Indoor Soccer Tie, 3-3

We tied a Middlebury team tonight that we previously lost to, so that was better. The frustrating part is that we were ahead at half-time, 3-0. They came out strong in the second half. They had a girl who was so rough that she got a yellow card and had to sit out of the game for 4 minutes, while their team played short. I haven't seen that at this level before. It was so close at the end... we almost scored with just a few seconds left on the clock. If only that goalie wasn't so tall....

: )

Dairy Show Pictures

Double click for a better view.

I have to tell you the story behind the picture at the 3 o'clock position. This was taken in the showmanship competition. The judge asked the 4H'er the same question. He asked the kids "If you could change something about your animal, what would you change?" I think he was looking for something like... fuller in the ribs (?), straight legs (like I even know?). Anyway, Madison is walking away from the judge in this picture. The kids didn't know what the question was going to be. I asked Madison what she said. She said, "I didn't know what to say... so I said I wish she had a longer tail." Isn't that the cutest? I laughed so hard! The judge told the audience at the end that he asked that question and then said that he got some very interesting answers and some didn't answer at all. I told Madison that it was better than not saying anything at all. (And the judge had something to laugh about on the way home!).

Yes, Madison was so tired by the end of the day that she laid her head down on that picnic table after supper and fell asleep for about 10 minutes!

Pretty Cows?

Here are some pictures from the 4-H fair today. Ed & Eileen, Joshua, Jeremiah and Jacob stopped by the dairy barn. Ed had perfect timing as the girls could use some help washing their calves for the first time. Once a farm boy, always a farm boy. It took Madison and Katie 1 hour and 15 minutes to wash them. I hope that gets faster or we'll have to get here VERY early on Tuesday morning, before they show them at 9am.
Actually after they have been cleaned up I've decided that cows can really be a pretty animal. Their eyes are so expressive. They are soft as can be now. Someone has to sit by their stall for basically 12 hours a day to make sure their stalls stay clean.(Poo-Patrol).


How do you liked the "teased" look in her tail now?

Madison decided tonight that she wants to go to college to major in agriculture so she can learn to be a farmer. She decided not to be a vet because she could never put an animal to sleep. (I wonder how many times this major will change?).

I can't tell you how much she is enjoying this calf... does the picture say enough?

PS... Tony and Quinn are home from basketball camp. I'll write more about that when I have more time. They had a really good time!

A girl's day out

Today was a continuation of our girls-only weekend. I can pretty safely say that I got very little done around my house today but it was worth it. Madison and I went to Meijer's to grocery shop. That is really not a fun thing for me to do usually... that's why I only go every 2 weeks. It was more fun with company though.

This afternoon we went shopping in South Bend. We took Heather (our neighbor from 2 doors down) with us. I've been wanting to go to the brand new TJ Maxx and so we did and now I can check that off of my summer goals! (Pretty lofty goals huh?). Madison found a backpack for school and a pair of shoes. She walked up to me and said, "These shoes are tight." I said, "OK, well check and see if there's a bigger size." She's like, "Mom!... they don't FIT tight... they LOOK tight!" ....OK, so I don't know the new lingo! Now I do!! She and Heather proceeded to find many tight things and even I was able to use the word appropriately by the end of the evening. What did we say when we were young?... I remember saying things looked "rad". Do you remember what else we called cool things? Now I really need to know because it's going to bug me. Leave me a comment if you can think of some... Anyway...

We ate supper at TGIF's and went to see the movie Hairspray. The girls loved it. It does have some funny parts. I kept thinking the whole time that if Tony were here he would be absolutely bored to tears! We liked the music a lot and Madison already says it's a buyer when it gets to DVD. I don't know... there are the usual PG innuendos but I don't like listening to them over and over again in my home, even if they do go over the kid's heads. Quinn would never be able to suffer through this... he can't even handle Flicka now. I'd officially deem it a chick-flick.

We finished our evening off with mud-mask facials... complete with cucumbers for our eyes. Madison made a special request not to publish the one picture she allowed me to take of her. Sorry Cheryl, I know you've been waiting. Heather is staying overnight tonight too. This is good because last night Madison slept with me and kicked me all night long! Brings back memories of sleeping with my sister!

