Ouch

Friday, was supposed to be a quiet day, H was off to the Lake with some friends and M had a power skate lesson...I thought it would be good if he did the Stick and Puck session after his lesson. I needed to get my allergy shots, Stick and Puck would give him something to do other than wait with me. I made some recordings of his skating lesson, paid for his Stick and Puck and left for the Allergist's Office.  I really should have checked on M and his gear. I no sooner left the Allergist's Office when I got a call from one of our friends from the Rink. M was hit by a puck, he didn't wear all of his gear out, just the helmet and gloves like all the "cool" aka "not smart" players. Anyway, the elbow was swollen and bruising...off to the Doctor's Office we went for an X-ray. Funny how things go completely different than planned. The really bad part was M had Try Outs the very next day for Travel Hockey. The good news was, it was not broken, just a bad hematoma. The miraculous part is the swelling was gone by Saturday morning, a true miracle since the elbow was huge by the time we made it to the Doctor's Office. The really good news is now M will never go out on the ice without all of his gear during Stick and Puck. This is one battle that I am so thankful to never have again. And the really good news? He made the Travel Team.

So Long, Farewell

BYesterday, we had a going away party for Matthew's Hockey Coach. He is off to be the Assistant Coach for the USA U18 hockey team. One of his teammate's family has a house on the Lake and hosted the party after Travel Tryouts. The boys were in heaven, the parents relaxed, a good time for all.

You have to be patient on this...Matthew is taking a leap of faith

The boys had a blast tubing, I think this was their favorite

And, in case you were wondering where H was when all this was taking place...she was spending the weekend at the Tennessee River. 

???

I woke up this morning with a nasty note from my phone telling me I am almost out of storage. I know what it is, it is all these videos the kids shoot or I shoot or accidentally shoot...so I am dumping them here and deleting to allow more room to start the cycle all over again.

Oh yeah! This is the last day of school, one of the kids was playing the song "Happy!" Cracked me up!!!

Whoops, forgot to delete this one when I posted it last week. Oh well...

H at figure skating practice. We were trying to get a good spin to post on Instagram for the boyfriend to see.

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend was absolutely gorgeous...perfect temperature...dry...and we were...in a hockey rink. However, since our favorite defenseman was playing, we wouldn't want to be any other place, except Hannah. H chose a trip to the Lake with a friend. Hmmm. Go figure.

Prior to the big weekend, I nagged H about taking sunscreen. I got to watch H ignore me the way I ignored my dad when I was her age and he told me to use sunscreen and wear a wide brimmed hat. (He was going through skin cancer treatment and sunscreen was just emerging...and being ignored while everyone grabbed the coconut scented tanning oil...or baby oil). So...lesson learned, she came home in pain and is peeling...She is off to another Lake with another friend this weekend. We got a rashguard for her to wear...along with sunscreen. And she promises to reapply the sunscreen. A lot.

H going to the Lake this weekend is a good thing because we have...hockey. Yep, travel tryouts are on Saturday. Afterwards, we get to go to Smith Lake for a going away party. Matthew's Coach, Chris Luongo, has been selected to be the USA U18 assistant coach. The former NHL player is moving up...literally and figuratively, he's from up North so the wife is very happy to be near family again.

Roo came up to Nashville for Saturday's games. I had a lovely drive up with her and we were able to stroll the aisles of Whole Foods Market between games and have a treat of fresh gelato...always good to sit outside on a lovely day and people watch.

I got my first scare as a hockey mom on Sunday. M took a purposeful elbow the head which sent him flying through the air, landed face first and feet last on the ice, and he didn't get up. He normally pops right up. He sat out a few line changes before returning. I was so relieved to see him get back out there. (Greg was working the penalty box and was near where it happened, it is possible that he stood on the bench and yelled at the player who elbowed Matthew) However, no penalty was called on the play. Nashville refs are notorious for not calling penalties. I spent the night watching him for concussion. I had a scare when I got up during the night and heard someone rattling the hotel door. I didn't see M in  his bed and I thought he wandered off. (One of the symptoms is sleep disturbance) However, all was well, M had changed beds and a drunk was at the wrong room)

We finished the tournament on Monday...right in time for the rain and humidity that has descended on the South. We came home to a yummy dinner prepared by Roo (our favorite oldest daughter and cat sitter). She made a slaw with arugula and cilantro, pork chops with a peach/jalapeno sauce, potato salad with pancetta, and sweet potato salad with grilled pineapple for dessert. Yum yum! The girl loves my kitchen and I get the best meals from her!

