December fun

I have been having some nice snow days off with the kids. Grace was a bit sick over the weekend with a fever, but seems to be perking up now. We got our tree, and went to zoo lights last week for David's company party. We are looking forward to David's week off from work and some quality time with family and friends....hopefully the weather will hold up.

Evan in the snow
Grace in the snow

The kids at Zoo lights

Family picture at David's company party/Zoo lights

Our snowy backyard

Our tree

Fun Times

Grace, Chase and Evan decorating the gingerbread train.
This is what a bad hair day looks like according to Grace.

The finished train!

First off, my brother and his wife had a beautiful little girl on November 24th. My sister in law was in labor for about 36 hours, so we were thankful when Cadence was finally born. She weighed in just under 8 pounds and was 21 inches long. Everyone is doing well and adjusting to their new rolls.

Evan's Botox has kicked in. He was a little debilitated by it for a day or so, but now when he is out of his braces, he has been running flat footed. We are excited to see this, but know that it probably is only temporary. In the mean time he has a few physical therapy appointments coming up to see if we can work with those muscles.

David has had a few weeks off from school, so we have enjoyed some much needed family time lately. We had a nice relaxing Thanksgiving weekend, with a little bit of shopping too. David has school again tomorrow, and then leaves for a quick trip to the east coast on Sunday. We will have to wait to get our tree next weekend.

Our kitty Roger has adopted another family. The lady who lives behind us is in love with our cat. He started visiting her, and she started feeding him, and well guess what? He likes it there since she takes care of him, and probably is able to pet him more through out the day then we do. I called her today though to send him home, since he really is "our" cat, and we really do pay his vet bills and pay for his prescribed food. (I didn't say that when I left the message , don't worry) I hope to see him show up soon.

Last weekend the kids and their friend Chase made a gingerbread train for Christmas. They helped me decorate the house too, and now all that is left his to get the tree and the wreath that we ordered from our neighbor kids.

Last night as we were getting ready for bed, Grace informed me when I took out her pig tails, that she was having a bad hair day. I was laughing so hard, because I never say that phrase and I have no idea where she picked that up. Then the other day I wanted to put a single pony tail in her hair, and she told me it would look "weird". What! Does she even know what weird means?

To top off the funny stories...Grace has been making pictures lately. She can draw just about anything, and makes about 50 pictures a day. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much. Anyway, we told her to make a picture of her Uncle Ryan (our good friend) and her to send in his Christmas card. So she did. Lately the men she has been making have had what looks like a 3rd leg. You probably know where this is going. So, when I asked her what that was, she said it was his "gina". Well, we knew what she was implying, and told her that boys don't have those. She said "I know, but I gave him one." We explained again what boys and girls have, and that those are private parts that we should leave out of pictures and not talk about. I am not sure if she really was drawing that, or said it to be funny, but it was hard not to laugh.

Kids! You never know what will come next~

Babies and Botox

Life has been busy, busy good not bad. The kids have been generally healthy with a few sniffles so far, which always makes life easier.

My brother Kevin and his wife are expecting their baby girl today. My poor sister in law has been in labor now for close to 20 hours, and their little girl still wants to stay inside a bit longer. I pray that she comes in the next few hours to give Mama's body some rest. For all of you who have children, you know what a blessing they are, but getting them into this world, anyway you do it, can sometimes be difficult. I find parenting to be the most humbling experience ever, more so than marriage. Kids don't always do what you want them to do....news flash news flash. They often times embarrass you at a store by throwing a tantrum, if it hasn't happened to you consider yourself lucky. My brother and sister in law will learn like all of us, the joys and the struggles, but also the rewards of these beautiful human beings.

Evan received Botox shots in his calf muscles on Friday. It was not an easy appointment at all. None of them are really, but you hope the decision you make as a parent will be the right one. You have to take a risk for the greater good of your child, but it does not come without guilt. Evan received Versed to relax him, but 3 of us still had to hold him down to get 3 shots in each calf muscle. He experienced some flu like symptoms over the weekend which is normal, and this morning he started having trouble walking, which is also normal until they realize how to use the muscle again without the tone. Overall he is doing well. He will be evaluated in a month to see how he is doing, along with ongoing physical therapy.

