Sweet 16

Kaylee turned 16 last Sunday. It was a pretty low-key celebration here. I feel bad. I'm sure every girl would like to have a big Sweet 16 party, but it just wasn't in the cards. We don't have the house for entertaining a bunch of teenagers. Maybe we'll do something special later in the year. We did have a few relatives over for cake.

She couldn't give me any good birthday ideas, so she got money. I know - how boring. Nope - no car. Again - just not going to happen yet. We still need to get some driving hours in before she can get her license. It's just hard to find the time to even do that right now. Once she has that, she will "share" with her dad, and we'll see how that goes.



She tried out for cheerleading this week, and made it. Another year of football games for us! We are excited for her. It was a lot of fun to watch her last year. I just hope that there is no accompanying drama...you know how teenagers can be. Sometimes I feel like I'm back in high school.

This weekend is the dance recital, which will take most of our time. Pictures to come soon.

Whitney and Cassidy have each started their softball seasons. I'll post about that after dance. One thing at a time!

HAPPY 16th KAYLEE!

Mother's Day - A little late

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day. Mine was....well, not too bad. Cassidy was very sweet, and made me breakfast. She actually had me place my "order" the night before. I took her and Whitney to see the Hannah Montanna movie - just to get out of the house awhile. Other than that, I was totally lazy.

Today - May 12 - is the day that my own mother passed away twelve years ago. I last saw her on that Mother's Day in 1997, and she died the next day. So, Mother's Day, and today in particular, are bitter-sweet. It makes me stop and reflect on my childhood, my mom, and my kids. She would be very proud of them. I can't believe it has been twelve years. I was 28, Kaylee was about to turn 4, and Whitney was less than 10 months old. My mom never even met Cassidy - but I know she would have gotten a kick out of her! My dad passed away less than two years later - I had just found out I was pregnant with Cassidy.

Sorry - don't mean to be a downer!

We had a garage sale this past weekend. A relatively successful one! Got rid of a lot of junk, and made a little money to boot. Who can complain? Cassidy had another great soccer game. We are winding down with dance - with the recital taking place next weekend. Plus, Kaylee turns 16 this coming Sunday (the 17th). (She has not been able to give me any ideas for her birthday. Weird teenagers.) Whitney just had a band concert tonight. No pictures....it's too tough to get good lighting.

I'm sure there is more going on around here that I could get in to. But, it's late and I'm tired. Good night....

Where does the weekend go?

Busy is an understatement to describe our weekend. I was off of work on Friday to take Kaylee to the pediatric cardiologist in Lima. This was the check up that our family Dr. asked for after she fainted in February. As I suspected... everything is fine. He said these things just happen sometimes, especially during the teenage years. He was a little surprised that she has been having these for seven years already; but since they only happen about once a year, he didn't think it was worth medicating her for. He could have done a "tilt table" test to try to replicate her passing out, but that would have just resulted in medication, and he thought it was silly to medicate her all year when it only happens about once a year. Makes sense to me. If it continues to happen into adulthood, we might reconsider.

Saturday Whitney had a gymnastics "meet" here in town. It was really a kind of end of the year show so the parents could see what their kids had been working on all year. Since Whitney is on the team, she was asked to help and to exhibit for the parents the routines involved when you make it to team. I think she was just as nervous as if it had been a real meet. We couldn't make it to the whole thing, because Cassidy also had her first soccer game. We took the camera and camcorder, and by the time we left her game, the battery was dead in the camera, and we had run out of disc space in the camcorder, so couldn't get any of Whitney at her event. Sorry, Whit!

Here are a few shots of Cassidy's game, though. This is the first year that Upward has sponsored soccer, and she loved it. She has played indoor soccer for years, but was never a big fan of outdoor soccer...until now! She scored four goals!

Then I came home and cleaned house; went to the grocery; Jeff and Cassidy went to softball practice; Whitney and I walked over to look at prom decorations; went to the grocery store; made supper; and walked back over to watch "promenade."

Today Kaylee and Whitney had their last dance competition of the season - luckily, right her in VW at the PAC. Whew! After that, I cleaned the kids' closets and dressers to prepare for a garage sale we are planning for this coming weekend. I hope the weather cooperates.

Another busy week looms ahead. I guess I had better go start to prepare...

Bad Blogger

I can't believe what a bad blogger I have been lately. I haven't posted since St. Patrick's Day, and here it is, after Easter. I really don't mean to wait until holidays, it just works that way. I feel like I don't have much new to say I guess, so have avoided putting the "same old stuff" on here.

For instance, gymnastics finally ended. Whew! I know these pictures aren't great, but here are a couple more shots of Whitney's final meet:



She had a nice season, and is now moving on to other things....like softball. This year she is playing for Convoy. The past two years she has played for Ohio City. We switched for a few reasons, but mostly so she could play with her good friend, Saige. Cassidy decided not to play, so we figured Convoy is just about as close, so why not. Then, Cassidy changed her mind, and wanted to play. We have been happy with her experience in OC - so now, I have kids playing in two different cities. Not real bright on our part, but it will make summer interesting.

At Whitney's last meet, they had activities set up for the kids. Cassidy conquered the rock wall - easy and medium levels. She got mad at me when I wouldn't let her try the hard level. Cassidy is also getting ready for soccer. This kid never stops.

