Catching Up

I'm not quite sure what got me to think about posting an update on the Blog, which has been inactive for several months, but something kept 'itching' me to think about getting the family blog back up and running. Quite a bit has happened since the last post and I will certainly do my best to update the events as best I can. What will be hard is thinking back that far! I guess I will start with August 2012. Lauren's Bday - Wow, hard to believe our baby girl is 5! She has grown up so fast and is as fiesty as ever, but also has a gentle soul and spirit. Hard to believe she will be off to Kindergarten this year! Annual OBX Trip - Our annual OBX trip was with the Kainu family again this year. I believe this marks our 6th beach trip together! We had a great time as always and had some great weather. We took the kids to the Cape Hatteras lighthouse and did a day trip to Ocracoke Island. There we rented a golf cart to tour the island and had lunch at a cool little restaurant. Turned out to be a fantastic day. School Year - Jack and Caroline are now in 4th grade; Lauren is in Kindergarten. Jack and Caroline will be moving classes this year, which we think will be a great experience as it prepares them for Middle School. Caroline's homeroom teacher is Mrs. Zikle; Jack's homeroom teacher is Ms. Yonkin; and Lauren's Kindergarten teacher is Mrs. Conti, which didn't last too long. In November, we received a letter from the school advising Kindergarten parents that they were adding a K-1 immersion class. Stacey and I haven't been all that impressed with Mrs. Conti, so we jumped at the chance to look at moving Lauren into this K-1 class. We felt it would be a great experience for her as she gets exposed to grade 1 cirrculum. She has seemed to really enjoy the move and loves Mrs. Morris and we have seen her grow these last few months. J&C 10th Bday - As you both get older, we understand and realize that you want your own separate birthday. Caroline had a sleepover on Friday with her girl besties and had a ton of fun. The girls all slept downstairs in the living room, had cookie cake, and watched the Katy Perry movie. The girls stayed up until about 1:00 giggling and talking about the boys they liked. Ugh, I don't even want to think of my sweet Caroline dating!! Not until 16! Jack wanted to do his birthday at the Fredericksburg Field house, played soccer and then came back home to hang with his buddies. We took the boys down to the Amphitheatre and played kickball, had cookie cake, watched a SpiderMan movie and stayed up until about midnight. I think you both had a great birthday this year and had a lot of fun!! Christmas in VT - This is the year we spent Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Broughton. We love going up there every 2 years. I am so thankful that we are able to do this and create these memories of "Christmas in Vermont" for all of you. We took the train this year and it was much better than the first time. All of you are older and were able to entertain yourselves for most of the time. We watched movies, played games, and listened to music. Grandpa greeted us at the train station. We had snow the week were there and we had a blast playing in it. We spent a day sledding at Shelburne Farms, where I used to intern during college. Shelburne Farms is an environmental education facility. Christmas was great and Caroline got a laptop from Santa; Jack a Kindle Fire; and Lauren a Nabi (preschool tablet). We enjoyed our spending time with Nicholas and Brenna. Uncle Patrick and his family came in from CA for a few days as well. We celebrated Grandma's 70th birthday! All the kids and grandkids put together a Pandora bracelet of a charm from each child and a birthstone from each grandchild. She absolutely loved it! We definitely created some great memories while we were there. a 2013 Update will follow in a few days.

One Busy Month

Although my last post was a mere 12 days ago, I feel that it's literally been weeks.... we have certainly kept busy these last two weeks, and it's been a lot of fun. Aunt Nicky from Australia arrived on June 27th and stayed for 10 days. Nicky has become part of the family since she arrived here in 1986 through a foreign exchange program where she lived with the Burns family for a year. Nicky and Stacey's family have kept in touch all these years. Nicky usually visits every 5 years. We spent some time with her by taking her to Kings Dominion, and took her Geocaching. We managed to squeeze in a bit of down time where she had the opportunity to play with the kids. It is always nice having her come to visit. Stacey and I have been talking about going to Australia for our 20th anniversary, which also happens to fall within the same year Jack and Caroline graduate from high school. Can you think of a better graduation gift?! LOL The weekend of June 29/30 we had a pretty powerful storm (called a Dereco) sweep through the area and wreck havoc. Mother Nature sure is pissed off at us! Millions of people were without power for a few days, winds were blowing trees over, heavy downpour caused flooding, etc. It was a wild and crazy storm. We had a great 4th of July as always. We started off our day by doing our annual community service at a local elderly assisted living care facility. We do this every year with the Twins club and sang a number of patriotic songs to them. They absolutely love seeing all the twins and enjoy our visits. We had a great time spending the 4th with our neighbors and friends of LSV. The evening started off with grilling pizzas and the congregating over at the green near the library for fireworks. Aside from all the activities, we also managed to endure the heatwave that came through. 90-100 degree temperatures. It was absolutely miserable. Even the pool wasn't refreshing! Unfortunately, based on what has been circulating in the news and what we have seen across the country, 2012 is turning out to the warmest year on record! Wildfires in the SW, extreme temperatures all over the place, drought over 60% of the US, and more. Climate change is happening and I fear it's happening at an unprecedented rate than we expected. My fear is wondering what the Earth is going to be like for our kids and their kids. I hope as a global community, we can come together sooner rather than later to address what is going on. This is the only planet we know of that sustains life, yet we trash it like yesterday's newspaper. It will come back to bite us bigtime if we don't do something about it. We have about 7 weeks left before the kids go back to school and have a few more things planned for the rest of the summer. Looking forward to some more fun times!

