Big and Little

Oh my gosh! I can't believe how time flies!!!

...and I can't believe how bangs can totally change an appearance
...and I can't believe how cute missing front teeth are on little kids
...and I can't believe my son used to let me plant him, shirtless, out on the deck in the backyard and cut his hair with a clippers
...and I can't believe my daughter cut her own hair and tried to hide it under her dresser the week before Kindergarten started
...and I can't believe how expensive braces are

And I can't believe how I just can't stop smiling when I look at these pictures:)

A Future in Politics

Aside from the thrill of no lines, multiple teachers, and three choices of entrees at lunch, one of the other new perks at Middle School is Student Council. This election season consisted of a one-page application, a three-day campaign, two posters, and a 30-second videotape session.

Short and sweet. (I think that's how all elections should be, don't you?)

Will wanted nothing to do with it. In contrast, Maddie jumped at the chance. I'm pretty sure she had her whole application filled out on the 2-block walk home from school that day. She displayed her posters proudly, and worked on her campaign ideas thoughtfully.




My favorite part of this run-for-office was her idea to plant flowers and vegetables in the courtyard area, thus increasing the beauty of the surroundings, encouraging a healthy diet for the students and teachers, and reducing the school's carbon footprint.

I also liked the part where she explained that she "can handle any situation...realistic or not."

Hmmm...I can't quite imagine what kind of unrealistic situation she could handle so well. But that promise must have had some kind of appeal to 5th graders, because it worked!

It's so cool to see her leadership abilities emerge a bit as she gets older. I was always much too shy as a kid. And still, to this day, I'd rather follow than lead.

Plus, I never would have had the skills to defend my classmates in case of a zombie attack.

Off to Middle School

The kids had their first day of school today. They were both a big bundle of excitement and nerves!

There will be a lot of changes for them this year. First of all - the best thing is that school starts a whole hour later than ever before. In fact, as I was rolling out of bed to start making breakfast, I noticed their bus from the last several years pulling away from the stop behind our house. Let me tell you...that felt GREAT!

They will change rooms and teachers for nearly every class. And it seems like a pretty big school to me. Of course, growing up in a small town and going to a small school, I don't remember ever having to search for my classroom with a map.

It was a bit overwhelming for me. But I didn't tell them that.

In a way, I'm sad to see summer end. It's been a great one!! Seriously - really fun! But, like always, I'm ready to get back on schedule. I'm ready to have a bedtime routine again. I'm ready to actually talk to my dear husband in the evening again.

So, instead of pining away and thinking about how fast time flies...I met a bunch of friends for lunch and a movie today. Fun!

And then when the kids came home, they really didn't have much to say. It was OK. It was OK to be back. The teachers are OK. Hot dogs for lunch. They were OK. They found their way around OK. One of them needed help opening their locker. One of them already forgot their planner somewhere.

All in all...the first day of middle school was...OK.


I think this lack of detailed information just might drive me crazy.

#400

I just signed on to tell you about the kids' first day of school and then I realized that this is my 400th blog post.

I feel like I should have a party or something...

Vacation Pictures

As I'm sitting down to tell you all about our vacation, I started looking through our pictures. And let me tell you, there were a lot of pictures. How the heck did people do this in the pre-digital age? I would have gone broke in just film and processing fees.

Many of our photos were doubles as we took both our cameras - the Nikon DSLR with a 70-300 zoom lens and the Canon Powershot point-and-shoot. I really love both of these cameras - they take great pictures.

Anyway, I'm trying to come up with a summary of our vacation, but the words are just not flowing right now. So, I'm going to leave you with some of the great pictures we have.

No more lines.

It's hard to believe that September is just around the corner. Literally. We truly had a great summer but I have to admit, I'm ready for a bit of a routine again.

And it's not just me. Will and Maddie are totally anxious for school to start this year. They have always been the kind of kids that like school. And of course, they miss their friends and the social aspects as well.

But this year is little different. It's a new school.

It's middle school.

And you know what that means??

No more lines.

Yep...no more lines. That is what all the hype is about in our house lately. Apparently, in grade school, you have to stand in a line to go to gym. You have to stand in a line to go to lunch. You have to stand in a line at the water fountain. And you have to stand in line to get on the bus.

But in middle school - Adios, lines.

This is a great selling point to 5th graders. The "free-for-all" aspect is very appealing to them. I'm sure it fosters their growing sense of independence and freedom. It adds a bit of randomness to their structured day. It lets them demonstrate their responsibility and maturity.

Speaking of maturity...How did I get old enough to have kids in middle school?

Summer 2009

OK...I totally suck at this blog-thing. I'm not even going to apologize. I'm just moving on.

The thought of having my posts out of chronological order absolutely eats a hole in my soul. Therefore, I feel that I need to do a quick summary of our summer before we move into fall. Also, due to the fact that I don't journal, scrapbook, or even keep updated photo albums any more, I fear that this very site is the only documented proof of my family's existence.

Well, not really. But you get the idea.

