Sorry it's been so long...

Hmmm. Seems it's been a while since I've written. I've written some blogs in my head, but they just haven't made it onto the computer on their own initiative. Not sure why. Maybe it has something to do with the kids being home from school and needing, well, anything and everything every time I turn around. They are high maintenance little buggers. I only have so many brain cells available and they seem to use them all up by about 10 a.m., so you guys are left in the lurch. Bummer for you.

My mom ended up coming for Emily's "promotion" ceremony, which was nice. It made it a little more of a special occasion for Em. And Grandma ended up taking her shopping at Fashion Square--where Emily had never been before--and so Em was in retail heaven. Grandma let her pick some things out--without giving her a budget beforehand. Luckily for her Em has some self control. She came home with several bags of stuff (and instructions not to make a big deal of it in front of her siblings) along with a huge smile on her face. A very happy, post-shopping teenage girl.

Katya, Noah and Rachel are all taking summer school classes. Katya is taking a strings class to keep up her viola skills. I can't say that she loves it, or even likes it, but I think it is a help to her in more ways than one and so she is enduring it for a few more days. Noah is taking "Creative Cooking" and loves it. We affectionately call him Billy Baker because he loves to cook so this class is right up his alley. The teacher has to do all of the cooking (for insurance reasons I am quite certain!) but they help add the ingredients and get to sample the results and bring home the recipes. Rachel is taking "Math Games." They cover all of the major math concepts in her grade level, but in game formats so that it is more palatable. She has convinced herself that she doesn't really like math and so we thought it would be a good way to help her overcome that feeling. She has had fun and likes her teacher, so hopefully she has changed her mind about math in general.

Emily is taking a "distance learning" class in computers. Basically it is teaching her Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. She has to have a 1/2 credit of computers for her graduation requirements and so we are getting it out of the way this summer. After seeing just how basic it really is I am glad she didn't take it during the school year. The upside is that it would have been a great blow off class. She just follows the instructions in the book and creates documents and manipulates data. Something she has been doing for a couple of years on her own with her different school reports. I would personally rather see them offer typing as a class like they used to do, which would significantly improve the rate at which she could do her reports. It's painful to watch the hunt and peck method.

Sam and I got to go to a Diamondbacks game--in style--with our friends Wally and Mrs. C. We were in like the fourth row behind home plate. Amazing seats. They had wait service for food and drinks!! No vendors yelling in our ear and throwing bags of peanuts over our heads! I ordered nachos and they were there so quickly it was like they were waiting for me to order them. I am spoiled evermore and it will be hard to go to a game without the fantastic view and perks. Oh, and Sam scored a foul ball! He was thrilled because it was the first time in all of his years of going to baseball games that he came home with a ball. All that said, we would enjoy hanging out and watching paint dry with Wally and Mrs. C (who we do not see nearly often enough), so the game was just the cherry on top.

I had a doctor's appointment last week and everything is hunky dory. My doctor, whom we affectionately refer to as Jack, though not to his face, asks about Sam at each visit. Next time Sam is coming with so that he and Jack can have some quality time. He tells me each time that Sam is a funny guy. He told me he will never forget me because he said he was not looking forward to giving me the bad news that I have leukemia and he was floored when he came in and we were joking and laughing with him. He expected tears or anger, but certainly not laughter. So, we made an impression on him. And he thinks Sam is hysterical.

My latest side effects are the ever present swelling and what we now call the "gurgly murgly." Let's just say that it has to do with my intestinal tract not appreciating the gleevec. But, I wake up and breath in and out each day so far, so what's a little gurgly murgly in the face of cancer? :-)

We had Katya's teacher from last year--who will also be Noah's teacher this year--and her family over for dinner yesterday. We had a very nice time. They have two little kids that were swept up by our children and whisked away to play for hours on end leaving us a chance to visit. A few hours before they were due to arrive, I got a bee in my bonnet and decided the family room furniture needed to be rearranged. My amazing husband very graciously stopped playing his PS2 game (after he got over the shock of the fact that I was serious) and came and made that happen for me--including moving a large mirror and rehanging several pictures! He even spackled and painted over the old nail holes! Now that's service!

Ok, I think that's enough of an update for now. That should tide you over until July. Or maybe I'll do my usual binge blogging over the next couple of days. You never know...