Monday, December 07, 2009
A Dickens Christmas Letter
Usually writing comes fairly easy to me, but I must admit I struggle with my Christmas letter. I find it extremely hard to neatly summarize a year's worth of life. In any given year we of course have our share of ups but also our share of downs. There is also a lot of chaos but also a lot of calm. How do I take all of that and sum it up into one neat little package? I haven't figured it out yet, but if anyone ever does, please let me in on the secret. In the meantime, I have decided to do the best I can.....
This year was that typical year I described - a huge helping of chaos with a side of calm. Jessie's schedule was extremely intense with his third year rotations starting our year off. He was working 80 to 100 hour (at least) weeks. The summer led him to an away rotation in Denver where he spent the month of July. The kids and I stayed in Dallas and pursued numerous traditional summer activities such as summer camps, swim lessons, and being lazy. Jessie can currently be found in almost any airport in the United States as he travels for interviews. Yes, that is correct, we are at the point some might call a "real" job. In a few short months, June 7th to be exact, Jessie will be a full-fledged M.D. We are very excited at finally reaching the goal we have been working towards for the past several years. I am extremely proud of Jessie for all his hard work and smartness.
After years of preparing for medical school and then actually attending medical school, where do we go from here? Our fate will be sealed on March 18th, 2010. This is the date that all fourth year medical students gather and open up their official letter informing them of where they have been selected to go. It is a match system, so we can request certain places but there are no guarantees. Jessie has interviews across the country: Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Lubbock, Temple, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Austin, Wichita, Louisville, Lexington, Omaha, Columbus, Wichita, St. Louis, Winston-Salem, Knoxville, Roanoke, Spartenburg, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Denver, Madison, Little Rock, Birmingham and some cities I have probably missed. If you have any personal information on these places, please send it my way. I would love to hear what it is like to live somewhere else. We have both grown up in Texas, so it is difficult for us to imagine living somewhere else. People ask me where we would like to end up. Part of us wants to stay here but part of us wants to experience something new. We have decided we will just put the decision in God's hands and enjoy the ride.
The interviews have brought a lot of headaches as far as travel nightmares for Jessie and just the sheer organization; however, one good thing has come out of them - a family vacation. It has been a couple of years since our last vacation, so we decided it was time for another one. Jessie had an interview in Salt Lake City before Thanksgiving, so the rest of us tagged along for some skiing. The kids loved skiing and they loved swimming in the heated pool even more. There's nothing like toting 100 pounds of luggage and two kids across the country to have them exclaim that "the pool is the best thing" about the vacation. Last time I checked we have pools here. Oh well, it is the experience and memories - right??
{Warning: Bragging Ahead...}
Ashley is in first grade this year. She loves school and continues to be amazing at reading and math. She also started piano lessons this year and has picked it up very quickly. I have really enjoyed listening to her play Christmas carols on our piano. It has always been my dream to have someone around here play carols for us on Christmas Eve and I think this year is "the year."
In an effort to remedy my lack of childhood athleticism, I enrolled Ashley in soccer this past Spring. This did not go very well. She did not like sweating on warm days and being cold on cooler days. Actually, I found that there was no perfect temperature for her, even if it was a beautiful 78 degrees outside. So, her soccer career quickly ended. Tennis proved to be a much better sport for her, as long as it was played on an indoor court (obviously for the climate control). Dance classes still top her list of favorites. This past year she did an adorable recital routine to "Spoonful of Sugar" from Mary Poppins. We were then fortunate enough to go see the Broadway production of Mary Poppins and Ashley was mesmerized. Finally, she loved learning to ride her bike (without training wheels) this year. After a lot of practice, she is now a great rider. I can't wait for Landen to learn how to ride his big bike, so we can start riding as a family. Ashley continues to be a super sweet, caring and helpful little girl. I feel blessed every day.
Landen is now 3 and continues to be our little wild man. He never stops talking or moving. He loves anything with sports and begs Jessie to play football with him. We were able to sign him up for soccer this fall, which was a lot of fun. His soccer adventure went a little better than Ashley's. Each game Landen would score almost all of the goals for his team. Even his assistant coach (who was a former pro soccer player) told Landen he had "the gift." I thought he was referring to the gift Landen has of pushing my buttons but it turns out he has a "soccer gift." Honestly, I think his coach just had a soft spot for Landen because one day after practice Landen gave him a big hug and thanked him for teaching him soccer. That would be another one of Landen's "gifts" he can be quite the charmer when he wants to be. I think that will take him farther than a soccer gift, but Jessie is still anxiously waiting to see if the "football gift" is going to go anywhere.
