Memorial Day

Monday was Memorial Day. To most of Americans this is a Federal Holiday. Holiday to my husband is a subjective term. If he can physically get into his office its not a holiday. However he chose to spend the morning with us and only worked half a day. For this we were grateful.

Early that morning Sam woke up and decided his losing his baseball glove was too traumatic to endure and pleaded with Ronny to get him another. Ronny of course agreed that his son needed a glove. So he loaded up the boys and had quite the adventure in baseball shopping. Evidence of this would be the glove he bought for Sam, the pink glove his bought for Charley, and the new "T" he brought home to practice on. They spent all morning practicing, hitting off the tee and catching fly balls Ronny would throw to them. They all loved it!

Joseph is becoming quite the baseball slugger at our house. His teachers at school have taken Joseph out and pitched to him during outside time at school. They love to report what a hitter he is. He has belted a few right back at them and hurt one. One of his teacher's asked me if we were going to "pursue his baseball career." I laughed and reminded them he was only 4 and the major leagues wanted him to at least see over the wall of the dugout before signing him. He is now just as obsessed with baseball as he is with Star Wars. Unfortunately he missed the age requirement for t-ball by 11 days. He'll have to wait until next year for that.

Diagnosis

We have good news and bad news. Ronny was diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EOE for short). This is a rare allergic condition that causes the esophagus to swell after coming in contact with an allergen. It is treated with Flovent. However instead of inhaling the medication, you swallow it. Ronny will probably do this for the rest of his life in 4 week cycles. He will have another endoscopy in the next couple of months to make sure the treatment is working.

We asked why the doctor didn't pick up on this with his last endoscopy 7 years ago and were told they have only started testing for this condition in the last 2-3 years as this condition is so rare. At the same time due to this condition it is very dangerous to do dilations as your esophagus can very easily be perforated. So he was very lucky to not have had that happen in his first dilation and has been advised to never have another one. Ronny may be referred onto an allergist to find out what is causing the problem but even with the testing we may not ever find out.

So this is all the good news. The bad news is that this is a rare condition but that it is hereditary.
We were also told to watch our children for the same condition. The article they gave us said those who typically have asthma, hay fever, severe allergies, and food allergies may have a higher chance within in the family of having this. (That only includes all of our children so far.)

Ups and Downs

Our Young Women's lesson was on journals today and I committed to write in my journal today. (Oh by the way I was called to be the YW secretary two weeks ago hooray!) I have several journals in different forms but at the moment this is the easiest one to do, so here I am. This has been a week of ups and downs for our family, happily Ronny and I ended on a high so all is well. The kids may have other ideas however.

Joseph started our week off with a bang. On Monday he learned his friend Tyler Gus at school had taken his training wheels off over the weekend. Joseph insisted that Ronny take his off when he came home from work. We were a little hesitant as it had been a while since Joseph had even ridden his bike but we gave in. He climbed up on the bike, Ronny held the back for about five steps and off Joseph went never looking back. That was the end of that and now Joseph is off to the races. We were amazed. I promise to get a picture of this when I can.

Ronny had his endoscopy on Tuesday, that brought about its own set of problems and concerns. We still have not heard from the doctor with the results of the biopsy. Ronny is doing well about taking his medicine at least 1/2 hour before eating, he takes it when Ben gets up for the first time about 5:00 am.

Charley finished her first soccer season on Saturday and was given a trophy by her coach. She is so excited about that. Charley came out in the second half crying when she got kicked. At some point I will just tell her to take a deep breath and play on but I don't think we have reached that time yet. We did have a talk about how things like this happen when we play sports and we just have to learn to deal with them. She agreed and stopped crying. Thats my girl! Ronny has agreed to be her assistant coach next year.

