Our Special Project

I have had a number of days in a row off from work this week. Maya and Elias are off from school as well. We had a special project planned and we finished it yesterday.

Since I moved into this house I have not really liked the 2nd floor room. It is one long room that runs the length of the house with one larger (12' x 12' approx.) open area at one end. The acoustic tile ceilings are slanted and have dozens of water marks. The roof was replaced a few years before I bought the house so there aren't any new water marks at least. The walls are wood paneling (yuck) and the floor is old grungy looking linoleum tiles. I checked under the linoleum and found only wood sub flooring so we are stuck with the linoleum for a while longer. Elias and Maya moved to the upstairs bedroom last winter, leaving Hannah on the main floor with me. Over the summer the kids switched rooms again. Now just the girls are upstairs and Elias and I are on the main floor. Some days the kids all play upstairs but it hasn't been a very homey feeling place. Until yesterday.

Yesterday we painted. Just the large open end of the room that the girls beds are in. For now it is white, but is is so much brighter and cheerful than the ugly brown. We even covered up the icky water stains on the ceiling. I forgot to take before pictures so I'll just give you a little idea about the walls, and ceiling based on the other end of the room (please excuse the mess we still have a lot of organizing to do).

Here is what the girls' room looks like now.

We did have a rather (ahem) large mishap during the painting process. I spilled paint on the only part of the rug that had come uncovered. I should have rolled up the rug and moved it out of the room before we started painting but I thought we were, literally, covered. The mess, you might notice, is just under Maya's bed near the window. I've already wasted too many tears on the mess. It is just a rug, a rug that continually gives away blue wool fluff to anyone wearing black fleece clothing. The fluff fills up the vacuum cleaner every time I vacuum. I can't figure it out. We have had the rug for almost 2 years.

One last thing about the room. There is a blank corner of the room to the bottom right of the pictures. One wall is about 6' long and the other is about 3' long plus a closet door. I'm going to put a desk in there for Maya. If I showed you this area right now in a picture all you would see is blank white walls and an ugly floor. So you'll have to wait a little longer until we get that part done. It does make a good excuse to visit IKEA. (Like I need a good excuse.)

Happy New Year!

Some of what 2008 brought my family:
First birthdays with the family for Elias and Hannah
New vehicle - a mini-van
New pet - Minnie the wonder dog
Little League - Elias
Tennis and track - Maya
Swim lessons - Maya and Elias
Soccer - Maya and Elias
First family camping trip
Fourth Grade - Maya
First Grade - Elias
Growing like a weed - Hannah
Voting for a new President of the US
Family moving closer - Eva and Adam
New niece/cousin - Alice
Good times with family and friends!

Hope you all have a safe and happy 2009!

Happy Holidays!

What a wonderful gift our mom gave us!

Since New Year's Eve is tomorrow I can still say Happy Holidays. Belated Merry Christmas as well. Our Christmas week was a whirlwind of activity. We started the week on Saturday (Dec. 20th) we decorated the tree and wrapped presents. The next morning we had our own little Christmas at home. Each child got a present from a sibling and one combined gift from me.

Maya got a HSM3 CD and a zippered overnight case (made by me). Hannah got a brown skinned Barbie doll and two outfits and Elias got the Wall-E DVD. I gave the kids and myself a Wii. We spent the rest of the day playing Wii games, Watching Wall-E and the girls played Barbies. It was nice to have a little Christmas at home that wasn't as overwhelming as Christmas with the whole family.

Every night Monday through Thursday I worked and the kids had the whole week off from school. So they spent a lot of time at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The cousins arrived on Tuesday, adding to the excitement of Christmas.

Christmas Eve I arrived at my parents after a day of sleep in time for homemade pizza for dinner. We then moved on to one of my favorite Christmas activities, decorating cookies. I helped frost and all the kids went wild with sprinkles, red hots and chocolate chips. There were a number of very pretty candy canes, boots, stars, bells, trees and gingerbread people this year, and they were sooo yummy. Next presents went under the tree and children went to bed, waiting for Santa to arrive.
I spent the night caring for the children unfortunate enough to be hospitalized over the holiday. The hospital receives many many donations at this time of year. Someone spent all day wrapping gifts for each child staying overnight in the hospital, plus extras for any that arrive later in the night. I got be one of Santa's elves in scrubs, delivering presents to each patient while they were sleeping.

