Sad Day

Well today we had to have Molly dog put asleep. We got home on Monday evening and noticed she hadn't eaten any food and was very slow. The dog sitter said that she had eaten until Sunday plus she had gotten sick a couple of times on Monday morning. Well she continued to not get better. Even turned down cheese or any kind of treat. She just followed me around and then would lay down near where ever I was. Then last night (around midnight) she wanted to just lay in the yard...which is so not like her. Plus this morning she just went and laid down in the yard most of the morning. M and I knew that most likely it was the end. I think we were both hoping that she would pass away in her sleep with us, but she didn't. We took her to the vet this afternoon. The vet felt around...mainly spleen and lymph nodes and said they were very swollen. Guess this is common in dogs that have cancer. He said we could run tests and such if we wanted to know for sure but most likely there was nothing to be done. Molly had a full life and was almost 13 years old. We were glad we brought the kids with us. I sat down with them while the vet was out getting paper work and told them that they needed to give her a last hug and kiss. M had talked to them Tuesday night explaining a little bit and we had sort of prepared them. But it was still hard on N...he understood the best. E understood that Molly was not coming home but even now don't think she totally understands it. N is such a dog boy...he loves dogs. I am sure the next week or so will be hard. Right now it's taking things and putting them away or giving them away that is hardest. We know that at some point we will have another dog so want to keep some things.

So going to part with a favorite picture of mine...it's not the greatest since it's blurry but hope it shows how the kids loved the dog and she was part of the family.

Happy B-day Dad!

Just wanted to say Happy Birthday
to Dad/Papa! We love you!


(saw this on someone else's blog and thought this is a great idea...since lately my cards are always late to people.)

E's Nose

I totally forgot to tell about E's nose in the last post. On Saturday morning (before M left on his trip) we went to the park and then we were going to go to lunch downtown. Well we made it to the park and then home after that. :-) There is a part of the toy that has a ladder inside that you climb up to a "third level" that has some slides down from it and a bridge to another slide. Well E likes to climb up there but never goes down the slides. She usually hollers if she gets stuck. Well next thing we know she is climbing back down the ladder and falls. Not sure if she just let go or slipped. But she landed on her face. We thought for sure she had broken her nose, so called the nurse on call and she said if it was broken there isn't anything they could do at the ER. Just have the dr check it in a few days. So we waited until Monday morning and got in to see the Dr. She said everything looks good. It just looked very swollen but didn't look crooked inside or broken. Guess there isn't anything they can do until the swelling goes down anyways if it is broken. She said one sign of a broken nose is snoring at night or not breathing thru the nose. Which E hasn't not had either one of those. So a good sign. The swelling has gone down some and now it is just a yellowish color mainly. There is some purple too. I have taken a few pictures. The first one (top of paragraph) is Day 1 (the day it happened). The next is Day 2 (peach colored shirt) and the next is today, Day 5. I will probably do a scrapbook page about it. :-)

We are Alive

Ok we are here. Just busy. We had a fun time with my parents and sister here. The kids loved the surprise! I will post some pictures later from that time. Plus my sister got some cool pictures that I will post the link to here later too. I am going to use some of them on a layout. Yep I am actually getting some scrapping done these last few nights. :-)

M left on Sunday in the morning. I was so tired after working until a little after midnight. But we got him off. He will be back on Saturday afternoon. The kids and I are doing fine. N has summer camp this week and is loving that. (mornings only). E is loving the time with just me. You can tell she missed that. We are just trying to keep busy around here since we seem to have lots of time w/o daddy around. :-) I am actually almost done refinishing and painting the back door that goes into our bedroom. That has been on the to do list for awhile. Will be glad when that is done! I need to replace the weather stripping in there too but not going to do it now.

We are busy too getting ready to go to the cabin. We leave town right after picking up M at the airport on Saturday. So we should get to the cabin about 10pm we think. We are stopping for dinner with Barb and Dave so that will be fun too. The kids have said that they want to pack their own stuff too. :-) So Friday will be interesting to say the least. LOL

I am on jury duty this week too. My number was called for yesterday. So handed off the kids to a friend who has kids the same age and they all love to play together. She was a lifesaver!!!! Anyways, on the way downtown I got called back saying that the case was settled out of court and didn't need to come. But still call in every night to check in. ugh! I was hoping I would be done with it. I might still be done with it but who knows what will happen by Friday. So instead of picking up the kids my friend told me to go do something. So I went to the mall all by myself! It was weird to be there by myself and no kids! I looked for a new swimsuit but did not find anything! Then I went grocery shopping for the trip. That was nice to do with no kids! Thanks again to my friend!!!!!

