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Cleared Up

Well the problem at school has been resolved, finally. After several times of Ericka being called into the principle's office they were able to figure it out. The other little girl admitted that she had lied about a few things because she was angry. The girls talked it out and are now getting along better. Ericka learned a few lessons about social games. She learned the hard way that adults don't always make the right decisions either. She talked to the school counselor about the principle humiliating her by coming in the class before he even knew for sure she was guilty. Either way it's cleared up and hopefully it stays that way.
She is happier with that out of the way and has some good things that have happened over the last few days. She got an A on her math test which is awesome since this subject seems to have been giving her some problems. Between her teacher and her dad helping her she has figured it out. She also found out that she won the poetry contest. So she gets to have another piece of her work published. They also just tested her for the TAG program so we should find out if she qualifies soon. I hope that if she doesn't make it that it doesn't crush her. We have explained that it's extremely hard to get into and that if she doesn't it's okay.
Anyways, we will have a very busy weekend coming up. We have our first meet of the season in Auburn and Ericka has been practicing hard. She will be racing in almost all the events she can.

She is doing Novice Elementary Girls (for kids who haven't placed at Nationals) 300 m &
500 m

Standard Elementary Girls 300m 500m and 700m
Elementary 2 mixed relay and Elementary 2 Girl relay
Freshman 4 mixed relay
Last man out race ( every lap the last person has to leave the floor until top 3 or 4 people are left)
Dash for Cash
She will be having heats in each distance. So if she makes it to finals she is going to be one tired girl. They are expecting almost 300 skaters. Wish her luck!!!!

Christmas Break & A Mean Girl

Ericka had fun during her Christmas break, she spent most of the time at home relaxing or at the rink. We went down to the Tri-Cities to visit family. We weren't able to see everyone we wanted to but they were working so we will see them next time. We went over and visited Troy's brother Mark and got to play with cousin Mathew. She had a good time reading to him and chasing him around the house hearing him giggle. She got grandma Cindy hooked on the Wii and they played some pool, which Ericka figured out really fast. She was happy with all her presents and has been reading her new books she got.
She was ready to go back to school since home gets boring after a few days. Now, only after a couple days back we are dealing with problems with another kid in her class. She has a girl in her class who has decided to bully Ericka but goes home and tells her parents that Ericka is being cruel and verbally abusive to her. I got a call from her mother telling me that if it doesn't stop she is going to the Principle and has already talked to the teacher. Ericka's teacher never called or told me anything so I assume she probably knows that it isn't Ericka causing the problem, this made the other mother mad and feels she isn't being heard etc. This girl and Ericka were friends at the beginning of the year but she got mad at Ericka because she says Ericka stole her job helping the autistic boy in the class. The boy responds better to Ericka and she gets him to talk more so the teacher has her working with him instead. When Ericka won the essay things got worse because this girl wasn't allowed to enter the essay contest because she didn't turn hers in on time. This girl is almost 12 and towers over Ericka but somehow her mother thinks Ericka is bold enough to take her on. Ericka can be opinionated and bull headed but she has never gone out of her way to be nasty. This girl has been given her own cell phone which she has been using to call ours and prank call. We took her skating a couple of weeks ago because Ericka thought that she would give the girl another chance but it didn't work. She has threatened to punch Ericka and Nathan both and just got caught throwing things at Ericka during class the other day. She sits two desks away from her and will whisper taunts trying to get Ericka in trouble. She teased her so bad yesterday that Ericka ended up in the school bathroom crying. I wrote the teacher a letter and we are going to the school today to talk to her and the counselor. I knew she was having some trouble with this girl but figured it was just typical girl games but unfortunately things have gotten out of hand. I think it stems from the girls being competitive and it is starting to affect Ericka's school work too. I talked to the teacher and she even said she noticed that she isn't volunteering as much and has purposefully messed up just so she doesn't look smart etc. We both agreed that things need to be dealt with immediately especially now that the girl is also picking on Nate too. This girl has threatened several times that she will get Ericka in trouble so that she won't get into the gifted program. I am hoping that the school does what they need to in order to get this over with quickly. I just don't want to get anymore dang phone calls from her mother, like they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Christmas Funnies

Thought I would add some pictures we took tonight. Ericka wanted to be silly and as you can see it wasn't hard for her. There isn't much going on in Ericka land right now. She is still doing good in school and skating. She is excited for Christmas and loving the fact that she will be out of school for two weeks, she likes school but a break now and then is nice. I'm sure she will want to bake cookies and fill up on sweets as usual. We will be snuggling up watching all those good Christmas movies and chugging down the hot chocolate and cider.

