First Day of School 2012!

This year I don't think I have any pictures from the first day of school.

 Catching the first day of school is difficult because over the years we have stopped having that "official" first day of school, and we sort of ease into our school routine.

This year we began with math and spelling the first week of August.

Week 2 we added writing and week 3 we added  grammar.

Week 4 we added all the rest.

Starting our year out gradually makes it less stressful for all of us. By the time all of our fall activities start up again, we have several weeks of school under our belt. We used to start school and activities all at once, after Labor Day. That was just too overwhelming for our family!

So here's some of our first days of school for the 2012-2013 school year.

Our class has a 6th grader, a 4th grader and a pre-schooler.

Obviously we had riding lessons on this day! :)

Doing some work.

Reading to her brother.

Working on grammar.

I love their facial expressions in this one!

Perhaps reading with goggles helps with comprehension?

Lunch break.

Recess!

As you can see from Aiden's double barrel shotgun,

we haven't adopted a zero tolerance policy for guns in our school :)

Softball 2012

Both girls played Little League softball this spring. 

 Moriah was on a coach pitch team.

She has the cutest ready stance!

This year she discovered she likes catching.

This is even cuter than her ready stance!

Emma was on a minor team and she did some pitching this season.

I love this picture of her pitching.

She, on the other hand, does not!

Such a cute ball player!

Later in the summer they both played summer ball on the same team.

Being able to play on the same team for summer ball will probably only happen once in their lives!

They played with a great group of girls!

They had fun together!



Slug Bug Blue!

We spend a lot of time in the car these days, and the girls have been playing the slug bug game.  They have learned where all the regulars are in Midland. For example there is always one at the library, the 555 building, and by the Circle. Last week I overheard these slug bug related conversations in the van.

Moriah, in a robot voice: "Slug bug scanning, slug bug scanning.....scanning incomplete. Shutting down."

"Slug bug silver!" --Moriah, who now has 2 slug bugs to Emma's 0.

"Oh, I quit!" --Emma's response to above statement.

"Slug bug lellow!!"--Aiden, shouting with excitement as a yellow non-slug bug car went by.

"Oh, I hate those cars that look like slug bugs! They get me every time!"--Emma, referring to PT Cruisers.

"Slug bug re----Oh, it's not there today!"--both girls in unsion, as they realize one of the "regulars" must have taken the day off!

"Aiden, do you want to be our little servant boy?"--Emma

"No, I want to be slug bug blue!"--Aiden

"Okay, how about you be our slug bug blue servant boy?"--Emma, ever so sweetly.

"Okay!"--Aiden, with excitement

"Great, then that means you have to do whatever we say!"--Emma, still with a hint of sweetness.

"Muaahh-ahhh-ahhhh-ahhhh!!"--Moriah, chiming in with her evil laugh.



The Weekend Update--From the Kids' Perspective

• We recently were talking about the accident, and how far we have come. I asked the girls, "Don't you think we have come a long way?" Moriah responded, "No! Daddy still can't run! I want Daddy to be able to run!" She asked if we remembered the night last fall before the accident that we stayed outside and played hide and seek-tag. I had forgotten all about that night! We laughed as we remembered chasing each other in the dark on a warm fall night. I think one of the girls said, "Remember Dad hid up in the tree? And no one could catch him, but he caught all of us?"
• Aiden plays "crash" quite often. He will be driving his Jeep or tricycle in the backyard and have a crash. He lays on the ground and waits for the ambulance (his sisters) to come. Sometimes I laugh watching him play, I don't know if I want to laugh because it's so funny, or cry that this is part of what he plays. He still talks about his real ambulance ride. He remembers that he was in the ambulance with mommy (which is correct) and that mommy was all snuggled up (which to him means having a blanket up to your neck.)
• One evening a few weeks ago we were all in the living room and Emma was sharing a story. Suddenly, we heard the sirens of an ambulance. Emma stopped talking and her face grew dark. She looked at Moriah and said, "It's coming this way."  Within seconds the ambulance passed by the house and Emma said, "I don't like sirens. They make me feel sad and scared." Ryan and I were both surprised by her reaction. As we talked later we thought about what it must have been like for them that night--waiting in the van, in the dark, listening to sirens coming in the distance, hearing them get closer, knowing they're coming for you--it was something I had never thought of and it made my heart ache for my little ones! Thankfully, someone shared the idea of encouraging the kids to pray for the people in the ambulance. What a great idea to help them take the focus off their fears by saying a prayer for the other person!
• Although much has changed for our kids, there are somethings that never change--they still are growing like weeds!! We measured the kids this week and they have each grown an inch since July!
• And they still have fun together! They have been enjoying this gorgeous fall weather, making leaf piles, and leaf houses, and dens--because they are always pretending to be some sort of animal!

