because they are providing the education that is required. I think at some point, maybe when Courtney is in college and Carli is early in high school we have no choice but to move north, where the programs for kids and special needs adults are so, so much better. They make you so mad, you have to constantly be advocating for your child or they just get lost in the shuffle, and then when you finally snap and yell at someone, you are labeled as a difficult parent. It's all so frustrating.

Courtney and my favorite daughter, Lee

Courtney and Lee are at it again, singing their Spongebob favorites. They always make me laugh. Mom, click the play button to watch the whole song-(the arrow, right under Lee)

"Friendship" while making grilled cheese sandwiches

Yawn!

I am exhausted tonight! I worked Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but I was off this weekend. That's always nice, having weekends off. Friday, Caren was nice enough to come over and take Carli to see Ice Age 3 (again, it's her favorite movie this summer.). Carli thinks Caren is the best! She has been telling us all weekend that Caren took her to the movies, she had a hot dog with ketchup and a bottle of water, Caren had popcorn. She had so much fun.
Saturday Mark power washed the swingset, next weekend we plan to stain it. I went for a run. Saturday night we had a little dinner party. We were having so much fun I forgot to take pictures! My friend Jodie was here visiting her sister, so they came over for dinner. We also had our good friends, Dan and Carol Carey. Dan and Carol are such nice people and alot of fun. Carol has been on our girls trip to Jodie's lake house and has been with us for a girls trip to Vegas a few years ago. She is always fun. Then there was Sandy, we had invited her and her husband Roger, but Roger is a pilot and got called in to fly to Paris. I didn't know pilots had to be on call like doctors. Interesting. Anyway, we grilled shrimp and mango and avocados. We had some really nice wines. I made a bruscetta on grilled bread for an appetizer with the tomatoes from the garden-oh, it was so good. We had sooo many tomatoes we made everyone take home paper bags full. The colors were amazing, I wish I had taken a picture. Purple Cherokees, green stripees, little yellow heirlooms, big orange and little yellow ones, it's a rainbow of tomatoey goodness! We also had lots of green peppers-so tonight, I made stuffed green peppers and had dinner ready for Steve and Caren when they got home from a wedding they were attending. We were all very happy when we realized the peppers, the garlic, the salad ingredients and even the beef were all from the farm! How exciting!

This week I have a full work schedule-Mon, Tues, Wed and Fri-off Thursday and off again on the weekend, so I don't know if anything blog worthy will be occuring! But you never know! Tuesday night is our neighborhood Night Out party-it saounds like it is going to be alot of fun.
Check out the picture of the sign-Jodie gave me that for my birthday. She knows me so well. Jodie and I share the same birthday, and we share alot of other things, too! Have a good week!

Back to life!

Well, we are home. The trip home was uneventful, but long. It is so easy to leave the country, but so damned hard to get back in! We were in Miami for 4 hours getting all but strip searched and the worst part-the Edy's Ice Cream in the airport was out of Carli's fave, brown. Ice cream brown is her most favorite food in the whole wide world and we had promised chocolate ice cream when we got through customs. She was not happy. No other flavor will do. We found a sub-par restaurant and at least found her chocolate milk and a steak. She perked up after that. Courtney was a little scarred by the airport security staff. They were impatient, rude and bossy. Courtney asked me when we were done "why are they so mean?" That is a loaded question, I can't imagine doing their job.
We got home at about 12am- the girls were exhausted. They both went right to bed, no questions asked. It really was such a great family vacation. I was off on Tuesday, so I was grocery shopping, doing laundry, picking up Ruby, etc.. when Lindsey called and said she was driving back from Maryland, where she flew into from St Kitts, and was driving home and wanted to stop and take Courtney out to lunch! They went to Sonic and then Lindsey dropped Courtney at the gym, where I picked her up an hour later. Courtney and Carli think Lindsey is the coolest cousin ever. She is. She is, as she often says, "awesome!"
One good night of sleep before going back to work would have been devine, but it was not to be had. Mark had a work function planned at Colonial Downs, a horse racing track in Williamsburg. So we went. I think Courtney was glad to see us go, she had enough mom and dad time.
We had a great time with Mark and Greg's staff and their newer partner, George. Alot of their referral sources came and it was nice to finally put some faces with names I have been hearing! Mark won $10.35 right away, on his first bet, then he was just cocky after that. Greg and I based our bets on things like names, jockey weights and racing position. We didn't win at all.
Mark's office sponsored 2 races, so we all got to go down and have our pics taken with the winning horses and jockeys after the races. That was kind of cool. We had a nice suite with dinner and bartenders and, my favorite part, our own bathroom. It was a long night, we got home at about 11pm. So tonight will be my night of rest, I have to work Thursday and friday, but no big deal.