Landen also has an amazing "gift" of asking questions. I get all sorts of challenging ones every day like, "What happens if your head freezes?" or "What happens if a fire station is on fire?" He is curious about everything and can never get enough knowledge. Building is still a great hobby of his and he is always helping Jessie with his household projects. Despite all his wildness, Landen is very sweet, helpful and makes us laugh every day.
As for myself, I have once again retired. It turns out there is plenty to do around here....imagine that! Going back to work was a great experience, but it made me appreciate being at home for now. I enjoy the extra time I am getting with Landen and being able to go have lunch with Ashley at school whenever I want. I did manage to complete all my requirements to renew my teaching certificate so I do still see myself teaching (or doing something) in these next couple of years. I just want to wait and see what happens with Jessie's interviews until I commit to anything.
That pretty much sums us up. The Cliffs notes version of the Dickens. Just like Cliffs notes don't live up to a book, my letter does not live up to our year. It feels like a lot is missing - those ups, those downs, the laughter, and of course the tears. It was all there, even if it was missing from the words of my letter. We had it all, so in that respect it was a good year. Now we are ready for our next adventure and are thrilled that each one of you are in our lives to share it with us. We hope you have a blessed holiday season and a wonderful 2010!!
P.S. If you have never visited my blog, feel free to catch up on what we have been doing these past couple of years. If you do read my blog, I hope you enjoy by semi-annual post. Hopefully, this will inspire me to post more often.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
HELLO, HELlo, HEllo, Hello, hello........??
There is too much to write after a long absence, so today I am choosing my favorite blog writing technique, random thoughts by bullet points.......
- Last week I had something very lucky happen to me. I had the chance to see the spread of communicable disease in action. Over the period of three days, I witnessed a stomach bug be passed from one member of my family to the next. Yes, by the third day little A, little man and myself, all contracted the same super fun stomach virus. It was even more fun to be the only adult at home who could clean up the MANY lovely messes made from this bug. People, you can't buy excitement like this, so go on and be jealous.
- In the past two weeks Ashley has lost THREE teeth. She had previously lost two last summer, so we are on a total of five teeth. On this new batch, she pulled out two all by herself and lost the last one tonight while eating corn on the cob (you know, the old fashioned way to pull a tooth, or country way, whichever you prefer. We were in the country eating the cob, so I guess we will go with the country way). In the first incident the tooth fairy only had a 5 dollar bill on her and couldn't leave the house, so little A really raked it in for a 6 year old. After getting the hang of having a little money, she seems to be pulling these teeth out left and right.
- Why are golf carts so much fun? Personally, I love the feeling of wind in your hair and a little speed underneath you. We now have a cart in the family and it is just so much fun. J's parents bought one to drive around their ranch and I could ride in that thing all day. She let the kids drive it this weekend. Just a little scary when your babies ask to take you for a spin.
- Since the previously mentioned grandparents had the children for the night I had some girl time with my friend, Michelle. We went dancing. Now I know why I weighed a little less in college. Every weekend I would go dancing with friends and dance for hours. That is not the way it works anymore. My entire body was sore after a couple of hours and I mean sore. Of course we were dancing to an 80's cover band, hence we were not just dancing but DAAAANCING. It is still a little sad to me when a lady who looks to be my mom's age can dance circles around me on the floor. What happened to my 21 year old boogie down self? Oh yeah, I got lazy.
- Speaking of the big girls night out; just a little note to all of you who hope to get a pedi in Grapevine, TX. It is not going to happen past 4 pm. Apparently, it must be an understood law that all nail salons must close early there. A little disappointing, until I remembered how much you get stepped on when dancing. Good idea to put the pedi on hold.
- There are some great shows on right now. My DVR is overflowing and it feels so good. Some things I am watching (in case you want to be hip like me): So You Think You Can Dance (of course), Tori and Dean Home Sweet Hollywood, Denise Richards' reality show, 18 and Counting, NYC prep, Kathy Griffin's reality show, and Running in Heels (just discovered today on Style network, awesome show about interns at Marie Claire). Yep, it is all reality shows, I figure the regular season is for my quality, scripted shows and the summer is for my trashy, guilty pleasures.
