In the Spotlight

Kaitlyn was in a play put on by her class and another class. It was called "School Daze". She was selected to sing a solo. She was soooo nervous and that was reflected in her voice. But she did it and didn't forget the words, etc. I was so proud of her and she had a ball with it. Dirk videotaped it and burned it to a DVD for the teachers. Now some of the families have requested them so he's made 3 and has 8 more to go.

The play came a week after Kaits spent a week at home with her horrible hives. The timing couldn't have been better, if it had to happen. She would have been devastated if she had missed the play.

Singing her solo.


The beloved Mr. Herman. He will be greatly missed!


June 11 was the annual dance recital. The girls were in the same classes this year so it made it a little easier at the recital. They were the first number in the first show and we were able to leave right after that. Then, they had 2 numbers in the second show. Again, the first one and the second one after the intermission. It wasn't an overly hot day but the auditorium at the Middle School was HOT! Apparently, the AC wasn't working. Those poor girls who were in multiple numbers must have been exhausted! The recital lasted 3 hours but was very good. I was so proud of the girls, especially Renee. She had missed the rehearsal because she was sick so the first dance wasn't as good. But they did a great job for the second one. Renee was a little moody but she willingly danced and seemed to have a good time. We went to Pizza Hut afterwards so it was close to 9:30 before they were sleeping.



Miss Lori Williams, their CDT teacher. Both girls have had her for 2 years now.




Kaitlyn and Jaycee Karelus

Renee and Camryn Karelus














This is Miss Tara, their Acro/Hip-Hop teacher.








The following day the first graders were getting their Bibles so I got up and walked to church while Dirk and the girls stayed home. Renee was still sleeping when I left before 8:30. She was a tired little girl.

This is their last week of school. They have half days through Thursday. Kaitlyn is very sad about the year ending and so am I. She has had an amazing year. I thought last year was awesome but this year has been every bit as awesome. She continues to blossom as a learner and has tons of friends. I am glad the year is ending for Renee though. It's been a tough year socially and the class is not very good behaviorally. She is looking forward to a better year next year. Academically, she has grown and I need to continue to foster that over the summer. Her reading skills are beginning to develop but they're not strong enough for her to read very independently. It will come, though.

Unwanted Visitor

We had an unwelcome visitor at our home this morning. Her name is "THE MOMMY MONSTER" and she physically resembles me. But let me tell you, she is NOT who I want to be or who I want my children to remember me by! Here's what happened. Grab a cup of coffee, it might be long. (I just need to vent. Sorry!)

Last Thursday, Renee had a field trip to Tinker Park. Earlier in the year, her class went to the Strong Museum and she told me because she had been there lots of times she didn't want me to go. Fine. It turned out to be the same day as the 2nd. grade sing-a-long. Well, don't ya' know, come the week of the trip, she changed her mind. The tears started, "I want you to go" etc. She ended up being placed in a group with her teacher and I think she had an OK time. So, when the paper came home about this spring field trip, I signed up right away. The day of the trip arrived and although I was all set to go, she complained about going. It turned out to be a sunny day but windy and COLD. We were lucky if it hit 60. She was a grump most of the time and the other kids in our little group even asked why Renee was in such a bad mood. At one point, she said she didn't feel good but I hear that a lot when she's being a grump so I didn't take her seriously. On the bus ride home, she sat on my lap and we snuggled but she seemed OK. I thought for sure I would have a fight about her coming home with me but she told me goodbye in the hall and went back to her classroom. I ran my errands and life was good. WRONG! When she got off the bus, she said she didn't feel good and laid down on the couch. She felt warm so I took her temp. and it was 100.7. She slept for 1.5 hrs. and barely ate any dinner.

Friday she barely made it off the couch. Her throat hurt and her fever fluctuated all day, from 103 to 101. I took her to the doctor on Sat. morning and the rapid strep test came back negative but we went ahead and started her on meds. just in case. Because she had strep in May, they put her on something other than the amoxicillin, which she likes. The new stuff tasted nasty so it was more of a struggle to get her to take it, but NOTHING like Kaitlyn, thank you very much. Poor thing, she missed her dance rehersal and still felt lousy. At one point, her fever went up to 104.2! Sunday was a repeat. Monday she felt a little better but not much. The strep results came back negative so we stopped the Rx but kept doing the Tylenol/Motrin routine.