Still on island time!

This week has been so great! We are having such a great vacation and it has been so great having Caren, Steve, Lindsey and Ann with us. I haven't even posted the horseback riding pictures or the great beach pictures from Reggae Beach. First off, last nights dinner was great, we went to a local place called Cathy's and she was there cooking for us. She was so nice, and insisted on Carli's dinner being free. Everyone here is so nice to Carli. At Reggae Beach yesterday there was a family that played in the water with Carli for a long time. The restaurant owners always come over and speak to her, it is such a switch from home. They are very loving and accepting over here. Today Carli got involved in a very intense pool volleyball game, and everyone knew her name and made sure she got the ball. She is having a blast. This morning we went to a different beach called Shipwreck Beach. Also very nice and it had a huge reef on one side, so we got some snorkel gear and checked that out. Courtney is a natural. Carli did not want to try it, but she did swim out to the floating dock with us and had a great time jumping off of that. We went back to the pool at the hotel and Mark and Steve went golfing again, while we stayed at the pool for a bit. We had another great dinner tonight at a place called The Spice Mill. It was beautiful.It was at the top of a mountain, the same mountain we drove over today, where you can see the Atlantic on one side and the Caribbean on the other side. The food was, again, amazing, we have not had a bad meal yet, and the view and the openness of the restaurant was just amazing. The owner came to the table several times to apologize for a party of med students that were having a graduation party there, he said it might get loud, but they were fine and actually left before we did. He kept coming over to make sure we were okay, and then walked us out when we were done. So nice. I put the pics up tonight of the Shiggidy Shack party, but I still need to get the zip line pics,the horseback riding, and the beach. Tomorrow is our last full day, and we are taking a Catamaran dinner cruise in the evening. Should be fun!

Zip lining over the rainforest!

Wow-we are having so much fun. I have so much to write about and so little time. I am going to have to re-cap when I get home, but last night we went to the Shiggidy-shack for dinner, a restaurant on the beach with a fire show and bonfire. Carli had the best time, she danced all night on the table top! I will post the pics later. Courtney and Caren went horseback riding yesterday morning while the guys golfed. When the girls got back, Carli and I trucked them off to Reggae Beach, a calm, caribbean beach that was perfect for Carli. We had lunch on the beach and then swam and looked for shells. It was such a relaxing day. When we called for the cab to come get us, he had Scooby-Doo painted on the side and Carli thought she was riding in the mystery machine. She was very happy. Then we showered and partied until late at night. We all had so much fun last night.
This morning we slept in and rested. There was a knock on the door at about 7am-Mark had ordered me flowers-today is our 16th wedding anniversary. It was so sweet of him. We had a leisurely breakfast and let Courtney sleep in, then Courtney and I went and made reservations for her and Caren and I to go zip-lining over the rainforest. Yes, OVER the rainforest! It was anywhere from 250 to 500ft high! There were 5 lines and they all connected. It was so amazing. I even got brave enough to take some pictures while I crossed over. I will post them later-
Mark and Steve took Carli back to her favorite Reggae beach, were she swam another day away and petted Wilbur, the pig that lives on the beach. I don't know why he lives on the beach.
Tonight we are going to another great beach restaurant for our anniversary. Lindsey and Anne offered to babysit so Mark and I could go alone or just with Caren and Steve, but we are all having so much fun together, I want us all to go out together and celebrate as a family. Isn't that why we got married in the first place?