Conferences

Ericka's conference was today and she is doing good. She is on the honor roll and got a certificate for perfect attendance. She will be tested for the Highly Capable program after the Christmas break. They don't do an actual IQ test but they do several different tests to see how they perceive written language, how they comprehend difficult social concepts and a bunch of other things. I'm really curious to see how she does. Her teacher, like most of the others say she has one heck of a stubborn streak and likes to do things "her way". NO... REALLY? Like I haven't figured that out by now. She's definitely opinionated and no one is spared, she tells it how it is and oh well if you disagree, she reminds me of her father. Her teacher gets a kick out of her and says that Ericka makes her work harder but in a good way. They have a person who comes in and "coaches" Ericka on how to work on more difficult types of assignments. Like Nate, if she isn't busy she just gets in a funk so they are doing what they can to keep her busy and motivated to keep improving. So far it seems like this is probably the best school she has been in. It's too bad that she only has this year left before going to middle school. Now that will be a trip!

Thanksgiving, A Trip To Seattle etc

Ericka had a busy holiday weekend. We went to Grandma Cindy's for Thanksgiving and celebrated with GIGI and Grandpa Bob too. The kids helped peel potatoes and Ericka helped set the table, so she did her part. We ate some good food and just hung out watching football. We woke up Friday and headed off to Seattle for our marathon. We spent some of Friday visiting with our friends in Fedaral Way. Ericka got to play with her friend K and enjoyed seeing her new house. On Saturday we ran in the marathon and Ericka ran pretty much the whole mile. She got stuck behind some slower people but we didn't want her more than arms distance, considering the crowd. She said the marathon was fun but thinks it was a one time kind of thing, she says she'll stick with skating meets instead. I think I agree with her. After the marathon we took the kids to the Pacific Science Center. Ericka had a lot of fun looking at all the dinosaur fossils and space exhibits. She had a good time but we were all ready to get on the road and go home. We got back to Grandma's last night and stayed another night, then drove home this morning for practice. Ericka hadn't been out on the floor two minutes and fell. One of the other kids skated by and accidently clicked her skate so she went down. She is fine but her knee is a bit sore. She is tired and was really cranky so we didn't end up staying for session today, she came home and was out cold within minutes. She got up just long enough to eat some dinner and was back in bed. We have conferences this week so we will find out when she will be getting tested for the gifted program.

OUR YOUNG AUTHOR

Just a quick update, we are pretty busy right now. I will have to write more later but had to let everyone know that Ericka won the essay contest for our region. She had to write about a non-fiction topic with 250 words or less. She chose to write about what it's like to have a brother with Aspergers. She is happy, she worked very hard on this. They announced it over the school intercom, she had her picture taken with her principle, and will be in her school paper and maybe the local paper too (The Spokane Review). This is her first essay she has written and she says she is going to keep writing. She will now be entering a poetry contest with the help of her teachers. I will try and figure out how to post her essay so you can read it, but it might be awhile, be patient!

ERICKA'S VIDEO AT REGIONALS ELEMENTARY 2 MIX RELAY

One of our team people video taped this for us. The first video is of Ericka's relay heat. She is the one with the white helmet cover that is in 3rd during the heat. Top 3 qualify for the Final. The second is of the Final where they placed 5th(top 4 qualify for Nationals). There were 11 relay teams to start with and 6 made it to the final race. The video stops right before J crosses the finish. Considering half of the kids were a year or more older than her she did really well. She was 9 and her relay partner was 12, so that gives you the age range for this event. I will have to get some new video of her now, she's gotten a lot faster since then!!!!!