Grace had her Thanksgiving program this morning. It was cute with the feather paper hats and paper bag vests. She decided to bow after every song, which was hilarious and adorable all at the same time.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving....until next time.

Happy Veterans Day/Happy Birthday Marine

Today is Veterans day. Yesterday was the Marine Corps Birthday. This time of year is very special to our family. Yes, that is my Marine in the picture above. Once a Marine always a Marine. We have been together for nearly 15 years (married 12 1/2) He was in the Marine corps for almost 8 years before having to get out for having ulcerative colitis. That means we have spent 1/2 our life together in the military and the other 1/2 out. There has always been challenges no matter what. In the military we really had to rely on each other and our friends. We had no family near us, and David was deployed for over 1/2 the time he was in. We were young, newly married, and didn't have much in the way of money or possessions. It didn't matter though, because we had each other and we were so blessed by God. David served his Marine Corps well. I will never forget that chapter of our life and am so thankful for the many friends me met along the way. Now life presents new challenges to us every day. Even though he is home, he is a busy man finishing his masters degree and working hard at his job. We have 2 awesome children, both with very unique personalities. I was talking to David the other day that in 2 years we will have been together, longer than we haven't been together. I am so proud of you David, for all you did for our country, and all you do for our family now. You are loved and respected more than you know.

Potty Training

I didn't really want to put a picture of my son on there, so a teddy bear it is. Well, I think we are making a break through with Evan. Maybe I am speaking to quick, but the past few days of successes is the most I have seen in the past year, yes, I said year. My son has been getting on the potty off and on since before he was two. It was a game to him and he saw us doing it. Well now that he is well into 3 and I really am trying to get him out of diapers he was not wanting to cooperate, no matter what I did. Grace only took about 3 months, and there was improvement everyday. Once she started #2, she was done, and potty trained overnight as well. I sure got my hopes up when Evan showed signs early. Over the weekend, David and I worked together, to make sure he was going every chance he could, and told him that it was no longer a choice, this is what he had to do. He would be disciplined if he did not at least try, or obey. I didn't want to go that route, but it seems like the only thing that would work for our very strong willed boy. Today, was the break through. He held it for awhile tonight, and I kept bugging him to go and he said not yet. Finally he decided to get on, and let go of 1 and 2 and he only had one accident today, as he was trying to get to the potty on his own. Yahoo! He also told his teacher he had to go at early intervention today. That was a first that he told another adult too. So, I am anticipating some more accidents, but I think we are on the right track now.

Why does the Bible not include stories about parents potty training their children? I could have used a lesson, and still could use a lesson on patience while potty training a young child. How was Jesus trained? What did they do without the books, and videos and such to get potty trained? I think disposables have made it harder to get kids trained in this day and age.

Dody for President

Check out this link...you won't be sorry.

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=380002&altf=Epez&altl=

Preschool picture of Grace

Here is Grace's new preschool photo. She looks so grown up to me in this picture. She is the tallest kid in her class too.

New Family Pictures

David and Dorothy

David, Evan, Dorothy and Gracee

Sweet Grace

Laughing Evan

My awesome kids!

Happy Birthday to me

Here is what 32 looks like for me:

A woman who is so grateful for her family, friends and the life I live each day.
A mother to a 4 year old daughter and a 3 year old son.
A woman who has been married for 12 ½ years, and is more at ease in marriage than ever before.
A woman who is generally not shocked by what people say or do.
A women pretty content with her life as is but knows that it could be better or worse on any given day.
A woman secure in the fact that she is loved by Jesus every day, despite her downfalls.
A woman who has learned more from being a mother than from anything else in life.
A woman who has been sheltered in life by many things, but has learned to accept and understand the differences of others.
A woman who struggles with body image, but has become secure in the fact that she can only do her best to maintain what is given to her.
A woman who hopes that what she is doing every day, will pay off with productive and God loving adult children someday.
A woman who dreams of making a difference in a persons’ life that will be significant.
A woman who lives for today, but is always setting goals for tomorrow.
A woman who knows her children are a gift from God, and are on borrowed time, like all of us.
A woman who grieves for her children, but knows she can’t fix everything.
A woman who knows that being the family taxi driver, chef, teacher, parent and maid gets old sometimes, but will be missed someday.
A woman who knows “having it all” does not always mean “having it all”.
A woman who tries not to hold grudges, but knows she has a long way to go.

