latest events

rachel went to her first halloween party this past saturday and actually did really well wearing her costume all night (she's a skunk! our lil' stinker...). we were so proud of her!

the next day, she went to a first birthday party and it was probably the most time she's spent actually interacting with other kids her age (we do go to story time at the library, but that's only 20 minutes every tuesday and its very structured). it was such fun to watch and she had a lot of fun. of course, it is also very confusing, as she continues to be kicked out of the church nursery... yes, the abbott number (012) is up on the screen every week now (signaling that we need to come and get her)... geez.

so, this kid with a mouth full of teeth (we're at 8 now... crazy!) is already starting to cause trouble. she only looks perfectly sweet... but i love her to pieces anyway. :)

soapbox

yesterday, someone asked me why i didn't wear purple in support of the "4 pittsburgh kids who killed themselves because they were gay"... i didn't know where to start.

first of all, the internet news story was about kids in OHIO and there were 4 kids but only 2 were gay. another suicide victim was foreign and the 4th handicapped. ALL were BULLIED.

Aside from the fact that it totally annoys me when people (this person, in particular) get super passionate about something without getting all of the facts and then spread their false information, it is particularly disturbing to me that the real issue - that kids were bullied so much they chose to take their own lives - was overshadowed by an attempt to "support someone's decision to be gay." i'm sorry, i don't see why that's the most important issue here.

what about the other circumstances that seem to attract bullying?? like being super smart, having bad acne, being poor, being handicapped, having the wrong parents or address or name, or even being too "loose" or too "prudish"?!?!? why was there not a campaign to support kids who are bullied for any reason?? (not sure what color one wears for that, but something could have been figured out.)

it was just disappointing. my heart breaks for kids who feel so out of place they want to end their lives. and my heart breaks for those they leave behind when they take their lives. i find it heartbreaking that ANY kid would feel that much pressure and attack from his/her peers, not just a select few with specific circumstances.

holly is sick

maybe it's too hard to see these pictures, but they are of holly and rachel. best friends, if you ask rach. holly... not so much. but holly is simply the best with rachel. she tolerates pokes, pulls and general attacks from the baby and never once snaps or even scares rachel off. what a blessing our dogs are for all of us!

but now, holly is sick. we don't know yet if it is just "old age" or if it's something more serious (vet thinks maybe a brain tumor) but either option makes us sad. holly is 12 (georia is 11) and they are big dogs, so it wouldn't be unusual for them to live only 12-14 years. but still, it's heartbreaking.

over the weekend, holly started walking around "like a drunk sailor" and then last night she fell down the stairs (i was home alone with rachel and couldn't get to her in time to stop the fall and i felt terrible). its so sad to see our lively, strong, happy dog struggling the way she is now.

so, now we wait to see if this "clears up" a bit in the next few weeks - if so, then we're just dealing with an aging dog. if not, we try to make her as comfortable as possible. this morning, ed hand-fed her chicken and rice (georgie only gets regular dog food... she's not sick). he said he felt like his dad as he prepared the food and fed her (ed's folks take such wonderful care of their beloved dogs). not a bad example to follow... :)

holding tight

it's no secret that i've been struggling a lot lately and feeling sorry for myself. i wish my life were different. and yet, today we'll go to the funeral for a 10 year old boy who died of cancer and this puts everything into perspective.
jake's brother is a classmate of evan's. his uncle is a former neighbor of ours. and his family goes to our church. we've been praying for healing for jake for a while now and God's answer was to give him eternal healing and take him home.
its heartbreaking. and faith-shaking too. ed & i were both angry when we heard the news that jake had passed. what kind of God allows the death of a sweet, beloved boy? we don't know why God allowed it but we know that we can still trust the Lord. after all, our life is testimony to the fact that God can allow bad things but He is still here. and He won't desert us. i don't know what He has planned for jake's family, but i pray for peace and comfort for them. and i pray for God's glory to be seen in this story.
and in the meantime, i hold rachel a little longer and a little tighter. i try to loosen up with the boys' school stuff and remember to enjoy them while we have them at home. and i thank God that despite all the stuff we've dealt with lately, we are healthy. what a blessing.

HOTO pictures

head of the ohio (HOTO) race that was last saturday. just got some pics from another parent whose camera is way better than mine! it was such a beautiful day (even though it was cold in the am, so mama foolishly dressed herself and rachel in warm clothes... ugh!) and the race was fun. we think drew might have medaled (3rd) but haven't confirmed that yet. this was noah's first race as a coxswain - meaning he yells out to the rowers and keeps them on their timing. yep, there is a position in a sport that allows someone to yell at teammates and tell them what to do. how did i miss this opportunity?!

anyway, some pics...

noah (center, back to camera) in jammies (essentially, they wear unis for the race and otherwise spend all day lounging in jammies, eating and napping. much like our big swim meet experiences). also, ed and rachel (in bjorn carrier) is to the right with his back to the camera (blue shirt). cuties. :)

noah has his back to us - he's facing the rowers

now noah is facing the camera and if you can see his face, you'll laugh. he's really yelling!

