"Leka Lanterns"

This is a video from Aug, 9. 2011, Hannah's late friend, Mileka's 10th birthday. Well over 100 people were in attendence for a get together to remember Mileka on her birthday in Silver Lake. Later that night, lanterns were released, and it was a magical, amazing thing to watch Hannah and Mileka's friends release their lantern for Mileka into the night sky.

and she says she doesn't like it

Hannah signed up to play softball this summer. She was excited about it at first and I was glad she wanted to try something she hasn't tried yet. She has tried hockey, basketball, gymnastics, swimming, and dance. So far dance is all she has liked. So now we can add softball to the list of things she doesn't care for. She is good at hitting, is a fast runner, doesn't have a clue in the field or how the game is actually played, and can catch about 50% of balls hit to her. She had about 50% fun-- ha ha.

Here are some pictures that Uncle Jose took with his phone the night he came to watch her. She enjoys it more when people are watching her, I think.

Hannah hitting

Playing 3rd base

Hannah has the ball, but don't think she knows what to do with it

Hannah's team ( minus 2-3 that were missing that day)

So now she has a new love-- it's something she has tried before, and it has resurfaced as something she enjoys. Hint-- it goes along really well with dance.

another summer almost past

I can't believe summer is in it's last month only a month until school begins again. I love summer and don't really want it to end.

However August brings all those yucky bugs, bees & wasps which I could do without.  School shopping begins, State Fair to attend, garage sale to set up, and Hannah's birthday to prepare for among every day life that keeps going on.

May was a sad month and tough to get through the last weeks of school after Hannah's friends death. It was, and still is constant thoughts of her and her family. Hannah had a tough time adjusting, and tried to focus her thoughts with her current friendships and make the most of the time she has with them. Her friends mean the world to her.
Hannah had a rough patch with her diabetes at this time, where she had consistantly low blood sugars.  Occassional lows are expected, but every test was her staying very low and it was a bit scary.  Lows are not too common with her, as we are always combatting the highs that come with being diabetic, but somehow her body was telling us no matter what dose of insulin we gave, it wasn't what she needed.  The low blood sugars are always more concerning that the high ones,  more risk of her loosing consciousness, and ending up in a coma. Not something I ever want to deal with.   We lowered her doses to about half of what she normally got and by the time we got that to work, things were starting to go back up, and we had to readjust again. The life of diabetes. Things since then have been pretty good regarding the lows. So glad we don't see them too often, because lows really kick her butt and she hates how that feels compared to the highs.

Mid May is when we headed to WI for the JDRF's Walk to Cure Diabetes, Northeast WI chapter in Neenah's Riverside Park area. It was a 5K walk through the streets of Neenah. There were over 2000 people in attendance. Another moving experience in the life of type 1 kids and their families. Team Hannah's Hopeful Hearts met our goal for this walk and raised over $500. We had a good time and plan to do it again next year. Some day there will be a cure, until then we will continue to raise money and walk for that cure.

Later that night we attended church, which included Landon's baptism. Steve and I were sponsers, along with Wil's bro, Joe. Steve unfortunately wasn't able to make it literally at the very last moment for this entire weekend, before leaving we found out we really didn't have the money to travel and he needed to work to make ends meet. I barrowed money from my parents so I could at least be there, for the baptism and the Walk because the thought of not going just about killed me.

Memorial weekend marked 10 years since we signed the papers to purchase our house in Dassel. When we purchased this house 10 years ago, we never thought in a million years we would still be here. Now it looks as though we will never leave, not by choice. HA!!

June was a fun month....kids completed grades 7 and 3 with flying colors. Bailey pulled it all together in the end and had a great report card all A's and B's and one C+. He struggles with focus during the school year and puts other things priority over school work and excelling in school, but he tries hard and I am amazed at how little work he puts into it and still does well. As a parent, however, I want him to do his best, so he needs to work on that aspect. Hannah excells in everything she does. Her math and reading skills are top notch and she still loves school. The teachers and staff at Dassel Elem. are the best and make it a fun place to learn and grow.