To top it all off, I came down with a horrible sinus cold on Sat. and wasn't much good to anyone on Sunday. I wasn't able to keep Nicole on Monday because I felt so lousy. But I never had the fever that Renee did. She never had the snotty nose that I did. If you combined both of our symptoms, we would have been REALLY MISERABLE!!

Tuesday she stayed home and played in the morning beautifully. But once again, barely ate anything. She fought with me to get in the tub and have her hair washed before bed but finally settled down and talked about going back to school.

So, this morning, she came downstairs at 7:40. grumpier than grumpy. She was mad because I didn't wake her up or carry her downstairs. Then she complained about being starving but wouldn't tell me what she wanted to eat. It was my fault, of course, because I didn't carry her downstairs or wake her up. I finally took her back upstairs and put her back in her bed and said we would start over. It took her a good 40 minutes to cooperate and she finally was dressed, ate a quick granola bar and was ready for the bus. She even let me brush her hair. But none of that happened without some tears, some yelling and a few spanks. I tell ya', that little girl sure does know how to push my buttons!! She is so stinkin' stubborn and grumpy. I can hardly wait for the teen years, to see what kinds of battles we have then.

This has been a tough year for Renee at school. She had a wonderful friend in Pre-K and they were so good for each other. Not to say that we never had our struggles because we certainly did, but at least she had a special friend while she was there. This year she walked into her Kindergarten class knowing NO ONE!! Her teacher is very sweet and nice but doesn't have the classroom management skills necessary for a well-behaved class and Renee doesn't like that kind of environment. She hasn't made a lot of friends and often complains that she doesn't want to go. Today she told me that another teacher in their building told them they were the worst kindergarten class. She is a rule-follower (Ha...isn't that hilarious!) and tries so hard to be a good girl. I'm praying that she'll have at least 1 friend in her first grade class and a better structured learning environment.

Memorial Day marked the 7th. year since Dad passed away. We headed to the lake after school on Friday and knew going into the weekend that we would have to spend at least one night in the cottage. We got there around 7 and I quickly cleaned the bedrooms and bathroom plus the front of the cottage. Kaitlyn slept on the top bunk and Renee was on the bottom. It was close to 10:30 before Renee finally settled down. She didn't want to sleep there, she wanted to sleep on the top bunk, she wanted to sleep in the trailer (which was still on the basketball court), she wanted to go home, etc. I was in tears because frankly, I didn't want to stay there either. I have not spent a night in the cottage since the night we found Dad and it was just a little too painful. So I was ready to take her home and bag the whole weekend. Dirk was the voice of reason and managed to talk some sense into her and she finally fell asleep. We repeated that scenario the next night too but at least then she was willing to sleep in our bed until we went to bed.

Dirk and Jack Baker attempted to move our trailer onto our lot but were unsuccessful. It was too swampy across the road, where the tractor needed to be. To say we were disappointed is an understatement. But Jack called me this morning and said we'll all set to go now. He moved it yesterday and he wanted my little girl to know she could sleep in her own bed now.

As the day has gone on, I have worried about Renee and her emotions. She was crying on the bus but I hope it was short-lived. Today they were going to start handprinting white t-shirts and it was her day to take a special book for the teacher to read, along with a special snack. She choose cheese balls so she had a big plastic container of them, along with her backpack that I swear weighs 30 lbs. I should weigh it.

Thanks for letting me vent. I will post another day and include pictures from Kaitlyn's theatrical debut and their upcoming dance recital.

Mother's Day Recap

Mother's Day was not the most memorable this year. The day before, Renee started complaining of a sore throat and had a fever in the afternoon. Kaitlyn and I were planning on attending her friend's first communion and Dirk wasn't home so Renee ended up going with us, in spite of her fever. She was pretty chipper during the party afterwards, though. Sunday morning Kaitlyn started complaining that her throat hurt too. She also had a fever. So I stayed home from church with them and then Dirk came home so I could go and help in the first grade Sunday School class. We went to Grandma Ann's for dinner at 2. The girls were in their jammies still. Do you think I could get one nice picture with my 2 children? Guess who wouldn't cooperate?
At least I didn't have to cook. My gift is a clothesline, which hasn't come yet. I asked for one last year but got scrapbook stuff instead. Don't get me wrong, I loved the scrapbook stuff and am using it but it doesn't help me save money or energy.