RELISH ME!

With our garden producing an abundance of vegetables, you can imagine how much we have given away, freezed, baked, cooked, etc.... Stacey and I were looking through our Canning Book (Ball's Guide to Preserving), we decided to take a stab at canning different types of relish. Two weeks ago, we made zucchini relish and it was a hit with our neighbors and friends. So, Stacey and I decided to try selling the relish at our neighborhood Farmer's Market. This past week we made 25 jars (15 Zucchini Relish; 5 Pepper-Onion Relish; and 5 Sweet Pickle Relish). Along with the relish, we sold zucchini-chocolate chip muffins and slices of Gigi's famous Apricot-Nectar Cake. For our first Farmer's Market, we did pretty well. We probably broke even this first time around, but we still have some left over ingredients that we can use to make more relishes, so at this point, anything we make should be pure profit. We will use our money toward our OBX trip in August! It's been fun and we really the whole canning thing. Now that we have a ton of tomatoes starting to ripen, we will look into how to make salsa and spaghetti sauce.

Tangier Island

Last weekend, we took the family on an overnight getaway to Tangier Island, a little island located in the Chesapeake Bay. I first learned of this island a few years ago when I worked at the Energy Office. My former colleague was working on a wind project with the island. For a while, Stacey and I have been wanting to go and take the kids. We drove to Reedville, VA to hop on the ferry for another 90 minute ferry ride to Tangier. I had no idea how HUGE the Chesapeake Bay is! The island is located 18 miles off the coast of VA. I was absolutely in awe of the bay. When we arrived, we were greeted by the owner of the B&B and were taken to the B&B via a golf cart. The island is only 2 miles long and 1/2 mile wide. No one has a car and the mode of transportation is either a bike or golf cart. It was so cool! Once we checked into the B&B, we rented a golf cart and toured the island and headed down to the beach for a bit. With the island being only 2 miles long, you can imagine that it didn't take long to tour the whole island. I think the highlight of our visit was riding the golf cart; the kids absolutely loved it. We also walked around a bit to check out some of the local shops and get a feel for some other things to do. After having a HUGE meal, we went back down to the beach to hang out and watch the sunset, took pictures of the kids, looked for seaglass (one of our favorite things to do at the beach), and walk around. On Sunday, we had a HUGE breakfast (boy, they sure know how to feed you there!) and ventured back out around the island. I can't tell you how many times we literally drove around Tangier. The kids loved riding the golf cart, so it was fun. We toured the local museum and learned a lot about the history of the island and its people. Afterwards we rented a kayak and canoe and took them out around the inlet of the bay for a little bit. The island was founded by John Smith in 1608 and most of the people are descendants from England and they have a little bit of an accent. In its heyday, the island used to have a population of over 1,000. Now the population is less than 500. The younger generation is leaving after they graduate and many do not come back. The way of life is mainly fishing (fish, crabs and oysters mainly). With the livelihood dwindling, many are struggling. Tangier is known as the soft shell crab capital of the world! Many people simply take the ferry for the day to just have lunch at one of the restaurants. It was just nice to be able to sit back and relax with very little to do, but to just enjoy the quietness of it all. So many times we feel that vacations can be more stressful than we want. This wasn't the case at all and it was great! We definitely recommend at least going out to visit Tangier Island. OUR BEAUTIFUL KIDS!!

School's Out.... Summer Fun!