Ronny and I went out on a date last night. We went to see Spider Man 3. Pretty good but way too many story lines going on for one movie. Our babysitters were a little young this time (11 and 12 year old sisters) so we were happy to have two. The kids made them work for their money. Apparently Ben cried most of the time and Joseph and Sam would only go to sleep with Charley laying on the floor after much crying. They survived and were happy to see us when they woke up this morning. It used to upset me and give much guilt when I would here the kids cried while we were out. Now I just apologize to the sitters for having to listen to them and shrug it off. Going out with Ronny is far more important to me know than to worry about the kids crying.

Endoscopy Pictures

Here are the pictures from inside my throat:

I was still very much under the influence of a strong sedative when the pictures were explained to me, so the explanation I give to you is purely speculative. Denise should be able to properly resolve any misinformation.

On the upper right, you can see the narrowing at the bottom of the throat. It looks completely closed to me, but you can be the judge of that.

On the lower right, you can see the ulcers (in white), at least that's what I think they are.

If there is anything interesting about the other two pictures, please feel free to share.

The End of Boy's Week

We did end up going to see Meet the Robinsons yesterday. They only had it in 3-D, so I'm not sure how much Sam got out of it, because he refused to keep his glasses on. Of course, with as much popcorn butter as he ended up getting on them, he could probably see more clearly without the glasses.

Last night, after some frantic cleaning and occasional glances at game 7 of the Jazz/Rockets series, I woke up Sam, and the four boys went to the airport to pick up Charley and Denise.

Boy's Week is officially over, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Boys Week: Day 5

The first Saturday of each month Home Depot has a "Kid's Workshop". We've never done this before, but after I heard about it I knew I would have to make it a part of our Boy's Week activities. I was told that we should get there early, because when they run out of supplies, the workshop is over. The workshop runs from 9am to noon, and we got there just after 9am.

Today the project was an herb garden. One of the Home Depot Helpers was kind enough to snap a picture of all four of us. Either I trust Sam implicitly, or I know that he can't get much power into his swing (I'm holding the nail for him). I had to chase Ben around the store, and Sam was grumpy because he had fallen back asleep this morning after waking up at 6am, and I had to wake him up when we left for the workshop.

Sam didn't want to put on the apron, and he was reluctant to show off his finished project. Joseph had a blast. He loved hammering, and actually did a pretty good job. He has already asked if we can go next time. All in all, it was a fun experience. Maybe we'll try to make this a monthly affair, although next time I think I would prefer to leave Ben behind.













Funny story: We have to go by the movie theater to get to Home Depot. As we passed by, Sam announced the he wanted to go to the "Popcorn Store". Apparently we don't all go for the movies. I told them that if I could get the house clean this morning, that we would be able to got to the popcorn store after lunch. I guess we'll have to see if the boys cooperate. If we go, we'll be seeing Meet the Robinsons.

Boy's Week: Day 4

Today was the day the weather was supposed to clear up for us. Well, we've had light showers off and on, spending as much time in the sun as there was sun to have.

This afternoon, we headed out for some baseball.

Tonight, the Stensons have invited us over for dinner.

Tomorrow, Denise and Charley come home.

Boy's Week: Day 3 (dinner edition)

Tonight for dinner, we had a well-rounded meal (translation: Pizza). Lest you be doubters, I provide scientific evidence:

Grain food group: pizza dough
Dairy food group: Mozzarella and Parmesan Cheeses (we also drank milk)
Fruits and Vegetables: Pineapples and Tomato sauce
Protein food group: Pepperoni



Dinner was followed by various combinations of watching soccer, watching baseball and watching basketball, which was followed by baths and bedtime.

Boy's Week: Day 3

Sam took a really long nap yesterday, so we all watched Episode 6 after dinner (fish sticks). Everyone slept really well through the night, which allowed me to get some needed work done on my project last night.

Working last night left me short on sleep, so I took a nap this morning from 7:30 to 8:30 with Ben. I woke up to a naked Sam running through the house (sorry, no pictures), and Joseph still in pajamas. We got both of them dressed just in time to get Joseph off to school on time.

