What's New!

Well, gma & gpa left on Saturday. They stayed a day later to avoid some snow on the way home. The house is quiet without them! We all had a lot of fun.

We painted our dining room! YEAH! We have our dining room table; chairs/table for den delivered tomorrow. I'm so excited! We can sit in our den which looks out into the street and it's the sunny side of the house and we have a nice size tree out the window and I can listen to and see the birds. A sitting/lounging/reading room!

I went to the cardiologist today. He's thinking I have a premature heart beat. An irregular rhythm. ? I go on Monday for an ultrasound of my heart and to hook up to a monitor for 24 hrs. Then a follow up in a month to see what he found.

Maddy had a little tball practice last night. She was so cute! She's a lefty but throws right handed. We need to buy her a left handed glove. She had fun. Hayley had a skills practice tonight with pitching/catching practice after. She likes catching so I think she'll try it. This year it's girls' pitch and they can steal bases so it will be interesting. Brent has practice tomorrow and Saturday. Thankfully it's going to be in the 50's at least thru Tuesday.

Well, I need to run and shoo Hayley out of the shower-she'll use all of the water in Loveland!

=-)

Everyone Made It!

Well, the 'boys' have returned from their weekend! It was quiet around the house and busy for them.

Gma & I hung out Friday, reading, enjoying quiet. When Hayley & Brent came home from school Friday we went out for dinner. Fun place but the food was so so.

Saturday we went to the aquarium-VERY fun! We saw so many fish, sharks, frogs, lizards, stingrays alligators, etc. We got to touch little sharks and other critters. Everyone was tired by the time we left. Early bedtime that night!

Sunday we went to church and out for brunch and just enjoyed the rest of the day at home. The boys finally came home around 8 pm. They were very glad to be home and us to have them. They couldn't have phones with them! It was a moving experience!

Last night Brent's school had their Spring Fine Arts night. All of the 1st graders put on a play called 'Bugz!' Brent was a fire fly!!!!!!! And the cutest one ever too! He had a couple speaking lines. He did wonderful! I bought the DVD that someone is making. He was having fun singing and doing the motions, etc. He has many talents-football, acting, etc! Of course I had ask him if his butt would light up =) Boys and their butt jokes! I'll see if my pic's turned out-it was a little dark.

I had a dr (gastrology) appt on Tuesday-follow up from last week. I have issues with food getting stuck in my chest and a weird chest pounding that radiates. The gas dr thinks my esophagus may have a 'spot' that I probably have had all my life and has decided to spasm and shrink in the last few years. I don't have other symptoms of reflux. This is his 'guess' so I have to go at the end of April and have a Endoscopy (they stick a tube with camera on the end down my throat) done. I will be put out and he wants to see for sure what is going on. If my esophagus has shrunk, he will open it-don't want to know how. When my food gets stuck, it's just like choking but down in my chest. The first time it happened, I thought I was going to choke/suffocate. Because there is food stuck, I can't breath thru my chest and I can't get the food out-it's blocked. It took 3 big gulps of milk to get it to start passing. And it is tremendous pain. As for my pounding, he thought it was SVT-supraventricular tachycardia. I have an appt with a cardiologist next Wednesday to see what tests they want to run. I hope it's nothing. I'm staying off WebMD-I've read too much and am not crazy about what they have to say. So, I'll let the dr tell me facts related to me. I've had both of these issues for a few years. I went to the dr in MN and they did an EKG which showed nothing. The downfall is that the EKG isn't on long enough and if I don't have the pounding while I'm hooked up, they can't find what's going on. It's been on my things to do list since and I need to take care of it. Many thanks to Gail and her empathetic words of wisdom that have never left me, I finally decided I need to take care of this. So Gail if you read this, THANK YOU for all of your advice and wealth of info!!!

On one of our outings, we found a wonderful house for gma & gpa here! We even took a tour yesterday! One level, everything they need. Big yard..................so now we're on to twin homes. That would be awesome to have them here! Jake would love it too!! We'll see what the economy brings..................

We finally went to Cheeseburger in Paradise to eat tonight! It's one of Brent's favorite places to go! It's ritual now to go at least once while gma and or gpa are here. Very very good food and a fun place to eat. It is one of Jimmy Buffetts (sp?) restaurants so it's very 'beachy' themed-my favorite!!