Christmas morning was present time with the family, 24 of us in all crammed into my parents living room, plus two dogs occasionally wandering through the mess. I think everyone got something they wanted. After presents we went to the kitchen to make Korean food for lunch, bulgogi, jap jae, mandu and rice.

I have been off from work since the 26th. We have a special project that we are working on this week. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Baby News

My sister Eva had her first child yesterday, Alice Jane. Congrats little sister! You can go congratulate her on her own blog too.

Dancin'

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Who knew we were such good Disco dancers? Even the dog got in on the action.

Yes We Can

Congratulations to the entire Obama family, Barack, Michelle, Malia and Sasha!

YES WE DID!

Yesterday I opened the news paper to see a large photo of Barack Obama next to a large photo of John McCain. I asked Hannah if she knew who they were. She pointed to Obama and said "He's Obama." Later in the day I took all three kids with me to vote. They didn't have the Kids' Vote at our polling place so we drove to the nearest one (about 2 miles), so my children would have a chance to share their vote. The Kids' ballot had a head shot of each candidate next to their name. Hannah took one look at the paper, pointed to Obama and excitedly said "There he is!" Of course she voted for Obama. I have one smart 3 year old.

I've seen this everywhere today but I don't know who the author is. I'd like you to see it.

Rosa sat so Martin could walk,

Martin walked so Barack could run,

Barack ran so our children can fly.

What were you for Halloween?

For Halloween this year Maya was a fortune teller, Elias was a firefighter and Hanna was a princess. It was a lot more fun picking out costumes this year because Elias knew what was going on and Hannah kind of got it. The only part of the costumes I purchased was the reflective tape on Elias' costume. The rest of the costumes were things we had around the house or in the dress up clothes. Total cost of costumes this year? $6.

I Like It!

I was in Chess Club in elementary school. I never saw a game there that was quite as fun as this one.

Zombie Jamboree 2008 version

Before playing this video I suggest that you stop the music playing on the music player that's at the top right of this blog. (Just click on the play/pause symbol)

WARNING!! This video may cause you to hum/sing this silly song all day.

Fall Fun!

Last weekend, after a week off of school, we spent a lot of time with the cousins. My sister was in town with her two children. We went shopping and out for lunch on Saturday. Sunday we went to the Children's Museum (Free 3rd Sunday), went out for lunch, baked a cake, made dinner, then had a birthdays/anniversary party for my parents. During the free time the kids played and played and played. The weather was beautiful and the kids took advantage of it by spending most of Sunday afternoon playing outside.

My kids get along great with their cousins. Maya and my niece, Greta are great friends. Despite the 3 year age difference they have a lot of similar interests. My sister told me that her son David talks about Elias all the time. Again there is a 3 year age difference but I saw Elias and David having a great time together all weekend. It's nice for Elias to have someone that looks up to him. Hannah just tries to play with everyone, she'll dig in the sandbox, play legos, barbies, house, dress-up, cars, anything that she can to participate in what everyone else is doing. My other nephew, Nicholas, has started learning how to play with the other kids. He is still more content to play alone or with a parent, but he is coming around.

Last week I found out about a new charter school that just opened this fall. It's an all girl school for grades 5-8. I am seriously considering this for Maya for next year. She isn't too excited at the thought of leaving her elementary school a year early but I am thrilled at the thought of an all female environment for learning. I'll tour the school next week.

We are deep into the fall schedule of extra curricular activities. Maya started swim lessons again last week, after a 5 month hiatus due to scheduling conflicts. She told me after the class that it felt great to be back in the water again. Both Maya and Elias have scouts as well. I continue to lead Maya's scout troop. Hannah cheerfully comes along to all the meetings and lessons.

Myla and Cyrus

My sister is having a baby in December. On her new baby blog she is having a contest to help them think of a baby name. One of the suggested names was Myla. We met a 6 year old girl named Myla this summer on our camping trip. Her 3 year old brother was named Cyrus. Myla and Cyrus. Say those names together now, Myla Cyrus. Remind you of anyone? If you have a pre-teen girl living in your house you probably thought of Miley Cyrus also known as Hannah Montana. Three years ago one had ever heard of Miley Cyrus. Too bad for Myla and Cyrus that they just happen to be young during the reign of Miley Cyrus.