Thank you all for making my day complete!

Biscotti

Every week I am trying to find a new recipe to make. I am sure like most of you, you get stuck in a rut. This week I ventured to make cornbread chicken pot pie...and it was delicious. If you have a chicken pot pie recipe, just make cornbread your topping. The other new thing I made was Biscotti. It is David's Aunt's recipe, and it is great for the dunking, whether you like coffee or tea, this is a treat. See below for this awesome recipe.

Makes 3 dozen

3 large eggs
Grated peel of an orange
1 tsp. vanilla

For almond biscotti
½ tsp. almond extract
1 tbs. anise liqueur or anise extract

For hazelnut biscotti
1 tbs. Frangelico liqueur

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¾ cup nuts

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and grease a baking sheet or cover with parchment paper
2. In a bowl, whisk eggs, orange peel, vanilla extract and any other extracts or liqueurs.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
4. Add egg mixture, mix just until blended.
5. Mix in nuts
6. Divide dough in half. Form each half into a log, 12 inches long on baking sheet, side by side.

Bake in center of oven for 50 minutes until golden

Cool for 5 minutes, then slice diagonally about ½ inch thick.

Lay slices flat on baking sheet, bake at 275 degrees for 15 minutes then turn and bake another 15 minutes. Let cool and store in an airtight container.

Surgery

Evan 2 weeks old.
Evan now. What a face! I could just eat those double dimple cheeks of his.

Well, I have spoken to Evan's ENT. It looks like Evan will have surgery. The way it was explained to me was that we will need to do the surgery in two parts. The 1st surgery will consist of lengthening his soft palate. It looks like Evan has a deep pharynx, which can then create the look of a short palate, even if it is not, because the palate and the pharynx never touch allowing air to escape out of his nose. It is possible he may need a 2nd surgery to add more skin to the back of the throat to create less of a gap. We are hoping the 1st surgery is all that is needed, because having the 2nd surgery often times causes sleep apnea. With Evan being a terrible sleeper as it is, I am praying the 1st one works for him. We scheduled the surgery for January 14th, after the holidays, and when Evan's ENT will be back in the country. Below is some more information for those of you who are interested on the medical part of it.

Deep Pharynx — This is the most difficult to recognize since the deficit is in the size of the nasopharynx and not of the soft palate. The soft palate may appear normal by oral exam. The velopharyngeal deficit can be identified only by lateral radiographs or lateral fluoroscopy. The primary features are the speech characteristics of hypernasal resonance, nasal air escape and possibly “cleft palate-like misarticulations” without obvious physical deficits. Other characteristics are nasal regurgitation as a newborn, difficulty nursing and delayed, hypernasal speech with normal language development. The speech-language pathologist is extremely important in the ultimate diagnosis and referral for appropriate evaluation and management of disorders of the deep pharynx. Speech deficits are the primary characteristics.
VPI is often not diagnosed or diagnosed late because the palate appears normal and the pharynx is not evaluated. When diagnosed after speech has begun, sparse adenoid mass may be a factor.
Hypernasality is the primary presenting factor. Hypernasality may be present from onset of speech — some children do not grow adenoids. After adenoidectomy — deep nasopharynx is unmasked (velo-pharyngeal mechanism seems able to adjust to slow involution but not the sudden increase with adenoidectomy).

The house....basically done

Front of the house
New concrete porch...no more plastic wood porch to slip on. Yahoo!
Back of house with new concrete slab, retaining wall and cedar deck off the master.
Retaining wall
Side view of yard...now I just need to get my grass to grow again.

In case you were wondering.......

This is what yucky stew looks like. Just ask my kids, they will tell you all about it. This seems to be the time when they get along the best....when they make yucky stew together.

Yucky stew...take one
Yucky stew ...take 2
Hard at work making yucky stew
Yes....yucky stew a mother's favorite....especially when the kids come inside! (double click on the picture to get the full effect)

Has it been a month?

