Hello Everyone,
We are getting ready to head to Iowa tomorrow after school for the big game on Saturday. As my sister says, "you'd think the president were coming to town, there's so much hype!" Hee-hee! Quinn is becoming resigned to the fact that he will have to watch the game on Uncle Jeff's big screen TV. Just in case though, Amy has some scouts out, looking for a reasonably priced ticket. Mom says that tickets are going for $1000!! I told Tony I'd sell mine for that much!!
Tonight Tony had a meeting at church, Madison had Flames practice and Quinn and I went to Katie's CYS soccer game. Quinn and Nathan played soccer and football on the field behind us and I doubt ever saw any action on Katie's field. Her team lost 0-2 and the best part of the whole evening was her excitement afterwards, telling us that they played against the best team in the whole league... and finally coming around to tell us that her team "barely beat them .......1-0". She was so thrilled, I didn't have the heart to tell her that must have been a different game! It was sooooo cute and she is sooooo sweet. Those little sentences made my whole day! I just love listening to kids talk!
I probably won't report in over the weekend.... unless there is something really "newsworthy". Everyone send your best wishes to the Hawkeyes as we play #1 Ohio State and watch for us on ESPN's Game Day or sitting in the NE corner of the end zone (the big press box will be on our right). Don & Isy will sit beside us... hmmm... what could we do to get on TV? Let's see... the 4 of us could spell out I-O-W-A on our bare chests.... oops, guess not!
Love to all, Leah
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Tears over the Iowa game!
Greetings to Everyone,Quinn was in tears tonight when he was going to bed because he is so upset that he can't go to the Iowa vs Ohio State football game with us this weekend. He just can't understand why we can't just buy him a ticket. There are no tickets to buy (at an even somewhat reasonable price)! Oh... it's so pathetic. He doesn't want to watch it on TV. I'll probably end of giving him my ticket. I can't stand to see him that way. I can't stand to think that I'll be in Iowa but not at the game but even worse... can't stand to see him so disappointed. Madison on the other hand... is thankful she doesn't have to go to the game. A few glances at the score on TV will be juuuust fine with her! She would much rather play with her 3 girl Iowa cousins!
How was your day today? My chart review went OK... it can be difficult and controversial to compare documentation to policy and whether or not we can "accept" some of the entries as meeting our policy. Have nurses and a doctor try to see things eye to eye about other people's documentation and you are asking for controversy! Anyway, that part is over and now I'll move on to the hospital inpatient review. I really don't have time to be doing all of this at work!!! I do have a "real" job too!!!
Tonight was CFN (church family night). We had a delicious lasagna meal and stayed for the group session. It was good.
Have a good night/day (depending on when you are reading)!
Love to all, Leah
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
A perfect Fall day
Hello Everyone,
Today was a gorgeous Fall day... about 70 degrees. It doesn't get any better than this.
The kids did fine this morning (after getting to bed late) and of course Quinn was the first one up in our family as usual. Madison admitted she was tired today though.
Tonight Madison went out with Terry, Karla, Katie and Nathan for Katie's 9th birthday. Happy Birthday Katie! They went to Hacienda. Katie is having a birthday party with a couple of friends this weekend but we will be gone to Iowa so she got to go to their family party tonight, on her birthday. Somehow Tony, Quinn and I got some tasty homemade cupcakes out of the deal too!
Tomorrow I have to lead a chart review for the Center for Cancer Care at the hospital. Basically this isn't a fun thing to do and I bribed people with promises of food if they would come and participate! We are looking for pain assessment, reassessment, appropriateness of pain meds ordered, whether or not they've followed policies etc... Any volunteers??? Anyway, I would really just like to get it over with. Then, I can focus on the chart review for the whole hospital (yuck). I'm a bit more proactive this year. Last year I think I waited until Nov. or Dec. and then it really was CRUNCH time!
Well, that's all folks... have a great Wednesday!
Love to all, Leah
Today was a gorgeous Fall day... about 70 degrees. It doesn't get any better than this.
The kids did fine this morning (after getting to bed late) and of course Quinn was the first one up in our family as usual. Madison admitted she was tired today though.
Tonight Madison went out with Terry, Karla, Katie and Nathan for Katie's 9th birthday. Happy Birthday Katie! They went to Hacienda. Katie is having a birthday party with a couple of friends this weekend but we will be gone to Iowa so she got to go to their family party tonight, on her birthday. Somehow Tony, Quinn and I got some tasty homemade cupcakes out of the deal too!
Tomorrow I have to lead a chart review for the Center for Cancer Care at the hospital. Basically this isn't a fun thing to do and I bribed people with promises of food if they would come and participate! We are looking for pain assessment, reassessment, appropriateness of pain meds ordered, whether or not they've followed policies etc... Any volunteers??? Anyway, I would really just like to get it over with. Then, I can focus on the chart review for the whole hospital (yuck). I'm a bit more proactive this year. Last year I think I waited until Nov. or Dec. and then it really was CRUNCH time!
Well, that's all folks... have a great Wednesday!
Love to all, Leah
Monday, September 25, 2006
Happy Monday!
Happy Monday! (is that an oxy-moron?)
Hope you all had a nice Monday. Mine involved a bit of a frustrating day at work but that's life in chronic pain. I need to invent some kind of an easy office based test for detecting lies... I'm getting pretty good at it I think but am learning the hard way. Karla and I are always dreaming about a latest invention so that we don't have to start playing the lottery. (Just kidding!!!!). May be it would help if I posted the 10 commandments in each exam room and highlight the shortest one... do not lie. hmmmm, now there's a thought. Probably still wouldn't help.
Tony & I both spent the majority of the evening at church. I had a Care Commission meeting and Tony worked on the sound booth conversion. We have a new sound system and it needed installing (for lack of a better word). Quinn spent his early evening on his scooter and then even took his scooter to church to scoot around during my meeting. He had a lot of fun. Madison had Flames practice tonight and then went to Peyton's house until we picked her up. She had quite a bit of homework tonight so she got to bed late. Can you tell Quinn is my child?... "we are just totally off of our schedule tonight". They both had good attitudes but I hope the morning goes OK with getting to bed late tonight.
Well, that's all for tonight. Has anyone been inspired to start your own blog? If I can do it... you can do it. More later...
Love to all, Leah
P.S. I just figured out that if you dbl click the picture, you'll get an even bigger picture. Cool!
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Happy Birthday Amy!
Hello to All,
A very special Happy Birthday wish for my sister, Amy!! I'm sure your family did something special for you today. Hopefully you got my message this evening.
Here is a report from Sunday... after church Katie and Nathan came over for lunch and to play for a little while. Madison's Flames game was at 3:30 at the our CYS fields (thankfully because...) when we got there Madison was wearing the wrong color of shirt! They have a white t-shirt that I thought was just for practice... somehow we missed the memo of having the girls wear (or even bring) the white shirt.. the Fort Wayne team also had our blue shirt color. It was a fast call to Terry with directions to the shirt in our house and he somehow managed to find it and run it out to us! Thank you Terry! What would we do without you guys??!! One of the other girls gave Madison her long-sleeved turtleneck shirt that she intended on wearing underneath her t-shirt so at least Madison could play and then she changed at half time. We lost 0-4. That was the least amount of goals we've given up. The other team wasn't quite as tall and must have had more 10 & 11 year olds because this team was actually fairly close to our skill level. Although the Flames' record is 0-4 and Madison hates losing, she still runs around out there like she's having fun and smiles and acts like she's having a good time. More power to her! They just have 2 more games and we'll miss next weekend's because we'll be in Iowa. Mom and Dad, when you are here over the October weekend, you'll get to see her last game, on the Sunday the 15th at 2pm.
Sunday night is our family night. The kids are just finishing up a movie and then it's off to bed for them. Tomorrow is a new week with new adventures to behold. I hope each of you have a very good week!
Love to all, Leah
A very special Happy Birthday wish for my sister, Amy!! I'm sure your family did something special for you today. Hopefully you got my message this evening.
