Missing Susan

Two days ago we lost a shining star. Today, we lay her to rest. Susan, you were and still are an inspiration to me. You asked the tough questions, you demanded the answers, you fought like a warrior. You taught me that dollars need to go to research, that teaching kids about science goes way beyond the classroom, and that being an advocate doesn't always mean yelling and screaming, but walking a steady path towards a goal.

I met Susan four years ago through the local blogging community. We talked science, we talked advocacy, but most of all I connected to her story. Five years ago I lost my mom. Susan was diagnosed shortly after my mom died, and not only went public with her story, but spent countless hours documenting her journey - the highs and lows, the happy times and the sad. Her blog serves as a roadmap for those starting their journey, or as a diary for those wanting answers. No two people have the same experience with cancer, or walk the same paths in their lives, but Susan opened up her family to us and allowed us to understand more of what my own mom went through when she was diagnosed with cancer.

Today we lay her to rest, and today I donated to the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Too little money goes towards research across the globe into this deadly, deadly disease. These folks put our donated dollars into research of IBC, and also advocate for more research dollars, so please consider donating to them as well.

Susan Niebur, you were truly a blessing in my life. I never would have guessed four years ago that you would have taught me so much. Thank you for all that you've done for me, our children, and all of us who have come to know you. I hope that you are looking down on us, proud that we not only paid attention, but that we've taken up your powerful words and have created good with them.

Losing a friend at such a young age sucks. But most of all cancer sucks. Hug your kids a little tighter today, talk to them about the stars and the moon, and take a minute to observe and enjoy your surroundings. Susan would have wanted it.

Why can't the summer come sooner?

Tom looked at my today like I was a crazy woman. "I think I want to pull the kids out of school and just be done for the year." We still have two weeks of school left, and I'm good to go for the year. I told him that there are a ton of cool things to do around here, and I was done with the whole schedule thing. Apparently I do this every year (see my post below). Last year, same time, and here I was complaining that that the summer couldn't come fast enough. And it didn't help that today it was a whopping 99 degrees outside. It hovered above 90 degrees for a good chunk of the day, and all I could think about was the pool. Yes, the pool is open, but mostly on the weekends. It opens at 3pm until school lets out, and by then it's almost too hot to get out of the house. But tomorrow, providing everyone is healthy (we had one kiddo home sick today) we are hitting the pool. Hot is just hot, no matter how you cut it, and I believe that anyone will agree, even my loving husband, that 99 degrees counts as hot.

June 10, 2010

Why can't the summer come sooner?

I have four kids, three of whom are in school. What I really mean to say is that three of them are in school still. It seems that our summer doesn't start until halfway INTO the summer - at least it feels that way some days. It now is staying light until well past 8pm, our typical bedtime, so the kids are still wide awake well past then. The sun rises at the crack of dawn as well, so naps (for me and the little one) are definitely on tap as my kids get up way to early for my taste. But crazy hectic school, sports, and extra-curricular schedules generally prevent any late afternoon naps from happening. And all of those cool summer activities that I remember from childhood? Well, they've already started and we still have two full weeks of school left.

This means that we don't get to participate in some of those cool activities, like swim team. Granted, the little boys aren't quite ready, but my oldest might have been had there been a day (or four) for him to practice with the team. But ongoing school and extracurricular activities still occupy those precious after school slots, so there's no room for swim team. There are other things that I'd like to be doing as well with my days, but it seems that we are not quite done with our required 990 hours/180 days of school yet. (Yes, the really do count that way depending on the year and weather, and this year wasparticularly bad).

I guess the worst part about this time of year is that it feels like it should be summer break. This means that my kids are acting like it's summer break - giving up on any semblance of good behavior left in their little bodies. They did well behaving all year - followed directions, did what they were supposed to do, but their little wills to behave have finally broken. They are turning in those ugly, nasty little summer cretins - like caged animals trapped in school kid bodies. This is easily fixed with some running around, boredom, pool time, bicycles, you name it. But we can't do any of those things because we're still in school. And you know that the teachers know this too.

I'm sure it's one thing to wrap school up in May, like loads of other places do, and then deal with those end of school wigglies. But not here in Fairfax County, and we have the good Kings Dominion law to thank for that. We can't start school here until AFTER Labor Day. This means that this year, and next year, (and many other years for that matter) we start the second week of September, and run through the end of June. This law has been around since 1986 and thanks to the lovely folks at King's Dominion, some state legislators, and a bunch of people who don't have MY best interests at heart, we go to school until all 180 of those days pass. And that's late June once again this year.

So here I sit on a beautiful, albeit slightly rainy afternoon, wondering when the summer will come, or when we will all be on a year round school schedule with much more reasonable breaks.

This is an original DC Metro Moms post. When Suzie isn't mourning the loss of her favorite season, she's blogging over at Confessions of a Not So Well Behaved Woman.

How many camps did YOU sign up for?

It's summer camp time again. Feels like we were just dusting the snow off the car, but I'm already behind the curve. I wrote this a few years ago but am running into it again this year. Last summer the boys did one week of camp - all together - all at the same place, and loved it. The rest of the summer they goofed off, ran amuk, swam, and goofed off. A kids' dream summer if you ask me. Yet here we go again looking at brochures, wondering if we shouldn't fill a few weeks for them. But is filling a few weeks right?

May 23, 2008

How many camps did YOU sign up for?

I have been asked that question more times than I care to remember - and it's just that - it's ME signing up for camps, not how many camps are the kids attending this summer. Why on earth is there this big push to fill their days anyway? I have no idea what is at the root of this drive to fill the kids' summer with activities around here, but it is a constant pressure to do so, at least in my circles.

We never had that big push in Texas to fill our summers, and there surely wasn't as much cool stuff to do there as there is here in the nation's capitol. We're all of 20 minutes from DC proper, and the museums, the Mall, the galleries, zoos, and the historical places (that aren't so fun for kids but involve a Metro ride so they really are fun in the end) are all free or very low cost.

The gymnastics place offers a camp, but so does the soccer, the school district, the gym, the county rec centers, the preschool, other local private schools, and then the list branches out. I can't imagine how much money we'd spend if we filled our summer with camps, especially for three kids, but that's just what some folks are doing. When did it become OK to take all those precious summer days away from kids? How else are they going to learn how to deal with the "boredom" and head off on grand adventures in the basement, the back yard, or at a friend's house? Where are they going to get that much needed kiddo downtime that lets them unspool from the school year? If all of their days are filled with camps and classes and they have back to back weeks of those camps and classes, when do they have time to goof off? What are we teaching our kids by filling their every summer day with camps and classes?

I understand the need to provide care for your child over the summer, but at what point does one decide that filling an entire summer with different camps is good for little folks? And what's with asking me what camps I signed up for? I'm not going anywhere...at least not to camp this summer. Although, that could be fun - mommy camp...hmmm....

An original post to DC Metro Moms Blog.

Guess it IS Snowmaggeddon after all

A few weeks back, during what was one of the bigger storms that the Washington DC area has ever seen, I said in a blog post over at DC Metro Moms that I guess it wasn't Snowmageddon after all. Well, today President Obama called this storm Snowmageddon.

Guess it really IS Snowmageddon:

We are at about 18" and counting, and it's still snowing. Our little baseball bat is almost completely buried due to drifts.