Weekend Update

• This week we were busy freezing veggies! We froze corn, green peppers and onions. We are always thankful for our frozen veggies in the middle of winter! 
• We finished getting ready for school!! I'll post more on that later!
• This week is the Midland County fair! Our girls are not taking anything in this year because I missed the registration deadline. They were disappointed, but they have been very understanding! Hopefully we will be back on track next summer! I'm beginning to think even going to the fair may be more than we can handle this year, but I know they would never go for that!! So, I will put my big girl pants on, buy a frozen cheesecake on a stick, and walk through every animal barn there is. Twice. Or maybe even three times. They really love those animals!
• Yesterday we had a relaxing Saturday at home together. In the afternoon, Ryan went to take a nap and I went in to talk to him for a minute. He loves when I try to talk to him during his nap :) It wasn't long and Emma came in, jumped in bed and started telling us about a game she plays with Moriah and some friends. In the game Moriah is Aunt Bertha. Emma was laughing and doing an impression of Moriah as Aunt Bertha for us. All of the laughter brought Moriah into the room who then gave us the real Aunt Bertha. The laughing continued and in came Aiden, who was supposed to be taking a nap of his own. He came climbing into bed and said, "Can I bisit (visit) with you guys?" I laughed, looked at Ryan and said, "Sorry about the nap!" It's little moments like these that are a treasure! We just enjoy being a family, and being together. Ryan did eventually get his nap, and so did Aiden. Right next to his daddy.
• The kids were playing rock band yesterday. Not on the Wii, we don't have that game, yet. They were just singing along with the ipod. I walked in the room to find Aiden dancing and singing into a microphone made out of brightly colored pegs connected together. Moriah was singing into her railroad track microphone and Emma was air guitaring. And the song they were rocking out too?  My Life is in You Lord. Yep, that brought a smile to my face! And some laughter too!

Some of our favorite recent quotes:

At the gas station Ryan asked, "Do you want it on credit or debit?"  Before I could answer Aiden yells from the back, "I want Pepper Dr!"  (Dr. Pepper!)

The girls had a friend over recently and they were talking about music and singers. Moriah asked, "Who do you like to listen to?" And without giving her a chance to respond Moriah went on to say, "I like John Denver."

After hearing the above statement Ryan looked at me and said, "My heart is so happy right now!"

Baseball Buddies

This Saturday the girls had the chance to be "baseball buddies" at the Loons game. A baseball buddy gets to hang out by the Loons dugout during warm-ups and when the players are introduced they get to run out on the field with their "buddy." They stand with their buddy out on the field during the national anthem and then they return to their seats. Emma's buddy was 3rd baseman, Chris Henderson; Moriah's buddy was shortstop Christian Lara. They had a lot of fun and of course they were THE cutest baseball buddies out there!!

     Here they are hanging out with some guy with crazy hair...Mo pulled his wig off

when he bent down!

Check out their cool shirts!!

Here's the whole bunch! We brought along a friend, Hayden, to see the game too! Aiden loved having another boy around!

Enjoying their snack...one of the best things about baseball!

Sweet sisters...and baseball buddies!



Bigger Than T-Rex

 Saturday we were running errands, and we went to the library to pick up books for school.  When the kids saw the Center for the Arts they remembered that we had not been to see the dinosaur exhibit. It opened sometime just after the accident, and we weren't up for going when the homeschool group went for a fieldtrip. Of course I heard, "Mom! We never saw the dinosaurs!" Since Sunday was the last day of the exhibit, the girls and I along with our friend Evan, went to see the dinosaurs after church! Evan's very tiny, but much loved elephant, Ellie, came along as well.

Here the kids tried to feed little Ellie to the T-Rex:

Here's a group photo, including Ellie! Evan's holding her on Emma's shoulder.



And here it is, the one bigger than T-Rex, the maposaurus (?)!!

The kids tried to pose like these dinosaurs and as Evan posed he said, "Is this good? Because I can't

make a tail!"

And it was here while we were working on this 3D T-Rex puzzle that Evan said, "How about Miss Michelle and I hold it and we let Emma and Moriah do it all!"  This puzzle was tough! You can see the left leg, up in the air...we never did figure that out!!

There were several hands on stations where the kids could draw/color dino pictures,

search for dinosaur bones,

and search for fossils of their own!





Here are some fossils they found, and again we see Ellie!!



Loons Baseball and Little League Softball

We went to our first Loons game of the season on Saturday. We have had a small season ticket package through Ryan's family business for a few years. After the accident, we weren't sure if Ryan would be up for attending games. We explained our situation to the Loons office, and they offered to move us to handicap accessible seating so Ryan could sit comfortably in his wheelchair.  We decided to give it a try! We are so glad we did! Ryan had a great time! Towards the end of the game he looked over at me and said, "I think this is the most normal night I've had in the last 6 months!" Because of his jaw, he did miss eating some of his favorite ballpark food. Emma and I had to eat all the nachos ourselves!

    Aiden had a great time cheering on the Loons, although he didn't really want his picture taken--

It was a great way to spend Mother's Day eve! The Loons won, Ryan was able to get away for awhile, and we were given something to look forward to this summer! In fact, our next game is May 21, and both the girls are going to be baseball buddies--which means they'll run out on the field with a player as they are introduced and sing the national anthem with them!

It's also softball season, and both girls are playing Little League softball in Coleman. Moriah is on a coach pitch team, and Emma is on a Minors team.