I printed some Lightning McQueen coloring pages off the computer for Sam to color. Hopefully Ben will take another nap so I can get some more work done before my meeting with my professor at 2pm today.

Boy's Week: Day 2

Last night was rough. Ben woke up at midnight, and then again at 3am. His crying woke Sam up, and I gave in and let them both into my bed. This was a big mistake. Ben was in the middle and kept hitting both Sam and I. After about 15 minutes of this, I put Ben in his crib and closed the door. I put Sam in his bed, and told him Ben was crying so he needed to stay in his bed. Sam went right back to sleep, but Ben cried for a half hour or so until he went back to sleep.

So, we woke up tired this morning at 6:45am. After breakfast and scripture time, the kids had about an hour to watch cartoons while I tried to pay the bills. I came up one stamp short, and so after we dropped Joseph off, we ran some errands.


After we got gas, and returned the movie, we stopped by the local farm supply store to get Denise her Mother's Day present from the kids (mine is the haircut she's getting while in Utah).

Happy Mother's Day, Denise. (They're magnets for the refrigerator)

Then we went to the grocery store. Ben fell asleep on the way. We woke him up and went in to get the stamps, along with other sundry items that we don't seem to have enough of (raisin bran, yogurt, apples, oranges, chocolate cereal, ... etc).

We came home to get lunch for Ben and Sam. After that, we picked up Joseph, and now the kids are once again on my bed watching Mickey's House of Mouse Christmas movie (and hopefully getting tired).

Boy's Week!

Denise and Charley left today to spend a week in Utah with Denise's sisters for BYU Women's Conference, leaving me at home with Joseph, Sam and Ben. And thus Boy's Week begins. As the week goes on, I'll try to keep you updated with the most recent events, and hopefully some enjoyable pictures.

Ben and Sam and I drove Denise and Charley to the airport, and said goodbye (Joseph was at school).

When we got home, we had to get right down to business - LUNCH.

Right now, the boys are watching a movie (Happy Feet), in hopes that they will fall asleep.

First Haircut and "You're a Man!"

I dread giving my kids their first haircut and push it off as long as I can. I guess to me when I cut their hair for the first time I feel like I am relenting and accepting the fact that I don't have my baby anymore, I have to accept they are getting bigger as the soft fuzzy baby hair falls to the floor. It is this reason why none of our children have had their first hair cut until well after their first birthday. So yesterday I gave in... a little. I was trimming Joseph and Sam's hair so after they were done I plopped Ben up on the chair and zipped up the back and around his ears. I am still not willing to cut off all his golden locks up top. I must say though that he was the most behaved of the three boys. He sat perfectly still and jabbered during the entire process. Needless to say it was more traumatic for Mom than it was for him.

Another funny tidbit about Ben is his eating habits. Last night we were eating dinner and Ben started fussing. We couldn't figure out what he wanted. He didn't want milk, he didn't want more peaches or rice or chicken. We got him down from the table assuming he was just done at which point he walked over and climbed up in my lap and lunged for the bowl of brussel sprouts I had just put one the table. He sat on my lap and happily ate his fair share and a few others. His favorite foods, brussel sprouts and broccoli.

Sam and Joseph are right in the middle of the name calling stage of their childhood. It drives Ronny and I crazy although we do get a chuckle out of some of the new things they come up with. Sam's latest insult, "You are a man!!!" This is really funny when Joseph yells back at him and accuses him of the same thing. Uncle Jon comes today. We need to fill him in on some ground rules.

Old Pictures I have been meaning to post.

Look, we finally found our camera cable to download our pictures. Here are a few that we are a bit behind on.




These pictures are of Joseph's most exciting moments as a child thus far. Becoming a Jedi Master and fighting Darth Vader at Disneyland over our Christmas holiday. This was a great day shared with Grandpa and our cousins Anna, Jacob, and baby Nathan.



