Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Great Wolf Lodge

On our way back from Missouri, we stopped at the Great Wolf Lodge. The kids had such a good time that we would like to make it at least a yearly trip.
There is a game there where you buy a wand that is programmed by a computer. On all eight floors of the lodge are pictures and statues and different things. There are 13 different games and 3 adventures. It is like a big scavenger hunt. You read the clue, then find the object it is talking about, wave your wand and move on to the next item. At the end you battle a dragon. Matthew and Dillon did all of it, and Collin and Zachy did parts of it.
They also all got airbrushed tattoos. For some reason, I don't have a picture of Dillon's in the slideshow, but it was a wolf head.
There was also an animatronic show in the lobby that the kids thought was cute.
We wanted to stay in the area and finish the scavenger hunt game, so we actually stayed in a campground the second nigh..that's where the s'mores picture is from!
Click to play Great Wolf Lodge
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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Fall is on it's way

I love fall. I love the smell of cool crisp air. The crunch of leaves under your feet. The cozy feel of rainy days. The smell of baking (cool days lend themselves to lots of baking around here!) in the oven. Everything about fall..I love it.

But, my love of fall is being threatened. For one thing, there is no fall in San Antonio. The leaves never change color. They just die, and one day they're gone.
There is no cool crisp air. There are rarely any rainy days, and when it rains, it's still quite warm outside.
More than that though, the last two falls have been very dark times in our lives. Two years ago wasn't as bad as last year, but last year was one of the worst times of my life.
I have been praying that this fall will be different. That there will be no upheavels. That life will go on as scheduled.
I do not want to hate fall. I want to love it again.
No matter what though, there will always be pumpkin ice cream, and cheesecake, and bread, and......

Come back please, and comment!

Will the reader who searched for "post TAPVR repair & pacemakers." to get to my site please come back and post a comment? I can only assume that you too, are dealing with a TAPVR kiddo being paced. I would love to chat with you! Please come back! :-)

Sunday, August 24, 2008

How did that happen?

Yesterday, my sweet baby boy turned 12. He was born at 11:54 pm and stayed up till then. Which is why I'm still awake. He yelled out, "I'm TWELVE!!" My heart sank.
How is time getting away from me? I remember that night, twelve years ago, so clearly. How could twelve years possibly have passed already? And how quickly will the next twelve go? If he follows in our footsteps, I'll be a grandma in twelve years, twice. Wow, that's an eye opener.
He is turning into such a wonderful young man. His sister is certain that he hung the moon, and he urges her on! He loves that little girl so fiercely. At night, she goes and crawls in bed with him, lays her head on his pillow, while he talks to her and tells her night night. She says, "ni-ni" and kisses him, then climbs down. She does this all on her own. So so cute. It makes my heart melt.
All of his brothers adore him, even if they don't quite want to admit it. Just today, Zachy said, "you're a good brother, Matthew" AWWWWWW!!!
To celebrate, he decorated his own cupcakes. We then went to the mirror maze and went through the maze for about an hour. We also did a lazer vault thing where you had to dodge the lazers going across the room and make it to the other side. The boys thought that was so much fun.
And now, I officially have a preteen. I don't feel like I've been a mommy for that long. I still am astonished when people ask for any kind of parenting advice. I shouldn't be, because we've been at this for awhile now, with several different personalities, but I still feel like a novice. Some day, when they're all grown, I may feel a bit more experienced.
I love this kid more than anyone could love their first born son. He is such a precious, precious gift. We are truly blessed to have him

I'll share pictures soon, for now I'm off to bed!

Funny, this says I posted at 8 this evening. I started it then. I actually posted it after midnight on the 25th, which is why I said his birthday was yesterday. But Matthew's birthday is indeed the 24th.

Friday, August 22, 2008

He is a funny one, that boy

We're watching soccer. US against Brazil. US just scored first. The crowd went wild. Dillon jumped off the couch, "YES!!" Zachy says, "USA Exclamation point wins??"
Where in the world did he get the exclamation point part???