OK, well, that's all for tonight. Oh, the highlight of shopping for me was getting a new pair of dress sandals. Let me tell you, they are very tight!

Love, Leah

Championship Cake

Wow! Imagine our surprise as Madison and I walked up to see her cake tonight at the fair! She got the championship ribbon!! Neither one of us could believe it! She was initially so disappointed in her cake that I almost told her to forget it... she didn't have to take it! I'm so glad I didn't. There were 33 cakes in her beginner level. One of the cakes is going to the state fair and then her cake won the next highest honor out of all those cakes. How cool is that??? I guess our cake decorating class paid off. She is thrilled!

Madison and I had a great time at the fair tonight. The weather was absolutely perfect. We were there almost 6 hours! We went and worked in the Dairy Barn (selling ice cream) for the the Dairy Club for 2 hours. We also decorated Crisp's stall with Karla and Katie. The calves come to the fair on Sunday afternoon. The showing is Tuesday morning at 9am. Madison is so excited about it. We went to see the empty stall 3 different times tonight! ...Just to look at the sawdust and the decorating. She absolutely can't wait. She said that "after humans, animals are the absolutely the best thing that God created on earth."

Tony and Quinn went to the father-son basketball camp at Goshen College for the weekend. I dropped Quinn off at Rollpak on the way to the fair this afternoon. We won't see them again until Sunday evening. Quinn was pretty excited about getting to do something like this with just Tony. Madison and I said our goodbyes... tried to appear a little sad and then when we rounded the corner we said our YAHOO's!... Just us GIRLS for the whole weekend! He-he!! We are living it up. We are getting ready to play Scene It now and we are having a slumber party in my room tonight.

OK... we must get the game started, before I become a party pooper!

Love, Leah

Cake Decorating for the 4-H Fair

Here are some snapshots of the cake that Madison took to the 4H fair. She was disappointed and critical of how it turned out but I thought she did a

great job! I told her that she was a beginner... not a computer! She was also tired and moody when she made it yesterday afternoon so that didn't help. I took some vacation time from work to come home so we could make it before her softball game. I went to Michael's to buy the "stuff" and wouldn't you know it, when I got home I had the wrong "stuff". Grrrrr! You have to follow the directions from the Fair exactly and I bought a cake base that was 2 inches larger than the cake. It needed to be 3 inches larger. Abby volunteered to run back to the store for me so she exchanged the "stuff" while I got things ready to go when she got back home. That was a huge help!!! The cake is actually a styrofoam base. Madison found that there are advantages to frosting styrofoam... you can completed turn the cake and cake board on it's side because it's all glued down... and you don't have to mess with the crumbs that get into your cake!

Aunt Michelle took her to the judging today. Of course every thing happens during daytime hours. She did really well and got a blue ribbon. Madison was quite delighted because she thought she did such a "bad" job the day before... such a perfectionist! And guess what?... Michelle said there was a lady who complimented her on following the directions exactly by having the cake board the correct dimensions, including thickness. She said several girls were marked off points right away because of that. Whew. Her cake will be on display in the Home Ec building. For you locals... stop by and check it out. The fair starts this Friday.

Tonight was soccer practice for Madison and Tony. Only 4 girls showed up. Hmmmm, not a good way to start out. Must have been an inconvenient night I guess. We went to B & P's for supper and to spend the evening with Michelle and Jade....they are all leaving in the morning to go to TN and then on to Archie's graduation from Warrant Officer training in AL. We finally have RAIN so the kids played and splashed in the rain puddles... including Beppe in their soaking fun. We got home about 10:15 tonight and Madison and Quinn stayed overnight tonight and will come home in the morning. I never sleep very well when my babies are gone from the nest.

Flames Tournament

Flames

L to R: Mackenzie (goalie), Allie, Gabby, Moriah, Kiley.
2nd row: Todd, Madison P., Victoria, Casey, Kennedy, Madison, Peyton,
Back row: Marcus

Most of the girls on this Flames team have played together since last summer and have practiced together usually 2 times a week faithfully. They have improved amazingly over the last year. Madison really loves soccer! Last Fall they played U12 (age 12 and under) and did not score one single goal. This Spring they played U10 and scored 40 goals... only one team scored more goals (41) in the Northern Indiana Soccer League. Quite an accomplishment don't you think? Their end of season record was 5-0-1 (one tie). They finished #1 in their U10 girls league.

