PreK Graduation

Well they didn't go as far as having an actual ceremony to commemorate the end of preschool but they did take pictures. Sunil is now a Kindergartener. Way to go Sunili!

Life's Little Lessons Learned

Well I watched Sheela's face as she learned an important lesson about putting away her belongings yesterday. Yup, she left her "razor" scooter laying in the driveway behind Sid's car. We ran it over a few times and dragged it along under the car before getting it out. Unfortunately it is not a total loss, the foam on the handle is torn and the foot plate canted but it can still be ridden... though it is much harder to balance now. The look on her face as she made the connection between the hideous scrapping noise and her favorite toy was priceless. I think she learned the lesson.

Happy Birthday Sunil!

My baby is five years old today and still such a sweetie. He is at Kids Club tody, hopefully making new friends and going swimming.

Birthday party

Sunil celebrated his birthday today with 13 of his closest friends... more or less. One friend from school, three from soccer, two from the neighborhood and then assorted siblings. We borrowed the Bonzai Waterfall Waterslide to entertain the kids. It tore huge holes in the ground but was a ton of fun. After we ran the kids out the adults took our turns too. I would use it again. We also tie-died t-shirts for each of the kids. They wont get to rinse them out to see how they did until tonight. I hope they come out and that the color doesn't all wash away immediately. Tomorrow for his actual 5th birthday we are going to go to Chuck E. Cheese (just the family) and then do the rest of the gifts.

Grammylyn and GrandpaJohn are here

They arrived Friday about the time I got home from work. We've been staying up way too late but I love the visiting so its worth it. John is taking some major antihistamines to deal with his cat allergy but I think its going pretty well.

Town and Country

Sid found a new car for me on Saturday. I still want the many seats that come with the minivan so I was looking at the Freestars and the Odesseys. Sid did convince me to give the Town and Country a try. It is very nice and not to sound too much like a girl about it but its the prettiest color of blue! The mileage was a little bit higher than I wanted but the price made up for the difference. It doesn't have the built in DVD player that I'm finally convinced that I want but Sid promised to have one installed for me. In the end I chose not to have it installed but I bought a portable model that we can use in either car and store in the house. I wont let the kids use it in town anyway and the Texas heat burns the monitors out pretty fast. So we have a pair of monitors that we can use anywhere. I've been too busy to take a picture but I'll get to it eventually.

Quality Auditor Training

Today I begin my two day Quality Auditor training class.  I have to leave a little bit early and work a little bit later but I think it will be worth it.  I'm going with 14 of my favorite co-workers.  It should be a good experience.

Bye-bye second grade

Today is Sheela's last day as a second grader!  Its been a great year and she has grown up a lot.  I can hardly imagine ever having another teacher that was as good a fit for her as Ms. DeWaters was. 

Birds, birds, birds

Sid and I have begun our second week of morning rides (I'm so proud of us).  Most of the ride happens before the first light of dawn.  The last time I spent much time outside before dawn, I was attempting to walk Sheela to sleep as an infant.  Five minutes with her outside always put her out.  But I rarely got to enjoy those walks, I was typically tired and cranky and focused on not dropping the sleeping little bundle of joy. 

 

Before that it was all the way back to middle school when I would do Brian's paper route.  What I remember most about those charming early mornings were the bull bats circling over head and then diving at me with blood thirsty abandon.  Even after learning what they were and how little they cared about my presence I had to pep myself up to run from one apartment door to the next because the silence before the attack was so unnerving.

 

Since that time I've rarely been out near a metro area, at dusk or dawn, when I haven't heard the bull bats circling though I've never had them diving close enough for me to hear the wind whistling through the "holes" in their wings like I did back then.  This morning I was listening to them and keeping track of where they were at all times like I always do when two of the largest birds I've ever seen glided past in front of me.  They came silently out of nowhere and disappeared through the trees by the pond almost before I could register them.  It was a pair of great blue herons.  That was a great way to start the day.  I hope I get to see more of them and less of the bull bats.

Sunil is shaping up to be a car guy....

Cars are his favorite pastime at home, he loves to start our cars for us in the morning and now he has become addicted to bumper cars. He almost skipped the pizza and cake at Gavin's party in order to keep driving.

Picture of a boxer

Here are Sheela's cuts after her weekend adventure.

The boxer

Poor Sheela, not only does she have to deal with the lice thing, but she chose to help her Dad break down some boards and brush and load it on the trailer for a trip to the dump. The board she broke kicked back and hit her in the face. She has a bruise between her eyebrows, and two cuts on the bridge of her nose. She looks tough, but apparently it hurts to move her eyebrows.

Its that wonderful time of year.... the lice are back

and of course where do they go first... Straight to Sheela of the long tresses. Luckily, this year we've already whacked off about five inches of length. It has actually been nearly three nears since we did this last time. As I recall the last round was ending just as Sheela was ready for her Indian dance recital and she needed ALL the length she could muster so that when she tied her hair to her girdle she could still move her head.

My treatment mode is pretty well established. The first night is an extremely nasty lice shampoo with a thorough combing. Then wash every fabric covered item in the house with hot water. The next couple of weeks will involve oiling her hair with olive oil and leaving it on for at least two hours and frequently overnight as often as possible. Overnight means I get to wrap her head in saran wrap to protect the sheets and pillows. Washing the oil out is rather an ordeal, but it does leave the hair very soft and manageable. There is also hair brush boiling, frequent vacumming and sheet washing every other day.

Bailey's Berry Patch

As we near Memorial Day weekend it's time to take a look at the opening day festivities at Bailey's Berry Patch (a little slice of Heaven in Texas). Last year, Mom and John took Blake and Sunil on opening day and they stuffed themselves full of blackberries and still brought back plenty for us to share. It was too early for them to be able to get blueberries... but not by much.

I was hoping to go this year and take Sheela along with us, but it looks like they aren't going to be able to open this year at all. They were hit by a MASSIVE hail storm at the end of March and it decimated this year's crops. Every flower and most of the leaves were stripped right off of the plants.

Five straight days

Sid and I completed a week of early morning rides. The weekends don't count, they are for sleeping late and cuddling with the kids. We usually end up just lapping Celebration Park a few times. From our house we can't really get anywhere too interesting, but I guess that its nice just to be up and out.

Waffles......

yet another one of the many "prepared" foods that my children prefer to eat still frozen. Waffles, pancakes, taquitos... I had to draw the line at mini-cornsdogs. Yuck!

The gist....

of today's parent teacher conference was great kid, very smart, though once he starts sucking his thumb he goes straight to lazy.  It's true, once his thumb gets plugged in all other functions stop (except for the hair twirling).  He works fast, he works neatly, he is very thorough right up until the thumb and then he just sits for 45 minutes to an hour and a half doing nothing but sucking and twirling.  If recess didn't roll around he'd probably never snap out of it.  Everyone else gets to go out to play but he has to stay inside until his work is done.  It usually takes less than five minutes for him to finish up.

 

He cut way back on the thumb sucking for awhile.  It increases when he's tired and we've let him stay up way to late too many times lately.  That isn't helping.

 

He has mastered his letter sounds, short and long vowels and most combinations, he mastered the hundred board and all of the relational works (heavy to light, smooth to rough, big to small, dark to light, etc), the continents, the oceans, the states, map concepts, the hundred board, addition and subtraction, grouping, all sorts of great stuff.

Aerobic exercise - a new concept for me

I used my new "youth" bike helmet this morning for the first time. Sid and I went out for a pre-dawn ride. We were out for less than half an hour but it felt good. I did have to work ridiculously hard for such a gentle ride. I hope that we can keep it up, exercising at night has not worked well for us at all.

When we got back Sid woke Sheela up and they went running while I took my shower.

ACS Update - Not yet final

The Relay-for-Life website is not crediting the teams with all of their donations, which is a little frustrating but even more annoying is that the donations that are there are inconsistent. Some checks were there for awhile and then fell off, cash that was donated at the event never showed up, or showed up and then fell back off. I have six donations showing on the marquee at my website, but as of today my report page shows that I have only two donations. I don't know which two its counting, I have credit for $305 which is everyone except the checks. Our team total is still showing as $675, but there should be over $800.

Its all about me....

I got to chose our restaurant Friday night for my birthday dinner. Mario Chiquita is where Sid and I usually go alone, but we haven't been in at least six months and it sounded really good. They have excellent sangria but as it was a family night I passed on the pitcher.

Sunil gave me a new bike helmet. My old one is nearly 15-years old and was plain black and rather drab. The new one, selected personally by my favorite four-year old, is a pretty blue with a green frog with a bright pink tongue. At the end of the tongue it says "ZAP". It is of course a youth size helmet and still too big for my little bitty head. I was disappointed to note that the strap system has not been improved in the last 15 years. The reason no one wears their helmet properly, is that its too damn hard to adjust.

Sheela gave me the novel Angels and Demons. Sid gave me a new flat screen monitor for the computer. The Sharma gave me a dozen red roses and beautiful chocker with matching earrings. I'll try to take a picture of it later. Its rows of tiny diamond chips and rubies.

I received breakfast in bed this morning along with a bouquet of construction paper flowers. Each flower is attached to a chore. Theoretically I can command cheerful assistance with any chore I select at any time.

I have quite a flower collection going right now. In addition to the paper bouquet and the roses I received bouquets from both of the soccer teams.

Swim Tests Today

I took both kids in for evaluation this morning, even though I was pretty sure they would both be repeating the same levels from last year. Sure enough, it's a repeat year. Sunil is signed up for two sessions of lessons, June 19 - 29 and July 10-24. Sheela only gets in one session before heading off to TN for golf camp and hiking.

Birthday 38

Sunil tells me that I can wait until tomorrow to turn 38. I don't think it matters all that much. I'm looking forward to a low stress but technically challenging day at work, dinner out with the family and then some time out with Sid. It is beautiful here today, so I may even leave work early to go walk around the pond for awhile.

Surgery Day

Today I went to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children to watch a couple of surgeries. The two primary cases were both lower limb corrections, one tibial and one femoral. The first case, was the result of an infection the child had when he was still an infant (he's 10 now). One side of his growth plate was destroyed so his lower leg only grows on one side. The ring system that we are evaluating uses a stack of three rings that are pinned in place around the leg. The rings are rigidly attached to each other, mostly. The ring above and below the point where the bone is cut will be swiveled slowly over the next month allowing a wedge of new bone to fill in which straightens and lengthens the leg.

The second case was caused by a congenital condition where one leg grows half as fast as the other. This patient was 12 years old and had been through a number of these surgeries before. He needed straightening in two different planes and pure grown at both incisions. The two incisions will have to be done at least six weeks apart, even though the frame was pre-built to do the whole procedure. When he needs the second incision it will be a very short procedure to cut the bone.

The most amazing thing that we saw though was a young girl with a severe (180 degree) spine curvature. That is not a typo. In her before picture she looked like she was leaning against a pillow, but that was really her butt propping up her back. They modified the ring system and straightened her out pretty well. They were removing the frame today. She has 14 pin holes in her back and hips and hasn't been able to lay down for four months.

The ring system is like one that we already have, just scaled down for pediatric patients. But the software that they are bundling with the system is amazing. It allows them pre-build the frame which saves hours in the OR and makes for a much more precise correction.

We are developing a long term relation ship with this hospital and I think that it may be one of the best things that we've ever done. The hospital is one of the best teaching facilities in the world, it's all free but you have to be recommended for treatment. I hope to spend a lot of time out there over the next couple of years.

Summer soccer

We have only one remaining soccer game this Spring. Super Blue plays on Sunday then we are on a practice only schedule until June 10th. They will be playing indoors down in Addison for the Summer, which means we will be sitting in airconditioned luxury for the Summer.

Book Two

Sheela finished the first Harry Potter this morning (around 5 am) and has started in on the Chamber of Secrets. She's having a great time and pretty proud of herself.

She fell asleep last night at 6 PM, and woke up early. It made for a nice evening for me, Sid and Sunil. Sunil doesn't get enough time as the center of attention.

Relay-for-Life 2006

Our team, Lynn's Lances, raised nearly $600 in just three days. We came pretty late to the party. Pictured here are Cecile, Beckie, Pete, Laura and Lee. Victor came later, and Andrea was chasing down some free Jamba Juice.

