~Life~Knitting~Question~Pets~

Well, as you can see, I never made it back the other day to repost! Craziness has been the order of the day - every day - lately, but I have hope for the future ;) ********************************** Emily had her "graduation" from middle school this past week (she is marked with the white arrow). This was the first year they did it during the day and without caps and gowns. It is also now known as a "promotion/recognition" ceremony. Whatever they call it, it was very nice, although incredibly hot. We had a great view of her during the ceremony as they put the NJHS kids in the front row, however, most of my pictures are blurry and I'm not quite sure why. The eighth grade band members also played together for the last time in middle school. (Em is marked with an arrow playing the flute) I love to hear her play. ************************************ Melyssa and Em had their championship game for their town team and unfortunately lost by a run. They had fun playing on the same team this year, so all was not lost! The team that I keep score for (Nicole's team) will be moving up to the senior division next year (Nic will move up a year early) - so we are hoping to have all three of them on the same team - Coach Scott's Dream Team - including his two girls who are Lyss and Nic's age. It would be fantastic to watch them all play on the same team together before Lyss leaves for college (I won't think about that now! ugh). ************************************ Nicole's All Star Team had their first game, of the second tournament, Thursday night and won 10-6 (that is her pitching above). The girls really pulled together as a team and Nic pulled herself out of 3/0 and full counts to strike out many, many of their batters. We played the same team last week in the first tournament and tied the game, partially because Nic had to pull herself out for an inning in the 5th. She has SVT (click the link if you'd like more info) which was diagnosed about five and a half years ago (I also have the condition which was diagnosed for me 15 years ago). Unfortunately, Nic's occurs most often when she is active, which puts an extra strain on an already hard working organ. The episode she had during the last tournament lasted a little over 10 minutes which prompted me to make a call to her Cardiologist. We have upped her medication (a beta blocker) as much as we can now, being careful not to drop her blood pressure so much as to make her dizzy. She has been so incredibly grown up about this whole thing since she was about 7 years old that it has amazed not only me, but her school nurses and doctors. She is very matter of fact about it, takes her medication without being reminded and has never panicked. I was very proud of the fact that she stopped the game and took herself out - this has been what the cardiologist has worried about - that the older she got and the more intense the games, the less apt she would be to stop. There is a procedure called a Catheter Ablation that can cure this condition. The cardiologist and I have refrained from pushing the issue with her until she could make the decision for herself, mostly because the medication has taken care of it very well, until recently. When Nic informed me that she wanted to play Field Hockey in the fall, we had a long talk about her SVT and her love of sports. I believe she has decided to go ahead with the procedure - have any of you out there in blogland had children that have gone through this? If so, I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts. (my nerves are shot ;)) ******************************************8 The rest of the tournament was to be held yesterday, today and tomorrow, however the entire tournament has been called off due to the heavy rains and flash flooding here - so I have the opportunity to post and get some work done - not to mention catching up on my laundry. ************************************* I'm thrilled the kids are out of school and we can maybe get some fun going inbetween the rain drops! I've been working intermittently and going to the dentist and doctor trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with me - we are working on a massive sinus infection right now and I'm hoping that will take care of all of the pain - I'd very much like to avoid the endodontist! ;) Beau has been to the vet again and is on a special diet, we are trying to figure out if he is allergic to something he is eating, or if it is a seasonal thing - ugh! I'm thinking it is probably seasonal as he was perfectly fine until the spring - but hey, I'm not a vet. He's missing his treats, let me tell you! ******************************* I also realized that I never mailed the squares I had made for Warming Grace and Justin's Blanket so those are on their way and I hope to make more when I can. Please join in if you have the time, it will make such a difference in the comfort of a sick child. ********************************* A friend of mine dropped off a little goodie bag for me yesterday - her Mom's circ's! My kids asked me WHY I needed more needles and I very calmly explained to them that YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY KNITTING NEEDLES! lol *********************************** Well, I think this is quite long enough, I hope I haven't bored you too much :) I'll leave you with some cute pet pictures and a picture of the Wood Chuck that has been working on the back woods of my house - as long as he stays away from the vegetable garden and my flowers he will be viewed as the absolutely adorable creature that he is, if he heads toward my garden, I will have a completely different opinion of him ;)

~Lost in Cyberspace~

AGAIN a post lost by blogger!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know about you all, but I find it hard rewriting a post that has been completed - not sure why this is happening - any of you using Blogger having issues? I'm up for suggestions on alternative hosts - not sure what I'm going to do as of yet, just keeping options open. I have some work to get done, but will be back with my post, hopefully, later today! Stay Cool :)

~Just for Fun~

just for fun until a real post comes along (from Kimberly's Blog) Please leave a one-word comment that you think best describes me — it can only be one word long. Then copy and paste this in your blog/journal so that I may leave a word about you.