Pictures and video are included for your enjoyment. (And my phone's storage is full so I need to get them off my phone to free up storage...a win/win for everyone!) There is probably a few videos of M's friend Michael (the two M&Ms as I call them). Since this tournament was all about fun, the defense all took turns playing offense. Michael's mom had to leave early for a school meeting so I shot some video of him playing offense. Matthew is very proud that he was the only defenseman to score while playing offense, insert happy face here.

Just for Fun

One more post before I go...Remember how we used to run from the camera when we were kids? Now, it is the age of  "Selfies." I am getting used to it...I've tried it...can't get the hang of it...or my arms are just too short. H is the Master of Selfies. And then there are the pictures I shot here and there...

Pretty Girls after Church

The Pool Opened and We had it all to Ourselves!

Rite of Passage

Last entry for today, I have accomplished nothing and I have a ton to do. H is having 4 girls over tonight for a sleepover, M has a friend coming at 2, and I have some groceries to stockpile before the eating frenzy begins. Summer begins.

So here is what the post is really about, M has been waiting forever to be old enough to mow the lawn. He finally accomplished this long awaited day (see video) and now G has sold the lawn mower. He wanted to free up room in the garage and felt a riding lawn mower is overkill. We shall see how he feels in July when he is pushing the lawn mower when M is at Camp. Anyway, here is Matthew's maiden voyage...and final voyage.

And then there is Hannah's Rite of Passage...She likes a boy, the boy likes her, they text like fiends, both sets of parents have had to limit the electronic device use...I even had to take some skating video for instagram so he could see her skate. Sadly, and to my astonishment, (okay, not really sad but to my astonishment, H asked the Boy to be her boyfriend...and he said "Yes.") AGGGGGGHHHH, I am not ready for this!!!!!!!!!!

Chattanooga Field Trip.

Yesterday, I played chaperon to M's Class. We hopped on the bus at 6:30 am (I woke up at 3 instead of 5 so I was a wee bit tired before ever getting started). I had the loveliest group of boys, I called them my herd of Bice-on. I earned the name "Mama Bice." We had an absolutely gorgeous day for a boat ride and perusing the aquariums. I have to tell you field trips these days are soooo much nicer than when I was growing up...no yellow school bus for us, just a nice air conditioned coach bus...it even has a DVD player with screens throughout the bus. I put my nose in my Edith Wharton and enjoyed the ride.

The first 10 minutes after we arrived, I felt like I was herding cats...putting kids in a gift shop after getting off a bus is not a good idea...especially when they have money and the gift shop carries pocket knives. I was able to get them away from the knives and off the boat without losing my chaperon privileges and the rest of the day was smooth sailing.

As you can see, M had fun using my phone for some selfies.

Last Day of School

Yep, last day of school today. I found some dancing to the the tune of "Happy" when I went to wave goodbye to the school bus. I posted this on Facebook and received the comment "Whatever happened to School's out for Summer?" I will have to play that today as they get off the bus...

It will be a busy Summer for the kids. Matthew is going to Scout Camp, Police Camp, and Hockey Camp. Hannah is attending Aviation Challenge with her friend, Amy. (thank you, Roo, for letting us use your Camp Discount) H will also go some figure skating cycles to get ready for her Competition at the end of the Summer. The rest of the time will be spent at the pool. I am hiding their electronics, M is just a wee bit too addicted. I will be handing him a pencil and paper to practice cursive writing. I am a cruel cruel mother. In the meantime, School is out for Summer!

Yes...and No.

Finally, the allergy testing was done...and...Roo is very allergic to dust mites, positive for cats (we knew that and she continues to choose to ignore that since it would mess up her plans for being a Crazy Cat Lady watching Mad Men reruns in her pajamas). However, since these things cause contact reactions and not angioedema (spelling?) we still don't have an answer for the swelling up. Roo gave the vampires 9 vials of blood and not all the tests are back yet...those that are...negative for a cause...so we wait...and pray for no swelling and for the epipens to stay in their pretty little cases.