Here is what we've been up to since my last post over 2 months ago (!!!!!):

Will and Maddie turned 11 at the beginning of June. I've decided that this is a really great age. They actually still LIKE to be with us, and they are not yet embarrassed by us. And sometimes they each will still grab for my hand while out in public.

I'm trying to savor every second of it.






My family put together another "Karen & Carolyn's Team" for the Relay for Life this year at Eureka's bi-annual event in mid-June. We've walked in every relay since 2001, the year before my mom, Karen, died of inflammatory breast cancer. It's still as emotional and inspirational now, as it was then. Earlier this spring, it was the 7th anniversary of her death, and a couple weeks ago, she would have been 62. Some days it feels like a lifetime ago; some days it feels like just yesterday.




Maddie's wish for braces finally came true at the end of June. She's been talking about this with excitement for the past several months. And as an 11 year old, the best part is being able to pick the colors of rubber bands. For those of you who are not braces-savvy...you can pick up to 3 colors at once from a palette of about 30 different colors. The rubber bands then get changed at each monthly appointment. She started out with a very fashionable combo of blue and green. More recently, she's changed to her swim team's colors of red, black and yellow.

Will is still trying to lose some baby teeth before he'll be able to start. That is perfectly fine by me...I like that we only need to finance one mouth at a time.


Sometime in mid-July, I came home from work to find that the kids has decided to release our pet turtle, Sparky, back into the wild (aka Crow River). They said they decided to do it so he could be happier in a more interesting environment with a bunch of other turtles.

But I'm pretty sure they did it because it was time to clean the aquarium.



Not that this has much to do with our summer, other than the fact that Maddie has developed an intense love of all things Hollister, but guess how much these tiny little shorts with worn spots and holes costs?!?!?

48 bucks. Can you believe that???

At $5 a week allowance, that poor kid will need to get a job to support her clothing habit.


The kids wrapped up another season of swimming at the beginning of August. They both had finals in Mankato and Will was on the state relay team at the U of M. As always, it was a really fun season and the kids did great! We've only been done with the near-daily swim routine for about 3 weeks, and I already miss our "other family" at the pool. What a great group of friends for both the kids and the grown-ups!





Will and Bill spent several days in Wisconsin at Cub Scout camp. I managed to get a pretty good run-down of their experience. There was canoeing, archery, guns, tents, rock climbing and some extensive, long, and dramatic story about a turtle, a salamander and a "pit of death".

Sounds like an 11 year old boy's dream, huh? Actually, maybe even a 39 year old man's dream...


That about wraps it up for now. The latest Gallagher venture was a little road trip to Seattle and Yellowstone.

But that's a story for another time. (Let's hope the other time is not Thanksgiving...)

It's been so quiet...

So, this must have been what it was like in the "the old days". You know, back before we had kids. The house is so quiet. And it's clean. The pillows are adjusted on the couch perfectly. I haven't been stepping over Bionicles and dirty socks on the steps. I haven't folded one blanket in the living room. We even ordered pizza late one night, and ate it downstairs in the home theater while watching a scary movie.

It's weird.

The kids have been at swim camp at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion all week. This is their first time away from home for such a long stretch. They each have a buddy (Max & Anya) from their team to room with. So that has made it a lot easier on all of us!

My friend Gayle, Anya's mom, and I accompanied the four 10 and 11 yr olds on a long 5.5 hour drive there on Sunday (which, in reality actually turned out to be almost 7 hours including potty breaks). I wish I would have taken a picture of my car before we unpacked everything. There were bags, towels, pillows, and blankets plastered up against all the back windows and between all the kids. It was cozy.

The kids were so excited about their first "college" experience. Will thought that the dorm rooms are "really small and kind of boring...there is nothing on the walls!" Maddie and Anya brought their own artwork to hang - a bunch of swimming-focused Wordles that they had created previously. What artsy girls!

I've talked to them several times a day on the new pre-paid phone that we purchased. The phone is a much bigger deal to Maddie than it is to Will. They know it's temporary. And the fact that I don't allow texting is a bit distressing to Maddie.

They said camp has been really fun, but really hard. They are in the pool 3 times a day (morning, afternoon, evening). They have classroom lectures, videotaping sessions, conditioning practice, and technique work where they work on 1 stroke per day. They even have 1 hour a day of dryland practice each morning. They do some running and some strength training. And apparently, the kids now know what burpees are. Will thinks he might just get his 6-pack stomach after this week. It sounds like there is a lot of fun stuff too. Movie night, campfire and s'mores at the coaches house, and a tornado warning during which they played games in the bomb-shelter basement of the dorm. I'm sure that was thrilling for all of them!!

Yesterday, Maddie told me, "The food is so amazing. It's all you can eat. For one whole hour."

She takes after her dad.

Will and Maxwell

Anya and Maddie

Extreme (not-so-much) Home Makeover

We've had the most painfully prolonged experience with our recent siding and roof replacement. Our area of town sustained significant hail damage during a storm Memorial Day 2008. We started working with our contractor the following week. We had multiple meetings with the saleswoman. We took several weeks to carefully choose our colors. And our order was placed last August. The dumpster was delivered mid-October. The roof was redone late-October.

