Back At It Again

 It wasn't quite a year ago that Noah joined the ranks of pump-users.  It's been an awesome tool in keeping his blood sugars in check.  It's not foolproof, of course, but at least when his numbers are high, we don't have to keep giving him shots.  Now, he just gets one site change every other day (and, sometimes, even every three).

I remember those first classes, learning how to use the pump.  I was scared, overwhelmed, uncertain.  This was new technology that took a lot of brain power and I, at the time, seemed to have lost all of mine!  Thankfully, he picked it right up and still, to this day, knows more about the workings of his pump than I do.  Guess that's ok.  He's the one that needs to know the most.

He was so excited when he got it!  He has a love/hate relationship with it, because he doesn't like the site changes.  They've been known to hurt, so he gets nervous when he has to get them, but for the most part, he's pretty cool with it and his numbers have been, for the most part, in really great shape.

I bring this all up again, because we're just 3 weeks away from our annual JDRF Walk.  The reason JDRF is so important is that it does important research in the fight to cure Diabetes.  But, even in their fight for a cure, they also are able to find new ways to manage Type 1.  And, Noah's pump is proof of that.  Every step they make is one step closer to making life easier for everyone affected by this disease.

I don't know if Noah would want me to share this, but I will.  There was a night recently that he was showing me his finger.  It was bruised and hard, filled with fingerpricks from all of his testing.  I found him crying quietly in his bed that night and he said that sometimes he just get tired of having diabetes.  This is a kid that just rolls with the punches and has handled his disease in an amazingly brave way.  But, even in his strength, he has moments where the reality of living with this, and it's affects FOREVER, gets to him.  He literally can't go one meal, let alone one day, without having to think about his disease.  When he looked at his finger in its bruised, hardened way, it was a reminder of those things that he goes through.  The pain, the highs and lows, the roughed-up fingers.... it's not something that will go away.  And, those aren't even the worst of the potential problems.  Most kids dream of what they can be when they grow up.  Noah's said, since his diagnosis, "I want to be an astronaut, but I guess I can't be until they find a cure."

So, we walk again, to raise money, so that something new will be invented to help him.  That maybe the dollars collected one year will lead to advancements that will nearly eradicate this disease from the world and those dreams that Noah has will be within his reach.  Won't you join me?

Noah's Donation Page

Dance Begins!

Things have been particularly busy as I'm getting used to working a lot more, but I *think* I'm starting to get a handle on things, so I hope to start posting more.  A couple weeks ago the girls started dance up again.  I thought for sure that Livie was done with dance last year.  She complained and complained..... and complained!  But, she decided to give it another go, but has decided to drop ballet.  She's such an energetic girl and ballet was just too boring for her (her words).  So, instead of the 4pm start time, she doesn't have to be there until 4:45, which helps tremendously.  It's nice not to have to turn right around, after school lets out, and head over to the dance studio. 

But, since dropping ballet, she's decided to take hip-hop in its place and she LOVES that!  But, that means she has dance on Thursday AND Friday now.  But her Friday class is only 45 min, so it's a quick one and doesn't make for two long nights in a row - thank goodness!

Madie's in her 9th year this year, which is hard to believe.  And, her classes have changed too.  She's taking Pointe!  I'm so excited to see her do that this year in her recital.  Now, granted, she hasn't actually done any Pointe stuff yet, because I'm still trying to get her shoes!  But, hopefully I'll be able to get them by her class next week. :-)

School Begins!

I haven't posted since my kids started school 2 weeks ago!  The main reason for that, other than sheer laziness, is that I was quite busy getting ready to start school myself!  The past two weeks have been packed full of me getting my classroom ready to go, making all those last minute additions/changes, and a very solid week of home visits and one really crazy Open House.

To start, my classroom has been "under construction" for most of July and August.  I posted before about how it got repainted and that the cabinets got sanded and stained.  Well, I've been adding new things to the walls, getting the supplies ready, and adding labels to everything in sight the past couple of weeks.  A couple hours here, another hour here....it finally all came together yesterday morning as I finished up the birthday chart and got the work ready for today.  We started!  Well, I should say, we started....the 3s class!  My 2s class starts later in the week, but we had our Open House last Wednesday.  Imagine a room this small with 13 kids and 26 adults in it.  Wowza!  I'll talk more about that later though.

So, we had class today with our adorable, talkative, eager 3s today.  I have two assistants - one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  Both are good friends and I'm really excited to work with them this year!  We split the day up into hour segments.  We invited half of the class, along with their parents, for an hour each.  This way they could explore the room, make a couple projects, and play on the playground before we start our full day later in the week.  The kids had a hard time leaving after just one quick hour, but the day progressed well and I think we have really great groups of kids!  We're definitely anxious to get started and show them the routine and see their personalities emerge.  Home visits are certainly great for that, but getting them one-on-one is where it's at!  Love hearing their stories, seeing their interests.  Being a preschool teacher really is about the most fun you can have at a job. :-)

So, now that the busyness of getting things started has died down, the busyness of prep work for my classes has begun and I'm looking forward to it!

First Day Of School

This has been a very busy week!  I've been hard at work getting some stuff done in preparation for my school, as well as working on church stuff, and my kids are back in SCHOOL!

This summer seemed to fly by.  I think with mom's death, things just seemed out of sorts for most of the summer.  It was like a haze of emotions, loss of focus, and just a surreal feeling all around.  But, as we entered the end of July, I started to find my way back, out of the haze, and was able to look at life like I used to again - though, for anyone that's ever lost a parent, you know things are never totally the same.  So, for about a month, I was able to enjoy our summer, but that month went by quickly and school was upon us again.  Livie was really excited to go back.  She missed her friends.  She's just entered 3rd grade now and seems more grown-up every day.  I thought she looked adorable for her first day back!  She helped me pick that outfit out for her.  She even picked the bow. :-)

Noah wasn't excited at all.

Not one little bit.

He enjoyed his summer far too much to want to go back to school, but he entered 6th grade, which means he has different classes each period and he came home that first day pretty excited about all the new stuff he was going to get to do.  He even signed up to take art and choir, which he's never done before.  He's still in band, so he'll have a full schedule this year and he's loving it!

Madie was VERY excited to go back, because this is her last year!  She's an 8th grader and will rule the roost at school.  She has lots of great stuff ahead of her and she can't wait!  She too signed up for art (which is new to our school this year - Hallelujah!!), as well as band and choir again.  I seriously can't believe my Madie Moo is an 8th grader and will be off to high school next year.  Where has the time gone?

So, my sweet, ever-growing kids are back in school and this mom is happy they are!  Lots of new things for them this year and hopefully a year full of excitement and growth.

I am so proud of these guys!

School Supplies

Yesterday, the kids and I drove up to Oswego for our annual School Supply Shopping Extravaganza!  If I'm honest, I'd say that they are always WAY more excited about this day than I am, but while I don't enjoy the chaos of instructing 3 kids to spread out and pick out 20 different items each, I do enjoy spending the day with them. :-)

Before we left for our trip, we went through everything they had left over from last year.  At the end of the year, we dump all their reusable stuff into a bin, so we can grab it again in August and give to whoever might need it - calculators, markers, crayons, etc...  That took 1/4 of the stuff off their lists, so that's not too bad.  Then we took the nearly hour drive up to Oswego for the rest of our excursion.

*I could take them somewhere a bit closer, but going that far away makes it a bit more of an adventure, you see.

They shopped for folders and notebooks, pencils and magnets.  Noah's going into 6th grade, so he'll have to move for each class/hour now.  He got to buy 6 different notebooks and 6 different folders, as did Madie.  It's so funny watching them pick out their stuff too.  They each have their own unique personalities.  Madie picks more of the grown-up stuff, while Livie's into zombies and anything super colorful.  Noah always picks plain folders - one of each color.  I tried getting him to pick something with a design.  The closest I could get was with his journal.  He went all out and bought......white.  Hilarious.  He's so his dad!

$320 later, we were ready to go!  Now, granted, that $300 included a couple shirts for me (why shouldn't I get to do a little shopping too, right?) and snacks for Noah's diabetic bag, of which he got a new one of those too.  Our shopping cart was full and we were ready to shop for outfits and get some lunch, before we went home.

I usually have them spread out their stuff on our kitchen table and grab it as we go down their lists, but the ping-pong table gave us more room and worked out perfectly.  Yes, that's Noah lurking in the background.  Have any of you tried getting a normal picture of an 11 yr old boy?  It's impossible.  Seriously.  It's like trying to get the elusive picture of Bigfoot.  It's never clear, always grainy, and they're running off in the distance.  THAT'S what taking a photo of him is like!

After they gathered their stuff and put it in their pile, they grabbed their name labels that I printed out and started putting them on their stuff.  Then they packed their bookbags - of which, they also got all new!  Their other backpacks were 3 yrs old and falling apart. They were ready for some nice, new ones.

Now that Noah has a pump AND since he'll be moving from class to class, we picked out a much smaller diabetes bag for him.  Last year he had the nice crossbody one, but that thing started falling apart within the first two months.  I sewed that thing back together probably 4 times throughout the school year, so we had to find something else that would work for him.  This lunch box was really nice, because it was roomy and had a crossbody strap, so he can wear it without having to worry about it getting in the way of carrying his books and stuff.

We don't have to pack needle tips or anything like that anymore.  He just has his tester, his glucagon, his snacks, and his phone.  He'll just let me know when he needs something and we'll replenish it as the year goes on.

See?  It's the perfect size and hopefully will keep from getting destroyed before October hits!

So, the bags are packed.  The PE outfits/shoes are ready.  The diabetes bag is full.  Just a week and a half before school starts and I'M READY!!!

Preppin' For Preschool

I've mentioned before how I've been spending the summer getting ready for preschool.  If I had a couple hours here or a few hours there, I would spend most of them in the classroom, getting it ready for the first day.  We had our first meeting, as teachers, to get the calendar year ready and with that came three bins of student files and home visit information.  This is the first year I've started off as the lead teacher for the 3s, so putting together the home visit files is new to me.

Thankfully, one of the bins is for my 2s and I just send out an Open House letter to those parents and we meet them all at once.  That's easy.  Plus, my curriculum is pretty set, so there's isn't much I need to do to get ready for them.  But, creating labels and files and all of that is becoming quite a lesson on organization!

After the meeting on Wednesday, I came home and went right to work, while everything was still fresh in my mind.  I typed up my new students list (for all the classes - both 2s and 3s).  I got their folders together and started stuffing them with all the paperwork I had.

I placed them all in the bin and took them over to the school today.  Things are coming together and I feel like I'm ready to make all the phone calls next week to set up our visits.  It's getting closer and closer and I can't wait to meet them all!

Kane County Cougars

The exciting thing that we had scheduled AFTER Riverfest was a trip to a nearby Minor League baseball game!  The Kane County Cougars are a subsidiary of the Cubs, so we got our Cubs gear one and went up for the game.  The theme that night was Western stuff, so they had concerts and stuff before the game started, but we decided to head in a little later and skip the concerts.  But, you'll see Em and the girls wore cowboy hats to get in the spirit. :-)

This is the first minor league game I've been to.  It was a lot of fun!  We got the tickets through Pete's work, so we were actually pretty darn close to the field.  Only about 8 rows up.

Look at those fabulous hats! :-)

All the kids were really excited to be there and thankfully, they didn't have anyone sitting on either side of them, so they had room to move.  We had seats in two different rows, so we put the kids in front of us, so we could keep a better eye on them.

I bought all the kids foam fingers, because everyone needs foam fingers at a game! AND, Kendalyn caught a ball!  It landed higher up in the stands, but rolled down to us.  How fun is that?!

Just a picture of me and my boy. :-)

As always Avery wanted to sit by her cousin Noah.  She just loves him to pieces and he's so, so good with her.

My happy, excited Liv!

Pete sat in the row with the kids, so Jeff, Em, and I sat together.

The game started at 6:30, so by the time it was wrapping up, it was after 9.

Look how close we were!

At one point, I took Noah and Livie to the gift shop, if that's what you call it, and Noah bought a Cougar/Cubs hat.  Nice, right?!  He put his new one on top of his old one.

When the game was over, they had a group of jumpers come in and entertain us before the fireworks show.  If you've ever been to a minor league game, you know they do all sorts of fun stuff throughout the game.  This was no exception.  These jumpers were amazing and so fun to watch!  The kids were mesmerized.

After the jumpers finished, the fireworks began.  They put on a great show!

The kids with all their foam fingers!

After the game, we were able to go on the field and run on the bases.  We were the very last ones, because Livie fell and got hurt.  But, we still made it around the bases before they closed up.

Even though Livie was still in pain, she ran those bases like a pro!  It was a really fun night.  We didn't get home until after midnight, so the kids were exhausted, but I would definitely do it again.  It was tons of fun and so much cheaper than a pro game!

Riverfest

On Saturday, we went into town for Riverfest activities while the guys golfed.  They had lots of great things to see!  I only wish we could've stayed longer, but we had other stuff we had to do that day.

When we first got there, we saw that they had some pens with farm animals in them.  The kids liked that a lot.  Livie and Kendalyn went to see and pet the cows.

Madie took Avery to see the cows too, but she didn't really want to pet them.

She did like feeding and petting the sheep though.  Livie loves animals, so she wanted to get as close to all of them as possible.

They had little tractors to ride and it was hilarious watching Madie and Noah try them, because they are so much bigger than the tractors!

Their favorite, in this section, was the big, full-size combine/tractor thing.  The tires are taller than Madie!

All of the kids climbed the big ladder to get up there.  Avery got scared coming down (don't blame her!), but the rest of the kids did just fine.  Noah looks right at home at the wheel of the thing. :-)

The girls decided to take a quick break while they waited for Noah to finally climb down.

They had lots of Farmer's Market stuff.  We bought chocolate-covered bacon (totally overrated, if you ask me), we bought some cookies, and these light sabers.  We need to train Kendalyn on the proper use of them, since she's holding hers upside-down. ;-)

We visited a few of the local shops, played on a bouncy house, and ran into some friends.  But, we only got to stay about 3 hours, so it was a short trip.  We had a much better event to go to....

Dancing At Riverfest

Every year around this time, a lot of area groups are able to perform on a flatbed trailer in the middle of town, by our center park, for Riverfest.  The girls have done this many times over the years and this year was no exception.  At their "Variety Show" aka mini-recital in May, I had just seen my mom for the first time since entering hospice and was a bit of a wreck, to be quite honest, so I wasn't able to really be present for it then.  It was nice to spend the morning with them, watching them practice, as well as watch them perform that evening - though I totally messed up on the time we were supposed to be there!  More about that in a minute.

We got to the park at 9am and watched as the younger groups went.  Boy, were they cute!  Livie waited with her group while the other groups did their practice run-throughs.

Madie did the same thing with her group.

That's Livie in the hot pink shorts in the middle.  She thought she had forgotten the whole thing, since it had been a couple months since she had performed it.  But, once the music started, she was a pro!

Madie's there on the end in the blue shorts.  She's been doing this for so many years, she's got it all figured out and didn't miss a beat!

Practice only last a little over an hour for my girls, so we finished up and headed home.  There was a HUGE used book sale in the park, so that's where Noah spent most of his time during this practice. :-)

A short while after we got back from practice, my sister and her family showed up.  Yay!  I took them to our new local ice cream shoppe.  They loved it and ate lots of yummy ice cream.  After we finished up there, it was time to get back home and get the girls ready for their performance.  It was a busy day, can you tell?!  We were running from one place to the other, it seemed.

We got the girls' hair done and make-up on and were out the door.  Their hairstyles were simple, thankfully, so it didn't take more than 45 min to get ready.

I had written down on my calendar that we needed to be there by 5:30.  I didn't re-check my note.  I just assumed that meant the performance was at 6, because I knew we had to be there a half hour early.  NOPE!!  For some stupid reason I wrote down the time of the performance, NOT the time we had to be there!  So, when we showed up, they had already started dancing.  EEK!  Madie was the third group up, so I'm really glad we weren't any later than we were!  I don't know what I was thinking writing down 5:30.  Duh!

Because we got there late, it was not easy to find a place to sit.  There were hundreds of people there.  So, we sat behind a bush.  Made it a bit harder to see, but at least we could see them.  That's Madie on the end on the far right.

That's Livie in the front middle in the red shirt.

They both did a great job and I'm glad they got to show their aunt, uncles, and cousins. :-)  Just wish we had been there without all the hectic craziness!  We took the girls to the fountain and let everyone throw some pennies in before heading out for dinner.  After dinner, I took the girls to see my 3s classroom.  Kendalyn gasped as she entered the room and said, "I love this place!".  They proceeded to play in there for a good 30 min before we had to go home.  So fun!  This was just the kick-start of our very busy weekend. :-)