Physics Help

Caitlin has been sick with a fever all week. So Eric has been trying to tutor her over the phone with pictures and texts. This is what he wrote up for her yesterday with a paper towel and Sharpie marker before he had to rush out to work. I laughed. Who can read or understand this? At least he is trying. Eric just "gets" math and science and he doesn't have much patience for those of us that do not.

Christmas 2014

Wow, am I glad that I found those $34 tickets to Florida.  One week of sunshine and warm weather would not have been nearly enough.  Plus it was an extra bonus to spend a few days with Melissa's family before they left for Missouri.  I just wish the kids would have had a month off of school because I could have stayed much longer.  I was not anxious to get back to below zero temperatures in Nebraska.

We spent the first few nights at Billy and Kristen's home with their family.  They are always terrific hosts and I always feel bad taking their time because they are so busy.  But it was wonderful to spend time with them and the girls.  The rest of the week, we spent at Grandma and Papa's house so we could spend lots of time with them, Nonnie, and Melissa and Charlie's family just down the street. We had a wonderful week of soaking in the sunshine and going to the beach, spending time together, boating, and lots of eating out.

On Saturday, I borrowed Charlie's car and checked into a condo on Venice Beach.  We told ourselves when we bought our home in Venice, that we would rent it out annually but then spend a little money on a condo or home in the area when we came to visit.  Mario and I were so happy that we decided to get the condo.  It was a great location, right on the beach and had a heated pool with a full kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms.  It was perfect for our family.  Mario and the big kids joined us at the condo about 8 or 9:00 that evening after driving all the way from Nebraska.

Erin would wake up early each morning and spend at least an hour swimming in the 66 degree water. The other kids would swim too but never as long as Erin.  Mario loved it as much as Erin and spent hours with her in the water.

On Tuesday, we went to Busch Gardens.  Erin was really excited because she had a friend, Leah, from Nebraska that was visiting Florida the same week.  So they planned to go to Busch Gardens the same day.  Unfortunately, just a couple hours into our day, Erin hit her head hard on a roller coaster and she had a bad headache the next few hours.  So we left the park early in the afternoon and returned to our condo in Venice.  We had gotten there early so they were able to ride all the big roller coasters early before the lines got long.  So no one was too disappointed about leaving early.  In fact, they were happy to get back to the beach in time to swim before dark.  Thank goodness 4 of the tickets were free or else that would have been one expensive short trip to Busch Gardens.

Christmas Eve, the whole family went to Billy and Kristen's house for swimming, dinner, and opening presents from grandparents and aunts and uncles.  Kristen made a delicious dinner and we enjoyed spending time as a family.

Christmas morning, we decided to take our presents down to Grandma and Papa's house to open. I had gotten Mario, Nate, and Zach a new Wii U for Christmas and so we needed an internet connection to download updates.  We also got the kids a new MacBook for Christmas because we figured it was time to be a two computer family.  Plus Erin will need the MacBook for her school in Spain.  The kids loved their gifts but Eric was disappointed that he didn't get his own MacBook.  Eric will get a free laptop with his scholarship so he'll be set in college.

We had a nice Christmas lunch at their home before driving back to the condo.  Then everyone, but Billy's and Missy's family came up to the condo for the evening.  We left for a short time to go see our home in Venice.  I had never been inside, so we got the full tour from our tenants.  It is absolutely beautiful and I can't believe we were able to find such a nice house in a great location just by looking online.  Mario did an amazing job finding wonderful tenants because they taking such a great job with the home.  They have updated all the landscaping at their own expense.  Mario and I wanted to raise the rent because our taxes went up several hundred dollars, but after seeing how well they are taking care of the house, we told them we wouldn't raise the rent.  After touring our home, we returned with take out Chinese for everyone. It was a great Christmas!

Friday, Billy and Kristen took us boating again and we enjoyed a nice lunch at a little restaurant on the water.  That evening, we celebrated Gabriella's birthday at their home and had our goodbyes with the family.  We left to return to Nebraska early Saturday morning. We left Erin with Billy and Kristen to stay a few more days.  We had found her a plane ticket to fly back the next week for $120. Unfortunately, Erin got really sick after we left and was texting me in the middle of the night Sunday night saying she had a really bad headache still and didn't know what to do.  I thought for sure she had a concussion from Busch Gardens.  So I had Kristen take her to the ER the next morning. Fortunately, she didn't have a concussion, she just was really sick with a bad cold or possible flu.  I had gotten sick too as I was leaving Florida and I slept almost the entire drive home, just waking up for a few minutes at a time.  I was sick in bed for the next several days and even after that, I was weak for the next several days.  Erin flew back the following Wednesday and started feeling well enough to start baking junk food and she started exercising again.  But I can tell the sickness really left her weak.  We are both almost fully recovered now.  But it was a long illness.

It was such a great trip.  I got to meet Charlie's wife Mel and their new baby Henry.  What a blessing Mel is to Charlie.  I'm so happy that they found each other.   I couldn't get over how adorable Henry was and I loved holding him. I usually am not a baby person.  But he was just so cute.  Being there just made Mario and I long for the time we get to move to Florida.  Only 3 more years if Spain is our last assignment.  But we often think we will do one more after Spain.  We'll see.

Venice Ward Christmas Party

Zach and Santa at Venice Ward Party

Nate and Santa

Nonnie and Santa

Santa and Henry

Justin, Max, Zach, and Nate

Can you tell it's been 11 years since he's held a baby?

What a great mom she'll be one day

Shark Teeth collection

Erin and Leah at Busch Gardens

Christmas Eve

Charlie and Henry, so cute!!