Okay time to get this day started. Everyone dressed and out the door to get to camp. Have a great day!

Excited!

Okay N is excited about his birthday on Friday and then party on Saturday. I think E is just excited that she gets to see her friend on Saturday (big brother is coming to the party too). I am excited to see my sister and parents!!! I am wishing it was Thursday right now and I would be at work. But then I have a few things that I am finishing up...like laundry and birthday party bags tonight plus some more thank you cards. Then tomorrow I need to dead head some flowers, clean bathrooms and mop floors. Then I will be ready to leave for work. Plus I leave early for work with the van b/c I will be picking up 14 balloons before work. Then take them into work so they won't pop in the car from the heat. Then go pick up Leah at the airport at 10:15pm. Yea! I know 14 balloons sounds like alot but really only like 4 or 5 for N. There will be a balloon for each kid that is coming to the party...they will start out as decoration first and then as they leave they get one with a party bag. Then there will be 3 on the fence gate so guests know that this is the house and the gate to come thru. :-) So really we won't be keeping 14 balloons at this house for long...which I and M will be glad of. :-)

Time for Pictures

Okay I have been bad about getting pictures up from the last few weeks so here goes.

(Left) This is of N sleeping in our room a couple days after the surgery.

(Right) Graduation at the Elementary School.




Taken at our favorite park for pictures. This was towards the end of N's recovery time. He looks even better now!

Then the other picture is at the same park...first time I have gotten one of the flowers like I wanted!!!






I am sure after this weekend I will be posting a bunch more pictures of N's birthday party. He invited 6 kids. 5 of them are coming. Plus 3 little sisters to play with E. So we will have 8 kids plus our two. Then the parents. Should be alot of fun! Plus I am picking my sister up from the airport Thursday night after work to surprise the kids Friday morning when they wake up. Then Friday night we are surprising the kids with my parents flying in that evening. So it will be alot of fun!!! Have a great weekend!

Great day ...

so far! N woke up at 4:30 and asked to sleep on the floor in our room. I said okay. Then asked if he needed some medicine. He told me no and went back to sleep. He still has not wanted any meds and even has eaten some cheese. He's been talking up a storm this morning too. Plus gotten a little bossy (like normal). :-) We shall see how the rest of the day goes. I will be updating with some photos later today.

Finally an Update

Sorry it has taken me awhile to blog. Time has gotten by with us being busy. We had a fun memorial weekend in Seattle with family. The kids loved spending time with their cousins, grandparents, and aunt & uncle. It was a lot of fun. Will post pictures either later today or tomorrow.

We have been busy since Tuesday after Memorial Day with N's surgery. If we are ever told that E's tonsil/adenoids need to be taken out we will be seriously be talking to the dr about it. We thought this would be a little easier. I knew that N wouldn't take well to the surgery part and some of the pain but it has been worse then we thought. It's like the pain meds (prescription) wears off about 3-3.5 hrs after taking the dose...which we are not to give the next dose until close to 4 hrs. So that last 30 minutes are tough on him. Won't even go into how it makes him feel somewhat b/c it is Tylenol w/Codeine. Plus we were told that he had to have food in his stomach to take it. So if he wasn't' eating around the time then to give him Tylenol. Well come to find out 3 days ago that Tylenol doesn't work hardly at all and needs to take the prescription. And that he can just have a drink in his stomach to take it. Anyways...starting 3 nights ago (maybe it was 4...a little sleep deprived right now) N started waking up and crying screaming around 10pm. Two nights it took 1-1.5 hrs to calm him down and get him back to sleep. Then wake up again 4 hours later. Well 2 nights ago I purposely woke him up at 9:30 to give him meds and then he slept until 1:15a and got him to take some more and then back to sleep fairly fast. Then last night he slept from 8pm-6am except for when I came home from work at 10pm the garage door woke him but easily got him back to sleep. Then today has been a good day with some eating and only one small breakdown when meds were starting to wear off. Here is hoping that it just gets better from here!

