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.