Summer always starts out with baseball for Bailey, which keeps him and us busy. This summer was the first summer he travelled to play other teams and he was part of an all 7th grade DC team. He played teams from Maple Lake, Annandale, Delano, Howard Lake, and Buffalo. He even got to play againest his cousin, Bryer, vs. Delano for the first time. Fun games. They had a very good season ending 10-4, and got to play in a tournament in Hutchinson. They won only one of their games there and their season ended pretty quickly. Bailey got to do alot of pitching this summer, and he practiced alot in the backyard and seems to like it.
Besides Bailey playing on a team, he spends alot of his summer days with friends at the field just playing for fun. We live about 2-3 blocks from the "Dassel Saints" field, or they go to Spring Lake field, which there is now a nice bike path to get there, and it only takes about 10 min to get there. If he is not playing baseball, he is watching it, and spent his nights out at the Saints games in town hanging out, or heading to Spring Lake to watch the 5-6th grade teams play their games. On some days he spent time at the DEC ( Dassel Entertainment Center) and does the batting cages, which crabby Frank needs to fix, Bailey says. They would order pizza and fries and waste a few hours hanging out there.
Bailey even won 4 passes at one of the Saints games to each of these Mall of America attractions, Nickelodeon Universe, Moose Mtn mini golf, Sky deck bowling, and House of Comedy...he wants to take 3 friends and go use them before summer is over.

We had a family reunion weekend in Wisc. in mid June, which our family packed up and headed out for. It was held at Bay Beach in Green Bay, hosted by my cousin Amy and her boyfriend Anthony. Bay Beach is a childhood memory, an small amusement park with 25 cent ride tickets. Back in the day I believe it was only 10 cents a ticket. They have improved rides, added rides and still have the same ole classics, along with a wooden rollercoaster, new this year. My kids are not much into rides so that didn't go over so well, but we had a good time visiting with family, some we only get to see once a year.

Here is us with Bay Beach behind us.

at the Wildlife Sanctuary across from Bay Beach
.

My family ( minus my cousin Jessica and her husband Bryan-- they had a wedding to attend that day, and my cousin Brad and his gf Megan, who couldn't be found in time for the pic, they were in Bay Beach)

The kids and I, then went back to WI a week later for 10 whole days. I do not believe that I have spent that many days in a row there since I lived in WI. It was a long time, but so fun. Why did I spend so many days in WI?? Well, first off Bailey had the Green Bay Gamblers hockey camp to attend. He had fun, it was a lot of work and I hope he learned a thing or two.

My parents, Lisa, Landon, Hannah and I went to watch Bailey the first morning of camp for a few hours, then took Hannah to the mall to waste the rest of the afternoon until Bailey was done at 3pm. We all went to the zoo the 2nd day.

We watched Bailey longer on the 3rd day, and made another trip to the mall and other stores, and finally the last and 4th day, mom, Hannah and I went to the Wildlife Sanctuary and Hannah loved that.

After hockey camp was over, it was the weekend and I got to go out to dinner with my friend of over 30 yrs, Renee, whom I haven't been able to sit down and talk to in quite some time. I also got to babysit Landon on Sat. night while Lisa and Wil went to a wedding.

Babysitting Landon (2 months old)

One of the reasons I stayed longer and didn't head home right after hockey camp was that my sister was still off of work for maternity leave, and I got to spend LOTS of time with her and Landon. Landon had grown just that little bit more since I saw him for that short weekend for the family reunion he was more alert and lots of smiles. He was a very good boy for me while I babysat and I was so glad I was able to do that and spend that time with him. Hannah came with for awhile right away and helped feed him and play with him. Mom and dad came over with Papa Murphy's pizza for supper and then Hannah went back with them so she could get to bed.

The 4th of July was just a few days away so we stayed until after the holiday. We spent Sunday in Oshkosh, had a wonderful lunch at Fratellos by the river. It was a warm day, but nice to be outside. We then headed to Sawdust Days in Oshkosh, where other years they alway had tigers on display, and always a baby tiger to get a picture with. Lisa and Wil had done this several times in past years, and the kids and I saw them the summer of 2007, I believe. Well we knew that they weren't there last year, I guess there was a issue with the tigers or getting them to the festival....so we weren't sure about this year. We decided to go and see and we were dissapointed to find out....no tigers this year either. We headed back :( We went to see grandma and grandpa in their new apartment later and had a nice visit with them and enjoyed seeing them.

Monday was the 4th, and we planned a picnic lunch in the park, there were blow up kids play sets that Hannah got to go on for free, until they started taking tickets for them, that we weren't sure were needed at first, since no one was taking them. oops :0

We watched the Wisconsin Singers from UW Madison for a bit and then headed over to the river for the water ski show. That was fun to watch, one boat had three 200 hp motors on it. FAST!!