And the dumpster just parked in our driveway through November. And then through December. We shoveled snow around it on January. We glared at it every day in February. We hardly even noticed it there in March. And then, one fabulous day near the end of April, they finished the siding and took away the monstrous maroon chunk of metal. Hallelujah!!!

Believe it or not, this nightmare is still not over!!! Now we're just people caught in the middle of a money-battle between our contractor and our insurance company. I'm really hoping it gets resolved soon.

Very soon.

But anyway, aside from the huge headache...I really like how things turned out!

Here is the before picture from last fall:
And here is the lovely rusted dumpster that adorned the front of our house for over half a year:


And here is my brave, handsome husband, who fearlessly climbed ladder and roof as my own stomach did somersaults just watching him. (I never knew until recently that I am afraid of heights!) I'm sure our neighbors can attest to the fact that this "little" painting project took up a really, really long time. I attribute this to the fact that Bill only worked on it part time in the evenings after work when he wasn't going to cub scout meetings or delivering the kids to various places. Oh, and also to the fact that he is the most perfectionistic person I've ever met in my life. And here is the finished project:

So, it's not really an "extreme" change. But it definitely looks a bit different.

Now I'm just praying for no more storm damage for the next 10 years. I really don't want to go through this again any time soon.

I'm sorry!

OK. I realize that I have been a really pathetic excuse for a blogger lately. I'm sorry! I'm just praying for some inspiration and motivation to get me going again. I truly miss it!!! And now, I can't even blame that damn Facebook either. That was my scapegoat for awhile - but now all those stupid quizzes have driven me away. OMG, they are so irritating to me. The only reason I sign on anymore is to keep tabs on my daughter. Good Lord - that makes me sound really old, doesn't it?

We've been busy. Mostly the same-old-same old. A few high-points: The siding and painting are finished on our house. The dumpster has been moved out of our driveway. School is over. The kids turned 11 a few weeks ago. Now they are at swim camp in South Dakota for the week. This is their first time away from home for so long...but so far, so good for all of us. I think they are staying too busy to be homesick. I can't even tell you how badly I would like to be a fly on the wall to spy on them this week.

OK - my goal is to post some pictures and blog again very soon. Any kind of pictures, and any kind of posts. Even at the risk of possibly being the most boring thing you have seen in the past 6 months.

Consider yourself warned.

Addiction

I think this classifies as some sort of swimsuit-addiction problem.

Goals of a 10-year old

One really great thing I love about the fact that my kids are involved in the sport of swimming, is that it is so much more than just physical activity. Before we got involved, I never thought about the psychological aspect of the sport. You know...they dive in...they swim really fast...they touch the wall...they get out of the pool. Seems pretty straight forward, huh?

Well, there is a "hidden" aspect to this sport, even at young ages. Aside from the whole "mental-preparation" thing, there is a really big focus on goal-setting.

Recently Will and Maddie's coaches had sent home a work-sheet for them to complete. There were basic questions like, "What are your favorite events and times?" and "What are your strengths/weaknesses?".

There were also questions like: "What are your goals for this season?" and "What are your long-term swimming goals?"

After they completed their assignments, I was just too curious not to look. It was pretty straight forward stuff: Maddie likes the freestyle and butterfly. She wants to get better at the backstroke. She focuses well at practices but needs to work on her turns. For the season, she listed some time-specific goals for the 50 fly and 200 free, and her long term goal is to get a swim scholarship to college.

And for Will, he likes the freestyle and breaststroke, needs to work on starts and turns, is good at his stream-lines, and wants to improve his butterfly and backstroke. Long-term, he would also like to earn a college swimming scholarship.

And then when I got to the part about goals for the season, he wrote, "get another state qualifying time in my 50 free and get a 6-pack stomach."

I wonder if Coach Terri laughed as hard as we did?

A Lesson in Assertiveness

It's been awhile since our last family-outing, so we decided to take in a little basketball action at the Target Center last weekend. No, not the Timberwolves. We actually saw the Globetrotters performance as they once again took on their arch nemesis Washington Generals.

You all remember the Globetrotters as kids, right? What I mostly remember about them is the way-cool cartoon on Saturday mornings, and the fact that the "lead" player's name was Curly, when in fact he was actually bald.

Hey...I was a smart kid. Not a bit of irony was lost on me, OK?

I knew Will would like it. The two of us went with his cub scout pack last year and he had so much fun. But, I knew Maddie would have her doubts. This typically isn't her kind of thing. It really didn't take long to convince her that it was going to be fun...and funny!

After the game, the players took positions around the court and gave out autographs for 30 minutes. Their first autograph experience took forever as bunches of children, teens, and adults squeezed and elbowed their way in front of my timid and polite kids, who quietly waiting in line, looked as though they were in the school cafeteria. After the quick lesson in "polite assertiveness" and "standing your ground" from Bill and I, they jumped right in for more. It didn't take long for this to become a competition between the two of them as they raced from player to player, using their new-found skills of edging-in, ducking-around, and wiggling-through.

And in the spirit of David Carradine, as we watched our two brave, young grasshoppers from way up on section 113, we couldn't have been prouder.