ERICKA AT PATTISON'S HALLOWEEN PARTY

Ericka as BatGirl (top hat belonged to a friend, but she liked it so much she kept taking it from him). Playing a game of Limbo

She had a lot of fun hanging out with her friends at the party. They played games and just goofed around. There were a couple of other kids from the team who came dressed up too. There was quite a crowd so we got to see a lot of fun costumes. One kid came dressed up as an outhouse. It was funny to watch the kid try to skate, we got a good laugh.

SOME FUN STUFF

We added some of Ericka's best skating photos, so enjoy. Some of you may have already seen some of them but we did add a few new ones too. Once the meets start we will add more as they come. We added some of Ericka's favorite songs too. You will have to click the play icon twice, It's fun to look at the pictures as the music is playing. Ericka thinks it's cool to watch if a fast song comes on. We are trying to figure out how to add video so you can actually see her skate.

School Pictures Are Here

Here is Ericka's 5th grade picture. She was happy that they had a purple background, it's her favorite color. They turned out good this year, thank God!

(we added Ericka's Regional Picture, you have to go to the older post link on the bottom)

National Championship Photos

We finally got Ericka's Nationals picture. She was disappointed that she didn't place but she tried. It was a tough group of girls and most were twice her size but she did what she could to keep up. She is doing whatever it takes to make it again. She got a taste and now she is going all out and working twice as hard. It was an eye opener for her and now she knows what she has to do to have a better chance this season.

We thought we would also add some action shots of her too for those who haven't seen them.

September Update

School has started as well as skate season so we are really busy. School is going great so far for Ericka. She likes her new school and really likes her teacher. She is getting straight A's and will be tested soon for the gifted program. We won't know until after the Christmas break if she qualifies. If she does she will still be in her classroom but just have harder work. She will also have other opportunities to be around other kids like her through special clubs. She scored really high on her state tests which helped the school get the process started. Her teacher had her enter an essay contest and she just turned it in. She wrote it on what it's like to have a brother with Aspergers. She read it to her class and they all clapped and cheered for her. She was happy to help "educate" her peers. The teacher sends home progress reports every Friday and wrote that she is having a hard time keeping Ericka busy. She has a boy in her class with autism so she has been helping him a lot. I guess she is one of the only kids he will respond to, which makes her feel special. She was also asked to be a conflict manager. They are kids who try and help other kids get along and try to help kids who are bullied. I don't want to sound like I'm bragging but this kid has done a lot lately that has made us very proud.

As I said before, skating season has also started and she is doing really well. Shaun has her skating with all the adults and teenagers and she is keeping up. She wants to go back to Nationals so she is working very hard. Shaun has to remind her a lot to slow down during pace line, she can't stand skating slow. She sometimes goes to beginners speed class and helps Shaun by showing how to do the drills. Her first meet isn't until the end of January so she has time to get ready. She will be moving up to Elementary divison (10/11yrs) this season. Elementary is the first division where they can skate novice and or elite. Since she has never placed at Nationals she qualifies for novice but wants to skate elite too. We will see how she does and go from there.
We finally found out what was going on with her ankle. They say she has a fibroma of the leg muscle. She had MRSA in her leg and they think that it caused the tumor. It is just being watched for now. The doctors don't want to mess with it unless it gets bigger or starts affecting the bone. It's a benign tumor so other than being an irritation there isn't much to worry about for now. They say she can skate as long as she can deal with it. Her leg gets sore after practice but we have figured out ways to help it not hurt so much.

She is just happy they said she could skate. She has also been really busy reading, which she does all the time. She's just a really busy kid who seems to be pretty happy.

Celebrating My 10th Birthday

Ericka celebrated her 10th birthday at her Nana's house. She was able to spend some fun time with family, friends and even a favorite teacher. The kids had a soduku competition, played bingo and rolled down Nana's big hill out back. She had a great time and even got a ride in grandpa's viper. Uncle Mark made some really tasty hamburgers, he makes the best! She had a great time and says Thank You to everyone for her gifts.

AUGUST UPDATE/1ST DAY OF 5th GRADE

I know it's been awhile since I last wrote. We have been very busy with getting ready for school and just trying to enjoy the rest of summer.
We are still waiting to see what is wrong with Ericka's leg. We took her in to see a ortho and he referred us to an ortho surgeon. The ortho surgeon wanted to get a tumor specialists opinion. We take her back in this Thursday to find out more. It is very frustrating having to shuttle her to each doctor just to have them say " see us in two weeks, blah blah blah". She is getting pretty irritated herself. She won't ride her bike or run. She can skate but it's painful and she gets mad and cries. She is really worried she might not be able to start the new season at the end of this month. She wants to skate more than anything.
Our friend Shaun is forming a new team up here in Spokane and has invited her to join. He is the original coach from Federal Way who got her started 3 years ago. His uncle owned the rink here in town. Shaun moved here last year and bought it. He is now settled enough that he is comfortable starting a team. She will miss skating for CDA and coach Joe but it's just so far to drive. Shaun's rink is only 20 minutes away. This will be her first year that she will actually go to ALL the practices. The first year we drove up once a week for practice. This last season she was only able to make half the practices (yet still made it to Nationals YIPPEE). She is really excited and is hoping things with her leg clear up soon.


She turned 10 Sunday and I can't believe it! She has grown so much the last few months. She is still short but I keep having to buy bigger clothes. She will be taller than me soon, no surprise. We just hung out with some good friends, ordered pizza and let her open a couple of presents. Her big birthday party is this coming Saturday. We are driving down to Kennewick and having it at Nana's house. She can't wait and is hoping to see a couple of friends from Hawthorne.


Today was her first day of 5th grade. She was nervous this morning but seemed to get over it quickly. Her teacher is only in her second year of teaching so she's younger than any other teacher she has had so far. Her name is Mrs Jamison. Ericka says that Sunset is much better than Betz and is glad she is going there now. She is happy she doesn't have to ride the bus this year. I have to say I am too, she was getting an "education" that I didn't care much for ( she rode with high school kids). She says she met several other girls and has already made some new friends. Other than getting lost at the beginning of the day she says her first day was fun.

Summer Full Of Fun

We have many things to update here so it will be long.
First off we had a great 4th of July. We skated in the parade down in Coeur d'Alene with the team. It was fun but our feet were really sore by the end. The kids had fun showing off. Ericka then got to spend the rest of her day at Riverfront Park in downtown Spokane. We walked around and looked at all the booths. She went on all the rides and then we just sat around waiting for the fireworks. It was a really good show but still not as neat as the Ft Lewis shows. We miss the military party, they know how to have fun. Civilians just don't quite have the same kind of patriotism as the military folk, for obvious reasons. When we got home we had some fireworks of our own to set off. The city of Airway Heights still allows some fireworks, so the kids were really excited to set some off. Ericka has never been able to because they are outlawed everywhere we have lived. I think her favorite were the sparklers. We sat for a while and watched all the neighbors set off theirs.
A few days after that we went to Troy's brother Doug's wedding. Ericka had an excuse to dress up and look pretty. They had it down in Columbia Park. It was really hot but she had fun getting to see her cousins.

Then the fun really started, we were on our way to Nationals. We started in Washington, went through Idaho and into Montana. The next day we went from Montana to Wyoming then through South Dakota into Nebraska, but our hotel was in Iowa. Ericka went through 7 states in two days so she picked up a few souveniers from each state. She was a great traveler. We drove with the coach, his wife and one of their daughters, Chelsea. The girls sat in the back and watched movies and played games. We got there late Friday night (13th) and drove by the stadium. The next day we went to Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. That place is big and has to be the best zoo we have ever seen. I guess it is considered one of the best in the world. We got some good pictures of the animals. The monkeys of course were our favorites. There was a gorilla that stole our hearts. He was a big sweetheart, came right up to the glass and made faces at the girls. The next day was Ericka's first race. She had one each day from Sunday to Wednesday. The morning of her 5 lap race she was sick but still went out and gave it her all. She didn't make it out of her heats but she tried her best anyway. It was a tough group of girls and many were twice her size. She was right up there with them but not enough to advance through. She still had a lot of fun and was just excited to be there. She met some of her favorite skaters that she looks up to. She and her friend Dakota danced with Michael Cheeks, he is a skater from North Carolina who comes to our meets. He is really tall and all the kids follow him around. He is Joey Cheek's brother, for those of you who don't know who that is, he won gold at the Olympics in ice speed skating. She also got to meet Derrick Parra, another gold medalist skater. She still wants to meet Apolo Anton Ohno, maybe she will someday.

