My husband's new child

My husband, Lloyd, is expecting a new child. I will help raise and guide it, but this one is my husband's.

This is not the actual child, it hasn't been born yet, we expect that in the next day or two. For now, we'll show a picture of someone else's child (Lloyd's child isn't as studded up), but the coloring is right.

New great nephew was born

Well, he may be great in more than one way, but this is my nephew's son, making it my great nephew. He was due on 5/13, but decided to arrive on 4/18 -- the same birthday as his Daddy and Grandma (Dad's mom). Pretty amazing -- 3 generations in a row! This is my nephew that was trouble for a while. I used to want to smack him for pulling dumb, I mean REALLY dumb stuff. Then he turned his life around and met his truly better half. They have a DD that's 2 and now a new son. I'm pretty proud of them all!

Baby Nolan is in the NICU, born with fluid deep in his lungs, but is apparently doing very well so we will keep him in our thoughts.

Ooh, a giveaway!

I found this blog on a blog on a blog a while back and just love the way this person writes -- The Meanest Mom. She's doing a Mother's Day giveaway on her blog with interesting things that are interesting even if they are NOT being given away! Click here to read about it.

Piano is for Girls!

That's what Philip says. He really resisted taking lessons and about a year ago, we said piano lessons are as required as going to school is and if he didn't do them, he couldn't play sports (Philip? NOT play sports? IMPOSSIBLE!). I'll skip the part where I pulled over on the road on the way to Little League sign ups to make him decide. :-) He got a reprieve after the rec center piano lessons I signed him up for for lack of knowing a private teacher fell through after one session because of scheduling. But, we found a new private teacher this year that they love and lo and behold, he's doing very well with his piano lessons and every time his teacher gives him something new to play, he just picks up on it right away. Granted, he's still a beginning student so maybe it's always easy to pick things up, but his teacher made a point of commenting to me how he is very good and seems to have a natural talent. He's so funny. I actually taped his twin sister playing "Love at Home" and him sitting on the bench next to her singing. Hehe! He would have NEVER done it if he knew I was taping .... I love that little boy. Sheridan goes first for her lesson because then I pick her up and get her home for our soccer carpool pick up and Philip was playing with neighbors during Sheridan's lesson so before he went back into the piano teacher's house, he had to come all away around the car to give his Mama a kiss. I think often of the things I need to teach this very boy boy so he'll be a good husband and father some day and am mindful daily of his good heart at least with regard to his Mom. The way he and his sister fight, if I didn't know this side of him, I would seriously wonder! After having mouthy girls (shhh), it's nice to have the more even keel relationship with my son. He's feisty and stubborn, but just isn't given to mouthing off to me for the sake of drama, having the last word, etc. He was my tough one when he was younger, the bigger cryer, etc. so it's nice to have this payoff and I'm really enjoying seeing him accomplish things he's involved in.

And, he thinks things like this are hysterically funny. We saw this person on the freeway just ahead of this before we got off at our exit. They did, too. The kids insisted I take a picture so I caught up and snapped this picture. And, yes, I was driving.Female Motorcyclist Rides with Winnie the Pooh Backpack

NYU It is!

Well, NYU it is! Trisha ended up with the AnBryce scholarship and is thrilled about that and I think it is actually the best choice. The AnBryce scholarship not only covers her tuition for 3 years, but it's a program of mentoring. It's given to students who "have overcome significant economic hardship."

Anyway, I'm very thrilled for her and while I didn't see this coming, she hasn't talked much about NYU previously (she applied to many schools and was accepted to many so we'd talked about other ones, but this one only maybe briefly), she shared with me so thoughts she'd held close to the vest so I know this was the right fit for her and am so happy for her.

It's a long ways from "home", but Trisha has also always had a yearning for NYC. She went to a summer program once while in high school and tried to go to NY for her undergrad and I just couldn't see her being that far from home (we lived in No Cal at the time). So this really does feel like the right place for her. The AnBryce scholarship is so awesome, too, it almost seems like the BEST part of going to NYU!

Bone Marrow Donation

I did it.

Thanks to the connection in the blogosphere, something that's been on my mind many times in the past finally became a reality.

I've always had thoughts of being a bone marrow donor, but having had chronic pain (c-spine and various random arthritis spots), I couldn't bear the thought of doing something that would mess with my hip area, but the random spots of pain have lessened in frequency. I tried to look into being a donor a few years ago, I can't recall what site I went to for info, but there wasn't a center that serviced the Las Vegas area so that was that.

But, in reading blogs recently, there was one with a link to the National Marrow Donor Program and you don't have to be near a center, they send a kit to you to return back with a mouth swab. So, I did it. The cost is $52 if you're not part of a screening drive that has a sponsor like you often see in communities. I didn't want to wait for that.

Eagle of the Month

On Friday, Philip (4th grade) received the Eagle of the Month award at school. The theme for this month was "courage" and each teacher can nominate a child. The P.E. teacher nominated Philip for being "always respectful" to his classmates and for giving 100% all the time. I think the fact Philip's a tenacious athlete and is one of only apparently a few kids that the PE teacher gives A's to had something to do with it, but we'll take it! Sheridan got Eagle of the Month from her 4th grade teacher the first month of school, but I wasn't blogging then so giving her equal time now. :-)