Dear Dad,

It's your birthday again, #58, the 11th one you've spent in Heaven.  We still miss you like crazy, especially on days like this when we know we would have been with you if you were still here.  We would have wrapped up a box of cherry cordials (I never really liked them, but ate them anyway, cause you liked them so much) and bought you a card telling you how great you were (and we would have really meant it).  Instead, we just fill our heads with lots of memories and wish you were here.

Dolly and I went and bought each other matching bracelets for your birthday.  With cowboy boot charms, because, until you were sick, that's all you ever wore.

And on the way home, we saw that once again, the star was lit up for the season on your birthday.

We stopped and visited the cemetery.  Dolly and Chief put up a little Christmas tree on Sunday.  She picked up the ornaments that had blown off and put them back on the tree.  There were footsteps in the snow from others who visited you there today.

This time of year is always the hardest.  Whenever we get together as a family, there is a big gap because you are missing.  I continue to be thankful that I have the hope that we'll see you again in Heaven someday!  Love you.

Catching Up

The last time I blogged, several months ago (!), we had just gotten a bunny.  The bunny lives with the chickens and goats.  Our other bunny left the safe zone of the pasture and hasn't been seen in a week or so.  :(

Now we have a puppy.  We didn't need a puppy.  They are a lot of work.  And if they are a Saint Dane (St. Bernard/Great Dane cross)  they will get really big and eat a lot of food.  But we couldn't resist his cute face.  So he's ours.

The pictures above were taken when we first got him.

He's 3 months old now and already 50 pounds!

Oh, and then we got a horse.  He lives up at my aunt's house, so she takes care of him in the morning, and we go up every afternoon/evening to take care of him.  His name is Charlie, and Ryley is in love.

Other events of our lives since I last blogged:

Color Vibe 5k:

Benefit Pull:

My brother and other family members and friends organize this annual tractor and truck pull 

to raise money for families in need.  

My brother Trav and his family came from Ohio.

Here, Quin and cousin Gauge are hanging out at the pull.

Gauge's 2nd Birthday:

Gauge loved his cake, another creation by my friend Julia!

Quin, on the other hand, cried when we cut it.

This was the first time these cousins were all together.

My kids and my brothers' kids.

The past couple of months have been a bit of a blur.   We sold the plow truck and JD has officially "retired" from being the plow guy.  He has a work truck to use as part of his job, and not having a second vehicle to worry about has been nice.  

The big kids played soccer and are now playing basketball.  I could probably find some soccer pictures if I tried hard enough.  BUT if I don't just go ahead and hit "publish" it could be another month before I do so.  I'm going to be better about posting.  I'm going to be better about posting.  I'm going to be better about posting.

Meet Sapphire.

We got another bunny.  We didn't need another bunny.  Actually, for a little while, we thought we did.

On our first trip through the Children's Barnyard at the county fair, Ry and Zeke fell in love with the bunnies.  They both wanted one.  We told them that they could get one if they paid for it.  Zeke didn't want to spend his fair money from Grammy and Grampy on a rabbit.  Ryley did.  (Zeke spent his money on rainbow ice, maple milkshakes, rides, and the arcade).  We told her she'd have to wait until the end of the week to get one.

That night, a Tuesday, we got home late, and JD and Ry went to look for Ruby.  Ruby is our other bunny.  (She's 2.5 years old and spent a year in my classroom as a class pet.)  She had been running around loose for a couple of days, but was sticking around pretty close.  They saw her, and she started hopping away, and they noticed that she wasn't hopping like she normal does.  Basically, her back leg were hardly working.  We caged her up and kept a close eye on her.  There were no signs of external injuries, so we weren't sure what happened.  Thanks to Gooooooogle, I learned that rabbits, when scared, can kick out so hard that they can break their own backs.  We decided she had a spinal injury.  We planned to watch her for a few days to see if it got better or worse.  My mom suggested Prednisone.    Within a week or so, she was moving around more.  She has since improved and is pretty much normal.  Yay for Ruby!