Our make believe Christmas tree at the condo

Early Christmas and Scholarship

I found flights for $34 from Omaha to Orlando.  The deal was too good to pass up and so the boys and are flying down tomorrow.  Mario has to work next week plus Eric and Erin have to take finals. So they will drive down next weekend.  We decided to open some of the gifts last night since we won't have room in the SUV to bring them down and back.

The biggest Christmas gift came yesterday afternoon when the Peter Kiewit Institute called Eric and told him that he had been selected as a Walter Scott Scholar.  He already had full tuition for any university in Nebraska.  But the Walter Scott scholarship will pay for EVERYTHING else like books, dorm, food, and all fees.  That is huge!  Mario and I are so happy for Eric.  All of his hard work and extra curricular activities have paid off in a big way.

So no presents compare to that, but we did get a few small things opened last night.

Flying Monkey toy that was regifted from our White Elephant party

Clothes

A mini Simon game

Toolbox and tools

Happy 11th Birthday Boys

I tried to convince the boys that this day should be a celebration about me since I carried two 7 lb twins to 38 weeks. They didn't agree.

We celebrated with scones for Zach for breakfast and Honey Bunches of Oats (the blue box) for Nate. Lunch was Jimmy John's. Dinner was Aunt Annie's mac and cheese and turkey potpie with ice cream cake made by Mario.

Nate got a 3DS xl, games, and some footed pjs. Zach got games,
lighted Kindle cover, footed pjs and full ownership of the 3DS he once shared with Nate.

Cross Country

Halloween

I pay the kids to reuse or find Halloween costumes around the house. This year, the agreed upon amount after some negotiations was $7. Is that horrible? Mario and I aren't fans of Halloween. We could totally do without the holiday. Nate and Zach each made $17 this year because Mario gave them an additional $10 for all their candy. They were happy and immediately took their money to Walmart to buy each other a birthday gift. So the moment we finished one holiday, they were on to the next. I guess they forgot about Thanksgiving which to me is one of the best holidays.

They went trick or treating with Alex Foulger and Keanu Moore. The were upset because everyone loved Keanu's Andy costume and gave him extra candy. It really was cute. Nate made a super great nerd and really tried to play the part. He's a ham! I think Zach wasn't thrilled to repeat a costume from a couple years ago but he sure liked the money he earned for wearing it.

Goodby Sophie

We had decided that we didn't want to take Sophie to Spain with us. Even the vet discouraged us. Mario contacted a search and rescue group that trains dogs, but Sophie didn't meet the criteria. He had a coworker that was interested in her but his wife wasn't really wanting another dog. The lady that came to look at her for search and rescue told us she could help find her a home so we were happy and relieved that she'd be well taken care of by new owners.

Unfortunately, Sophie has gotten quite aggressive this past month. She has always (even from first week) been a good watch dog and probably a little too aggressive. We got her at about 14 months old. She had never been socialized with other dogs or people. So we began to take her to the dog park to socialize. She kept getting sick at the dog park so the vet told us to stop taking her there, because the lake was filthy. For the past year, Mario and I have just walked and ran her through the hills where she hasn't been socialized. These past few months, Sophie has gone through so many injuries starting with that horrible corn cob. The most recent being the stitches that took at least a month to heal. She had to spend 24/7 in her small kennel because any movement would cause fluid buildup and her huge cut wouldn't heal.

In hindsight, we realize now that the time in her kennel made her even more aggressive and territorial. She started getting even more aggressive with people and dogs walking by the fence on the side of our yard. Mario thinks that she tried to bite a dog as it walked by. During this past month since getting out of that kennel, she seemed to be doing much better with us and listening. So we had high hopes for her. But unfortunately, on Thursday, when a sweet older lady from church stopped by, Sophie bit her hand. I was holding her by the collar so she wouldn't run out the door. Deb put out her hand for Sophie to sniff it and Sophie bit her. I was shocked and obviously very upset. Deb brushed it off like it was no big deal.

Mario and I knew it was time to say goodbye. We just don't know how to train her properly. Mario and I are probably the biggest worriers you'll ever meet. So of course, we immediately worried that we could get sued if she bites again. So even if we took her to classes and taught her, we didn't feel we could ever really trust her again. After a little research, we decided the best way to protect ourselves was to turn her over to the Humane Society. They would try to rehabilitate her and adopt her out. It was heartbreaking to take her there. Nate and Zach decided to go with us even though it was probably one of the hardest things they have ever done (they weren't with me when I put Buzz down). We found out that they will have to quarantine Sophie because of the bite. Because she had her shots, they said we could quarantine her at our house but we were already there so I didn't want to go back 8 days later. That would be even harder. Plus I would worry everyday about her biting a friend or anyone that came over to our house. Mario really wanted to bring her back home.

Even now, Mario is wanting to go get her. I've never seen him so sad. He was sad about Buzz but we weren't really given a choice with Buzz. So this was extra hard when we had a choice with Sophie. The kids are all begging to have her back. But I keep refusing. I love her too but she was getting to be out of control. And we are moving. We just can't keep her.

The kids (and Mario) don't want me to vacuum because they like to see her dog hair. Her cage is still up and she has her things laying around. I don't know how long to leave those things laying around.

Eric came down yesterday morning and commented on how quiet the house is now. It made me break down in tears. We are all sad, but I think this is for the best. Now I have to go vacuum up all the popcorn that dropped on the ground last night. We aren't accustomed to having to vac and sweep up food. That's going to be a big adjustment. But I won't have to sweep up dog hair anymore.