Fighting MS in Roanoke

It's only been two years since Robin was diagnosed with MS, but much has changed. She's doing great, by the way. Today I picked her up with her mom and drove them down to Roanoke where we had the pleasure of attending the Women Against Multiple Sclerosis Luncheon and listening to Robin as the keynote speaker. She did a wonderful job. She recounted those early months of her diagnosis where she was very symptomatic and immediately jumped into doing all she could to raise funds for MS research. Her exciting win of the SixDegrees.org contest, the ensuing visit to CA to meet Kevin Bacon, and his subsequent nomination of her for CNN's Heroes Series were the highlights of her talk, and it was exciting to travel back to that time for a while. I know she was an inspiration to many of the women in the crowd who struggle with MS, and I was proud to be a part of the day. You can read more about her story here.

Party Time!

To celebrate her birthday, AJ chose to have 5 girls spend the night. She had another friend's party at the bowling alley in the afternoon, and Rachel offered to pick her up from that party, take her to the hair salon to give her a fancy 'do, and then get her back home before her guests arrived. What a special gift! AJ loved every minute of it!

Sick Kid

This kid kept me up all night. Her insides wanted to get outside. No school for her today.

Duncan's Birthday

Who knew IHOP's not crowded on St. Patrick's Day? It was the perfect place to celebrate Duncan's 6th birthday. Happy Birthday, Buddy!

Back to the airport already

It went by so fast! Already headed back to RI...

Family visit

Sue, Dave, Emily and Jackson were here for a family visit to celebrate Baba and Pop's 40th anniversary. The weather was pretty bad, but we had fun standing around watching Jackson. He's 21 months old and cute as can be. His favorite time of day is just before bed when he strips down to his diaper for "nakey time" and runs around the house. Pure entertainment.

Writing about Pop

Bailey is working on a year-long Generations Project that has a different aspect to it each quarter. First quarter, she wrote her autobiography. For the second, she compared answers from myself and Pop with her own on our experiences during the middle school years, AND she had to create a timeline with photos of important events in my life juxtaposed with current event photos of that time. We've just finished the third quarter which required Bailey to write a biography of her grandfather. We took new pictures and borrowed the photo albums to use some of the great old ones. It's been a remarkable experience to hear all of Pop's stories.

Destination Imagination

Cool sign!  I think we'll get to keep it at our house.

Their mascot

Julia, the opera diva

Angie, the fearless leader

Awaiting the Awards!

Today was the Regional Destination Imagination Tournament, and Bailey's team participated in the Instinct Messaging Challenge. They were to choose a feature creature, create a skit around it, and include the ways in which that animal communicates. They chose the Adeli Penguin as their creature, and their skit took place in cool "Ice Vegas". They did a great job, but they came in second place and thus, their road ends. No State Tournament or Global Finals this year. They did win a Renaissance Award for extraordinary amounts of effort and preparation in their solutions. This is what the judges wrote:

"This team wowed us with their beautiful, impressive set design from start to finish.  The impeccable craftsmanship, down to the very last detail, was uniquely integrated into their solution.  The team's performance included intricate, hand-made costumes and props, and an unexpected and creative use of materials for sound effects.  They totally amazed us!  Wow!"

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

These people celebrate their 40th anniversary today.  

Look how young and cute they are!  And how adorable that baby is!  And how ugly that couch is!

Snow Day!

A real snow day! We measured 4 inches in the driveway, 7 inches in the front yard. The girls had a blast out in the snow, and at one point I counted 11 children in the front yard as they built snow forts.