back to school

Today was the first day of school here. I cannot believe that I have a junior, a freshman and an 8th grader this year. It’s so strange for the kids to be so grown up.

Junior

Freshman

8th grader

16

Later this morning, as the clock turns from 8:52 to 8:53 AM, my oldest child will be 16 years old.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

tribal chief

When the kids and I were in Broken Bow, we went to Beavers Bend State Park. This regal Indian Chief sits in front of the Forest Heritage Center. I remember when the artist carved the tribal Chief with a chain saw. We drove up and watched him work one afternoon and I thought it was amazing that he could create such detail with something as large as a chainsaw. I’ve looked for information about the artist online, but haven’t found anything yet.

When I forced everyone to stand in front of the chief, some of the kids were tired, hot and ready to be in the water. Can you tell?

post office

One of my favorite memories of childhood is of playing post office. We used the brick wall in front of the carport as our mail boxes. The holes in the brick wall were the mailboxes. We’d work and work, writing letters and putting them in the mail slots for each other.

tire swing

This tire swing hangs at the house where I grew up.  I cannot tell you how many memories I have of jumping off the fence onto the swing and flying through the air with the sky showing a little through the branches and leaves of this big oak tree.

When I was back in my hometown this past weekend, we stayed at my grandparents’ house with Granny, Aunt M. and Uncle D.  Granny’s house is next door to the house where I grew up, the house my dad and grandpa built, the house we moved into when I was in 2nd grade.

Saturday afternoon, we walked over to see the old tire swing and told the kids some stories about how much fun their aunts and I had on it as kids.

Living in central Oklahoma where the land is mostly flat, I forget how mountainous it is and big the trees get in SE Oklahoma.  It’s always a bit of a shock to see huge pine trees reaching so far toward the heavens and how big around the trunks of the oak trees are.

good memories

My great-grandfather built this little rock house.  It’s on Main Street in Antlers, Oklahoma.

He was my maternal grandmother’s father.  My great-aunt and her family lived here when I was a child and I remember visiting this house, seeing my great aunt and her husband.  I remember seeing some of their children and grandchildren there too, but probably couldn’t pick them out of a crowd at this point.

I can still remember the smell of the house.  Driving by it brings back those memories each time I pass through on the way back to my home town.

Lot 8

When I got home from work yesterday, a box from UPS was waiting. It was from Minimed, the company that makes J’s insulin pump and supplies.

Inside the box was a new box of ten infusion/tubing sets along with a prepaid shipping label and a notice that any infusion sets from lots beginning with 8 need to be returned.

Guess how many boxes from lot 8 we have?

Four.

Today, I’ll go by the UPS store and send them back. The mailman just came by and picked up our outgoing mail, which included the notice to Minimed that we had four boxes and will need replacement boxes.

I appreciate Minimed’s quick response to the problem they’ve discovered with some of the infusion sets from lot 8.

Click here to read the official news release about the reacall from Minimed.

Seventy Six Trombones

Last night, I volunteered at THE MUSIC MAN. It was a really great performance and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I had forgotten most of the songs and now have them running through my head. I’m thinking of finding the soundtrack so I can torture my children with it during trips to the mall and grocery store.

6th of July fireworks

Since it rained on 04 July, we did some fireworks tonight. I messed around with the “fireworks” setting on my camera and had a great time.

Here are a few photos:

lightning

A few nights ago, we had a thunderstorm on the way when I noticed lightning in the distance.

Have you heard that saying about how lightning never strikes in the same place twice? Well, I know that’s not true. One of my friends from high school had her phone line struck multiple times during our high school years. I don’t know exactly how many times it happened, but it was at least twice.

Each time I hear someone say that lightning never strikes the same place twice, I think about that and sometimes I tell them the story of how the lightning struck her phone.

lillies

I have tons of these beautiful lillies blooming in my flower beds right now.

Toto

This is Toto, my parents’ newest little dog. He’s 10 weeks old and is Penelope’s son. Penelope is my niece’s dog.

He and Hollie play together all day long – wrestling, growling, rolling around, chasing each other, seeming very happy to have each other to hang out with.

one week down, two to go

J. has been at Camp Sweeney for one week today. She’s been able to email several times and is having a wonderful time. They’ve been to a drive-in movie, she’s caught her first fish and a turtle, she’s broken her sandals and I’ve had to mail more to her. She’s taken a canoeing class and has spent lots of time at the pool. She’s had lots of low blood sugars (40, 47, 62, etc.) because she’s so much more active at camp than she typically is at home. They’ve adjusted her basal rate from midnight to 8am (0.15 unit less insulin per hour) and are going to see how she does with that. They’ll adjust it more if needed. I’m relieved that a full medical staff are on site and that her counselors either have type I diabetes or are well-trained before the campers arrive.

they say it’s his birthday…

Photo posted on Flickr by Contacto Digital

Happy 46th Birthday, Johnny!

she’s at camp

This morning, we took J. to Camp Sweeney, diabetes camp. We’ll pick her up on June 26. She’s been looking forward to camp all year and was so excited when today had finally arrived.

As soon as we walked into her cabin, little girls started squealing and running over to hug her. They were all so excited to see each other again. She’s going to have a great time!

Natalie and J at Camp Sweeney, 07 June 2009

B and J, 07 June 2009

Can you tell that it was very sunny when we got there this morning? I used my phone camera instead of my regular camera. I sort of like that they’re different than my normal photos.