I took the girls to the doctor on Monday morning and they confirmed what I was suspicious of: strep throat. I love that Wegmans has free antibiotics! Renee does AWESOME with her medicine. It usually takes her less than 10 seconds to drink it. Kaitlyn showed great progress with her chewable tablets but required saltines to do them. She could do it within minutes.

7 days into the amoxicillan, Kaitlyn started having an allergic reaction. It started with hives on her neck and then spread to the groin. She also complained that her hands hurt and she couldn't make a fist. So it was back to the doctor. Diagnosis: serum sickness. No more amoxicillan for her! The doctor prescribed a steriod to help dry up the hives. The other night her back was raw and she was covered with hives. Poor kid!



Did I mention that she is HORRIBLE at taking medicine? It usually takes her 20-30 MINUTES to take 2 tsp. The steriod is horrible tasting so I called the office in the morning and got it switched to tablets. When she took it that night with chocolate pudding, she didn't do a whole lot better. She gets so worked up about it and instead of just eating it, she cries and dilly-dallies and drags it out. I have NO patience left after 10 minutes of this nonsense!! Today she mixed it with yogurt and was CHEWING it like it was a steak. I had even chopped the tablet in my food chopper so there was nothing to chew!!

I decided last night that it's times like this that I really hate being a mom. I hate that my daughter is miserable with itching but yet won't take Benadryl to make it get better. I hate that this new steroid has a side effect of "difficulty sleeping" so my daughter is awake in the middle of the night and crying because she wants to sleep. I hate that she can't take medicine without tears and I don't have the patience to endure it.

Here's another story to add to my dislike of motherhood. I needed to go to Target and Renee wanted to tag along. Not my plan but I said OK. She needs a new umbrella so while we were there, we looked at some. We tried opening and closing them and the one she wanted was just too difficult for her to operate. I told her we would try another store on another day. Well, that was NOt acceptable to her. So she proceeded to push me, hit me and pout. She kept muttering, "I want to get an umbrella." Our next stop was Wegmans and the behavior continued. On the way out she saw some umbrellas and had a fit that I wouldn't stop to look at them. Here's our conversation on the way to the car:

R: I don't like you very much right now.
M: I don't really like you right now either.
R: I wish you weren't my mother.
R: I hate you. You're mean to me.

Blah, blah blah. She did apologize when we got home and all was forgiven but she did tell me one more time, in case I forgot, that she wants an umbrella. That child is relentless!

Kaitlyn is looking better but will still not be going to school tomorrow.

On a postive note, I started babysitting Nicole this week. She is such a good little girl: she only cries when she's tired or hungry. She's only 3 months old so is tiny, especially next to Alex. I had both girls today and they were great. I also watched Makaela for around 6 wks. every Tues. and Thurs. morning. Her last morning was this past Tues. She's 4 months old so was a little more work than Alex. At one point they were both crying and hungry. Luckily, it only lasted for 30 minutes. I'll keep Nicole until the school year ends. Makaela is a sweetie, too so I enjoyed watching her.


Renee got glasses on April 1. She looks absolutely adorable in them.

Lest I Forget

There are some things in life that you just don't forget, or can't forget. I have several of those experiences.

Dec. 6, 1981 I was a junior in high school and my best friend called to tell me a girl in our German class, Amy Smith, had been brutally murdered the night before, along with her boyfriend, Steve Rosenthal. Robie Drake, a senior, was the murderer. I will never forget the feeling of shock and the horrible silence that ran through the halls of NTHS.

March 1982 Dan Welchoff, a senior at my school, died during an inddor soccer game. Once again, the horrible silence of grief that filled the halls of NTHS. Grief counselors just didn't exist back then.

Jan. 1986 I was a junior in college when the space shuttle blew up.

Sept. 11, 2001 If you were alive on that day, you will always remember where you were when you first heard of the terrorist attacks. It was such a horrible thing....the images of planes flying into the towers and their eventual collapse will forever be stuck in my mind.

