Some of what you've missed

The kids are on spring break this week.

And sadly, all of Joseph's friends are out of town, making for a somewhat quiet few days.

To remedy this situation, we're heading out tomorrow for an impromptu visit to Chicago. Three days of traipsing around our old neighborhood, of taking in some sights... Millennium Park, the Art Institute, the Lincoln Park Zoo. Oh yes, and eating awesome Thai food, maybe some sushi.

It's gonna be great.

Now, while I'm here... I realize my posting has fallen way the heck off. And I'm sorry.

Really.

I can't make any promises, but if you're still out there reading, I will try to post more often.

In the meantime, a few short updates:

The shoulder is better -- much better. Not a hundred percent, but I made about 20 "backboard shots" playing one-on-one with Joseph on our driveway yesterday.

So, yeah.

The job has been crazy, but still pretty great.

Parenting a teenager has been a learning experience for us all. Sometimes it feels like I'm parenting two teenagers, Evan is just that savvy.

And then there's the diabetes.

Still there, still throwing us curves every once in a while. But (thankfully) nothing like it did this past fall.

Joseph continues to take ownership of more and more of his diabetes management. Last night, for example, when he finished eating a big plate of pesto pasta, he got up and cleared his plate while Ryan, Evan and I were all still eating. I turned to remind him to bolus, but before the words got out of my mouth, I saw him leaning over the kitchen counter, diabetes supplies laid out in front of him.

"What are you doing, Bud?"

"Oh, it's a set change day... I'm just gonna put in a new set before I bolus."

"Good thinking, Bud-- nice job."

"Mom, I'm getting pretty good at this stuff, you know."

"Yes, you are," I said. "And I'm getting pretty good at sitting on my hands."

At that, his head came right up-- and then, flashing me that wonderful grin of his:

"Yes-- yes, you are."

To fill in still more gaps, I thought I'd share some images/a bit of video footage from this fall and winter -- for example, giving you all a glimpse of what the kids wore on Halloween, a peek at some night sledding on this year's backyard hill, my fabulous makeover... and really, just how much the kids have grown over the last six months.

Enjoy!