Summer vacation has officially begun and aside from a stomach bug going around the house, it's off to a pretty good start. The kids' last day was a half day. When the bus pulled up to the bus stop I expected to see kids running off the bus screaming and in good cheer. I was surprised to see most of the kids quietly getting off the bus. I think I was the only one screaming and cheering!!! Jack and Evan did their usual race down the hill to see who could outrun the other. Lauren was a bit sad, but Caroline was really crying. Ms. Hineman leaving LCES hit her hard and she is really going to miss her. I felt badly for her over how upset Caroline was. After unloading their bags of schoolyear stuff, we headed up to Fredericksburg to see the afternoon showing of Madagascar 3. We always try to do something fun for the kids to celebrate the end of the school year. We all really enjoyed the movie - just as funny as the first two. Saturday, we pretty much enjoyed a relaxing day at the pool, which was followed by sleepovers. Jack went to Evan's; Lauren went to Julia's; and a neighbor friend spent the night here. Because summer camp doesn't start for 2 weeks, we have to manage to find ways to keep J&C busy and occupied without boring them to death. Lauren started back at the local Daycare and she couldn't wait to go back. She refer to it as her other school or the yellow school. LOL..... too cute. We have a number of weekend getaways planned for the summer, which are going to be fun! Our first getaway will be to Great Wolf Lodge this coming weekend, which will be followed by a few other trips. Nicky from Australia will be arriving at the end of the month for a 2-week visit as well. We will be posting pictures of all our summer adventures. Picture of Kids on Last Day of School

End of School Year Awards

We could not be MORE PROUD today...... Jack & Caroline had their last third grade awards today and they did stellar these last 9 weeks! Aside from receiving their Honor Roll awards, Caroline also received a Citizenship Award and Jack received a medal for perfect score on his History SOLs!!!! I was certainly beaming with pride today at the awards assembly and texting Mommy the whole time. I wish she could have been there this morning to see them get their awards. We are so proud of both of you today for your third grade accomplishments. You are officially FOURTH graders now! Oh my gosh....... Below are photos of each of them with their awards, but I also wanted to take a few others. Caroline and Ms. Hineman, her third grade teacher who has been absolutely wonderful for Caroline this year. We found out the other night that Ms. Hineman is moving and won't be returning to LCES next year. After putting the kids to bed, Caroline came back downstairs crying and told us the news. She was very sad that she won't see Ms. Hineman in the hallways next year. Ms. Hineman has been her favorite teacher so far. It was heartbreaking to see Caroline go through this the other night. The other photo is of Jack with his third grade buddies, Kyle and Nicholas. They have been buds since Kindergarten and absolutely love hanging out together. I hope they will continue to be friends and have lasting friendships for years to come. I look at the kids and realize how fast they are growing up and find myself with mixed emotions; happy to see them grow and develop into independent, mature, caring, smart, loving, kind people; but then sad realizing how quickly they seem to slipping away as they grow into themselves and find their identities. Pretty soon, they won't be 'needing' us. As parents, we will continue to do our best to guide them and prepare them for their future and hope for the best. We love you so very much and know you are going to do great in 4th grade. CAROLINE'S HONOR ROLL AWARD JACK'S HONOR ROLL AWARD CAROLINE'S CITIZENSHIP AWARD JACK's SOL HISTORY AWARD - PERFECT SCORE! CAROLINE & MS. HINEMAN JACK & HIS BUDS, KYLE and NICK

Lauren's Pre-K Graduation

Yesterday, Lauren officially graduated from Pre-K! Hard to believe our little girl is growing up. Time is going way too fast; I hate it. Stacey, myself and Gigi attended the Pre-K ceremony at the elementary school. After the 30 minute ceremony, we all went back to the classroom for some refreshments. Lauren's teacher, Mr. Scott has been absolutely wonderful for her. Lauren has grown up so much this past year. We were initially worried at the beginning of the year because she is going to be one of the youngest in her class. She had just turned 4 when Pre-K started. When Mr. Scott did his initial evaluation on her development, she only scored like a 24, when in fact, kids in Pre-K should have been getting scores of around 45-50. When we received her end of the year scores, she exceeded the scores. She received a 118 when the average range is about 84. We were absolutely thrilled. She has done so well this year in coming out of her shell, opening up, talking more, etc. Pre-K really helped her a lot and we are so glad she was able to have this year to not only grow, but to prepare her for Kindergarten. It is amazing what she already knows - all her ABCs, she can write her full name, is learning lots of great site words, and so much more. Meanwhile, over the past 3 weeks Jack and Caroline have been studying for their SOLs and this past week they took their tests in Reading, Math, Social Studies and Science. Overall, both have done very well this year. Jack who is normally on the Principal's List was just shy of making it each 9 weeks, but made Honor Roll each time! Caroline who is usually on Honor Roll, was just shy of making that, but was on Scholar's List each time. I think they are realizing that each year will progressively get harder which will require them to focus and spend more time studying. We couldn't be more proud of them though. They are all great students and we know they will continue to do well. We finally received Jack's art project that won him 3rd place for Creativity! Check it out. As this school year and chapter comes to a close, we will enjoy our summer of some weekend getaways and summer camps before the next school year begins. Our Pre-K Graduate! Our Budding Artist:

