Happy 15th Birthday to Amy!

Amy is my favorite Tulsa cousin. She is the eldest of six, and just an amazing person in general. I completely admire her; she started high school this year, and does gymnastics and marching band while keeping stellar grades and helping out around at home. We have so much fun when we get together… just this past trip where I went to Tulsa, we shopped till we dropped, saw the Arkansas river, and met boys at the hotel swimming pool.

Her family comes up to Kansas usually twice a year, at New Years and then again either Memorial Day weekend or Labor Day weekend. We go ice rink hopping, gym hopping, and even lake hopping in the summer. She is so chill, we can just play Rockband or get on the computers and still end up laughing hysterically at nothing.

Happy birthday Amy!!! I love you!

My Mommy’s Birthday

is today.

I’m most certain she would rather me not post her age.

She’s always said that on this birthday, she was going to suck it up and get her ears pierced. Because of unforseeable emergencies in the hospital today, that has yet to happen. This I’m particularly glad about, since I couldn’t have been there with her today, and now I will get a chance to watch her tense up and cringe… hehe. I mean, I’ll get to hold her hand like she held mine. =)

My mom is a rockstar. I’ve written about her for this past Mother’s Day, and she’s still the big dork she’s always been; she is completely oblivious to the 21st century and pop culture. Alas, she still is a rockstar. She went to THREE Ivy League colleges, two for undergrad and one for grad. She studied in Greece for a year. She taught English and Latin, got a degree in Archeology, went on a few digs, and got another degree in medicine. She pursued her medical degree while she was pregnant with me, walking up and down the million stairs at KU in the million degree heat when she was huge. She finished up her residency when I was eight and my brother was four, after taking a year off to move to England for my dad’s job.

She’s a rockstar because she’s managed to have it all and still be relatively happy. A career, two (good) kids, a beautiful home, friends, a successful husband, and still have the time to cook dinner every night, care for the pets, and take care of our ginormous garden. I can aspire to be like her, but I think I’d pass out if I simply tried having everything she does. But my mom was always a go out and get it type of person. She ran cross-country, swam, and took a million college classes in high school. All while living in the middle of nowhere, having a good hour bus ride to school, being the middle child of five kids, and growing up poor.

Maybe someday she’ll share with me how she did it all. Until then, I can only dream of being as amazing as my mom.

Happy birthday Mommy =)

Happy 9th Birthday to Victoria =)

*warning: picture heavy!*

Victoria is seriously the greatest now nine-year-old I know.

I met her in April of 2007, when she was seven years old. I was at our old rink, AMF Ice Chateau, and she came to most of the public sessions that I skated. She followed me EVERYWHERE, trying to do exactly what I did. Gary, her ‘grandpa’ (complicated situation), apologized to me and asked if she was in my way. I thought for a moment and told him no, she was cute and I didn’t mind her following me around.

After that, she stuck to me like glue. Honestly, some little kids really tick me off when they do that, but Victoria didn’t. She knew when to stop, and she seemed more mature than your average seven-year-old. She still acts older than she is.

That certainly doesn’t mean she’s missing childish behavior. Gary spoils her rotten, buys her everything she wants. She gets everything she wants. (Except a cell phone. She does have a laptop and a full-size Zune.) This makes some people believe she’s a spoiled brat. I know her story though, and I know that while she shouldn’t be given everything she wants, it takes some time to understand her situation.

Her dad left her and her mom when she was young. He always makes promises he can’t keep; at Skate KC in April of this year, he told her he’d be there watching. He never showed, she knew it, and her skating and attitude suffered greatly. Her stepdad left as well, and now she has a younger maybe two- or three-year-old sister she has mentioned ONCE to me in all the time I’ve known her, both in and outside of the rink. She spends a lot of time with Gary, who was formerly her grandmother’s boyfriend. I get second or third hand information that tells me he still lives with her grandma, but they aren’t together.

I told you it was complicated.

Some people mind a little kid with a lot of issues. I don’t. I try to spend as much time with her as possible. We go shopping, go out to eat, go skating, go swimming; I try to be her big sister, since she basically has no role model to look at. Her mom and grandma are never around, her dad and stepdad are gone, so basically Gary and I are the last chance this girl has.

Anyway, enough of the sob story. She really is a delight; the room lights up when she smiles, and she can make anyone laugh. She has so much to offer the world and it really scares me how she’s growing up in downtown KC with all these family problems, because I don’t want her to underestimate what she can do.

So happy birthday Victoria =)

(By the way, she is also an amazing skater!)

Happy 14th Birthday to Elizabeth

Basically one of my little sisters.

