Awards & Report Cards

OK, I realize that it has been a while since we last updated what has been going on with Emily and us. Stuff has been going on, in fact so much stuff that the amount of time to get pictures ready, not to mention getting the creative juices flowing, has been very limited. Now, I know that you are not here to listen to (or read) my excuses for not keeping these pages updated, so I suppose that I will just get started . . .

When last I left you Emily had just graduated from high school and was preparing to leave for college. It was a sad day to be sure, seeing your little girl grow up and leave home can be devastating, it seems like just yesterday she was just a baby, and here she is all grown up (*sniff, sniff*). Wait a minute, that is the blog I wrote for August/September of 2025, sorry let's get back on track. When last I left you, I was telling you about our glorious trip to Connecticut. Upon our return, the first thing we did was sleep; that's no joke, it was pretty late. Once we woke up, however, it was full speed ahead! I left for work bright and early in the morning and Christa & Emily, world beaters that they are, slept till noon. After a bottle and a bath, Christa woke up Emily to feed and bathe her, and they were ready to attack the day, but first, a quick nap (hey, they need their energy!). Once they were on the move, it was time to finalize the long process of locating a day care for Emily. Christa had spent quite a bit of time researching & calling day care facilities, and now it was time to start visiting them & making cuts.

We were all looking forward to Thursday, because we had BIG plans, plans that involved food, charities, big cities and naps. Thursday was the date for the March of Dimes WalkAmerica Thank You & Awards Breakfast (whew, that's a mouthful!). So bright and early on Thursday morning we all jumped in the car and headed off to Chicago, for the big breakfast. We stopped at the Des Plaines Oasis and picked up our good friend, and fellow walker, Michelle (aka, Chewski), as she was attending with us to represent Team Pink 'n Blue Make Two. We had a great time at the breakfast, which was quite good. The M.C. for the morning was a guy who does ring announcing for Boxing and also M.C.'s monster truck rallies. He was very funny, and even f0r the early hour, really got the crowd moving. There were a lot of people there, including the top individual fundraiser for the Chicago area. She raised over $16,000 dollars by herself. I have decided that I would like to beat that for next year, cuz let's face it, I can be a little competitive, so start saving now! Also in attendance was the 2007 Ambassador family. They played a little video of their story and then the mother got up a gave a quick speech, aided by her son, it was a real tearjerker. As a side note, they had those crazy "Thunder Sticks" on the tables and with what seemed like very little encouragement, Emily took great joy in bopping me on the head with them.

After the breakfast, Chewski left to catch a train to work and Christa, Emily & I drove over to finally take some pictures of the Comer Children's Hospital, as we finally had a pretty day. While we were over there we stopped into the Ronald McDonald House to drop off the pop tabs we had been collecting for them, and also just to visit and say hi to the really nice people who helped us while we were there. In talking to them we found out that the new house was nearing completion, so we drove over to take a look. The new house is really nice, at least from the outside, we didn't go in because they are still working. I think it will be a very nice "Home" for the families who need it.

Once we were done at, "the house that love built," (not to mention bricklayers, carpenters, drywallers, electricians, plumbers, roofers, etc...) it was time to head home and visit the finalists in the competition to be Emily's day care provider. Christa and Emily had narrowed it down to two during the week and they wanted me to see them to help make the final choice. Once we had the visits finished, we all sat down to discuss our options. Christa and I both liked the same one, but Emily had devised a third option, which she presented to us (with visual aides and everything) . . . Mommy stays home with Emily, which we all liked but at least two of us realized that it was not a viable solution. Once that decision was made we all took the rest of the day to have fun together.

So Saturday (not last Saturday of course but a Saturday weeks and weeks ago, August 4 to be exact) was Emily's last swimming lesson of the summer session. Emily was very excited, not because lessons were over, but because she had heard that the last day was a play day, and Emily likes to play. We arrived bright and early, and Auntie Mandy & Grandma Kathy also came because they like to watch Emily swim. The lesson started with us all going through the things we had all been learning since the first class, Emily of course was doing very well, but couldn't wait for the playing that she had heard about. After covering the fundamentals, our teacher broke out the toys and we all moved to the shallow end to play in all the water jets and fun stuff over there. We were having a great time when our teacher said that we could all go down the big slide that Emily had been looking at since our first lesson. Emily looked at me and said, "Daddy, we HAVE to go down the big slide," being the overindulgent father that I am, I agreed. So down the slide we went, Emily loved it. Once we had all gone down the slide our lesson was over and our teacher called us all over for our report cards. Emily was a little nervous, as she had not known that we were being graded, but she had nothing to worry about as she passed with flying colors. Her teacher even said how much she liked our little girl.

So there you have it, we are one more post closer to actually catching up to present day, and you have gotten an "Emily Fix." I did forget to mention that we got a small certificate (the Bronze level award) from the March of Dimes for raising over $1500 for their cause, something we are very proud of. Emily is very proud of her philanthropic efforts at such a young age, and is certain it will look very good on her college applications.

The Thursday morning crowd at the March of Dimes WalkAmerica Thank You Breakfast.

While we ate our breakfast, Emily munched on her bird. (yep, tastes like chicken)

Steve & Chewski

Emily was using one of the "Thunder Sticks" to beat up her Daddy. Don't worry, he deserved it!

Look out, Daddy! Whack, Whack!

Here we are as a family, although we seem to have a very sleepy baby!

After breakfast, we drove over to Comer Children's Hospital to snap a few pictures. (We finally had a day when we were downtown on a nice sunny day!)

We also went across the parking lot to the Ronald McDonald House. (Front View)

Ronald McDonald House (Rear View)

After visiting with the staff at the RMH, we drove over a few blocks to the location of the BRAND NEW Ronald McDonald House that they are still building. The plan is to move into the new place from the temporary location (where we stayed) in November. Isn't it beautiful!! We can't wait to see how it turns out.

Saturday brought the last day of swimming lessons. Emily & Daddy had a lot of fun . . .

. . . and so did the rest of the group.

Midway through lessons, they turned on the Adventure Island Park "toys" so that all the kids could have a play day to celebrate their hard work all summer. Emily liked the big towers of water, she had fun playing in them.

She was amazed by the big arch of water spouts.

The Grand Finale was a water slide ride!! In the pink circle, you can see Emily dragging Daddy up the stairs with much excitement. (The Infant Swimming class had all of their lessons in the water slide's landing area, so she was excited to see what the big red thing was all about.)

Here they are, next in line and waiting for their turn!!

Wow, Daddy, that was really fun! Can we do that again?