Today was their end of season tournament. Because of their record, they got a bye and didn't play yesterday. They played the Jr. Irish White at 10 this morning and won, 2-1. This team improved a lot from the first time we played them earlier in the year. It was not an easy game. Their second game was at 1pm. It was a difficult game... fatigue was a factor, it was hot and sunny, a starting player was gone etc... We dominated the entire game... the other team only had about 3 goal attempts and wouldn't you know it, one got in. The Jr. Irish Green planted 5 players in their goal box and basically played defense the whole game. Not a great strategy for quality soccer play but it worked. We lost 0-1. Our poor goalie was crushed. They always bear their own load of a loss like this...blaming themselves. I'm so glad Madison isn't a goalie! Too much stress...for me! Quite the bummer because we were favored to win. That's how it goes some days.

We were very proud of Madison and how she played, the effort she put forth, even though she has a cold/cough and was tired from playing the entire first game without a break. She played her heart out. I tried to take pictures but they move so fast, it's difficult to get a good shot! (Double Click for Close Up) It was a beautiful day but did get hot when sitting out in the sun for 6 hours! The Flames will take a break for 4-6 weeks now... a much needed and deserved break. The majority of these girls are from other schools/districts but when you spend so much time together you get to be good friends too. She is going to a soccer camp (mornings) in July and I'm sure she'll be ready to get back on the field by then.

Pakka was released from the hospital today. They drove straight to South Bend to get there in time for the 2nd half of the last game. He sat in the car next to the field and watched the game. I guess that's what you do when you are one of Madison's #1 fans! Ha!

Bickering

Here is an example of how our evening went tonight! The kids were driving me crazy with their bickering... about everything and all so piddly. Their consequence was to come home directly after Quinn's game, no playing outside, no computer or TV and they had to write out 10 sentences from the LV Bible (Leah's Version). We'll see if it makes any difference tomorrow!

Indy Field Trip Highlights

4th Grade Field Trip to Indianapolis

I'm not so sure how to sum up two completely fun packed days into a few readable paragraphs but I promised you I would try. I wrote this lame poem to try and keep it short(er).

Racing thru Indianapolis
Off to Indy, one hundred 4th graders did go, with fifty parents along in the tow.
The school buses zig-zagged around the city until 4 hours later we finally did go...to the Indiana State Capital building to talk to our Governor Mitch about his crazy selling ideas... like of our tollways and roads and whatever the latest thing is he wants to pitch.

OK, so Our Man Mitch wasn't there, but through his office we went, wildly taking pictures of his collections, carpet, fireplace, lights and the rest, but avoiding the "top-secret" documents that must have sat on his desk. Should we take a picture of this the aides would get terribly upset.

We learned about history, government, fossils in marble floors, 24K carat gold paint, and that of course in 1816 was the year when Indiana became a state.

We sat in the actual chairs of the House of Representatives, the Senate Chambers and the Supreme Court, hoping that here we would never have to bring a tort.

Then it was on to Conner's Prairie, to visit the early 1800's, getting the actors out of their character was a certainly a rarity.

We saw wigwams, farm houses, and trading posts. A host of places so great that our minds swam. A horse, of course, drew Madison's eye, only to be bitten on the hand by that large sly. We walked through a covered bridge, by a bounteous garden, and felt raccoon pelts while Tony impressed the wood-cutter by walking on stilts.

Embassy Suites was quite the place, the glass elevators were fun to race. The hotel was filled to the brim... mostly with excited children! Then off to the mall we did go, Madison took all of her loot in tow. There was nothing to buy, to spend her gold on, after all she saved for so long she thought she'd die. So what is a child to do? $10 in the arcade was quite a splurge, one that she certainly has never heard. With smiles all around, she and her Daddy did play, game after game, get out of their way! Back to the hotel, but out of pillows they ran and also because we had no fan, it wasn't the best night's sleep for this getting-old mam.

To Monument Circle on Friday we went, walking around this place we were next sent. Madison enjoyed watching her teacher, Mrs Hartsough, reach deep into the fountain to save some sunglasses, hopefully not breaking the law. We admired the sculptures, so vast, so many. In 1889 this surely cost quite a penny.