Here is a report from Sunday... after church Katie and Nathan came over for lunch and to play for a little while. Madison's Flames game was at 3:30 at the our CYS fields (thankfully because...) when we got there Madison was wearing the wrong color of shirt! They have a white t-shirt that I thought was just for practice... somehow we missed the memo of having the girls wear (or even bring) the white shirt.. the Fort Wayne team also had our blue shirt color. It was a fast call to Terry with directions to the shirt in our house and he somehow managed to find it and run it out to us! Thank you Terry! What would we do without you guys??!! One of the other girls gave Madison her long-sleeved turtleneck shirt that she intended on wearing underneath her t-shirt so at least Madison could play and then she changed at half time. We lost 0-4. That was the least amount of goals we've given up. The other team wasn't quite as tall and must have had more 10 & 11 year olds because this team was actually fairly close to our skill level. Although the Flames' record is 0-4 and Madison hates losing, she still runs around out there like she's having fun and smiles and acts like she's having a good time. More power to her! They just have 2 more games and we'll miss next weekend's because we'll be in Iowa. Mom and Dad, when you are here over the October weekend, you'll get to see her last game, on the Sunday the 15th at 2pm.
Sunday night is our family night. The kids are just finishing up a movie and then it's off to bed for them. Tomorrow is a new week with new adventures to behold. I hope each of you have a very good week!
Love to all, Leah
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Baseball, Basketball and Soccer
Hello to All,
I'll try to catch you on the last 2 days events and give you the condensed version. Friday night Tony and I went to the Chicago White Sox game with Rollpak. It was a little unsettling to get off the chartered bus only to hear the tornado WARNING siren blowing in Chicago!!!! The rain soon followed but within an hour it managed to blow over and the evening turned out to be beautiful! Of course it helped that we were treated to a Diamond Suite just behind homeplate & a little towards 1st base. We had a delicious supper and got to enjoy the game from a totally different view. We didn't get home until 3am (our time) so this morning came awfully early. Terry and Karla took the kids to the MCC sale and then Karla brought our kids back home so they could sleep in their own beds and then she napped on the couch until we got in. Thank you Karla!!!!
This morning Madison had a basketball evaluation at Concord...for girls that will be playing BB on Saturday mornings this Fall. That was at 9am. Afterwards she told me that her free throw needed some work! HA! (I'm sure there's much more than that that needs working on!). We really need to get a hoop in our driveway!
The rest of the day brought 3 soccer games. Madison's first game was at 11am and ended up with their 5th (yes!) tie!!!!.... 1-1. I'm so sick of ties! Quinn's game was at 12:30 and guess what... also a tie!!! ...0-0 (that was really unusual for them not to score). I guess we cannot complain that the teams aren't evenly matched this year. We went home and watched most of the 2nd half of the Iowa game (yeah Hawks) and then took off for Madison's Flames game in Chesterton, IN. It took us 1 hour to get there. We lost 0-6. I've changed my personal goals for our team... that we will get at least 1 shot towards the goal during the game. We actually had 3! Let me remind you that our team is mostly 9-10 year olds and we are playing 12 and under teams. Wow, what a difference a few years make! Madison played hard all day today. She didn't sit out at all in the morning and she was out for about 60 seconds in the Flames game. It had rained earlier and was pretty muddy. Let's just say I'll get to see if Tide really does work to get out mud stains out of WHITE soccer shorts! (Who was the wiseman to choose white??!!). Madison's best "moment" came towards the end of the game when she booted the ball while on defense and squarely planted her punt on the hind end of the referee! She couldn't help but smile and we all got a good laugh out of it. She also raised some crowd reaction when slippping in some mud and landing on her rear, leaving a muddy souvenir on her hind end! Thankfully it didn't rain on us today. We went out for pizza with Tonya & Petyon and Sara & Maddie J. and got home about 9:45 tonight. Whew... a fun but long day! Just for your interest (or not), Madison's flames team is comprised of 11 girls and here is a sample of their names... there's our Madison M., Madison P., Madeline, Maddie, Moriah, and Mackinzie. If someone yells out a generic "Maddy"... 4 girls kind of wonder if they are the ones being hollared at!
Well, it's late, I better get a good night's sleep tonight. Often it's the 2nd day after a short night that I feel most of the fatigue. M, Q and I did get a cat nap on the way to Chesterton so that was good.
Love to All,
Leah
I'll try to catch you on the last 2 days events and give you the condensed version. Friday night Tony and I went to the Chicago White Sox game with Rollpak. It was a little unsettling to get off the chartered bus only to hear the tornado WARNING siren blowing in Chicago!!!! The rain soon followed but within an hour it managed to blow over and the evening turned out to be beautiful! Of course it helped that we were treated to a Diamond Suite just behind homeplate & a little towards 1st base. We had a delicious supper and got to enjoy the game from a totally different view. We didn't get home until 3am (our time) so this morning came awfully early. Terry and Karla took the kids to the MCC sale and then Karla brought our kids back home so they could sleep in their own beds and then she napped on the couch until we got in. Thank you Karla!!!!
This morning Madison had a basketball evaluation at Concord...for girls that will be playing BB on Saturday mornings this Fall. That was at 9am. Afterwards she told me that her free throw needed some work! HA! (I'm sure there's much more than that that needs working on!). We really need to get a hoop in our driveway!
The rest of the day brought 3 soccer games. Madison's first game was at 11am and ended up with their 5th (yes!) tie!!!!.... 1-1. I'm so sick of ties! Quinn's game was at 12:30 and guess what... also a tie!!! ...0-0 (that was really unusual for them not to score). I guess we cannot complain that the teams aren't evenly matched this year. We went home and watched most of the 2nd half of the Iowa game (yeah Hawks) and then took off for Madison's Flames game in Chesterton, IN. It took us 1 hour to get there. We lost 0-6. I've changed my personal goals for our team... that we will get at least 1 shot towards the goal during the game. We actually had 3! Let me remind you that our team is mostly 9-10 year olds and we are playing 12 and under teams. Wow, what a difference a few years make! Madison played hard all day today. She didn't sit out at all in the morning and she was out for about 60 seconds in the Flames game. It had rained earlier and was pretty muddy. Let's just say I'll get to see if Tide really does work to get out mud stains out of WHITE soccer shorts! (Who was the wiseman to choose white??!!). Madison's best "moment" came towards the end of the game when she booted the ball while on defense and squarely planted her punt on the hind end of the referee! She couldn't help but smile and we all got a good laugh out of it. She also raised some crowd reaction when slippping in some mud and landing on her rear, leaving a muddy souvenir on her hind end! Thankfully it didn't rain on us today. We went out for pizza with Tonya & Petyon and Sara & Maddie J. and got home about 9:45 tonight. Whew... a fun but long day! Just for your interest (or not), Madison's flames team is comprised of 11 girls and here is a sample of their names... there's our Madison M., Madison P., Madeline, Maddie, Moriah, and Mackinzie. If someone yells out a generic "Maddy"... 4 girls kind of wonder if they are the ones being hollared at!
Well, it's late, I better get a good night's sleep tonight. Often it's the 2nd day after a short night that I feel most of the fatigue. M, Q and I did get a cat nap on the way to Chesterton so that was good.
Love to All,
Leah
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Thursday's report...
Hello All,
Madison's CYS team played the #1 team tonight and ..... TIED! (Ughhhh). Even worse it was 0-0. Let's just say it was a bit stressful. Oh well, it's better than losing I guess. That's our 4th tie this year.
Not much new to report today. Tony is mowing the lawn now and the kids are outside on their scooters. Tomorrow is the last day for ISTEP testing and Madison will be most glad... she's says school is SO boring this week. Quinn didn't have to take them this year... last year of "freedom".
My presentation this morning went well. The RN's said they learned new information so that was good. I had too much planned and had to skip some info (better than not enough).
Tomorrow night Tony and I will be at the White Sox baseball game in Chicago with Rollpak. The kids will be with Terry & Karla at the MCC Sale and then staying overnight. I won't post until after Saturday's wild day of 3 soccer games. Hope the Hawks win!
Until then...
Love to all, Leah
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Hump Day
Hello Everyone!
Well, we're over half of the way done with the week... on the downhill stretch to the weekend. Isn't that terrible to feel that way? I like my job but I LOVE being at home more!!!
Tonight was our first CFN night and we had a declicious taco supper that I didn't have to make! Tony accidently scheduled a soccer practice for Quinn so they only got to stay for supper. Madison stayed for the Bible memory time and I stayed for the adult lesson.
Tomorrow morning at 8am I'm presenting on pain management to the Care at Home nurses in the hospital. It's been a while since I've done public speaking so now I'm wondering why I agreed to do this! It will be OK and actually to maintain my NP license I have to participate in x number of public speaking events. This will count as one of them. Madison suggested I just stand up there and say "Pain is when it hurts really, really bad!" When I told her I had to talk for 1 hour just about pain, she couldn't fathom what in the world I would say about it. I could talk for 8 hours about it so it's actually kind of hard to pick and choose the sub-topics.
