Fall Fun

It has been a busy fall around here. Sam turned 6 (!?!?! How did this happen?). Among his presents was an Eli Manning jersey that makes his Aunt Jen very proud:

It seems like the man-training is working out. Last night Sam was bummed out because he had to go to bed and was going to miss the Bears-Packers game. Rich wanted him to watch some of it so we called him down and found that he had been crying because he was missing the game. (Okay, so there is more man-training needed, but, hey - he WANTED to watch the game. That is progress.)

Megan is running Cross Country this year. They decided to open the team to 5th graders as well as 6-8. She is doing awesome. She is enjoying it and I am having a ball watching her.

Hannah rode in a horse show this past weekend. She has not had a chance to ride in a show outside her barn yet, so it was pretty exciting. She rode a horse named Shameless in two classes, a halter class and a walk, trot, canter class. She did such a great job- we were very proud of her. She did not place in the walk, trot, canter, but she got a 5th place ribbon for the halter class.

Shameless had a great time too. He showed his joy by getting spooked by a little buggy and stomping on Hannah's big toe (which had already been stomped on twice this summer). Nothing was broken- just a bad bruise and a toenail that is not long for this world. It comes with the territory, I guess.

I don't want to leave our little Mary out. She is still doing gymnastics and is enjoying 3rd grade. I will have to get some pictures of her at the gym and post them. She and Sam are both tired of going to cross country meets. :)

My foot is still healing. I am walking around in running shoes and I am allowed to ride the stationary bike. I interpret this as permission to do spin class and it feel so good to get some real exercise. I am looking forward to November when I can run. Yay!

Family Pictures

Finally, after 4 years, we had family pictures taken a couple of weeks ago. The photographer is a woman who works at Abbott with Rich. Wow, did she do an amazing job. We are in the process of getting the digital images and I will post a few when I can. This also means we will have a lovely Christmas card this year and I will not be chasing kids around in November, trying to get a decent picture with everyone looking somewhat happy (or at least in the same direction).

If you live in there area, I highly recommend her. Check out her website: www.dawnnahorniakphotographycom. Really, she is incredibly talented. Some of the pictures are on her blog, so feel free to take a peek!

First Day of School 2010

It is hard to believe another school year is here. I would say the summer flew by, but it did not really for me. I guess the foot surgery in the beginning of August REALLY slowed things down. What is shocking to me are the grade these kids are in. 8th, 5th, 3rd & 1st. Unbelievable. They grow up, yet I do not age.

Yeah, We Are Still Here...

Okay, so in light of my sister's snippy comment to my last post, I am doing a quick update. This is especially important because my last posted is titled "End of School" and school is starting tomorrow. So now at least I have something posted before I put up those back to school pictures.

As you can see from the above photo, Sam is playing flag football this fall. So far he is having fun and so are we. It is really cute to watch. By using the word "cute", I do not intend to take away from the fact that this is supposed to be part of his "man training." It is, first and foremost, very manly. But it is still pretty cute.

It is hard to believe summer is over. We had a great time. Mary and I started off by spending a long weekend in NYC visiting my family. Then the whole family traveled out west in late June and early July for the Green Family Reunion, which Rich and I were in charge of planning. We spent about a week in Utah and then 5 days in Clayton, Idaho (population 26; located between Stanley & Challis). It was incredibly beautiful and fun. The kids had lots of fun cousin time.

Summer ended quickly for me. I had my other foot operating on in the beginning of August. We were lucky enough to get our niece Teresa to come out again for a couple of weeks to help out while I was on crutches. That was awesome. This foot was much less involved than the other and now, only 3 weeks out from the surgery, I am hobbling around in my boot, without crutches. Another 2 weeks and I will be in a gym shoe. Can't wait!

Before I went under the knife, I had to fit in some living! We went to see Bon Jovi at Soldier Field on Friday night. We got home at 2:30 am and then got up again at 4:45 am to drive to Racine, Wisconsin, so I could do a triathlon. Rich had done the Door County tri a couple of weeks earlier and I knew this race was the only chance I would have to do a tri before my surgery (2 days later). And it's not as if I could miss the Bon Jovi concert, so I decided I needed to suck it up. It definitely hurt, but I was really glad that I was able to do both things. Especially now that I have been sitting on my behind for 3 weeks.

So now the school supplies have been bought and delivered, teachers met & classrooms visited. Tomorrow all 4 kids have to get up and on the bus by 7:40 am. It is only a half day, but I am sure the morning will be crazy. Now we can get excited for Fall.

End of the School Year

It is hard to believe that the school year is over (at least it will be in 2 days)! Hannah finished with a bang. We got to see her get the Student of the Month award and also got to tour the Holocaust Museum that the 7th grade put together. Here are a couple of pics of her getting the award and of her contribution to the museum:Megan and Mary have finished well too. There were no big "end of the year" events for either of them but they both have done great this year. Megan is finishing up her undefeated soccer season! Mary got to have pajama day in her class. Sam is just about done with kindergarten. I got to go with his class on the annual farm field trip that the kindergarten gets to take. It was so cute - they got to hold chicks, ducklings, goslings & kittens, and they got to ride ponies and milk a cow.
So summer is just about here - I want to slow the time down and just enjoy! Check out this article - it totally expresses what I am aiming for this summer. http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/family/sc-fam-0527-simplicity-20100527,0,7676892.story Bring on the boredom!

Bee Shirts

Today I got to spend the morning with my friend Amy making t-shirts for Sam's class's big end of the year Farm Field Trip. They are the Super Bees, so each shirt had the child's name and a bee on it. They turned out cute. We just need to add the googly eyes. 20 kids in a kindergarten class = a lot of t-shirts.
By the way, here is a much updated picture of my beautiful right foot:



Rich just walked in and saw that I was posting the above foot picture and he said he can't believe that I would put that on the internet. Thanks, dear.