The Indiana State Museum was next. Unique Indiana things we certainly did see; bones, artifacts and a painting that covered their Social Studies text. A unique sculpture for each county, Elkhart's sculpture was designed to show their musical instrument bounty.

The Indy 500...the best for last? It really was quite a blast! The practicing race cars zoomed by so fast you could hardly see, but very loud and vibrating they sure would be. We saw Dannika Patrick, our racing lass, her little black and blue car looked like a flash. The kids got autographs along pit row watching the drivers going to and fro. The Indy 500 museum was certainly neat but by now Madison was getting really sore feet. We learned about their tradition of drinking milk after a win, our minds swelling with so much information, they would have popped with a pin.

The long bus ride back to the school we would have to endure, having been warned by the teachers that this leg would not be the cure... for our tired bodies and minds. All the parents wanted to do was to just unwind. Fourth graders have so much energy, from hence does it come? All Madison wanted to do when she got home was to run, run, run!

Into our own beds, our bodies did melt, with memories of the capitol, prairies, monuments, artifacts and the race cars we felt. We zoomed into sleep, the 4th grade field trip was now complete.


Inside the capitol building

Tony has even more talents!

Conner Prairie

Mrs. Hartsough dives for sunglasses... a student's...

...and comes up laughing!

Off to the races!

Glove Update

Read the blog entry just below if you haven't yet and then read this post!

Wonderful news! Gordan just sent us an email... Erin and Madison have exactly the same glove and for some reason they have TWO at their house! I'm SO happy! Madison probably won't be completely be off the hook because she still should have had her glove "under control" but at least she won't have to use her Indy money to buy a new one!

Tough week

This was a tough week in several ways... I've debated and debated about how much to share about work this week. Those of us in jobs that require confidentiality are sometimes burdened with "too much information" but we do take this quite seriously! Because this patient lived well outside our community, I feel confident that her confidentiality is maintained... all of that to say that one of our patients committed suicide within this last week. It was quite a shock to get this call from her husband (actually a forever "significant other"). She was in her 60's. She suffered with multiple medical problems including chronic pain. She had been my patient for 6 years now. Monday was such a tough day... I basically cried my way through work. This brings up many, many more questions than it does answers. There is little comfort in a death like this. Tragic is the best word to describe it I guess. It is still unbelievable and very, very difficult not to feel like we've failed in our care in this situation. It was so difficult to talk to her husband on the phone. What do you say??? I mostly listened. He was so reassuring to me though, so complimentary about our care; how they both were touched by the love and compassion felt in our office... How can someone going through so much pain actually find within themself the ability to comfort another?

On other happy notes, Madison and I finished our cake decorating class last night. She made a wonderful "Wilton rose"... much better than mine! We had a lot of fun taking this class together.

She also had a softball game tonight and her team won 14-1. She had 2 singles and a double. The bad part... it was past time to leave for the game and she was still searching for her glove!! Very frustrating! We've told her TOO many times to put things away in the same place (like her bat bag) so she knows where things are. We've pretty much searched everywhere we could, including the ball park. She used my glove tonight, which is too big. The consequence is yet to come but she will have to buy her own new glove now... and with what money I ask???... she only has her Indy spending money now. Ouch! Sometimes parenting down right HURTS! How else will kids learn lessons? She certainly won't learn one if we whip out our check book and pay for it ourselves. She knows this money source is a possibility but we are all hoping the glove is found before her next game. The Indy trip is next week... I wonder what will happen first?

