Merry Christmas

All she wants for Christmas...

My Rosie lost her first tooth tonight at our candlelight service at church.

I remember sleepless nights when this tooth was brand new...

Christmas break

Today was the last day of school for the kids. They are very excited to be out and are looking forward to many days of playing endlessly. The boys have a wild idea that they will stay up until midnight every night. This strikes me as funny because Lake is usually asking me if he can go to bed at eight o'clock each night!

The picture above is one of 55 that we took trying to get one for our Christmas card. It's not the one we chose - I'll post it later.

A box of surprises

I probably should have taken a picture of the items in the box that arrived yesterday. TBird sent a box of goodies that included these two football jerseys (Lake in the Auburn and Tate in the Tennessee Titans), a pink t-shirt exclaiming "Tough Guys Wear Pink", an Auburn t-shirt, a box of cookies (one of which Daisy is having for breakfast - they have dark chocolate on them, so that makes them sort of healthy, right??) (John Henry, I promise she will eat something else more appropriate along with it ;)) Anyway, the list of contents goes on and on...

One quick note about yesterday. Lake was awarded Student of the Month for December. This month was chosen on "knowledge." The criteria was that the child had to be actively seeking knowledge in all things and not just accepting things as they are presented.

Daisy

At Daisy's four year check up she weighs 39 pounds and is 43 inches tall. She had to get four vaccinations and I did not prepare her - in fact, I hadn't even thought about them because it has been so busy here! She was a real trouper during the administration of them but afterwards she wasn't very happy with me. Finally last night before bed I explained to her why they are necessary and that I wasn't keeping the information from her - I had honestly forgotten that she was getting them! As she was getting very sleepy she said to me, "Mommy, I love you so much."

Oh, Daisy, I love you, too.

Lake

Yesterday I took Lake and Daisy to the pediatrician for their annual check up. Lake weighs 80 pounds and is 56.5 inches tall. He has 20/20 vision. None of his moles look suspicious (of course, one of my main concerns!) We are starting a head ache journal. In the past five months he has had four headaches that have made him nauseous to the point of vomiting. We are also trying a medication to see if it helps any. His head hurts several days out of the week. Other than that, he is a very healthy, growing, boy.

all over again

Rosie returned to school today. She's been home with me all week. She's battled a fever virus with fever reaching over 104 and just when we thought she was over it, she developed pink eye. The pediatrician said she could return to school today. Yesterday she was feeling much better but was still contagious. After we took everyone else to school, we stopped for some craft materials. We spent the morning making things - we made a crown, a photo frame and a book about the months of the year. She loved it. I loved it. I had determined that we would spend the day together - how often do I get her to myself (other than running errands or scheduled events?) Not very often.

All in all, it was a great time for us. However, it just made this morning that much harder. It was like the first day of school all over again. She had a few tears this morning until I reminder her that her friends at school missed her and would be so excited to have her back. That seemed to cheer her.

But my, oh my. My heart hurts. I miss her. I've cried for her. It's going to be a long six hours.

poetry

Tate's class is studying a unit on poetry. They spent several days reading poetry. Now they have moved on to writing their own.

A poem from yesterday, written by Tate:

I went to the lake
to look for the beach
I made a mistake
and found a peach.

Breathing

We are still here - it's just been very hectic!

Tate has been sick with strep throat. He's feeling better and went back to school today. Rosie either has strep or a stomach virus. She has a fever, severe stomach pain and vomiting. I took her to the pediatrician this morning. Her rapid strep test came back negative, we'll know for sure in the morning. Her fever has reached 103 but as of right now, she's unable to keep anything on her stomach.

Daisy and Lake are feeling fine, for the time being!

I did have a bit of good news last week. The secretary at Tate's school called to tell me that Tate was selected as 'Student of the Month.' On Friday, there was to be an assembly announcing this to the rest of the school. Also, on Friday, Tate's class was performing a play for the school. Tate had the lead role in the play. You've got to have the bad with the good, right? Well, Friday was when Tate woke with a fever and 'knives' in his throat. I called the teacher and explained the situation. Another child read his lines during the play. Tate was very disappointed about missing the play but understood that he was sick and he didn't want to get his friends sick.

I wish I could say the same for the girl that shared microphones with him....who had a fever the day before....but the mother sent her to school anyway so that she wouldn't miss out on the play. Sure, the girl only came for the play practice but that was enough to infect my child and possibly my entire family.

Not today

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, Daisy's class was asked to list some things that they are thankful for. The teacher then transferred the list onto a turkey that the children had decorated.

I was very curious to know what my youngest child is thankful for. Her list:

Earrings (she doesn't own any, nor are her ears pierced)
Mama
Daddy
Rosie

Of course, I had to ask, "What about Lake and Tate? Aren't you thankful for your brothers?"

Her reply?

"Not today."

Turkey Bowl

A tradition at Lake's school (third, fourth and fifth grade of the magnet program) is the annual Turkey Bowl. The third grade, which consists of five classes played today.