another one of noah facing the camera

here's drew in the 4 man (he's second from the right)

a closer look at drew (again, second from right) in the 4 man

here's drew's 8-man (he's 4th from the left, including the coxswain whose back is to the camera)

homecoming weekend

this past weekend was homecoming. the older 3 boys all played in the marching band, ev went and ran around with friends and i was careful to get rachel's nap schedule a little later so that we could try to stay for the half-time show (since she & i have not yet made it long enough to see the show). sadly, i didn't realize that the crowning of the homecoming queen means there is no half-time show for the band. bugger. but, rachel did make it until the second half and then we went home and put her to bed. it was really fun to be out and see so many friends (parents also there for their kids) and the miraculous victory by QV! (we are among the worst teams in the state... so sad. but it makes being a band parent better - at least we aren't football parents!) :)

then, we were off to HOTO on saturday (head of the ohio regatta). drew had 2 races (a 4-man and an 8-man) and noah was coxswain for the first time in a race (he loves it!). essentially its a long day of sitting around and then a 30 second excitement as they row past us at the finish line. (boats are timed, though, so it isn't like you can see the winner at that point.) ev came along in the afternoon (i had to work in the am, so we went late) and we enjoyed a beautiful day in the 'burgh with our friends, the frishkorns (their matt also rows and their dan is ev's buddy)!

after the race (& a lot of running around), we headed home to send noah & drew off to the homecoming dance with their friends. taylor's date wasn't able to go at the last minute, so he opted to see a movie with his dad & ev. the girls stayed home (as usual) but my friend, beth, came over with a pizza and i had a great "girls evening"!

sunday we crashed. and cleaned. sorta. and we gear up for another crazy week.

highlight of the day: rachel went to bed at 7 PM and woke at 8 AM!! yeah!!!! (mommy, meanwhile, spent THREE hours vacuuming stink bugs from drew's room. gross!)

too funny

i laughed out loud the other day walking in the door with noah & drew after crew practice. right then, noah exclaimed to drew, "just stop being so attractive!" i couldn't help busting out laughing and then i asked what the problem was. apparently, noah's girl friends on the crew team spend a lot of time talking about how attractive drew is during their 20-30 minute bus ride every day and noah is just fed up. i guess it's tough being the little brother of such an attractive guy but especially having to hear about it so often.
we've been hearing stuff like this for a while now. most of the time, it's funny to ed & me. we hear from friends about how their daughters talk about him - on the crew team, in the marching band, and just around school/town. we even started to get nervous when women mentioned seeing drew at work (at our little village grocery store) and commenting on how good-looking he is! (ed would reply with a quick "you stay away from my boy!") :)
however, we haven't really thought about it from his brothers' perspective. i guess it's tough.
i really do think each of our boys is very good-looking - and each in their own way, since they don't look alike! - but that doesn't help to have me tell them that. oh well. drew will go to college in less than 2 years... "out of sight, out of mind" for teen girls. then the other boys can step up.

catching up

i know, it has been ages since i last updated... i got spoiled by facebook. and addicted. here i was, spending precious moments at a time reading updates about people i've chosen NOT to keep in contact with and finding myself sucked in! it was general hospital all over again. only this time, at least they were real people who i had (at some point in my life) a relationship with. but still, do i need 450+ friends?! nah. too many to keep tabs on about stuff i don't care about.

anyway, my true friends (& family) are people i'll keep in touch with without any social network and i think i like that better.

so, i'm back to try to make up for lost time on the blog. quick update:

drew - still rowing, taking AP classes and thinking about college, dating his girlfriend for a year and worked 3 jobs over the summer (cashier at local grocery, sound for weddings & mowing lawns). brought in a good chunk of money, which he then spent on the girlfriend. clearly, he didn't learn that from his father's example... ;)

taylor - gearing up for the homecoming dance this weekend (taking last year's date... he's seen her once since last year's dance!) and looking for a job... hopefully turning 16 in december will help with the employment options. and he's excited about getting his license all of a sudden (he used to say he didn't want a license... he also used to say he would live at home indefinitely...). he's a little challenged at school with interest (questioning when he will need math in his adult life... i struggle with an answer) but loves his speech class, which i think is cool. and marching band (doesn't love it as much as last year, but its still a good thing in his world)

noah - also doing crew again, but this year he's a coxswain and loves it. he's doing great in high school - like, all A's and a B+ in the first report card! - and even grounding doesn't seem to have diminished his social life (??). he's also started learning to be a back up for Drew with sound at weddings and always anxious to do any work and make money. yeah!!

evan - also having a great school year so far. and reading books!! on his own!! (sorta. sometimes with a little proding) we're working on encouraging some activity other than roaming through town with a swarm of friends after school (sport, job, club, anything!) but he's got a good bunch of friends and we're just relieved that he's not walking through town as the only guy in a group of 10 girls!

rachel - she's fantastic. seriously, the doctor just said so today. :) she's a little on the small side, but it's not like she has big parents, so we're not worried. she's developing well - crawls everywhere, walking while holding onto things or people and is a total chatterbox (but not saying any words yet... not even mama). we've started going to the library story hour on tuesdays and she loves it. this week, she opted not to sit with mommy. she sat a few feet ahead of me (checking to be sure i was still there) and just observed everything. when our pediatrician commented on how wonderful she is in church i laughed and told him that his wife had failed to mention that she got kicked out of the nursery on her first week there (his wife was working the nursery that week)... yeah, she couldn't handle it and screamed so much that they brought her back to me! the doc dismissed it and says she does great. we agree.

here are some pics to share (yes, of rachel... i'll get some of the boys this weekend when we go to a regatta in pittsburgh and then homecoming!)