After the survivor's dinner and the opening remarks, the survivors started the walk with a lap of their own. The survivors are all wearing purple.
Next came the caregiver's lap. Here Cecile is supposed to be supporting Andrea but its more like they are holding each other up.
Sheela, Sunil and Sid spent most of the evening with us. They contributed another $20 or so for face painting and bounce house use.

Our team thought we would break down and leave at midnight but we can honestly say that we stayed for the entire event. That was made possible, of course, because the event was shut down rather rapidly at 11PM. The expected storm cell turned out to be more violent than expected and the sponsor's weren't taking any chances. We were given one hour's notice to remove all traces of the event. I was home in bed (asleep)by 11:30PM.

Even better the amount of rain required that the soccer games be cancelled so I managed to sleep late too.

9 and Dine

Yesterday was the 17th semi-annual MIS Golf Classic. It was my third time at the event and my first time using my own clubs. (Thanks Mom!) Once again a good time was had by all, but not necessarily good golf. I am proud to say that some of my drives, chips and puts were all used by my team. Still we tied for last, so I wasn't that much of a help. We actually only had two bad holes, but they were really bad, and we only played nine to start with.

Lynn's Lances

I've signed up to join a group of Lynn's friends at the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life this Friday night. We've been given conflicting information about the event, but the fundraising piece and the start time are both pretty clear. The end time isn't nailed down as well. We are either walking from 7PM Friday night until midnight, or until 7 AM Saturday, or possibly midnight on Saturday night. I'm okay with either of the first two options. Soccer games start at 8AM on Saturday. I'll have to break away before then.

In the meantime feel free to make a contribution to the cause. Apparently I can't get the link to work so please take it upon yourself to go to www.acsevents.org/faf/home and search for my name under the donations page. Thank you!

House Sparrows

Our flock of house sparrows continues to grow, thrive and generally take over.  We have the obligatory nest inside each of the bathroom vents and one in the bluebird box.  But new this year is the one that keeps trying to nest inside the barbeque grill.  We cleared it out twice then resorted to leaving the lid open... maybe for the rest of the Spring. 

Welcome home, Grandma and Grandpa!

They've been off visiting Ravi and family for the last three weeks. The kids are thrilled. I've been informed (by Sunil) that I'm no longer needed to drive him around. Grandpa will take care of all of that again.

What size was that?

The time has come to survey the kids bathing suits and summer clothes. They will swim at least twice a week all summer. Sunil finally did outgrow both of MY favorite suits. He's had them for nearly three years. That leaves him only the bright orange one. It is HIS favorite because it looks like Dad's. It fits better than ever... it is a size 12 Months. The child is about to turn five. That's just wrong.

Date Night

It has been a busy few days.  Friday we passed our transfer audit at work.  I got to step up and assist with the process.  I wasn't intending to be "in the room" but our Regualtory Manager had a family emergency and is still out of town.  The audit was quick and painless and we were very well prepared.

 

Late Friday afternoon Sid and I agreed to accept a placement of two girls, one eight and one seven.  Luckily for us that fell apart at the last minute.  We really don't need to have two more children to deal with.

 

Sheela took the screening exam for the talented and gifted program at school.  All she can say about the test was that it was easy and involved drawing pictures and applying captions.  One of her pictures depicted what life would be like if you had an egg for a head.  Test result will be mailed the week of June 5th.

 

While she was being tested, the Panthers were losing a soccer game.  The team started off three players short, and a fourth got sick on the field and had to be benched.  The girls played okay, not great, but not bad.  They just ran out of steam.

 

Sunil's team played later and was another of the high scoring variety more on the opponent's side than on ours.  But they played well and had fun.  They were only short one player.

 

Both kids spent the night with friend on Saturday.  Sid took me to Fogo de Chao for dinner, it's another Brazilian chop house.  Yummy!  We followed it up with a few hours at Pete's Dueling Piano Bar and dessert at IHOP.

 

We collected the kids at Sheela's soccer game today.  Super Blue finally won a game (against an older team).  Woohoo!  They played pretty well but a number of the girls were all at the same slumber party and a little bit tired.

 

On our way home we swung by the Natatorium for swimming.  The plan was to wear the kids out so that they'd take a nap.  That didn't work so well, but as I fell asleep as soon as we got home it was okay by me.  My understanding is that they went to play with a neighbor.