Wayne and Rebecca Madsen

It's official. Star has feline diabetes. Lots to learn. There are some helpful online communities that have given advice and start-up supplies, so we'll try this out and see how bad treatment will be. Our biggest worry still is the time commitment -- what do we do when we need to go on vacation if she needs insulin twice a day?

We had a fun Memorial day at Camilla and Victor's. Paela loves going to their house. Aderyn found some dolls and stuffed animals to carry around. And Paela practiced the wii -- with it downstairs she doesn't play with it much at home!

We took advantage of Wayne's summer schedule and my part-time status to go visit a local indoor playground one rainy morning. It smells just like I remember those kinds of places smelling. Like feet and plastic. But the girls liked it.  read more »

Paela graduated to a big kid bed this week. She has been struggling for weeks now with her toddler bed being too small for her body (as well as all the stuffed animals and additional things she takes with her to bed). So we promised her a big kid (twin size) bed and we got her one. At least, a mattress. We're still working on the rest of the bed.   read more »

One professor I admire confided in me that at the beginning of the semester he already knows who will be the A-grade students and who will be the C-grade students. We discussed this paradigm and at the time, I felt this to be an unfair prejudice towards incoming students. After some time teaching I have decided it is a horrible assumption to have, and yet it still rings (mostly) true semester after semester. Perhaps the reason why I keep seeing this behavior prediction come true is because my courses are very cumulative in structure. Therefore, if a student begins to fall behind early in the semester because -- for whatever reason -- they aren't completing assignments, then I always see these students not catch up by the end of the semester. There are many broken promises on their parts of made-up work and failed 'last minute' attempts. I believe that I'd like to try a different approach to learning which doesn't depend so much on consecutive and consequential units.  read more »

Wayne and the girls tagged along on a few adventures with Camilla this week. The science museum on Monday, the water show at Jordan's another day, and the park on Saturday. Cameron and Camilla came to play Thursday while Wayne was teaching class too. Paela has enjoyed running around with her cousin so much. And Aderyn has enjoyed tagging along.  read more »

I still haven't caught up on my email inbox.

Things here have been busy, although not exactly taking care of highest priority events. Because the weather has turned suddenly warm, we took advantage of that fact to get the girls out of the house as much as we could. They both enjoyed the Drumlin farm on multiple occasions -- since we decided to get a membership this year -- and were lucky enough to get to see one day old pigs. Although both girls preferred the baby goats and lambs, but it was a good and tiring adventure for both.  read more »

Happy Easter! Camilla and Victor and Cameron came to Church with us and then hung out for dinner and running around time. It was a great day. Paela especially loved having them over. She was concerned as we were driving home from Church, wanting to make sure they were still behind us. And never mind that Aderyn wanted to hold Paela's hand for ring around the rosy -- Paela was busy trying to sandwich herself between Cameron and Camilla!

We looked briefly at the furniture store, trying to visualize Paela in a twin-sized bed, but her legs are just a touch too short to make it comfortable for her to climb on. So we shall return to trying to convince some of her stuffed animals to "sleep in the box with the others" to minimize the bed crowding. Both girls loved running around the store though. Plus, it was the store that has a huge colorful water show and little cars we could use as strollers. Fun times.  read more »

I didn't keep a very good calendar this week. And my memory in the past year or so has gone down the tubes, but I'll give it a shot.

We went to celebrate Cameron's birthday at Camilla and Victor's last night. We all had fun, and Cameron was a happy birthday boy. Cake, bubbles, balloons, new toys...what's not to love about birthdays? Although Aderyn thought I was leaving at one point when I went to the other room. She has quite the lungs. And is not afraid to use them.  read more »

We got the plague again. Well, Aderyn and I did. The rest of them are healthy enough, so far. I suppose I got less sick than everyone else the other times, so maybe it was my due comeuppance. We are tired of stomach bugs in our house, though.  read more »