Speaking of 'beachy', Scott told me Kenny Chesney is coming in concert to Louisville this summer. ? I must look into this........................

Well, I need to go relax and read. I'm trying to get rid of a sinus infection I've had since last week. I've had headaches everyday and Advil doesn't do much. As I found at my visit, Advil isn't the best to take. I may have to switch to Tylenol as instructed.

Take care!

Louisville Slugger

Last Friday, Scott had the day off. We ran some fun errands and got ready for our company. It was fun to hang out during the day-just us!

We bought Brent a new bike. He LOVED it! His old one was a bit small for him. We bought Hayley new roller blades and she was excited too! They were both out in the cul de sac riding and skating around. And Maddy................well, she picked out Polly's! Imagine that =) Now she has a couple more 'boys.' We needed some replacements in the case her boys broke or were lost. She has 4 (2 girls, 2 boys) that are her favorite to play with.

Well, after waiting a LONG day, Gma & Gpa finally arrived at 11:15 PM! H&B stayed awake even though they were in bed. Madison fell alseep.

We've been having fun with grandma and grandpa here. We went to Carlo & Johnny's restaurant on Valentine's day. Very fancy place! In it's day, this mansion was a casino and mafia hangout! Very yummy food!

On Monday, we drove down to Louisville Ky-100 miles from here. We went to the Louisville Slugger museum/factory. It was cool to see all of the bats and how they make them. Scott & Hayley tried out the batting cages. On the way home, we drove over to Lexington to see the horse farms. They are beautiful houses with a ton of acreage and adorable horses! We saw 3 young horses by a fence as we drove through. They had their cute winter fur on and they came up to the fence as we sat and talked, looked at them. So friendly =)

Tuesday night we went to Maddy's Open House at school. We got to read her journals and looked at art projects. Gpa & Gma got to see her and Brent's school. Gpa's been there before.

Scott & my dad are doing the Walk to Emmaus this weekend so it'll be grandma, the kids & I!

Tonight we're going to The Works for dinner. It's a cute place we've never been to before in downtown Loveland. I think it used to be the old train station.

Tomorrow's plan in to head to the Newport Aquarium across the river in KY. Downtown Cinci is on the river. We went the first year we lived here so it will be a blast to go back again! The kids loved it there! Me too!

Another Snow Day-3 More!

School was closed Thursday and Friday also. The kids had fun playing in the snow but also were getting tired of being home. We went to see Hotel for Dogs on Friday and to Target. We all needed to get out. The roads were fine so I don't know why they have to cancel.

It snowed here Tuesday about 8 inches. It was a white out! We were supposed to get a dusting. Of course, school was closed yesterday. We are 2 days over on snow days with the storm last fall, so we'll see how much longer the school year will be extended. Starting tomorrow, it will be in the 50's thru next Wednesday!

Scott & I went to Hayley's ortho appt today. The dentist said she needs the palette spacer and braces after. She has a few 'prep' appt's before she gets the spacer. She gets the spacer Feb 26th. She'll have that for about 4 months and then braces-1st round. She'll have those for about a yr then a retainer. When her permanent teeth are in, he'll do the 2nd round of braces. Everything else in her mouth, teeth and future teeth looked great, just spacial issues. She has a narrow upper jaw.

Other than that, nothing else is new.

2nd Snow Day!

The weather here has been interesting. Last night there was sleet coming down and snowing hard again this am. The trees in our neighbor's yard are drooping so bad due to the frozen sleet on the branches. Power is out for some due to the trees cracking and breaking over power lines. Part of our neighbor's tree is touching the ground by our truck in the driveway. It took 1/2 hr to defrost and get the layer of ice off the truck. Our cars have to stay out cuz the boat is in the garage. I stayed clear while I was out shoveling not to go under it. The wind would blow and I could here it snapping and making noise.