Live from St. Kitts!

We are having an absolute blast. We had some trouble getting off the ground in Miami and we sat on the plane on the runway for over 3 hours! Lindsey and her friend Ann were on that flight, too, so at least we were all together. Caren had the foresight to make sure we brought lunch on the plane, so at least we were not hungry. The girls were so good-we moved around a little on the plane, talked and laughed-then just before takeoff a storm blew over and we were delayed about 1/2 hour more! The flight was fine and we breezed through customs-Carli doesn't mind waiting when there is an elevator ride at the end of the line-it's the simple things that she loves!

Monday night when we got here we all went down to the poolside pizza shack and had pizza and relaxed with a cocktail. We got up early Tuesday and went down to the beach-the girls couldn't wait! Unfortunately there was a bit of a tropical depression near us and the skies were gray and windy, with some sunshine, but it was warm-we stayed on the beach and took turns watching Carli and taking walks, exploring the beautiful beaches. This island is as untouched by modern construction as it can possibly be, and they want to keep it that way. There are no tall buildings, no restaurant chains, just local spots and tropical beaches. The locals are friendly, but make it clear they are not interested in our American influences.

After the beach we moved up to the pool, and took advantage of the swim-up bar. We swam for a bit then had lunch at the poolside restaurant. We headed out to dinner later that night at Ballyhoo's, an open air restaurant above the main street downtown. That is were we met Sir Walter the cab driver. He took us to dinner and back and offered an air-conditioned island tour the next day. We took him up on his offer and he picked up up the next afternoon. He took us all over the northern side of the island, were we visited the home of Thomas Jefferson's great,great, grandfather. We had a fabulous authentic Caribbean lunch at an old sugar plantation. I am going to update more later, but try to get pictures on the Flicker account!

Those are the pins that were stuck in her finger!

I know I said I probably would not blog again this week but I have some important news. Courtney got the pins out of her finger today! Both of them! We knew there was a chance of getting one pin out before our vacation, but he went ahead and pulled them both!

I have to say, I was a little freaked out by the whole "pulling the pins out" thing-Dr Stuart was twisting them around and kind of pulling on them and then he was like "your x-ray looks good-you want me to pull them out?" and-even though I work in the ER and have plenty of experience with irrational family members I was like "you're just gonna pull them? AAAAgguuhh! I was expecting some numbing or sedation or something- and he said " ooohh a little color commentary from mom!" But he had her lay on the table and he tugged the pins out of her finger-I circled the table and kept saying "does it hurt?Are you okay?"Just like all those family members I get annoyed with at the hospital. It is a learning lesson being on the other side of the table. I have to remember sometimes what it is like to be a family member, and this was the perfect opportunity.

So Courtney is happily pin free and ready to enjoy the rest of her summer. She still has to wear a splint for the next 5 weeks, but at least the pins are out and she can swim. She went to Friday night Cheers tonight, which is like a party on friday nights in the neighborhood next to ours. She is so excited to go on vacation next week, I think we all are! can't wait!!!

Getting ready!

Today was my last day of work before our vacation. We leave for St Kitts on Monday at about 8am, so we are going to have to leave really early in the morning. I took Carli this afternoon to Best Buy to buy a battery pack and headphones for her DVD player. She is not a fan of headphones, but it is really her only option on the airplane. No headphones, no movies. She was not happy about having to go to the store, so she was already mad when we got there. She had a bit of a meltdown in the store while I was talking to one of the employees about what kind of battery pack I needed. She climbed up on a table and I pulled her down, and she pushed me. I pulled her aside immediately and talked to her about her behavior and told her she could sit on the floor if she wanted to sit down. But the poor guy that was trying to help us, he was obviously so uncomfortable. He said "I just want you to know that I think you are handling this really well, you are so patient and I just don't know if I could do it." Then he felt bad and said "I am sorry, I know you don't have a choice, and I don't mean to make you feel bad"-I told him it was okay, she isn't always this difficult and she would settle down in a minute. The rest of the time she was fine, but I have to say, somtimes when I take her out in public and she gets mad and does stuff like pushing me, it makes me wonder what I am going to do when she gets older and I start having a hard time managing her without getting hurt. I just don't know what is to come.