May 28, 2004 Hearing Dirk's words, "Dad's down in the shop. I'm going to get Les." I will NEVER ever forget that day and all of the pain and sorrow that went along with it. The visuals are still there, too. But the Lord has taken the sting of their pain away.

But I have many happy memories,too. Memories that I don't WANT to ever forget.

June 30, 1999 The day Dirk asked me to be his wife.
June 30, 2000 The day Dirk and I got married.
Sept. 26, 2002 The day Kaitlyn joined our family.
Aug. 25, 2004 The day Renee completed our family.

I don't ever want to forget the feeling of utter exhaustion and exileration as I held my precious daughter for the very first time. She was so helpless and yet so strong. Perfect in every way. I don't ever want to forget the feeling of accomplishment after I delivered Renee without the assistance of medication. I felt like I was Super Woman. (OK, she dropped out of me, but that's beside the point.) The feeling of exhaustion wasn't there but the exhileration was just as strong.

I don't ever want to forget the little noises my babies made or the sweet smell of their skin after their bath, mixed with Purex Baby laundry soap. Or the softness of their skin against mine. Even the middle-of-night feedings really weren't that bad. I don't want to forget the closeness that a mom feels to her baby as she is nursing her. Watching Grace and Alexandra these past few months has reminded me of how much I don't want to forget. Their first reactions to solid foods, first words, first steps.....I remember Kaitlyn's first sweet potatoes but not Renee's. I remember Renee's first steps but not Kaitlyn's. It bothers me that I can't remember everything about them but I also know that that is why I kept a scrapbook of their first year. I tried to keep track of those little details so that when life marched on, I could reflect back on those days.

I have loved just about every moment of being a mom. Both girls have given me trouble....they are not perfect as I first thought. They are human. But they are precious to not only me, but to their Heavenly Father. I have learned so much about faith through my children. I remember one Sunday when Kaitlyn was just a few months old. I was nursing her and she had fallen asleep on me. I was so overwhelmed by the love I felt for her but was reminded that as much as I loved her, Christ loves her (and me) even more, to the point of death on a cross. How can anyone deny that kind of love?

Both of the girls have invited Jesus into their heart. They did so at the lake, during Family Camp. It is exciting to see that innocent prayer begin to take root and grow. Renee has a tenderness about her that causes her to want to pray for others; her teacher, the other children in her class, the people of Japan, etc. I don't want her to loose that sensitivity.

So, lest I forget what is happening in our lives now, I need to blog more, continue to scrapbook and record those things that are precious. This middle-aged mama will one day be an old lady with grown children and I won't be able to remember the ups and downs of life with 2 girls.

Time to Catch-Up

I have recently reread some of my old posts and have been amazed at the changes these 2 little girls have gone through. So I decided it was time to play catch-up. So here goes....it might be long, it's been a while!

Last September 2009 meant first grade for Kaitlyn and Pre-K for Renee. Kaitlyn had the absolute BEST teacher in the whole wide world. Yes, even better than both her parents combined. She was phenomenal!!! Kaitlyn grew so much academically but never felt overwhelmed. She blossomed as a reader and a writer. She loved every minute of first grade!!!

Renee still had some issues. Imagine that! I had worked it out with a friend that we would carpool and save us each a trip to the church. Renee had other plans. The first day Becky picked her up, she refused to get in her car. I had to physically force her into the booster and it took both adults to seatbelt her in. She's a strong littler bugger. I felt like the worst mom in the world, as I was left crying in the driveway. I won that battle but decided Renee won that war. It wasn't worth it to me to struggle with her like that again. So, I picked up Katie every Wed. and made my daily trips to the church. 6 out of 7 days we went there. As it turned out, Renee did eventually ride with Becky willingly in the springtime.

Renee's Pre-K class was 4 mornings a week. She loved school most of the time but gave me a hard time about going, getting dressed and getting her hair combed. Sometimes we combed it at school in the hallway. When I would ask her what she did at school, her response was often the same. "Nothing you need to know about." I stopped asking. She spent most afternoons playing in her room with her Polly Pockets or My Little Ponies. Some days, I would go up the stairs and she would quickly close her door. "Don't come in my room." At the end of the day, her room would be trashed with toys and then she would be so overwhelmed that the tears would start. "I can't clean it up by myself!"