Fredericksburg Historic Half Marathon & Semper Fred 5K

In keeping with the spirit of running races, Stacey and I ran the Historic Half (me) and Semper Fred 5K (Stacey) last Sunday. This race began 5 years ago in the Fredericksburg region and we have both wanted to run this race for a number of years now. One of my goals after the transplant was to be able to run my first 1/2 marathon. I ran 2 marathons before (pre kids), and it's been a number of years since running this level of long distance. I wanted to challenge myself after the transplant and set a goal of running this race this year. I registered that I would run it in 2 hours, but had a personal goal of 1:45. My final race time was 1:44:48!!!! I couldn't believe it, I was so psyched. Stacey did great as well with her 5K. Her time was right around 47 minutes. She is not a runner by nature, but gosh darnit, she does it and finishes and I AM PROUD OF HER!! She has run a couple of 10K and I am trying to get her to consider doing 15K and work herself up to this challenge. I think I will continue sticking to the 1/2 marathons. They are not that bad to run and I can easily do one. I think I am going to do 2 more this year. I would also like to look into doing a sprint triathlon. ME and STACEY

ME and MIKE

OUR MEDALS!

Great Train Race 2012

Racing season has begun for the Broughton family with the kids running the annual Fredericksburg Great Train Race & Caboose Run. Jack and Caroline ran the Train Race (1 mile) and Lauren ran the Caboose Run (1/4 mi). They all did great and we couldn't be more proud of our little runners. Jack came in 12th out of 86 boys in his age group with a time of 6:54 Caroline came in 71st our of 125 girls in her age group with a time of 8:53 Although the race does not time the Caboose Run, Lauren came in 13th out of her age group. We are not quite sure how many kids ran the Caboose Run. Regardless, they all did fantastic!! All around we had a great day and hopefully the kids will want to run another race this year. Stacey and I will be running the Fredericksburg 1/2 Marathon on May 20th; she is running the Semper Fred 5K and I will do the 1/2 Marathon. Can't wait! I absolutely love how the family runs together! It's great.. KIDS WITH THEIR MEDALS:

RACE BIBS AND MEDALS

School Awards

Jack and Caroline had their school awards yesterday and we couldn't be more proud. These awards are for the third 9-week period. Hard to believe there is only 7 weeks left of school and they will be in 4th grade. Wow.... Caroline did a great job this past semester and made Scholars List! Jack made Honor Roll and was just shy of making Principal's List. We were surprised at the award ceremony that Jack also received an award for his Art project. He placed 3rd for Creativity! We had no idea and still haven't seen the actual artwork yet. We can't wait to see it though. They are now in the last few weeks of school and we have made it a goal for both of them to make Principal's List and we know they can do it! Summer is almost upon us and Stacey and I are going through our summer schedule and trying to arrange trips here and there. Aside from summer camp and much needed pool time, we plan to do a variety of things and will try to plan at least one cool thing to do each week. We have a few ideas already, but still need to fill in a few more things to make the summer complete. Our Young Scholar Award!!

Our Honor Roll Recipient!!

Our Young Starving Artist!!