The weather is so crazy here! Right now it is very windy and the temp is right around 60 degrees. Yesterday it was raining and a little above 60 degrees. Then before that it was hot outside. Like 100 degrees for two days!!!! Here is hoping that this weekend is nice enough to go outside to fix up the gardens in the back some more since N's birthday party will be here at the house in the backyard. :-)

Well time to get some laundry done. :-)

A Dream/Wish

An fellow Idahoscrapper sent this to me. I am going to be sending a card to him and thought maybe some of you would like to.

http://www.shaneswish.com/

Mom's Day

I got this off a friend's blog and I love it. It is so true...there are hard times but I would never change anything! Happy Mother's Day!

Before I was a Mom
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom - I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to
put them down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I
couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so
much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom -
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so
important and happy.

Before I was a Mom -
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every
10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache,
the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a
Mom.

Update on N

Well N saw the ENT today. On June 29th he will be having his first surgery. He will have his tonsils and adenoids taken out. Plus he will most likely have a tube put into the left ear. The dr said that the ear was still gross looking and lots of pus. So she will drain it while he is under and then most likely put in a short term tube to keep it drained. (Can't do much else and she is worried about leaving it longer b/c of hearing lose.) Most likely it happened b/c of all the other tonsil/adenoid things going on. He had to have a camera put down his nose (which he did not like). His adenoids are swollen to 70%. Meaning they are much too large for his age. They are surprised he is not snoring more. Then his tonsils look gross too. He has pretty much had tonsillitises and we didn't even know it. The reason he has had so many colds/allergies (which we are now not sure it was truly allergies) is b/c of the tonsils and adenoids. This should help with the colds/allergies, purpleness under his eyes, sleeping in (maybe), and nose picking will be gone. Plus it might help with coughing (asthma) and never know might help some with some speech aspects (but most likely won't notice it).

So for now until then we will be only on tylenol and augementant (antiobiotic so his ear won't hurt him until then). Then afterwards we will have some pain meds and pushing liquids. He doesn't like the idea that he doesn't get to ride his scooter for a week afterwards. :-) He should be all better for his birthday...so am glad about that.

Have a great Tuesday!

Adult Humor

Okay a friend sent this link on a group I am on. I love this! It was a much needed laugh today. Ellie is whiny (think from the ears...which will hopefully be taken care of tomorrow) and Nathan I don't think got enough sleep last night (crying at the drop of a hat). Atleast their friends are over today to play for most of the day. :-)

Layout

Finished this layout last night and I love it! Thought I would share. :-)

Warm Day

Well today was certainly a very warm day! :-)

This morning the kids and I went and got flowers for mommy to plant and water shoes so the kids could play later in the pool. E's ear was still bleeding with the discharge. So called the pedia dr office. Love that office since they have appts on the weekend if necessary with the on call dr. It was our dr on call and she wanted to see her. Could we come straight down. So off we went. Yes E has a ruptured ear drum (the tube was gone) and the other one is barely in and junk in there too. So both ears are gross inside. So onto a new antiobiotic and keep up the ear drops. Then if we still see blood by Weds she wants us to call the ENT's office and tell them that she needs to be seen to clear them out before Monday (which is the day we have an appt).

Came home afterwards and ate lunch. Then outside for just a little bit to fill up the little pool so the water would be warm after nap. Then down for nap...which everyone needed...even mommy! :-) Got up and swimsuits on and outside we went. We spent 2.5 hours outside. Kids playing and mommy planting and cleaning up flower beds. I still have one more flower bed to go but atleast the main one is done and pots are planted too. N loved the sprinkler but E did not. She kept telling me it was raining. I think it was partly that she was tired out from playing and the ear.

Came in and had a warm bath while mommy cleaned bathrooms. Then time for dinner and a movie. :-) Now time for calling daddy to say good night. Then off to sleep. Then tomorrow will be another warm day and after church we will play some more. :-)

Have a wonderful Saturday evening and Sunday.