- When did circus tickets get so expensive? I already knew this from going to to the circus with J before we had children. He paid over $100 for out tickets, which I thought was ridiculous at the time but did not even fathom how much two extra people would add on to that amount. I guess I am being a little biased. After all, if you would like to spend $15 per ticket you are more than welcome to sit in a section that I think might be close to the altitude that planes fly at. So, if nosebleeds and lower oxygen intake are not a problem, these would work great. And let's not even get into how much snacks and junky toys are going to cost me. Even with all of this, I am still super excited to go this week.
- Little man is afraid of lifeguards. Just a little something interesting I can file away for future reference. The whistle is what turned the friendly pool helper into an image of terror for the little guy. What is most interesting about this to me is the fact that Landen will blow a whistle in my ear all day long without flinching, but a lifeguard blows a whistle one time while we are at a pool and nightmares ensue. I am seeing a future horror movie from this.
- Speaking of pools - my children can swim now!! (Loud applause please). At the beginning of summer, Little A would scream when we washed her hair, now both kids are swimming under water like fish. I thought it would never happen, thank you , thank you swim lessons.
- Another huge accomplishment this summer - The kids are no longer afraid of dogs (another loud applause may commence). If you know my kids you know that their fear was more pure terror than a little fear, so this is HUGE. As Landen told my neighbor "We are no longer mad at dogs, just a little shy of them."
- And finally one more achievement......drumroll please......Little A is no longer afraid of costumed characters! We have waited for this day for so long. After many agonizing trips to events that involved these creatures we can now attend things breathing a little easier. It was just 6 years in the making, but we are finally past it, I think. Now I can plan our Disney trip with a peace of mind.
So, that is just a little snapshot of our summer. Did I leave you hanging for a little more info - like, "where is J?", "what did he decide to do?", "what camps have the kids been in", I know it is just too much. I guess you will just have to keep checking back and maybe I will have another post, or maybe not.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Happy Birthday My Sweet Little Man!
He also continues to be a clown and makes us laugh all the time. At school he is also quite the personality. He loves all of his friends and his teacher has told me that all the kids claim him as their "favorite" friend. Today for his birthday he told me that all of his friends gave him a birthday hug and he just beamed. Well, I could obviously go on and on about my baby boy, he is truly one of the loves of my life and I am so lucky to have him (wildness and all).
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Another Day
She doesn't like playing soccer but she likes her cute jersey. The name of her team is Rock Stars which I find to be much better than some other team names. Not to name any of them but Hamsters do come to mind.
Her second year to attend the Daddy Daughter Dance. Daddy and Daughter both had the best time.
This post seems to include a lot of stuff about little A but not much about little man. Don't worry he will get his special time next week on his big day. I did want to point out something he is really good at. When J was cleaning out his car a couple of weeks ago little man insisted he vacuum the entire car by himself and he did a good job leaving nothing untouched.
While Landen vacuumed J's car, little A made us some lunch. All on her own doing with absolutely no asking or assistance from me. Notice the half piece of top bread missing. Each person's lunch had this missing. She must be aware of some new trend. These kids are really turning out to be useful.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Progress Report
The next question that begs to be asked is "what has brought you out of hiding?" Simple. A teacher conference. It is hard to imagine that I am attending these things as a parent, but I am on my second "real" conference with Ashley. In these conferences they present a portfolio of all her work and things she has been doing these past few months. Just a few snapshots of a lot of work. I figure if that is good enough for our schools, then that will work for my blog as well. (It also helps that little man was home sick today and I had time to catch up on things). I can just give a few glimpses of our past few months and then we will be caught up. No need for those awkward "let's get reacquainted" games or conversations, just a straight forward replay, a progress report if you will.....
Ashley
Since the teacher conference inspired my blog I figure it is the best way to start my recap. As many of you recall, Little A had a rough start to school. She is now perfectly fine and even conquered her Spirit Rally phobia. The best news came in her academic area. I have known for quite some time that Ashley is an amazing reader. The girl can read my MIL's real estate contracts for crying out loud. I also am quite biased in thinking she is brilliant but of course I am her mom. Now I have some hard facts to back it up. They give all these tests to the kids these days and in her tests she scored at the 3rd grade level in BOTH reading and math. Yes, she is still in kindergarten. The teacher told me she had never seen any kindergartener in all her teaching career (20 plus years of teaching mind you) with scores like Ashley in both areas and who could read like her. They want me to apply for the gifted program next year, which is something they rarely do for kids this age in our school district. Yes, I am shamelessly bragging. Is it probably in bad taste? Maybe, but I figure parents brag about their kids' athletic accomplishments all the time why can't I brag about something that my daughter is good at? So there. I am bragging. I am proud and I don't mind saying it. Now we are just patiently waiting for her to conquer her fear of dressed up characters and we should be good.
