A Nice Surprise

Our home teacher is a friend of ours, Tim Buckner. He came by this past Sunday for a visit. He sat down  and we gathered all the kids into the front room. The girls all showed off for him, showing him toys and asking questions. But then something unexpected and beautiful happened. Brendan came in, sat down and asked, "How are you doing today, Brother Buckner?"

This is beautiful for two reasons. The first is that he remembered Tim's name. Sometimes people blend together a bit for Brendan if they are not important to him. If you found it hard to look people in the eye, their faces wouldn't be your focus either.

The second reason is that this type of greeting and ease in conversation has never happened before without prompting. We usually have to prompt Brendan to greet people in a social way rather than plow ahead with what he wants to talk about. This reciprocity and interest in the other person is something his speech teacher has been working with him on. The boy has the vocabulary level of a college student but the pragmatics of language often escape him.

This little interaction made my mother heart happy. I got a little teary eyed. He is making progress. He can master these skills. This gives me hope.

Another PREP Grad

Darby had her preschool graduation yesterday. As always, the YMCA PREP graduations are super cute. This year it was not at the school but at a church nearby. First there was a prayer and the pledge, all led by the students, and then they sang songs for the audience.

There was a picture slideshow and a part where Ms Rakia read letters from the parents to their graduates, during which time each child would stand up. Darby acted very shy and slightly confused and looked uncomfortable with the widespread attention.

After that the graduates changed into caps and gowns and had a procession into the room. Then the handing out of the certificates commenced. It was all pretty adorable.

Afterwards we took a few pictures with the wonderful PREP teachers. We will miss them dearly! I sorely wish that they had been able to teach Paige too as they have my older three.

 Afterwards we took the family to Route 66 for ice cream. Congratulations to Darby Jayne on your first graduation and looking forward to kindergarten!!

Memorial Day

I feel very strongly that, especially being a military family, we need to seek to teach the kids the true meaning of holidays like Memorial Day and Veterans Day. This year we took the family to not only the Airborne Museum but the Veterans Park near post. I had never been to the Veterans Park as it has weird hours. The grounds were beautiful and meaningful.

We showed the kids the special table setting that is a remembrance of soldiers who were killed in wars. It's very moving as each piece has a special meaning.

We showed them the dog tag exhibit which showed how many Fort Bragg soldiers had passed away in wars.

 The gardens outside had columns with the names of each county in NC on them. These columns were covered in hands cast from veterans and family members from those counties.

 There was a wall where hands cast in iron from real veterans of past wars were hung at shoulder height, symbolizing the oath of service being taken. A few were hung rather lower than the rest, showing that these soldiers were likely in wheelchairs when the hands were cast. It was all a sobering sight. There are more thorough explanations at ncveteranspark.org.

At the Airborne Museum the flags were all at half mast. Iron Mike sits outside the museum as well, symbol of a WWII paratrooper. 

After discussing with the kids the meaning behind the day, we did lighten the mood a bit and go on a family trip to the mini golf place in town. We split in two teams and I took the two oldest and began to try to teach them how to putt. The littles were just going to have fun with Dad. Eva actually got a hole in one on her first try (and hole 1 was the Fort Belvoir hole. Coincidence? ). However, she was nowhere near that good on our holes but she was happy. Brendan had trouble getting the grip right but once he did his swing much improved. We didn't keep score and ended early (with a fair bit of mulligans) due to the heat. Then we had treats and went home.

I'm looking forward to holidays like this in the DC area next year. Oh the sights we shall see there. 

AAE in Seattle

Jason here. So a few weeks ago I attended the annual session of the American Association of Endodontists in Seattle.

I flew out there with Jarom and we nearly missed our connecting flight from DC to Seattle. That's a story in and of itself, but sufficeth to say that the transit system connecting terminals at Dulles is a bit confusing and were it not for a bad lightbulb or something on our plane, we would have totally missed it. 

I did not have a place to stay in Seattle because I thought I could figure it out when I got there. And I did. Right next to the convention center for the government rate. Nice! It was a great room. 

While the lectures were fun, and it is always nice to see the latest and greatest, it was also nice to get together with some old friends and make new ones. It was nice to see Erick Jannson, Kevin Guertemiller, and Jasmin de Guzman, Rohde graduates of old. Jarom and Diana came but Gio could not make it for some crazy reason. 

Not to mention that Seattle is a beautiful town.

 

  

 

A few of us even managed to get a temple session in, which was nice. All in all, a very good time. 

 This is the infamous "Gum Wall" beneath the Pike Place Market. Gross yet fascinating somehow.

The session usually has, well, a party to cap things off. This year was at the Rock and Roll Museum. I found the exhibits fascinating as many were dedicated to bands that I used to listen to all the time, Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

 

The original setlist to the Nirvana Unplugged album, one of my favorite albums.