Anyway, that was our day... really not too exciting. Madison has 4 soccer games from Thursday through Sunday so my posts may bore some of you with soccer info. The season is almost at the end for CYS. She has a game tomorrow night against the #1 team. I'll try and report in tomorrow night about it.
Love to all, Leah
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Just a tidbit about today...
Hello to All,
Really not much new today. Madison's CYS Rollpak team won tonight 4-1. That brings their record to 3 wins, 2 losses, 3 ties. It was cool and crisp tonight. After the game we went to Ci-Ci's Pizza. It was an Oxbow night. The school gets 10% of their sales for tonight. We weren't going to go because of the game and also because Madison is taking ISTEP tests this week but since I didn't have a clue as to what was for supper, we went. It was good and the kids enjoyed seeing a lot of friends there.
Tomorrow night CFN (church family night) starts. That means we get a wonderful meal and then following are activities for the adults and the children too. It only runs for 6 weeks on Wednesday nights. I love knowing that I don't have to cook on Wednesdays!
Well, that's all for today I guess. Sometimes it's good not to have something too exciting to report. PS... I learned today that the biker continues in ICU in Fort Wayne.
Love to all, Leah
Really not much new today. Madison's CYS Rollpak team won tonight 4-1. That brings their record to 3 wins, 2 losses, 3 ties. It was cool and crisp tonight. After the game we went to Ci-Ci's Pizza. It was an Oxbow night. The school gets 10% of their sales for tonight. We weren't going to go because of the game and also because Madison is taking ISTEP tests this week but since I didn't have a clue as to what was for supper, we went. It was good and the kids enjoyed seeing a lot of friends there.
Tomorrow night CFN (church family night) starts. That means we get a wonderful meal and then following are activities for the adults and the children too. It only runs for 6 weeks on Wednesday nights. I love knowing that I don't have to cook on Wednesdays!
Well, that's all for today I guess. Sometimes it's good not to have something too exciting to report. PS... I learned today that the biker continues in ICU in Fort Wayne.
Love to all, Leah
Monday, September 18, 2006
"I'm so glad we live by the sunset".... Quinn
Hello to All,
The title is another quote from Quinn tonight after admiring a beautiful sunset. He comes up with the best stuff! (Too bad you guys don't live by the sunset).
Well, here's an update about the 70 yr old woman hit by the bike. She survived and was flown to Fort Wayne, to a trauma center. She had bleeding in her brain, multiple facial fractures, bilateral punctured lungs, multiple rib fractures, fractured femur, fibula, clavicle and scapula and of course multiple cuts and bruises. I told you it was BAD!!! I've been praying for her and her family and also the lady that hit her (who wasn't at fault but nonetheless was hysterical and I'm sure is hurting emotionally). I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with her from here on out or not... to know what will eventually happen to her. My "obsessive" thoughts over the accident are starting to get better. I've prayed to be able to forget the details.
Today was Monday... we had such a busy weekend that I felt like I needed to go back to work just to rest! Whew! I yawned my way through the day. I probably made the transcriptionist yawn a few times while dictating! : )
Madison had Flames practice tonight. If I were her I think I would be complaining about going by now... but nope, not a word... ready to get out the door and when she got home she said that it was fun. We traded "services" tonight. Don picked Madison up after he drove his bus route and took her to practice and left his truck here (he took our van). Tony worked on changing something-to-do-with-the-brakes on the truck. Don brought Madison home and he and Tony are still out there working.
Quinn was actually grounded tonight... the 2nd time in his little life. It's kind of a long story but basically he broke a rule of coming inside when he was called... after he had just been warned... and we had to go looking for him twice yesterday afternoon. So, after he got over the "devastation" yesterday from anticipating his consequence to occur after school today, he made the best of it. He couldn't play with any friends (and the garage door stayed up) and no TV or computer. He decided to clean out the toy boxes... which are 99% his stuff. He got a huge bag ready to take to The Depot and even brought down the scale to weigh it... 17# of little toys!!!! He felt very proud of himself to get himself organized and felt very good about giving them away to other kids who "for sure don't have as many toys as I have."
I guess that's all for tonight. Madison has a CYS game tomorrow night. It's supposed to get cold so Fall soccer, by definition, has finally begun!
Love to All,
Leah
The title is another quote from Quinn tonight after admiring a beautiful sunset. He comes up with the best stuff! (Too bad you guys don't live by the sunset).
Well, here's an update about the 70 yr old woman hit by the bike. She survived and was flown to Fort Wayne, to a trauma center. She had bleeding in her brain, multiple facial fractures, bilateral punctured lungs, multiple rib fractures, fractured femur, fibula, clavicle and scapula and of course multiple cuts and bruises. I told you it was BAD!!! I've been praying for her and her family and also the lady that hit her (who wasn't at fault but nonetheless was hysterical and I'm sure is hurting emotionally). I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with her from here on out or not... to know what will eventually happen to her. My "obsessive" thoughts over the accident are starting to get better. I've prayed to be able to forget the details.
Today was Monday... we had such a busy weekend that I felt like I needed to go back to work just to rest! Whew! I yawned my way through the day. I probably made the transcriptionist yawn a few times while dictating! : )
Madison had Flames practice tonight. If I were her I think I would be complaining about going by now... but nope, not a word... ready to get out the door and when she got home she said that it was fun. We traded "services" tonight. Don picked Madison up after he drove his bus route and took her to practice and left his truck here (he took our van). Tony worked on changing something-to-do-with-the-brakes on the truck. Don brought Madison home and he and Tony are still out there working.
Quinn was actually grounded tonight... the 2nd time in his little life. It's kind of a long story but basically he broke a rule of coming inside when he was called... after he had just been warned... and we had to go looking for him twice yesterday afternoon. So, after he got over the "devastation" yesterday from anticipating his consequence to occur after school today, he made the best of it. He couldn't play with any friends (and the garage door stayed up) and no TV or computer. He decided to clean out the toy boxes... which are 99% his stuff. He got a huge bag ready to take to The Depot and even brought down the scale to weigh it... 17# of little toys!!!! He felt very proud of himself to get himself organized and felt very good about giving them away to other kids who "for sure don't have as many toys as I have."
I guess that's all for tonight. Madison has a CYS game tomorrow night. It's supposed to get cold so Fall soccer, by definition, has finally begun!
Love to All,
Leah
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Quote by Quinn... close the garage door "so I don't attract so many friends!"
Hello All,
Tonight Madison's soccer game against Middlebury Magic ended up to be 0-6. So, it was better than last week, which was 0-8. Of course the girls were tall with long fast legs and could out sprint us just because of their strides. We felt Madison played very well and played for all but 5 minutes. By the end she was dragging! Her coach sent in a bunch of subs and we could tell Madison was looking a little "longingly" at the girls running in but alas there was no relief in site for her! We got a good laugh out of it from the side lines ... guess ya had to be there! She played defense in the 2nd half tonight and that is really where she excels. They only scored 2 goals that half.
After church today we had lunch at the Backyard BBQ with Matt and Lisa. Brock came over for a little while in the afternoon. It was so cute. Quinn just wanted to play with Brock by himself... and so he said, "when we get home can you shut the garage door right away?"... I asked him why and he said "so I don't attract so many friends"... HA! If the garage door is up, that's the sign for the company to begin!
Well, that's all for tonight. I'm anxious to find out some more about the lady hit on her bike tomorrow at work. The newspaper said she was 70 so I guessed that right. Last night I slept awful!... it seemed every time I closed my eyes I saw that accident happening over and over. I hope to never witness something like that again! I'm soooo glad the kids weren't with me.
Love to all, Leah
Tonight Madison's soccer game against Middlebury Magic ended up to be 0-6. So, it was better than last week, which was 0-8. Of course the girls were tall with long fast legs and could out sprint us just because of their strides. We felt Madison played very well and played for all but 5 minutes. By the end she was dragging! Her coach sent in a bunch of subs and we could tell Madison was looking a little "longingly" at the girls running in but alas there was no relief in site for her! We got a good laugh out of it from the side lines ... guess ya had to be there! She played defense in the 2nd half tonight and that is really where she excels. They only scored 2 goals that half.