Once all the racing was over we left Omaha and started the trip back. We stopped at Wall Drug South Dakota. It's a little town out in the middle of nowhere full of souvenier shops. She found some neat stuff. We were able to see a massive thunderstorm while on the highway. Since it's so flat you can see for miles so we could see lightning everywhere. She thought that was quite a show. She was bummed we don't have storms like that here to watch.
We went to Yellowstone and saw Old Faithful erupt. She didn't care much for the sulfur stench but was amazed at all the geysers. She was a bit freaked out that she was walking on top of a volcano. We saw several animals. We had a female elk come right up to us while we were on the bridge. I even got a picture of her "smiling" at us. We got back on the road and got home on the 23rd. It was a long drive but so worth it. We got to spend a lot of mom and Ericka time and we had a blast. We have a lot of good memories and fun things to laugh about from our trip.
Now we have been home a week and things are back to normal. She is back to picking on her brother and saying she is bored. She spends time reading and is in the local library reading club. If she reads so many hours this summer she gets a reward.
The next couple of weeks probably won't be much fun for her though. She has a growth on her leg that has to be removed. I took her to the doctor a couple of days ago and he referred her to a specialist. She goes in on August 7th. He wants a biopsy to make sure it's nothing serious. Either way it has to be taken out which means surgery. She was going to skate in the local marathon but that is out now so she is upset. It also means no skate session for probably a month or so. She should be healed by the time next skate season starts so she is happy about that atleast. Oh and before I forget she had her first couple skate the other night. One of the other rink rats has a major crush on her and got up the nerve to ask her. His mom even took pictures!
Well there isn't much more to report. Life is back to just hanging out and enjoying what is left of summer.

FIRST WEEK OF SUMMER

Well she "graduated" 4th grade with all A's and one B. She got high marks for everything as usual. I wish I would have been able to do that as easily.
Ericka has been out of school now for a week and so far she seems to be happy. She has been spending a lot of time reading and of course skating. She has already read 3 books, I need to take her to the library so she can do the summer reading program. She has been participating in those for two years. We have a good time going to the library and finding fun books to read. She loves to read to Nate and it's one of the few times they are together without bickering. I have tried to only allow a little TV time each day. I don't want her just sitting around doing nothing.
We are getting closer to our trip to Omaha. I am really looking forward to spending some mom and daughter time. She is really excited but the closer it gets the more nervous she seems. It's understandable, knowing that she will be skating in front of all those new people. I think she will do good. The coach has been timing her laps at practice. She is averaging about 11.38 seconds per lap. Her best time for a 5 lap race is 58 seconds. The national record for her division in a 5 lap race is 50 seconds, and that record has stood for 9 years. We have told her that if she doesn't place thats okay as long as she has fun while she is there. She gets to meet the world team and Derrick Parra (olympic champion) so she thinks that is "cool" she even gets her picture taken with them if she wants. They are having a big party for all the skaters with a dance off and tons of other fun stuff. The car trip will probably be long and draining. She already has a list of things she is taking to keep her busy. Ericka loves to travel so I am keeping my fingers crossed that she won't ask "are we there yet" too many times. The coach is making her a map of our route so she will know where we are going. She'll also have another older girl in the van to talk to and hang out with.
Not too much more going on really, we don't lead overly exciting lives at the moment, she's been pretty lazy so far this summer.

Someone is very EXCITED!!!!!!!!