I wrote about our pretty big argument on here in June. (Look it up if you want.) I don’t like to hold grudges against middle schoolers, especially ones who come to me looking for advice. So, inadvertently, we are talking again. Anyway, today is her fourteenth birthday, and like I always do I figured I should write a little about her.

When I started skating club ice, I knew no one. Seriously. Except my coach. The beginning of club really blurs in my mind; I don’t remember who I talked to first/who talked to me first. Actually, that’s not true, I talked to Meghan first, because in true Meghan fashion, she tried helping me with one of my jumps. Elizabeth and I have the same coach (so does Meghan), so it was just a matter of time before we got to know each other.

Elizabeth has her issues, just like everyone else. She has grown up so much in just a year, it truly shocks me. She started out as a barely thirteen-year-old kid that drove me CRAZY asking so many questions and shoving her beliefs down your throat. She still asks a million questions, but the thing that makes me see how she’s grown is the fact that she is way more tolerant of other people and their actions than she used to be. She doesn’t see in black and white anymore, she sees the gray areas too.

I don’t believe anyone that cares reads this, so I think it should be safe to say here- she is thinking about quitting skating after regionals. I’m not supposed to tell anyone that, but like I said before, I doubt her mom or my coach read my blog. I support my friends in most anything they do, and she wants to take up acting and singing, so I support that. I actually really support that, because I think she needs to branch out more. Her life since she was about eight has been skating, and that’s all. One of the best things you can do is experience other things, that’s what childhood and being a teenager is all about. Like I told her, skating is always going to be there, but if you don’t seize opportunities while given the chance, who knows when you’ll get them again?

So. Happy fourteenth birthday, Elizabeth. =)

I’m eighteen.

I would like to mention I am writing this from the iPhone I bought myself yesterday (an event in itself) with the wordpress application. Cool!

So yes, today I turned eighteen. I have very mixed feelings about this. It is very yippie! Yet I feel so old, which is a feeling I quite dislike.

I spent last night with my two best friends (see prior post) and that was uneventful and not fun, since they were in an argument. Today I went skating to see my friends Meghan and Sarah. We had fun, went out to eat and shopped. I was supposed to spend tonight with my friend Hillary, but I guess her dad’s in town or something. Probably for the best anyway cause I am exhausted. I think I’ll celebrate with my family tomorrow or Monday.

I hate my birthday!

Happy 14th Birthday tooo…

my little brotherrrr!

The bane of my existence, the pain in my ass, the most irritating kid that has ever walked the planet. I’m having a bit of trouble saying something nice at the moment since he forgot both his laptop and iPod chargers at home and was bugging me to use mine, but I’ll try to come up with something.

Today is his fourteenth birthday. 

I went off to go shopping with him and the fam and held off on finishing this, trying to find some nice things to say, but at the moment, I’m out, since he’s being the typical fourteen-year-old and mood swings abound.

So, I will just say- Happy Birthday Will =)

Happy 5th Birthday, Jack!

My Jack David turned five yesterday. And stupid me, I was so preoccupied and exhausted from taking a nine, seven, and three year old ice skating that I not only completely forgot about his birthday, but also my friend Allison’s twenty-sixth birthday (her blog is The Road Back Home.)

We know Jack’s exact birthday because he was born in the animal rescue we adopted him from, A Forever Home in Chantilly, VA. They said his mom was a Shepherd/Boxer mix, but Jack looks more like a Lab/Pit Bull mix.

I first laid eyes on him when my mom and I went to an adoption event at Petco in Fairfax. He was the last puppy left in his litter, with all his brothers and sisters already adopted. I had not planned on getting a male puppy; since we had moved to VA from KS, I had been looking at female pups. But, alas, Jack was there with his big eyes and totally improportionate feet, and my mom filled out an application on the spot.

I wish I remembered the next part a little better… I think they came and did a home visit and dropped him off. Yes, that is what they did. He had puked in the car on the way, I remember them saying that.

This was a totally new experience for our whole family, having a dog. We were always cat people. Now, suddenly, we had four cats and this new little rolly-polly, barking, thing. The only cat that immediately adjusted was Shaggy. (Shaggy later died after eating a poisonous frog (hence why our cats are all indoor now) but Oz has since taken her place.)

Jack lived in my room for a long time. His crate was there, and he was locked up at night and when we were gone so he wouldn’t chew up everything in sight. I taught him all his commands… sit, lie down, go potty, shake, etc. outside in the front yard with treats in my hand.

He is the best dog anyone could ever ask for. He barks at anyone that is outside that comes near our house, yet he is quiet and doesn’t jump when our friends come in. He keeps the cats in line. He lies practically on top of you when you are on the couch, all eighty pounds of him. He sits next to the table when we eat, watching us.

Happy birthday, Jack boy. We love you!

 (bologna, his treat)