Moriah has never played before and she really wanted to try catching.  She has had the chance to catch in one game, and  she really enjoyed it. She was so cute in all that gear! Her one complaint was that she "couldn't hustle in when coach called them in--she had to walk." She has also played 2nd base and did well there, as well as center and left field. 

Emma has played before, but she has never pitched. She was really hoping to have a chance at pitching this year...and last week she did! 

She has also played shortstop and right field Several of her friends are on her team this year and she is really enjoying that! She's a bit like her mama...baseball is about the people and the food! .

And there's this little boy, he's their biggest fan! He brings his dump truck to every game, and when he's not cheering them on, he's busy hauling a load of dirt or sand! 

Corn From the Future

At the end of the summer the girls and I freeze veggies for the summer to eat through the winter. We usually freeze green beans, beets and corn. We make a day of freezing corn, working with Jan out on our back porch. Grandma Ruthie used to help too. The corn must be cleaned, blanched, cooled, cut off the cob, and  packaged into freezer bags. The final step is writing the date on the bag with a sharpie. Last summer that was Moriah's job. Last week I pulled this package of corn from the freezer:
\

                             In case you can't read her writing, it says: 2020 corn from the future.

Imagine me standing in front of the freezer laughing! That girl is so funny! We had a good laugh that night about eating corn from the future!

Moriah's Story

The girls have journaled a bit over the last few weeks, and tonight I have permission from Moriah to share from her journal. I'm not sure, but in the official world of blogging I think Moriah would be called a guest blogger? Here are some excerpts from Moriah's journal:

When we crashed I shut my eyes but I heard Aiden screaming and I heard the crash. I was worried and scared at the same time. I just did not know what to do and so the only thing I thought of was to pray and so I did and after I prayed, I cried because I was scared and I wasn't sure if mom and dad were alive.

When Dad came to Grandma's I was thrilled! I hugged him and we just talked. We visited many times and for days I was wondering when we could eat here (at home) and not have to visit every night. Finally my wish came true and dad came home.

I have been kind of quiet lately. This single mom life is exhausting! To be honest, once the kids are in bed, and I have a few moments to myself, I don't feel much like getting on the computer! However, I have been wanting to keep you all updated!

Ryan is planning on coming home on Friday! We are quite excited to have him coming home! He has come here twice for visits this last week. He came once with the therapists to see what we could do to make our home ready for him. This weekend he came home to visit for a few hours on Saturday. He has done well here and that makes me feel less nervous about him coming home to stay. He is excited and a little nervous to be coming home. He feels secure at Tim and Jan's and he has learned to get around there very well. I am sure he will adjust quickly to his new surroundings!! It will help that he has been able to come here for a couple of practice runs!

As for me, this last week I have noticed that the pain in my neck and shoulders has been getting worse and not better. My right arm is considerably weaker than my left, even though the left shoulder blade is the one that was fractured.  The physical therapist is in the process of talking with the dr.'s office to see about having an xray or an mri done on the right shoulder. I should know more about that soon.

Saturday night I was feeling the worst that I had felt in awhile. It was much like when I first came home from the hospital. So Sunday we stayed in all day to rest up. We even stayed in our jammies all day! That is not like me at all! To be in my pj's past 10 am really bugs me! I don't mind wearing my comfy "stay at home" clothes all day, but I do have to put those on so I feel dressed. Not this Sunday! That's just one of the ways life has changed since the accident! And it didn't bother me that the kids played wii and watched tv all day!That would normally irritate me quite a bit! It was good to have a relaxing, restful day inside!

Tomorrow we will spend the day in Flint. Ryan has an appointment to have the cast taken off of his arm and another appointment to have the hardware taken off his teeth! He will be so happy to have the hardware taken off his teeth! Also, today he started walking with a cane! He is improving daily, which is very encouraging to see!

In other news from the Roman home, Emma has been taking a biology class in Midland. This class is in additon to the science we do at home. She has a strong interest in life science and she dreams of being a vet. I thought this biology class would be a fun extra curricular activity for her....and I was right! The teacher is amazing! She loves science and she is awesome with the kids! Last week they made an edible cell and here are some pics:  The nucleus is a whopper, the sprinkles are ribosomes, and the jello is the cytoplasm. Very cute idea!

Saturday, the girls went roller skating to celebrate their friend Annabelle's birthday. As we were dropping them off, the girls were talking about the last time we had been skating which was for Emma's 9th birthday. Ryan and I laughed as we remembered this story.  Moriah was 6 years old at the time, and it was her first time roller skating. During the session they called a "crazy trio" skate in which a trio skates together and they change directions when a whistle is blown.  Emma was out there with 2 of her friends, and the other trios were mainly big kids who were skating fast and whipping around when the whistle was blown. Who else was out there in the midst of crazy trio skate by herself...Moriah! Being the good mom that I am, I just laughed when I saw her! She was alone, and trying to get off the rink, but she kept turning around whenever they blew the whistle and she couldn't make it to an exit! She was so frustrated at the whistle blower because just as she would get herself all turned around he'd blow it again! Finally, she looked at me from the middle of the rink and threw her arms down in frustration and then I saw Emma and her friends come by and rescue Moriah and help her to the exit. Big sister saved the day!