This is a picture of one of our many snow days this year. Yes, we get snow in Corvallis!











This is Ben's Big Day! Birthday #1 The whole neighborhood came to celebrate with us and have cupcakes.





Ronny showing off his pinewood derby car. Although he didn't win the race he took home the prize for "Smoothest" car. He sanded it with 1500 grit sandpaper to take home this prize.

Easter and Sports

Yesterday was a fun day of sports for our family. Early in the morning the kids got up early as usual and were watching their favorite cartoons. I came down a little later and watched a little of Little Einsteins with the kids. After it was over Joseph stood up and said, "Mom I don't want to watch cartoons anymore, I want to watch baseball!" It was a proud moment for us. Ronny bought Joseph a new mit so Sam inherited his. They spent all afternoon playing catch outside.

Later that morning we all went to Charley's soccer game. She played goalie first. Like usual the other team dominated her team's side of the field and made quite a few shots on goal. However on their first shot Charley lays out and saves it, total diving catch! Did I mention it had rained earlier and was pretty muddy? Yep, she dove right into a mud puddle and saved the ball from the goal and stood up all muddy. That's my girl!!!! Too bad we didn't have the camera with us.

Last weekend we celebrated Easter. My mom was in town and celebrated with us. She had taken the kids to Target and got each one of them a new toy. Ben got a few new cars, Sam picked out a Hotwheels race track, Charley got Battleship, and Joseph picked out a bottle rocket launcher. Classic! Its rated for 10 and up yet my 4 year old has a rocket launcher. As you can imagine he is the favorite on the playground right now. Another lady and I organized a community Easter egg hunt on our field for the neighbors. We filled about 600 eggs expecting about 50 kids. Unfortunately the weather man was wrong about the weather being sunny, it poured on us! We only had about 20 kids show up so they made out well. Later that day Charley had a soccer game and then we decorated our own eggs. We have church early in the morning so we had to wake the kids up to hunt for their eggs. The boys each got a new church shirt and tie and Charley got new sandals to go with the dress Nana had brought on her visit. Unfortunately Sam did not like his shirt and we had to wrestle him down to put in on for church. Needless to say we weren't willing to fight him for a picture lineup. We'll have to do that another day. (This picture is of Sam explaining to all of us that this chocolate bunny is his but that the egg he is holding with a J on it is Joseph's)

We look forward to Uncle Jon's visit later this month.

New Rules

We just finished our spring break here. We had great fun with Nana while she was here and just played outside the rest of the week. For the most part we had good weather. We went to see "The Last Mimzy" while Nana was here. This was Dad's choice of family movies. It was a cute movie for Charley, however the boys did not appreciate very much. As soon as the popcorn was gone so were the boys. Up and running around the theater. Ron and I really got a good workout as opposed to sitting still for the duration of the movie.

The last weekend was conference weekend. Ronny had his Sunday School class over for the Saturday afternoon session again. These boys get a kick out of eating Ronny's insanity hot sauce while they are here. Unfortunately they tricked one of the girls into eating some. She was not amused and I was worried she was going to be sick. After a few trips to the bathroom and some milk and bread she seemed to feel better. I really felt bad for her.

Last night we were getting ready for cleaning up after dinner and starting to get ready for scripture time. I came into the family to find Sam pitching to Joseph who was using my vacuum cleaner wand as a bat. Every time he would miss Sam would rub it in. After a few wild pitches and a couple of hits we had to institute the new house rule, "NO Baseball in the House!" Ronny thought this was amusing but agreed to enforce the rule.

Grammy Terri arrives this week and Jon at the end of the month. We are sure to have lots more fun. We have also set Charley's baptism date for November 10th.

