This is Ten

Emily turned ten a few weeks ago, in the middle of a very hectic week and weekend - end of school, soccer tournament, etc.  She opened her presents from her family on the afternoon of her birthday and to her delight, she had a Harry Potter birthday, receiving various Harry Potter themed items, which made her so happy.  She also received the priceless gift of Instagram, which she has coveted since Elizabeth turned ten.  But for the rules that accompany the privilege of an Instagram account, I'm sure that she would have posted 50 selfies by now!

Luna Lovegood figurine. 

The sole non HP gift - a hedge hog plush craft.

Harry Potter puzzles.

Hermione's wand....

Birthday loot, for her Instagram account....

Elizabeth made these cupcakes for Emily's soccer team to enjoy during the tournament.

Off to Choate

Yesterday, we dropped off Elizabeth at Choate Rosemary Hall for a two week intensive writing program and she couldn't have been more excited.  Choate has several summer programs of varying lengths (2, 4 and 5 weeks) for middle schoolers and high schoolers.  Elizabeth with be mixing and mingling with 604 other students from 43 other countries and 26 other states - it's quite amazing.*  The first few hours are definitely overwhelming, with registration, move in and set up (technology, picking up books at the bookstore, etc.) and in hindsight, I think that they might make it that way so that as a parent, it's a bit easier to say goodbye (we were completely exhausted).  I am having a difficult time wrapping my head around the fact that my 11 year is going to get up every morning on her own, get herself to the dining hall for three meals a day, go to class meet, with advisors, play sports (one individual sport, one dorm sport), go on field trips, write papers - you name it.  But this is what she has wanted for so long and we really hope that it is everything that she anticipated.

Two weeks of stuff. 

I don't think that she was even slightly nervous. 

Heading to registration. 

The flags of the 44 countries represented this summer. 

The flags of the 27 states represented. 

Lunch at Hill House (the dining hall) - which, from the outside, looks like one of the nicest buildings on campus, so imagine our surprise (well, not Lee, because he knows the routine a bit better than us) when we found out that it was the dining hall.  We walked inside and Lee and I said to the girls (almost simultaneously) "Welcome to Hogwarts."

Outside of her dorm.  Not having a/c at home certainly prepared her for two weeks of dorm living...no a/c at Choate either and several of the kids and parents were already complaining. 

This is Choate's 101st year having a summer program. 

In her dorm.  She was disappointed in the size of the room and the furnishings for about 10 seconds.  Then we started to set things up and the smile returned. 

Despite the large number of international students, her roommate is a girl from the Upper West Side who seems a lot like Elizabeth.  We hope that sharing a room with Emily helped prepare her a bit for having a roommate.

Elizabeth's instagram post last night - "Finally here!!"

* Truth be told, I was a bit intimidated by all of the people and the vehicles they were driving.  At one point, I texted my sister and told her that I felt like my parents.  My Honda Accord was definitely one of the least interesting vehicles we saw on Sunday - and that's not counting the people being driven all over campus by drivers (no limos, but plenty of black Suburbans and Escalades).  I don't consider myself frumpy either, but there were plenty of moms there there were incredibly stylish and very well put together....

OVO

Over the weekend, we went to Cirque du Soleil OVO, which was an amazing show.  The girls and I saw a modified Cirque performance with the Hartford Symphony a few years ago, but this was our first time seeing a full show and Lee's first time seeing Cirque.  It did not disappoint.  We loved pretty much everything but we all loved the acrobatic rope performance the best.

Emily is Ten - Video

It's a week late and some of the photos are not perfect, but here is Emily's birthday video!

The Baker

Elizabeth continues to hone her baking skills and creativity.  Over the last week or so, she made a wedding dress cupcake creation for a bridal shower and Harry Potter Sorting Hat cupcakes for Emily's school birthday celebration.

The perfect wedding dress.

The houses of Hogwarts. 

She hollowed out the centers to fill with the colors. 

Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. 

Sorting hats made from chocolate fondant. 

Happy sisters.

