News To Share

Its been a while since I've been able to get to the blog.  Real life has taken over with a vengeance!  It feels like I barely have a minute to myself and by the time I can get to my computer, I'm often too tired to even look at the screen.  But.. my daughter who HATES being on the blog asked me if I blogged her news.  I think she was shocked that I didnt run to my computer to share.   Before I do that, I thought I'd list a few things that have happened in the past few months, the biggest being the crash of my beloved, not backed up computer that contained EVERYTHING ...

All the kids returned to school in September,  Brit, entering her senior year, Maddie entering as a freshman.  Shaun is now in Middle School as a 6th grader, and Danny is now in 7th.  Liam is in 4th and got the BEST TEACHER EVER!!!!!!!  I'm so happy!    Ashley is happily settled in to her day program at Friendship Home.

We've celebrated birthdays,  5 of them,  Maddie and Liam's are 3 days apart, and Brit, Ashley and Shaun are all in the same week, along with Thanksgiving.  I usually just check out that week..   Brit turned 18 and requested a croquembouche for her birthday cake.  Um.... sure.  Little did I know that unless you live in France (should have known) this desert is not so easily found.   I eventually called enough places to get a lead on a pastry chef, named Jean Paul (how awesome is that) to make the crocquembouche. 

We have been on college tour after college tour, ruling out awesome schools because they just were not right...

Brit's criteria. 

1. small campus
2. NOT in the city (wanted rural or suburban campus)
3. Needed to have an  engineering school
4. ability to mix fine arts with engineering
5. must be on a hill.  (just kidding about it being a criteria, but sheesh are all colleges built on "college hill"?... whats up with THAT)
6. wanted to stay on east coast.

We visited Tufts, Dartmouth, Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette, Villanova, Carnegie Mellon, University of Rochester, Union, Cornell (WAY TOO GINORMOUS), Rensselaer and had various others on the list to visit.  She also had many schools actively recruiting her.

It was not easy finding a small univeristy, in the suburbs, with an engineering program.  Tufts and Lehigh emerged the front runners and after a third visit to Lehigh, she decided it was the place for her.  Her favorite part was the fact that Lehigh allowed students to design their own engineering major.  A student can do architectural engineering and fine arts.  Fine arts and mechanical engineering, Bio engineering and business etc.   There are very few schools who allow classtime outside of the school of engineering and it was a big draw for her.  She is amazingly talented and neither of us could imagine her at a school where her creativity would need to be supressed in pursuit of an engineering degree.

So..... On October 1st on her last visit to the Lehigh Campus, she handed over her early decision contract.  Agreeing to apply to only one school and to go if accepted was not something taken lightly.  She was sure this was the place for her.

Without further ado, I proudly announce that Brittany was accepted early decision to the P.C. Rossin school of engineering at Lehigh University.  We are very happy that she was accepted to her first choice school and so extremely proud of her dedication and commitment.

It is bittersweet.  The first of my babies to head off to college.  Pass the tissues......

separate vacations

The boys want to go camping. I cringe just saying the word "camping". I'm not a roughing it kind of girl. To the girls and I, roughing it means slow room service. But... for some strange reason the boys have turned a deaf ear to our grumblings about camping.... They have romanticized it. They have visions of fishing, then cooking their catch on an open fire.... (bwahaha)... It has been our tradition since the girls were babies to spend the last week of the summer at the Cape.. Our place is ON THE BEACH. They bring you towels and umbrellas, and chairs. In other words... we are NOT roughing it. Maybe I'm spoiled, but I figure for most of the year I'm cooking, cleaning, chauffering, fixing booboos, nursing them back to health... I DESERVE a week of doing absolutely nothing that would cause me to break a sweat. Sooo, the man of my dreams is fulfilling the camping fantasy with the boys. Yes, my computer geek husband will be fishing, camping, cooking... My guess is there will be lots of restaurants in his vacation, but I doubt they will fess up to that. I will miss them, but.... not that much. I'll be too busy relaxing to notice that the mess makers, the noisemakers, the troublemakers are off with dad. I will be enjoying the peace and drama free vacation with the girls.

I'll post beautiful photos from the beach and if we remember what Rich's photos are like, I'll post those blurry camping photos here too.

If I drank, I'd toast to the LAST WEEK OF SUMMER VACATION!!!! They are off to school the day after we return. (trying not to dance in front of them)

"

A frontrunner emerges

No, I'm not talking about politics.

We have been to Tufts, Lehigh, Bucknell, Carnegie Mellon, Renssellaer, Lafayette, Dartmouth and Cornell. We have considered many other colleges that are not within touring distance. After a second visit to Tufts Brit has decided that her top choice is going to be Lehigh. She is impressed with their engineering program and the fact that she can make her own major and incorporate fine arts with architectural engineering is a huge bonus. I also think the fact that it's further than Tufts might have tipped the scale. Apparently she wants to go to school further than 30 minutes from home.

Brit's criteria has been: Small College, less than 10,000 students.
Suburban campus
more than 4 engineering majors
Undergraduate ability to be involved with research
and that small campus feel.

So, Lehigh it is, she will also apply to the schools listed above as well as some others not listed including Harvey Mudd College.

The stress levels around here will begin to rise in November and will not drop until we have an acceptance.

Unconditional

I try to keep my blog free of my political opinions. I have friends on both sides of the aisle, I respect MOST opinions of those who differ from mine. I'm going to make an exception because I dont think this issue is politcal necessarily although it sure seems to be this year.

The following post is from a person who shares her insights on an adoption forum I belong to and I was so taken by this post. She says what I feel so much better than I could so i'm sharing it here.

"Just In Case You Tell Us You Are Gay" can be viewed here : http://pullthisblogover.blogspot.com/2012/08/just-in-case-you-tell-us-you-are-gay.html

Rest in Peace, Dear Friend

Luann and I met via an email support group for adoptive parents over a dozen years ago. It wasnt long before a fast friendship developed. We spent a few vacations in Disney together, She spent some time at our house with her kids and we spoke often on the phone. She was like a sister. We had much in common and we shared a lot about our lives, our struggles, and our triumphs and especially our love for ALL THINGS DISNEY. Luann was very supportive when my mom went through her kidney transplant 11 years ago and my mom always asked about her right up until she passed away 3 years ago.

This morning, my friend Luann went to heaven, leaving behind a husband who she adored and who adored her and 7 beautiful children who were cherished by her. Her absence on this earth feels unbearable.

I will miss you my friend.....

Olympic Trial photos

Maddie had the time of her life at the olympic trials. She was star struck
watching all her favorite swimmers compete and even managed to get some photos.

Maddie and Missy Franklin!
At 6'2", Missy makes Maddie look like a fetus.

Duct tape rocks!

On the top of Brit's christmas list every year is the pink polka dotted duct tape.

She recently had some material left over from making a skirt and made this..