Ben's Big Day

Friday was Ben's 1st birthday. We started off with a bang at the doctor's office. He officially weighs 20 lbs on the nose and is 30 inches. He can now ride in his new car seat. He also received his next round of immunizations and was a trooper. After getting stuck he crawled over to the nurse and gave her a big hug! It was really cute and the nurse almost cried. We invited the neighborhood over for cupcakes that evening. About 20 people showed up to eat the 50 cupcakes we made. The boys had fun helping to make them and Charley did a great job entertaining the boys while Mom frosted them. We went to McDonald's for dinner and Ben clapped jabbered and was so excited to be turned around in the car. It was funny watching him get so excited to see things we take for granted on the normal car ride. Lately he loves to crawl to the edge of the stairs and throw things down watching them bounce all the way. The other kids love to throw balls up to him and have him throw them back down. I can always count on a good 10 minutes of work time if I suggest this activity however after 10 minutes the game gets a little brutal and we have to find a new one.

Sam's latest achievement is to put away his clothes and get dressed all by himself. We have labeled his drawers for him so he knows what's in each drawer. He sometimes gets lazy and gets things out of Joseph's drawers though. It depends on whose helping as to whether he gets away with it or not. I came home from grocery shopping on Saturday to find Sam wearing Joseph's clothes and Joseph wearing Sam's clothes and when I mentioned it, Ronny shrugged and said that's what they brought me. Sam has also started a new way of getting out of trouble. He seems to be hitting a lot lately and when called on it he runs and with the most pathetic face and sugary sweet voice says, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry". He's figuring the system out, however he still gets put in time out.

Charley is doing much better lately. She is playing with the boys and not complaining so much. Happy day for this! Of course now that I say something she will have a bad day today.

Ben has just found me so my time here is done.

Disappointed Charley

Last night Nana called and said she had missed her flight to come this weekend. Unfortunately she isn't able to come for another couple weeks. We have been counting down the days until Nana comes so you can imagine the kids were a little disappointed. The boys puckered out their lips and complained but then we told them she would come in a few more days so they were satisfied with that. Charley on the other hand took this to the extreme. I think she was tired to make matters worse. She cried for a good hour wailing and screaming and all, you would have thought someone had died the way she was going on, oh the drama. When we finally calmed her down and got her into bed she slept very soundly. We know Nana feels really bad about this but this is a good lesson for the kids to learn, life just happens and we need to be flexible sometimes.

We are now trying to come up with some ideas to do with the kids for Ben's birthday. The kids just want to go to McDonald's (not my first choice!). We are watching the weather and might be able to make a trip to the zoo or the coast or maybe we will just go find a new park to play at if the weather is nice.

The kids will be out of school the last week in March so we will get to spend a few extra hours with Nana when she is here. We will have to do something fun then. Ronny will also be off school then too, however that really doesn't mean anything anymore. We may get him to take a day off though.

Tomorrow is Ben's 1st birthday. Fun! He is so much fun to have and is such a good baby, most of the time, he wouldn't nap for anything yesterday. We decided to make a cupcake tower instead of an actual cake. We will make the cupcakes together as a family tonight. The kids are all very excited.

Busy February

Ok, so here is my very first post. I would add pictures to this however we can not seem to find our cable to download pictures from our camera to the computer. Another day I guess. So this has been an extremely crazy month, more so than usual which is saying something for us.

We started off the month with Ben and Denise taking an unplanned trip to California to conduct a moving sale and pack up what boxes we could from the house I grew up in. It took three different flights and airports to get us there as the airline canceled our flight and changed our arrival destination twice but we finally arrived in LAX. It was a bitter sweet experience as it was a monumental task that needed to be done and the house we had been praying would sell finally sold, however at the same time it was sad knowing that it was the end of the family ties I knew growing up. My parents are hopefully towards the end of their divorce and then we can all move on as a family separated, yet still very closely knit together. It was probably the last time I will return there and that is sad to know. I am happy I was able to go and do what small things I was able to accomplish and have that last sleep in the house I grew up in. At the same time I had the very distinct impression that that house was not home to me anymore.