She met a new friend and loved when she could have play dates with her. They were like 2 peas in a pod. We went to SeaBreeze with the friend's family in June and both little girls showed up wearing long pants (it was cool that evening), a pair of shorts over them, a t-shirt and sweatshirt and a hat. It was almost like they had secretly called each other to plan their outfits. Did I mention that nothing matched either?

Another thing that Renee did frequently was take a stuffed animal to school or church. She doesn't have 1 favorite lovey. She spreads her love out. One week it will be one animal, the next a different one. Same thing with her blankets. Kaitlyn has 1 favorite bunny and 1 blanket and they have been consistent since she was 6 months old. She's predictable. Not so with Renee!!!

We welcomed Grace and Alexandra into the extended Ziegler family in January and March. I had the honor of watching them once in a while in the spring. One day in May I had both of them and survived quite nicely.

I went to a scrapbook retreat in April and came home refreshed and a little more caught up on the family albums. Dirk and the girls survived very well without me!

In June, both of the girls danced in their dance recital. Kaitlyn was in two numbers: jazz and ballet. Renee did a tap number. Their costumes were adorable and they both did a great job.

Dirk and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary on June 30. We left the girls with family and went to Skaneateles Lake for 2 days. We stayed at the historic Sherwood Inn and enjoyed walking around the town, admiring the houses and enjoying being together. We had some great meals too. The girls had a great time and didn't seem to even miss us. (This was the FIRST time Dirk and I have ever gone away without them. They had NEVER slept over at anyone else's house even!)

Summertime meant lots of swimming in the Faro's pool and lots of days spent at the trailer. I was amazed at how well they both did in the pool. They had taken swimming lessons at the high school in the spring and it had paid off. Renee loved the lessons and did 2 sessions: Kaitlyn not so much. She only did 1. Each girl had 1 little bout of swimmer's ear but that was quickly taken care of. We had a wonderful summer and hated to see it end. I was in charge of Getaway Camp so that brought some new responsibility. Luckily the girls are older now so it was relatively easy. The week after camp we headed up to Butterfield Lake in the Alexandria Bay area for a few days with very good friends. They own an island and have built a beautiful cottage on it. It was so relaxing....I read books and the girls entertained themselves while Dirk helped to build a bunkhouse. It was so nice to not have to worry about meal-planning, either. We spent one afternoon in Alexandria Bay and toured Boldt Castle. Even the girls enjoyed that.

It was nice to get back into the routine of school in Sept. Kaitlyn once again has a phenomenal teacher!!! She absolutely LOVES school and all aspects of it! She's such a social butterfly so to be back with her friends is great. She is being challenged and loves it! One of her spelling words this week is influenza. Her recent report card was OUTSTANDING!!!

Renee is equally thrilled with school. Her teacher is very nice and sweet. In fact, when I tell people who her teacher is, that is exactly what everyone says. "She's so sweet!" I would like to hear someone say what a great teacher she is but I guess it's OK, since it is Kindergarten and not AP physics. Every night Renee prays for her teacher, that her knees will be healed. She hurt both of them this past summer and can't get down on the floor with the kids. Renee also prays for the children who have trouble making good choices. Suprisingly, she is not one of them. In school, she is the model student.

Renee has made soooo much progress since last year. This summer I was getting worried because she had several potty accidents. That child can hold her pee all day but when the floodgates open. look out. That was the problem this summer. She would hold it and hold it until it started dripping out and then she had NO control! She's not one to try to pee either. So the first week of school I was a nervous wreck. But, as of today, she is accident-free. YIPPEE!! There are days when she runs in off the bus so I know she hasn't gone at school but sometimes she'll tell me she actually went there.

Another huge step with Renee is the number of melt-downs that she has. She doesn't complain about picking up her toys anymore. She sits in the chair in the morning and lets me fix her hair. We pick out her clothes the night before and she usually sticks with that choice. Her socks don't always match the outfit but I don't sweat it. Sometimes she picks out her entire outfit and I let it go....I figure the color choice will make her teacher smile. The stuffed animals stay home now, although she still spreads the love out to them at night. It's almost as if she said to herself, "I'm 6 now. I go to school. Enough of this nonsense."

