I hate it when that happens!

When the cat's away the mice will play. The same goes for dogs. I had to leave Mia outside while I took the kids to school. I came home to find she'd netted herself in our minnow net (which dissapoints me because that is much needed to for our annual Huzzah canoeing trip.)
The two boys after our latest trip to see Seth's pediatric urologist in Springfield. They were sleeping so cute together.
Sometimes Spencer goes so hard during the day that he just can't make it up onto the couch for his nap.

Poor Pipsqueak cont.

Left: a much needed trip to the children's museum for some fun.

bottom: "me cheese momma"
Sethie started to recover from his hernia surgery. Then, 5 days later he developed a fever. His entire stomach was red and inflamed, he wouldn't let me put him down all day and he drew his legs up. There was an infection. We got medicene. We were to go back to the doctor in a week. We did and the infection was better but still there and the incision was trying to close up. The doctor to my disgust, had to open the incision so the wound would air dry. So, air dry I was told and air dry I did. Sethie ran around the house with a sweatshirt on and Jeff's socks as thigh high leg warmers. It just begged for an incriminating picture.

Let's Bowl!

Joe went bowling for the first time last weekend with our church's family bowl day. He was a blast. Just getting the ball all the way down to the pins was a huge triumph for him and for us (not having to call the attendant every time.) He got so thrilled when his ball made it down; he jumped and clapped every time - which encouraged us all the jump and clap for joy. Kids are truly the spice of life.

I want to turn 13 years old!

Skyler's friends are all turning 13 and boy the parties they're having. One girl's parents rented out a hall, hired a DJ and had a dance for all the kids. Last weekend, Skyler's friend hired a limo which took the 8 boys to Monicals for pizza. The mom even bought them all sunglasses so they would look cool in the limo. What fun!

Poor Pipsqueak

My little pipsqueak had to have hernia surgery last Thursday. Actually, he was supposed to have the surgery a month ago. I had made a coffee cake for breakfast for the kids and grandma to cook before school. Once out of the oven, Jeff gave Seth a teeny tiny piece thinking that wouldn't do any harm. This was all before I was downstairs or grandma was here. Well, suffice it to say that Seth did not get surgery that day. When the aneshesia docs say no food they mean it. So, our surgery was rescheduled to last Thursday. I kept Seth in bed until it was time to walk out the door so no one would feed him (his power of persuasion is undeniable.) His surgery went fine but when I gave him his Tylenol 3, he threw up and then wouldn't eat for about 4 days. He finally pinked up and would eat and play until this past Tuesday. Throughout the night Monday night he would wake up and cry and then fall back asleep. He did that several times through the night. Tuesday he kept his knees drawn up to his chest and wouldn't let me put him down. As the day went on, I noticed his incision site getting red and he developed a fever. A four-o-clock phone call to the doctor left me with 2 conclusions: doctors are selfish and they think the rest of us are idiots. The doctor wanted Seth to be seen in HIS town when one of his residents could look at the wound and relay the information (because of course he was going home for the day). When I asked the nurse why my doctor couldn't relay the same information to the doctor, she simply said it would be best if we came to Springfield. So after cancelling our dinner plans, which I was so looking foward to, Jeff and I packed up the 5 kids and went to the Springfield ER (for what I believed was a postsurgical infection requiring antibiotics). Once we were at St. John's Jeff overheard the receptionist telling someone else that it was a 5 hour wait. Being the problem solver Jeff is and very impatient to boot, he gets the doctor on the phone and within 10 minutes we are going up to peds to use one of their beds. The resident looks at Seth for maybe 2 seconds and says "yep, its infected" and wrote the prescrition. Now, 2 days later he is 80% back to normal. Thank God. My camera battery is dead and don't have any pictures. A friend brought him a postsurgical gift and I wish I could have gotten a picture of him when he opened it. It was a crayola paint set, a race car and a ball. God help the person who comes between him and his ball.

2 BIG milestones in one week

Joe is the one in the water - notice the NO TEARS aspect

Sierra and her friend dressing up Joe
At Skyler's family birthday party, the ice cream cake was so hard we had to pull out the power tools to cut it.


Jojo received swimming lessons for Christmas from Grandma and he attended his first lesson last week. We had tried lessons last spring and Joe screamed in the poor instructor's ear for a half hour each week. Not to be a quitter, I tried the lessons again hoping his maturity would lend itself to the fun of swimming. Well, it didn't look like he'd stay so I went to put Seth in the nursery and to get my suit on to jump in to help (or enable depending on what type of parent you are). I glanced through the glass and to my delight, he was listening intently to the instructor and wasn't standing by the door waiting for me. So I copped a squat and watched him. I did feel a bit bad for not going back to the pool but he obviously didn't need my help. I will not gloat however because round two is this thursday - and I'll hope for the same results.

Big milestone # 2 is that Jeff and I are the proud parents of a .....(scary movie music) TEENAGER. Skyler turned 13 this weekend so we threw a slumber party to celebrate. The boys ate tacos and of course cupcakes and ice cream and spent the evening running between the PS2 and WII. They were a pleasure to host - good manners, very polite - and the best part is that they were in sleeping bags watching a movie at 11:30!!! They always threaten to stay up all night at sleepovers.

Since they were so good, I said we'd have another slumber party to wrap up basketball this weekend.

Happy Birthday Poppo!

Our passenger pooch. Her first car ride to pick the kids up from school. They had so much fun showing Mia off.
Doccy hard at work on Poppo's birthday gift. Doc and Sierra hammered this tool box kit together then painted it for Poppo's 69th Birthday.
We are still very thankful to be around our family to celebrate these milestones together.