Jeffrey at Diabetes Camp

So we dropped Jeffrey off to Camp Red Cliffe near Huntsville yesterday. It was one of the hardest things that I have ever done. Leaving him with other people to care for for 5 days. Scott and I have had pretty much the complete care of Jeffrey's diabetes for the past six years. I worry that he will not pay attention. I know that it would be good if he learned to take control himself, but at the same time, I worry about not being needed any more. I guess life goes on and he and I both need this time to grow.


Hailey was not happy to leave Jeffrey, she wanted to stay with him. I had Caleb color him a picture and mailed it to him so that he can get mail.

We got our air conditioning fixed today. The guy that came was someone that our neighbor recommended. He was good and he also gave me some recommendations on how to make our home more comfortable as far as our air needs. So if anyone needs a recommendation, I would use him.

A few random thoughts

I'm not exactly sure how to start this blog ... or end it. As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure what is going in the middle either. But maybe if I just keep on typing, some kind of thought pattern might emerge.
Even though I am tired of all this rain, and I'm sure everyone else is too -- It does have some benefits. For one, it has kept that dang ice cream truck away -- except for that one evening a few days ago when the sun crept through the clouds long enough for that devil to creep through the neighborhood. Well, really if he were just creeping thru, it wouldn't be a problem. It's that dang music he plays that seems to hypnotize all the kids in the neighborhood, especially mine. It causes them to run inside and dump all the money out of their banks, and hand it over for a couple of small treats.
I do have to admit, though, I have the sweetest kids in the world. Jeffrey has always been so thoughtful. It can be frustrating at times. Like when the ice cream man came the other day, he not only bought some treats for himself, but also for his friends and siblings. Of course he had to use some of his sisters money too. Other times, he will give away brand new toys or other things that he is no longer interested in.
But then there are those moments -- like last night, when he had a bad headache and so did I. He was thoughtful enough to, without asking, get me a cold, wet washcloth for my aching head, with no thought for himself. He has always been that kind of kid.
Hailey is just sugar sweet. And she is all girl. This morning as I was getting ready for church, she came in with her red dress on and stood next to me, looking up at me -- her eyes blinking, and her hands flinging her hair back as only a girl knows how to do, just fishing for a compliment. Other times though she is outside looking for bugs. She just loves rolley-pulleys, and butterflies. Then just tonight as she is doing her prayers, she says "Bless that daddy can get a sled for Christmas, and mommy, some rings, and Jeffrey gets ... nothing, and I get some butterflies."
Caleb is another story. He is a handful. It seems like everyday he pounds his head into something. Sometimes on purpose. Today's incident was more of an accident that seemed to happen in the blink of an eye, He had to see what was up on the picnic table, so he was climbing up on, and falling off the table - headfirst onto the cement floor. THUD! A few tears later, after he saw his little cousins come by, he was just fine. Back to his old young self; climbing, running and finding ways to get himself hurt yet again.
They say that if a kid doesn't get bruised and scratched up on a daily basis, he is doing this kid thing all wrong. Crazy! By the way, for my future reference, what does a concussion look like on a toddler?
Did I mention church? Seriously, this kid can not sit through a sacrament meeting. I don't even care if he's not sitting. We've got books, toys, food, drinks, stuff to color and stuff to color with. What else do we need to do to keep him quiet? The kid screams and cries if we don't let him out of the room. And when we do have to take him out, its no fun for him, or us. He's not allowed to run the halls or to run around a room. Its in the carseat by himself or in a secluded room. He just doesn't seem to get it!
But for all the frustrations with him, he is also very sweet. There's nothing quite like a hug from Caleb. He'll sit and watch a basketball game with me and give me high-fives. And he loves to shoot hoops and throw balls. When he smiles, it just seems to beam right through his eyes and melts your heart!
So even though the laundry never seems to end; and the house just never seems to stay clean; and for all the good meals that get cooked and not eaten -- its all worth the effort in the end.

I'm going to be in trouble for this one

..... But it is something I just had to share.

How many of you have talked for so long with someone that your battery actually died?
Here's the scoop - I had just finished with scouts last night (a little orienteering and treasure hunting at the park next to our house). After I sucessfully corraled the kids back into the house with a little bribery, "Hailey, lets go set-up your new swimming pool! - PSYKE!", Tammy remembered she needed to drop off her visiting teaching report to her supervisor or whatever. It was about 8:45 by the time she left, and I figured she'd be right back (her VT supervisor doesn't seem to be the chatty type). By the time 10PM rolled around, the kids in bed and Tammy still not back, I started to get a little worried. I tried calling her phone. Nope, she left it at home. So I threw on a shirt with my sweat pants and hopped in the truck to peruse the neighborhood. She wasn't at the the VT supervisors house, so where could she be? After continuing thru the neighborhood a little more, I see her in the van chatting in front of the house of one of the nicer ladies in the ward. I pulled over to see what was up. Just lost track of time, I guess. ... Oh, and, "why won't the van start up again? Must have ran the battery out, while I was talking all this time. But the engine wasn't on .... how could?" I guess the key must have been in "accessory position". Anyways, good thing the lady's husband had jumper cables because I just don't have any at the moment. Guess I'd better get some before the next time this happens.
Note to all women who are prone to chat: Turn the key to 'Off' before you chat with another woman, or take the key out and put it in the purse. Or better yet, wear pants with pockets and put them in there. That way you won't lock them inside the car when you leave your purse there. Oh, and take your phone with you when you go somewhere. Comes in handy when you need to call for help or your husband needs to find out where you are.