Another indicator that Renee is growing up. I signed up to volunteer in her classroom. Her response: "I don't want you to. It's too embarrassing." She has since decided I can come in every other week and that will be OK. She brought home a volunteer sign-up for an upcoming fieldtrip and told me she did not want me going. "I've been there tons of times and you went with me last year. I'll be OK without you." Thankfully, Kaitlyn still likes me to do things with her class. :)

Kaitlyn had an expander put into her mouth this fall. Our first experience with an orthodontic bill.....hopefully our last too. But I'm not holding my breath. She has done great with it. It bothered her at first but only took a few days to get used to. On the mornings that she had to see the orthodontist Renee got on the bus down the street. She loved doing that. Another day Kaitlyn was home sick so she got on all by herself. It never fazed her.

Dirk has a heavier course load this fall. He has a bunch of clowns in a few of the courses so it's a little more stressful. A week ago, we were in church and he wasn't feeling well. He sat down and was feeling some discomfort in his chest. So he told me he needed a doctor (although I couldn't hear what he said) and got up and moved to the front of the sanctuary, where the double doors are. He figured it would be easier for a doctor or someone to help him back there and less disturbing to the service. The doors were open but he barely made it through them when he started swaggering and collapsed to the floor. I immediately ran to him, as did a few other people, including a nurse and a doctor. He had a slight seizure then. The ambulance was called and they took him off to the hospital. Meanwhile, people moved into the pew to sit with the girls who witnessed this all. They were pretty scared. But they were well taken care of the rest of the day as Dirk and I spent the day in the ER. They did bloodwork, a chest e-ray and couldn't find anything. But they kept him overnight and did a stress test and an EEG the next day. Nothing!! He was discharged Monday evening. He followed-up with his doctor who prescribed something for heartburn and told him it was a classic case of "church faint". (I can't remember the medical term...vaso-something.) He's fine now.

I had my first case of strep throat a few weeks back. I spent an entire weekend in bed and it was a gorgeous Indian-summer weekend, or so I've been told. When I went to see my doctor, I wasn't even in their records anymore. I hadn't been there for 10 years. Thankfully I'm usually pretty healthy. I have a physical scheduled in a few weeks.

Our iMac crashed a few weeks back so we got a new one. It came the day before Thanksgiving. Hopefully we didn't loose all of our pictures from the old one!!! I had over 4500 photos on it. Dirk took our external hard drive to the place that we took the computer and they loaded all the info. onto it. Now we just have to load it onto the new computer and see what they rescued.

The girls are in the same dance classes this year and it's nice. They both are enjoying them. They have ballet on Wed. and an acro/hip hop class on Sat. Last year Kaitlyn danced for 2 hrs. on Thursday nights and it was too much for her, after being up late on Wed. for church. So we decided that we would spread it over the 2 days and it's working.

Renee FINALLY lost her first tooth this month. She was soooo excited when she got off the bus because she hadn't realized the tooth was even loose. It fell out later that evening when we were eating pizza. (She had wiggled it all during school and dance class that night.) The toothfairy brought her a silver dollar and left the tooth behind so it can go in her scrapbook.

I babysit Allie every Thursday and Friday. She is such a delightful little girl and provides me with my baby-fix. Once in a while I watch Gracie and she is a sweetie as well. They are 2 months apart.

When we get the photos put back onto the computer, I'll upload a few of my favorites from summer. Dirk took some beautiful ones at LCC, on the haybails in the field.

And I promise to do a better job keeping current with this blog. I hate to write or journal but if I don't, I will forget about this season in my life and I don't want to forget it. It will be gone before I know it!

August in Pictures

Here are a bunch of pictures from August. I just unloaded the memory card....only 330 pictures!!! Don't worry, I won't post them all. But there are a lot here.

The Oviatt and Sipes children created a HUGE castle in the sand box. I think half of it ended up in our trailer.....HATE that sandbox!

LOVE this picture!!




I baked a blueberry pie and was it ever good!!

We went to an Amish farm during GetAway Camp.













Dirk was up early one morning, taking pictures of the dining hall before they tore it down. He captured the sunrise. I prefer to watch it set. :)








Dirk took Renee out to breakfast on her birthday, Aug. 25.













The Dining Hall Demolition