Grace with her build a bear. That bear has some crazy red hair and sketchers, with of course a princess dress.
Evan on our way to VBS. I was lucky to get a smiling picture. He has not been a ham for me lately.
David with the Florida family. Left to Right: Aunt Carolyn, David (Lauren's boyfriend) cousin Lauren, cousin Rudy jr., cousin Gilly, David and Grandma Garcia
Grace on her 1st day of preschool. Daddy took her, so that was extra special.
Evan trying to say cheese for the camera, but is really trying to get away from me.

Grace and her first fish. She caught it at David's company picnic.

Wow, I can't believe I haven't blogged in almost a month. Well, I guess I can. Every time I sit down at the computer, there is something else that seems to be calling my name.

So I guess I will recap the last 4 weeks.

What David has been up to: Well, work, work and more work....but he is enjoying his new position and the challenges that it continues to present. He finished his softball season in Mid August. He traveled to Florida for work, and then stayed the weekend to see his Grandmother and Aunts and Uncles. He even got to see a Bucs game with his Uncle, which was awesome for him. Now this week he is starting his last year of his Masters degree, and he left for Amsterdam for a few days. I am not sure how he does...oh yes, I know how....he has me as his walking, talking, personal assistant :-). No really, he seems to manage his life pretty well with only having 24 hours in a day. Most people couldn't hang with the amount of sleep he gets or doesn't get and flying across the world back and forth in a few days to go back to school and work again with no recuperation time. Way to go David!

I have been up to the usual Mom thing. We have had our usual Dr. appointments, playdates and zoo trips this past month. I have also been getting ready for the fall with many trips to the store trying to get clothes for these kids. Grace is rather thin, so trying to get pants that fit has been my challenge. I think we are good now though. I helped with the Back to School party at our church where we handed out over 750 backpacks with school supplies inside this year for those in need. It was such an awesome ministry, and it made me so thankful for what I have.

I think I left off with Evan getting his barium swallow test done. Well, it was not a fun experience for anyone, but I am thankful it is over, and it looks like the Dr's got enough information. I meet with Evan's ENT to discuss surgery options on the 16th. I will post again to tell you how it goes. I am excited to find out what we can do to help him. Evan started back up with Early intervention again this week. Everyday I see progress with him. It makes me hopeful for what is to come post surgery. He is still refusing to potty train....not sure if it is a stubborn child, a control thing, a developmental thing, but I am trying to relax a bit. I just thought we would be on our way out with the diapers by now. Evan is really into his Geo track trains right now, and showing his independence by telling me "No" a lot more.

Grace started preschool again this week. I wasn't sure how it would go since she has struggled with anxiety this summer, but so far so good. She is such a sweet girl, and I just want her to enjoy her last year of preschool before real school starts. Wow, that is scary. I can't believe how quickly times passes....days are long, but seasons are short. She is turning into such a beautiful young girl. She loves wearing dresses and playing dress up with her dolls. She is quite the little artist making a picture for anyone who walks in the house.

Our house is basically done. It looks like the final touches will be done this weekend, so then I can really get some cleaning done! Not that I am looking forward to cleaning, but I am looking forward to a little normalcy with no contractors under foot anymore. It has been a little over 2 months since we started. It has gone pretty well over all, and we are really loving the changes we made.

VBS, kid stuff, remodel and a hit and run

How do you like the dent in my car? I couldn't even open the driver side door. Thanks hit and run driver...whoever you are!
In this picture the house is almost done with paint. Concrete gets poured in the front and back next week.

Finished paint in the back. They are still rebuilding our small balcony off of the top window...our master bedroom.

Well, we made it through VBS week. I taught the kindergarden class. They were a busy bunch, but overall great. I worked with some fabulous volunteers this year, which is always a blessing. Evan was in a 3 year old class, and Grace was with the 4 year old Preschool class. She suffered a little anxiety being away from me, so the last 2 days she spent in my kindergarden class with me. She did just fine with them, as she is just as tall or taller than most of them. I am not sure what the problem was exactly, and it may be that she was just overtired.

