Thursday, March 7, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Apology letter?
Anna and Paul had a super massive meltdown event in Walgreen's yesterday. Stupid aisles full of pink and red plush dolls and candy and flowers for valentines day is a nightmare for parents with young children. Normally she's pretty good but she lost major control yesterday from what I heard.
When they got home she proceeded to write daddy a letter. Paul assumed it was an apology but she is more like her mother that way:
When they got home she proceeded to write daddy a letter. Paul assumed it was an apology but she is more like her mother that way:
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
What a week in this house!
We did NOT run the Houston Half Marathon. The others on our team ditched because of flu and weather, and when Paul and I woke up the morning of the Houston Half, we thought it best to ditch too. Cold and rainy wouldn't usually deter us, but given that this week would be my astronaut selection interview week, now wasn't the time to go injuring myself. Turns out it was a good decision, knowing now what I do about how that interview week went, and also when I talked to people who did run it, they confirmed sideways sheets of rain, people zig zagging in and out of pot holes and puddles, running into each other. I could take a few hours of a challenge like that but not at the risk of showing up for the interview process with an injury!
So this week started really with Anna's first piano recital on Sunday :) She did great, and we are SO PROUD OF HER! She played Merrily We Roll Along (to the tune of Mary Had A Little Lamb) and got up in front of the crowd all by herself to play. LOVE HER!
This week she also participated in Gifted and Talented testing. The selection board for GT meets at the end of Feb to decide if she's made it. Fingers crossed! GT would give her many more opportunities to different class choices as she grows...
Wednesday started my astronaut selection interview period. Wednesday through Friday saw lots of tests (they were actually really fun and introspective), a butt-kicking group workout with the astronaut strength and conditioning trainers (cross-fit style!), and a selection board 1 hour interview at a table of around 15 people (astros and non-astros) asking me about myself. Mine was the second-to-last interview of the entire week, and I'm not sure what those listening to me thought, but I sure as heck had a blast! I wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I'd be, and it was conversational, thoughtful, and friendly. I can't imagine what it must be like for them to have to hear the life stories of 120 interviewees like this, but hopefully mine wasn't too painful :) While I don't have any real edge-of-seat thrilling llife stories, I do have some fun ones and have enjoyed getting to where I am today. They asked some great "what-if" questions, and I think I did just fine! How fine I did remains to be seen, though! They will call back 50 of us 120 to go through more extensive interviews and medical exams, and narrow down to the last 9-15 who will finally be selected to enter the astronaut office (they'll be called "astronaut candidates" for the first two years of their training before graduating to "astronauts". So technically we are interviewing to be "astronaut candidates").
One thing's for sure, I can bet there's not many other jobs where the competing interviewees are so helpful to each other! The other 9 folks in our group really did their best to cheer each other on, as well as calm each other down. They ranged from test pilots to engineers, and we also had an educator. All were so really cool, and hope to see them in the next round!
Soo for now it's back to reality, keeping busy at work as usual until hopefully I get a call to the next round. No matter what happens, I am so darned happy to have had the chance and had a super great experience. Having no regrets, doing my best, and having a great overall experience is the best feeling in the world!
Meanwhile, Anna-Marie was surprised at school with the Ward Good Character award for her class for the 9-week period! I couldn't make it (it was on Friday during my interview week!), but my mom and Paul attended and said she was so surprised :) It was hard for me to keep it a secret! We get to display the Good Character sign in our front yard for awhile. She had a few whiney months in the fall where I thought I might pull my hair out. But she's been coming out of that phase (thank GAWD) and growing up so fast. She knows she's growing up, too, and she's proud of all of it!
Also her reading ability has gone off the charts. I can't believe what I hear when she reads to us, and it's so fun to watch this develop. She even catches on when Paul and I try to hide things from her through the typical spelling approach. Busted. Dang.
She's catching on to science big time right now, and loves to watch magic tricks. In fact she has a magic kit on the way in the mail right now so she can practice. She wants a magician at her birthday party :) She's also started taking up dance class again (DARN IT!) and she loves it. Can't hold her back from that, the force is strong with this one :) But she will have to cut out gymnastics. Gymnastics, piano, and dance is too crazy on the schedule (and cost!). She is too young for that and really needs to appreciate balance and decision making.
