Excellent Adventures of Trevor, Kara and Allison

Can they really be ready for preschool!?!

2012-02-03T10:59:00.000-08:00

Allie and Kara have had so much fun checking out preschools! They are anxious to go now. We were going to put them in this year but after seeing how much we would spend for two years and two kids at the same time we decided this year we would work at home and next year they will go to Pre-K. It has been hard to find preschools willing to let them in Pre-K as their birthday hits right after the cutoff, but we have found a couple willing to make an exception!

Each morning the girls do their calendar and are doing a great job memorizing the days of the week! We are working on letters too. The girls surprised me by writing their names! I will post pics later. They can recognize most letters now and know most of their sounds. Thanks to their AWESOME big brother who likes to play "Teacher". He loves to teach them everything he knows and they LOVE listening to him and soak it all in! I can't believe my babies are growing up and going to school next year!

All 3 kids have been enjoying swimming lessons. Trevor can now swim the short length of the pool! He has come a long way from his first lesson! The girls took to the water with no problem at all and have WAY to much confidence in the water for a 3 year old :) Trev is excited to start spring soccer and the girls will continue with swim lessons.

We had a rare snow event a couple weeks ago and had about a foot of snow! It was a nice week off staying home all week. Scott was able to work from home and luckily I stock up on food when it is on sale and we did not have to leave our house. We went sledding with our neighbors and the girls had a hard time walking in the snow so Daddy had to carry them to and from the sledding hill. Only down side is we are in school for a week longer. But we sure did enjoy the snow!

Cardiology update

2012-01-04T12:39:00.000-08:00

Trev had his cardiology appointment last week and as expected he was awesome through the whole appointment. He is after all, a Rock Star!! He is in the 75% for height. Way to go Trev! He gets to continue to play sports and swim just like any other kid his age.

His heart function looks great. His right ventricle has been growing with his body and currently is not enlarged... Yay!! His body is still excepting the fact that he does not have a pulmonary valve which is wonderful news. His cardiologist expects that in about 2-3 years we will start doing the treadmill tests to see how is heart reacts during exercise. As of now they can not put in a new valve via the cath lab. But who knows what they will be able to do when it comes time for Trevor to get his new valve and conduit. Technology is changing daily and they can do some pretty amazing things! Not many kids with his diagnosis have a patch on their pulmonary artery, so Trev is kinda paving the way for kids born today with pulmonary atresia :)

We moved to a wonderful new neighborhood with awesome neighbors! They watched the girls for us so we could focus all of our energy and time on Trev during his appointment.

Thanks for all the prayers for Trevor! It is amazing how far he has come!

There's a first time for everything...

2011-12-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been doing something fun then all of a sudden an accident occurs you hear the crunch and no immediately you broke something? Well, that was Saturday night for me. We were at a Christmas party with the kids. We were in the middle of playing a dice game for Christmas gifts and my sweet little girl came up to me while I was in the middle of playing. I was sitting on the couch while she walked over into my arms. She started bouncing and CRUNCH! Oh the sound! The pain! I knew immediately I had broken my nose. I do not think I will ever forget... But just in case I have it here now as a reminder :)

She knocked me out. I remember feeling light headed and seeing spots as I lay on the couch. I do not even remember who I was sitting by... I heard voices around me. They were still playing I knew that, but I do not remember much else. I was dizzy and my nose and head hurt like nothing ever before. I think everyone felt sorry for me so they did not "steal" my gift. It was a movie card so I am sure had that not happened it would have been stolen :)

I got up and looked in the mirror. My nose had started to swell on one side and started to bruise around my eye. The headaches started right away and for the next couple of days I was taking medicine, but it just did not seem to reach my headache. My nose ached too. Especially when I tried reading at night with my glasses on. Finally I was free enough to go to the Dr. and they confirmed I broke my nose... Now to keep the kids away from my nose for the next few weeks while it heals. Oh yeah, he gave me some Vicodin... To bad I can only take it when Scott is home. Is it 6:00 yet!?!

My first broken bone... At least it was my daughter's head that connected with my nose and not someone else's child, right?

ER Visits: Trevor 4, Allie 2, Kara 0

2011-11-17T13:38:00.000-08:00

Allie really does look up to her big brother and everything he does... She is starting to close in on Trev in the ER dept. Luckily Kara is deciding that is something she does not want to do :)

Last Friday I was thinking how nice it was that Trev had no school and we could all stay home and have a pajama day. It was a nice thought. Just not reality. I was starting to make breakfast while all 3 kiddos were sitting on the bar stools in the kitchen. Allie had just told me she was getting down to use the potty. From the corner of my eye I had seen her starting to get down. I turned away from them and started to get the bowls for cereal. I heard a crash and the other two said Allie fell down. I slowly walked over to her and picked her up. I did not think it was going to be very bad and I did not want to upset her anymore than she was.

Although, when I picked her up it didn't feel right. She was not crying and I thought it was because she was so worked up she was preparing for the screaming. But it never came. I felt one breath then nothing. I kept patting her back telling her that it was okay and to breathe. But still nothing. I slowly pulled her away from my chest and I started to freak out. Her eyes were rolled into the back of her head. She was pale, lips ghostly white and not breathing. She was limp. I immediately got the phone and called 911.