We have been busy with more remodeling/redecorating:



Here is a shot of our bedroom, after repainting. Finally! We had not painted it since moving in, and the prior owners apparently liked to decorate by painting cats...interesting. It looks soooo much better. Our room is huge, so it took forever. There are additional projects in the works, but we'll save those for a surprise!


Easter was fun. I don't have any good pictures of the kids decorating eggs. Kaylee's boyfriend came over to decorate with us, and I forgot to get any. (She wouldn't have let me anyway!) We then went to Bellefontaine (Kaylee drove) to visit my family. Here are some pics of the Easter egg hunt.

Lily

Sophie (and my sister, Terry)
Ethan

Okay, technically Ethan didn't hunt for eggs since he is only a few weeks old. Ethan and Sophie belong to my niece, Ali. Her husband is in Iraq. He left in February, and Ethan was born in March. He won't be back until December or January. I can't imagine my husband being in Iraq and me with two little ones - I don't know how she does it.

That is all I have time for right now. I have to see how Cassidy is doing (she came home sick from school today), and get my laundry out of the dryer. The excitement just never ends around here.

Happy St. Patrick's Day?

I can't believe that the last time I posted was Valentine's Day, and here it is St. Patty's time. Where has the time gone? I'll spare you the details, and post some pictures.

Cassidy, showing some "D-Fence"

Taking a much needed break.

Cassidy met Abby on her team. Turns out, they are related.....like 5th or 6th cousins or something. They kind of hit it off.

We've also been really busy with gymnastics. Whitney, warming up:

We attended the "Arnold Fitness EXPO" in Columbus, hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger himself. He was there, but we never saw him. (There were literally tens of thousands of people there.) However, we did manage to spot Lou Ferrigno:

Whitney and her friend Saige had some fans in the stands:

Here they are marching in for their meet in Cincinnati:

I'm even attempting to load a video here. I've never done this before, so I hope it works.

Cassidy hurt her finger really bad at her last basketball game. It called for a trip to the Dr.'s, a splint, and two sets of x-rays. Not broken, but badly jammed.

Jeff is in Cincinnati for work all week. Then, we head back to Columbus this weekend for a dance competition. This time of year is just too nuts.

Until next time...

Happy Valentine's Day

I'm a little late, but better late than never. I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day with the ones you love.

I'm sounding like a broken record, but we've been really busy. I finally got the van back a little over a week ago. So far, so good. I'm glad we have it back. We're heading in to a really busy travel time - gymnastics meets and dance competitions in Toledo, Cincinnati, Columbus, etc. I hope the new transmission holds out! :) I'd hate to be stranded somewhere.

Jeff won't be able to make it to all of these events with us - he'll be working some weekends. Not that I'm complaining! He just dodged a big layoff at his company. He heard the rumor and two days later they got rid of about 30-35 people. He wasn't one of them! I think he was shocked, since he is still fairly new there. We are just used to being the ones to get the short end of that stick, so were surprised when he wasn't called in to the office. Some of them had been there 10-20 years. As happy as we were, I can't help but feel for those people and their families. I pray this economy turns around soon!

Kaylee has had some excitement also. A week ago Friday (on Feb. 6th), I got a call from the school that she had passed out in Health class. (I guess if you are going to faint, Health class is as good a place as any.) It was right at the end of the day, so they did not want to put her on the bus and asked that I come and pick her up. By the time I got there, the teacher, nurse, and guidance counselor were all sitting in a "sick room" with her. She was still a little shaky, but they said her color was much better. The teacher had been talking about bones when she started to feel woozy. She went to put her head down on her desk and that is the last thing she remembers. She actually fell out of her seat and hit her shoulder on the desk next to her. The whole class just got really quiet.

This is actually not new for Kaylee. I've tried to remember all of the times she has fainted, and it averages about once a year since 2nd grade. The first time was on the morning of her First Communion while my niece was trying to curl her hair. We have had her to the Dr. and ran all kinds of tests including blood work and an EKG. The school nurse recommended I call our family Dr. and let him know that it happened again. I did that, and he'd like to see her again since she is getting older now. I'm sure everything is fine. I think she is just a fainter. We're all joking about what her Wedding Day will be like! :)

This past Friday, she received a delivery at the end of the school day. Her boyfriend had these delivered to her:

She then went to his house on Saturday night, and he also gave her perfume...... Ah, young love!

I don't have much else for news. I've been trying to get some house work done. Jeff is in the process of sanding and priming our bedroom walls to prep them for a new coat of paint. I hate drywall dust and have a lot more to clean up. UGH!

On a related note, this is what happens when I ask the kids to help me fold laundry...


Now you see what I have to deal with.

The Week In Review

I haven't had time to do a real post. We've been pretty busy. Here is a quick re-cap of the past week:

Saturday - Cassidy had a basketball game in town and Whitney had a gymnastics meet down by Dayton.

The van broke down on the way home. Our friend Dan came and rescued me and the kids while Jeff had the van towed back to VW. (Thanks again, Dan :) Long night.

Monday Cassidy had a "Winter Program" at school.

Tuesday, Kaylee had a dive meet in Defiance.

(These pictures stink and we really need to figure out how to take action shots on the camera.)

Wednesday we woke up to over 7 inches of snow. School was cancelled. Everything was cancelled. YAY.

Thursday I had lunch with Cassidy at school for Catholic Schools week.

It's Friday. I'm tired and going to bed.

I want my van back.

Tomorrow Cassidy has another ball game and Whitney has a gymnastics meet in Columbus. More updates later.