Dear Grandma and Grandpa

So, I called my grandparents yesterday after speaking to my father. He had given me both the good news and the bad news. Good News! My grandmother's cataract surgery went well. She was able to drive the next day, which was good since she had to take my grandfather to see the doctor. Bad News! My grandfather had surgery the same day as my grandmother - only his was because of a pain he was having in his abdomen. The doctor found cancer. He sees an oncologist this week. Grandma filled in all the details. Then she asked some questions of me. She didn't hear me very well. I remember one time talking to grandma and when we were just about finished I heard grandpa yelling to her in the background, "Next time let her do some talking!" Now I realized something...she talks more because she cannot hear what I have to say and that frustrates her - so, since grandma and grandpa have my blog as their favorite, I am going to write about the current goings-on of my family. Oh - I do not use names, for the kids' safety. This is for you Grandma and Grandpa!!

We are in our third quarter of school - it is hard to believe that half of this school year has already gone by. The girl child is doing so well with school - she is reading books well beyond her age level. The librarian loves that our girl child likes to challenge herself. She has completed all her multiplication tests and when the rest of the class does as well, the whole class gets an ice cream party. I have recently become concerned with ADD (attention deficit disorder) based on her concentration at home and the teacher sees many of the signs as well - so we are going to take her to the doctor this month. I do not want to medicate her, just diagnose it if true and use alternate methods to redirect her attention. The boy child is doing great in school as well. He doesn't like to read as much as the girl but he loves math and science. He's trying to do the same math work that his sister does. He has really enjoyed school this year - I think a lot of it has to do with his teacher, she is just so great with him. I believe that is why is has taken to chess. The level of thinking and planning in chess is what pushes him and he desires that! My husband has been working so hard. When he has free time he is working on home improvement tasks. He has already completed the hardwood floors and painted our daughter's room. His next project is the stairs and the walk-through room upstairs. In addition to his business, he's been working at a part time job during the day - to get him out of the house and the extra money is helping. He does his just drive work most evenings and Saturdays - doing at least 60 hours of driving a month on top of the 6 - 8 hours classroom teaching he's doing each week. I know that for some people, when you think of only 60 hours a month that it doesn't seem like a lot, but all his work is after school hours, so he works from 4 to 8:30 most days of the week and all day Saturdays. That is a lot of time away from the kids and me - but we do fine. We look forward to Saturday evenings and Sundays. Also, we look forward to summers because he doesn't work weekends at all then. Speaking of summer, I have both of the kids signed up for 4 weeks of camp at the local YMCA camp. In addition, the girl child will have a small stint at Camp Evelyn (a Girl Scout Camp) and the boy child will have a week at chess camp as well. I hope this gives them plenty of things to do this summer. As for me, I am staying busy raising a family and teaching. I am still a troop leader for our daughter's Girl Scout troop. I recently organized the Father-Daughter Dance for all the Girl Scouts of Kohler. I have been exercising a lot. The good news is at my last screening, all the numbers for my HDL, LDL, triglycerides and such that indicate heart and blood health were off the charts in a good way! I am still chunky and overweight, but I am a healthy fat person! I still try to scrap when I have time. I haven't been able to do many of my Friday scrap nights this year and I will also miss the weekend getaway next month. (Kohler is hosting a chess tournament and both the hubby and I are to be monitors - when the match is done, the kids call us over to determine if one person is really in a check mate.) One thing that we've been doing a lot of as a family is playing games. The kids love it! Anything from chess, to board games to a video game where we play instruments to songs...it is real fun when the hubby plays drums, the boy plays the bass guitar, the girl plays lead guitar and I sing.

Grandma and Grandpa - I hope that you enjoyed reading this. We hope to get up to Marinette to see you soon. We miss you very much and the kids are very concerned about both of you. We Love You Very Much!