Happy Birthday Cowgirl

Carolyn turned 10 last Thursday and had her party on Friday. She and her friends and sister decorated cupcakes and picture frames, had a photo shoot at Target and knocked a pinata out of the sky. (see Jane the pinata below)

If the level of noise was any indication, they had a great time. Like one girl commented, "everything is funny to girls our age"....clearly :)

First Day of School

The last day of school seemed like just a few days ago, but we are back at it. The biggest difference is that Matthew gets to take the bus to his new school. (The district divided the 6/7 school into two different schools.) We will see how it goes. I have the three big kids at school an hour before I did last year and save 45 minutes in the afternoon. I do miss the trips to take Matthew to school, because they were pretty quiet and we could chat with just Anna in tow. I don't miss the pick-up because (as you would guess) his school was pretty crowded last year and so was the parking-lot. Hopefully he enjoys the bus and his new school. Carolyn and Joel already indicate that they are happy with their new teachers! Matthew was excited that his "exploratory" class gets to build robots with NXT Legos. He was able to experience NXT 2 summers ago at Iowa State Science camp, so he knows how much fun they can be.

T-shirt quilt extravaganza

My niece asked if I would make her a t-shirt quilt. I indicated that I would be happy to help her make one and she came for a visit. We had a great time with this lovely outcome! We also walked about 9 miles during her visit and made delicious guacamole and hummus!

Happy (early) Birthday!

Thirty four of us got together this weekend to celebrate my parent's soon to be 80th birthdays.

Here is Carolyn with her special cousin Kate!

Here are all the boys cousins - far outnumbered by the girls, but I didn't get a photo with just the girls. Perhaps after I get the professional photo back, I can show you the entire crew!

The oldest and youngest cousin!

What I did on my summer vacation - the 42 year old version

Excuse any typos - I don't think I am going to proof this post :)

I think I have shown plenty of pictures and many stories of how my kids and I spent our summer vacation. Ken's summer vacation was being Mr.Mom while I was in Omaha. He can post his own blog about those adventures. One thing I haven't mentioned was our adventure last week to the blueberry patch. I haven't been blueberry picking since I was Joel's age - if ever. I have memories of strawberry picking in Iowa, but there is only one place to pick blueberries in Iowa and we wouldn't have traveled that far....luckily it is close to Ankeny!

Now if I am to focus on MY summer vacation....as opposed to the family's summer vacation I have different things to report.
1st of all - I lost 200 lbs in a month! (ok the actual title to the book I am mis-quoting is "Lose 200 lbs in a weekend.") I am not actually recommending it. I already was starting to clean the storage room, when I came across it. It inspired me even more to get rid of STUFF! The book itself isn't that great and actually will be some of the pounds I eventually lose. It sort of makes your feel bad for having stuff and I really don't need guilt in my life. But it did inspire me and the house has lost a lot of weight with MANY trips to the St. Vincent de Paul truck (think Mother Theresa's Treasures/Good Will) MANY full garbage cans and SEVERAL full recycle bins. It helps if you are going to lose 200 lbs in a month, if you have one of these to get rid of:

Joel and I dismantled our old wheelbarrow and had a good time in the process. It was harder than you might guess, because many of the bolts were rusty and impossible to get off. This job actually involved sawing off the handles so the stupid thing would fit in our trash can. I am almost done with the storage room - which was my goal before I start back to school. It has felt great to give Ken some shelves on one wall of the storage room so that he can bring all his work literature that clutters our garage onto these shelves! That way he won't be in the steaming heat or freezing cold searching the right catalog or demonstration material!

My biggest change has been one of mind! I am trying to get over keeping things I don't want/like/use! I even got rid of some kid's toys that still might have had play time just because we have reached maximum capacity and sometimes you just have to stay STOP!!!

Probably the most major events of the summer were my trips to Omaha. I was able to get my mind back into the world of clinical audiology. I tested hearing (this actually is my audiogram, since I wouldn't publish someone else's audiogram on my blog).


As you can see, I have some presbicusis (age related hearing loss in the high pitches). This is confirmed in my Otoacoustic Emmisions below:

I also was able to help fit hearing aids and attend workshops on Balance Testing/Cochlear Implants/Hearing Aids. It was a fantastic experience. Don't get me wrong - I am not at the top of my game. I do feel like I made great gains and can start looking for work when my other job ends.

After finishing my time in Omaha I started working on my school. Officially, I start this Sunday, but I have the syllabus and have been watching lectures and reading material. My first class in Balance Disorders: Evaluation and Treatment. This course will be tough, because I haven't tested balance since graduate school! It was nice to get some hands on experience with the equipment while at Boys Town. Actually, if I want to be technical, I already finished my first course toward my degree. There is a required "Introduction to Public Health Class" that is done 100% through viewing lectures and taking quizzes. I wanted to have that done before my "real" classes start. These will involve, lectures, a ton of reading, work with my small group, group meetings with my professor and assignments. Like my grad school buddy who started her program this spring indicated, "they aren't going to give it away".

Part of me is hoping all this studying will help my brain fight age related mental decline that already has started :)

If I don't blog much after Sunday - you will know why!