Swim test

We joined the YMCA last week and the place to be, for the kids, is the pool.  But, I have to be with them until they pass the swim test.  Sam was sure she could do it right away.  So she tried and failed.  Mostly because she didn't breath while swimming.  Zach saw Sam fail and told me, "If Sam can't pass then I won't either."  But they both started working hard to improve their swimming each time we went to the pool-which has been like 4 times.  Sam choose to practice the back stroke since she was told she had to swim the length of the pool and back again whichever way she wanted to just as long as she was swimming the whole time-no touching the walls.  So today she practiced and practiced when she was confident she could do it, she told the life guard she wanted to take the test again.  Now this was a different life guard from last time so as Sam is finishing her test he says.  "She has to swim on her front to pass the test."  I'm like no way is this guy going to dash my child triumph because he decided her way was not good enough.  So I told him of the last guard who said it would be fine and he let her pass.  I was so happy for her and could see how proud she was of herself at succeeding.  She never knew that the life guard almost didn't pass her.

Merry Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas Card video with captioning:

Without Captioning:

Dictation

So, I started a new curriculum that teaches the kids to write what I read.  The dictation sentences are only 1 or 2 sentences.  Sam actually enjoys it, but her sentences are shorter.  Zach could not get it.  I will admit the sentence he had to remember was long and cumbersome with old English vocabulary.  He just couldn't get it after 40 minutes of trying to repeat what I said.  I finally asked him why he could recite Bible verse, but not this.  He said to me "I could read those!  If I can see it I can remember it."  Now, the point of the lesson was for him NOT to read it, but to write what he hears.  However, I was curious about something and decided to showed him the sentence.  He read through it once and wrote the whole thing without a single hiccup!  To be honest, I'm not sure what to do about this.  Maybe, I will have to start him off on the same sentences that Sam is on.  I do think this is a skill that they both need to master.  I guess I will find out tomorrow how he does with Sam's curriculum.

Zach's baptism

Of all the responsibilities I have as a parent, their spiritual development is the most important.  Deut. 11:19 - "Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."
So getting to see the pay off of my child accepting Christ and then pledging his life to Jesus through the outward expression of Baptism, is the highlight of my life!  It's like an addiction, I can't wait to do it again with Samantha!  Watching, teaching, listening as we discover the Lord together was, at times, a struggle.  But now, Zach is the one instigating Bible study.  He hungers for the Word and reminds me to be more diligent.  I couldn't be prouder.

Zachariah Daniel Baierl Baptized: August 22, 2010

Kids at camp.

We dropped off both kids this year at Sky Lodge Christian Camp.  Whao, that was a little scary.  Zach was excited to show off his knowledge to Sam as soon as we got there.  It was hard keeping them by us while we checked in!  I can't believe how fast they are growing up.  There were no tears as we left.  Just a quick hug and some words of wisdom.  Then, they were off playing with friends again.
When we came to pick them up a week later, they were talking over each other to tell us all about their adventures.  I love this place and thankfully to do the kids.  I was told several kids came to Christ while at camp, woot!  Sam told me she swam almost everyday.  I guess she missed one day.  No shock there for my little fish.  Unfortunately, the kids didn't get any pictures while they were there.  The Canteen that normally sells them was sold out I guess.  But they absolutely loved it and we are already starting to save for next year which will be Zach's last year to be able to go.

12 year Aniversary & Matt's birthday

After we dropped the kids off at Sky Lodge Christian Camp, Matt and I had a whole week to ourselves.  We spent the first part of the week doing, well, not much of anything.  I got ready for the new school year, whoo hoo.  But we did take time out for us.  We went to Chicago and spent a lazy, pamper ourselves time at the Amalfi Hotel.  It was so relaxing.  Here is our view from our hotel window.

The room was average size.  Nothing really that special.  But here it is anyway.

I think our favorite place in the hotel was the fitness room.  I miss it already.  We only spent one night at this place. so there wasn't much we could do in our limited time.  But the hotel had free evening cocktails, so we tried that.  The lounge area was kinda small for the number of people that were in there so we left after one drink and went across the street to Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse.

Which we also could see from our room window.  It was pricey, but good.  Then again everything, in my opinion, was a little pricey.  But price aside, we enjoyed ourselves and that was the whole point of the vacation.  Of course the next day we checked out and the then tooled around down town Chicago, but after awhile we got frustrated with the traffic and headed home.  Turns out President Obama was in town and Transformers 3 was being filmed so there were several streets that were blocked off and that made traffic a nightmare.
Matt loved the busy city and handled the traffic brilliantly, I just felt claustrophobic.  Thankfully the good Lord gave me this man as my husband who, is a calm get through busy streets while taxi's pass you in the parking lane, kind of driver.  Which makes me, a normally stressed out driver, able to sit back, enjoy the view, and make the occasional comment about crazy taxi drivers.

plantar fasciitis - Heel pain

Been struggling with this for longer than I should have.  Finally went to the podiatrist, Dr Finnell, who is a great guy.  Told me all the steps we will be taking to heal my left foot and prevent this from happening in the future.  Mostly, I'm writing all this so if I find myself in the same predicament I can reference all the info here.  Cause we all know how info gets retained in this Swiss cheese brain of mine.
Anyway, first things first, what is plantar fasciitis.
That would be this:

 Sucky right?!  For me this has been caused by a lot of standing/walking/running etc. on bad arches.  By the time I got arch supports the damage was already done and every time I would stand/exercise I would re-injure it.  The fibrous bands could get inflamed and the vicious cycle would start all over again.  So what did I do about it?  For the longest time, NOTHING.  That is right I stopped walking my dog, I didn't exercise, I didn't go for walks with my kids.  Result: I gained weight and it got worse.
Hopefully, I'm on the road to recovery.  Here is the plan and if all goes right, my pain will subside and I will loss the weight to boot.
First, doc taped up my foot and I have to keep it that way for a few days.  Then I can take it off and start some specific feet exercises which I'm going to list here so I can reference them for future use.

 There we go folks.  I gotta do these several times a day now.
PS:  Bare-foot treading is bad, very bad!