After church today we had lunch at the Backyard BBQ with Matt and Lisa. Brock came over for a little while in the afternoon. It was so cute. Quinn just wanted to play with Brock by himself... and so he said, "when we get home can you shut the garage door right away?"... I asked him why and he said "so I don't attract so many friends"... HA! If the garage door is up, that's the sign for the company to begin!
Well, that's all for tonight. I'm anxious to find out some more about the lady hit on her bike tomorrow at work. The newspaper said she was 70 so I guessed that right. Last night I slept awful!... it seemed every time I closed my eyes I saw that accident happening over and over. I hope to never witness something like that again! I'm soooo glad the kids weren't with me.
Love to all, Leah
soccer, funeral, soccer, wedding
That was the order of our day yesterday (Saturday). Sorry for not posting last night. We didn't get home for the final time until 11pm. It was a crazy day as was expected. It involved 5 quick outfit changes too!
Madison was scheduled for an 8am soccer game. She is not a morning person, especially to run a soccer field, so I got her up around 6:45 or so, to give her a chance to wake-up. She even walked on the treadmill, took some ibuprofen for a sore muscle but... When we got to the field, there was a very bad sign... she was the only green shirt there! The other team was nearly completely there. So, we found out that we were the only family that actually got the time of the game right on our team. I went by the schedule posted at the CYS web site and come to find out, it was different from the schedule that the coach passed out. The rest of our team thought it was at 9:30. It really was at 8am! So, that was an early morning for nothing! We either have to forfeit or hopefully they will be willing to reschedule.
Then, we went to a funeral at 10am. Dave & Karen Kieper go to our church and Dave and Tony are colleagues at work. Karen's dad passed away. It was a beautiful service and although we had met Karen's dad at church before, we felt like we missed out on really knowing a wonderful person. They had a beautiful photo tribute to his life. Our hearts go out to them.
Then, it was back to the soccer fields by 12:30 for Quinn's soccer game. They played very well and won 4-0. It was fun and the weather was beautiful. It got over at 1:20 and the wedding started at 2pm.
It was a speedy trip home and a record turn around time for a family of 4 to get to the wedding by 1:58! Even early!! You should have seen the clothes flying at our house!! : ) Tony's first cousin, John Vanderwerf, Jr married Cindy Zook. It was a beautiful wedding... the emotions on the opposite spectrum from the morning. We heard I Corinthians 13 read twice today. That was really neat I thought, in such different settings. The reception was so nice and it was great to catch up from family near and far. Jeremiah was so proficient at his punch serving. We had to tease him because everyone had been through his line and he was prepared with an extra 20 or so cups filled with punch, waiting for extra customers. Actually, they all eventually got taken so Jeremiah, you really need to advertise your punch serving skills for hire. Jeremiah and Jacob both helped out in the wedding and looked so nice all dressed up. (You guys clean up well!).
We joined some of the out of town guests at Don & Isy's for the evening which involved eating the 4th meal of the day (of course) and watching the taped Iowa vs Iowa State football game (which we won). The kids had such fun wading in the river and 2nd cousin Abbie stayed over night with Madison last night. It was 11pm before we got home. All 3 kids fell asleep on the 10 minute drive home.
Well, that's all for now. I'll try and write more tonight after Madison's Flames game. It's probably going to be a thrashing against more big girls. More later...
Love to all, Leah
Madison was scheduled for an 8am soccer game. She is not a morning person, especially to run a soccer field, so I got her up around 6:45 or so, to give her a chance to wake-up. She even walked on the treadmill, took some ibuprofen for a sore muscle but... When we got to the field, there was a very bad sign... she was the only green shirt there! The other team was nearly completely there. So, we found out that we were the only family that actually got the time of the game right on our team. I went by the schedule posted at the CYS web site and come to find out, it was different from the schedule that the coach passed out. The rest of our team thought it was at 9:30. It really was at 8am! So, that was an early morning for nothing! We either have to forfeit or hopefully they will be willing to reschedule.
Then, we went to a funeral at 10am. Dave & Karen Kieper go to our church and Dave and Tony are colleagues at work. Karen's dad passed away. It was a beautiful service and although we had met Karen's dad at church before, we felt like we missed out on really knowing a wonderful person. They had a beautiful photo tribute to his life. Our hearts go out to them.
Then, it was back to the soccer fields by 12:30 for Quinn's soccer game. They played very well and won 4-0. It was fun and the weather was beautiful. It got over at 1:20 and the wedding started at 2pm.
It was a speedy trip home and a record turn around time for a family of 4 to get to the wedding by 1:58! Even early!! You should have seen the clothes flying at our house!! : ) Tony's first cousin, John Vanderwerf, Jr married Cindy Zook. It was a beautiful wedding... the emotions on the opposite spectrum from the morning. We heard I Corinthians 13 read twice today. That was really neat I thought, in such different settings. The reception was so nice and it was great to catch up from family near and far. Jeremiah was so proficient at his punch serving. We had to tease him because everyone had been through his line and he was prepared with an extra 20 or so cups filled with punch, waiting for extra customers. Actually, they all eventually got taken so Jeremiah, you really need to advertise your punch serving skills for hire. Jeremiah and Jacob both helped out in the wedding and looked so nice all dressed up. (You guys clean up well!).
We joined some of the out of town guests at Don & Isy's for the evening which involved eating the 4th meal of the day (of course) and watching the taped Iowa vs Iowa State football game (which we won). The kids had such fun wading in the river and 2nd cousin Abbie stayed over night with Madison last night. It was 11pm before we got home. All 3 kids fell asleep on the 10 minute drive home.
Well, that's all for now. I'll try and write more tonight after Madison's Flames game. It's probably going to be a thrashing against more big girls. More later...
Love to all, Leah
Friday, September 15, 2006
Boat Picture!, Anniversary and Horrible Accident
Hello All,Here's the moment you've been waiting for... finally a picture of our $500 boat! We took the boat to Lake Syracuse and used the channels to get to Lake Wawasee tonight. We ate at The Frog. It's a restaurant that you boat up to, tie up at their dock and get out and eat. The weather was perfect! Madison was still scared but made improvements in the fear factor over the last time. Don, Isy and Dutchess went along too. Overall is was the best boating yet. The new spark plug was very helpful and we were able to go faster... however, now the speedometer doesn't work!
Today is our 16th wedding anniversary. We can hardly believe that number. It just doesn't seem possible. He sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers this afternoon. That's always a special treat. He's very good about remembering special dates like this.
Today was my day off from work. It started out great... I met Lisa, Karla and Eliza at Panera's for coffee. After that I went to Wal-mart for a few things. This is pretty much where the morning fun ended. I drove over to the Bag Factory area because I thought I remembered that there was going to be a garage sale and whatever the ad said, peaked my interest. I didn't find the sale and started to head for home. Unfortunately I was the witness to a horrible accident near the corner of Indiana and Chicago Ave. An older lady rode her bike into the path of a car and was hit. I've replayed those few seconds over and over in my mind today at least 100 times. I'll spare you all the details...too many to write here. She was unconscious and bleeding but breathing when they took her to the hospital. I'm sure she is in very critical condition if she survived. I had to give a statement to the police... the whole thing. It was a nightmare and I can hardly think of anything else. No, she wasn't wearing a helmet so let's take that away as a lesson to learn. I'm pretty strict in the safety dept. and now I'll be even worse!!! I really don't know if a helmet would have helped but who knows... it may have. I'll be able to find out more about her when I go to work on Monday so stand-by for Monday night's blog.
Well, tomorrow morning brings an 8am soccer game for Madison. She is sooooo NOT a morning person so I'm wondering how she will do. Tune in tomorrow night for the details! : )
Love to All,
Leah
Soccer Mom
Hello All,
Hope you all have had a good week. Everyone is scared to post to the blog... what's the deal? I know you are reading... I can see the counter and I'm getting your verbal and email feedback! More than one of us can have a conversation here! (By the way, I have to have that link to Western Kentucky in order to get the free counter!).
Tonight was the definition of a soccer mom I guess. Madison had Flames practice which involved driving to Elkhart, sitting through the 2 hour practice and I very happily delivered 3 extra kids home... Dylan, Mattie J. and Peyton hitched rides home. I like to have a full mini-van so it works out great. (Really I like to eavesdrop on their conversation and listen to the girls tell Dylan that he smells like a boy who just ran for 2 hours!). Quinn played with Nate pretty much all evening. What's new? He was thrilled he didn't have to go to Madison's practice. Tony was at work when we needed to leave.