Mommy's New Toy

Well I finally decided what I was going to do about two weeks ago after going to the McCall weekend crop. I wanted a system that I could do alot more with and not cost as much in the longer run. I looked at two different systems. One you had to buy cartridges for. The other you did not but you might have to buy a few things (shapes and such) online but not if you could find something to scan and play with. So I decided that later. Well so I started searching to see how much I could get for all the "cutting" stuff I already had by Quickutz and Sizzix if I sold them on ebay. Figured out I could do it. So I listed everything on ebay and to some friends. I sold them all for prices that worked for me. I had enough!!! So called the local store and sure enough they had one in. So went and bought it the day M left town for his guys weekend away (Thurs-Sunday). All I could think of was now I had it!!! But I knew I probably wouldn't get to set it up right away. Sure enough I just got it set up and did the first test run about 20 minutes ago. So far I love it!!! I can cut anything from 1/4" to 8". Plus I can use any true fonts that are already on the computer...so no more buying new fonts or worrying about not having the right font. From now on I pretty much do not have to buy any more lettering or shapes from the store. I can make them myself!!! There is still much to figure out and have fun with but so far I love it!!! It is called the Silhouette by Quickutz. It's pretty much a printer that cuts. (Digital Craft Cutter). Now I just want to find or make a cover for it. :-)


So M is gone for the weekend. He left for work Thursday morning and then all of the guys meet at 2:30 and left town from there. He will be back on Sunday. They all take their computers up to a place called The Depot (sp?) in Cascade, ID (near McCall). Then they all play hooked up together certain games. The all choose a meal to cook and bring the food. That way only one of them at a time is cooking/making the food. They have a great time and it's good for M to get away like that!

The kids and I have been doing fine. It has gotten quite warm here so we have been outside alot. I finally worked on the flower bed near the walkway and have it all nice and neat and like I want it now! I am so glad...it has been bugging me like crazy. Then tomorrow we are going to work in the backyard. I was going to put out the bird bath and stuff since the kids are old enough now but I think it might be in the attic since I can't find it in the garage. So that means i need to wait for M to get home for that. :-( But I can atleast get my pots done and clean up the winter stuff in the flower beds. We might have to run to the flower shop but that won't be bad. :-) Plus I might get out the pool and blow it up and put some water in since it will be in the 80's here.

We won't be going to soccer tomorrow though. I figure we need a weekend here at home w/o doing a ton of stuff. N seems to be doing ok with his ear but who knows b/c the last time we thought it was gone all the way. We won't know for absolute until Friday. But E's pink eye is back some. (so more eye drops...which is not fun with her!). Then today she started crying and saying her ear hurt when we went up a small hill in the car here in town. Well look back and sure enough she has some drainage. It was wierd b/c she had never cried like that before with ear infections (drainage out of the tubes). So called the ear doctor and left a message for the nurse to call me back. She called me back and we talked about it. What worried her some was that the last time they looked the tubes were about half way out (which was about 3-4 months ago). So she isn't sure what is going on. She wonders if the ear drum might have ruptured. So she told me to start the ear drops in both ears. Then we go in on the 7th to see the ear doctor (the earliest appt we could get...which was good). If it is still bugging her big time on Monday will take her to the pediatrician and make sure there isn't anything else to do before the 7th. She has been whine and stuff but was just associating that with her age. :-) But now wonder. The nurse was surprised that she had an infection since she is on amoxicilian (last day) for the sinus infection. I told her well when she was a baby it never worked when she had an ear infection. So now I guess it is a wait for a week and see what will happen. Tomorrow night I plan to clean this house like a crazy and keep windows open for fresh air alot lately and hopefully all this yucky stuff will go away!!! :-)

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Soccer

Well here is a soccer video of N at practice. He did really well until half way through...which is good for how crappy he must have been feeling. The boy in the red jacket and red hat is a friend from preschool. M couldn't figure out why he kept going to sit next to this boy. Finally figured it out when he took his hat off and I could see from where I was sitting. :-)

Sickness

Well we are fighting sickness around here some more. N has the ear infection plus his eyes were so goopy all weekend. It was gross! Anyways, took him yesterday and he has some new viral thing that includes pink eye, fever (for 3-5 days...haven't seen that part yet), cough (just a little so far) and a scratchy voice. Then his ear infection hasn't gotten any better for the past 4 days so we switched antibiotics. Now hopefully we will not be going back for 10 days! E is doing fine...her cough is almost gone. So guessing the sinus infection is gone. Luckily she is on the antibiotics and hopefully won't catch the pink eye. S's throat is a little scratchy but think just need to keep rested and will be fine. M is hopefully not going to catch anything b/c this weekend is his weekend away with the guys to play and have fun.