This am, on Scott's way to work, he was the first to come upon a horrific accident. A city worker pickup truck had collided head on with salt-dump truck. The driver of the dump truck was out wandering and dazed. A few minutes later, another city truck came with 2 guys in it. The driver of the city truck was slumped over the steering wheel, unconscious and bleeding very badly. The 2 other city guys broke his windows and tried to get him to wake up. They're not sure if he was breathing. They sat him up in his seat, bracing his neck not to move. By this time the ambulance was coming and the trooper. This afternoon, I read in the news that the city worker has died. Hamilton County Sherriff had issued a level 3 weather emergency. This meant that until 3pm, there were to be NO ONE on the roads. If you were, you would be arrested. They needed to get the plows out and fix the roads. It's weird to think how crazy this storm has made travel. The kids & I haven't left the house since Monday, so it's hard to know what it's like to travel. Obviously, I don't want to know. Scott said it hasn't been too bad. I pray for the family of the man who died. He leaves behind a wife and 3 daughters. Hopefully this is the end of this weather.

Our 1st Snow Day!!

Well, the news has been saying how we're supposed to get this snow storm over night. The kids wore their pj's backwards and inside out to make sure it would snow. I guess that's the myth here with kids that if you do that, it WILL snow. Sure enough, I received the call from school this am at 5 notifying us there is no school. Yesterday we had a 90 minute delay for the dusting we got. Today we have 3-4 inches. WOOHOO big storm hey? It's supposed to snow all day and we could see almost 10 inches. A lot of schools and businesses are closed as is our church. The kids just went out to play in it. The last time it snowed, Brent was so excited to come home from school to play in it but as the day wore on, he was watching the snow melt as he sat in school. He was upset when he came home that there was no snow left to play in =( The snow doesn't last long here.

Not much else new here. We had a nice 4 day weekend last week. The kids were content just to be home and play with each other. Music to my ears. Hayley had her ortho appt and they took pic's and xrays and moldings. We have an appt with the dr next week to see what plan he came up with and start with that.

Brent has a few more weeks left of flag football. School is going well for all. Brent now has math homework everynight. A little that they do everynight. Last night in 10 min, he finished all week's worth! He's ahead on his reading level. Report cards came home this week. He's reading at a level 12 which is where they want the kids at 3 rd quarter and he's already there by 2nd quarter! Hayley got all A's and 2 B+'s on her report card. We have Open House at the middle school in March for her. Ugh-they're growing too fast! Maddy's doing great in school too. She's doing great at sounding out words to spell them and knows how to spell lots of words. She loves to haul around a pad of paper and a pen and write and draw.

Grandma and Grandpa are coming in a few weeks for 2 weeks. The kids are so excited! We can spend Valentine's Day with them and celebrate Gpa's bday. Brent wants gpa to sleep in the bunk bed with him! Gma may get Hayley's Hannah Montana room! We'll have to see where the guests want to sleep! Jake looks forward to company too. Gpa spoils him when he visits and gma gets lots of furry attention too!

Well, that's all for now. I may go out and attempt to shovel. I think I'm coming down with what Scott & Maddy had so maybe I won't.

Take care all!!

Happy 2009!!

I hope everyone had a great holiday season and 2009 is starting great! We had fun on New Year's Eve. We played games and had a fun dinner with bubbly-the kiddy safe kind. The kids love it! Hayley, Brent & Maddy stayed up until midnight and we watched the ball drop. I couldn't believe they stayed up that long!

We're getting back into the school routine. The kids have this Friday off and Monday for MLK Jr. day and end of the semester so we'll have a 4 day weekend.

Brent started flag football last weekend. It's funny to watch them play. There's only 4-5 boys on the field at a time. Most of his team he played football with and I think their instinct is to tackle. I can't see how when they pull the flag, they don't pull someone's pants down! Brent had some turf burn on his knees. He likes it. I'll have to add some pic's if they turn out.

The weather here is gray. I don't remember much of that from last year but I think it was new or it's cloudier this year. It has rained more in the last few months than most of the summer! The little snow we had got last week is gone now with the rain. I think next week it's only supposed to be in the 20's. That's the coldest it's gotten. I can handle some gloom as long as it's warmer like it's been.

Hayley has her ortho appt on Wed. They're going to take moldings of her teeth and see if the palette expander is still what she needs or just braces. She wants to get it because her teeth bother her some days. Some of her teeth are squished so we'll see what's changed since last year.

Time to clean the house...........have a great week!