The Scouting Life, Part 2 (Spencer)

This is the first year Spencer went to a whole week of scout camp!  I didn't worry about him too much because Spencer is the kind of kid that has fun where ever he goes and most people have fun with him!  He enjoyed this long awaited yearly event that made him feel even more grown up than he already does.  Mark was able to join him for the last 2 1/2 days.  At the end of camp, he had earned five merit badges (adding to a total of 12 for the summer)!  He went to Camp Steiner, which brought back many memories for Mark.

A good-looking kid. A beautiful hike.

Spencer's tried and true scout leader, Jason Smith wrings out his journal.  Mark stayed in the same tent and had to bail out the tent one morning. Yuck. 

There are songs sung, poems written, jokes told, noses held about the legendary kibo. Behold the glory.

Spencer and his buddy Seth engaged in a relay that involved a canoe.  Apparently there was a troop where the majority of members were Samoan, that would rock the canoes as they came into the dock/shore.  Spencer has witnessed this and so as his canoe approached Spencer yelled, "Do not touch our canoe!" or something of the like, with such vehemence that the Samoans actually backed away.  I'm told it was quite unexpected and hilarious.

The Scouting Life Part 1 (James)

With summer comes camps.  This will be the summer du jour for the next. . . . eight years or so.  I get to go to Cub Scout camp and Mark likes to go to the Boy Scout camps.  While we are not gung-ho, silver beaver scouter types, we do recognize and appreciate the skills and opportunities the scout program has to offer a bunch of squirrelly boys. We recognize and appreciate even more the leaders that provide weekly activities, go with them to scout camp and ask whether or not they've put on deodorant, used the bathroom and other basic hygiene issues. What other program in the world finds value in handing a boy a bb gun, pocket knife, a rifle, and bow and arrow?  

 First up: lasso a bull head on a saw horse.  Bonus for successful lasso: Lasso the camp counselor.  Cub Scout camp counselors are highly entertaining and very good at their job.

The stick pull challenge. (Theo, James, Sam, Jacob, Colin and a boy from another troop)

Is that a good smile or a bad smile?

Obstacle coarse that must be run through at least 15 times.

Panning for gold! REAL GOLD MOM?!?!?

You know you've had fun when you come home with dirt all over your clothes and every orifice of your body. A shower never felt so good!

James - Never a Dull Moment!

James James Morrison Morrison Weatherby George Dupree.

What a guy!

James continues to makes us laugh with his wit and thoughts.

In the last little while he's given us these tid bits of wisdom:

James: Mom you are missing something.
Mom: What?
James: A hug.
He hugs me.
Mom: How did you know I needed a hug?
James: I must be psychic.

Our Cheerios box says: "More grains, less you!" James said seriously: "More grains, less you! Is that true? Cause I wouldn't want to die like that!"

Me: Why can't you finish your coloring assignments at school. Do you talk to your friends too much during class?
James: No, it's because I (making quotation marks with his fingers) "color in the lines."

James (my 8 yr old): Mom, do you just like me because of my looks?
Me (after laughing): No, I like what's on the inside too.

We passed the oil changing place called Grease Monkey yesterday.
James: "Who would want their car greased by a monkey? That's just wrong!"

Boy #1: He pinched me for no good reason!
Boy #2: I had a good reason!
Mom: laughs instead of dealing out punishment for pinching and tattle-telling.

(Guess who boy #2 is)

Great quotes from James today: #1 - (looking at Dad's hair) "Dad, I like your stubs." #2 - Watching the Days of 47 parade, "She doesn't do elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, wrist! She's not a true queen!"

I cut up an avocado for James because he loves them. I think.
Mom: James I cut up some avocado for you!
James: What day is it?
Mom: Tuesday.
James: No, is it an odd or an even day?
Mom: It's the 30th, so it's even.
James: I only eat avocados on odd days.
Mom: What?????

Me: We've been married 16 years!
James: Dear, oh, dear.

James, while trying to get out of eating his dinner (again): Mom my stomach hurts and my taste buds are out! They've suffocated!

James had to be tested for allergies yesterday by getting little scrapes of pollens and other allergens on his back. After the nurse explained the procedure to him, he exclaimed, "alright, as long as it's not haccupuncture!"

Mom: James, remember to clean our your ears.
James: OK
Mom (5 minutes later): James, it doesn't take that long to clean out your ears.
James: It does if you want to hear what your teachers says every day.
Mom: True. Keep cleaning.
James: Unless you don't want wood chips to get in your ears at recess.
Mom: Ear wax prevents wood chips from getting in your ears?
James: Yup.
Mom: Good logic. Keep cleaning.

James decided to make a lego representation representing his love for me: an arrow pointing to himself, a heart for love and a smiley face for me. Sweetie pie cutsie wootsie boy!

This is a big bad wolf.

This is a big bad wolf in Grandma's nightshirt.

This is a big bad wolf in Grandma's bed. He eventually learned how to share the cookies with all the animals in the forest and not be such a bully. 

James was an awesome big bad wolf! He had to sing two solos, say many lines and do a sneaky little walk behind the stage curtains.  He was the star of the show! (Though Little Red Riding Hood's Mom may disagree).  We will always remember Mrs. Roy's Little Red Riding Hood performance!

James decided to play flag football like DJ this year.  He took to it really well and had the enthusiasm and drive to be a good team player.

 He had a great (and quite entertaining) coach: Coach Culpepper
"Chest bumps! Chest bumps all around!"

Makin' his move!

D.J. J

No matter how many times I tell the school that his real name is not D.J. with a middle initial J., rather it is Dallin with a middle initial J., D.J. for short, they have never changed it. Whatever.

D.J.'s multi-age classroom (MAC) holds a Mother's Day ball every spring.  It sounds like we dance, but we don't.  Unless you count my awesome victory dance when I round the bases during our kick BALL game.  I don't think he fully appreciates the splendor of my Pepto-bismol dress, not when I hike it up to wallop the ball into left field, or when I hug him (his teacher made him do it). They won.

At the end of the school year, D.J. won the Presidential Fitness Award, which he worked very hard for and even stayed after school one day, just to make sure he improved a time for one of the events. He's certainly not one to back down from a challenge - especially physical ones!

 Dad is helping DJ find imaginative ways to  clean the windows.  D.J. is always willing to do his jobs, quickly and well. 

 One of D.J.'s favorite things is messing around with technology.  Often we open the ipad or phones to find interesting pictures of a warp face D.J. The above picture did not require any photo warping.  That's how we look normally.

 He did it again. The same thumb, just a few millimeters away from the last break, last year.  He was riding his scooter and misjudged a driveway curb.  He landed on his thumb. This time I didn't think it was broken, but he kept insisting and the swelling wasn't going down, so we went to the Instacare.  While we were waiting for the Dr. to come in.  He heard a little boy moaning next door.  Thanks to a Brian Reagan bit, D.J. said, "I've gotta out-moan him!"  So D.J. started to make loud moaning noises to get the attention of the Dr.  The nurse came and closed the door.  That probably doesn't make much sense until you see the Brian Reagan bit:

It turned out that he only needed to wear his splint for a week and did not need a cast because of the position of the break. Though this determination didn't come until the Dr. asked him if he had any pain and D.J. said no.  To which the Dr. stared at him for 30 seconds and asked point-blank, "Are you lying to me?" D.J. said no. So, no cast.  And he's still able to play the piano just fine. Unfortunately, the timing of his break meant he had to wear his cast through two scout camps that week (dirty, dirty, dirty - more to come later).

 D.J. is always up for a hike and loves to take Roxy along with us.  He is still very in love with his Roxy and still talks baby talk to her.  She's a good fit for him and us.

6th Grade Graduation and More for Spencer!

Note: I am woefully behind in recording our lives through this blog.  You will be bombarded with many posts.  This may be good or bad for you, but necessary for me to document our lives and provide me with a way to remember good ol' times.

Spencer did indeed graduate from 6th grade in June of 2013!  He is now moving on to Jr. High school and currently loves not have "just one teacher."