Back at the fair, the female bunnies were all sold.  We didn't want a male in case Ruby got better.  The bunny lady had a new litter born during fair week and promised to let us know if there were any gray females.

She was ready to come home on Saturday.
We named her Sapphire (we already have a Ruby, grey bunnies are called Blue, and we got her in September).  Ryley is in love.  Even Zeke likes to hold her.  Quin, well, he likes to terrorize her.

So, even though we didn't need another bunny, we have one.  My animal lover is thrilled.

The end of summer

School has started.  I'm back at work.  We're getting up early.  Summer is over.

Day 1 and Day 3

Our school opened a new preschool, and Quin made the age cutoff by two weeks, so I get to take all of my crew to school with me!

We celebrated the boys' birthdays with one big party.  We invited mostly family and a couple friends' families and had a lovely afternoon.  Zeke wanted Star Wars so we had a variety of Star Wars themed snacks (thanks to Pinterest- I know NOTHING about Star Wars).  Quin is into trains, so Julia made him the following cake.  He didn't want us to cut it!  My boys are 8 and 3 now- hard to believe.

Zeke ran the local 5k and got third place in his age group.  He was pretty psyched.  I was on Quin-duty and enjoyed being a spectator.  His time:  28:26.4

Ry and JD participated in one last draft horse show and they came away with three red ribbons.  Ryley did a great job and has improved in all areas since the same show last year.

And Quin, oh what a guy.  I was extremely nervous about him going to school, mostly potty training concerns.  I spent almost every waking moment on it with him, especially the pulling up his undies and shorts and not running around the house naked part...  And he's done great!  A few meltdowns on day 1, but good reports otherwise, and no potty issues.  Yay!

We're adjusting to earlier mornings and busier days.  We've fit in visits with out-of-town cousins from Nantucket and California.  JD is keeping busy at work and we don't see him much during the week.  Zeke has started playing soccer.  Ryley has a new pet.  Quin continues to be a busy, busy boy.  Summer is over, but life is still good!

3 Days, 10 Years, Many Tears

There are three days of the year in which the pain of losing my dad is more intense.

December 12.  August 22.  Fathers Day.

December 12 is my dad's birthday.  I think of him, of the age he would be, and what our lives would be like if he were still in them.  I think of the fantastic grandpa he'd be to my kids and how things would be so different.

August 22 is the day he died, the day we lost him forever until we meet again in Heaven.  I think of all the time that has gone by and how much he has missed, especially the arrivals of his five grandchildren.

Fathers Day is, well, Fathers Day, and I don't have my dad here to celebrate.

I cry on these days.  Texts from siblings, posts on Facebook, they all make me tear up.  But they're good, too.  I know I'm not alone, that others miss him as much as I do, love him as much I do.

10 years.  Today it has been ten years since he died.  I can't believe he's been gone that long, that we've missed his "whisker rubs" and bear hugs for that long.

(I need a scanner.  Pardon the pictures of pictures.)

Me and Dad at my college graduation in 2002.

Dad as I remember him most before ALS.

We visited his grave today.

We remember him always.

A couple 5ks

Although weeks have passed since we actually ran these 5ks, I'm blogging about them anyway, mostly so that I can look back at our times and such.  We (Zeke and I) ran two 5ks within a week at the end of June/beginning of July.

The first was the Race for Sundaes.  It was an out and back course, mostly on a hilly dirt road.  I actually like that it was an out and back since I got to see Zeke during the race.  (I was heading out and he was on his way back.)  He kicked my butt.  This race had timing chips, so our times were posted pretty soon after the race.  A colleague (and Zeke's teacher) was running also (her first 5k) and it was fun to see her there.  Zeke did great but was really bummed that he didn't win an age group prize.  He missed out by a few seconds.  The kids that beat him were several years older, but he was still in a mood because of it.

Zeke's mouth is full.  He enjoyed the free sundaes!

