My life changed in a moment on October 17th when I got a call from my mom with some bad news. My father passed away during the night - not expectedly.
He suffered a series of strokes in 2007 and had surgery to clear up his artery just before Christmas. During the surgery it appears that some plaque was dislodged and caused a more severe stroke. He woke up unable to speak or to move his arms and legs. After a few months of rehab, he was able to come home (just in time for Lulu's birthday trip to Disney World). His mobility steadily increased, but never fully returned. He was, however, able to return to his beloved golf. He no longer scored under 90 on his favorite courses, but still did amazingly at around 100.
He grew slightly more fragile as the years went on, but that comes with age and with not fully recovering from the strokes.
The weekend of October 8th, I was suffering from a bad cold, so a planned one night sleepover turned into a two night event with all four of my children. They had the BEST time. The following Wednesday, we found out my dad had the flu. He wasn't feeling all that well, so I called to check in on him a few times.
He missed Lulu's soccer game that next Saturday and was feeling a little worse. Sunday night I spoke with my mom, she was going to take Dad back into the doctor to see how they can help him feel better. Around 11:00 that night, he took a turn for the worse and my mom was in for a traumatic night. He passed away, at home, around 12:15 Monday morning, about 15 minutes before the paramedics arrived.
It doesn't sting quite as severly as it did that first week, but I stil miss him dearly. Wishing I could hug him one more time, tell him I love him one more time, or watch him smile and laugh at my silly children one more time.
I try to hold onto the many wonderful memories I have of him - as a father, a man, and as an amazing grandfather. My children talk of him often, remembering all the fun things they were able to do with him. We still cry, and it still hurts. But I'm glad to have these memories to hold on to.
If you're dad, or mom, are still around. Give them an extra hug tonight. Tell them how much you love. Enjoy each day God gives you with them.
Friday, November 18, 2011
I'm now officially a soccer mom
I really try to update this more than once a month, but life's been busy (as usual) so here's an update.
The school year has started and I've found two amazing math worksheet sites that I wish I knew about years ago. They are Smiley Face math and using our zoned schools website - they have math worksheets up for each grade and they're fantastic! The kids have smiley face and star (for the zoned school worksheets) charts where we plot out how many smileys or stars they earn for their worksheets. They've LOVING it! Little Man is actually almost finished with his kindergarten math book. He breezes through pages and pages each day and even asks to do more. Thanks to having two older sisters, he learned most of this math when he was 4 - the only thing he's really getting out of his math book now is how to properly write the numbers. So we'll be purchasing the 1st grade math book for him next month - I'm so proud of him!
Doodle is doing MUCH better in her math as well - I think it's mostly do to the smiley face and other worksheets we've found. I raced her in addition problems the other day and she only missed one problem (out of 20+) - and that was only because she forgot to regroup. The only thing we really need to focus on now is memorizing her multiplication facts. She already knows TONS of them, but struggles with the 6s, 7s, and 8s - so she has this mental block. I realized that our School House Rock DVD has multiplication songs, so we've been trying to watch those a few times a week. The other kids are actually learning their tables as well and go around the house singing "8 times 8 is 64" all the time :)
Lulu has decided to play soccer this year. Well actually, my mother and aunt decided she SHOULD play soccer after visiting Mississippi last Christmas and showing some excellent skills on the field. Her first game was on Saturday and she did a decent job. It's much more fast paced than soccer - so no time to chase butterflies or pick flowers. She got to kick the ball in a few times and during the second half of the game, actually went after the ball a few times. Now, there were two occassions when the ball game directly at her and she threw up her arms for protection - but hey, she's learning :) She also made a friend at the very first practice - her name is Ava and the two of them are just precious. Only down side is, the first two quarters they played together and were more concerned about talking on the field than playing the game - silly girls - no idea where they got that from :)
Buddy Boy is now three years old and is learning his letters. Yesterday at church we were walking into the sanctuary (it's labeled 'auditorium' above the door) and he looked up and said "Mama! An A, an A!" So far he's loving it. This week we're working on B and Little Man is having fun teaching him all the things that begin with B. It's so nice to have all of these little helpers.
The school year has started and I've found two amazing math worksheet sites that I wish I knew about years ago. They are Smiley Face math and using our zoned schools website - they have math worksheets up for each grade and they're fantastic! The kids have smiley face and star (for the zoned school worksheets) charts where we plot out how many smileys or stars they earn for their worksheets. They've LOVING it! Little Man is actually almost finished with his kindergarten math book. He breezes through pages and pages each day and even asks to do more. Thanks to having two older sisters, he learned most of this math when he was 4 - the only thing he's really getting out of his math book now is how to properly write the numbers. So we'll be purchasing the 1st grade math book for him next month - I'm so proud of him!
Doodle is doing MUCH better in her math as well - I think it's mostly do to the smiley face and other worksheets we've found. I raced her in addition problems the other day and she only missed one problem (out of 20+) - and that was only because she forgot to regroup. The only thing we really need to focus on now is memorizing her multiplication facts. She already knows TONS of them, but struggles with the 6s, 7s, and 8s - so she has this mental block. I realized that our School House Rock DVD has multiplication songs, so we've been trying to watch those a few times a week. The other kids are actually learning their tables as well and go around the house singing "8 times 8 is 64" all the time :)
Lulu has decided to play soccer this year. Well actually, my mother and aunt decided she SHOULD play soccer after visiting Mississippi last Christmas and showing some excellent skills on the field. Her first game was on Saturday and she did a decent job. It's much more fast paced than soccer - so no time to chase butterflies or pick flowers. She got to kick the ball in a few times and during the second half of the game, actually went after the ball a few times. Now, there were two occassions when the ball game directly at her and she threw up her arms for protection - but hey, she's learning :) She also made a friend at the very first practice - her name is Ava and the two of them are just precious. Only down side is, the first two quarters they played together and were more concerned about talking on the field than playing the game - silly girls - no idea where they got that from :)
Buddy Boy is now three years old and is learning his letters. Yesterday at church we were walking into the sanctuary (it's labeled 'auditorium' above the door) and he looked up and said "Mama! An A, an A!" So far he's loving it. This week we're working on B and Little Man is having fun teaching him all the things that begin with B. It's so nice to have all of these little helpers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)