Jake's Bug Show

Well...Jake's bug show finally came! The day we were all waiting for...the day he had the line...."I am a maggot." Those are words a mother always wants to hear...right??? :-)

That's right...it was a show about bugs at a picnic....and of all the bugs, my son got the part of the maggot. I don't think he even knows what a maggot is...or even the bad connotation a maggot has...so that is great...but for a mommy...it is horrible to say, "My son is the maggot!" I managed though...and he was the BEST maggot EVER! He is in the white...like a maggot...with green antennas...unlike a maggot....

Here he is delivering his lines...."I am a maggot." He said that at two different times. At least he had an easy part. He got SO upset though because everyone laughed at him. I tried to explain why everyone laughed. I said, "They weren't lauging at you...they were laughing at HOW you said it...and the fact that you were a maggot." He still didn't understand why all of these adults laughed at him. Poor thing. I don't think drama is his forte. He was SOOO nervous before and very relieved but sad after because he was laughed at. Oh...my poor Jakie.....

He did an OUTSTANDING job though...and he even made his own antenna's!

MaKenna's Figure Skating Lessons

So...our boys are hockey players....our girl could be too...but she decided to go the girly route. She is a figure skater in training. This is her second year in the program and she is doing great! Usually Jeff takes her to practice because typically the boys have practice right after her...but one of our rinks' ceilings fell in...so they had to redo their scheduling. So...this particular night, I got to go and Papa came to watch too. It was a lot of fun to see her out there! Of course, it was kinda funny. We go to this rink ALL the time and she had to tell me how to get there! She was so cute...but since I don't usually go to her practice, she thought she should tell me! I let her tell me even though I could get there with my eyes shut and in my sleep. She also had to tell me how to appropriately tie her skates. I let her tell me...and I did just what she said!

Baby Evie

The following post is from my friend Lindsey's blog. Baby Evie has been really sick with RSV...and in and out of the hospital. Please keep them in your prayers.....

Hi Friends! We were discharged late this morning from the hospital and have been spending the rest of the day unpacking, resting, and catching up. Evie is doing great, she has taken two bottles by mouth, so hopefully she will continue to eat well and we can take this NG tube out tomorrow!I have permission to post our new friend Aria's blog, it is aria.org.nz . They have an amazing story of faith through the struggles of a transplant. Check it out and add her to your prayer list!Here are a few pictures from the past 2 weeks (:Love you!
one of many reasons Lyla wanted to stay at the hotel!


don't get too comfortable, mom!
Oh friends, we're back!I was missing this broken recliner so much that Evie decided to re-admit herself to the hospital... and after a mere 30 seconds on the peds floor, she stopped breathing long enough to get us back into the PICU.Details... we called the pediatrician Sunday because Evie was so restless from what we thought was narcotics withdrawl so they perscribed us some Ativan... after giving it once last night she set off her apnea alarm (meaning she stopped breathing for 20+ seconds). Today she intermittently stopped breathing and this evening was doing it as frequently as every 20 minutes. Her O2 saturation would drop in the 60s and 70s, and then we would blow gently in her face, and move her around and she would go back up... but on the peds floor she went down to 5... which is bad. Under 90 is bad, so 5 is really bad. So they called "code" and we were swiftly taken back to the PICU. Evie had a few seizures tonight, so that may be what was happening all along. The docs are going to try some medicine that helped her seizures back in October. Not real happy about seizures, but at least we know what has worked in the past and it's not a "new" problem.I am actually doing okay, I'm past the emotional tired phase of the evening to the delirious "i'm going to regret this in the morning" phase. It's nice that we know most of the people around here and we are in good hands. Once they get Evie's IV placed, I will go to bed (:Thanks for praying for us (: If you could pray that we could get this figured out accurately and quickly that would be wonderful. I am already feeling guilty for putting Lyla through this again so soon. Hopefully it will just be a few days.Love you friends. I'll be thanking God for you from my plastic burgundy recliner (:
Posted by Lindsey at 1:05 AM 4 comments

better afternoon (:
Hi Friends (:Thanks for checking in, Evie had a much better afternoon today. She had an EEG this morning (lots of wires on her head, recording her brain activity) and she had around 6 seizures in under an hour... not good, and totally unexpected. They put her back on the seizure medicine she was on in October when she was first having seizures, and she is responding beautifully. Awake... smiling... napping peacefully.... all good things.Hopefully we'll be home soon, and I'll have more smiley pictures to post. Got ANOTHER great email tonight (Thanks Amanda!) with my heart advice for the day, "Fix your eyes on Me, the One who never changes." Never changes, and loves me more than I can comprehend... I'll take that (:Love you friends!

Book Reviews and giveaway

This book review was a little different than most. This time Multomah provided us with surprise boks! We each got two randomly picked books. If you are interested in reading both or one of these books...comment below for a chance to win one...or both!!!

Fiction lovers don’t need to budget to travel this spring break with Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group’s six full-length novels by beloved Christian authors (WaterBrook, February 16, 2010). At the low cost of only $5.99, these well-read “get-aways” provide quality entertainment at a price that any reader can afford.

The Golden Cross
by Angela Elwell Hunt – Aidan O’Connor may be a poor barmaid but she’s also a gifted artists. When a famous cartographer takes her on as a student, Aidan is swept into an adventure that will bring her back to her heavenly Father, and into marriage with the love of her life.

Faithful Heart
by Al and Joanna Lacy – The adventures of certified medical nurse and dedicated Christian Breanna Baylor continue as she travels by wagon train to visit her sister, Dottie, in California. Little does she know that her most dangerous encounter might be with Jerrod, her brother-in-law, who’s suffering from dementia caused by combat fatigue.

If Christian fiction is something you enjoy reading, you should enjoy these books. Give them a try...you never know!!!

Major's funnies

Major is a funny guy. Anybody ever notice that? I can't figure out if it is HIM...or if the other kids were just as funny and I just don't remember it. Anyway....one of Major's funnies:

-Diapers really help pad the male anatamy. He had a bad diaper rash (yes...we stopped potty training until hockey is over), so I let him run around in just his sweats. He climbed up on his play table and smacked his "boyhood". He looked at me with watery eyes and said, "OUCH MOMMY!" I said, "What?" He pointed at his little crotch and said, "THIS!"

-We are STILL struggling with his eating issue. Last night at dinner, he wouldn't eat his food. There is a plant behind him. He kept grabbing at the plant. So, Jeff decided to pull off a piece of the plant and put it on his plate. He said, "Fine...you want the plant...here you go." This kid won't eat ANYTHING we put in front of him...but he picked up that darn piece of the plant and stuck it in his mouth as if to say...fine...see...just in spite of you! BOOGER!

-Most of you know that for the first 10 years of my life and for a year after married life I lived in Oregon. To this day....though I love sunny days, I HATE the sun. I would just rather it be a cloudy day. Could that be from my first 10 years of life...when I rarely saw the sun in not so sunny Oregon? Anyway, everytime I back out of the garage on a sunny day...the moment the sun hits the inside of the truck Major winces and yells, "LIGHT...LIGHT!!!!" Then proceeds to cry. He must have my Oregonian genes! :-)

-MaKenna, Major and I were saying our bedtime prayers. MaKenna always says, "God bless..." and goes through the whole family. When she got to Major, he lifted his head in the middle of prayer and goes, "What?" It was funny...you kinda had to be there.

-Last night when Jeff found out that MaKenna renamed her teddy bear from Bud (what dad named him) to Sunshine, and when he found out that she turned it from a boy to a girl, he plopped his head on the table in a dramatically sad way. Seconds later Major moved his untouched plate to the side and proceeded to do the same. Very cute!

That's it for now! I am sure there are PLENTY more!

Valentine's Weekend Tournament

I am a bit behind on my blogging. I have been getting ready for the spring consignment sales, busy doing surveys to make a little extra money, etc, etc, etc. Busy, busy, busy!

So...Valentine's weekend. I already shared with you that Jeff and Cam went to Colorado Springs February 10th and came home February 15th. Cam's team (Jeff is the coach) had a tournament up there. So...I have no pictures to share. You know guys! But they had a GREAT time! They drove with my brother in law Mike and my nephew Shawn....so it was a TOTAL guy's week! They stayed in a really nice resort overlooking the rockies and truly enjoyed the weather! They went hiking, they went to a sky ride, they went to Focus on the Family headquarters (that is where all of our fun gifts came from...oh...and the airforce academy), they also had a game AT the airforce academy ice rink! They really thought that was VERY cool! The highlight for them though...at least, I think...was when they went to a Colorado Avalanche and Phoenix Coyotes hockey game!! They had a TON of fun! They even got their pictures professionally taken. Shawn ALL smiles and Cam with blue cotton candy in his hand (you can always find Cam with some sort of food in his hands!). They didn't have as good of luck on their own ice though. They won a couple...but lost a few. :-( They played REALLY good though. Most of the teams they played were in higher levels then them...so all in all, they did GREAT and had a GREAT time!

Now....Jake, Major, Makenna and I had to stay here because Jake had his own tournament here. Once again we had those EARLY morning games. Those are always such fun....NOT. But...once again, my dad baled me out and picked Jake up for me so I wouldn't have to get everyone up. He was picked up at 5:30...that is 2-3 hours before the rest of them wake up. Jake's team remains undefeated in this tournament! They did GREAT!!!! The remainder of this tournament in in Kansas City NEXT weekend. Hopefully they can take the "gold"!

I have some other pictures from this past weekend...but I need to upload them...and then I will be posting! So keep checking back!!

Salivary Gland Stone

So, as is the case with me...whenever Jeff leaves town, SOMETHING happens to make life a bit more difficult. I have come to expect it...though not so much that I cause catastrophe...it is just something that I am not surprised by when he leaves town. Just for example. One year, pregnant with MaKenna, Nacho (grumpy chihuahua) decided to wrip the screen door...then dragged a dead bunny in the house and proceed to knaw on said bunny on my bed leaving blood and bunny hair trails through out the house. Nice. Not only was I pregnant, but I had two other small people to watch out for...AND I had no idea what kind of diseases rabbits carry. Another time pregnant again...not sure with which one...pop was sprayed throughout the kitchen...floor...ceiling...cabinets...walls...appliances you name it. There was a multiple pop explosions...I can't really remember the circumstances that led to this multipole pop spraying explosion extravaganza...but I CLEARLY remember being on my hands and knees, stools, ladders, etc, all weekend, trying to clean the sticky substance off of everything.

Those are just two examples. There are more...but I don't want to bore you.

This trip was no different. I was hit with the "Jeff's out of town...let's get her" demon. Jeff left Wednesday. I felt like I was getting a cold sore in my mouth on Wednesday. Thursday it hurt REALLY bad and it was VERY swollen inside my mouth. I have NEVER had a swollen cold sore before. I couldn't eat or talk without chomping down on my swollen inner cheek. From the outside...all looked fine...but the inside of my mouth was being tortured. I also noticed on Thursday that my lymph nodes on that side of my head were swollen and VERY sensitive. Hmm...odd little cold sore. What made it even weirder was when I tried to attack it with a Q-Tip full of Hydrogen Peroxide...there was no fizzing taking place. Hmmm...I thought I would give it some time. So Friday it was even worse. It hurt SOOO bad. I finally called the doctor. I felt stupid though. I told the nurse I didn't want to come in just for him to tell me it was a nasty cold sore....but at the same time...it was close to the weekend and I needed to know if it was something more. She asked the doctor and he wanted me to come in.

I dropped the kids off at Papa's and I headed to the doctor. He took one look in my mouth and said, "Whoa...wow...yup...I bet that hurts. Gosh....hmmm..." I was dying of suspense! Finally he told me....I had a Salivary Duct Stone. WHO KNEW???? DID ANYONE OUT THERE IN CYBER SPACE HAVE ANY IDEA THAT YOU COULD GET A SALIVARY GLAND STONE???? I find it funny because I AM famous in my family for getting the WEIRDEST ailments....but it also would have to happen when Jeff was gone. Anyway...he said it was badly infected and that my dry mouth (which I attributed to exercising...therefore I was drinking more), was due to the fact that one of my ducts was blocked with that stone...causing the infection...causing the swelling...causing the swollen and very tender lymph nodes. So...he put me on a hefty antibiotic and gave me a steroid cream. He said if it wasn't better by Monday he would manually remove the stone. I didn't even WANT to know what that would consist of. By Sunday the pain was better...I was still a bit swollen...but the pain was better. Monday, no pain....still a little swelling...but no pain...no more dry mouth. Yes...the stone passed!! I feel SO weird saying that...but, it did! No...a week later, no more sign of clogged ducts....no clogged salivary ducts, no clogged milk ducts...no clogged tear ducts...I am ALL CLEAR! Whew! My ducts are running properly! So....now you know...........I am becoming a Salivary Duct Stone Advocate..... :-)