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Craniofacial Board Today

We had a long, busy day today.
Matthew got hooked up with the craniofacial board today. The purpose of this was to establish him with the plastic surgeons and ENTs here on base. Of course, the craniofacial board includes speech, audiology, oral surgery, orthodontia, pediatrics, genetics, plastic surgery, and ENT. Everyone sees him. Except, genetics. We needed to see them, and they didn't show up. Phooey on them! We had some unanswered questions for them.
Everything was as expected, except for a couple of things.
The first being that this base actually provides orthodontic care for children. Most do not. I didn't know this. Matthew is to the point where he just needs braces. Once all his permanent teeth come in. We've already used up his lifetime maximum amount of insurance coverage, so we are looking at paying 100% of his braces. If I can get him taken care of on base, it'd be free. We are definitely going to go forth with this plan as his teeth come in.
The second is that the ENT says it's time for his tonsils and adenoids to come out. Matthew says no way, he thinks his body parts need to stay right where they are. We go back in September, after Matt and I have discussed it, to schedule everything. We will be going forth with this too.
The plastic surgeon and ENT both agreed that he still has too much growing to do to be worrying about his final rhinoplasty. Originally, we were told 12-13 years old. Today they agreed on 15-16. So that makes Matthew happy. Although, when we left, I asked him how he felt about it. He admitted that sometimes his nose really bothers him. There's not much we can do about it though. Just wait.
So that is about it from the board.
In different news, Emmie saw the dentist last week. She essentially has bottle rot. We are so devastated about this since she doesn't take a bottle and we brush her teeth regularly. After finding out about the different meds she's been on, including inhaled steroids for months while her teeth were coming in, and reflux and whatnot, the dentist said her poor mouth didn't have a chance. So I feel better about that, at least we didn't do anything wrong. But, she has to have caps on all four of her front teeth. Which will be a sedated surgery at the hospital.
So, this year we will have had Zachy get a pacemaker, Matthew have oral surgery to remove teeth that were ankylose, Emmie getting caps, and Matthew's tonsils and adenoids out. That's about 4 too many surgeries this year for me!!
So that's what's up in our neck of the woods today!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Vacation!!

I don't know what's wrong with me. I just haven't had it in me to post. Since returning from our trip I've been busy cleaning out rooms. Just going through kid clothes and getting ready for the upcoming school year. Speaking of which, we'll be starting sometime in September. My dad is coming to visit on the 10Th, so I think we'll wait till the following week. That way we don't do three days and then stop. Or maybe not, we'll see how things go.
Some of you asked about our trip. Here are some details.
We left Friday after Matt got off work and camped in West, Texas. Which is actually in east Texas. It was hot and miserable. We had to roll over every once in awhile because we were sweating so much. Just to air off the side that had been down.
The next day we drove to Missouri, where we were able to camp out in my brother and sister-in-law's house. THANKS GUYS!!
When we got there, all of Matt's family was already there. They had come along to help drive the moving truck.
We stayed with them until Wednesday. We had a great time, and got to meet our niece for the first time. Now we just have one other niece that we have yet to meet.
While there, we celebrated Zachy's birthday. He's such a big boy. Although yesterday he said to me, "mommy, why do you love me so much? Oh, I think I know why." Me, "oh? Why?" "Because I'm so little!" HA!! I'll love him just as much when he's big.
So Wednesday afternoon we headed out. We made it into Wagoner, Oklahoma, where we got a motel and stayed the night. They only had suites left, so we took a suite. I tell ya though, it was the size of a regular hotel room, I'm sure of it. Two kids still had to sleep on the floor.
We loved the vegetation in Oklahoma and Missouri. Who knew they were such beautiful states?? I wouldn't mind living there.
Thursday, we went to Grapevine, Texas. To the Great Wolf Lodge. My oh my, that was so fun. If you're not familiar with the Great Wolf Lodges, they are hotels with indoor water parks. Only guests of the hotel can use the water park, so it isn't overly crowded. Although, it was packed when we were there, so there were still lines for water slides. We used the water park on Thursday and Friday. We had read about Grapevine, and decided to camp there Friday night and just look around the town. We hung out till early afternoon on Saturday, then headed home.
Sunday was Collin's birthday. He's the big 7. How is this happening? We took him to chuck e cheese's for dinner.
It was such a great vacation, but we were glad to get home. Lots of driving involved. And Emily didn't really enjoy that part, so it was a bit stressful.
I don't know why I didn't put pictures of Matt and his brother in the last set. I know they don't like their kids on the net, but I put his sister and sister in law on, so here's a picture of Matt and his siblings. And his whole family. In case you're new to my blog, my beloved is on the left.


Please know that we don't always dress alike. The pictures had been thoroughly planned, and yet we still forgot to do one of Matt's parents with all of us. They wanted it for their Christmas card. Silly us! By the time we remembered, his sister had already left. But I tell ya, there were probably hundreds of pictures shot that day, scrolling through them is quite dizzying! All those stripes!
There w as also a ton of laughter going on, and honestly, it's a miracle there are any decent shots!
So all in all, a great trip!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Monday, August 11, 2008

Home again, Home again

We're home.
What a great vacation we had.
I have so much to write about, a pictures to share, but I just don't have the umph.
I have tons of laundry to do, and now a very messy house to clean up.
How does that happen? It was clean when we walked in!
We did learn that camping in Texas in August is something we will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER do again. The two nights we spent in the tent were pure misery. The other nights were spent inside though, so all was well.
I'm off to put away some clothes. Then it's off to the post office!
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