This week, painting started on the outside of our home. For those of you who are interested, I did go with my first color choices, and we really love it. The colors looks beautiful together. They are finishing the trim on the inside, which will be great, so we can get our blinds back up, and keep it darker in the house. As I am writing this, paint is being finished on the outside. In the meantime this weekend we have to move rose bushes that we have in our front yard. I am not sure that they will transplant well, since they are really established where they are. We are pouring concrete steps in the front, and we are pouring our cement pad in the back next week. It is starting to look like a new house on the outside, which is very exciting.

My Monday did not start off well this week. The kids and I all have colds from VBS, and the Camry that I drive was sitting across the street from our house since we are unable to access our driveway most of the time. Well, someone decided that it would be neat to run into our car and drive away. So now it is in the shop for the next 2 weeks. It actually was only $1800 in damage, which was surprising. I am thankful for a low deductible. The good news is we got a fun rental car to drive; a 2008 Toyota 4-Runner.

All is going well with Evan. We did a barium swallow test this week. They actually did most of the barium up in his nose. (they took a video of him talking and crying) He screamed and cried and it is not easy to watch, but his speech pathologist thinks that they got enough information about what his palate is doing. She seemed to indicate that it was too short, so they would make it longer in a surgery. I am not sure what this entails, but I hope to learn more at his appointment next week. I will be thrilled if we can do his surgery sooner than later. He also went to his Physical therapist. She said that she had never seen as much improvement in her life with the range of motion in Evans legs in this short of time. We are to keep up our stretching, and incorporate some new stuff at home too. If it does not help, then we will consider Botox shots in a few months, to help relax the muscles in his legs and help keep him flat on his feet.

We had a bit of a crazy week, but it has ended well with the good news about Evan, and David also received the promotion at work he was hoping for. Tomorrow we will be heading to the beach for some much needed family time. We are looking forward to some downtime with the kids. Until next time.....

Zappos

When David was in China, one of the women he was traveling with was over six feet tall. People stopped to look at her all the time and even took pictures of her and with her, since it is so rare to see a woman that tall in China. Somehow the subject of finding clothes and shoes that fit a woman that tall came up. In China, she was able to get a ton of suits and shirts tailor made for less than the cost of buying cheap clothes here. Anyway, she told David about a great website that I was so excited about www.zappos.com For those of you with big feet, or just a hard time finding shoes that fit, this is the answer. The shipping is FREE both ways. They have every size you can imagine. I was even able to find some Striderite shoes on there for Evan in the color I want. I am pretty limited to what I can buy him with his extra wide feet and his foot braces. We have to go up one full size when we buy for him, and if I get any kind of velcro, I have to take it to a shoe repair place to get longer velcro. So far, I think the tie is our best option. I was looking for a brown shoe for the fall, and I found a pair, which is the same price as what I pay in the store, but Zappos has it in stock. For me, I am thrilled because I know what brands fit me usually, but sometimes shoe shopping is not an easy task since my feet are over size 10, there is not as much of a selection out there, even at Nordstrom. (which is where I usually have the best luck) So Zappos it is...my new favorite online store for shoes. Check it out!

House Color Dilemma

My front porch is gone! We will have to move our rose bushes before we get concrete poured. Don't mind the dead grass. Hopefully we can get our lawn back in shape with the fall rain.

House color Cocoa, trim color Muslin

(to the left of the cocoa by the door)

What do you think? Is the house color

to dark?

Siding is about a 1/3 done today.

Like my new garage doors?

The old ones crumbled in their hand

when they were removed them after 30 years.

My new front door. Trying to go with a red tone. This one is called Cabernet.
Picture of house color in Cocoa, trim color in Muslin (Ivory) and front door color Cabernet (red)

I only have about a week to decide. Drop me a line and let me know what you think. You can make the pictures larger by clicking on them. Please check out my previous posts. I have all kinds of new pictures on here.

Summer fun

Evan drinking water from the water sand table.
Grace got into Mommy's lipstick.
Dorothy and David on the waterfront.
Ryan, David, Dorothy and Kristen at the Oregon Brew Festival.
Grace and her cousin Elliot busting a move at the Washington County Fair.