Not too much energy left for this week. Treading water. Love, Leah

Stood up

Tears would eventually fill Madison's eyes until they had no choice but to run over, as she buried her head in my shirt. Deep disappointment is what she was feeling after we waited for 1/2 hour at the movie theatre for her friends to arrive, only to watch stranger after stranger arrive and no friends. It's hard to see a child that disappointed. I sat there waiting too and of course it's only 10 minutes before the movie started and I'm already fuming inside for them to be so late! ... Not too much longer and the movie had definitely gotten off to a good start. ...Madison searched earnestly out the window for them. I didn't have a ticket so she entered the theatre on her own and went and looked for them, hoping that for some bizarre reason they didn't wait for her. Nope, not there. We called Jazmin's dad's house, where all of the phone calls came from the night before only to find no one home. "May be their car wouldn't start." ... "May be the location got mixed up." Graciously, the ticket lady granted her money back and away she went, away from the theatre, with her head hung low. We went home and Madison found Jazmin's mom's phone number in her planner. The story gradually unfolded. Unfortunately Jazmin's mom told her earlier in the week about the plans to go to the movie etc... and then Jazmin left for her dad's house for several days. Sometime during the week Mom changed her mind and decided to have a BBQ at her house instead. So when Jazmin went to Mom's house today after school she found that the plans were off. ...It would have been nice to get a phone call. You all would have been so proud of me as I practiced RESTRAINT while talking to her mother on the phone and how I practiced my Christian attitude that I unfortunately DID NOT FEEL inside but hopefully showed on the outside. "We're not even divorced yet and everything is so fresh, it's so hard..." and basically the lines of communication got mixed up. Very mixed up. And I was left standing with a terribly disappointed girl. "Possibly tomorrow night" said her mom. I'm thinking "how about never" but heard myself saying, "yeah, let's trade cell numbers and may be it will work".

You know, this is why I like to stay within my nice group of RESPONSIBLE Christian friends who would never in a million years stand you up at a movie! Is that a Christ-like attitude? Probably not.

Quinn and I were just talking last night about the type of people that Jesus chose to spend his time with on earth... cheating tax collectors, those who were down and out, the needy, the unlovely... certainly not those who had it "all together". Little did I know that I would be reminded of this tonight. This has been a lesson in several ways for me. First of all, I assumed Mom or Dad was standing to the side of the 4 phone call conversations; agreeing, planning and coordinating what was going on. Obviously that didn't happen (or possibly the dad was clueless about the new plans too?). Next time, I will have to talk to the parent. Even Quinn and Nate can make reliable plans over the phone without a huge mix up. (sigh). I also have had to search inside of myself to "allow" a friendship to grow with someone who isn't like us. We've been learning in church for a year now about accepting people who aren't like us and that it is desirable to attract people to us, so others can see our Christ led lives, but we have to let them get close enough to us to really see this. So, I guess after all of this, Madison was able to cheer up, she realizes that it wasn't intentional. "May be Jazmin was afraid to call me, thinking I would be mad at her." She was the first to point out that a phone call would have worked... but we will try to model our response through the eyes of Jesus and make plans for another day.

Strike 2!

I had one of those "bad mom" type of evenings... you mothers know the kind. I'm not used to it!... it's usually a "bad dad" if anything! : ) (Sorry Tone).

Tonight Madison semi-politely confided in me that, "It's sort of embarrassing when you sing along to the radio when I have a friend in the van." Ouch...strike one! I know this is normal "embarrassment" type of feelings for girls but I wonder if she's embarrassed about that...what else is she embarrassed about?! I mean, I can at least carry a tune and am not at all "pitchy"... (Idol fans, that was for you). She's only 10... the pre-teen is already starting. : * (
So, I said I would try not to sing in front of her friends. (sniff-sniff).

The second strike came tonight when she was called and invited to a movie tomorrow night with a girl from her class. She has been telling me all week that she thinks she is going to be invited and that she told Jazmin that she couldn't go to PG-13 movies. I was proud of her for that! Well, guess what? Jazmin finally calls tonight and invites her to see Blades of Glory. Now if you will click on that title and read the review, I'm sure you will agree with me that 10 year old girls have no business seeing a movie like this... yes, the main idea of the story does sound interesting but come on! But it was embarrassing for Madison to have to tell her again no, because "my mom" doesn't let me go to PG-13 movies when "all of the 4th grade has already seen it." Did you know that?... pretty remarkable that all ninety 4th graders have already seen this movie... hmmm, I so remember exaggerating like this and to my mom and dad, I'm sorry!!! They ended up having a "well what movie can you see?" conversation and the compromise is seeing Are We Done Yet? This isn't my first choice but there are only 2 PG movies at Linway right now and she was too embarrassed to suggest Firehouse Dog which I think looked the most appropriate!!! I know this is just the top of the iceberg with the mother-daughter conflicts. I don't know Jazmin's family but apparently she is getting a group of 3 other girls together to go to the movies because her mom and dad just got divorced last week and her dad is getting re-married... and Jazmin had lice this week at school and her soon-to-be step mom made her get her cut really short, and, and, and.....! Anyone else feeling my pain? I know all girls need good influences in their life and I do believe that Madison does the right thing and is a good influence. I'm embarrassed to say that then I was thinking, oh great, she's going to want her to come home from school with her and spend the whole evening with her, and this lice thing is freaking me out... but actually Jazmin asked if I could drop her off at the movies and so I said, "Sure! and I'll pick you up too!" I've already warned my newly embarrassed prone daughter that I will walk her in and meet her mom etc... She sounded OK with that (inside she'll probably be dying).

I don't know about your children, but mine did not come with instruction manuals. But if they did, I would be flipping to the "How to guarantee your children will turn out OK" chapter and then I would look up "What to do in this situation..." chapter. HEY, may be if I survive the adolescent years, I'll write a book like this.

Anyway, I'm going to seriously pray about this attitude (her's and mine). I know I've made good choices but it sure wasn't fun tonight.

Love to all, Leah

He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1 : 6

Finally!

Madison went to school today and I went to work. Life looks like it will FINALLY get back to normal! She still hasn't gotten her appetite back yet. Yesterday she had 1 cracker. She really tried to drink for me though. Once I looked at her and she said, "Don't tell me to drink right now because I just set my cup down and I'm tired of you telling me to drink!" WELL! ...I accepted the sassiness as a sign that she might be "recovering". Ha! I was a little nervous to send her off to school. She was nervous about it too but she did fine, just a little tired, weak and her leg muscles are quite sore (dehydration). I did give her some Phenergan though before she left. She wasn't able to eat breakfast because of an upset stomach. She missed all of soccer and softball this week. We'll see how she does over the next day or two and ease back into activities slowly. Amanda, she has watched 4 Little House on the Prairie CDs... or 16 shows this week from Season 1! We wished you lived closer so we could borrow Season 2. I should check with the library...

Tonight I went to the team leader meeting for Madison's softball team. This year their fund raiser is cookie dough and coffee. I bet those things will go well. I get so tired of fund raisers but that's how these volunteer organizations survive and with 700 kids in this Little League... I guess it's necessary.

That's all for tonight. Hope you all are well!

Love to all, Leah

Turning the corner

Madison turned the corner around lunch time today. I was getting quite concerned about dehydration this morning... wow, does that ever give you the acetone smelling breath! I finally got her to light up a little when I suggested a Slurpee from 7-11. It was worth the trip... the calories were very helpful and she finally started to turn the corner. She kept it down along with one cracker for breakfast, 1 piece of toast for lunch and 1/2 cup of rice tonight. She acts so much better, even laughed! She lost 5 pounds over the last few days. She wants to go to school tomorrow so I hope she'll make it for the day. That breath though... whew, that needs to improve A LOT! She's sick of me telling her to drink! She plowed through 2 days worth of homework tonight and feels ready to go so that's great news!

Today was an absolutely beautiful day at 70 degrees! We sat out on the deck for a while and Madison laid on the deck under a blanket for at least 2 hours watching me do some clean up in the garage, deck and storage shed. She felt up to playing some Yahtzee today so that helped make the day go faster too. We even treated ourselves to manicures tonight while Quinn entertained the neighborhood kids again outside. He was so upset that Madison "got to" stay home today and he had to go to school. He seriously told me that he wished he would be sick so he could stay home too. I think his sick days have been entirely too much fun. I need to make them miserable in the future I guess. I made him some chocolate chip cookies today and had them piping hot out of the oven when he got home from school to ease his "wounds" of missing our day. "You made these just for me?... you really did?...awesome!"

Well, that was our day... Tony just got home so I'll go and visit with him.

Love to all, Leah

A whole lot of nothing...

Today Madison and I were home because she was sick. While I love being at home I certainly don't like it because of having a sick child. The poor girl laid on the couch the whole day... when she wasn't in the bathroom. She has kept down 2 crackers today...that's about it. I had to play the "if-you-don't-drink-then- you'll-have-to-have-an-IV-started-and-give-you-fluids-that-way" card because she was pretty adamant that she wasn't drinking either because her stomach hurt too much. That made her pick up her glass pretty quick. Thank goodness she doesn't have a fever to worsen dehydration. Beppe found out that Madison was sick and was over within the hour with some of Madison's special peach tea... to woo her into drinking something. She drank it but unfortunately it didn't stick, if you know what I mean. Still quite sick at 8:30 tonight and was more than ready to go to bed and get this day checked off the calendar. Done. Made it. Barely. We did catch up on our American Idol episodes this afternoon that we were so far behind on. We decided that we don't have one favorite this year. Mark this down, I think Jordan will win it all.

Tony went to Madison's softball practice tonight to coach and Quinn went to his baseball practice. Quinn was so excited when he got home because apparently he made a triple play in his baseball practice. He was playing shortstop and caught a fly ball, tagged the runner out and then ran and stepped on a base. One of the coaches was so excited that he ran out on the field to give him a high five! He also said that he "fight-ed through the pain" and slid into a base tonight (on his "bad knee").... and apparently survived it.

That's all for tonight. Hopefully our day tomorrow will go better but it's looking very doubtful for school tomorrow. We were trying to remember when she last ate a real meal... I think it was on Friday night. She at least needs to eat and drink before going back to school.... ya think?!

Love to all, Leah

Forgotten password

Hello faithful readers... I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've written on my blog. I actually couldn't even remember my password... seriously (and it's only been 5 days)! I had to have Blogger email it to me! Pathetic! Just think how many passwords and numbers we all have to remember to get along in this world. I thought I would list them here but there are too many for me to think about right now.

It's only Tuesday but it feels later in the week to me...it should be at least Thursday night by now. It's been busy so far. We have Joint Commission at the hospital this week. They are the governing body that gives hospitals their accreditation and is the whole reason that insurances reimburse hospitals for services. Needless to say, their visit is a little on the important side! We used to know when they were coming but now they are 100% unannounced visits. They showed up yesterday morning and will be here through Thursday. I was hoping so badly that they would visit our department today... just to get the interviewing and inspections over with but they didn't come yet! I also gave a presentation to a cancer support group from 4:30-6pm tonight (which is no big deal... just a longer day than usual) and now "look forward to" renewing my CPR license tomorrow. That is not usually a big deal but unfortunately "someone" keeps changing many of the little steps to take and of course you have to get all of the steps right! I tried watching the updated DVD last week at work but kept getting interrupted and the dept. I borrowed it from wouldn't let me take it home. Oh well... I guess if I don't pass they can send me home and then I could avoid the JCAHO inspection... hey, not a bad idea! Just for you medical folks (and those of you who might care)... did you know that the ratios of compressions to breaths is now 30 to 2?? ... better build up those deltoids because if you are doing CPR you are going to need them!

Madison had Flames practice tonight that Pakka took her to. They are outside practices now. Did I write about that last week?... can't remember, anyway... she pulled a muscle in her back over the weekend by jumping on Heather's trampoline and is having trouble running. I hope that shapes up soon. She went to bed with a heating pad tonight. She is quite excited about her first ever BRAND NEW pair of soccer cleats. Can you believe that? I try to be a penny pincher if I can, our bank account agrees with us better that way. She's played soccer every possible season since the age of 4 and I've always gotten her shoes at Play It Again Sports or garage sales or hand-me-downs. So, after she wrestled her way into her shoes on Saturday and about up set the van from the wrestling, it was time for a new pair. Tony took her and bought this COOL pair that has this extra padding in the back and you take it out as your foot grows and it gives you a whole 'nother size... so it's like buying 2 sizes in one shoe. Pretty awesome huh? They are metallic blue and silver and match her Flames shirt. She even wore them home from the store. Ha!

OK, I really must head upstairs to finish folding the mountain of laundry on my bed. I really wish I was home all day to get this house stuff done. I could be such a good housewife. HA! oh well... not in my cards I guess. Actually my dream job is to be a grocery check-out girl and scan groceries all day. May be if I don't pass my little CPR test and demonstration I can just go and pursue that. Did you know that doctors don't have to have CPR certifications and never take CPR classes?.... Comforting to know that your doctor's last CPR class was probably some time back in med school huh? Sorry to be the one to break it to you but I 100% guarantee that things have a-changed since then!

