Update

I know I haven't posted in a long time. Here is Anna on her first day of pre-school this year. She loves it and asks if she can eat lunch almost as soon as she wakes up, because I have told her she doesn't go to preschool until after lunch. She is in a class with just 7 other kiddos and I love seeing what she learns and brings home.


This is one of those "keep your eyes open in the bright sun" pictures. It is just funny, but note the beautiful Eucharistic Chapel in the background. We renovated our church last year and after we raised enough money to do the "needs", someone donated the entire $300,000 in order to build this chapel. It is lovely and peaceful inside and out. It is a frequent destination when bringing kids to church for various activities for simple prayer time. I love it.



Anyway...back to the update....
Things are in full swing...church choir, scouts, soccer. Matthew went to his first Social yesterday and LOVED it. His dad needs to give him a few pointers in the dancing department, but I am so happy he had fun.

I JUST finished my last assignment for my Balance Disorder's and Treatment class. It was WAY more work than I anticipated, but I learned a fantastic amount. Despite the fact that I won't probably do balance testing in the near future, this class taught me a lot about the vestibular and auditory system that I can use professionally as well as a ton regarding disorders that I encounter in life with friends and family. My "local" group for class is fantastic and I am glad I chose the University of Florida (they have had so many experts in the field lecture - great decision to pick this university over the other choice). (I put "local" in quotes because my group is a hodge-podge from across North America - other groups tend to be geographically clustered, but not mine....we have people from Canada, Arkansas, New York...you get the picture. There are 11 in this class, but there will be 8 in the next.)

I also have had 2 interviews, to return to clinical audiology. Jury is still out on those. One was last week and the other was awhile ago, but their audiology dept. hasn't had anyone for 2 years, so they indicated that there was a lot to be done before they would get back to me. The joy is I am good if I get a job, or don't right now. My current job goes through 2011 and my schooling would keep be busy into 2012.

Better get back to work - I need to get in a few hours and then study for my final! My stress level is pretty low now that I have gotten through most of the work. 2 classes (almost) down and 8 to go. (1st class...was a required public health class, but finished it before officially starting my "real" classes.)

Next class: Auditory Rehabilitation and Central Auditory Processing Disorders...bring it on!!!

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!

The summer is flying by!

If I haven't mentioned, the first day of summer vacation was approximately 100 hours long. Well, I blinked and now we are 2 months into summer vacation. Interesting.
Here are a few more snapshots.

Anna can now ride her bike! Last summer she occasionally sat on the seat, but now she pedals it around the sidewalk. She is definitely of the age where she wants to be outside A LOT and loves to ride and play catch....sounds familiar! All my kids at age 4 would probably be outside all the time if I had let them (or wanted to be out all the time myself). This week has been really hot, so I try to convince Anna to wait until the evening when things cool down.

Carolyn chose tennis for her sport this year. I especially love it because it doesn't involve school year games and practices. She loved her tennis camp and coincidentally it was led by one of Matthew's 6th grade teachers! He did a great job making it fun.

Matthew has become a photographer this summer. Be warned, when boys are no longer Cub Scouts things ramp up in a big way (money, time, responsibility) for Boy Scouts. Anyway Matthew has been working on merit badges and the easiest way to prove you did part of a badge is to take pictures. So Matthew has been photographing animals, the planetarium and his money making job. He must be enjoying himself, because I found this pic. on my camera today :)

We went to the Science Museum last week because it has the only Iowa Planetarium and Matthew needed to go to a planetarium for his Astronomy merit badge that he started at camp. This is an example of the Boy Scout ramping up as I mentioned before. Don't get me wrong, I like the Science Museum. In the past we have been members to the museum. This summer, however, with the huge expense of siding I would not have chosen to spend $38 for the day at the Science Museum. Alas we went to fulfill the merit badge and had a great time. Joel probably spent an hour (and I don't even think I am exaggerating) working at making his rocket. They then have a launcher and runway for the rocket. All the kids love it.

True confessions. Carolyn, Joel and I went to opening day of Harry Potter, book 7 part 2. Matthew stayed with Anna and went to see the movie with Ken the next night. My kids have seen almost no movies on the big screen. I think this relates to their expense, but mostly because Matthew's 1st movie was Finding Nemo and it scared him and he never really wanted to go to the theater. He saw Moster's Inc. (which is really not as scary as it sounds - it is a kids animated movie!) and then never went to the theater again until Harry Potter 6. The other kids have seen Alvin and the Chipmunks and Ponyo. I think that's it! I haven't seen a movie in the theaters since Harry Potter 6! Which means I did skip the 7th movie! (I just don't want you to think I am an out of control movie viewer.)

I REALLY wanted to see the 8th movie. I had been reading the books (we are on 5) with Joel and the kids are always playing 20 questions with Harry Potter trivia. Actually, for going opening day, it wasn't that busy because we chose the 1:00 matinee. People who were truly dying to see the movie went at midnight. I wasn't quite that obsessed, although I was a bit jealous. It is funny that I took the kids to see this movie, because I wouldn't let Matthew watch any of the movies until he complete each book. Joel is WAY younger than I would have ever considered letting Matthew watch the movies. I guess I decided to let him because Carolyn has read all the books and REALLY wanted to see HP at the theaters and Joel isn't really scared of film the way Matthew was. You can all just say, "it's because he's the 3rd child" and it probably is true. I am now a (re)lax(ed) parent occasionally. I must say the movie was FANTASTIC. I am one of the crazy people the reviewers talk about when they say, "move on now people". I am sad that I have read all the books and seen all the movies because I really did love them. I am soooo NOT a wizard type person, but I felt like HP wasn't really about that as much as about relationships, friendships and courage. I most liked that Harry found a family with the Weaslies and that Neville became the leader of the revolution at Hogwarts. I liked that the Weaslies were poor and material things didn't matter. I like watching the friendship of Harry, Ron and Hermione. They didn't have to be wizards, it was fiction and that was just part of it. Harry always did the right thing to help others and I ate it up.