2 Month Gap?

I didn't realize it had been almost 2 months since I did a blog posting.Wow, the time flies by so fast it seems. A few things that have occurred during the past 2 months:

• I had a large NIH grant proposal due the end of May that CONSUMED a huge portion of my time preparing it. I was pushing really, really hard the whole month of May on it. In fact, I was working so hard that I wasn't resting enough, nor taking good care of myself. I ended up with 2 bouts of strep throat in May! Thankfully the grant made the submission date, thanks to great help from wonderful grad students and others invovled in the project.
• For my NSF ICAC project, we were out surveying students everyday for over a week. It was gruelling but worth the effort.
• We went to Atlantic Beach for a week in May. Our dear friends from Maryland the McElroys joined us for part of it. Di and I had a day at the spa, which was glorious, and some girl time to hang out and talk! Callen loved playing with their dog Star. My friend Marieke and her family joined me and Callen for the last couple of days there, after Bo had flown home. Callen had a blast learning to ride the waves with Sabina. She was fearless! Although I had to work on various things while we were there, it was still nice to get away and feel the ocean!
• June started out hectic too. I had a large annual report due for my NSF ICAC project towards the end of the month. All the survey data had to be entered, cleaned, and analyzed so we could include part of it in the annual report. The annual report takes so much time! It was finally submitted the Friday before I flew to DC for a grant panel at NSF.
• The grant panel at NSF was another thing that made June even more frenetic. Remind me to never agree to be on a panel that occurs around the same time I have a grant annual report due!
• Callen continues to enjoy the last few weeks at her preschool. She's excited about starting kindergarten in the fall and at times wishes it would start sooner (but recognizes she will miss her preschool friends next year as they will go to various other schools).
• Callen started taking gymnastics in June at a local gymnastics academy. She enjoys it a lot but it is hard work.
• One of the most discouraging things that happened in June is that Jefferson County laid off over 500 people, including Bo. The county commissioners are not effective leaders and have no vision at all. The one in charge of his dept. eliminated 2/3 of the employees; you don't need a deputy director when you have so few employees remaining. Bo has been making calls and applying for various things, but there are not a lot of openings in his areas at this time. And, I'm sure none will pay even close to what he was making.
• The last item has led us to really start thinking about ways to not spend money. We hope that Bo will find another position soon.

This was a few of the main things that have happened in our lives the past 2 months. Hopefully it won't be so long before another posting.
Happy 4th of July!

Pictures from Thanksgiving Walk Around Star Lake

A Few Pix from Christmas 2009

A few pix from Christmas at our house.

Aunt Suz with the reindeer ears. Doesn't she look cute?

The gingerbread house that Callen, Aunt Suz, and I put together and decorated.

Walking Around the Lake at Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was quiet with just the three of us this year. After Thanksgiving dinner we went for a late afternoon walk around the lake in our neighborhood. Here are a few pix from our lake visit.

Updating the Blog

Life has been way too busy the past month. I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last did a blog post! Here's a brief recap of life over the past month.

• We spent a good portion of the summer thinking Bo would get put on unpaid leave, along with 1000+ Jefferson County employees. Luckily he didn't but we certainly feel bad for the others who did get put on leave. We hope Jefferson County will bring them back ASAP now that the politicians have passed a new occupational tax.
• We did a family trip to Atlanta. We went to the Georgia Aquarium. It was nice but I think the Baltimore and Chattanooga ones are better. As we were getting out of the car at Ikea, Callen smashed a finger in the door! Not a fun time! Nothing broken but lots of tears. Sunday we went to Stone Mtn and did a few things there. Pretty state park.
• We went to a birthday party for a friend of Callen's. His mother is so creative! I wish I had a third of the creativity genes that she does! Yes, I'm talking about you Renee : ).
• My NSF grant I submitted in January got funded! Our media office did a press release on Wed. of this week and it has been picked up by various media outlets around the country. The project involves helping develop STEM curriculum using XO laptops, and working with teachers and students to enhance integration of the XOs and the new curriculum modules.
• We started training our first older adults in our first assisted living facility to use computers and the Internet (for my NIA grant). They're doing so great! The class is smaller than we'd hoped but this is our pilot facility and we're learning a lot that will enhance the future trainings. My graduate research assistants are doing a great job with the training!
• The cleaning of the data from my other NSF grant is almost complete. We should be able to start crunching some numbers soon to indicate how students' technology usage, attitudes towards technology, educational aspirations, etc. changed with the introduction of the XO laptops in Birmingham City schools.
• I went to San Francisco a couple of weeks ago for our national conference. It was fun to see old friends and to meet some new ones. The presentations I was involved with went well. One was even written up in a San Fran. blog. I flew home on a 7:30 AM flight so that I could attend the open house at Callen's school. It made for a long, long day but I'm glad I could get back in time for it!
• Our classes started this week (where did the summer go????). I'm teaching on Tues/Thurs at 8 AM (ouch!) but better than a MWF in the afternoon (which was the other option). It looks like a pretty good group of students or at least the best I can tell after 2 classes : ).