2012 Garden Season

We are officially into the growing season and can't wait for this year's harvest! It's going to be awesome..... We planted brocolli, cauliflower and lettuce about a month ago and have already enjoyed our own fresh lettuce so far. The brocolli is starting to grow and a few heads have started; but we are still waiting on the cauliflower. Our strawberries also came back this year and literally doubled in size! Strawberries are in season now and ready to be picked at a local farm. I think we may take the kids down there this week. I want to freeze and make our own jam this year. We certainly learned a lot last year and have learned even more this year. We did research on companion gardening and learned what plants grow well together and not so well together. We specifically laid out our raised bed and placed certain plants next to each other. For example, tomatoes, basil and peppers grow very well together. Our goal this year is to take advantage of the growing season as much as possible. Here in VA, you can literally grow from late February to October. Yesterday, we planted the rest of our crop - tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, basil, pole beans, and eggplant. Thanks to my older sister, Deb who is a very avid gardener, recommended the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving. We bought ourselves a copy so we can learn how to can and freeze this year. The book has a ton of great recipes and a step by step guide to properly canning. I recently learned that Hanover County has a Cannery for residents to use their facility. I am going to try to organize a workshop for the garden group at some point this summer. I am also in the process of working with the developer on a proposal for a pumpkin patch down by the garden. There is space behind the garden near the retention pond that doesn't get used, so why not build a pumpkin patch for the neighborhood?! I hope they will support it. Below are two pictures of our raised bed. I will post updated pictures in a month to see how our vegetables have grown. North Facing Side: Lettuce, Pole Beans, Cauliflower & Broccoli:

South Facing Side: Strawberries, Squash, Zucchini, Tomatoes, Peppers:

The Richmond Flying Squirrels

Stacey left this morning for her annual Twins Club Convention, which occurs every April. This is her 9th time attending this annual tradition where the Mid-Atlantic Twin Club organizations get together for the weekend. Each club within the region hosts and they always end up having a great time. So, with Stacey gone for the weekend, I try to plan out a fun-filled weekend of my own with the kids.

Tonight, I took the kids to the Richmond Flying Squirrels (minor league baseball team) game. We went to the game with the Steimers (Jim, Allie, and Andy) and had a great time. It was a lot of fun to be at the ballpark. The Squirrels do a great job at entertaining the kids. At the end of each inning, they always have some sort of activity going on as the teams switch. For instance, the mascot, Nutzy, will come out on the field, some of the ballpark workers will throw T-shirts in the stands, and sometimes they will bring a group of kids who are having their birthdays. Tonight, before the game started, there was actually a wedding on the field! We only ended up staying until the end of the 8th inning and the Squirrels were leading 2-0. O ur Little "Squirrels"

Jack has a soccer game tomorrow morning. Afterwards, we will head down to Kings Dominion for the day. We may meet up with the Goods and/or Kelly and Keagan, and then possibly hang out with the Huff clan tomorrow night. We'll see how the day unfolds for us, but perhaps we may just end up doing family movie night with a new release if we end up being tired from our day at KD. If the weather holds out on Sunday, I hope to take the kids strawberry picking at a nearby local farm.

Vermont Spring Break

The kids had spring break from school so we decided to pack it up and make a trek up to Vermont to visit my folks and my sister's family. The drive up was much easier than in year's past because we decided to break the drive up and take two days to get up there. It was much easier on everyone. Our halfway point was just outside Scranton, PA and we stayed overnight at one of the local hotels, courtesy of my hotel points! We arrived at my folks house around 1pm on Saturday and stayed through until Thursday afternoon. It was a nice visit overall and it was great to watch the kids play with their cousins. We had a nice Easter Sunday dinner at my parents house and EB (the Easter Bunny) found his way to the house and left a nice basket of goodies for them. When the cousins arrived, the adults had a ton of eggs hidden around the yard for them to find. It was fun to watch them run all over the place to see who could collect the most eggs! My sister and her kids took Wednesday off from school so all of us could spend the day together. We went to ECHO (www.echovermont.org), which is a great Aquarium and Science Center. We spent a few hours there and walked around Church St in Burlington. My sister and her husband are in the midst of reconstructing their house and do an awesome job. It looks great! We tried to expose my parents and sister to Geocaching, but Stacey's cell phone was having issues and we were unable to use the Geocache app. It finally worked for a few minutes in Shelburne and we found a 'cache' near the VT Teddy Bear Company! We left on Thursday and it is always hard to say goodbye, especially when it's hard on the kids. Seeing their little faces crying and hugging their Grandma and Grandpa goodbye just tears at your heart. Makes me wish we lived closer to them so that the kids can have a closer relationship with my folks and have the opportunity to see and grow up with their cousins, like I did! We do cherish the times they are able to come here to VA to visit and us being able to go to Vermont as well. We'll be up there again in December/January for a late Christmas and a 70th birthday party for my mother!

Geocaching

The family has found a new hobby and it's called Geocaching. It has been around for a while, both Stacey and I have heard of it, but never really understood what it was all about and what the craze was. Know we know!!

