Happy Holiday’s from The Root’s!

December 16, 2009

It’s hard to believe that it is the holiday season already. It seems like yesterday the kids and I were taking our weekly trips to the zoo, playing at the park, and just hanging out. Now, we are gearing up for Christmas, family gatherings, and time together. When I look back 2009 hasn’t been the most eventful year, but it did have its moments.

Emalie had a few “firsts” this year. Emalie breaking her left arm marked the month of May. She was coming out of a tent that was set up in the basement, tripped over the “door lip”, fell on the padded mat, and fractured her arm. She was a trooper and ended up with a bright pink cast. One of the major highlights was Emalie’s first dance recital in June. She did a wonderful job in both her ballet and tap numbers. I was so proud to see her up there on stage dancing in front of so many people. (I know from experience that that’s hard to do!) She even received a dozen roses at the end to celebrate!

Over the summer I took Emalie to Safety Town for two weeks, which was sponsored by the Parks and Recreation Department. While at Safety Town, the students were taught how to be safe on the school bus, while riding a bike, or walking on the sidewalk. They also learned about Stranger Awareness (think Stanger Danger), how to behave around pets, and fire safety. A graduation ceremony was held at the end of the two weeks to celebrate everything the kids learned. Emalie was so proud of herself; Brad and I were too!

Emalie began Kindergarten this year and loves every minute of it! Brad and I love her teacher and enjoyed our first parent/teacher conference. It’s amazing what she is learning already! Emalie is beginning to recognize basic site words, working on the computer, adding numbers, learning about the phases of the moon, and how to be a good citizen. Emalie has also become a Daisy Scout and will sell Girl Scout cookies for the first time. (Yes, we will be asking you!! So think of your favorites! : o )

Max has grown leaps and bounds this year! He is speaking in complete sentences, can sing the alphabet song, count to at least 10, and use the LeapFrog computer. He can even count to 10 in Spanish, say a few colors, and up and down. (I have to refer to Dora and Diego for help on these! I took French in high school! LOL!)
Max is in the Toddler II room at daycare and adores his teachers. He hates when he has to miss school because of illness or a holiday. (I love this!!) He has some great little friends and seems very happy, which makes us happy. We tried to enroll him in gymnastics in the summer, but he wasn’t too thrilled with that so we may try again this summer.

Independence is the name of the game most days. Max likes to pick out his own shoes and can be very opinionated about his clothes. There are certain movies he must watch over and over such as Cars, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and Dora movies. He is obsessed with cars, trains, and dinosaurs as toys and has asked Santa for cars and trains for Christmas.

Brad is still working for Braun and Steidl Architects here in Columbus. In March he passed the LEED exam (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and in April, his design for Adams Hall at Ohio University won a design award at the Akron chapter of the American Institute of Architects annual design competition. His last large project was a dorm renovation at The Ohio State University. He has also been given increased responsibilities at work. He was made an Associate in the firm five years ago and is second in command in his office. (He’s pretty decisive at work!) Luckily, his health has been good and he is doing well. At his last CT Scan, his doctor deemed him Cancer Free and “Cured”. He added “keep doing what your doing” which we both laughed at.

This summer was a bit eventful for me. First, inspired by Emalie, I signed up for my first tap class since 1991! I had such a good time that I have continued the class and attend every Tuesday. Second, I was in my first car accident since 1995. A gentleman decided to turn in front of me at an intersection and just wasn’t fast enough. Needless to say I clipped his back end and the guy next to me t-boned him. Unfortunately, this resulted in a trip to the emergency room and being admitted to the hospital overnight. I don’t think I’ve ever had some many scans and x-rays!! All I do know is that I never want to be a Level 2 trauma ever again.

The van suffered some front-end damage and was repaired pretty quickly getting a new front bumper, quarter panel, headlight assembly, etc. I however, ended up in physical therapy for 8 weeks and have been placed back in physical therapy by my doctor because I am still having problems with my neck and back. Needless to say it has not been a fun or pain free experience!

I am still employed by Dublin City Schools as a Technology Support Teacher. I now serve two elementary schools instead of three, which is a great improvement. I did loose two of my buildings last year and was assigned to a new one due to assignment reconfiguration. However, everyone at my new building is wonderful and I love being a part of the staff.

This school year started out with a bang and a lot of craziness. The district upgraded our network over the summer and we came back to school with wireless networks that didn’t work, printers that wouldn’t communicate with the computers, computers that would log in, and so on and so forth. Needless to say, I didn’t teach my first class until October! That was pretty hard for me not to have any real student interaction for that long.
I finished up one grad class in November on integrating the Internet into the curriculum and another class in December on Technology Integration. I enjoyed both classes very much and gained some valuable insights and lesson ideas. Overall, I can still say that I love my job and I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

I must say that overall this year has been an interesting one. However, we feel very blessed to have our families, health, jobs, and each other. Brad, Emalie, Max, and I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a joyous 2010!

PS: See the personal video message that Santa sent Emalie and Max this year!

Santa’s Message to Emalie

Santa’s Message to Max

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day Everyone! After months of not touching our website, I finally fixed it! Tara will need to update the whole photo album now so if you actually look at this page, check back for updates.

We had fun yesterday visiting with Santa! There was no wait and he was so cool!

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you Mom’s out there!

To my Mom and Grandmother, I love you dearly!!! Happy Mother’s Day!

Bright Pink Cast!

So, Emalie has her second cast in two years. This time her left arm is encased in a bright pink cast from her shoulder to her fingers. The worst part is that she has just a really small fracture above the elbow. (Just like when she broke her left leg, there was a small fracture under her knee, which caused her to be in a full leg cast. It was purple by the way.)

