I'm still here, really!

Life has been really busy lately. So busy, that I'm getting NOTHING done around here! Really, though, its a matter of organization, something that I struggle with. Honestly, I was more organized with 5 kids in the house than I am with one! 

Besides my daily workouts at the "Y", (which take up 2 hours out of my morning) here's what we've been up to the last couple of weeks!

Remember this post about Angela's recent performance? Well, her teacher forwarded the video to the building principal, who sent it on to the District Superintendent, who in turn sent it on to every teacher in the district, suggesting they have their students watch it! How cool is that? Then, the following week, her building's Sunshine Committee presented her with this bear. (please excuse the messy face!)

It has a tag on it that says, "We are so proud of you!". I thought it was very sweet of them to do. My main hope though, is that that video had an effect on the other students (and staff!) in the district, and those who need to will think about eliminating the R-word from their vocabulary!

Saturday, May 30th, Dean, Angela and I participated in the 2009 Ride For Wishes. This is a HUGE ride, that is police escorted. It starts out at Fury Cycle in St. Paul, then heads out cities around the metro area, ending up back in. St. Paul. The purpose of the ride is to raise money for two or three kids in particular who are waiting to have their wish granted from Make A Wish of Minnesota. You may remember that Angela was a wish recipient in February of 08, so we are VERY appreciative of the organization, and understand all that goes into it! Anyway, the last part of the ride is a parade through St. Paul. This is the AMAZING part of the ride. There is a fire truck that leads the way, and the St. Paul Vulcans too! (every one of the vulcans gave Angela a pin, unfortunately not one of them is "school appropriate"!) This year Angela got to ride on the fire truck which was followed by 250+ motorcycles through downtown St. Paul, past the capital, and ending up at the site of the street dance, complete with 10 bands.

I cannot even begin to describe the energy of the parade to you. 250 motorcycles takes up about a mile of road. Remember it was a police escorted, so all the intersections were closed off while we went through. We were toward the beginning of the motorcade, and in my mirrors the bikes went back as far as I could see! It was all very exciting! Sadly, I am a bad blogger mom and forgot to bring my camera along! I'm hoping someone who saw the event will send me some pictures!

I did hear some sad news though. One of the children who's wish was the focus of this year's ride, had taken a turn for the worse. Rumor has it she was not expected to survive through the weekend, but I don't know how accurate that was. I pray that she is able to hang on so she can have her wish!

Sunday was a relaxing day...FINALLY! We haven't had one of those in awhile. Dean and I putzed around here, getting some yard work done, and the first coat of paint on the now-spare bedroom. I'll be needing to put it to use soon! 

To top it all off, Angela's birthday is this weekend! Can you believe she's going to be THIRTEEN! My baby...the baby of all my kids...a teenager! Where did the time go? We have big plans for Friday night, and she is very excited!

I have started another blog that I originally set to private, but, for several reasons which I explained there, I've decided to go public with it. If you're interested in reading, please drop by and visit. My goal is to help someone else who's contemplating the same thing to find information and support!

Angela is playing softball league for people who have disabilities. Lets just say "humorous" about sums up her skills! She and a couple other kids are the youngest on the league of late teens/early adults. Since there weren't enough "younger" players, they just stuck them on a team. So, they're playing real games, with players who are I-N-T-O the game, but have done a great job being patient with the "little kids". We have a game tonight, so hopefully I'll remember to bring my camera and get some pictures!

It's still Special Olympics track season, and she has practices two days a week. She LOVES track practice! It's great for her, too. Special Olympics track is NOT necessarily about running. For those who are not able to run, there are walking events, and at meets athletes are matched with others who are at their same ability level. Really, there is something for everyone, at every ability level. There are even wheelchair events, including for those who have electric wheelchairs! We had our area meet a few weeks ago, and the HUGE state meet is coming up in a couple of weeks.

And the dogs? Well, they've just been busy enjoying the yard, mostly by finding new ways to escape from it!

According to Roman (he's the Mini Red poodle sitting on the rock) Zurri is due to come in heat ANY day. That's great news for us! That means with a little luck we'll have puppies in August! We've been almost 2 years without puppies, hard to believe! We just finished getting updates on the health tests that need to be updated, and are anxious to be able to announce "She's expecting!"

Ok, I think that about covers it! I promise to get back to my daily blogging, AND taking pictures!