Times:

Zeke- 27:19.5 (4/13 Male 1to 13)

Me- 31:24.1 (8/14 Female 30 to 39)

The next race was on the 4th of July at 7 in the morning.  I'm not a morning person.  But JD had that day off and could keep Quin and our Fresh Air buddy and also actually watch us finish, so we did it.  It was really humid that morning and Zeke ran slower than normal.  I thought I was running slower too, but I ended up meeting my short term goal of finishing in less than 30 minutes.  Yay!  The course was pretty flat and I'm sure that made a difference.  This one was fun as Nancy (colleague from above) and her husband ran again along with other friends and students.

Times:

Zeke- 28.23 (9/28 12 and Under)

Me- 28.34 (39/103 Open Female)

I've only run once since.  Shame on me.  I was in the habit of going for a run every Sunday morning before church, but then we went away, and then I wasn't feeling well, and then I was exhausted, and the excuses kept piling up.  Our next planned 5k is this Saturday.  Ry has a horse show at the same time.  We're undecided at this point.

a week

Friday

My mom was given the day off from work and decided we should go out on their boat.  It was a beautiful day after a long run of rainy days and although the lake was a little rough, it was a great day to be out on it.  Dick drove to a bay where Zeke went "water sledding" for awhile.  Then we drove to Basin Harbor and docked the boat.  We visited Dolly where she works in the gift shop there and got creemees at the Harbor Store.

Saturday

Mom and Dick were stuck with us again.  We left about 6:30 a.m. and made the drive to North Conway, NH,  for a Day Out with Thomas.  The activities were geared toward younger kids, so Ryley and Zeke weren't that impressed, but Quin absolutely loved it.  All of the kids enjoyed the train ride.  We made a stop at the LLBean outlet and made it home before dark.

Sunday

I went for a run in the morning and then jumped in the pool to cool off.  I love having a pool!  We went to church and then headed to Springfield, VT, for little Kien's 2nd birthday.  We spent the rest of the day there and got home late.

Monday

Our pool had turned green when we were gone on Sunday and didn't look very inviting when I woke up.  I decided to hit the beach instead, but wasn't sure I wanted to go alone with 6 kids.  Thankfully, Christa was able to join me and help with crowd management.

Tuesday

The pool looked much better after treatment.  It was hot again and we spent quite a bit of the day in the pool.  Since we were home for the day, I was able to work on potty training with the little guy.  The lesson of the day was how to take his undies off himself.

(No pics today; this was last week)

Wednesday

Home again.  With no extra kids, we were able to get a bunch of housework done.  Quin doesn't like the pool (because "it's wet") so the big kids and I hung out in the pool during his nap.  Major potty training success as he pooped on the potty twice (once, with me sending him to the potty, and once, completely on his own!).

Thursday

No pictures today.  Pretty much a repeat of yesterday.  I'm loving these relaxing days at home.  Things will get a little busier tomorrow, and we have a fun weekend planned!

The Fresh Air Fund!

Last Monday, we parked in a church parking lot and waited for a bus full of kids from New York City to arrive.  We were excited to meet a little 6 year old boy named Yeral.  We hoped he'd fit in well with our family and that he wouldn't be too homesick.  When he got off the bus, one of the FAF volunteers immediately took a picture of our "family."  We grabbed his duffel bag, got him settled in the van, and headed home.

The rest of the week flew by.

He got along extremely well with Zeke and also loved Quin and Ryley.  He was happy to go places with both JD and me.  He especially loved swimming and playing with the animals.  He made friends with every dog we encountered.  He had one afternoon of homesickness, but otherwise was very happy go lucky.

We did a couple day trips that were free thanks to the businesses that support the Fresh Air Fund.  Thank you Shelburne Farms and Sugarbush Resort!

Our week with Yeral:

Yesterday, we had to say goodbye.  He wanted to wear the same clothes he came in.  We went back to the church parking lot and waited for the bus to arrive.  When the bus came, we gave him big hugs and promised to stay in touch.  He was a great addition to our family and we hope he'll be able to come back next summer!

If you are interested in hosting a child from NYC for a week or more, check out fresh air.org.
You'll be changing a life and the lives of your own family members too!