Ten

Today, our beloved Emily turns ten and as I reflect on this last year, I realize how lucky we are to be her parents.  She is a kind and loving girl - last August, she cut off eleven inches of her hair and donated it to Locks for Love; she always looks for the good in other people and tries very hard to like everyone.  She is very artistic - she started playing the saxophone this year, loves to sing and enjoyed being in the school play.  Emily is one of the sportiest girls I know - she excels at soccer and lacrosse and can't wait to run cross country (one more year) and play basketball for her school.  There are weeks at a time that she plays soccer seven days a week, sometime 2 or 3 games a day and she never tires of it.  As much as she loves to score, she also loves to stop other people from scoring and is turning into a very good goalie.  Lacrosse is a close second, probably because she scores so much.  She works hard at both sports and we are proud of all that she has accomplished on the field over the last year.  Emily is also studious and hardworking at school - she finished 4th grade with straight A's for the year, which is an impressive accomplishment, considering the extracurricular activities she balances with her school workload.  She takes a book with her everywhere she goes and she also loves to write (although she does not like to write book reports for school).  She loves learning new things and interesting facts - one of her favorite gifts at Christmas is the yearly kids almanac.  One of Emily's best qualities is her sense of humor - she loves to tell jokes; she loves puns; she is always laughing and smiling.  She is incredibly easy going and a joy to be around.  Emily is still a great sleeper, although those napper shots are becoming few and far between.  She loves animals, especially Baxter.  She spent at least two weeks this spring trying to talk us into getting a hedgehog for her - and was extremely frustrated with us when the answer was a firm "no".  She is adventurous and always willing to try new foods and adventures.  She loves, loves, loves Harry Potter and simply devoured the books over the winter.  She could watch the movies on a continuous loop and often spent her recesses talking with other Potterheads.  With all of this goodness comes.....stubbornness; pigheadedness; the refusal to believe that she is ever wrong; and sometimes a surprising lack of self-confidence.  We love every inch of her tiny (but strong) frame; we love every facet of her personality; and we are excited and lucky to be on a life-long journey with her.  Happy Birthday to our kind, funny, beautiful and sporty Emily.  You've finally reached double digits - enjoy it!!

(For those of you wondering where the annual video is, well, it's been delayed.  After 7 1/2 years without a single problem, my beloved iMac completely stopped working two days ago. I completed the video on our backup MacBook but because we haven't updated the MacBook in a while, I couldn't load the video to YouTube - or any other third party host. I will post it once we are back up and running).

Gone Too Soon

Yesterday, we lost our beloved Grampy.  For almost fifteen years, he valiantly battled Myelodysplastic Syndrome and on Thursday, the disease finally won.  I've known David almost my entire life and he was someone that I deeply admired.  He was incredibly hard working - known as "Megawatt Man" to his family, because he never said no to a call from PSNH to work a power outage.  He logged more overtime than any lineman in the New Hampshire - year after year after year.  When I started working at the PSNH call center, all I had to do was mention his name and everyone smiled.  He never let them down. 
His work ethic wasn't just reserved for his profession, however - he approached everything in life with the same attitude.  He kept his beloved MG in prime condition.  He built an Austin Healey from scratch, in the days before the internet and Ebay, ordering parts from all over the country and all over the world.  He was a superior athlete, conquering not only the Boston Marathon by foot, but Mt Washington by bike.  He ran the Lowell Marathon in 2:37, a spectacular time. There was nothing that David couldn't do.  While working thousands of hours of overtime and training like a semi-professional athlete, he rarely missed any of his sons' sporting events, impressive considering that they went to high school almost an hour away.
David had very strong opinions and at times, he infuriated me with the things he said (and vice versa, I'm sure). But there is something to be said for a man who knows what he believes and makes no apologies.  When I started running distance races, he was unimpressed with my times and told me that I needed to run faster.  I was surrounded by people who told me how great I was for running a half marathon and he told me that I could do better.  A perfectionist.  That was the kind of man he was.
David was diagnosed with MDS around the time that Lee and I were married and immediately met it like any other challenge he'd faced - head on.  He received a bone marrow transplant in February of 2003 and was riding a stationary bike in his room at Dana Farber the same day - they'd never seen anything like it.  He was determined to get back to normal and for a while, he did.  The bone marrow transplant bought him a second life in more ways than one.  It gave him the gift of grandchildren and the chance to spend a lot of time with all four of them, including long visits to Arizona to spend time with Mike and his family.  Over the winter, he saw Emily score a breakaway goal against one of the toughest teams in the indoor soccer league and then watched Elizabeth play basketball.  He married his high school sweetheart more than 40 years ago and he loved her and appreciated all that she did for him.  He loved his sons and he was so proud of them.  He was proud of the men they grew up to be; the women they married; and the children they are raising.
I will miss the man I knew; the role model he was for his sons; the husband he was to his wife; the grandfather he was to our daughters.  But I am comforted by the fact that he is finally a peace, no longer held back by the limitations that MDS put on his body.  Rest in peace, Grampy.  We love you.

JV Champions

The JPII JV soccer team won the regular season of Catholic School League Soccer and then, last weekend, won the Final Four Tournament.  They won the first game 1-0 on a lone goal by our own Emily.  In the second game, they won 4-2.  Both girls played on the winning team and it was such an exciting morning!!

Going over the rules.

The final four teams, lead in prayer by a JPII player, before the tournament starts.

Hoisting the championship trophy.

Regular season and tournament trophies.