...And Paul's clinic is booming through the roof! Life is good!
So this week started really with Anna's first piano recital on Sunday :) She did great, and we are SO PROUD OF HER! She played Merrily We Roll Along (to the tune of Mary Had A Little Lamb) and got up in front of the crowd all by herself to play. LOVE HER!
This week she also participated in Gifted and Talented testing. The selection board for GT meets at the end of Feb to decide if she's made it. Fingers crossed! GT would give her many more opportunities to different class choices as she grows...
Wednesday started my astronaut selection interview period. Wednesday through Friday saw lots of tests (they were actually really fun and introspective), a butt-kicking group workout with the astronaut strength and conditioning trainers (cross-fit style!), and a selection board 1 hour interview at a table of around 15 people (astros and non-astros) asking me about myself. Mine was the second-to-last interview of the entire week, and I'm not sure what those listening to me thought, but I sure as heck had a blast! I wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I'd be, and it was conversational, thoughtful, and friendly. I can't imagine what it must be like for them to have to hear the life stories of 120 interviewees like this, but hopefully mine wasn't too painful :) While I don't have any real edge-of-seat thrilling llife stories, I do have some fun ones and have enjoyed getting to where I am today. They asked some great "what-if" questions, and I think I did just fine! How fine I did remains to be seen, though! They will call back 50 of us 120 to go through more extensive interviews and medical exams, and narrow down to the last 9-15 who will finally be selected to enter the astronaut office (they'll be called "astronaut candidates" for the first two years of their training before graduating to "astronauts". So technically we are interviewing to be "astronaut candidates").
One thing's for sure, I can bet there's not many other jobs where the competing interviewees are so helpful to each other! The other 9 folks in our group really did their best to cheer each other on, as well as calm each other down. They ranged from test pilots to engineers, and we also had an educator. All were so really cool, and hope to see them in the next round!
Soo for now it's back to reality, keeping busy at work as usual until hopefully I get a call to the next round. No matter what happens, I am so darned happy to have had the chance and had a super great experience. Having no regrets, doing my best, and having a great overall experience is the best feeling in the world!
Meanwhile, Anna-Marie was surprised at school with the Ward Good Character award for her class for the 9-week period! I couldn't make it (it was on Friday during my interview week!), but my mom and Paul attended and said she was so surprised :) It was hard for me to keep it a secret! We get to display the Good Character sign in our front yard for awhile. She had a few whiney months in the fall where I thought I might pull my hair out. But she's been coming out of that phase (thank GAWD) and growing up so fast. She knows she's growing up, too, and she's proud of all of it!
Also her reading ability has gone off the charts. I can't believe what I hear when she reads to us, and it's so fun to watch this develop. She even catches on when Paul and I try to hide things from her through the typical spelling approach. Busted. Dang.
She's catching on to science big time right now, and loves to watch magic tricks. In fact she has a magic kit on the way in the mail right now so she can practice. She wants a magician at her birthday party :) She's also started taking up dance class again (DARN IT!) and she loves it. Can't hold her back from that, the force is strong with this one :) But she will have to cut out gymnastics. Gymnastics, piano, and dance is too crazy on the schedule (and cost!). She is too young for that and really needs to appreciate balance and decision making.
...And Paul's clinic is booming through the roof! Life is good!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Interview week is here!
Tomorrow is day 1 of my astronaut interview week! I met the other 9 people who are in the selections with me this week and they're awesome!
This day sure came quickly! Let's go!
This day sure came quickly! Let's go!
Sunday, January 13, 2013
She's riding without training wheels!
Lovely! What a big girl :) And check out the boots she learned to tie on.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Love notes
I often leave little love notes in Anna's lunch box. Last night my empty lunch box was in the backseat on the ride home along side her, an when I went to make my lunch this morning I found this:
She had left me a love note in my lunch box! She must have worked on it on the drive home and slipped it in there quietly :) I had no clue. TOO SWEET!
She had left me a love note in my lunch box! She must have worked on it on the drive home and slipped it in there quietly :) I had no clue. TOO SWEET!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Milestone: Anna tied her shoes!
Anna finally achieved tying her own shoes on Dec 31, 2012 :) Way to end the new year! She was wearing some big sparkly funky boot-tennis shoes my mom bought her that day :) I wish I'd taken a picture to post but I was too busy being all proud and stuff! Will get one tonight!