The kids got new clothes for Nana J yesterday and they love them. E is such a girl...she loves trying on clothes and stuff. Her waist is so skinny and such a bony butt that alot of things that fit length wise we are having a hard time with the waist. So when she gets new clothes we always have to try them on now. Even at the store if we have time I will have her try things on. It's so different since I never had N ever try anything on at the store. Atleast she loves doing it. I think we will head to Kohl's today and exchange the skort that won't stay on her waist and exchange the boxers that are a tadbit too big for N. He is now a "big" boy. For pjs he is wearing boxers and white undershirts. It's so different and hard to remember that he is growing up. Can't even believe that he goes to Kindergarten next year!

Here's a fun picture that I took of them playing in the box that the clothes came in. :-)

Ear Problems!

Well okay I thought we would get away with no ear problems from N. But no such luck. He got the first ear infection during spring break in Tahoe. (double actually). Well we are now thinking (dr agrees) that maybe it didn't "leave" all the way. B/c starting last night he was complaining and I took him in first thing this morning. Sure enough it is bad again. We are on strong stuff again and have an appt for 10 days to check it again. (Make sure it goes all the way away!). Then we have decided to add a allergy medicine in b/c he has the dark circles under his eyes again badly which means allergy problems. The singular isn't cutting it by iteself but the singular helps keep the asthma away. So will take that in the morning plus the clariton at night. Hopefully after a couple of days he will be looking "normal" again!!!

Okay time for naps for everyone since mommy and N didn't get much sleep last night. And E is whiny as can be today!! Her cough is atleast getting a little better...went and got her the antibotics yesterday (held off for a week to see if we really needed it).

Have a great weekend!!!

Race for the Cure

The place I am working for, Archiver's, has started up a team to do the 5K team walk. I am excited! It should be lots of fun. Since the majority of our customers are women we thought this would be an awesome way to show some support. Plus most of us know someone (family or not) that has been affected by breast cancer. I have sent out some emails asking for donations (which I sometimes feel weird about, but this is for a good cause...one that I support). But some of you I don't have emails for so thought I would post the link here. So if you want to donate anything just click on the link below.

Thank you to those that have already donated!!!

http://race.komenboise.org/goto/SaraD

Busy Time

Okay as my mom pointed out I haven't updated this in awhile. :-) I can't even remember everything that happened last week other then getting ready for my McCall scrapbooking trip and work. I know that it seemed like I didn't have alot of time last week but who knows what it was all about. :-)

This last weekend S went on a scrapbooking retreat with a bunch of other ladies. It was fun. I got a little over half way done with M's air force album. I wish I would have gotten further but oh well...at least it is part way done. I stayed up until 2am each night and got up at 8am. I was exhausted by the time I got home on Sunday. Luckily I got home in time for lunch and then nap on Sunday. :-) Came home to E sick with a worse cough. Plus M had bought the kids (mainly N) a new computer game that he loves. It's star wars legos (everything is made out of legos). He loves it...wants to play it all the time. :-) It's a good motivator for good behavior and listening.

This week we joining the YMCA near us. We love it so far!!! We took the kids up Tuesday night to go swimming. They have a little kiddie pool that only goes up to 1.5 feet. It has two small slides and a couple other "toys" in there. Plus there is a lifeguard on duty all the time. Then there is a huge water slide in another pool that goes into a 3.5 feet water. But they allow any child to go on as long as they have a parent with them. E loved it!!! She wanted to keep going down it with us. She would laugh and scream all the way down. :-) N didn't want to do it until the very end and then he loved it. N had fun in the kiddie pool and the little slides there. He found a friend to play with (just some boy that had the same shorts as him). Matt saw that the diving board was open so he went over and did some diving and had fun. We plan on going swimming at least once a week with the kids. Plus during the summer there will be swimming lessons and they will be at the same time and in the morning so we don't have to take the night time away from things.

My sister and I are going to do a fitness goal together too. Haven't worked it all out but plan on something like 3x a week for 45 minutes. Not sure what the reward will be yet if we beat each other. :-) So M and I talked last night and our plan is going on Mondays and Fridays to work out. Then Friday nights after we work out we can all going swimming. Then I will go during the week during the day. We are paying for the childcare part of the membership (it was so cheap) so that we can do this. The play area is cool too. Oh and there is a rock wall that at certain times kids can go on it with parents. My bet is that E will do it before N. :-)

So now this weekend we will be hanging out around here. Finally getting N to his first soccer "practice" and S working Saturday night. So should be laid back and hopefully the sun will come back out. :-) I am a little tired of the cold, wind and rain.

Have a great weekend!