Annual Christmas Message

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all! Here’s wishing you a safe, healthy and prosperous 2008. Your first good deed of 2008 (or last good deed of 2007) is done – you are reading our 2007 Christmas letter on-line and saving a tree J!

This has been a fantastic year for all of us, filled with blessings and challenges. Madelin started Kindergarten in September and is preparing for High School next year. Well, not literally, but she is quite gregarious and fears nothing. A typical Madelin moment happened this year when she went to the store with Aaron. He was looking for some contact solution and couldn’t find his brand. After about 60 seconds of looking, Madelin said loudly “Geez Dad – why don’t you just ask?” and proceeded to go to the pharmacy counter by herself and got help to find the solution. Aaron said he was sure if he gave her his credit card and the keys to the car she could have made the purchase and drove herself home.

Madelin likes school but sometimes talks out of turn. She had been telling us that when she spoke without raising her hand, her teacher would send her to the “duck-tater table”. Aaron and I assumed this was some kind of “time out” place with a picture of a duck and a potato. At parent-teacher conferences we were surprised to learn that there was a “spectator” table that children sat at until they could rejoin the group – and Madelin hadn’t spent nearly as much time there as we feared.

She has also continued swimming lessons this year and started Soccer. The jury is still out on whether we have another Beckham on our hands. She seemed much more interested in telling her team mates what to do than to actually do it herself but she looked pretty cute in the uniform. She’s already lost about 6 teeth.

Hannah is still swimming competitively and doing really well. She recently made a regional time in the 500 Freestyle. Her favorite strokes are freestyle and backstroke and she spends about 10 hours a week in the pool. Somehow, she found time to take up the piano this year and also play 4th/5th grade volleyball. All of that physical activity must have gotten her in shape because she ran the mile in the fastest girl’s time in her 4th grade class this year. All of this while learning to be a fourth grader.

There are two things you should know about Hannah at 9yrs. First, she tends to be on the quiet side and kind of shy around people she doesn’t know. Second, she has blossomed into a beautiful young lady and we have stocked up on baseball bats to beat the boys back from our front door. She has also found her own preferences for clothes and hair and I have found a favorite headache medicine. These two things may or may not be related.

Aaron continues to work for State Farm but in a new management capacity. He’s the process guy -which means he is in charge of budget and important things like that. He reads books for pleasure with words like “Sigma” and “Economy” in the title. He watches CNBC and cares. In other words, he’s a perplexing, tie-wearing, cutie who holds down the family fortress.
He’s also pretty good around the house. We have a new fan in the family room, and a new sprinkler system in the yard that he and his father installed. He has also embraced green living. We have a composting system and some ecological rain barrels because of him. In addition, he found time to coach Madi’s soccer team this year and to take up Poker as a hobby with the neighborhood guys.

As for me, after I quit my job to stay home with the girls, I spent a year as a full-time, stay-at-home mom with Madelin before putting her on the bus for Kindergarten in September. I get Hannah on and off the bus everyday and have her all summer which is a blessing beyond belief for someone with a blended family and joint custody. I would not have given up the last 18 months with my kids for any amount of money and feel incredibly thankful to the Lord for giving me this time.

Now that the kids are both in school full time, I have returned to school to pursue a nursing degree. The degree will take me another 2.5 years which will allow me more time at home with the girls but prepare me for when they get older and need me less. I also keep myself busy as the VP of the girl’s elementary school PTO. In my free time, I write as a hobby, am a member of a book club, and am an avid reader.

Thank you for reading about our lives this year. We enjoy hearing from relatives and friends, so we hope you will share your family happenings with us.

God bless you in the coming year and always!
Love,
Our Family

Obamarama

Yes-I admit it - I am an Obama fan. Years ago, I voted Republican but now, due to an intensive 10 step program, I am cured.

Seriously, part of the reason I am an Obama fan is said best on his website-
http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

• Barack Obama owes nothing to the Health Insurance Industry
• Barack Obama owes nothing to the Oil Industry
• Barack Obama owes nothing to the Weapons Industry

None of these industries are bad per se, but when politics is owned by them, I believe there is corruption at the expense of the people.

But, the primary reason I support Obama is much more personal. I am a passionate supporter of school lunch reform. To learn more about what's been going on with school lunches visit http://www.schoolfoods.org/ or http://www.pcrm.org/news/commentary060511.html or http://www.cspinet.org/nutritionpolicy/junkfoodquiz.html
Here's my blunt synopsis. Public schools buy fatty, bad-for-you foods because they are cheap and their budgets so limited and then feeds it to our school children, even though the food is clearly contrary to the governments own food pyramid recommendations. In addition, they allow unhealthy vending machines in schools -also for profit motives. They can do this because they are operating under USDA regulations from the 1970's that are outdated and contrary to current nutritional standards. To me, it's the equivalent of disposing our food byproducts into our children. Hmmm.

I am a supporter of school lunch reform and have written to my Illinois house representative and senators. Obama was the only one who responded to my petition and in addition had an intelligent answer. He does support school lunch reform and recognizes the link with obesity. Go Obama!

A Good Read for the Holidays

If you are looking for a great book to read this holiday season, please pick up The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. This is a secular book written by an agnostic who wanted to see what would happen if he tried to follow all of the rules of the Bible for an entire year. Although this is not a Christian book and was not written in a way meant to sway anothers belief system in any direction, it was also written with plenty of respect for those who do believe. I honestly think that anyone, from any background, could get a lot out of this book. It's incredibly funny and A.J. Jacobs is so accessible you feel like you are going through the journey with him. It's also very educational because he touches on

various Jewish and Christian denominations/belief systems - many that I didn't know existed. If you read it (or have read it), please let me know what you think.

IT'S SANTA TIME!

This year I think Madi really gets the whole Santa thing. Not that she didn't before, but this year she stood in line, had her hot chocolate and climbed up on Santa's lap all by herself.

Hannah Makes Regional Time

I didn't get a picture but wanted to share that Hannah made a regional time (also called an "A" time) in swimming tonight. She swam a 500 yard Freestyle - that's 20 laps front crawl - in 7 minutes and 38 seconds. The regional cut off is 8:30 so she beat it by almost a minute. She is 9 and swimming 10 & under events, so this is really good. She is excited and ready to hit the pool for day 2 of the holiday invitational tomorrow.

Something You Don't See Every Day

So, this is a picture of the brain I dissected on Wednesday in my last Anatomy and Physiology lab. In case you are wondering, it's from a sheep. It's oddly shapped because they come in a big vacuum seal bag of 50 and I guess that's a lot of Cerebral crowding. I know because I had to reach my hand into said bag to retrieve my pick of speciman. I decided to take a picture because it occured to me that this might be the last time I get the chance to dissect a brain. I mean how often does it come up - really? This might be the most edgy thing I do this year.
This is the eyeball I dissected next. Also from a sheep but from a different bag so I can't claim it was the same sheep. Not too bad after the first squirt.






The lab was interesting but I do have to say that the timing could have been better. I was on a clear liquid diet that day. All I could eat was jello. So, I cut open the eye to examine the retina and the vitreous humor came out in a big glob. Looks just like - you guessed it - Jello.

Got an "A" for the lab but I'm not sure I will ever eat Jello again.

Treading Water

If you are reading this blog and wondering why I haven't returned your call or email, please forgive me. This is a busy time of year.

Thursday was the Fall book fair at the girl's elementary school. This is my second year chairing this event. To put this in perspective, we sold approximately $5,500 in Scholastic merchandise in a 12 hour period. The event is terrific for fundraising and for providing the school with much needed books. But, organizing an event of this size with volunteers of varying abilities is always a challenge. The planning takes about six weeks, the event is one and a half days of intense work and then there's the financials and delivery follow up for orders. Anyway, the event went well but was all consuming for a few days.

But, I was already feeling tired. Tired because last week I had two major tests and a paper due. Have another one Monday. My last day of school will be December 10th, so we are down to the wire and my profs are squeezing what they can into the last class sessions. But atleast I got a break this weekend right?

Wrong. Hannah had a swim meet this weekend. Saturday and Sunday 6:30 a.m. -1p.m was spent hunched on bleachers, trying to get some reading in. Then, had to do some Thanksgiving shopping, I have 20 people coming for Thanksgiving Thursday. Oh, and my father-in-law arrives tommorow - while I'm at school taking my Chemistry exam. Lucky he's an easy house guest.

Hannah's throat started hurting today. No fever. I told her to give it 24 hours and if it still hurt I'd take her to the doctor on Tuesday - after our dentist appt- and during the time I usually do bible study but won't this week because we have a guest- and am cleaning house for Thursday.

In February, I'll be bored and look back on this week with fond memories of being so productive.

Atleast, that's what I tell myself.

Holiday Confusion

The window decor is Thanksgiving, the tune is Oh Christmas Tree, the words are "On Mothers Day". I guess at 5 it all blends together! :)

More Halloween Pics

Madi and her girlfriends trick or treating.
"Enchanted Tree" pumpkin.
"Cat Face" pumpkin
"Black Cat" pumpkin

"Classic" pumpkin. Hey, I had other things to do that night!

Happy Halloween!

Here's a halloween tale for you straight from Hole's Anatomy and Physiology! I love this one because occasionally there will be something on the counter in our house that none of us knows where to put away. We shift it from counter to counter until it finds an unofficial home somewhere- and there it will be a year later. I can't help but think this story happened in much the same way.

John Dalton, a famous English Chemist, knew he saw things differently than most people. In a 1794 lecture, he described that sealing wax that appeared red to other people looked green to him. Pink wildflowers looked blue. Dalton knew he was colorblind but he didn't know why-at the time no one did.

He was so curious about the state of his vision that he made arrangements for his personal physician, Joseph Ransome, to dissect his eyes after he died. Ransome snipped open the eye and, looking through his freinds eyeball, deduced that the problem was not with the filter. Then Ransome stored the eyes in"dry air" - i.e left them out someplace- where they were relatively undamaged.

In 1994, London's institute of Opthalmology DNA tested Dalton's eyes and determined that the retina lacked one of three pigments. So, after 200 years of John Dalton's eyes being "stored" here or there - he finally has his answer about why he was color blind.

Here's looking at you!

Ropp Dairy Farm

Many of you may not know that Bloomington-Normal is home to a dairy farm that makes fine and organic cheeses. The kids were off of school today, so we decided to take a tour and try some samples. you can learn more about the farm itself at http://www.roppcheese.com/.

This little girl is a baby Jersey cow. According to the Ropps, Jersey cows are the best for cheese because their milk has a higher protien and calcium content.

Here's Madi feeding the calf which was part of the tour. They get really excited when they see the bottle coming. The ropps give away the boy babies and save the girls for milk.

It took the longest time to get Hannah to try to milk this cow. She thought it was gross. Madi tried it three times. It's not as easy as it looks.

Madi actually got some milk to come out on the third try.

This is the Ropps pet turkey- seriously. It's head is white-ish blue when it's relaxed but when it sees people coming it turns red. They say it's because he's happy. Well he definately liked to be handled and was very freindly. They head felt like warm chicken skin.

Best Fall Chili Recipe

This is a tried and true chili recipe that even the kids love. It is a mutation of several chili recipes I've tried over the years. Serve over rice or with some warm bread!

Gen's Pumpkin Chili

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pound ground turkey
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (8 oz) can Hunt's Tomato Sauce
1 can (14.5 oz) Bush's chili beans (we use mild)
1 (14.5) can pumpkin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 salt to taste

DIRECTIONS
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and saute the onion, and garlic until tender. Stir in the turkey, and cook until evenly brown. Drain, and mix in tomatoes, tomato sauce and pumpkin. Season with chili powder, pepper, and salt. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. Serve topped with Cheddar cheese and sour cream if desired. Enjoy!

Fall Festival

This weekend was Fall Festival in Bloomington. Free face painting, balloon sculptures, hayrack rides, and the climbing wall etc. My pumpkins are ripe and the halloween decorations are out. Must be getting close to Haunting season. The obligatory cauldron of candy is already tempting me from our countertop.

I love the fall. The weather this year has been perfect. It was 75 today!

The rest of this month we will be getting costumes together, candy, making orange and black frosted sugar cookie cut outs, candy, carving pumpkins, candy, and lighting up the firepit for roasted hot dogs and s'mores-oh, and eating candy. I'm pretty sure I've already gained 5 pounds just thinking about it!

First Soccer Game

Here are some pics of Madi's first soccer game. She did great -not that I would know if she didn't. I know next to nothing about soccer. But, she kicked the ball in the correct direction, didn't cry when she tripped over the ball, and tried to work with her team mates which I think is good at this age.

Their team name is "Happy Feet". Aaron, who is the assistant coach, said he was just glad it wasn't "the Princesses". I guess that was on the table for awhile. Poor Aaron, even the head coach is a girl :) I think this will be a terrific daddy daughter bonding experience!

Hannah Soars

The picture above Hannah's head reads "Who says it can't be done"

Here are some pictures I've been wanting to post but just found the time. Early August Hannah and I saw an advertisement in the paper by the local Aviation club. They were offering airplane rides for kids 8-14 at our local airport-for FREE! So Hannah and I got there about 15 minutes early because we knew there might be a line. In fact, Dad and Madi stayed home because they didn't want to wait in the crowd.

Well, we put our name in 15 minutes prior to the publicized time. By 5 minutes after, they made an announcement that all flights were full for the day and sent everyone else home. We hung out for a little over an hour and Hannah got to take a flight with a local female pilot. She loved the ride but it was also a good lesson in being early and being persistant to get what you really want.

Hannah told me it was worth the wait. Future pilot?

hmmm. Maybe she should drive a car first.





Hannah getting into the plane.













Hannah's in the back seat.

Puka Face

So, you think you have it hard eating corn on the cob? Try it with no front teef.

First Day of School

The girls are very cute.
Such a big girl. She gets to ride the bus with her sister.
20 at one bus stop. That's about half the bus. I feel sorry for the homeowner that has the yard they'll be trashing this year.

Birthday @ 70

Looks like he'll be gumming the cake!

Cat and Mouse game

Our neighbors watched our Gerbil while we were on vacation in March. She just sent me these pictures.


Thank goodness that screen is strong:)

Sophie (the cat) looks innocent enough doesn't she?

A Day with the Mindoros

We happened upon the Children's Discovery Museum during a Japanese exhibit. It was fun for the girls and adults to play dress up and dance the traditional dances.