For those of you who may not know what Geocaching is, Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location. When you arrive at the destination, you use your GPS device to assist you in finding the hidden geocache. They may be at your a local park, at the end of a long hike, underwater or on the side of a city street. When you find it, you sign the logbook and return the geocache to its original location. Then you share your geocaching stories and photos online. There are currently over a dozen "cache types" in geocaching, with each cache type being a different variation of the game. People can put little prizes in their cache, but if you take a prize, you have to put something in its place.

During last week's twins club meeting, the Pierce triplet boys gave a presentation about Geocaching. They explained how it worked, what you need to do, etc. Stacey came home that night and was telling me all about it and we decided to give it a try over the weekend. We both read about it online and Stacey downloaded the app onto her smart phone. Off we went to begin our new adventure in Geocaching. We were out playing this game for about 4 hours on Saturday. We found 2 'caches' out of 5 locations. We loved it so much, we went back out again on Sunday. The Wheeler family joined us for the day. Out of 7 locations, we found 5 'caches'. We all have so much fun, that we decided we would do a some geocaching each weekend. I think we are going to try downtown Fredericksburg next.

We are heading up to Vermont in a few weeks for our Spring Break and we told the kids that we will Geocache along the way and make at least one stop in each state we drive through. We are definitely hooked on this! It is so much fun; the kids really enjoyed it; and best of it, it's also FREE!!!......

We are going to put a 'cache' here in our neighborhood and when we get to Vermont, we are going to put one in my old hometown! Can't wait. Below are some pictures of the adventures we had! If you are intersted, go to www.geocaching.com

Kids at Salamander Loop - our fourth location, but no luck finding the cache:



Broughton-Wheeler Kids at our first find of the day!


(Note: the cache is in the tree next to Jack's head! - it was a little camoflauge bison container. It was hard to find, but we found it!)

Sweet Caroline

Stacey and I feel like over the course of these last few months, we have gradually seen Caroline grow into her own and become more confident and independent. Aside from school, she is keeping herself extremely busy with three different extra cirricular activities. Girl Scouts, Tap-Ballet, and Cheer; all of which have helped her grow in such an amazing way!

Girl Scouts: Caroline has been able to develop her full individual potential by increasing her skills and understanding of respect toward others; development of her leadership skills, and cooperation with others.




Tap-Ballet: Caroline started tap-ballet a few years ago, but then took a break to pursue a few other things. However, this past Fall, she expressed interest in getting back into tap-ballet and now is in her second season. Since January, the girls have been working on a routine that they will perform during a May recital. Stacey videotaped last week's session and it was amazing to watch Caroline do her moves. We can't wait until the recital.

Cheer: A cheer/gynamastics place opened up here in the county a few months ago and it has been nothing but positive for both our girls. Caroline has been doing some great things we didn't know she could do. Just yesterday during her cheer session, she was hoisted up by her instructors and she did great!





We really believe that being involved in each of these activities have helped her spread her wings and become more confident in who she is. She certainly has blossomed over the past few months and am glad she is enjoying each of these activities so much. We hope she continues these activities this year because we have seen what a positive influence these have had on her.

We can't wait to see how this amazing young girl develops in the coming years into an extraordinary person! We are so proud of her and know she will do great things. We love you Caroline.

Garden Maddness

It's March 1st and we hope to be starting this year's garden this weekend! Stacey and I spent some time last week getting our bed ready and we even drew a schematic of what we plan to grow this year. We learned a lot from last year and hope that this year's harvest will be much better. Now that we have a year under our 'green thumb' so to speak, we should have better luck this year.

We are pretty excited, because although it's only March, we can start with some cold weather crops like broccoli and lettuce. We've learned all about companion gardening which talks about what plants grow well together and which ones don't do well if planted next to eachother. It has definitely been a learning experience for sure, but it has also been a lot of fun and we enjoy hanging out there with our neighbors. Plus, we feel that it provides a great learning experience for the kids too. They enjoy helping....

I will have to say though, gardening is also very time-consuming. How on earth did our ancestors do this all year round before the dawn of the industrial revolution?! LOL..... It's very rewarding to see the fruits of our labor grow and put on our plates.

Now that we have learned a bit more, we plan on growing more produce this year than we did last year. Especially now that we know about crop rotation and spreading out what you plant throughout the year. Makes so much more sense......

Our bed is 4x20 which actually provides enough space to grow what we want and if this year is anything like last year, we will have plenty! We also want to learn about canning and proper freezing so we don't end up wasting anything we grow.

It's going to be a good year! Happy Planting!!!!