Landen
Little man is definitely no longer a baby, he is all little boy. He is fully potty trained now, which is awesome. I finally feel like we are at a good point and I am loving it. He is also very chatty. He does not stop talking and even talks in his sleep. He loves sports and asks me on a daily basis if he is old enough to play football. School is also going well. He loves to tell me all about all his favorite friends and teachers every day. I am also happy to report that he will finally watch tv. While some parents would find this highly inappropriate, I have no shame in jumping for joy. Landen has never watched tv, even for a few seconds. I am not advocating 24 hour tv watching, but there are certain times of the day, like dinner making, when tv is a necessity. With his new attention span, I can now cook dinner without a crazy man underneath me. Hallelujah. His favorite shows are a little odd, Caillou, Berenstain Bears and Wiggles. With the exception of Wiggles, this is probably not your typical 2 year old boy's line up, but he tends to just attach himself to whatever his big sister does.
Jessie
Jessie's eye is stable. He will have to be on his blood thinners for life, but hopefully that will prevent any future clots. The rare condition he has causes clots at any given time and with no warning. The clots could occur anywhere in his body, so we are hopeful the medicine will prevent this from happening. Of course his dreams of being a professional athlete will have to be put on the back burner but he can live through Landen's sports aspirations.
As for school, he is in his surgery rotation right now. This means incredibly hard hours but we are all hanging in there. He has been in emergency surgery and trauma for the past month and now will be in vascular for the next month. The stories he has are pretty incredible and I am still in awe of how he does it. It is getting closer to the time he has to decide on a specialty. This is a difficult decision but I know everything will work out just like the rest of the process has. I can't believe he is almost done with his third year and will be starting fourth year in just a few months.
Me
I am still teaching but have decided to not return in the fall. With everything that has happened it has been a stressful year and I am ready to just take a step back and get things in order. As J starts interviewing for residencies I also want to be available to travel to potential new cities. I actually do like my job, but I am also really looking forward to being done in a few months.
Christmas
We had a great Christmas. It was filled with lots of parties and events. Ashley and I enjoyed going to two adorable events, the Sugar Plum Fairy Tea and the theater production of Madeline's Christmas. J took the little man down to the trains at Northpark one day too. Both kids were excited about anything Christmas this year so it was neat for us to share our special traditions with them. We also had a lot of fun with all the family that came through. We had the Lubbock brothers out in waves and we spend many nights playing our favorite domino game with grandma and gradpa. The best part was all the family time we had. J had three weeks off and the kids and I had two weeks off.
I think that pretty much catches us up. It is amazing how much things change and how much they stay the same in a few months. The kids are growing too quickly, time is passing too quickly and I am just trying to catch my breath and slow things down. With school, J's crazy schedule, piano lessons, dance and soccer starting this week I am thinking that is not going to happen. Stay tuned.....
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Kindergarten Propaganda
Last week I picked little A up from school and she was wearing a "I Voted" sticker. I figured they had done a cute little lesson on voting, like we did in my pre-k class today, where they voted on their fave ice cream or color. But not this group. They had actually voted on the president. I asked A who she picked and she proudly said in a loud voice "I voted for Barack Obama." She was very matter of fact and even pronounced it correctly. (This should not be a surprise, Obama is getting all the youngsters.)
Fast forward to this evening... While sitting at the dinner table little A proceeded to have the following conversation with us.
Little A: "Are we going to watch the president election tonight?"
Informed Citizen Mommy: "Of course."
Little A: "I think I want to change my vote from Barack Obama to John McCain."
Informed Citizen Mommy: "Why?"
Little A: "Well, Barack Obama took some money from some people."
Informed Citizen Mommy: "Where did you hear that?"
Little A: "Someone told me who knows what they are talking about."
Informed Citizen Mommy: "Who?"
Little A: "A boy in Mrs. Oliveri's class."
So, there you go. A kindergartner apparently has all the answers and is passing on his info. If you haven't voted yet you might want to consider this. If you are are an Obama fan I am sure I can get another kid to spill their dirt on McCain. Why read the news when the old adage still rings true - everything we need to know we learned in kindergarten.
***In case you are thinking this post indicates I voted for McCain, I will never tell. There might even be indications that I wrote my own candidate in. Whatever the case, we will have a new president soon and change in whatever form it comes in is usually a good thing.