Spring 2014

Hello.  It was a busy spring again for us. The weather was pretty cold and rainy through April which put a hamper on some activities like Madi's track meets, but especially Andrew's baseball season....but it all worked out as usual.

Grammy and Gramps took Abby to see Disney on Ice Princesses and Heroes.  She had a good time.

 

 



We celebrated Easter with Family.  Here are some pics of us at my parent's house Easter day.  Abby and the other kids had their annual egg hunt.

Madi had a busy spring running high school track and playing club field hockey.  Madi's track season went really well.  She was able to run varsity in the 1600 and 3200 running personal best's in both.  She was able to run in a few invitationals and earned a varsity letter.  Unfortunately, her season was cut a little short by a concussion she received in gym class...here are a few pics of her running.

We were able to get a good batch of field hockey pictures at a tournament (thanks Phil) the day before her concussion...

Madi had a rough spring after these pictures.  The concussion subsided but her eye was still giving her pain and she had double vision.  After seeing a Ophthalmologist a week later, she was diagnosed with an orbital blow out fracture.  The blow to the head from the collision fractured the bone behind her eye and then trapped part of the eye not allowing it to track with the other eye.  She had an emergency surgery at Wills Eye Institute in Philly to fix the fracture and free the eye.  She was swollen and in alot of pain for a week.  She missed a significant amount of school.  She was cleared to go to school three weeks later, though she still had double vision.  She wore an eye patch to school to finish.  She was able to catch up and finish her finals.  At the writing of this post, she is still recovering.  She still has double vision looking straight and down.  We have an appointment in late June to get an evaluation of progress.  We are told that recovery can take months.  This has been quite an ordeal.  Madi has shown remarkable strength and resilience throughout the entire process....though she is ready to be better.  I will keep you posted....prayers appreciated. 

Madi did celebrate her 15th Birthday amongst all of that.  We had a small celebration for her, pictured below and then she celebrated with others the last day of school at the pool.

Andrew experienced the Gettysburg Middle School tradition of 6th grade camp.  He went for a week to a camp with the entire 6th grade where they did outside science academic work as well as many other social activities.  For his first time away from home he did well.

Took this picture...an actual worn out basketball...a lot of practice by Andrew went into this picture..

He played little league baseball again. Here are some pics.

He also participated in the Memorial Day parade as a trumpet player in the middle school band, he's in there somewhere...

Madi and Abby also came along to watch....

Abby was a spectator for all events...her is a picture of her coming home from one of them...

Madi had a mask given to her to ice her eye.  Abby found that and a cape from Madi's room and played superhero for an evening....I thought it was appropriate to include...

I was offered the opportunity to be the Commander of my military unit in early June.  I was fortunate to have help in planning a change of command ceremony that included family and friends. It turned out to be great event.  Here are some pictures.

We are looking forward to a good summer.  We have a vacation and some sport camps and activities planned....hope you are looking at a good summer plan as well.....



End of March 2014

February and March still had a lot of winter involved.  This is the coldest and longest winter a long time.  We had a lot of days of school and delays, but the districts have worked out getting the kids out on time somehow...

We had more snow as part of this winter.....here are some pics.

We did go the church youth group outing of tubing.  It was fun for Madi and Andrew.  Andrew took a shortcut all night and I was unable to get a picture.  As for me and Abby, they decided to disallow tubes running together due to the ice and speed, so Abby went once and was overwhelmed...so, we played in the tubes at the little kid area. Here is Madi with a friend...

 

 

Madi kept busy by being in the high school performance of Bye, Bye Birdie.  She had alot of fun and it was a good performance...unfortunately, no pictures....Madi has started track and is looking forward to her first high school season.

 

Andrew's basketball season ended well.  He had a good season and improved by playing some good competition.  Andrew has started some indoor baseball practices and will play baseball this season again.

 

Abby continues to grow....she is doing well in her preschool....hopefully, she is looking forward to being at track meets and baseball games again this spring ;)  We did get a 1 day of early spring and I was able to get Abby to a park for it....

 

 

 

At the end of March, we were able to send Madi with the high school chorus and orchestra to Disney.  They performed at Downtown Disney and other venues, got some training and got to play with Disney artists, and see the sights.  She had a good time and handled the travel like a champ.  Here is a pic she sent from her time there standing between Mike and Sully...

 

 

The end of March brought my 45th birthday...here is pic of Abby and me with my cake...

 

 

We have had a good start to 2014 and looking forward to a good, but busy, spring.  Hopefully this finds you and your family well....Until next time....

 











January 2014 Abby is 4 !



 

 

Hello.  We have had a good start to 2014.  We continued to have snow and the kids continued to enjoy it.  It has been really cold...the first "cold day" off school since I can remember.  Here are some pics.

 

 

Abby continues to perform around the house.  Here she is with her Christmas guitar.



 

 

Here is a random picture that I just had to include just because....

 



 

 

At the end of the month we celebrated Abby's 4th birthday. Hard to believe.  This birthday had a Disney Frozen focus.  We had a celebration on the 29th - her birthday and then a bigger event on the weekend that included another viewing of Frozen.....a good time was had by all...

 

 

 

It has been a busy month.  I have enjoyed coaching Andrew's basketball team this winter.  We have another month to go.  Andrew has played well in a very competitive league.  Madi has continued playing indoor field hockey with her high school team as well as being a part of the high school musical - performed in March.

 

Hope you are off to a great 2014....