It was another hot day, so staying in the shade was required. We had to save our spot for the waterski show and for the fireworks later that night, already at 8am!! My parents went down to the park early that morning to get our spots saved. Everyone lays out blankets and tarps, so if you don't save a spot you have a hard time seeing things. We went home for the rest of the afternoon after the water ski show and came back for the fireworks later. They were set to music this year so that was neat. It was a nice night.

We spent Tuesday packing up and went to see the movie Cars 2.

It was a long, busy 10 days, and the kids were really getting on each others nerves, more than usual, since they were stuck together most of the time.
It was good to get home, even though I spent 6 hours of driving to get home and 6 hours of cleaning the house after I got home, since Steve is not a very good at keeping up on the household duties. We had a big storm while I was gone, on July 1st, that brought down a big limb onto the south side of our garage. Steve had his hands full cutting up all that wood and cleaning up the yard. The storm also put a big hole in our pool from hail and it brought it to the end of it's exsistence.  We have an insurance claim put in, but are still waiting on the adjuster to come out and look at the damage. There was a mix up on the day he was supposed to come, and now we have to just reschedule.

July continued on to bring us more baseball for Bailey, Hannah was in softball, and lots of HOT days well into the 100's for a heat index. It was pretty miserable with only 2 AC window units trying to keep this old house cool. At least we had that though, without any air, we would have surely withered. Since Bailey has the upstairs unit in his room he was good to go, but there were several nights the rest of us slept downstairs, since our rooms were so hot.

We are in August already and the summer has flown by. My weight loss regamin has kept me busy, It's been tough 7 months, but my struggles have paid off and I have lost 50 lbs.  I have a very strict plan and some added support, both of which I really needed,  so I am really doing it this time.   Stay tuned and I will write more on all of that soon.

Mileka smiles in the arms of Jesus

I tend to post the facts, details, the happenings, the honest truth. That's just me. I am however, a very emotional person, and things tend to get to me right down to my core at times. It can be the simplest of things, or it can be the most difficult things. My faith has gotton me through life thus far and keeping God the center of my life is always a comfort to me and will guide me through everything life throws my way. Recently I was struck right in the center of my heart with the news of Hannah's friend and her unexpected death.

It was an accident, a four wheeler accident. A 9 year old girl died. She was Hannah's friend and a friend to many, loved by many. Her name is Mileka.

You may have heard her name here and there when we talked about Hannah's friends. Hannah met her in Kindergarten, Mrs Allen's class. It didn't take long before these two girls clicked. Hannah was on the quiet side and Mileka at first was too. They laughed and giggled alot together, they made each other smile, learning what a friendship is. I remember the day Hannah came home and told me she made a friend, her name was Mileka. I had never heard that name before. Hannah said she has a Hawaiian name. Her mom is from Hawaii. Soon after, I found out Mileka's mom, JoAnna, is a first grade teacher at Dassel Elementary. Those were just the beginnings of a new found friendship.

The news of Mileka's death reached me on Sunday May 8th, 2011, of all days Mother's Day. After church I came home with Bailey, and Steve and Hannah went with Grandma Nancy to go get her camper out of storage in Grove City.

I finished eating my lunch and went on Facebook. I saw a status posted online I will never forget. It was a status from JoAnna. I initally saw Mileka's picture as her profile picture and then my eyes went to some recent posts from friends saying about how sorry to hear about the accident, I kept scrolling, WHAT HAPPENED!??! Who got hurt?? I said those words out loud and that got Bailey's attention. He came over to the computer, as I kept scrolling down, further on her Facebook page and came to her post that they lost their dear sweet Mileka last night due to injuries from a ATV accident. OMG!! NO NOT MILEKA, I screamed.
I remember that feeling like it was yesterday. The pure disbelief, the shock, the sick feeling in my stomach, the tears, the thoughts of why? I just couldn't grasp the facts. I read all the comments from friends and family and just couldn't control any emotions, I felt sick. Hannah's dear sweet friend that was always there for her and made her smile and laugh, her dance buddy...they had such a promising future together, so many plans for the future. She is now gone and all the memories forever in our minds.

Hannah and I had just talked a few weeks before, about how since Mileka wasn't in her classroom this year, dance was the most time they spent together, that we would have to make a it a point to get the girls together to just play, more often this summer.