Back to School and Fall Fun

I never did a first day of school blog. School started at the beginning of the month so I am very late in getting these pictures posted. Maya is in 4th grade this year, Elias is in 1st grade and Hannah is still going to day care every day.

The first few weeks of school have gone well. Maya applied for and got the position of bus leader. This means that she is a role model to the other kids on the bus. She has some authority to tell other kids to follow bus rules and can report unacceptable behavior to the school. She is also starting music lessons this year. She chose to try the flute. Hopefully I'll find one this weekend (Craigslist has a bunch listed). She is in her 4th year of Girl Scouts this year and will be getting practice in leadership, critical thinking and planning skills (including budgeting). She is also playing soccer. In her free time she has been playing nicely with her siblings.

Elias is excited for school and I am told he is taking on some more responsibilities in class, especially by helping the Kindergartners find their way around. He started Cub Scouts last week. I pick up a uniform shirt yesterday, I still need to sew on the patches - why don't they make iron-on patches like girl scouts do? We are learning all about boy scouts together, the promise, the law, the motto and other terminology, like den and pack. He is playing soccer as well and having a great time. I have noticed a lot of improvement in his self confidence as well as his skills on the field.

Hannah just hangs out, she goes to all the Girl Scout meetings, all the Boy Scout meetings and all the soccer practices and games. Lately she has been playing with Polly Pockets and Legos a lot, doing a lot of imaginative play. She is a collector of little toys and has them all arranged in bins in her room. She is growing fast. All of her pants that fit nicely in the spring are all too short now. Her feet have grown another shoe size as well. She has been going on neighborhood excursions (to the high school track and to the parks) with day care a couple of days a week and has been going on farther field trips (zoo, giant playground) on Fridays. The day care provider is loving the nice weather we have had this month and likes having only 4 preschoolers on Fridays.

I am leading Maya's Girl Scout troop again - 4th year for me too - and doing all the running around for practices and meetings for the other kids. Work is starting to get busy again - a lot of allergy related asthma lately.

So fall has been fun so far. More trips and events are already planned for next month and should be fun as well.

Acceptance Speech

Tonight Maya asked if she could stay up and watch Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the DNC in Denver. I agreed to let her stay up. We watched the opening video together (very nice and informative). Then 5 minutes into his speech Maya looked like this...

Fun And Exhausting Day

We visited the state fair today. The day started out a little dreary and we got caught in a few sprinkles. By the end of the day we were all hot and tired. The sun came out in full force around lunch. We visited the horse and cattle barns, Hannah and Elias tried milking a cow. All three kids got to pet a calf, cows and horses. One horse, Snickers, really loved the attention we, rather I, gave him, he seemed to like looking at the children as well. We left the horse barn and I reminded Maya that now that she is a Junior Girl Scout we could arrange to do a horse badge sometime. She wasn't quite as enthusiastic about it as I was. We stopped for ice cream and shakes before leaving the animal barns. We never made it into the pig barn but we did get to see some piglets and lambs in the Miracle Of Birth center, We didn't witness any animals giving birth ( I think it would have freaked out the kids anyway) but we saw a number of baby animals that were anywhere from a few hours to a few days old.

We ate a lot of food, went on rides (including the Giant Slide) and did a lot of walking. We came home exhausted. Then it was right back out the door for back-to-school night. We met the new teachers, visited the old teachers, and dropped off all the school supplies. The real first day of school is next week. Maya will be in 4th grade. She has a new teacher this year. She got a kick out of walking around and figuring out who would be in her class that she knows. Elias will be in 1st grade. He is in the same classroom as last year but his primary teacher has changed. He has a male teacher this year, something I am very glad about. There were a number of children (mostly girls) who shouted their hellos to Elias in the hall. He just beamed. All the teachers seemed to be happy to have the school full of kids again. Almost all the teachers asked how long it would be before Hannah would be going to the school. It feel so wonderful having a school where you feel like you fit in and my kids are comfortable there.

Camping

This past week we enjoyed our fist camping trip as a family. Though I grew up going camping, I have never ventured out on a true camping trip in the years since Maya was born, until now. We had great weather and everyone got to try at least one new thing.

Our first day was packed full of adventure. We rented a pontoon boat and tootled around Lake Itasca. This was Hannah and Elias' first boat ride and Maya's first time driving a boat. All three also got to see loons for the first time. We came upon a loon family. It looked as if the parents were teaching the baby to dive. We even saw one loon with a fish in its bill. Later we headed out to the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The kids and dog loved being in the water. We even walked down the middle of The Mississippi River for about a quarter mile. The water was anywhere from 6inches to 2.5 feet deep. One point the water was too deep for the dog, she started jumping from side to side of the river then eventually realized that she knew how to swim. By the time we made it back to the car we were all wet so we decided to go to the swimming beach.

That evening we built a fire to cook hot dogs and s'mores. Everyone slept well that night. The rest of our trip involved exploring the park and a visit to the headwaters again. I learned quite a bit about the history of Itasca State Park (the kids weren't too interested). We all got used to eating outside and sleeping in a tent. Hannah practiced looking for cars in the street every time she headed to the bathroom.

Maya helped with a lot of the initial planning of the trip including meal planning, packing lists and budget planning. In addition she helped a lot with the cooking, cleaning up and keeping track of her siblings. The two of us spent the evenings out in the dark listening to the sounds of the night and star gazing while Elias and Hannah slept. For all her hard work she earned her first Junior Girl Scout badge.

We all had fun on our trip. Each child will willingly tell you their favorite parts of the trip. We returned home tired, dirty but happy. I'm looking forward to our next camping trip.

There's a bug on your head!

Is there a bug on her head?

Our summer has been busy! Two nights a week of baseball, two nights a week of track, one night of tennis. Maya and Elias are still in school until the end of this month, Hannah is at daycare daily. Mixed in we have had family visit from out of town, Maya went out of town to visit my sister, brother in law, niece and nephew and I have tried to do some fun summer activities with the kids.

Now that tennis and baseball are finished we have a little more time to spend together. Yesterday afternoon I had plans to pick up the Hannah from daycare after Elias and Maya got home and then we would go to Target to get the last of the school supplies (for next school year), a couple of grocery items and then pick out fun stuff to make for a raffle basket for the upcoming all school picnic. Those plans were squashed as we left daycare.

We headed out to the car after daycare, Maya started opening the sliding door and Hannah, behind her, kept walking forward directly into the car door! Hannah fell backwards on to her rear end, threw her hands to her forehead and began to cry. I went to help her up and found that her forehead was bleeding. I picked her up, grabbed open my door and found a clean, absorbent paper towel to hod to her head. The bleeding didn't stop for quite awhile, Hannah continued to cry and Maya began crying as well blaming herself for the injury. I got Hannah calmed down and inspected her wound - definitely needed stitches. The bleeding was just a tiny trickle so I got her in her car seat and instructed her to keep holding the paper towel to her head. Maya was still upset but got into the car buckled up. I pulled out my cell phone, called the pediatrician and got the car headed south. The pediatrician's office was hesitant about doing stitches on a 3 year old so I kept heading south to work, Children's Hospital. After a quick visit from the resident we sat and waited for the topical numbing medicine to take effect (45 minutes). We had some visitors, Sam and the child life specialist, Amy and we started to watch Ice Age. The child life specialist was great, she brought in a suture kit, minus the needle, and let Hannah, Elias and Maya explore it, trying out the different parts. When it came time for the suturing Hannah did wonderfully. Having the chance to see and touch the instruments being used beforehand was perfect preparation, she wasn't scared and didn't complain or cry. Suzanne did a great job suturing, only 4 little stitches. Once it was all done all three kids got a popsicle and stickers and Hannah picked out a stuffed cow to bring home. We were in and out in about 1.5 hours.

So our first visit to the ER (for any of my kids) went smoothly. I am somewhat surprised that Hannah is the first one to need stitches, she doesn't play nearly as hard as Elias. Though they were all impressed with having to go to the ER Maya was a little more awestruck than the other two about being able to see where I work. She claims that she doesn't like blood and such, but she handled watching Hannah being stitched up without cringing or getting nauseous. Maybe there is a future in medical care for her.
Elias told Hannah last night that it looked like she has a bug on her head. Indeed it does. Hannah still doesn't quite understand all that has happened. This morning she pulled the bandaid off, looked in the mirror and complained, "Mom this is still here". Yes and it will be for another 5 days!

My Son, Elias

Elias is playing baseball this year. He is quite athletically talented and catches on quickly to anything new. Last summer he had the chance to hit a few wiffle balls with a plastic bat as well as practice throwing a plastic ball. I signed him up for little league figuring he would love it. I gave him a baseball glove and ball for his birthday but we never had a chance for him to practice catching with the glove before the first little league practice due to the ugly weather we have had this spring. On the day of the first practice I realized that not only had he never held a metal bat, never threw a baseball nor caught one in a glove, but he really didn't know any of the rules of the game, like which order you run the bases or what a strike or an out is. Everything was new to him. That first practice when it was his turn to bat he needed help on positioning himself next to home plate. Then with each swing of the bat he took a step forward with his left foot but never repositioned his legs before the next pitch. Pretty soon he was standing with his feet as far apart as they could be. The bat seemed heavy in his arms and he was swinging it like an axe, not following through with his body but rather stopping just after it crossed home plate. He practiced with a smile on his face and claimed he was excited for their next practice and game.
Later that week I told him that my brother or my dad could help him practice his swinging, catching and throwing over the weekend because he wasn't quite "getting it". He began to cry, put his head down on the table and exclaimed "You don't think I'm good at baseball!" I reminded him that he had never played baseball before and I didn't expect him to be good at it the first time he tried and I told him that even those baseball players that we watch on TV didn't know how to play baseball until they started practicing when they were younger. He perked up a little but was still upset that he wasn't perfect.
Elias had a game on Wednesday this week. He has been practicing and playing baseball for about a month now. I noticed that he does a great job getting his right elbow up and out, holding the bat correctly. He has a great swing and gets a hit every time he is up to bat. His throwing arm is amazing and he does pretty well catching as well. As we were walking to the car after game the grandma of another player asked if Elias had been playing baseball since he could walk, she thought he was a great player and looked as if he had been playing a long time. I told her that he had never even held a glove or metal bat until a month ago and didn't even know what baseball was a year ago. She was shocked and stated that he must be really talented to have picked it up so quickly. I just smiled and nodded.
I am excited that my son is talented in athletics. I'm more excited though that he is a nice kid and cheers on his teammates when he is not playing. He knows every boy on his team and cheers when they get a hit and shouts words of encouragement when they don't. He will go further in life as a team player who is nice to everyone than on talent alone. That is my son, Elias.

Two months of updates

I knew I hadn't updated in a while but I hadn't realized that it had been two months! So here's the news: At the end of Feb. I was in a car accident. All 3 kids were in the car, no one was hut thankfully, but my car did take a beating on the front passenger door. It took more than a month for the insurance to figure out what they were doing and finally assigned liability to the other driver ( he hit me on the right as I was turning right!?). So I brought my car in to get fixed in early April. The next day the insurance called to say they were totaling my car, they would pay fair market value for it and pay for the rental car for 5 more days. So I scrambled and looked up fair market value of my car. I then had to negotiate with the insurance to pay me a better price than their first offer. I then searched the Internet for used cars that I could afford. Finally, on the fourth day my Dad and I found the perfect car in my price range - a Mazda minivan! Just in time for the hike in gas prices I purchased a gas guzzler. However, the kids can spread out and we can transport extra people if needed and it is a really comfortable ride if I ever decide to take a long trip.

Early May brought us Maya's birthday. We had a fun filled day on her actual birthday. First we drove an hour out of town to meet a dog that we did end of adopting and bringing home. (It sure was nice to have the mini van to make the longish drive with 4 kids and then later a dog.) Her name is Minnie, a 2 year old black lab/border collie/something else (Whippet?) mutt. She loves people, she'll follow us around the house until we sit, then collapse in a heap on the floor near our feet, content to sty near us until we move again. Even the cat decided (after a week) that the dog was okay to have around.
The rest of Maya's birthday was spent with a family birthday party at my parent's house and then Maya had a friend sleep over for the night. I was exhausted at the end of that weekend.
We discovered that this year that our ages are all multiples of three. Hannah is 3 years, Elias is 6 years, Maya is now 9 years old and I am ... also a multiple of three this year. How funny!

Elias started baseball a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't been able to get outside to help him practice catching with a glove before the first practice due to the wet weather we have been having. So he showed up at the first practice having never caught with a glove nor ever having picked up a metal bat. He is so quick in learning and is so coordinated that by his second game (only a week after the first practice) he was able to hit the ball on his fist pitch ( a nice hit to right field). He still doesn't quite understand what a play is and how to get someone "out" but by the end of the season I'm sure he'll play like an old pro.

I'll try and post more updates and share some silly stories soon.

Bossy, Bossy!

Lately Hannah has become increasingly bossy. I think she thinks of herself as a little mama. One night Elias came downstairs to use the bathroom after I had already said goodnight to him. I reminded him that he is not supposed to get out of bed and that using the toilet is part of his getting ready for bed jobs. After I left him to do his business Hannah climbed out of bed, walked into the bathroom and yelled at Elias for getting out of bed. Never mind that she just gout out of bed to tell him this, never mind that she is 3 years younger than him, she had to be the boss and put him in his place. Of course, I had to step in and point out that she wasn't supposed to be out of bed and that what Elias does is none of her business, but it was really hard to do without cracking up.
This past weekend we got some snow. Maya and Elias headed out to shovel the driveway. Hannah took her time getting ready to go out and when she was finally ready she stood at the door crying because "There is no shovel for me." I told her she could go out anyway and just play in the snow. "OK" she says then proceeds to open the door and yell "Elias, Mom said you share shovel with me." She repeated this about 3 times, until Elias finally came in to ask me if he needed to share with Hannah. I told him that he could take turns with her. After they both proceeded outside I sat in utter shock at how "Hannah the Little One" had completely taken the situation into her control so that the outcome was in her favor. I guess I'll need to watch her a little closer in the future and discipline for deception. Who thought I'd need to do that with a 3 year-old?

Happy Belated Birthday Elias!

Elias' birthday was last Monday. We did celebrate on his birthday but I didn't have time to get pictures up. Elias brought treats to school to share with his class on his b-day - Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls -YUM! We had pizza for dinner, then we went to my parents for cake and presents. Elias loved all his presents - play dough, legos, pajamas, dinosaurs, and a basketball.
Elias is still a joker. Just look at his face in the picture with his pile of unopened presents for proof. He continues to be happy most of the time. I'm told he still smiles all day long at school. He loves to play outside, run, sing, play legos, play with his sisters, anything sports, tell jokes, laugh at all jokes and read. He is doing great in school, starting to sound out simple words and do simple math problems. He desperately wants to be able to read as well as Maya.
Last week Maya and Elias started a new session of swimming lessons. They both love being in the water. Hannah went to the doctor for her 3 year check-up. She is now in the 10% for height and weight. When she came home in July she was only in the 3% for both. She's grown out of a lot of clothes and shoes this winter. I measured all the kids on the wall last week and then have all grown 1.5-3 inches since last fall. Elias goes in for his check up next week. I can't wait to see what his numbers look like.
The kids got the opportunity to go out on a frozen river last weekend. We saw a lot of people ice fishing,dogs, snowmobiles, and cars out on the river as well. I think it was the first time for all 3 of them to be on a frozen body of water. It was a fun activity for all of us and it was free! I need to seek out more of these fun free activities.

Busy Vacation Week

Last week Maya and Elias had the week off from school. I was able to take some time off work and ended up having a little vacation. On Monday we had Girl Scouts. Tuesday Maya, Elias and I went to the Ronald McDonald House to deliver breakfast bags, then on to the zoo with the Girl Scouts. Wednesday I took all three kids to a big indoor playground for a few hours. Thursday we picked up Girl Scout cookies then on Friday we headed out of town to visit my sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew for the weekend. While there we had a mini birthday party for Elias and my niece, went bowling and played outside. The kids had a great time sliding down a big snow pile in the back yard of my sister's house. Bowling was a big hit too, Hannah had 3 strikes and Maya did better than me. Elias wants to have a bowling birthday next year.
The up coming month is busy as well. Next week Elias turns 6 years old. We have a Girl Scout overnight coming up and two Girl Scout cookie booths. Maya and Elias started a new quarter at school today and both are excited about new classes and new subjects they are learning.
Unfortunately we were in an accident last week. We were all in the car and everyone is safe and uninjured but my car has a huge dent on the front passenger door. It happened as I was dropping Hannah off at day care on Thursday. I had my right blinker on and pulled to the left to give myself a wider turning frame to turn into the narrow driveway space. The guy dringin behind me saw me pull to the left and assumed I was turning left. He then proceeded to try and pass me on the shoulder on the right just as my car was turning. Now I have to deal with insurance and getting my car fixed. Hopefully it will all work out easily. He did say was going to try and contest the ticket he got claiming icy conditions even though the only part of the road that was icy was within one foot of the curb on the shoulder. We'll see what happens I guess.