Jan 16: An anniversary
January 16, 8am, will mark exactly 12 years of my employment here at NASA JSC.
Jan 16 was cold and rainy, and I remember getting soaked to the bone in my blue dress shirt and black pants. I didn't have an umbrella, because we never needed one in Colorado! I've carried one with me now for the past 12 years.
I would have never ever foreseen that day that in exactly 12 years, at 8am I'd be sitting in orientation for my first day of astronaut selection interviews. Jan 16-18 is right around the corner now :) I'm ready, and I'll also have my umbrella ;)
Jan 16 was cold and rainy, and I remember getting soaked to the bone in my blue dress shirt and black pants. I didn't have an umbrella, because we never needed one in Colorado! I've carried one with me now for the past 12 years.
I would have never ever foreseen that day that in exactly 12 years, at 8am I'd be sitting in orientation for my first day of astronaut selection interviews. Jan 16-18 is right around the corner now :) I'm ready, and I'll also have my umbrella ;)
Friday, December 28, 2012
Bring on January!
Let's do January!
Jan 13: the Houston Half Marathon and Anna's first piano recital :)
Jan 16-18: My astronaut interviews!
Jan 9-25: Anna gets assessed for gifted and talented for school.
And somewhere in there teaching starts up again...
:) Woot!
Jan 13: the Houston Half Marathon and Anna's first piano recital :)
Jan 16-18: My astronaut interviews!
Jan 9-25: Anna gets assessed for gifted and talented for school.
And somewhere in there teaching starts up again...
:) Woot!
Christmas 2012
Another great year :) This time her #1 gift:
We have plenty of yard for it, too! She loves it and runs the 2 hour battery down easy! She only got to enjoy it for one morning before we headed to Paul's parents' for Christmas this year. And we just got home yesterday but it's been raining nonstop! The desire to ride is killing her :)
Half of the gifts in this picture aren't hers. She received plenty this year but not so many so as to induce that feeling of gift-guilt! Besides, she never made a list (didn't want to, other than wanting the car and a few others) so she gets what she gets!
This Rapunzel hair was actually something she asked for.
She also asked Santa for snow. He left her a note next to the cookie dish saying that he's sorry he couldn't make it snow in Houston so he left her a cup of snow from the North Pole in our freezer. She loved that :)
She did receive a sinus infection, and the gift of antibiotics :) It's ok, she's rarely sick so we can take it! And it seems rather mild.
Back at Nanee's:
Nice dog! LOL!
They climbed the tree, picked all
Of these, and sold them on the corner in 40 degree weather!
They had a few buyers!
And each earned $4.50 in college tuition.
Then she and Audrey went crazy snapping photos:
We had a fun time and got to eat some great homemade gumbo and catch up with the family. Now back at home, we are going to the Houston Ballet Nutcracker performance today with her friend Emma and her mom. Girls' day!
She's already making plans for her birthday :)
We have plenty of yard for it, too! She loves it and runs the 2 hour battery down easy! She only got to enjoy it for one morning before we headed to Paul's parents' for Christmas this year. And we just got home yesterday but it's been raining nonstop! The desire to ride is killing her :)
Half of the gifts in this picture aren't hers. She received plenty this year but not so many so as to induce that feeling of gift-guilt! Besides, she never made a list (didn't want to, other than wanting the car and a few others) so she gets what she gets!
This Rapunzel hair was actually something she asked for.
She also asked Santa for snow. He left her a note next to the cookie dish saying that he's sorry he couldn't make it snow in Houston so he left her a cup of snow from the North Pole in our freezer. She loved that :)
She did receive a sinus infection, and the gift of antibiotics :) It's ok, she's rarely sick so we can take it! And it seems rather mild.
Back at Nanee's:
Nice dog! LOL!
They climbed the tree, picked all
Of these, and sold them on the corner in 40 degree weather!
They had a few buyers!
And each earned $4.50 in college tuition.
Then she and Audrey went crazy snapping photos:
We had a fun time and got to eat some great homemade gumbo and catch up with the family. Now back at home, we are going to the Houston Ballet Nutcracker performance today with her friend Emma and her mom. Girls' day!
She's already making plans for her birthday :)
Monday, December 10, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Astronaut Selection Process: Status
On July 5, I received notice from the NASA Astronaut Selection committee that my application made the first cut from 6,200 applicants down to the "Highly Qualified" (HQ) level of just 400 or so applicants. The process was to get my medical prescreening done, get my letters of recommendation in, and wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait :) Not a problem, since it's been a busy year! But heck yes, I was so honored to make it that far! Turns out, a handful of my good friends and co-workers also made it that far, so it was fun to be in the same boat together.
Yesterday I received the phone call I'd been waiting for for the last 25 years or so: I have been asked to come for an astronaut candidate interview. This means I am now in the next round of 120 to be interviewed and considered seriously. Of us, 15 will get selected to be astronauts. I will be in Week 5, which Jan 16-18. These are the highlights of what I was told on the phone in my excitement yesterday!
Yes, I'm super pumped, and ready for that interview week! I'm not sure what all I can share about the process just yet, so I'll use discretion here and anytime I mention it publically. And also I stink at conveying my thoughts and feelings on something so personal! I'm more of a technical writer, so it's hard to get this into words.
I did ask Anna-Marie last night if she thought I should be an astronaut, and apparently I have her blessing. Paul's beside himself as well! :) A little celebration is in order!
WOOT!
Yesterday I received the phone call I'd been waiting for for the last 25 years or so: I have been asked to come for an astronaut candidate interview. This means I am now in the next round of 120 to be interviewed and considered seriously. Of us, 15 will get selected to be astronauts. I will be in Week 5, which Jan 16-18. These are the highlights of what I was told on the phone in my excitement yesterday!
Yes, I'm super pumped, and ready for that interview week! I'm not sure what all I can share about the process just yet, so I'll use discretion here and anytime I mention it publically. And also I stink at conveying my thoughts and feelings on something so personal! I'm more of a technical writer, so it's hard to get this into words.
I did ask Anna-Marie last night if she thought I should be an astronaut, and apparently I have her blessing. Paul's beside himself as well! :) A little celebration is in order!
WOOT!
Saturday, November 24, 2012
A snail's soul
Me: That snail's been stuck on our window for like a week now. It must be dead.
Anna: Why is it still stuck on the window then? Shouldn't it have gone up to Heaven?
Me: Well the soul goes to Heaven but the body stays behind when something dies. Do you know what a soul is?
Anna: No
We've had conversations about the soul before but like other things as she grows it's like she is hearing it for the first time.
Me: The soul is inside your body. You can't see it, but it makes Anna who Anna is, and mommy mommy and daddy daddy.
Anna: But the snail is still there on the window.
Me: Just his body, baby. When you die, your body stays and your soul leaves.
I think she was happy with that.
At the park a few weeks ago a little boy (neighbor) her age told her that people who don't go to church don't believe in God. I told her the next time someone tells her that, she can tell them that's wrong, because God is everywhere, and not just in a church.
In today's day and age I still can't believe that people actually believe what the little boy told Anna, and worse, that kids are being told this.
It's the world we live in. I can't wait till we can start teaching her about true access to God, angels, and those on The Other Side who will help her in life going forward. What a powerful thing for a kid to realize at an early age. Everyone should have such access and comfort.
Anna: Why is it still stuck on the window then? Shouldn't it have gone up to Heaven?
Me: Well the soul goes to Heaven but the body stays behind when something dies. Do you know what a soul is?
Anna: No
We've had conversations about the soul before but like other things as she grows it's like she is hearing it for the first time.
Me: The soul is inside your body. You can't see it, but it makes Anna who Anna is, and mommy mommy and daddy daddy.
Anna: But the snail is still there on the window.
Me: Just his body, baby. When you die, your body stays and your soul leaves.
I think she was happy with that.
At the park a few weeks ago a little boy (neighbor) her age told her that people who don't go to church don't believe in God. I told her the next time someone tells her that, she can tell them that's wrong, because God is everywhere, and not just in a church.
In today's day and age I still can't believe that people actually believe what the little boy told Anna, and worse, that kids are being told this.
It's the world we live in. I can't wait till we can start teaching her about true access to God, angels, and those on The Other Side who will help her in life going forward. What a powerful thing for a kid to realize at an early age. Everyone should have such access and comfort.
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