BUGZ

Here are pictures of Brent's debut on stage!! The 1st graders at his school put on the play Bugz. Brent was a firefly! I think I mentioned this in an earlier blog. The pic's turned out ok and he is SOOOOO adorable!! He did a great job on his speaking part!

He's in the front row with yellow around his waist.

The Manatees

Our Girl Scout troop went 3 other troops to the zoo to sleep with the Manatees. We went behind the scenes in the bird house and got to see what they feed the 800 birds they have. Anything from fruit, dog food and mice and baby mice. We went to the primate house and saw lemurs and fruit bats. The building was DARK except for our leaders flashlight. We were in the enclosed room where the bats are hanging over our heads. We can't really see them but we could feel the breeze from the flapping of their wings. YUCK YUCK! This wasn't the favorite with us girls! We then went behind the scenes to the Manatee exhibit and got to walk behind their tanks and look into the water. We saw how much lettuce, etc they eat during the day. I guess when your over 1000 lbs, you eat LOTS! They are on loan from Fla and being rehabilitated and then will return to Fla. Our leaders for the night brought out some animals to touch and not to =) A cattle bird heron ?, a corn snake and an 18 mo old alligator. He was quite cute! We had snack and found our place to sleep. Hayley got a spot right on the end/corner where the tank side meets a bubble window to see the manatees. It was a perfect spot!! There's nothing better than falling asleep watching Manatees swim, roll and play! It was hard to sleep-50 girls! The keepers turn on 'moon lights' at night. These shine in the tank and look just like moonlight. How peaceful and serene!! Hayley slept by her friend Alli and fell asleep faster than I thought she would. I watched her sleep and watched the Manatees. I woke up a few times and the last time it was 4:30 am and I couldn't sleep so I layed and enjoyed the quiet, peacefulness of the Manatees swimming. We woke at 7 am, had breakfast and we got to tour around the zoo and look at other animals! It was a fun experience to do this with Hayley-good quality girl time!!

The weekend is here!

Well thank goodness for another weekend!

It's been a busy week-church, gals night out, Hayley's ortho appts, baseball was canceled because it was too cold. It's warming up now tomorrow! 50-60's!!

Hayley had her palette spacer put in yesterday! It's a mouthful! She gets food caught in it and she clears her throat trying to force air up to clear it and it sounds like a hairball is coming up. We have to tighten every night for 14 days and go back for a checkup and do the same for another 14 days then go back in 6 wks. The ortho said she'll get a space between her front teeth. That should be interesting to watch. She talks like she has a mouthful too.

We caught up on our Idol last night. The kids love to watch it. GO DANNY!! We're all rooting for Danny Gokey!!

Our Bunco group has changed to GNO. We went to this ceramic place called The Mad Potter and we painted some ceramic pieces and they'll fire them and pick them up. It was pretty fun. Our girl scout troup is going on Monday. I want to bring Maddy & Brent too-they'd have fun.

We ate at our favorite-Cheeseburger in Paradise tonight and went and bought Brent new baseball cleats. He has practice again tomorrow.

Tomorrow night, our troop is staying over night at the zoo to sleep with the manatees! Should be fun and interesting. I'll need a strong drink..........the girls can get a little nutty. Hayley and a couple other girls are pretty calm and normal. The rest (the other 5) are full of it!

I'm going on my Walk to Emmaus next weekend. The thought of leaving everyone for 3 days is awful and I'm nervous about going. We aren't supposed to bring cell phones as we are to leave the outside world OUT. I don't know how to go that long and not see OR talk to my 4 sweeties (scott is 4 =) is rough to say the least. I'm sure it will be fine once I get there. How to live w/out my baby's for that long! I'm staying in the 'nunnery.' I am looking forward to it and I leave the house in great hands!

We're in the midst of trying to figure out Jake's condition of his legs. I brought him to the vet to have his blood tested so he can start a nonsteroidal medicine for arthritis. He's already on meds for that and i'm not sure if we've seen alot of improvement. The vet did a 'paw' check and he THINKS Jake has a degenerative disease-Myelopathy. It involves the spine and slowly the paws, legs and upward go numb. Some days he seems to get right up off the floor and other days he's dragging his butt just to sit up. So hopefully he'll show some improvement on his 2nd medication. His meds cost a small fortune........................if it's the 2nd condition, no meds will improve his legs/hips. So hopefully it is only arthritis.

Well, I'm off to read a magazine and RELAX! Have a great weekend!

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.