February Update

Wow, has it really been almost a month since our last post?! Like January, February flew by as well.... I spent the earlier part of the month continuing with my recovery and am pleased to report that I feel great! I still can't believe that I am walking around with one kidney and that Gigi has my other one... it's still all so surreal to me. It's been an amazing experience, it really has and I am grateful that I was able to do this for Gigi. I ended up losing 10 lbs, which I will now try to regain. I am at about 100% back to my self in terms of energy level. I've had a few follow up appointments since the transplant and everyone is very pleased with things turned out. Gigi continues to do well also and makes her weekly trips to the doctor for checkups. I continue to hope and pray that my kidney will work for many years!

Aside from my recovery, the kids have been busy this month as well. Jack just finished his winter league of soccer; He played very well and usually would score at least once in each game. Although they won't walk away with a very stellar record, he was able to build his skill these last couple of months, continued to grow in the sport, and is already looking forward to the spring league. Caroline is extremely busy with Girl Scouts, tap-ballet, and cheer; She enjoys doing all three. Girl Scouts keeps her the busiest and it will surely get busier now that we are about to venture into GS Cookie season! Oh boy..... Lauren is having a blast with tumbling/gymnastics. She loves going and always has so much fun.

They are all doing very well in school, thankfully. Hard to believe 1/2 the school year is already over...... They literally only have like 15 weeks left of school. Could time GO any faster?! We had parent-teacher conferences a few weeks ago and had the opportunity to speak to their teachers on certain focus areas and have been very pleased with each of their teachers. Their school really rocks! We love it.

Stacey has really done an amazing job this past month holding down the fort (house) during my recovery. On top of work and meetings, she has managed to keep everything together. She's been the best!

We never really got much of a winter this year (totally bummed!), but we did get one minor snowstorm which gave us about 4" of snow and a snowday for the kids. It was fun while we had it and we enjoyed it for the little time it stuck around. We are now anxiously awaiting the arrival of Spring, which means it will soon be time to start this year's garden! Stacey and I spent last weekend prepping our garden bed and laid out our plans for what we want to plant. Can't wait!!!

I am back to work full time now, which means I am also back to traveling. I shouldn't complain because my last trip was back in early December and I really don't travel that much. It usually comes in waves, which require some managing on the family side, but it all works out well. I am just grateful and extremely thankful to have a job. Nothing to complain about here at all! Onward to March!

Recovery Week

My recovery so far has been going pretty well. I feel like my appetite has finally almost gotten back to where it was pre-surgery. For the most part, the pain has pretty much subsided, but I still tire easily and don't feel that my energy has completely come back yet. I think I still have a few weeks left before my energy fully returns. I still take it one day at a time. I can't lift anything over 10 lbs for 8 weeks, can't drive for 2 weeks, can't exercise for 8 weeks, but other than that, I should be able to go back to my normal routine; with a few adjustments of course.

It still hits me every once in a while that I now only have one kidney. It's still kind of weird to think. Other than the scar to prove it, I don't really feel all that different, I can't tell that I have a missing kidney, nor does my left side feel weird from where my kidney used to be. I just now need to get used to the idea that I only have one.

This whole experience has been pretty amazing! Ever since I was 18, I have been an organ donor and never really thought about being a living donor. I just assumed that my organs would be used after I passed on. It's been amazing being a part of something like this to see how I have been able to donate a kidney. I believe everyone should consider being an organ donor; it truly is the greatest gift to give! If I knew that by giving one of my eyes to my mother so she could see, I would do it in a heartbeat. I can live with one good eye..... Her blindness is much more complicated than that unfortunately.

I continue to still be so overwhelmed by the goodness of people who have come by with meals, posted accolades on facebook, people who have called or texted. I grately appreciate all the support everyone has shown me and the family during this time.

Grandma and Grandpa went back to Vermont yesterday. It was nice having them here this past week to help out with laundry, playing with the kids, etc. It was a huge help and relief. It was hard for the kids saying good-bye. Once you see your kids cry, you cannot help but cry yourself. Breaks your heart.....

I am techinically "off" from work for one more week. Not quite sure what I am going to do with myself, but hopefully I will start to get more energy and be able to do a few things around the house. I guess I should just enjoy my last week and continue to take it easy.

Transplant a Success!