Dutchess went home tonight. Madison and I both could hear the little jingling of her collar tags even though she wasn't here. We are ready for her to come back. She was so well behaved for us! Don & Isy are getting ready for a bunch of company, coming tomorrow night (some of you readers) for John Jr. and Cindy's wedding and so I think we'll volunteer to dog sit again! : )
Well, I better sign off... This is going to be a really busy weekend but I'll try and report in to the blog if I can.
Love to All,
Leah
Hope you all have had a good week. Everyone is scared to post to the blog... what's the deal? I know you are reading... I can see the counter and I'm getting your verbal and email feedback! More than one of us can have a conversation here! (By the way, I have to have that link to Western Kentucky in order to get the free counter!).
Tonight was the definition of a soccer mom I guess. Madison had Flames practice which involved driving to Elkhart, sitting through the 2 hour practice and I very happily delivered 3 extra kids home... Dylan, Mattie J. and Peyton hitched rides home. I like to have a full mini-van so it works out great. (Really I like to eavesdrop on their conversation and listen to the girls tell Dylan that he smells like a boy who just ran for 2 hours!). Quinn played with Nate pretty much all evening. What's new? He was thrilled he didn't have to go to Madison's practice. Tony was at work when we needed to leave.
Dutchess went home tonight. Madison and I both could hear the little jingling of her collar tags even though she wasn't here. We are ready for her to come back. She was so well behaved for us! Don & Isy are getting ready for a bunch of company, coming tomorrow night (some of you readers) for John Jr. and Cindy's wedding and so I think we'll volunteer to dog sit again! : )
Well, I better sign off... This is going to be a really busy weekend but I'll try and report in to the blog if I can.
Love to All,
Leah
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Quinn has a job!
Hello to All!
Quinn is now "officially" employed... as a Bill Collector in his class for their mini-economy portion of learning. His teacher, Mrs. Heyse, sets up a whole economic setting for the class. Quinn had to fill out a job application, fill out paperwork to open a savings acnt and I even had to write a formal letter of recommendation! He gets paid in "mini-economy dollars" each day and can earn extra money in a variety of ways. His salary is $3/day but it's pretty tough because he has to pay rent and utilities each day which pretty much eats up his paycheck. He isn't sure what a bill collector does yet... I would imagine he will have to collect the rent. He assures me he will let me know when he figures it out! ..... He got an A on his money/time test today... only missing 1/2 a point. Did you know that there are 365 1/4 days in a year? We thought that was a bit odd so didn't bother to reinforce that learning... and he just put the "old fashioned" answer down of 365.
Madison enjoyed playing outside in the rain today after school... just walking in the rain and splashing in the puddles. That turned into rollerblading ... anything to be outside, in any weather! She is our outdoor girl for sure!!! Madison and I took Dutchess shopping to Pet Supplies Plus tonight. We giggled while Dutchess picked out her own treat... they have open bins of dog treats at nose level... she sniffed them all and finally kept coming back to the same one. She had such good manners though. She could have acted like a pig with all those snacks ... we did finally see her pick just one little treat from her bin of choice and gobbled it up! We bought her a little bag full. We bought her a harness too. She isn't used to being walked on a leash and she pulls so hard that she gags herself. We're going to miss her when she goes home this weekend.
Tony is busy doing a tax return (YES!) tonight and I got my haircut at 8:15 tonight.
Those are the highlights of our day!
Love to all, Leah
Quinn is now "officially" employed... as a Bill Collector in his class for their mini-economy portion of learning. His teacher, Mrs. Heyse, sets up a whole economic setting for the class. Quinn had to fill out a job application, fill out paperwork to open a savings acnt and I even had to write a formal letter of recommendation! He gets paid in "mini-economy dollars" each day and can earn extra money in a variety of ways. His salary is $3/day but it's pretty tough because he has to pay rent and utilities each day which pretty much eats up his paycheck. He isn't sure what a bill collector does yet... I would imagine he will have to collect the rent. He assures me he will let me know when he figures it out! ..... He got an A on his money/time test today... only missing 1/2 a point. Did you know that there are 365 1/4 days in a year? We thought that was a bit odd so didn't bother to reinforce that learning... and he just put the "old fashioned" answer down of 365.
Madison enjoyed playing outside in the rain today after school... just walking in the rain and splashing in the puddles. That turned into rollerblading ... anything to be outside, in any weather! She is our outdoor girl for sure!!! Madison and I took Dutchess shopping to Pet Supplies Plus tonight. We giggled while Dutchess picked out her own treat... they have open bins of dog treats at nose level... she sniffed them all and finally kept coming back to the same one. She had such good manners though. She could have acted like a pig with all those snacks ... we did finally see her pick just one little treat from her bin of choice and gobbled it up! We bought her a little bag full. We bought her a harness too. She isn't used to being walked on a leash and she pulls so hard that she gags herself. We're going to miss her when she goes home this weekend.
Tony is busy doing a tax return (YES!) tonight and I got my haircut at 8:15 tonight.
Those are the highlights of our day!
Love to all, Leah
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Trivia from Indiana history
Hello to All,
Hope this finds you all well. We are doing fine without much to report.
Tony's Silverwood team ended up winning the Goshen Softball League championship, Goshen District League Championship and the Goshen tournament Championship so each player got 3 different T-shirts and the team got a huge trophy. Anyway, that was a few weeks ago but he was going through and dividing up all of the t-shirts tonight. Just what he (doesn't) needs is more t-shirts!!! He's pretty happy though!
So far work has gone well for me this week. I've gotten through 2 consecutive days without any lame lost medication excuse. We'll see if I can go for a record. My evening was filled with helping the kids with their homework, making supper and playing indoor baseball with Quinn. Quinn had math, spelling, reading and studying for his money/time test tomorrow. Madison had math, Indiana history and reading. She has spelling too but we didn't get that far. The Indiana history is really quite interesting for me since I've never had that myself!
Madison was supposed to have soccer practice tonight and we were very surprised when her CYS (Concord Youth Soccer) coach called it off because of rain. That doesn't usually stop them... and of course by practice time it stop raining! Anyway, it was a nice night off!! I actually made a nice supper and we all sat at the table at the same time to eat!!!! Unfortunately that doesn't happen much if it's M-Th! Madison ran a mile on the treadmill tonight since she didn't do any running today for soccer. It doesn't take too long to figure out that you really need to be a long-distance runner and sprinter to keep going in soccer games!
Speaking of Indiana history... here is some trivia for you...
Did you know that South Bend had one of the first 4 teams involved in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League? The teams were the South Bend Blue Sox, Racine (WI) Belles, Kenosha (WI) Comets, and Rockford (IL) Peaches. You probably recognize the Rockford Peaches team from Tom Hank's movie, A League of Their Own. Madison and I are reading this book right now. I didn't know that Mr. Wrigley (as in Wrigley Field) started the league either!
Monty, (our history buff) I'm sure that's "old" news for you! : )
http://www.aagpbl.org/index.cfm
Jeremiah, tell Jacob that Madison has his Indiana History book that he used when he was in 4th grade. She thought that was pretty neat! Are you a lurker to this blog Jacob?
Thanks for reading!
Love to All, Leah
Hope this finds you all well. We are doing fine without much to report.
Tony's Silverwood team ended up winning the Goshen Softball League championship, Goshen District League Championship and the Goshen tournament Championship so each player got 3 different T-shirts and the team got a huge trophy. Anyway, that was a few weeks ago but he was going through and dividing up all of the t-shirts tonight. Just what he (doesn't) needs is more t-shirts!!! He's pretty happy though!
So far work has gone well for me this week. I've gotten through 2 consecutive days without any lame lost medication excuse. We'll see if I can go for a record. My evening was filled with helping the kids with their homework, making supper and playing indoor baseball with Quinn. Quinn had math, spelling, reading and studying for his money/time test tomorrow. Madison had math, Indiana history and reading. She has spelling too but we didn't get that far. The Indiana history is really quite interesting for me since I've never had that myself!
Madison was supposed to have soccer practice tonight and we were very surprised when her CYS (Concord Youth Soccer) coach called it off because of rain. That doesn't usually stop them... and of course by practice time it stop raining! Anyway, it was a nice night off!! I actually made a nice supper and we all sat at the table at the same time to eat!!!! Unfortunately that doesn't happen much if it's M-Th! Madison ran a mile on the treadmill tonight since she didn't do any running today for soccer. It doesn't take too long to figure out that you really need to be a long-distance runner and sprinter to keep going in soccer games!
Speaking of Indiana history... here is some trivia for you...
Did you know that South Bend had one of the first 4 teams involved in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League? The teams were the South Bend Blue Sox, Racine (WI) Belles, Kenosha (WI) Comets, and Rockford (IL) Peaches. You probably recognize the Rockford Peaches team from Tom Hank's movie, A League of Their Own. Madison and I are reading this book right now. I didn't know that Mr. Wrigley (as in Wrigley Field) started the league either!
Monty, (our history buff) I'm sure that's "old" news for you! : )
http://www.aagpbl.org/index.cfm
Jeremiah, tell Jacob that Madison has his Indiana History book that he used when he was in 4th grade. She thought that was pretty neat! Are you a lurker to this blog Jacob?
Thanks for reading!
Love to All, Leah
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Hello All,
Today really felt like a Fall day in Indiana. It was only in the 60's. I love it! It looked like rain though so we didn't get to take the boat out afterall. We had a window of about 2 hours that were available to "quick" go boating but we called it off. Tony was the most disappointed.
This was a busy Sunday for us. After church we came home and had a gourmet meal of homemade tacos. At 3:00 Tony and I went to a birthday party for our friend Chad Klopfenstein who is turning 40, so Happy Birthday Chad! We had to leave the party early because....
Madison had a Flames soccer game at 5pm. Now remember, this is the club league soccer. Her team is comprised of mostly area 9-10 year olds (U-10 league... 10 or under in age). It's a long story, but they are playing in the U12 league, so they are playing against girls that are 2-3 years older than them. Let's just say that our girls looked PRETTY LITTLE out there next to those pre-adolescent girls!!! We had warned them ahead of time that they probably won't be winning games but to concentrate on improving their personal skills etc... (blah, blah, blah). The score ended up 0-8. Not pretty, but expected. Madison was quite upset because goal number 3 actually ricocheted off of her leg and into our goal so she felt like she scored for them. Like it really mattered any way!!!!! She smiled about it while out there on the field but on the way home it came out that she was actually quite horrified by the whole play even though it was obvious she could do nothing about it. Anyway, I think she played very good considering the competition. She was about the only one who even had a shot on their goal... let's just say, their goal keeper could have sat down for most of the game. OK, enough of that.
Dutchess is being a very good house guest. She is quite well-behaved and acts like she's lived here forever. She's really quite good company however Tigger (our cat) spends most of her time in the basement or dashing from room to room to avoid her.
That's really about it for today. Quinn and Tony are fine and nothing new to report today.
Love to all,
Leah
Today really felt like a Fall day in Indiana. It was only in the 60's. I love it! It looked like rain though so we didn't get to take the boat out afterall. We had a window of about 2 hours that were available to "quick" go boating but we called it off. Tony was the most disappointed.
This was a busy Sunday for us. After church we came home and had a gourmet meal of homemade tacos. At 3:00 Tony and I went to a birthday party for our friend Chad Klopfenstein who is turning 40, so Happy Birthday Chad! We had to leave the party early because....
Madison had a Flames soccer game at 5pm. Now remember, this is the club league soccer. Her team is comprised of mostly area 9-10 year olds (U-10 league... 10 or under in age). It's a long story, but they are playing in the U12 league, so they are playing against girls that are 2-3 years older than them. Let's just say that our girls looked PRETTY LITTLE out there next to those pre-adolescent girls!!! We had warned them ahead of time that they probably won't be winning games but to concentrate on improving their personal skills etc... (blah, blah, blah). The score ended up 0-8. Not pretty, but expected. Madison was quite upset because goal number 3 actually ricocheted off of her leg and into our goal so she felt like she scored for them. Like it really mattered any way!!!!! She smiled about it while out there on the field but on the way home it came out that she was actually quite horrified by the whole play even though it was obvious she could do nothing about it. Anyway, I think she played very good considering the competition. She was about the only one who even had a shot on their goal... let's just say, their goal keeper could have sat down for most of the game. OK, enough of that.
Dutchess is being a very good house guest. She is quite well-behaved and acts like she's lived here forever. She's really quite good company however Tigger (our cat) spends most of her time in the basement or dashing from room to room to avoid her.
That's really about it for today. Quinn and Tony are fine and nothing new to report today.
Love to all,
Leah
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Ugliest Iowa Game Ever!!!!
Does anyone else agree with this title? Iowa's win over Syracuse after 2 overtime periods was the most miserable game I've ever sat through I believe... it was down right ugly! The only thing that would have been worse than 4 interceptions, multiple interference calls and a missed field goal would have been if we would have lost after all of that misery!!!
Here are some highlights from the day...
- Madison's CYS soccer team tied 1-1 today (the other team scored their goal with
less than 1 minute to go in the game). - Quinn flew his airplanes all over our house with multiple smooth landings on his aircraft carrier.
- Tony is changing our faucets/handles in our bathroom. Does anyone know how expensive
Price-Pfister products are???!!! VERY!!! They badly needed replacing though.
Thank goodness for ebay which saved us about $70! - I went to Goodwill and found 10 shirts, 5 pairs of pants and 1 sweatshirt for $35... most of it was all name brand stuff too! WOW!
I guess that's all for tonight. We are cheering Ohio State on now... they have to be enjoying their game day much more than we did!
Love to all,
Leah
Friday, September 08, 2006
Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!
Special happy anniversary wishes to my mom and dad, Dale & Joanne. If I've calculated right, this is your 44th right? Wow! Are you really old enough to be married that long? Thanks for being a good example to us younger married "kids".
God blessed us with another beautiful day. It doesn't get much better than this! Sunny, 80 degrees with a breeze. Perfect! Today was my day off so it was even more perfect! I ran some errands, did all the laundry, picked up the house, cleaned out part of the refrigerator... can you say "mystery supper?" Hummmm, I guess we haven't been too good at eating left-overs lately.
Quinn tells me he got an A on his spelling test. That's good news. He was also VERY EXCITED about their "bartering day". They are starting to learn basics in economics... the history of money exchange etc... so today they each took something from home with the intention of bartering for something else. He took an F-16 airplane (I was very shocked~since his airplanes are his pride and joy) but he was THRILLED when he walked in the door and showed me a big Blackbird Jet that he bartered for... so one airplane for another but boy was he ever happy about it! He was talking a mile a minute!
Madison had a good day too but wasn't nearly as exuberant about it as Quinn was. She told me the highlight of her day was PE... they played softball I guess. She loves to tease her PE teacher who is a big Michigan fan. She wears an Iowa shirt on PE days and even brought in the Iowa fight song on a CD and somehow got him to play it this last week!
We are dog sitting for the weekend for Dutchess, Don & Isy's dog. They went to Mackinaw Island with Isy's brother and some of their friends. I guess they have free lodging, a free ride and couldn't pass it up. I've never even been there.
Well, hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We want to take the boat out this weekend but between soccer games, football games, church and a birthday party, it's looking doubtful. We got some letters to put "The Hawkeye" name on the side of the boat. I wonder how to get them on straight.....?
Love to all,
Leah
God blessed us with another beautiful day. It doesn't get much better than this! Sunny, 80 degrees with a breeze. Perfect! Today was my day off so it was even more perfect! I ran some errands, did all the laundry, picked up the house, cleaned out part of the refrigerator... can you say "mystery supper?" Hummmm, I guess we haven't been too good at eating left-overs lately.
Quinn tells me he got an A on his spelling test. That's good news. He was also VERY EXCITED about their "bartering day". They are starting to learn basics in economics... the history of money exchange etc... so today they each took something from home with the intention of bartering for something else. He took an F-16 airplane (I was very shocked~since his airplanes are his pride and joy) but he was THRILLED when he walked in the door and showed me a big Blackbird Jet that he bartered for... so one airplane for another but boy was he ever happy about it! He was talking a mile a minute!
Madison had a good day too but wasn't nearly as exuberant about it as Quinn was. She told me the highlight of her day was PE... they played softball I guess. She loves to tease her PE teacher who is a big Michigan fan. She wears an Iowa shirt on PE days and even brought in the Iowa fight song on a CD and somehow got him to play it this last week!
We are dog sitting for the weekend for Dutchess, Don & Isy's dog. They went to Mackinaw Island with Isy's brother and some of their friends. I guess they have free lodging, a free ride and couldn't pass it up. I've never even been there.
Well, hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We want to take the boat out this weekend but between soccer games, football games, church and a birthday party, it's looking doubtful. We got some letters to put "The Hawkeye" name on the side of the boat. I wonder how to get them on straight.....?
Love to all,
Leah
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Soccer / Math
Hello All,
Hope you all had a good day today. Our day was pretty much like yesterday. Madison had a Flames scrimmage tonight against Dylan's team. It was boys against girls. Let's just say that I stopped counting goals... it must have been 0-10 or something. They tied 1-1 the last time we scrimmaged them. They all practiced for a shoot-out at the end and Madison was one of only 3 girls that scored so that was good. She tells me her knee feels better but I caught her slightly limping a few times during the evening. The swelling is quite a bit better though. It was a beautiful-- perfect weather night.
Madison and Quinn got to talk to Uncle Archie tonight and they were delighted by that.
Quinn did well on his test. When it came home, it came home titled as a"pre-test" and he only missed 3 out of 25... so, after his class studies the material this week and has the post-test next week, he should be in good shape. They are learning about money and how many dimes are in a dollar etc... that's what we studied last night. I guess they will study more details about the calendar now. He has a spelling test tomorrow. Thanks for your encouragement Jeremiah... I'll pass it along to your little buddy. Anne, it is nice to know that others have weeks just like ours. I can hardly remember when I made a nice sit-down supper meal on a M-Th. It's always hurry, hurry, hurry!!
That's all the "excitement" for tonight. Thanks for reading!
Love to all, Leah
Hope you all had a good day today. Our day was pretty much like yesterday. Madison had a Flames scrimmage tonight against Dylan's team. It was boys against girls. Let's just say that I stopped counting goals... it must have been 0-10 or something. They tied 1-1 the last time we scrimmaged them. They all practiced for a shoot-out at the end and Madison was one of only 3 girls that scored so that was good. She tells me her knee feels better but I caught her slightly limping a few times during the evening. The swelling is quite a bit better though. It was a beautiful-- perfect weather night.
Madison and Quinn got to talk to Uncle Archie tonight and they were delighted by that.
Quinn did well on his test. When it came home, it came home titled as a"pre-test" and he only missed 3 out of 25... so, after his class studies the material this week and has the post-test next week, he should be in good shape. They are learning about money and how many dimes are in a dollar etc... that's what we studied last night. I guess they will study more details about the calendar now. He has a spelling test tomorrow. Thanks for your encouragement Jeremiah... I'll pass it along to your little buddy. Anne, it is nice to know that others have weeks just like ours. I can hardly remember when I made a nice sit-down supper meal on a M-Th. It's always hurry, hurry, hurry!!
That's all the "excitement" for tonight. Thanks for reading!
Love to all, Leah
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
"Soccer is my life"... a direct quote by Madison
Hello All!
Sorry last night's posting was soooo long. I didn't realize I was rambling on and on and on...
Not much to report from today. Madison had Flames practice tonight. This is a local traveling soccer league and her team is all girls (a first). She rode her scooter soooo much over last weekend in Fort Wayne that she has a swollen knee out of it. I can't think of anything else that would have injured it, neither can she. So, we had to wrap it tonight and I made her ice it after practice. She has a game on Saturday and Sunday afternoon this weekend so I hope it dramatically improves by then. She described it as "like a needle being jabbed in it" when she fell on it tonight. She played hesitantly... like it was bothering her.
Quinn played the evening away with Nate. What's new? Tonight Quinn was at his house during soccer practice and was treated to a McDonald's happy meal. Those boys are pretty much inseparable. He has a test in math tomorrow... all about money so he studied for that. He also is gearing up for his spelling test on Friday.
Well, that's all of the items worth mentioning tonight. You probably have to be a grandparent or aunt/uncle to find any of that interesting. Anway, thanks for reading.
Love to all, Leah
Sorry last night's posting was soooo long. I didn't realize I was rambling on and on and on...
Not much to report from today. Madison had Flames practice tonight. This is a local traveling soccer league and her team is all girls (a first). She rode her scooter soooo much over last weekend in Fort Wayne that she has a swollen knee out of it. I can't think of anything else that would have injured it, neither can she. So, we had to wrap it tonight and I made her ice it after practice. She has a game on Saturday and Sunday afternoon this weekend so I hope it dramatically improves by then. She described it as "like a needle being jabbed in it" when she fell on it tonight. She played hesitantly... like it was bothering her.
Quinn played the evening away with Nate. What's new? Tonight Quinn was at his house during soccer practice and was treated to a McDonald's happy meal. Those boys are pretty much inseparable. He has a test in math tomorrow... all about money so he studied for that. He also is gearing up for his spelling test on Friday.
Well, that's all of the items worth mentioning tonight. You probably have to be a grandparent or aunt/uncle to find any of that interesting. Anway, thanks for reading.
Love to all, Leah
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Archie comes home from Iraq tonight!!!
Hello to All,
The most exciting news from today is that Archie (Tony's brother-in-law) is arriving home tonight from Iraq!!! YEAH!!! I'm sure he can't wait to see his little girl, Jade (14 mo.) and Michelle is probably on that priority list somewhere.
May be a couple of you are wondering how Silverwood ended up in the tournament. They played 2 games on Monday (yesterday) and were home by 1:30. There were 38 teams involved so they don't actually know their "place" yet. They played a total of 6 games. Tony described himself as "old and decrepit" when he got home. : ) Madison had such a good time on her scooter at park and I heard her ask "will you still be playing softball when I can drive?" That made us think that that is only about 6 years away. SCARY! (Tony didn't give her a good answer about the "still playing" bit). I told her she better start saving for a car. She tells us she has her sights set on a hummer or a corvette convertible so she better get real creative at making money in the next few years!!!!
Labor Day was another beautiful day. Mom reports rain in Iowa so we knew that was on the way (foreshadowing for the next paragraph). Madison and I went the park with Lisa, Karla, Angie and Eliza along with their kids for a picnic lunch. That was nice. Quinn decided to stay and play at Nate's house. He described himself as a "home-boy" this weekend... he just likes to stay home. Hmmmm, wonder who he takes after?
Quinn had a soccer game tonight and Madison had practice. We only got a few minutes into the 2nd quarter and someone spotted a glint of lightning off in the distance so the game was called. We waited for 30 minutes but there must have been a few more sparkles (I never did see any) and so the whole evening was called. Quinn was playing his best friend Nate's team. He gets so nervous to play him. I don't know why. They are both good players and play against each other very well. Anyway... our team (Rollpak; which Tony coaches) was ahead 1-0 and they don't make up "rain-outs" so I guess we won. It is finally raining now, after we got home, so Mom's weather forecast for what's coming up 24 hours later stands to be pretty accurate.
Work today was the typical day after a 3-day weekend. Unfortunately there is a price to pay for time off. The phone rang off the hook and of course I've already gotten the weekly call for "missing" medicine... "someone stole my methadone right out of my medicine cabinet so I need a refill". Boy, I've heard much better reasons than that. Sometimes I think patients think we run a Pez dispenser for pain meds. Anyway, in case you are wondering, no, he doesn't get a refill until he is "due" at the end of the month but he does get a surprise urine test the next time he comes in to see if he is taking meds or selling them. (He should test negative if he truely isn't taking them).
Well, Angie requested me to post a picture of our boat, which we named "The Hawkeye"... so, Ang, we think we are going to try and take "her" out this weekend so I'll try and get a picture in action. I guess Tony and his dad discovered that one of the spark plugs wasn't working so we're hoping to get over 11mph this time. Don put the new propeller on too. Luckily we found a spare in the boat. (Do boats usually carry spare propellers like cars carry spare tires????).
We need to look for a flag that we can sail off the back. Mom and Amy, keep your eyes open. It needs to have 2 metal "holes" (what are those called?!) on the 2 corners so we can clip it on... about an 11x14 sized flag.
I guess that's all for now. The kids are supposed to be getting ready for bed but I've heard an awful lot of laughing and loud music so I better go check it out.
Love to all, Leah
The most exciting news from today is that Archie (Tony's brother-in-law) is arriving home tonight from Iraq!!! YEAH!!! I'm sure he can't wait to see his little girl, Jade (14 mo.) and Michelle is probably on that priority list somewhere.
May be a couple of you are wondering how Silverwood ended up in the tournament. They played 2 games on Monday (yesterday) and were home by 1:30. There were 38 teams involved so they don't actually know their "place" yet. They played a total of 6 games. Tony described himself as "old and decrepit" when he got home. : ) Madison had such a good time on her scooter at park and I heard her ask "will you still be playing softball when I can drive?" That made us think that that is only about 6 years away. SCARY! (Tony didn't give her a good answer about the "still playing" bit). I told her she better start saving for a car. She tells us she has her sights set on a hummer or a corvette convertible so she better get real creative at making money in the next few years!!!!
Labor Day was another beautiful day. Mom reports rain in Iowa so we knew that was on the way (foreshadowing for the next paragraph). Madison and I went the park with Lisa, Karla, Angie and Eliza along with their kids for a picnic lunch. That was nice. Quinn decided to stay and play at Nate's house. He described himself as a "home-boy" this weekend... he just likes to stay home. Hmmmm, wonder who he takes after?
Quinn had a soccer game tonight and Madison had practice. We only got a few minutes into the 2nd quarter and someone spotted a glint of lightning off in the distance so the game was called. We waited for 30 minutes but there must have been a few more sparkles (I never did see any) and so the whole evening was called. Quinn was playing his best friend Nate's team. He gets so nervous to play him. I don't know why. They are both good players and play against each other very well. Anyway... our team (Rollpak; which Tony coaches) was ahead 1-0 and they don't make up "rain-outs" so I guess we won. It is finally raining now, after we got home, so Mom's weather forecast for what's coming up 24 hours later stands to be pretty accurate.
Work today was the typical day after a 3-day weekend. Unfortunately there is a price to pay for time off. The phone rang off the hook and of course I've already gotten the weekly call for "missing" medicine... "someone stole my methadone right out of my medicine cabinet so I need a refill". Boy, I've heard much better reasons than that. Sometimes I think patients think we run a Pez dispenser for pain meds. Anyway, in case you are wondering, no, he doesn't get a refill until he is "due" at the end of the month but he does get a surprise urine test the next time he comes in to see if he is taking meds or selling them. (He should test negative if he truely isn't taking them).
Well, Angie requested me to post a picture of our boat, which we named "The Hawkeye"... so, Ang, we think we are going to try and take "her" out this weekend so I'll try and get a picture in action. I guess Tony and his dad discovered that one of the spark plugs wasn't working so we're hoping to get over 11mph this time. Don put the new propeller on too. Luckily we found a spare in the boat. (Do boats usually carry spare propellers like cars carry spare tires????).
We need to look for a flag that we can sail off the back. Mom and Amy, keep your eyes open. It needs to have 2 metal "holes" (what are those called?!) on the 2 corners so we can clip it on... about an 11x14 sized flag.
I guess that's all for now. The kids are supposed to be getting ready for bed but I've heard an awful lot of laughing and loud music so I better go check it out.
Love to all, Leah
Sunday, September 03, 2006
A picture from the first day of school
I thought you might enjoy a picture from this year's first day of school. The mornings are now a little chilly but dressing in layers proves to be the only way to go as the top layers come off pretty soon. Hard to believe that we have a 2nd and 4th grader!Well, the Silverwood guys won their tournament game tonight, 32-3 or something ridiculous like that. Tony assures me that they weren't trying to run up the score and even tried non-agressive playing towards the end. They play tomorrow morning at 8am and again at 10 or 11. He stayed overnight in Fort Wayne tonight with the guys.
Tomorrow is Labor Day which means we all have Monday off! Yahoo! Boy, does Sunday night ever feel different knowing that I don't have to get up and go to work in the morning! LOVE IT!! I have some errands to run tomorrow but otherwise plan on puttering around at home.
That's all for today. If you are reading this, let me know by leaving a "comment"... it will probably be the easiest thing you do all day!
Love to all, Leah
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Opening day for college football!
Hello All,
Wasn't today just an absolutely perfect day... at least in the midwest? The weather could not have been better! We enjoyed watching the Iowa vs Montana VICTORY today! 41-7. We just love college football so today in itself was a great day the moment we woke up!
For those of you that don't know... we are now "boat people"... or trying to be. That's right, we bought a 1974 Sea Ray with Don & Isy for a grand total of $500. Yep, it even floats! OK, so today was our maiden voyage as owners... let's just sum it all by saying that NOW WE NEED A NEW PROPELLER! Long story short... we attempted the Saint Joe River and after we finally got the ancient fish-finder working we had additonal confirmation that there are some actually very shallow areas in that river. We dug up a little bit of mud, rocks and seaweed at times. We got up to the grand speed of 11 mph with the throttle wide open! Let's just say we won't be breaking any speed records. However, Quinn practiced his "lifeskill of courage" (a school term) and was our lone one to brave the "tube". He looked quite little out there on that tube... 50 feet away from the boat. So... after we accelerated to about 2 miles an hour, he was DONE! I'm surprised the ear piercing screaming didn't bring out the home owners from their GORGEOUS homes! So, after 20 seconds at the most... we hauled him back in sobbing. But he got my praise anyway because he actually tried it! Way to go Buddy! Madison, on the other hand says, "We are NOT boat people!!!". It's taking her a little while to warm up to the idea. It totally goes against her personality but she was rather scared to death out there. She said it all goes back to a Simonton Lake excursion with Aunt Michelle's boat 2 weeks ago (a different story for a different time...).
Tony played in the Fort Wayne Mennonite softball tourney today. They came out 1-2 but had a good time enjoying the great weather. Sometimes this weekend down there can just be beastly hot! Anyway, he plays again tomorrow night. We'll see how that goes. Madison left the house with him at 5:30am to go along while Quinn and I thought we should stay home to watch the Iowa game "live"... not taped and watch it later. : )
Well, that was our day in a nutshell. We rarely have any dull moments around here. I hope you enjoyed hearing about just a few of them from today!
Love to all, Leah
Wasn't today just an absolutely perfect day... at least in the midwest? The weather could not have been better! We enjoyed watching the Iowa vs Montana VICTORY today! 41-7. We just love college football so today in itself was a great day the moment we woke up!
For those of you that don't know... we are now "boat people"... or trying to be. That's right, we bought a 1974 Sea Ray with Don & Isy for a grand total of $500. Yep, it even floats! OK, so today was our maiden voyage as owners... let's just sum it all by saying that NOW WE NEED A NEW PROPELLER! Long story short... we attempted the Saint Joe River and after we finally got the ancient fish-finder working we had additonal confirmation that there are some actually very shallow areas in that river. We dug up a little bit of mud, rocks and seaweed at times. We got up to the grand speed of 11 mph with the throttle wide open! Let's just say we won't be breaking any speed records. However, Quinn practiced his "lifeskill of courage" (a school term) and was our lone one to brave the "tube". He looked quite little out there on that tube... 50 feet away from the boat. So... after we accelerated to about 2 miles an hour, he was DONE! I'm surprised the ear piercing screaming didn't bring out the home owners from their GORGEOUS homes! So, after 20 seconds at the most... we hauled him back in sobbing. But he got my praise anyway because he actually tried it! Way to go Buddy! Madison, on the other hand says, "We are NOT boat people!!!". It's taking her a little while to warm up to the idea. It totally goes against her personality but she was rather scared to death out there. She said it all goes back to a Simonton Lake excursion with Aunt Michelle's boat 2 weeks ago (a different story for a different time...).
Tony played in the Fort Wayne Mennonite softball tourney today. They came out 1-2 but had a good time enjoying the great weather. Sometimes this weekend down there can just be beastly hot! Anyway, he plays again tomorrow night. We'll see how that goes. Madison left the house with him at 5:30am to go along while Quinn and I thought we should stay home to watch the Iowa game "live"... not taped and watch it later. : )
Well, that was our day in a nutshell. We rarely have any dull moments around here. I hope you enjoyed hearing about just a few of them from today!
Love to all, Leah
Friday, September 01, 2006
New to blogging / Leave us your comments!
Hello All!
We are new to blogging! Trying to figure it out at close to mid-night isn't probably the best thing to be doing but so far so good!
Trying to keep up with technology....
OK, the time posted here must be Pacific time. Thanks to our governor, we are on Eastern time year round now. Thanks! (Not!)
We are new to blogging! Trying to figure it out at close to mid-night isn't probably the best thing to be doing but so far so good!
Trying to keep up with technology....
OK, the time posted here must be Pacific time. Thanks to our governor, we are on Eastern time year round now. Thanks! (Not!)
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