I'm sure I've left lots out of what we did over the past month, but this will have to suffice for now : ). I hope everyone had a good summer!

Memory of a 3 Year Old

Tonite I was wrapping some presents, with the help of Callen. I suggested she should make some cards for presents. She got excited about that. She made one card and I asked her who it was for. She said "Shelby" - a cousin that she last saw in May at the beach! Then, she made one for "Erin" - another cousin that she saw at the same time.

I am constantly amazed that she remembers her cousins, who she hasn't seen for 6 months. I'm glad she does. I hope that it will help keep her close to her extended family given that it is very likely she'll be an only child.

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Saturday we met a friend and her two kids at a farm where they have a hayride to a pumpkin patch, mazes (corn and hay), petting zoo, hay mountain, and more! We all had fun. It was a glorious fall day.
This is Callen wanting to climb the fence to get to the hay mountain. We eventually convinced her to go around rather than over the fence.




Kira and Logan pose for a pix on a big bale of hay. Callen didn't care to sit on it (fear of heights maybe?). Kira and Logan made a great pix though!





Here's Callen and Bo atop the hay mountain. Yes, he had to go up with her and then ride down with her. There was a major bounce halfway down!









Callen and Logan had a lot of fun in the cotton bounce. They enjoyed throwing the cotton more than bouncing on it!

Visiting Relatives

This is a busy travel week for us. We're at my brother's house for a few days, then on to Bo's step-mother's family reunion. Lots of miles to drive yet!

This afternoon we were visiting with some family. One of Callen's little cousins is a little over 2. He and Callen had so much fun running (my brother lives in a rural area with a huge yard and lots of room to run!). There were also cows in a pasture next door. They had a blast going up to the fence and talking to the cows. They also saw a large frog. They were so cute hopping after it.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll actually take some pictures and be able to post them at some point this week! Here's to lots more fun times for everyone.

More Pictures

Here are a few other pictures and a video from our beach trip, Mother's Day, and other moments in our lives. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to get the video to rotate so you'll see Callen dancing at the wedding of one of my grad students sideways : ).

The first 2 are from Mother's Day.

The next few are from our trip to Atlantic Beach in early May. The first few pix are of some of my cousins.

Callen loves the beach, especially the water!

This is me, Callen, and our dear friend Dianne from Maryland as we're getting ready to go on the double decker tour bus in Beaufort, NC.

Here's Callen dancing at the wedding.

Social Networks and Distance

Over the past week or so I've had several conversations with friends and colleagues about having a child and living far from family and close friends. A colleague even remarked that his wife told him the first 8 years they lived in NY she was angry all the time and she realized it was because they were there, without family nearby, with young kids. We pretty much all agree that individuals who live near their families, in particular, and have kids may not realize how much easier they have it than do those who don't live near families. There is a caveat of course -- your family has to want and be willing to provide assistance when needed : )

On Saturday Bo and I had some things to do that were accomplished much easier and quicker without Callen being with us. We hired a babysitter to watch her for a few hours. How much easier would it have been if we could have called on Aunt Suzanne or Nana to watch Callen? Don't get me wrong, we had a great babysitter who Callen adores! However, just the coordination and cost involved, rather than having handy family members nearby, makes us realize how much we miss by not living closer to family members, in particular.

I wonder what strategies other parents use to overcome the lack of family in their nearby geographic community. Any suggestions or ideas to pass along to others?

Time Passages

I don't think I'm the only one that thinks that time passes by so quickly. It seems that a work week starts and before I know it, it is Friday already. Of course, the weekends pass by even faster! I remember back when I was in grad school that weekends didn't seem to go by so quickly. Was my life just less busy then? You wouldn't think so -- with all the reading, working on papers and research projects, hanging out with friends, thinking about life after graduate school, etc. Maybe it was just that I sensed more freedom with my time then. Now, with a family, my time seems more bounded. My toddler goes to bed around 8:00 PM; my husband has to be at work at 8:00 AM. We work together to get our daughter ready in the mornings, while at the same time trying to get ourselves ready for our days. And, time passes along. Sometimes I wonder where the time went; I also try to remember the memorable and not so memorable events that have transpired. Maybe this blog will help me to be more reflective of time and time passages.