Anyway, we are preparing to go on vacation and I am planning to bring my laptop so I can download pics and update my blog. Last night Mark and I cooked out on the grill, we grilled some bread and made bruscetta outside while our fajita steak grilled. It was all quite yummy. Then Colleen and I went for a walk before it got too dark. It was nice to catch up, we haven't had the time to walk and talk for a long time. Hopefully, this school year will be better with her daughter Ellie being able to ride the bus and we can walk a little earlier. Anyone not familiar with Ellie's story, her mom's blog is Life Appreciated.
I don't know if I will update again before the trip, so everyone-have a great week!

The Swartz farm

This is a picture of our gathering from the garden this morning. Caren and I went out and worked in the garden, staking tomatoes, pulling weeds and picking lots of cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, zucchini and green beans. Yum! Lots of fun. It was really hot and sweaty but we loved it. Mark was making dinner tonight for Steve (the big fifty celebration continues-he has had more birthday parties than Michael Jackson has had funerals). We made a marinade for the green beans,and Mark roasted brussels sprouts . He grilled Porterhouse steaks-we made a tuscan marinade that was soo good and baked potatoes-what a spread! You would think we weighed 300 lbs as much as we talk about food, but good cooking is a passion that we all share. Mark, Steve, Caren and I have created some fabulous dishes on our sunday nights here. We call it our "christian dinners". We try, especially in the summer when the garden is in full swing, to eat as much of our own home grown or at least local produce as possible. We stopped at the Chesterfield Berry Farm on the way home and got blackberries, oh, they are so big and sweet and juicy-I just love summertime fruits and veggies!

July 10, 2007

Carli is a good tree climber. Always has been. Most people go outside and scan the yard to look for their kids, we scan the tree tops. We lured her out of the tree tonight with a steak on the grill!
Mark made a great dinner tonight. He made salmon with a butter compound. He grilled the salmon brushed with olive oil, then when it was done, he put the butter compound on top, it was made with fresh basil, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt and pepper. But he cooked the salmon perfectly, which is the most important part! He served it with grilled asparagus and grilled peaches....it was all sooooo yummy. What a guy.
My greatest accomplishment today? I got out of work at 3pm, thanks to my clinical coordinator Tina, who is so great and always tries to make me happy (I try to do the same for her!), and I was able to come home and go for a 4 mile run, which felt sooo good after working the last two days.
On a sadder note, we lost a neighbor today to cancer. Wendy didn't live really close to me, she lived at the other end of the neighborhood, but we only have 229 houses here, so she wasn't very far away. She was my age and had 4 children. It is so sad. Her youngest is just a baby, and that just breaks my heart. Luckily, they are a very close-knit family, in fact Wendy's mother and father lived with her and her sister and her 4 children live next door. Her mother is a pillar of strength and I am sure will hold the family together right now. I hope they all hold each other up and get through this together.
Yesterday was Steve's 50th birthday!! The amazing thing, at least for me, is I cannot believe for one minute, that I have a friend, who I hang out with regularly, who is 50! What? My friends are turning 50? It is crazy. Am I getting old? Sure I will be 41 next month (!), and I did notice last weekend that while wearing my bikini, I had to tie the back a little tighter because my boob was sliding out from under my top-am I embarrassing you guys? But it's true! Things are starting to slide south, my vision sucks, and varicose veins? All kinds of old lady things are starting to rear their ugly head. I will fight it all the way. I will run further, eat healthier, whatever I have to do, but I will not go down old, fat and unhealthy!
I plan to spend the weekend cleaning and doing yard work (yeah!) but we only have 10 more days until we leave for St. Kitts!! Can't wait!!

Some advice for Sarah Palin

I don't know what she is doing, and I don't really care. I found it a little offensive when she was campaigning and said in her speech that she "was going to be an advocate for us", sure, now that she had a kid with a disability, we were supposed to look to her for leadership. Please. She knew nothing about having a child with a disability. What she should have been doing was asking for advice, not acting like she automatically knew exactly what to do. No one is prepared, nobody knows what to do and can just walk into it acting like they are the authority on this subject. How arrogant.
Had she asked, I would have said this:
Don't expect to do anything quickly-when I take Carli to the grocery store, I have learned to accept the fact that we will have to buy all of her favorites, even if we have them at home.
We will look at all the fruits and vegetables and name them, and talk about what color they are.
She will push the basket.
She will drool over the steaks in the meat department and probably insist we buy flowers, preferably yellow ones, especially if there is a holder in the cart for them because that is where flowers go.
You will not do this trip quickly, and if you try, it will only make it worse for both of you.

Don't expect to "match" clothes-yesterday, for the third time this week, I tried to discourage Carli from wearing an orange shirt with pink and blue flowered shorts. After a long battle Courtney said "Mom, what are you doing? Who cares if her clothes match at the book store? Let her wear what she wants, and lets go!" So I did. And it was okay. I used to think "Good Lord, what is wrong with that mother letting her kid out like that?" But now I get it. I totally get it. Some battles just are not worth it. I always said I would never cut bangs on Carli, because in my head, I thought it made her Down Syndrome features more prominent. But guess what? Carli developed this habit of holding her hair back when she walked, both hands up by her ears, holding her hair out of her face while she walked. It was bizarre, and it drew attention to her, people actually stared more when she walked like that. So I took her to the hairdresser and told her what our newest issue was. She cut Carli bangs. No more issues. Just another issue resolved in the life of Carli.
I don't think these are the things Sarah Palin was thinking of when she claimed to be my new "advocate". See, she doesn't know about these things that pop up. She is thinking of health and school issues. But when she deals with the day-to-day changes, habits and activities of Trig, then she can be an advocate for someone. But first, she needs to experience it first hand.

Runner

I am thinking about running a half-marathon. The most I have ever run is a 10k, and that was, I think, 2 years ago. I finished in 62 minutes. Not bad, but not great either. I think I could do it faster now. It would involve a lot of training, and time. Sometimes I wonder, when I spend time doing things like this, that are just for my own personal satisfaction, am I being selfish? Is this time I am taking time away from my family for purely selfish reasons? I talk to people all the time who tell me "I wish I had the time to work out, I am so busy with my job or my kids or whatever". I carve time out in the mornings, usually, but if I have to I will take an hour to myself in the evenings and go for a run, or go to the gym. Am I being selfish? I don't think so, I think I am a better person for it. I feel better, look better and hopefully inspire my kids to exercise as well. I think sometimes people say things like "I just don't have time, I don't know how you do" in some attempt to make themselves feel better about not exercising. Sure, I could spend my days researching Down Syndrome, or researching exactly what classes Courtney needs to improve on to increase her chances at a good college, but would I be happier? I don't think so. And if I am not happy-well, there is a big, dark cloud hovering over the house! My running time gives me the opportunity to clear my head and plan my day, my week, whatever. I like to run alone, no ipod or anything, just me and my time to think and plan. I did run with Brandi this weekend, she is in the Army and runs all the time, so she entertained me by talking the whole 4 miles (!) while I listened and only responded when I had to, I can't chit-chat when I run. But I can listen!
Recently I found out that Disney World does marathons-10k's, 1/2 marathons and marathons that look so fun. There is even a 5k that you can push a stroller in-Carli would love that, it's a family run, we could all take turns pushing her in her stroller. So we may have to try that...

Happy Fourth of July!

I hope everyone had a safe Fourth of July!

We had a great time today. Brandi and Alex, our cousins, arrived Thursday night. Brandi is preparing to move to Italy and Alex is getting ready to go to college at Washington and Lee, so they came loaded down with all kinds of stuff they could not take with them when they move, so that was fun. Poor Alex-he brought the William-Sonoma fried chicken mix for Brandi and I to try one more time to make him edible fried chicken. We are both very good cooks, but for some reason, fried chicken is something we cannot make. This time, I have to say, with the help from William-Sonoma and Caren's deep fryer, we were immensely successful. We also prepared a lovely side of grilled veggies.