The kids learn the basics in P.E. Each class picks a captain (in this case it was Lake) and a quarterback (also Lake). The teachers do not interfere. The P.E. coach is the referee.

The games really teach the kids 'hands-on' leadership and team work.

Lake's class won their first game and then later lost in the second round.

Healthy report

I took Tate to the doctor this morning for his seven year old check-up. He weighs 70 pounds and is 54 inches tall. After the appointment we went to lunch together. All in all it was a very nice morning with my youngest son.

Observing dance class

Once a year, the parents are invited into dance class to observe. This is Rosie's third year to dance and she still loves it.

This is Daisy's first year to dance. It was her turn to be the leader and she did a great job!

This was too funny! The class lasts for an hour: 20 minutes of ballet, 20 minutes of tumbling and 20 minutes of tap. During the 20 minutes of tumbling she was trying to get my attention by making funny faces at me.

Four

It was an absolutely beautiful day for a party at the park. Daisy had a great time with her friends and family.


Oh, she's not a baby anymore, is she?

On her last day to be three

Waiting

Last Saturday I was away from the house for a while. When I returned, I was told about some accident involving milk.

Later I came upon this little fellow.

He was waiting on a turn in the washing machine. He was the victim of the milk accident.

Thankfully he was not crying. Only waiting.

halloween

Two observations from our trick or treating last night:

1)Tate is very protective of Rosie. At any house that was giving away candy containing peanuts, Tate would ask if they had anything else for his sister because she is allergic to peanuts.

2)Towards the end of the evening Daisy was of course, getting tired. The boys went to a house and Daisy stayed with me. I asked her why she didn't go trick or treating. She didn't answer. Once the boys were headed back to the side walk, she asked them, "What kind of candy do they have?" I didn't hear their answer but it must have met her approval because we had to wait on her to trick or treat at that house!

fall

Fall cupcakes in honor of baby A's first birthday!

I don't know why they were huddling around the pumpkin before we carved it....

Daisy liked cleaning out the pumpkin!

Our jack 'o lantern

accessories

The girls needed accessories before going to the baby shower for our cousin on Saturday. Aunt M supplied the necklaces and bracelets. When Rosie realized that she had left her purse at home, well, Aunt M came to the rescue!

Simply beautiful

Finally, we meet

This weekend was a whirlwind of fun. The highlight was the meeting of this little man. We have prayed for him since before he was born and are so glad to have him in our lives!




Daisy finally has a baby to hold!

Going home

Well, we aren't actually going HOME but,

You know the old saying?

"Home is where the heart is"

We are going to visit with lots of family this weekend. Lots. of. family. We will finally get to meet little Andrew. I cannot wait to get my hands on the little guy. I'll probably have to wait my turn, though because my children are busting at the seams to meet him. Lake told me that if Trixie is busy that he can watch Andrew and make sure he stays safe. We'll also get to see several aunts and uncles and cousins that we haven't seen in a few years.

It will heal that part of my heart that has needed to be with them.

Finally... A name to put with the tears

Rosie has been suffering for several months with stomach pain and nausea. She experiences these several times a week. I thought it was because of all the changes such as starting kindergarten and having surgery on her scalp. When I took her for her five year old check up I mentioned it the doctor and after talking with him about it, we decided that it needed to be investigated further. So, we saw a gastroentestinal doctor and after his exam he decided that he needed to perform an upper endoscopy on her. She had this on Wednesday. She has been diagnosed with gastritis.

Evidently this is a fairly common ailment. The main concern for me is of course, getting her feeling better and also finding out what caused it. Usually this is caused by alcohol, smoke or aspirin.

Ummm, she's five years old.

The other cause is a bacteria in the lining of the stomach. The doctor biopsied the lining of her stomach (commonly done during an endoscopy) and we should know if she has this bacteria sometime early next week. Meanwhile, she is taking medication that should help with the pain. The very real pain that she has been dealing with for months.

Choosing pumpkins

We went to the pumpkin patch during our fall break nearly two weeks ago. My rule for pumpkin picking is that you have to be able to carry your pumpkin all the way to the van by yourself. I started this rule years ago when Rosie was a baby and I had to carry her and was unable to carry pumpkins, also.

Toothless, again

And I have his permission to call him "Toothless". With a little coaching and lots of cheerleading from Lake, Tate was able to pull two teeth in just a matter of minutes. The top tooth that is missing has been loose for weeks and needed to come out. These loose teeth have been making it uncomfortable for him to eat for several days. He says his mouth feels better already!

The land of a thousand questions

Last night we took the kids to a football game. We went to several last year - the boys loved going, Rosie loved watching the band and cheerleaders and Daisy tolerated the whole thing by wearing ear muffs and constantly asking if it was over yet.

Fast forward a year:

The boys were still totally 'into' the game. Rosie was very interested in the cheerleaders and semi interested in the actual game. She asked me, "Who is winning?" several times.

And then there's Daisy.

She wore the ear muffs again. She noted that the music wasn't too loud, but she still preferred to wear the muffs. She is the ever observant child - NOTHING gets past her. This was SO evident last night.