In the meantime, I guess it is time for her to get a new mattress, pillows, covers, etc. since her body does not like sleeping with the enemy.

#Hot Mess

#HotMess is my new name for Roo. I had been counting down the days for May 14 since this was the day for Roo's allergy testing. I had big hopes of finding out the source of her allergic reaction that landed her in the hospital last month. I had testing last Fall so I knew you have to be off antihistamines 72 hours prior to testing. So we prayed Roo wouldn't have any reactions, would get the testing, the source of all this chaos would be found and life would be good. Thursday morning, I high tailed it across town with my wet hair and lack of makeup for the early am testing to find Roo erupted in hives. Yes! Let's get the testing done and fill her up with some antihistamines...Yeah, that didn't happen. As we sat in the exam room waiting on the Doctor, the poor girl's lip started swelling...I did another high tail and fetched a doctor. We had nurses flying all over the place. I did a lot of praying for the insertion of the IV...and I opened my eyes just as blood came flying out all over the place...good news, it went in. More good news, I was sitting down. The IV was hung on a dry cleaning hanger and attached to a picture, the plastic tool box (literally, a tool box) with emergency supplies was fetched and set up in the room, epi pen, steroids, and something else were injected...proper epi pen use was given...questions regarding what was eaten and what drugs had recently been ingested, a quick test for peanuts and ibuprofen administered...neither one of those was the culprit. Although, it is believed the Motrin Roo took may have exacerbated the problem. I did not know NSAIDs can make an allergy trigger kick into a life threatening attack. (Lesson number one for the day) I, of course, was busy texting the husband to see if we could get Roo a new mattress, in case something nasty from the old apartment hitched a ride to the new apartment....

Lunch time rolled around and her doctor brought us some Steak Out that a drug rep had brought by to the Office. We were very grateful for the grilled chicken, baked potato, salad and iced tea. This leads me to lesson number two for the day...the Doctor was going to give us steak tips since that is her favorite but then thought better of it since red meat can cause anaphylactic reactions in some people. A recent discovery has connected tics that latch onto cattle can make the meat consumed to cause anaphylactic reactions during the night...so she gave us chicken. Who knew?

I asked if all this was caused by her keeping the cat for us, nope, lesson 3, these hives were caused by an internal source not external. Good, so there are still hopes for Roo to become a Crazy Cat Lady.

A second shot of epinephrine, some other drug, led us into spending most of the day in the Allergy Clinic. The good news is that we avoided another hospitalization but the bad news is, the source is still unknown.

Stay tuned for Monday when they are going to try to complete her testing while she is still on steroids.  I read her Tweet this morning and she wrote the steroids had her buzzing and lots of unpacking was done...a sort of good news/bad news thing.  Pray for Roo aka #HotMess,

Where We are Now

We are still getting settled in and I fear I will still be unpacking boxes when I am 85. I have run out of places to put things...which is weird since I thought I was going to have so much more storage and I gave soooo much away when we sold our house. I need to get rid of books...but it is liking ending a relationship....even though I know I won't have time to read it again, I feel like I might...plus, they have memories for me like this belonged to Dad or I read this in Albuquerque or Dave Deary's dad recommended this...but where to put them??? The biggest use of space is my photo albums. I have been taking photos out and putting them in photo safe boxes. I found a few of some friends to email to them and I put them in the box with the intention of scanning  later but now the box is so full, I have no idea where to look for them. I should find them by my 80th birthday. My goal is to be organized and live simply and if you saw the office right now, you would see I am nowhere close to achieving this triumph. 

Busy weekend for the kids, Roo packed boxes for moving to her new apartment this weekend, M went off to the Lake with his friends, and G and H had a father/daughter experience and went to Talledega yesterday. H was convinced it was going to be a terrible waste of time and ended up enjoying it. The worst thing she could say is the guy next to her was chewing tobacco and spitting it in his Dasani bottle and let's face it, that is GROSS but...it was a NASCAR race...in the South...enough said. 

I have tons to write  but lots to do so Au Revoir for now...