Emalie was playing with her cousin Morgan in a tent in the basement. She was coming out of the “door” and tripped and fell. The part that gets me is that she fell on a foam play mat which is on top of padded carpet!! That’s just too crazy! Since it was Sunday we had to go to Urgent Care where they put her arm in a wrap and a sling. We saw the orthopedic doctor Wednesday who decided to put it in a cast for 3 weeks.

Anyway, here is a picture of Max, Dora, and Emalie after we got back from Urgent care.

Emalie felt much better once her arm was wrapped up.

Other than that things have been pretty quiet here!
Hope all is well with you!

Spring is here!

It’s hard to believe that March is almost over. Time seems to have flown by since Christmas! The kids and I have spent a wonderful week playing outside after school and before Brad comes home. They have loved being able to play after school and I have loved watching them play!

Spring break has begun for me and I am looking forward to getting some things done, including some work for my grad class. (I better get moving too!) I’m looking forward to summer and spending almost 3 months with Emalie and Max! It will be so much fun!!!

Max’s Month of Milestones!

It amazing how many milestones Max has accomplished in the last few weeks. The first deal was Max giving up the pacifier as you know. The he sat on the potty and still continues to sit on the potty every once and awhile. Last night, Max accomplished his first milestone; sleeping in a new big boy bed! We purchased the bed last night and brought it home. Brad was able to get his old bed frame and get the bed set-up and ready for Max. Max couldn’t wait to get into bed and almost wouldn’t let us put on the mattress cover and sheets. He has now slept well both nights. I will admit and give credit to daycare for most of this success. He has been sleeping on a cot for about 6 months already at school so I think the newness of not be “walled in” has disappeared. Max’s excitement and easy transition, so far, as given me the feeling that he was ready for this next step.

Brad and I went to the Parent Night for Emalie’s elementary school. It was neat to see her school, meet the teachers, etc. I must admit that it a bit odd being on the other side of the isle so to speak, being the parent rather than the teacher. I am excited for the new step in Emalie’s life. I think she will take to Kindergarten well and I hope we can get her in the same class with her good friend Alaina. I don’t know if we can, but I’m going to ask anyway.

Well, take a look at our Photo Album to see some of the pictures I posted tonight. Keep in touch!

Milestones!

According to Dr. rob Max is a “big boy”, which we all knew already. Max’s 2-year check up went well. His weight is in the 75th – 80th percentile and height is in the 75th percentile. Dr. Rob was impressed with Max’s speech development and thinks all is well. I did ask if it was time to give up the paci and was told it would be a good idea before it messes up his teeth. Daycare has already been doing a great job and Max doesn’t even have it at school. So . . Brad and I decided to take the leap and give up the paci this weekend! Amazingly it has gone very well. Friday we started and just kept saying the Dr. Rob said that Max couldn’t have the paci anymore. Well, as of today (Sunday) Max has been paci free!!!! He really isn’t even asking for it. Wow! Max also became interested in the potty!

All of the sudden on Saturday Max looked at Brad and said potty. “Do you want to go try to sit on the potty?” Brad said. “Yes!” said Max. So, Brad put him on the potty. Max wasn’t too thrilled since he felt like he was going to fall in because we didn’t have a potty seat yet. Today, we bought one for Max and he tried it tonight before his bath. He did a great job and sat on the potty for a good amount of time. Not sure how long this will last as Emalie did this same thing when she was two and then lost interest for about 6 months or more. It’s a good start though!

I can’t believe how big both kids are getting. I will be attending a parent information night for Emalie’s Kindergarten registration this month and registering her in March! She is so excited about going to Kindergarten; it can’t come fast enough for her! However, it’s coming a bit too fast for Mommy and Daddy.

The Radio City Rockettes!

So, thanks to Nana, Emalie and I were able to go see the Radio City Rockettes at Nationwide Arena on Dec. 10th. Karrie, Morgan, Karen, and Emme joined us for the show! Emalie enjoyed the show very much with her favorite part being “. . .all of the Santas!”. (They had all the Rockettes dressed up as Santa and then ran a video behind that showed even more Santas doing the same dance moves.)

The only down side was how high up our seats were in the arena. Let me just say, if you do not like heights then the Upper Bowl at Nationwide Arena is not for you, or me for that matter!

Check out the albums page for a few pictures!

Max’s Surgery.

Just a quick update on Max’s surgery. Yesterday, Max was back the the Ohio Surgery Center to have his old tubes removed and new ones put in. The old tubes were getting pits in them which was causing a build up of bacteria in his ears. Dr. Martyn (Max’s ENT) decided that due to his history and time of year a new set of tubes should go in.

Max did very well! He was pretty funny once the “happy” drugs kicked in, but he was miserable after he woke up. It took Brad and I about an hour and a half to get him to calm down. He didn’t want held or comforted which was hard on Mommy. However, after his nap he was good to go, go!

We picked up Emalie early and headed to the mall to see Santa! Emalie was so very excited!!! Luckily, there was no line at all so we were able to walk right up and see The Jolly Old Elf. Emalie was a pro; Max was not having any of it! I don’t think Santa was too thrilled either. Take of look at the pictures in the My Albums section of the website to see what I mean.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We just want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving 2008! Emalie seems very excited about going to Aunt Peggy’s and seeing the Root Family. Her exact quote this evening before bed: “I love Thanksgiving!”

Brad, Emalie, Max, and I are all thankful for everyone of you, our family and friends, who love and support us always.