Just a vent

Went thru my mail yesterday and what was there for me? A notice for jury duty starting July 28th. TWO WEEKS of having to be at the courthouse at 8 a.m. in downtown Columbus. The summons specifically says NO FREE PARKING. WTF?? So they pay me $20 a day which I will then need to use for parking. I'm beyond irritated. I'm not going to try and get out of it because you only get one free pass. Next time, no excuses so I figure I might as well do it now. It's just going to be a pain in the ass. What's kind of funny is that my co-worker(the other parent advisor) just had jury duty in May and was out for two weeks. She'll get a kick out of this news!! She at least had a really good and juicy case. I can only hope. :)

Learning to swim

Unfortunately this is tiny picture taken w/Mike's cell phone but I love it anyhow. We have not gotten anywhere with Evan in regards to swimming the past 3 summers. He's been in group lessons but to no avail. So, this year we decided on private lessons and two lessons into it, he's doing this!! I am floored and beyond excited. When we were at the trach conference a couple weeks ago, he surprised me with the ease in which he went into the pool-first time since last summer. I had hoped the private lessons would be just what he needed and so far so good. I'm just so happy!!

My brother's birthday

The grandsons

The queen surrounded by her subjects
The sibs
Mama Rose and her kids
The grandsons (1st take)

Today was my brother's 48th birthday. It brings me great joy to say that I am the youngest and will still be in my 40s when my brother and sister are in their 50s. Holy shit-sorry but wow, we're in our mid to late 40s!! Anyhow, we had a great time at Jay's house-lots of laughs as usual. Liz and I happened to have our cameras with us so we decided to take some pictures. I have decided that I do indeed look like a 45 year old middle-aged woman with a big fat face who needs to lose weight. Usually I'm behind the camera so I'm in my own little fantasy world in regards to how I look. The diet starts tomorrow. I was feeling kind of good about myself because a cute young boy bought me a beer the other night when out with friends-now I think he was just feeling sorry for the old lady who was out with her young friends.

Walk To Defeat ALS 2008

This will be my fourth walk-please help me reach my goal!! See link below.

http://web.alsa.org/goto/2008walkforjim

Evan and Sara

Running the conference

In the hot tub

This is a picture of Evan and our friend Sara from last week in Cincinnati. Sara is a special little girl and her mom and grandma have become very good friends of mine. Sara was born just a few months before Evan with a laryngeal web, just like Evan. They have both endured the reconstruction surgery (they both see Dr. Cotton) and both have sweet, distinct voices due to scarring of their cords. As you can see, they have alot in common. Unfortunately, she and her family live in Phoenix. :( We're hoping to plan a trip in the near future to see them and our other friends the Schrootens. I secretly hope that one day they will get married because I would already love the in-laws!!

Target

I love Target. There, I said it. I LOVE TARGET!! It is WAY too close to my house-in fact, I can see it from my bedroom window. I think I'm there at least every other day. Anyhow, I went over last night to pick up some milk and while Evan was looking at the toys, I was passing by the Thermos items they had-not really in the market for a little cooler, but I thought the backpacks were kind of cute. I noticed they were $9.99. I picked one up and it had an "as is" sticker on it with the price of $1.71. It was just like the others, nothing appeared to be missing, it had the cardboard inside to keep its shape, no rips, etc. Of course I had to buy it!! $1.71-how can you pass that up???