I hope the couch is comfortable tonight!

Another note (off topic): If you are interested in going up to Brigham City and watching us in the bike tour, they are looking for volunteers and providing a free lunch and T-shirt to anyone that can volunteer for 4 hours. Just a thought.

Ride for Diabetes

I just figured I'd take a page out of Kristins last blog and put a plug in to our little family fund raising summer bike escapade. Click on this link www.tour.diabetes.org to be taken to the main page. From there you can click on 'Donate' and select the rider you want to sponsor. Both Jeffrey and I are riding (but Jeffrey still needs more donations in order to qualify for the ride). Any amount you donate is appreciated and tax deductable. The event we are participating in is on June 13th in Brigham City.
I know we've already sent emails to most of you that read our blog (unless there are more blog-stalkers I'm not aware of).
As I'm sure you all know, Jeffrey has had Type 1 diabetes for 6 1/2 years now. As you can all understand, its a very time-consuming and emotionally draining disease to live with. But, what can one do, but to suck it up and move forward with faith. We have been fortunate to have the support system that we have to help Jeffrey. We couldn't ask for better family, friends and doctors than we have been blessed with. Unfortunately, many others don't have the same support.
The American Diabetes Association is a great organization that has come through for us to get us the support we needed in the time of our greatest need. With the many advances in diabetes care over the last few decades, living with diabetes is certainly much more manageable than it has been in the past. Yet there are more and more people being diagnosed with the disease everyday. We appreciate the work they do and feel a certain responsibility to advocate and give back within our sphere.

Hailey's Preschool Graduation

Hailey recently had her graduation from preschool. She is so sad to be no longer going to Ms. Kari's school any more. The ceremony was really cute and a lot of fun. You could certainly tell that they put a lot of effort into their school. All the kids had to perform a poem that they memorized during the year. They also sang several songs, including a very touching rendition of God Bless the USA. The gowns were fabulous (garbage bags). Hailey wore a spring dress, but I felt bad that I didn't realize that they were showing off their tumbling, (so we got to see her panties). Any guesses on how long it will be that Ms. Kari, Grandma, and Norman (the dog), are tops in Hailey's prayers? Scott and I want to get back into her prayers some day.

Tasty Leaves?

Is that the secret? Really?
You all know the drill; try to get the kids to eat their veggies (or anything healthy for that matter). I just never thought all it would take was to change what to call it, but it worked. For the grown-ups, its affectionately referred to as spinach. When we were kids, it was the idea that you could be strong like Popeye if you ate your spinach. That was a little bit of an exaggeration (for most people, not me - I'm built just like Popeye).
Its a pretty simple food, spinach. Some like it raw, like Tammy; some will endure it cooked, like Jeffrey. I'll have it either way. Hailey, well if its not chips and chocolate milk, its painful. So tonight we tried a little reverse psychology.
So this is how it went: "No, these tasty leaves are only for big people, not little girls." After a few minutes, Hailey says "I want some tasty leaves like Jeffrey!"
The FDA recommends 5 servings of veggies a month, right? Thought so.
At least apples aren't that tricky, after you figure out what everyone likes. For my kids its red apples, who cares what variety. For Tammy, its Granny Smith. For me, its Golden Delicious.
Sometimes, you can combine the greens with the apples and come up with something good. Like spinach salad with diced apples, craisins and candied almonds, yummy! (especially if there are leftover candied almonds to snack on later)

Cell phones and dating ideas

So anybody got any better ideas for a date? It started out just great. We had dinner at Ruby River (their steaks are probably the best you can do if there is no Longhorn Steakhouses within a couple hundred miles). Then seeing as we didn't have enough time to catch a movie -- and frankly there wasn't really a movie we cared to see -- and it was too cold by that time to do anything outside, minigolf, walking off the dinner, etc. We decided to walk around the mall. Talk about feeling old! Since I wanted to find out what kind of new cell phone I could get (in June, when our contract would be up), I suggested stopping at the Verizon counter to look for a couple minutes. So Tammy went off to the little girls room, and somehow those couple of minutes looking at phones turned into 10 minutes, then 20, then half of an hour. He talked me into a Blackberry phone instead of the more basic phone I was originally interested in. I guess you don't have to wait the 2 years to get your 'free' phone with Verizon. Only 1 year and sign a new 2-year contract. So after Tammy came back with some clothes for the kiddos, we spent another half of an hour and he threw in a free phone for Jeffrey to boot! Nothing fancy, no camera. Just a little more piece of mind for us when he's off on his own.
So anyways, a whole hour at the Verizon kiosk at the mall was not exactly Tammy's idea of a good date. To be fair, it wasn't mine either.
And now I've got my blackberry that I now don't think I'm even keeping seeing as how I can't sync up my work email and calendar to it like I was told I could, no problem. Maybe ... if I had the $45 monthly plan (on top of the normal $69/month plus $20 for the 2 other lines), maybe I could. But its looking like now my days amongst the blackberry carrying brigade are numbered, barring any yet unforseen events.
So anyone got any better ideas for a good date? At least for that hour or so after dinner before picking up the kids?