Friday we spent the day taking the kids to the movies, Brandi and I took Carli to see Ice Age and Mark, Courtney and Alex went to see The Transformers. Carli thought Ice Age was hilarious. It actually was pretty funny, Brandi succumbed to the comfort of the new movie theatre seats and fell asleep! Carli kept waking her up to tell her she was missing the movie, but Brandi would fall right back to sleep. Finally, Carli left her alone.

Today, for the Fourth we went to visit mom and Andy in Chesapeake. They have a great pool in the backyard and the kids love to go and just swim and talk and eat all day. Mom always makes sure there is a full array of snacks and then they cook out, too! We spent all day out at the pool with Casey, Kenzie and Kerry. It was alot of fun. We all came home tired and a little sunburned! Check out the pics!

Slippin' and slidin'!

Today was a beautiful day in Moseley. It was warm and sunny and the humidity was nice and low. Mark and I both went for a run this morning and then I made the girls breakfast-bagels and cream cheese for Carli and banana pancakes for Courtney. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone liked the same things? Or would that be boring? Courtney is a vegetarian, Carli is a true carnivore. In fact, I am getting ready to slap a big steak on the grill for her in a few minutes. Courtney is spending the night at a friends and they are dining at the movie theatre. Yum. I am sure that will be a healthy choice. I, however, am off to a big night at my friend Jan's house. She is hosting Bunco tonight and invited me to come over and play. I used to be a regular, every 3rd Thursday of the month, but I work every Friday and the late nights were too much for me! So, now I just play as a sub and still get to visit with everyone, but I am not committed each month. Works out well for me.

The girls and I did a little shopping today, we had a few errands to run, then stopped at the toy store for a surprise for Carli. We got more than we were looking for, though when she found this little gem:That's right, its a Scooby Doo lunch box, and she was not leaving without it. It was right up there with the Shrek Trilogy gift set we bought last week because she liked the box. She already had all the movies, but she really wanted the box. You can never have too many Shrek DVD's, thats what we always say. But the real reason we went to the toy store was to purchase a Slip and Slide. Courtney and I thought it would be fun. It was. It took alot more effort than I thought it would and Courtney and I both had to give Carli a little extra help before she figured it out. She thought it was pretty cool, and later, we let Ruby out and she really liked it! I guess they don't just make a plain old slippery mat anymore, there was a very involved set up, involving an instruction booklet and some crocodiles that we never could quite figure out what we were supposed to do with. We finally just flipped them over and let them shower over us like rain. Check out the pics on Flikr. Gotta go to work tomorrow, and Brandi and Alex will be here tomorrow night. I think I should go and shower. I have grass in places that have not seen grass in years.

A few of my favorite things...

No, we didn't go here today-I wish we had. This is one of my favorite pics from Wyoming two summers ago. I think Wyoming is the prettiest state I have ever been to. I would love to live there. I know, the winters are harsh, but I love cold, too! We are going to try to go back next year.

I have two great things to share. First, the Smart Dogs that I posted a picture of Courtney with yesterday-I ate one today, and guess what? Completely delicious. No fat, only 45 calories, 2 carbs and 8 grams of protein.I put it on a whole wheat hot dog bun with a little mustard-heavenly.
The second item-Pearle Vision pre-moistened lens towelette for your glasses. My eye doctor gave them to me at my last visit, and I stuffed them in my purse and forgot all about them. Then I stumbled across them months later, and thought "let me try these"-they cleaned my glasses so well, I am going to go back and buy a box of them. They are individually packaged much like a condom, so they don't take up much room in the purse. Love it.

You may notice I changed the template of the blog and added a "What I am reading" section and a recipe section. I hope someone finds these things interesting. I will try to keep it updated!

