Swine Flu Shots

The school department is offering to vaccinate the entire school system for the H1N1 virus. The are doing it in conjunction with the county health department. My girls are getting the shots or nasal mist, whichever one is available at their school. Some people are telling me not to or telling me horror stories they have heard about kids that have received the vaccine.
Do they really think I haven't studied up on this? Do they really think I would knowingly harm my children? It really ticks me off.
I have read up on the vaccine as much as I can. I believe the CDC when it says that they have spent more time developing and testing this vaccine than some of the other flu shots.
H1N1 is a strain of flu. It has proven to be a dangerous strain of flu. The seasonal flu shots that are developed every year are based on educated estimations on what strains of flu may be showing up in this country. People claim the get a flu shot and then get the flu anyways. The flu they develope is not the strain they were innoculated against but a different strain!
The swine flu vaccine was developed with this specific strain in mind.
I am not one of those moms that runs my kids to the doctor for every sneeze or cough. My children are, for the most part very healthy. A few winters ago we had some difficulty with strep throat and scarlett fever. My youngest in particular is especially suseptible. I don't fool around with that and our doctor takes an aggressive approach when Chrissy comes in with strep.
We have gone two winters without a single case of strep!!
The girls have never received a flu shot in the past but I'm really concerned about the swine flu so this year they will receive the vaccine. Don's radiation treatments put him in the high risk category so he will also get the vaccine. The girls getting the vaccine is also added protection for him! I will also get it once it is made available.
My family's health is very important to me. I feel this vaccine will help prevent the spread of the virus so we will do our part.

Band Jam

Last night the girls and I froze our butts off taking in the sights and sounds of the 2009 Lake County Marching Band Festival. IT WAS WORTH IT!!!! This year the festival was hosted by our own Madison HS Blue Streaks Marching Band. There were 10 bands representing area highschools. The smallest had 36 members-the largest was 183. All of them were wonderful. The girls really enjoyed themselves.
Tomorrow night the 8th grade band will play with the highschool band during the pregame show of the Friday football game. Maggie is very excited. They have been practicing the National Anthem, God Bless America, the Madison HS Alma Mater and of course the Madison Fight Song! It will probably be the highlight of the night as the football team has yet to record their first win!

J-E-T-S J-E-T-S!

Today was Chrissy's first game. It was the Jets vs. the Browns and the Jets won!! Chrissy was awesome. She did a great! All of the girls looked and sounded good but I must say my Chrissy was the best! She knew all of the cheers and you could hear her loud and clear.
The football team looked good too but I didn't see too much of the game because the girls cheered through the entire game! The final score was 20-0 so I think we might have a good season. I know Chrissy will!

The Greased Pole

This weekend is the 47th Madison Old Fashion Days. It is a weekend of cars, food music and games. The have kiteflying, frog jumping and watermelon eating contests. Every year the Hanlon-Kurilec family participates in almost all of the events. The favorite one is of course the watermelon eating contest. More on that later.

Every year since Allie was 5, she has tried to climb the greased pole. They set up 2 poles (made from tree limbs) and grease them up with Crisco. Allie can climb anything-pole, ropes, trees etc. I found her sitting on top of the swingset when she was 2!

When she was 5, I talked her into trying the greased pole. She was the crowd favorite. She was a tiny little girl with her pony tail dangling trying to shinny up the pole. I told her if she won she could buy a lot of Barbie dolls with the $25 prize. She did pretty good that year but didn't win. Every year after that she had different ideas to try and win-socks on hands, barefoot, sneakers and my favorite, a bag of flour that she rubbed on her. Nothing worked but she was always close. She is also one of the few kids that can actually climb.

This year-her 6th attempt- Allie pulled the ribbon off the top and won the $25 prize! It took an hour and 10 minutes but she finally did it. There were about 9 other kids in her age group (10 & up). It was very exciting. They almost postponed it because it was raining but I told the OFD director that this was Allie's year! He's been rooting for Allie every year.

Three cheers for our Allie-The Greased Pole Champion!!

The Cheerleader

Well, we have a new activity in our house-cheerleading! My Chrissy is a cheerleader for the Lower Jets-the 7-9 year old football team in the Madison Youth Football League.
My idea of cheerleading has changed over the last few years. Since I started attending the Friday night games with the girls, I have seen how cheerleading has changed since I was a kid. It is a more athletic activity than I ever thought.
Todays cheerleaders aren't just bubbleheaded girls shaking pompoms. They are trained and very athletic young people. They aren't just girls either. For 3 years MHS had a guy on the varsity cheering squad. His senior year he was the drum major!
Chrissy is pretty good at cheering. She is very flexible and very athletic. She can do cartwheels and splits and other gymnastic type moves that just amaze me. And she looks really cute!

I have always considered my self a jock. As a kid I was always playing some sport-baseball, softball, basketball, etc. If there was a ball involved (or a puck!) I was playing. I never EVER considered being a cheerleader. My girls have always been involved in sports. Usually soccer and most recently , softball. Now we have cheerleading. I can't wait for the football season to start!! GO JETS!!!

Quiet Time

I'm on vacation this week and next. I haven't had 2 weeks in a row in years, if ever. I had originally planned to travel to Massachusetts to visit friends and family but as usual, finances just wouldn't allow it at this time. Instead we are staying home and doing things around the area.
Old Fashion Days start Thursday and of course that is always fun. We have several titles to defend including watermelon eating titles! We are heading to Erie, PA to go to Waldameer-a combination water and amusement park. Closer and much cheaper than Cedar Point. We might even venture up to Presque-Isle and check out the science center that just opened a couple of years ago.
What I have been enjoying the last few days is the quiet time I have before people start getting up. I have never really been one to sleep in. 7-8 AM is actually late for me. I have gotten by for so many years on broken sleep that when I sleep 5-6 hours straight, it is wonderous. When I get up I have my coffee and watch news, or play on the computer or read the paper. Sometimes Don is up but most of the time my only companion is Socks, the 7 week old kitten. He doesn't pay to much attention to me but he is entertainment for me!
I'm usually up late-11 or midnight but I'm tired. Being up at 5 or 6AM is enjoyable because I'm refreshed and semi-ready to start my day. I could probably find something more productive to do than Facebook or watch the news (or Spongebob if he's on!) But really, it's not what I get done during that quiet time, it's the enjoyment of the time that really matters!

4th of July

Happy 4th of July! It is a beautiful day here in Madison. Sunny and 75! It finally stopped raining yesterday afternoon. I know I know, we didn't get the rain that some of you got but it rained for a week. The garden really liked the wet weather.
Don cooked brats, hotdogs and burgers on the grill. He also made fruit salad and pasta salad. It was YUMMY! The girls have been playing croquet and badminton. Just a nice quiet family day. Guess the perfect way to end it is a nice nap!