It was a tough discovery when Hannah found out last summer that Mileka was going to be in a different classroom to begin 3rd grade, they've always been together. Dance would be their thing together though, and we were glad for that. Hannah wanted to start dance so bad with Mileka and couldn't hardly wait for the fall. They had a wonderful dance year together and I'm so glad that because of Mileka, Hannah discovered her love of dance with Just for Kix. Without hesitation, Hannah has stated she will continue to dance because Mileka would want her to. I will always see Mileka beside Hannah when I see her dance.

I had the tough job of telling Hannah about her friend when she got back home with daddy and grandma. I was a crying mess, still in shock. When I told her, she cried and I believe said the word "no", in her softest voice. It was heartbreaking. We sat on the couch a just hugged for about an hour. I said some things to her.....I told her Mileka was in a accident on a four wheeler and wasn't wearing a helmet, she hit her head and it caused her to die, BUT she is with Jesus in heaven, which is the best place ever. We will see Mileka again some day when we go to heaven. She is happy and in no pain and she would want you to be happy too. Remember all the good times you both had and never forget her. We will miss her and be sad, and that's ok.

I remember a piece of advice JoAnna had for our family when Steve lost his dad, and the kids their grandpa...."never forget the memories and always keep his memory alive by taking about him often".....we try to keep grandpa's memory alive and will do the same for Mileka.

The next week was the toughest, going back to school on Monday, the memories, the loss, the sadness. Dassel Elementary had counselours and pastors there to help when needed. They kept up with the daily routine and everything went smoothly. The kids made projects remembering their friend and classmate. They all wore bright pink ribbons for Mileka, her favorite color. Her classroom is painting a chair in her memory-- zebra print and pink, that will stay as a reminder in the classroom of her personality...always smiling, always happy, always bright.

On Thursday that week was the funeral in Silver Lake. They lived in Silver Lake, but since Mileka's mom was a teacher at Dassel, that is where Mileka travelled to school each morning with her mom. We went to the funeral home early for a visitation and we were able to give the family some visable support. I gave JoAnna the biggest hug ever. I will never forget that moment. Her daughter was laying in a small pink casket behind us, and the flowers were abundant. We cried and no words were needed. We felt the support and emotion of the day. We walked up to see Mileka and it was pretty overwhelming. The soft hawaiian music in the backround, the smell of flowers, and the little girl whose life was taken too soon. She didn't look much like herself, which was the hardest to see, but she had a very beautiful life with many that adored her. She was even wearing "silly bands" and that brought a smile to my heart. (ie: silly bands are rubber bracelets that are popular with the kids that are shaped in different shapes/characters, but when worn on the wrist just look like a squiggly bracelet).

The funeral service was very touching and brought comfort and reassurance. After the service it was raining, raining tears, I suppose. Coming out of church Hannah got a big hug from her 2nd grade teacher, Mrs Ganser, in which both her and Mileka were in her classroom. It was comforting to see.
We didn't stay for the burial, mostly cause of the rain, and Hannah had to use the bathroom and her blood sugar (unknowingly at the time) was in the 400's. We forgot to bolus for breakfast during the prepartions for the funeral,so when she tested we were a little shocked and glad we came home.

I found out they let a bunch of balloons go into the sky at the cemetary. They were bright pink, light pink and black and it was told that only the bright pink ones floated up high and disappeared..... those were the ones Mileka wanted.

Life goes on. JoAnna and Kyle and 2 older sisters (Brianna and Ashley) misses their "Leka Lu" so bad, we all do. A parents pain in this situation must be almost unbearable....but JoAnna has shown much strength. She has a very strong faith, and also believes Mileka is keeping her strong and would want her to be strong. She is back at school teaching those little 1st graders and finishing out the year, and gaining strength from her Dassel family...it doesn't get easier though.

Hannah has been doing well and even though she had a tough few weeks internally with porcessing her feelings and managing her diabetes, externally she has been happy and enjoying life with her friends. I think she treasures each one a little more than before. Her friends mean the world to her.


2nd grade field trip to the MN Zoo (age 8 1/2)
Hannah is way in the back and Mileka is the one one the left in front.


Hannah and Mileka climbing to the top of the tree house


Hannah and Mileka watching the seals


group picture at the Zoo


1st grade field trip to the Children's Museum ( age 7 1/2)




Hannah went to Lake Stella with Mileka's family the summer of 2009-- (age 7 1/2)




Como Zoo-- Kdg. field trip (age 6 1/2)



Hannah's 7th birthday swimming party


Hannah's 8th Birthday party


Hannah's 9th Birthday party