Prior to his momentous graduation, one of his last school projects was to choose a country he was not familiar with and then choose a famous person from that country.  He chose Ireland and Mr. Jonathon Swift.  The culmination of his research was to dress up like Swift, sit by a partner (dressed as someone else) and when Spencer's button was pushed, he stood up and posed while his partner informed the viewer of Swift's accomplishments (Gulliver's Travels and other writings).

He rocks that wig, don't you think?  He helped me make it out of a white knit hat, rolled batting, some material and a glue gun.

Looks just like Swift.

Spencer is hiding behind some of his good friends that he's been with for four years of school. Xander, Justin, Jackson, Seth, Mason, Micah, Jamison, Nolan and Isaac.

 6th grade party at the Rec center with all of his friends!

 Spencer's end of year program involved all of the Spectrum classes.  They called it "On The Radio" and they sang songs from different eras.  Spencer's class sang "Footloose," and "Man in the Mirror."

Good times and plenty of pictures for blackmail. 

 The 6th grade "walk" of graduation, where he earned the Presidential fitness award, a citizenship award and a perfect attendance award. In the above picture he is standing in front of the principal, Mr. Forbush and his teacher, Mrs. Peters.

He is wearing a lei because they went on a bon voyage cruise for the 6th grade party!

Crazy Reading Lady Review; May 2013

Year number 4. I don't think I'll be able to quit. Being the reading lady is like being a Grandma I think.  I come and have fun with the kids for 20 minutes and then leave the responsible stuff to the teachers.  I love reading to kids! I do toddler story time at the public library too, but they won't let me wear costumes there (though I get away with a hat sometimes and make up for a costume in shenanigans because toddlers won't listen to 30 minutes of stories unless there is a bit of shenanigans). One of the fun things about coming to the school in costumes is that I can get away with wearing almost anything any other day - yoga clothes, bike shorts, sweats and whatever my hair seems to be doing after getting 3 kids off to school.  One kid asked me what I was dressed as one day when I was just wearing workout pants an a t-shirt.  I told him I was a frumpy housewife. He tried to figure out what book that was from.  The book of life, my boy.

The school theme this year was: "Around the World" because we woefully discovered at the geography bee that our students need help in that area.  So for literacy night I dressed as Waldo.  Mrs. Beesley also dressed as Waldo too! I'm glad I got a picture with her as she was all three boy's 1st grade teacher and she retired this year!

For North America, I read Tornado Slim and the Magic Cowboy Hat and donned my cowgirl duds.

Mud Tacos and SkippyJon Jones were books from South Americas and Mrs. Kennington let me borrow her sombrero - can you see it?

Madeline is from France and represented all of Europe for January.

It's amazing what can be done with craft foam. I've made frog feet, bear feet and this year penguin feet with the marvelous stuff! Tacky the Penguin never fails to entertain.  So many kids had read this book already that they read it out loud with me!

That's it for this year! Stay tuned for next year (and possibly my last as DJ will move on to Jr High the following year and James will be at a different school). . . .

Things I Learned on a Bike Ride; Tour de Cure 2013

 Last summer my friend Megan challenged me to go on a bike ride with her next summer.  I had been thinking about riding in the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure for a while, so her challenge made the goal more real.  Then for a family night we discussed making goals and doing hard things and I set the goal to actually do the Tour.  So, my wonderful husband Mark forced me to buy a road bike last summer, which was a huge and wonderful step up from riding my mountain bike.  The goal felt more achievable.  I rode often last fall, then started up again this spring when it was warm enough to ride.  The hour rides, slowly turned into 2 and 3 hour rides.  With that I not only trained my muscles and mind, but I had to figure out how to balance my food and insulin over extended periods of high activity.  The first few long rides made for very low blood sugar episodes, but I adjusted and in the end learned to give half the amount of insulin for breakfast (if my ride was right after breakfast).  If I ate anything during the ride I gave 1/4 of the insulin I would usually give, unless my blood sugar was trending down, I wouldn't give any insulin at all.  Of course, I stayed very hydrated, carrying my camel pack with me, which was helpful because it seemed I had to carry numerous other things as well (blood sugar monitor, many snacks, glucose tablets).  The Monday before the race I completed 54 miles and felt that I really could do 62! I didn't touch my bike until the day of the race (mostly because it was the last week of school and it was incredibly busy).