Hannah the Poet

For a Social Studies/Language Arts project, Hannah had to write a poem relating to the Holocaust. This is what she turned in:

Death’s Kiss

On a crowded train to my doom

I cry, scream, plead

Into an ear

That cannot hear

The future looms, in the smoke over there

Where the bodies burn.

Soon I will be ash, floating in the sky…

I have always wanted to fly.

Out of the train,

Death holds my hand

I have nothing left

And nothing to lose.

Angry yells and barbed wire

Welcome, please, jump in the fire.

This way, go that way

Like a shy child, I obey

Now I take the cleansing of my life

In the shower Death kisses me

Her lips are cold, her grasp is steel

She is beautiful

She is my one way out of this dark hole.

I was pretty amazed. It is so strange because Hannah is so like me in so many ways, but so different too. My high school English teacher told me I was the most literal person she had ever met. What a surprise when I majored in math! For Hannah to write that poem is so out of my league, it isn't funny. And of course - she hates math.

Update

Whew! Could it possibly be so long since I posted anything? It seems every other post I do is some sort of update meant to fill in for months missed. Sorry.

So what have we been up to? Well first off, my foot is doing pretty well. I was on crutches for five (!) weeks. It was longer because of an infection the pictures of which I will spare you. It was pretty nasty. Then I was able to walk in the boot for a couple of weeks and then I graduated to a tennis shoe. So here I am, 10 weeks out form the surgery, wearing tennis shoes (and only tennis shoes) with new orthodocs in them. I am going to physical therapy (wow did I need it after wearing that boot for 7 weeks) and I can ride the stationary bike, swim and walk on the tread mill. I interpret riding the bike as doing spin classes, so at least I can get a little exercise. The swimming is helping too (I was totally sore after my first time back in the pool - so depressing!). I go back June 1, which will be 3 months post-op. I am hoping for clearance to run. And wear something other than tennis shoes (not that I am not grateful to be out of the boot!)

In retrospect, I will say that the bunion surgery has not been that big a deal and I am not too stressed about the other foot (I scheduled it for December, but I might move it up). The big issue was the lousy hammer toe. It still does not feel anything near normal and the doc said it could take a year for all of the feeling to come back. Ugh. Luckily, I do not have that issue on my left foot. All it needs is the bunion surgery.

While all this was going on, Hannah turned 13. I can't believe it. She had a fun afternoon of shopping at the mall with Teresa and then a sushi dinner with her dad (I was still out of commission). Here are Hannah & Teresa after their shopping trip:



It is hard to believe Hannah is so grown up. I am so proud of what an awesome, talented kid she is. I still see that little girl with a whale spout, twisting her hair. Then I blink and here is this mature young woman. People warned me she would grow up fast - why didn't I believe them?
Happy Birthday Hannah! You are awesome!

We were able to spend spring break with my sister and Teresa. We had a blast and got to catch up with our friends the Mojicas.

Jen's rental car was a black Grand Marquis. It was huge. We decided a gangsta pose would be appropriate.


Time is flying by and we have a crazy summer coming up: Rich & Hannah to Utah for Kristy's wedding, Mary & me to NYC to see my family, Hannah to Girls' Camp, all of us to Utah & Idaho for Green family reunion...and that just gets us to July! Hopefully there will be a triathlon for me in there somewhere along with lots of running!

BOCD

BOCD is the disorder with which Rich has diagnosed me. It stands for "Bunion Obsessive Compulsive Disorder." I have to admit I have had it bad ever since we decided to go ahead with the bunion surgery. See, I have always had hideous feet thanks to my DNA. Bad genes combined with the abuse of my being a runner had finally led to some problems that had to be fixed.

So here I sit, almost a week after surgery. All I can say is thank heavens for our awesome niece Teresa who flew out here to take over and be me for a while. Since my worst foot was my right foot, the doc did that one first. That means no driving for at least 3 weeks! There is no way we could have done this without Teresa. She is the best!

Anyway, back to my BOCD. I think I can honestly say that I have read everything possible on the internet associated with bunions, recovery from bunion surgery, exercising after bunion surgery, shoes after bunion surgery, physical therapy after bunion surgery, gaining weight after bunion surgery, Paula Radcliffe (women's world record holder in the marathon; had a bunion removed a year ago) and Victoria Beckham (she's got 'em too). More topics than that I am sure.

In about a month, we will do the other foot and I will see a light at the end of the tunnel (I hope). The end result will be no running for 3 months or more, but hopefully better feet and knees that will enable me to run for many more years. I have to remember that because it really bums me out that my triathlon/running season is going down the toilet.

WARNING: The pictures below are ugly & gross. Both of my feet are in them so you get to see the hideous "before" and the (temporarily I hope) hideous "after." I go back to the doctor tomorrow and will hopefully get some more dramatic pictures. These pictures are from my appointment Thursday, 3 days after the surgery. The foot is still pretty swollen, but it is definitely straight. There is a gauze pad over my second toe (I had a hammertoe too and they had to put a pin it it) and it is till covered in the picture - it is not really that color.






Are you sure you want to see them?








It is not too late to turn back!











Okay, but I warned you:



Good times!

Horse Show

Hannah recently had her schooling show at the barn where she rides. I tried posting a video of her, but I could not get it uploaded. :( Anyway, here are some photos of her riding Hansel. She has been riding bareback for a couple of months now. It is supposed to help her build up strength and help her post better. It just looks hard to me. She did a great job and got a blue ribbon. Now she is riding in the saddle again, thank goodness. She has been working very hard and it is really showing!