That's all for tonight; I'm starting to whine and annoy myself.

Love to all, Leah

Church, 4H, Cakes

Hello Everyone,
It's been a busy week... yesterday afternoon I had a meeting at church at 4pm so I went straight there after work. The kids got off at Karla's house. She helped them with their homework and everything... and brought them to church for supper and then CFN. So, it was about 8 or so by the time I got home for the first time yesterday. That's Tony's type of schedule... not mine. He did join us for supper at church though... and then went back to work.

Tonight Madison went to her first 4-H Dairy Club meeting. She is going to show a calf, "Maybelle" at the fair. Maybelle hasn't been born yet but she's hoping for a girl. She had a lot to say when she walked in the door, sounded excited but then said, "That was so boring!" and so I said, oh, so you probably don't want to go back? and she said, "Oh, yeah, I really want to go back!" and was quite serious. So, she really did have a good time but I guess she couldn't keep up with the club's presenter. Mind you, this is for 3rd graders through senior high-ers so the embryo transfer stuff just didn't click. Ha! "They were talking about mucous and stuff."... but she was totally lost. : )

I was supposed to go with Madison to my first cake decorating class tonight (minus Madison) but it ended up being cancelled tonight because the Hobby Lobby (Holly Hobby as Bepee says) lady didn't have enough people. A friend from work and our neighborhood is also going (Michelle & Maddie) but they hadn't signed up yet. She called and told them she was coming and that she would pay when she got there but I guess the lady didn't believe her. Michelle and I think she had something else she wanted to do tonight instead. SO, the first class is now next week.

That's all for tonight. Drop me a line and let me know how you are.
Love to all, Leah

PS... Taylor Hicks is coming to the 4H Fair!

My Little Girl

Music Video Codes By Music Jesus.com

OK, I'm not usually one for country music (really not) but as I mentioned in last night's post we were getting ready to watch the movie Flicka and I must say that this was an awesome movie!! The scenery and music was just breathtaking! Let's all say together, "we're moving to Wyoming!"... OK, just kidding, we're staying in flat as a pancake Goshen. It wasn't really the acting that was so great (not too bad though) but the story was just a great one for Madison. For those that don't know, it's a story about a girl, Katie, and her daddy (actually played by Tim McGraw). They constantly butt heads and find something to disagree about... this just so happens to occur in our household at times, although I wouldn't use the word "constantly" here. Several times during the movie Madison would say, "I know just how she feels"... after the daughter would yell, "you just don't understand". Like Madison this girl is a horse lover and her horse might have to be put down and Katie said something like, "go ahead and put us both down" (I can't get the exact phrase but you get the drift). The two end of seeing eye to eye and it's just kind of happy-sad. Madison and I had to have a couple of tears over it! Anyway, you all just really must see this movie. It's a buyer for us! Tim McGraw sings this beautiful song at the end that brings me back to the country music topic. At his concerts he dedicates this to his own daughters who are growing up too fast. So, this is for all of you who have daugthers and also agree that your girls are growing up too fast too!
Now that I've said all of that, grab a kleenex and listen to this song again so you get listen to the lyrics without reading my two cents worth at the same time!

Love to all, Leah

Update on Madison's wrist

Madison had her ortho apnt today to check on her left wrist. He said that he thinks she might have a ganglion cyst. It is MUCH smaller than this picture shows! It may or may not be related to the sprain she had previously. She could have possibly had some tendon damage at that time which created some chronic inflammation which led to the cyst. The treatment for now is watch and wait. If it gets larger he may try to drain it. Usually they take care of themselves. We have to do the physical therapy to strengthen her wrist and he laughed quite freely about the 3# weight I started her out with. He recommended a 6 oz start because it is so much weaker than the right!! I just thought since her right hand could easily do the 3# weight that her left hand should too! The only restriction is no push-ups in PE because that movement causes her quite a bit of pain. So, I'm thankful that a fracture wasn't missed on her 1st x-ray and that this should resolve in time.

Thanks for your concern.

Love to all, Leah