For all my training rides, I rode alone, which was fine for training.  But I was really, really glad that my Dad and my sister Loni rode with me for the Tour.  It was great to have people along with me that loved me enough to stop with me every time I needed to check my glucose, to ask me how I was doing, to talk with and make the time pass quickly-ish. Thank you so much!

Beginning of the race where riders were instructed to say "GO RED RIDER!" everytime they passed a red jersey that said "I ride with diabetes." (I didn't cry. . much)

My Dad at the start line, with his beeping heart monitor, BeeGees and Karen Carpenter serenades.

 At the lunch stop my Dad decided to write my name on his calves.  As weird as that sounds, when he was in front of me during the last five mile stretch, I felt like my name was being chanted every time I looked up and watched him (Li-sa! Li-sa! Li-sa!). I got desperate for motivation, what can I say.

I feel like a hero crossing the finish line!

 My sister and Dad right behind me.

At the finish line with my riders and my family! So glad for their support too! 

 When I heard that passing riders would say "We're riding for you!" I cried just thinking about it and I worried that I would hyperventilate while riding and crying.  So I made a sign that might make other people cry too. I'm so nice.  But really I am grateful for all who rode and care about helping diabetics.  I realized that with a disease that is highly individual, sometimes the only way people can help is to show support at an event like this.  And really, even though diabetes is a 24/7 issue and can be completely frustrating and down right depressing, there are more things to be grateful for than to complain about.

 All done at the finish and we are still smiling!

Here are some things that I learned (you can read too, but I just need to keep a record to help me remember):

*During training, most of my rides were right after breakfast, so I need to cut my breakfast insulin in half.  But the day of the race, I ate breakfast at 6:30 and didn't race until 9. So I gave my regular amount of insulin, but it was still too much and I needed to eat again before the race.

*As during training, I needed to stop often to check my blood sugar level.  I did have my Continuous Glucose Monitor with me to help me know if my sugars were trending up or down which was helpful to prevent really low lows and highs.  I'm happy to say that my blood sugar ranged within 90-180, which is perfect for a long ride. I was very happy to prevent very low lows which force me to stop and wait until I'm back to normal.

*The amazing thing about continuous exercise is that I give very little insulin for what I eat. All the food I ate during the race amounted to around 200 carbs. Ordinarily I would have to give 25 units of insulin for that amount (2/3 of what I usually give in a day). But I only had to give 3.4 units and come to find out I really shouldn't have given as much as I did for lunch. (Note to self - only give 1/4 of requirements for ANYTHING including a lunch of pasta, and 1/4 of the requirement for corrective highs as well).  I even had two red vines, which I usually have to give 1 unit of insulin per piece and I didn't have to give anything!  That's worth doing the race again next year!

*People are great. I appreciated all who donated, all who well-wished, all who yelled to me "Go Red Rider!"  The only time I choked up is when a guy passed me and said, "You're doing great! Good job!" I absolutely love my family!

*The only time I get injured is when I'm standing still. I fell over after catching my breath at the top of a hill, while standing straight up. (Note to self: work on balance).

* I learned that my tires need to be 120 psi for an optimal ride. Did not do that during training, but maybe that's why I had a good ride, because I was physically prepared from harder training rides. Just looking at the bright side of mistakes.

* I was reminded how much I have.  As one wise man said, "What works is more than what doesn't work." That's so true and I'm so grateful, first to God who sustains my life from moment to moment and I'm sure has preserved my life more than what I am aware of. I'm so grateful for a body that works.  I'm so grateful for scientific advancement.  I'm so grateful for educators. I'm so grateful for people who love me and am so happy to love them back.  Life is good for this near 40-year-old.

*New note: remember to work with an exercise basal rate, instead of keeping the regular daily basal rate so you don't have to keep eating.  Be mindful of the basal changes from morning to afternoon, as I give more in the afternoon.