Yesterday I went to Best Buy. I was heading to the movie section, because Carli needed to add to her ever-growing mountain of movies, Best Buy is one of Carli's approved "Scooby-Doo stores", which is really any store that might sell a Scooby-Doo DVD. As we walked down the aisle, they had a large TV playing a continuous loop of Michael Jackson's best videos. I stopped and watched for a few minutes and was reminded of how talented this guy was. He was an amazing singer, dancer, and choreographer. But the saddest part, at least to me, is that part of him died a long time ago. For the last 15 years or so he has just been so out of touch with reality that so many people lost interest in him. He was just a weird guy. Now we all know that he had horrible addiction problems and it seems this is the way so many celebrites end up. Alone, paranoid and drug addicted. What a miserable life. I will take my life in Moseley, Virginia anytime!

THE CALVARY HAS ARRIVED!

HOORAY!
The exterminators arrived on Saturday morning-actually, it was just one person, and it was a girl. But she had all the cool exterminator stuff. Ruby thought she was the greatest, though, because she had peanut butter in her bag and Ruby loves peanut butter.
She chuckled at my feeble attempts to spray insulate the mice out, and said I probably trapped them in. She smiled sweetly at our crappy traps that never caught a mouse. Then she pulled out the big guns. She told us to call her on Tuesday with a "head count". Yikes. So this morning, we caught one in the drawer under the oven. We caught a lizard in the garage, which I was not happy about, and made Mark go set him free. Minus a little skin on his belly, he was released. We didn't look in the trap in the crawlspace, and quite frankly, I don't want to. Mark will check it tomorrow.
Other than that, this weekend was quite uneventful. I got cancelled for work on Saturday(love that) and had no plans, so after the exterminator left, I went for a 2 mile run, than we just hung out, did some reading, cleaning and Mark and I went to see "The Hangover". It was funny. Then we went to The Boathouse, a restaurant on the water. We ran into some neighbors that we just recently started to talk with, so we stayed and had a drink with them. It was fun. Courtney and her friend stayed home and babysat for us. This morning I got up early and went for a long, 4 mile run, it was great. Caren and Steve made the Sunday night appearance for dinner (yeah god!). We made pizza's and jalapeno poppers. Not very healthy fare, but tasty nontheless. Not such an exciting weekend, but fun is just around the corner. Next weekend, Brandi and Alex will be here and we are going to mom's for the 4th. That's always a fun party-then in 3 weeks-vacation in St. Kitts! Can't wait!

Monticello, then dinner at the pool!

Hello all,
Blogging is a difficult balance. If I blog everyday, I am afraid people will get bored. Maybe my life is not that interesting, although I think it is. I think I am living the American Dream, but maybe not. So I skipped a day. But, I am going to tell you about yesterday. Yesterday, Courtney and Carli and I visited Monticello. This was a lesson not only in American history, but also in American tolerance. Courtney and I probably have a closer bond than most teenage daughters and mothers, and this is partly because we are raising a child with Down syndrome. Carli is only 2 years younger than Courtney, but Courtney seems light years apart. Courtney is my assistant, really, and is completely in tune with with whatever is going on with Carli. We took the day and went to visit Monticello.
Monticello was the home of Thomas Jefferson. He was the 3rd president of our nation. He was an amazing inventor and built a completely self sufficient farm, where they did not depend on anyone from outside the farm to sustain their lifestyle. The house took 40 years to build,with 33 rooms and four floors. The garden was 1,000 feet long and has over 330 different vegetables!It was all so beautiful-and the girls really enjoyed it , except for-
THE STARING PEOPLE
Now, I am not one to get on my soapbox, especially when when it comes to kids with disabilities, because I don't want be one of those crazy moms-however-let me just mention a few things- if you SMILE and stare, that doesn't make it better. We went to lunch at a cafe' in Monticello, and while I ordered, I sent Courtney to the table with Carli to wait for me. There was a woman next to our table who, I kid you not, turned her chair around to stare at us. Not just while we ate, but the entire time. Now, she smiled, like she thought it was so cute that we had a disabled child at the table- that did not make it any better. It seems like it's always the older generation that is so interested in Carli. Carli was not doing anything out of the ordinary that would make one turn around and stare, but still, she drew stares. It is SO RUDE! Courtney and I both mumble under our breath, these are the same people who, an hour later, stare at us as we try to maneuver the stroller, which is very heavy-it holds up to 130lbs- on to the shuttle bus. They watch, but no one offers to help, they all just watch. I am lucky I have Courtney, who jumps in at every opportunity to help, but so many people don't have that. People are rude, we are pushing the stroller uphill in loose gravel and they refuse to move to the side. It really is something that everyone does not experience. Don't ever tell anyone "You understand"because unless this has happened to you, you don't. You don't know what it is like to have a child that people stare at, that people don't understand.
That is my soapbox for today. Today Courtney watched Carli while I went to the store and then we made a picnic dinner and took it to the pool.Mark showed up at about 4:30 and we swam with the kids and had dinner and some wine, then got Carli in bed. Not too exciting. Courtney is at a friend's watching a movie. Carli is loving Ruby, as she always does, then going to bed. I have to get to bed too, Krista is coming over tomorrow to babysit Carli while we are at work, we only ask Courtney to babysit on Tuesdays. Check out the Monticello pics-they are so cute!