Praise the Lord, the transplant was a success! We couldn't have asked for a better team of doctors through all of this. I was wheeled into pre-op around 7:15, where Melissa (our neighbor/friend and chief anesthetist) began administering my cocktail of some great drugs. Wow..... I was way above the clouds within a few short minutes after she gave me the drugs. I don't even remember going into OR. Having Melissa there definitely helped calm my fears. When I found out that she worked at the hospital, I put in a special request to have her be there on the day of our transplant. Thankfully, she kindly obliged. She talked me through everything, reassured me about the surgery, etc. I was able to get knocked out peacefully.

I was wheeled into OR around 7:30; Gigi about an hour later. Our transplant coordinators, Lisa and Melissa (different one), did a great job updating Stacey and Pops on the progress of everything. A special thank you to our friend, Diana, who came down to spend the day with them for support. I requested a picture of the kidney once it was out of me and we have it! I won't post it here, so if anyone wants to see it, let us know and I can email you the picture. I was intrigued to see the kidney. I was in recovery by around 11:30 and Gigi about 2 hrs later. I finally got to see Stacey around 1:00, although I don't recall the moment. I stayed in recovery until about 6:00 and was finally brought to my own room. I did get a chance to see Gigi briefly in recovery as they wheeled her to her room.

The Morning After Surgery:



Wednesday night was a lot of sleep and coping with the pain, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. I thought I was going to be in rough shape. I would have to say Thursday and Friday were probably the worst days out of this whole process.

Praise the Lord again for how great my kidney is working for Gigi! She got a champion kidney!!! LOL...... I truly am grateful for how everything turned out. Remarkably, Gigi is recovering very well, looks great, and is doing great! We couldn't have asked for anything else. We had many people praying for us and our support system has been phenomenal. God was certainly with us through all this.

My parents arrived into town on Friday afternoon and will stay for the week to help me out at the house while the kids are in school and Stacey goes back to work. Stacey was able to take the week off so she could be at the hospital with us. It's been quite a week indeed!

I was discharged on Saturday afternoon! I was ready to leave and anxious to see the kids. Thanks again to Diana who came to the house to watch the kids while Stacey and my folks came to get me. Doctors' are estimating that Gigi should be able to come home on Monday!

Today is Monday.....5 days post surgery, 2 days since I've been home, and I am feeling better with each passing day. Still a bit tired and sore, but feeling great! Hopefully Gigi will still be able to come home today.

I am on short term disability from work and am tentatively scheduled to return next Monday, but ultimately it's up to my Surgeon. I go for my follow up appointments next Tuesday. I am confident my recovery will continue to go well and I should be back to my routines throughout the coming weeks.

Thank you all again for your support, love, generosity, etc.... the meals we have received thus far have been absolutely wonderful and amazing! You all helped in more ways than you know and we truly are grateful for everything you've done. God Bless You all!

Hospital Day

Today is the day we left for the hospital. Said goodbye to the kids at the bus stop this morning and gave them all hugs and kisses. They really have been amazing through this whole thing and completely understand what I am doing and why. The next few weeks will certainly be tough as I recover and not be able to do much with them in terms of physical activity, but we'll try to make it work as best as we can so that there is little disruption to their routine. At least I get a nice two week vacation from work.... LOL!

It is amazing how much preparation has gone into all of this. Not just over the past few months with all the tests, but just here at home. The packing, cleaning, organizing, the bills, etc.... so much to take care of.

A lot of people have been asking me if I am nervous. To some degree, I am! But I try to put this whole thing in perspective that I am donating a kidney. It could be worse; I could be having a brain tumor removed, fighting cancer, or something. I'm certainly trying not to make light of the situation or the procedure, but just reminding myself that I'm doing something good here. That helps. I know I will be in great hands with the team of doctors and staff. We have an incredible support system surrounding us and I couldn't be more grateful than I am right now.

I have only been admitted since 12:00 and it is now almost 6pm. In these short 6 hours, I feel like I have been here for days..... I don't know how Stacey did it for 63 days on bedrest. Those who know me know that I am not one for sitting down; I feel like I always need to be doing something. Jello, Italian Ice, and Broth have become my new main food group! LOL.... Had it for lunch and then again for dinner. All I can have is liquid, no solids. Just found out today that I won't be able to eat solids until maybe late Thursday or Friday. I am going to wither!!!!! I usually have at least 4-5 meals a day! This whole not being able to eat is pure torture! LOL.... Who knows, I may surprise myself and the doctors and recover faster than expected. I look forward to eating something of real substance soon.

Tomorrow is the big day and I will try to post late in the evening after I have gone through recovery and am somewhat cognisant of what I am typing. Please continue to pray for me, Gigi and the family.

Below is a picture of the two of us pre-surgery/check-in: