Soccer - Part II

SOCA - Soccer Assn of Charlottesville Area

What a terrific morning at Darden Towe Park with lots and lots of kids for the first Saturday of SOCA. Ellie's coaches are a husband and wife team, Joe and Frances - who are awesome. Their daughter plays on Ellie's team too. One of Ellie's friends from ABC preschool (who is now in kindergarten), Watts is also on the team. It was FREEZING cold this morning, but that didn't stop the fun the kids were having. It will be every Saturday morning until the middle of May from 9-10am. Ellie was so excited when she learned we could go back AGAIN next week!

Celebrating a Milestone 5th Birthday!

Life doesn't get any better than a magical carousel ride!

Happy 5th Birthday Ellie

"HEY! It's my BIRTHDAY!!

We started the day signing 'Happy Birthday' with lots of celebration planned throughout the day!

Irish Soda Bread

I've been reading too many food blogs lately .. and the Irish Soda Bread has been pretty popular these days! I found a recipe I liked and made this wonderful treat on Sunday afternoon.

Irish Soda Bread
3 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cups chopped dates (traditionally it calls for currents, but I could only find dates. I'm sure raisins would work just fine, but we like the dates!)


Combine all dry ingredients (flour, powder, salt and sugar). Add egg and buttermilk to make a wet dough. Add melted butter, saving the chopped dates for last.


You may pour batter into a well-greased loaf pan, or flour your hands and shape into a round loaf and bake on parchment paper.


325 degrees for 65-70 minutes.

Sunny Sunday

Getting ready for next week's soccer league to open
Action Shot!

Tending to the the yard and plantings

"But I have to show you something first...."

Raking up a storm!

It's bright and sunny this morning, so we headed outside to get a bit of yardwork done and enjoy the air. It'll only reach the high 60's today, but we're okay with that as we know the warmer weather is just around the corner.

Ellie's Birthday Party

Fancy Nancy at her finest!
Swinging the skirt before the dance!

Ellie's Princess Cake

Sydney, Riley and Ellie - commonly seen together!

Ellie building something at the museum

Riley and Ellie bowing out the candles

Pizza Party

Sydney, Emma, Riley, Abby, Kayla and Josephine

beside Ellie opening her gifts!

A new kickball!

Today was Ellie's birthday party at the Discovery Museum at the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville. It was a gorgeous day with temps in the 70's and bright sunshine! 5 of Ellie's friends from school shared her birthday party celebration with pizza and birthday cake! They ran and played until they were ready to rest, and then we brought in pizza and drinks! The girls enjoyed cake, watched Ellie open presents, and took home treat bags with tiaras, magic wands and lots of Fancy Nancy stuff!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Here are some of my favorite images of today's celebrations!

NYC Parade - Hibernians .. and BAGPIPES!!

NYFD in full regale

White House with green fountain!

Chicago River - dressed in green!

Time to be in the planting beds ..

Finally our shrubs are replaced. Although we lost two tall shrubs on either side of the front door, we replaced them with somewhat small spruce trees, a couple holly bushes and 4 azalea bushes to begin the 2011 Spring season!

Ellie REALLY wanted flowers, so I caved and got some pansies for just outside the front door. It was $5 well spent for the 5 6-pks in purple and yellow. They really make it look like Spring has arrived. After today .. and a high of 74 degrees .. I'd be happy to think it's here to stay!

Yanks, BoSox pitch in to help girl

Updated Mar 4, 2011 5:04 PM ET
TAMPA
Hours before a game last September, word went around the Yankee clubhouse that hitting coach Kevin Long wanted to gather the entire team for a rare meeting.
Soon, the players were huddled up, and Long told them about Bridget, an 11-year-old girl they had never met, the daughter of Ron Johnson, the first base coach for the Red Sox.

Bridget, Long said, had been in an accident. She was riding a horse alongside the road in August, near the Johnsons' Tennessee home. A driver came around the corner a little too fast and plowed into Bridget's horse, severing the young girl's leg above the knee.

Bridget survived, and doctors re-attached the leg — but her body rejected it, and it had to be removed. She would need a prosthetic leg, and although the Red Sox had been financially generous to Johnson, money was still a problem, Long told the roomful of Yankee players.
Johnson had been Long's minor-league manager in the mid-1990s. When Long's playing career was winding down, Johnson helped Long get his first coaching job, with the Kansas City Royals — even going to management on Long's behalf when a promised job offer didn't materialize. It was a debt Long always wanted to repay.

"Our friendship is deep. It goes way, way back," Long said. "Friends aren't just there for the good times, they're there when things go backwards on you. Anything I could help him with, I wanted to do."

Bridget's story touched the Yankees. It did not matter one bit that Johnson worked for the rival Red Sox, pitcher A.J. Burnett said.

"He came to us, and you could hear it in K-Long's voice how important it was to him," Burnett said. "You just wanted to help in any way you can. We're a huge family here. Whether you're a Yankee or anybody else, we're all in it together.''

Johnson is a baseball lifer, playing a handful of games as a big first baseman for the Royals and Montreal Expos in the mid-1980s, then beginning a long slog through the minor league coaching ranks. He finally reached the majors as Boston's first base coach in 2010.

Long's story is similar. The two men bonded over their respective treks, and reveled in each other's successes.

"The day I got the big-league job, he was one of the first ones to call. The day he got the big-league job, I was one of the first ones to call him," Long said.

That kind of life has been rewarding, but not lucrative. Suddenly confronted with spiraling medical bills for Bridget's care and recovery, Johnson's finances were shaky.

Johnson has made a lot of friends over his 30 years in baseball, but few of the Yankee players knew him beyond seeing him in a Red Sox uniform by first base. But they knew he needed help, and that was enough, said Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.

"When you hear things like that, it's a fellow worker. You just want to help. Especially when it comes to the family, you know?" Rivera said.

One by one, they wrote out checks to help — significant checks, though none would say how much. They were said to be just as generous as the Red Sox players, who themselves had ''passed the hat'' and opened their wallets to help the Johnsons through.

Long gathered it all up and mailed it to Tennessee, where Ron Johnson had just spent 34 straight days living in the hospital with his daughter, as she healed and learned to adjust to life without her leg.

"We got out of the hospital, we got home, and one day this package showed up from the Yankees," Johnson said.

Johnson opened it, curious, his wife Daphane nearby.

"I said, 'Huh?' And it was from Kevin. With a little note, saying 'I never forgot what you did for me, and I hope this helps.' It was incredible. I showed it to Daphane, she started crying," Johnson said.

Women's History Month

Andrea Copeland, Jude, Peggy Echols, Julie Maloy - March 2011 (WHM)

Jude with Peggy, March 2011 - Leadership Panel (WHM)
Jude & Peggy, May 2010 - Heart Ball, Boar's Head

In honor of Women's History Month I arranged a Women's Leadership Panel to speak at State Farm today to kick off the month of March with a bang!

Peggy Echols, Vice President Operations - State Farm

Julie Maloy, Vice President Agency - State Farm

Cathy Smith Train, President - United Way/Thomas Jefferson area

Andrea Copeland, President - Positive Channels programming