Ben and I arrived home that Sunday morning to find Ronny passing a kidney stone and Joseph running a high fever. We called two neighbors to come and give Ronny and Joseph a blessing. Once we were able to get the kids to bed that night I stayed up to put Charley's Brownie patches on her vest as she and I were scheduled to man the cookie booth at the store the next day. Monday morning came and Ronny was still having pain but was able to take advil and tylenol to alleviate most of it. Joseph however was still running his fever so I called the doctor and was able to get him in later that morning. I made Ronny come with us so in case he fell over in pain we were only down the street from the hospital. I didn't think Joseph was too bad, I thought he just had a cold and he would be fine in a day or two. I was wrong. The doctor looked at us and asked how long Joseph had been sick. Only a couple of days we told him he shook his head and told us Joseph had pneumonia. I was stunned. We were told to bring him back on Wednesday if he was still running a fever for a chest film. Ahhh! We filled his prescription and took Ronny to work on the way home. After getting home Joseph took a turn for the worse. He was moaning and delirious. I was ready to take him back but said a little prayer and hoped the antibiotics would kick in soon. He slept the rest of the day. We called his school and informed him he would be out for at least a week. I also called Charley's Brownie leader and told her we couldn't make it. This was too much in one day.

Tuesday came and Ben and Sam were sick. Ben was running a fever. I called and got him in to see the doctor as soon as they could. He has extremely small ear canals so I am not able to see in his ears at home with our otoscope. Ben had a double ear infection. I filled his prescription and went home hoping we would not have to go back the next day.

Happily we made it through all that within about a week and a half. Joseph bounced back and was able to make it to Tyler's birthday party and returned to school after a week off. I was ready to send him back. The next week was filled with errands trying to make up for all the time we spent at home. During these nights Ronny would put the kids down and then work on his pinewood derby car. The Elder's Quorum decided to have their own derby. Although Ronny didn't win he did have the "smoothest" car and won a prize for that. We took the family to watch the race. Between the races the boys would race their matchbox cars down the track. They loved it! Some of these cars we really cool. You could tell these guys spent a lot of time on them. It turned out the Elder's Quorum Pres. car won overall but the two guys that took 2nd and 3rd place were new converts which was really nice.

During all this we were selling and delivering Charley's girl scout cookies. She ended up selling 100 boxes, the most in her troup. We are happy to have the last boxes delivered and all the money turned in. I have also started to wean Ben. He is doing well with this and hopefully we will have an easy transition. He is looking forward to turning around in the car and being able to see were we are going as opposed to the back of the seat. We also finally sold our van. Hooray! It only took 11 months and 3 weeks to do it but its finally gone, ironically to a neighbor so we will still see it everyday.

We are looking forward to a calmer March and a visit from Nana. Ben will also celebrate his first birthday.

Things I love

My sister Liz tagged me. Apparently I'm now obligated to share 5 things I love.

1. I love my family. I love Denise. I love Charley. I love Joseph. I love Sam. I love Ben.

2. I love fresh air. I used to think I loved warm weather. After living in Utah, where the weather may be warm, but occasionally the air is horrific, and living in Oregon, where the weather is oft-times dreary, but the air quality is superb, I realize that I just want fresh air. I can take care of the rest with the right equipment, but I can't fix the air.

3. I love to run. I don't necessarily mean to go running here. I love long and deliberate strides. I love the rush of power. I love the idea that I'm getting somewhere faster than I would if I walked.

4. I love sleep. I miss it, but I'll love it just the same when I see it again.

5. I love discovery. That moment when you realize that you've found something entirely new to you is amazing. It may be self-discovery, when I learn something new about myself. It can be academic or spiritual. I love learning new things and probing and testing and hypothesizing and experimenting.


... you can now mark me as "tag fulfilled" Liz.

Traumatic Tooth Losses

Tonight, I pulled out one of Charley's teeth.  This one has been loose for a month or so - perhaps longer.