Although she likes school she is really happy to be getting a break soon. She is counting down the days until Nationals. We are driving over to Omaha with our coach and his family. It will be a long trip but it will help getting to split gas. Troy and Nate are going to stay on the homefront and try to find ways to entertain themselves while we are gone. I am looking forward to getting to spend some mom and daughter time. We won't have to hear the boys whine about how bored they are etc. We will have lots of fun hanging out with the other people from our region. The coach says that Spirit Night is really fun. The different regions do things to represent themselves. I am looking forward to watching the old quad skaters battle it out. They also have where it's all the World Class/Pros and the crowd gets a bit crazy(that is during Spirit Night). I think Ericka will have fun, even if she doesn't win. The experience will be worth it for her. She has been giving it her all at practice. She stays out on the track with the big girls and has been keeping up. She is determined to stand on that podium. She knows that it might not happen but I'm hoping that it doesn't crush her confidence. She made a goal to beat the faster girls and place at Regionals and she pulled that off, so I won't underestimate her.
There are several kids from our region who are going so she'll get to hang out with people she knows. The first few days she will be racing so she'll be nervous, but once she's done it will be play time. I'll probably end up chasing her around the stadium. I'll have to find something to do myself. You can only watch people go in circles so many times before you go nutty.

NW REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Well we got home from Portland last night and all I can say is that we are very tired. It was a long weekend but exciting. Ericka did her best skating we've ever seen. There were 12 girls in her division. They had 2 heats (6 in each heat) for each distance (short, middle & long). Only the top three out of each heat made it to finals. Ericka was 2nd in two heats and third in the other. She placed 3rd in the short and middle finals and 2nd in the long final which put her 3rd overall in points. In her long distance final(500 meter /5 laps) she was at the outside wall and had a false start, which put her back behind the other girls. She took off and was in 3rd and in the 3rd lap she took one corner too wide and 3 girls passed her. She then started to skate like mad and picked them all off one by one and came in 2nd out of 6 girls. Now she gets to go to Nationals (top 4 qualify).

Her and her relay partner for Elementary 2 mix got out of their heats (11 teams) and got 5th overall in the final. It was a close race and they came so close to placing 4th (to qualify for N's) They worked really good together. Jacob is 12 and has only been competing for 5 months and Ericka is a Juvenile which is the division below Elementary (she moves up next season) Most of the other kids in this event are 2 yrs older than Ericka. Many have been skating for years. For them to get 5th overall and coming so close was one of many "surprises". Ericka left quite an impression and it boosted her confidence in so many ways. We are very proud of her.

We will be going to Omaha in July. We wished that it could be held somewhere more "exciting" but we are just happy she made it. She worked hard for it. She is a great skater but it still surprised a lot of people. She kind of came out of nowhere. Two of the girls she beat have been faster than her since last season. The girl who placed 4th is usually the one who places 1st at all our meets. There were several shake ups which made for a fun meet.
We got some really good pictures which I'll post soon. We have a guy who takes a lot of action shots and as soon as he posts them I'll have some pics to show you all.
While we were there the kids got to go to Oaks Amusement Park and they had so much fun. Ericka rode almost all the rides. She was too short for a couple and she was bummed but she was game for anything. She went on one called The Screaming Eagle. I think I turned green just looking at it but she went on it 3 times and couldn't get enough. She can't wait to go to Silverwood next month. I just hope that she is tall enough to go on some of the rollercoasters. She only has one month left of school and she is looking forward to summer, especially now that she gets to go to Nationals. There is a good chance that it will be just us girls going. It's a long way to go by ourselves but I think we are up for an adventure.

Battle In Seattle

Ericka had fun at the meet last weekend. She wasn't able to place. She missed making it through heats by a wheel. The three girls who beat her have all placed at Nationals so we told her she shouldn't be upset but to get ready for the next time. She was able to pass a girl 3 times who has always been a faster skater, so that made her happy and helped her confidence. She is a bit hesitant to pass but she is getting better and it shows. She did great in her relays and even though she didn't come home with any awards she handled it well. She is now focusing on going to Regionals in two weeks.
Other than that she has been busy doing the typical things.