Just a sampling of her questions: (and a few of her comments to my answers)

Why is the policeman standing there?
Why are the steps going down to the field blocked by a chain?
Why can't the band play on the field with the football players? (When I explained half time and the players taking a break, getting a drink of water, etc.. she said that they already had a cooler full of water (she noticed this earlier) so did that mean that someone had to bring that to the locker room, too?)
Why are they only playing on one side of the field? (This was funny to me, as our team won 55-14. When the opposing team actually scored, she noticed the side of the field they were on and said, "That's not good, is it Mommy? They just scored a touch down, didn't they?")
She asked several other questions. She asked so many questions that I noticed the only time she wasn't asking me something was for about the first three minutes of the halftime show. She was in awe. Perfectly still. And then the questions started about the drum major.

I think it is safe to say that she has a love of the game - and I mean all of it: the game, the music, the people. In fact she cried when we left. I had to promise her that she could watch a football game today on TV.

Jumping in a series

Slightly

Lake graciously shared his new golf clubs with his siblings last night. They were a bit too heavy for the girls to use properly, but they had fun trying.

The thing I want to draw attention to is: Notice how Rosie has her balls in a neat line? Where does she get that? Well, she comes by it naturally - just ask Trixie. It's just that now I have proof!

Nine

Lake celebrated his birthday at his favorite Mexican restaurant. They even let him wear the sombrero while they sang "Feliz Cumpleanos" to him.

His favorite gift? A nice set of golf clubs from my uncle.

Last day to be eight

Tomorrow my oldest will be nine years old. This is his last 'single digit' birthday.




Smiles with and without teeth showing.

A pumpkin, farming

Have you been 'Booed'?

Well, we have!

We woke up this morning to a bag of candy on our porch and a note explaining that we had been 'booed'!

So, how do you 'boo'?

First you fill a few bags of candy. We filled five. In these bags, you also place three pieces of paper: One that has a poem about 'booing', another has the directions of booing (don't get caught, include the three pieces of paper, don't 'boo' someone that has already been 'booed') and the third paper is a sign for your door exlaiming "We've been booed!" Oh, and you need to do all of this within 24 hours of being 'booed.'

While the instructions say to 'boo' two houses, we decided on five. I let the children decide on who to 'boo'. They made some sweet choices: the widow that lives two houses away from us, a family friend and three children that are often not included in fun things like this. I enjoyed watching their excitement of suprising others - they were plum giddy!

Celebrating early

Lake's birthday is Thursday but we had his party yesterday. I gave him the choice of having his party the weekend before or the weekend after his birthday. He chose the weekend before his birthday. Anyone surprised? I hope not!


As you know, our family enjoys playing disc golf. Although John Henry has suffered two injuries playing the sport (the broken leg last year requiring a plate and 5 pins and knee surgery last week) we intend to keep playing. Lake had been planning on having a 'disc golf' party for several months.

The weather was beautiful. It was a perfect day for celebrating!

All clear

We got the 'all clear' from Rosie's surgeon this morning. All three spots that were removed from her scalp showed to have precancerous potential but were benign.

Lake is much better - yesterday he woke up with a fever and vomiting but is back to his normal, almost nine years old self. Yep, yesterday when he was SO sick and pitiful, he asked me if he would still be sick at his birthday party (Saturday.) He will be returning to school in the morning.

Quick update

John Henry is home from the hospital and doing well. His knee surgery went great and he is not suffering from too much pain. All four kids are at his mother's for the weekend. When they left yesterday, they were all very excited to be spending time with her, especially Daisy. When I talked with them earlier today, the boys were playing chess, Rosie was drawing and Daisy was riding the tricycle.

First pumpkin of the season

And so you can see for yourself that she is doing much better! We went on her first field trip today to the pumpkin patch. She had to keep a hat on because it was very hot and we didn't want her incisions to get a sunburn!

Same song, second verse

Or third verse - depending on which way you look at it!

John Henry is scheduled for surgery on his knee on Friday morning. He has completely torn the lateral ligament away from the bone. As the doctor described it: "It's sort of just hanging there, flapping around." He will also have some repairs made to his meniscus. He will be staying overnight at the hospital on Friday night and hopefully home on Saturday. He will have staples and stitches for ten days (he and Rosie will be a pair!) It could be anywhere from three to six weeks before the doctor releases him to drive.

To update you on Rosie: She went to school yesterday and had a good day. She goes this morning for her five year old check up. The incisions look good and appear to be healing well.

With some sleep ...

She is much better today! I've received phone calls and e-mails asking how Rosie is and am very thankful for the love and concern. She finally kept some liquid down late yesterday and by this morning she was ready to eat! She isn't complaining of any pain and the incisions look really good.

Before and after

This morning we were at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. She was the first patient of the morning.



She weighs 50 pounds and is 50 inches tall. She was very brave and never cried.


The surgery lasted for an hour. The doctor removed three precancerous moles from her scalp. She has roughly twenty stitches.


The main problem now is going to be keeping her hydrated. So far she hasn't been able to keep anything in her stomach.