 It was a good trip.

Strawberry Picking

We finally made it to Gillis Hill to pick the strawberries. It's the end of the season do there weren't as many as earlier. But with the 6 of us and some strategy, we picked almost 10 lbs in 40 minutes. Nice job Team McDaniel!

Time for smoothies and desserts!

Last Biker

Since Eva got taller and now has a new bike with no training wheels ( she's still working on that skill as she's a careful child and is struggling), Paige got Eva's old bike. She is super excited. I bet that with her determination and fearless personality that she will be riding by herself in no time.

Stomped

Dad here. Brendan beat me at a game of Battleship faster than anyone has ever been beaten at a game of Battleship EVER. He could not miss. 17 hits, 15 misses. I fancy myself a decent player, but I was no match for Brendan tonight. All hail Captain Brendan. 

Mom here. I have a side note. Last night we played Battleship and Brendan lost (after a nailbiter of a victory from me). It led to a major meltdown with a lot of negative talk about himself. Then Jason and he had a talk about positive thinking and a good mindset. Tonight, Jason reminded him of that and before the game, he visualized himself in all his awesomeness. And look what happened. Tender mercies from the Lord watching out for my son and helping him grow.

The Voice

I found a show that is a singing competition called The Voice. I really enjoy it. Paige watches it with me sometime. And it shows. :)

Family Portrait

Courtesy of Darby, age 5

Sprint to the finish

Jason here. Christine and I live in alternate universes. I have been in an academically driven time warp where weeks and months have passed in a blur of assignments, reading, and clinic. I wonder where the time has gone. It feels like Groundhog Day - get up at 5:45, get ready, go to the clinic. Treat patients, fill out charts, study. Come home, eat, study. Put the kids down, wind down with Christine, go to bed. Saturdays have just been another work day where I spend the day in self imposed exile as I study all day.

Sundays are good days where I relax and do no school work. Its nice.

Graduation is in a few weeks and I can hardly believe its almost over. June 12 is the day.

But the last month is crazy. Starting in late April we finished the cursed GHSU Oral Biology course where I skated by with a 79.5, the minimum score to get a passing grade. Then we had an oral board. Next week we have the American Board of Endodontics written board and the very next day we have the comprehensive Oral Pathology final. I could spend an entire post about Oral Pathology, but I won't. The guy who teaches it is a brilliant colonel who is a very hard examiner. The fun doesn't end there as we have two more oral boards, the last one being with a prominent member of the AAE and Colonel Apicella,who is the former director of endodontics here.

Not to mention that our research projects are being finalized and our follow on assignments are being made.

Its an extremely busy time, but life is good.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day never goes as planned. I always tell the kids that all I want is one day free from fighting and to not have to cook dinner. I have yet to receive that gift. But this year comes with its own story.

I did get to sleep in, a benefit of 1:00pm church. The kids did wish me a Happy Mother's Day and Eva and Darby gave me their homemade cards (so cute!) Eva had made one in school. Its funny to see how kids see adults.

Jason had a card for me too and a gift of another Willow Tree figurine (I almost have my complete family set now). The kids were pretty good about being kind to one another but there were squabbles, which Jason handled for the most part. As you can see, that was exhausting. ;)

Church was great, with the Primary kids singing to the mothers and the obligatory chocolate. However, the Relief Society presidency decided to have a special meeting that day about visiting teaching and I, being the visiting teaching coordinator, had to give a five minute talk. It kind of ruined the stress-free day I had planned but it turned out well.

As we were leaving church, one of the brethren told me what Darby said in Primary. The men took over so that all the women could go to Relief Society for the special meeting. Apparently, they were talking about obeying our moms. Darby told the whole room that her mom spanks her with a brush if she doesn't obey. What?!!! Never happened.

Happy Mothers Day to me.

After church was when the "fun" began. It started with some sweet as Brendan made me a card in Primary class with Hershey's kisses. Paige snatched some of my kisses when I laid it down to hang up my purse. Little thief!

Jason and the kids made dinner. It was very sweet of them but they don't do things as I would (creating a big mess). I had to walk away until it was done lest I micromanage. I have a problem with that. They made dessert too - cookies. You can see they know the side benefit of helping bake. :)

After the dough was all cooked we found that Paige had stolen the bowl and put her feet in it, squishing the remaining dregs of dough through her toes. Sigh. Daddy washed her off.

Sometime after dinner and cookies Eva came waddling into the living room with her underwear around her ankles, distressed. "The toilet overflowed!!" Of course, it was after she had used it. I went in to a flooded floor that took all our towels to sop up. Then I mopped and disinfected and washed all the towels while Daddy put all the kiddos to bed.