~on why I HATE Blogger~and am so pround of my kids~

THIS was possibly the MOST IMPORTANT part of the previous post and Blogger ATE IT. It isn't annoying enough that it changes my font, the font size and randomly decides whether or not to center or justify anything I type, but it is now CUTTING UP MY POSTS! I'm thinking it might be time to rethink my Blogging set up. ********************************************* Rant over ~ I will TRY to recreate what I said about this lovely young lady.... Emily was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. This achievement won't be lost on those of you that remember what she went through in the fall (for those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about and wish to know more, click here for the back story). After taking the advise of her teachers and moving up into the Honors Group, 2 and a half months into the school year, Emily not only caught up on the work she had missed, but brought all of her grades up. This fact, along with all of her community service earned her a nomination and acceptance into the NJHS. To say that we are all very proud of her would be an understatement. Matthew was unable to be here, and Nicole was unable to attend the ceremony, but Melyssa chose to opt out of a playoff game (with her teammates and coaches blessings) to attend her sister's ceremony. I can't express enough, how grateful I am that my kids (most of the time) have their priorites in the right place - chosing to be a part of her sister's big night, in my opinion, was most definately the right place for her to be. Congratulations - I love you! (Please see below for the rest of the original post)

~Spinning Wheel of Life~ ;)

Thank you to all of you for your thoughts, prayers and hugs - I can't tell you how much they are appreciated by all of us. Bloggers are wonderful people! ****************************** I am still on that wildly spinning wheel called life with kids, that won't stop or even slow down! There has been so much going on that I really don't know where to start so I will give a brief rundown with a few pictures. Nicole and her partner won Honorable Mention in the Math fair! Woooooo Hoooooo ****************************** Emily went to her Semi-Formal and had a great time - I spent the better part of an hour straightening her curly hair so that I could make BIG LOOSE WAVY CURLS that she wanted (please note here that it was RAINING and curly hair doesn't like to be straightened in the rain). She was very happy with it and I put enough "stuff" in it that it didn't dare frizz OR curl! ****************************** We had a wedding to attend and Melyssa got her father on his feet for a dance (actually, she doesn't dance either, so it was an impressive sight all around! ;)) The wedding was lovely despite the torrential downpours that brought the ceremony indoors, and despite the fact that the cake fell apart before the ceremony - the bride was lovely in her absolutely GORGEOUS gown that hid the pink flip flops she was proudly wearing underneath! lol She is truly her own person and is loved for it! She is now on her honeymoon with NO LUGGAGE! Her husband has his, she has NOTHING and no word on when it "might" arrive. This should make for some great storytelling in the future! ****************************** We have had tons of softball and a lot of softball postponed due to the rain! Nicole had a tournament this past weekend and was awarded the Game Ball after the last game - she was thrilled. We have THREE tournaments this weekend all in different places! THE GAMES HAVE BEGUN! ;) I'm happy they are having fun, but it sure is hard to keep up with the laundry when you aren't home! I can't imagine what life will be like when this all goes away - I'm not sure I'll know what to do with myself! ****************************** As far as knitting progress - there isn't much to report. I've been working on more baby socks because they are so portable. OH AND SPEAKING OF BABIES.... My lovely friend Jenn has given birth to an absolutely GORGEOUS baby boy! I won't post any pictures without asking her permission first, so you will have to just take my word for it - he is adorable! :) ****************************** I hope you all have a great week. The sun is finally out here (I know because my nose is so burnt, it's all I can see!) just in time for Spree Days and Class Trips and hopefully some summer fun! Thanks for being so patient with my horrible blogging lately and my just as horrible commenting! I promise to try and catch up on my bloglines tomorrow! For now..... Goodnight!

~A Light Has Gone Out~

I have had so many things to post about, but I've been pretty sick the last week and now I just don't have the heart. My last and dearest Aunt has passed away and we are missing her terribly already. She was one of those positive forces that could light up a room and make you feel as though you were the only person on the planet. She was a huge part of my life and my children's lives, was with us every holiday and special event ever since I can remember, and will be sorely missed. We had a chance to say goodbye on Friday night, and she spent that time telling us how VERY MUCH she loved us and how important we were in her life, asking the kids how school and softball was going and telling them her "secrets" for a long and happy life. I will be forever grateful to have had her in my life and I will carry her in my heart always.