Caren and Steve own the farm.Caren and I researched, studied, ordered, grew things from seed on my dining room table and loved the seedlings all winter long. Now they are in the ground growing and we have a bit of a weed problem. That's okay, we can manage it. Today we took Carli to the farm and dug potatoes, weeded the tomatoes and cut the cucumbers. We pulled onions and watered watermelons, corn and lima beans. It is sweaty, hard work, but we love it. We love growing it, picking it, cooking it. Sometimes things grow and we are like "what is that?" "should I pick it or nurture it?" we have grown some fabulous weeds that we thought were something else. "Is it a weed or purple basil?" We didn't know but I pulled it out anyway, it was too close to the tomato plant we were trying to stake up. I came home with a truckload of cucumbers and potatoes which I will be cooking and sharing tomorrow! Yeah summer harvest!

Father's day!

This weekend I was fortunate enough to have Casey, my oldest at 21, come and stay with her sisters while Mark and I went to Haymarket, Virginia, with our friends Caren and Steve. We were visting our friends Alex and Jodie, who used to live across the street from Mark and I.

The six of us are great friends, the guys golf together, we girls hang out and have a great time. We all love fine wines, great food, fabulous vacations and we are all quite funny! So this weekend we headed north to visit our good friends, and go out to dinner at a restaurant called "Ubanna" in D.C.

We got to their house at about 3pm and Alex greeted us with sangria. Jodie had taken little Allison, who is 5, over to her first sleepover. I really wanted to get a picture of her before she went, but we missed her!

When Jodie got home, we of course set the guys up, (Mark) with snacks and drinks while we got ready to go out. Now, yesterday was Jodie and Alex's 17th anniversary. Caren and I went to put our pretty dresses on, and Jodie put her wedding gown on! She still fit in it, of course, she weighs like 95 pounds, and we all had a good laugh. Caren and I were just wishing we had brought our bridesmaid dresses!

Dinner at Urbanna was lovely, we had some great wine, and the food was really good. D.C. is always so much fun. After dinner, we headed back over to a little pub closer to Jodie and Alex's. We had a drink and caught up. We had to get home at a reasonable hour because the guys had early tee times. When we got back to the house, everyone went to bed except Jodie and I. We stayed up talking until 3am! Jodie and I have a special bond-we have a little in common and a huge amount in common. Does that make sense? We don't agree on everything, and that's okay. Caren is teetering on the edge of having to have gallbladder surgery and went to bed early. Don't worry, Caren, maybe you can get it out this week.

This morning Jodie made a delicious brunch and Caren and I spent the morning playing with Allison, who schooled us on the tooth fairy, her vowels, the candy hiding game, and all the details of her first sleep over. She is so cute-so sweet and innocent, I love that age. She is going to kindergarten this fall and is very excited about it!

When we got home, the girls had all made Mark a card and a big cookie. It was very sweet, and quite tasty,too. Casey did a fabulous job, the girls were happy, the house was clean and everyone had a fun weekend!