Trach conference

Zoo

Menna (she's darling)
Evan, Dr. Cotton and our friend Sara in 2006

Some of the kids outside Newport Aquarium
Evan and Eric (Ann's son)
Jacob at the gala

Evan and I went to Cincinnati Wednesday thru Sunday for the tracheostomy.com conference. As many of you know, I became a member of this online community when Evan had his trach and have not left it yet! In 2003, a group of us talked about how fun it would be to actually get together and meet in person and we did in St. Louis in June of 2004. It was not only a social gathering but a conference too-we were able to get Dr. Cotton (Evan's ENT) on board from the very beginning-this man is like a rock star to parents such as myself! He's very famous within the trach community and people from all over the world bring their children with airway issues to him. Anyhow, he's from Cincinnati Children's and he came to St. Louis in 2004 and 2006 but suggested we have it in Cincinnati in 2008. Lucky for me, right? My wonderful friend Ann has coordinated each conference-it takes alot of work and patience but she does it and we're all extremely grateful!! We went to Newport Aquarium Thursday night (had the place to ourselves) and then had dinner at the zoo on Saturday night. Friday night was spent at the hotel at the gala-the kids had a ball dancing and we had a very nice dinner as well. Mike came down in time for dinner on Friday and spent the rest of the weekend with us. Evan was able to give his two favorite doctors a hug-Dr. Cotton and Dr. Kaul (his GI). They loved every minute of it. Actually, Evan practically knocked Dr. Cotton down when he came into the hotel because he ran to him and just threw his arms around him. It was very cute. I had so much fun with my friends-lots of talking, laughing and oh yes, some drinking took place as well!! I'm going through post-conference withdrawal. :( It's so hard to say good-bye to everyone once it's over. Don't ask me why I don't have any pictures of me with my friends-duh!!!

Trach Conference-video

Trust me, he does NOT get his moves from me!!

Dinner with friends

Darcy, Carolyn, Amanda
Krista, Cyndi, Susie
Christine and Jennifer
Bad picture of me, good of Debbie

A week ago tonight, I had dinner with a group of special friends. We all met because our kids went the same preschool. We started having coffee together and that led to dinners, play dates, etc. Although we don't see each other as often as we'd like, we are able to pick up where we left off when we DO have a chance to get together. We went to a local Mexican place and as usual, we closed the place down! We were out on the patio and they started turning the lights off inside as well as the big OPEN sign so we reluctanly left. :)

School's out!!

Honor Roll Trophy
Two smart kids
Evan and Mrs. Sayers

Evan is a 2nd grader now-how can that be?? I am so incredibly proud of him. He made honor roll all 4 grading periods so he got a trophy at the awards ceremony on Wednesday. A classmate of his had a party yesterday after school was out-for kids and parents alike. It was crazy but the kids had a great time. Wait a minute, the parents had a great time too! Good food, good conversation, some alcoholic beverages and lots of laughs. It was a good way for the kids to let off some steam and for parents to be able to just relax and hang out together. Evan's school only has one class per grade so the kids start kindergarten together and then stay together thru 5th grade. So, not only are the kids together for 6 years, the parents are too. We've got a great group-we're all very different because ages range from late 20s to mid 40s but we all get along really well and I can honestly say I truly enjoy their company. I am in the PTA as well (Madam secretary, thank you very much) and have gotten to know other parents from different grades as well. It's just a really nice situation all the way around and we're just so glad we were able to get Evan into Colerain.

Oh, the first day of summer vacation and my kid was up at 7. WHY????

My dad

You know, I think about my dad every day but it's been awhile since I've shed any tears. Well, let me tell you, I made up for it on Sunday. I've been going to church out in London for quite a few months now and there have been times where I've teared up because just being there makes me feel closer to him. I guess I just felt his presence more than ever this past Sunday and could vividly see him sitting in his normal spot. I just started to cry after the closing hymn-I mean, if I had let myself, I would of really broken down. It was that kind of cry. I just miss him so much. There are so many occasions when I just have that split second thought of "oh, I need to call Dad and tell him". Isn't that funny? Anyhow, I was looking thru some pictures and came across this one of the two of us at Hoover Dam back in '93-I went out to Vegas w/my parents (my mom's first time-what a trip-she and her bucket of nickels). It was just the three of us and we had a great time. I think that picture is one of a very few that my mother has actually taken herself! The other picture is self-explanatory. The only reason I didn't elope was because I wanted my dad to give me away. :)