Time Flies...

Here again, I have let time get away from me and the blog has been neglected. Between work, sick kids, holidays and activities - we have been flying by the seats of our pants! Let's see...what has happened: Sami lost her 2nd tooth at ballet, Matthew has been through the ringer with a virus, Easter/Spring Break, ending of the weight lost competition at work (didn't win but lost 15 lbs), warm sunny days outside, our first swim and now Mother's Day. This is my 2nd favorite time of year and I am relishing every ray of sunshine. The effect the extra time outside has on the kids is the cherry on top...sleep! Here are some random pics taken over the last month or so, enjoy (see slideshow above).

Oh the Lil' Leprechauns

St. Patrick's Day came with much excitement this year. Sami was so excited to see if the leprechauns would visit her house this year and Matthew was even a little curious as to what exactly was going on! While the kids and I took a nap, those little tricksters invaded the house and caused all kinds of trouble. They knocked over the chairs, got into the flour leaving footprints all over the house, tied our curtains together and made an overall mess. Fortunately they also left behind a bucket of goodies: chocolate coins, gold nugget bubble gum and suckers! Who said you need to be Irish to enjoy this holiday?!

Friends from Afar

While I was growing up my family had exchange students from other countries that lived with us for a year at a time. Lars is from Denmark and lived with us while I was in elementary school, I think maybe 4th grade. He moved to the US several years ago but we had lost touch along the way. Thanks to the wonder of facebook we all reconnected. Lars, along with his 3-year-old son Tristan, came and spent the weekend with our family 2 weeks ago. We had so much fun and the kids got along perfectly! We ate lots of yummy food, watched Josh play some baseball, went to the St. Patrick's Day parade and even roasted marshmellows over the fire pit at Papa & Granny's house. We are all looking forward to many more visits with the two of them! Here are some pics of our fun times:

Matthew MRI Update

Matthew had his MRI on February 25th at Lucile Packard (Stanford). It went very well...he tolerated the anesthesia much better than last time. We were suppose to meet with his doctor the next day but, fortunately, he met with us in the recovery room afterwards. The spot they had found on his rib with the last MRI is stable, meaning it has not changed at all. This was very good news since we don't know what that spot is. The doctor said if it were going to grow he would have expected it to do so by now. The area where they removed the vascular malformation last June did have some changes. There are two areas where the malformation has begun to grow back. The surgeon wasn't completely surprised to see this. He said that one of the areas is near a nerve root that he didn't want to try and manipulate with the surgery. The other is between two vertebrae where they avoided removing any bone and only shaved the surface to cut off blood supply. Both spots are very small, less than 1 cm, and not causing a problem at this point. We will monitor him for any symptoms and do another MRI in a year. Worst case scenario would be he would need surgery again to remove these growths. But the doctor was very optimistic that this wouldn't be necessary. He doesn't expect them to grow very much more if at all. My feeling is...at least we know what these are and why they are there. It was much better than to have seen the rib lesion growing - we don't know what that is. So, for now, we thank God for the good news and the good doctor he provided us with. And we are prayerful and hopeful that things will stabilize and no other surgery will be needed. Thank you to all who continue to pray for Matthew and send their love our way!!

February Catch Up

Gotta love February...Valentine's Day! It was a big occassion for Sami this year. The festivities began on February 13th with her kindergarten class party. She, of course, picked High School Musical cards and we had made goodie bags for each of the kids. They inhaled candy, cupcakes and juice like you wouldn't believe! After school we met Joey (her "boyfriend" from pre-school), his Mommy and little sister at Red Robin for lunch. The two love birds exchanged little gifts and lots of giggles as they played and ate. These two are hysterical when they are together - they picked up right where they left off! Next Sami and I went for pedicures and she got her fingernails done in preparation for the big night ahead! Cory took Sami to the Father-Daughter Dance at the convention center. She wore her fancy dress from the Espi's fashion show, we curled her hair all up and even put on a little lip gloss. Cory got her flowers and a new bracelet to wear. They went to Henry Salazar's for dinner with some other daddies and daughters. Then they finished off the night with lots of dancing and fun! I am sure this was a night she will remember for a very long time! The next day (the 14th) we had our heart shaped pancakes, sandwiches and candy to top off our Valentine's celebration! Funny how this day becomes less about our spouses and more about our kids as time goes by...how did that happen?!

This weekend was wonderful. We were able to go out to Uncle Carl and Aunt Shelley's house in Tipton and spend the day with family. It was one of the best days we've had in a long, long time. Sami actually milked a cow in the milking barn. Uncle Carl answered her million questions about milking the cow, where the milk goes, who takes it from here and on and on and on. After that we got to ride cousin Sydnie's horse Milo. We all loved it but Sami was IN love with it. She could have stayed on that horse all day if she had her way. Matthew's favorite thing was "driving" the truck and cart. He thought he was such a big boy. How lucky we are to have such a wonderful family...it was a day we will cherish for a long time to come!