I took her over by the front door and laid her on the steps. Kara was frantically trying to move her and wake her up. Trev did more of the comforting for Allie while I tried to hold Kara back. Finally while talking to the 911 dispatcher Allie started to get a little color back to her lips. She was still staring at nothing while taking slow shallow breaths. By the time the paramedics arrived she seen something that startled her and she climbed into my lap and clung to me.

The paramedics thought she still looked a little off and wanted to get her checked out immediately. Of course this would be the day that Scott took both my car keys and his. Luckily my good friend Sarah, who lives close by came to the rescue and took charge of Kara and Trevor while Allie and I got to ride in the ambulance.

Allie enjoyed her day at the hospital and wants to go back. Just like Trevor is looking forward to going back to the hospital again. Silly kids! Thanks to awesome neighbors who took the other two kiddos that night so we could spend some down time with Allie. It is hard to keep an active 3 year old from running around. Especially with her equally active brother and sister. Thankfully she is showing no signs of trauma since her concussion. Now to keep her in bubble wrap for the next few weeks...few years...

Thank you for everyone who was praying for her.

Happy Halloween!!

2011-11-17T13:15:00.000-08:00

The kids had so much fun dressing up for Halloween. I think that was there favorite part! The girls decided to be lady bugs again this year. They somehow still fit into the 24 month costumes! Although they could not wear the tights as they were too small. Trevor wanted to be Captain America, a costume I bought on clearance last year after the holiday. Very convenient and cost effective!

I decided I needed a new costume too. How many times can one go as a pumpkin? So I bought a ladybug costume too :) We had a "practice" run doing trick or treat in downtown Arlington the Saturday before Halloween. The kids had a lot of fun going to all the stores.

When Halloween actually came the kids were so excited. But they were more excited to have everyone come to the door so they could pass out candy! Trev lasted about 30 minutes before heading back home. The kids did great passing out candy in their adorable costumes!

Now if I can only get the kids out of their costumes! They would sleep in them if I let them :)

Tooth Fairy

2011-10-29T22:17:00.000-07:00

Trevor is almost 6 1/2 and finally lost his first tooth! Although there was some help from the dentist he can now proudly say he has lost a tooth. We have been watching his two bottom permanent teeth come in for over a month now. The two bottom baby teeth just do not want to budge. They have been a little loose but not enough to get them out.

Trevor was so excited to be going to the dentist. He had said several times he hopes the dentist pulls his tooth out so the tooth fairy will finally come and visit him! Leave it to Trev to find the harder way to do things :) He was so brave sitting in the chair. The dentist asked him if he was ready to have his tooth pulled. Excitedly he said yes! The dentist pulled and twisted it for awhile then finally he just pulled it right out of there! Trev had gauze for the bleeding for about 15 minutes. What a trooper he is. Trev got to bring home a special tooth case with his tooth in it. Hopefully his other teeth will come out on their own without any extra help from the dentist. His two permanent teeth are almost completely in. So once they move forward he will not have a gap for long.

He has been very excited for the tooth fairies arrival. He is hoping she leaves him legos. Good thing we bought legos almost a year and a half ago for this very reason. We just didn't think we would have to wait this long :)

Hidden Talents

2011-10-15T22:25:00.000-07:00

The other day all 3 kids were playing the piano and I was listening to them while cooking dinner. Trevor kept calling for me that I had to look right now! I went in and to my surprise Allie was standing ON the piano keys playing with her feet... I think she may have discovered a new talent :) She was so happy to show me what she was doing. It was very hard to discipline her with a straight face. Sometimes when they are being naughty they are just being so cute!

We have explained to all 3 that you only play the piano with your hands not your feet. Allie does love telling people she can play with her feet though...

Busy, Busy, Busy

2011-10-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

We have moved! This is the 2nd week in our new house and it is quite the adventure with 3 little ones! Trevor started a new school, the girls celebrated their 3rd birthday and we moved all within 2 weeks! Yikes! We did not plan that very well... But everything went pretty smoothly. The girls decided to start potty training during that time too.

Trevor is enjoying his new school. He is looking forward to all of the exciting field trips. I have been enjoying time in the classroom thanks to wonderful friends who are helping to watch the girls. It is a big adjustment for us all to drive Trev to and from school each day. Maybe someday we'll find someone to carpool with and make it a little easier on us all. Trevor is playing soccer and scored his first goal of the season last week. Trevor also has two loose teeth and one permanent tooth is starting to pop up. He is excited to lose his first tooth.

The girls are enjoying swimming and are truly little fishes in the water. They are getting so big and wanting to go to school like their big brother. I have told them that MOPS is school and so far that has satisfied their need for school. They have also potty trained themselves. It looks like the trick was to tell them they are three now! They can now recognize about 1/2 of their letters and a couple numbers. They can also count to 6 and know all of their shapes and colors. They are starting to really show their likes and dislikes. Scott painted their room pink and purple and just the other day I could hear them saying "I am the pink princess, YOU are the purple princess, so you can not be on the pink side!" Attitude already :)

We still have a lot of unpacking, painting and fixing up the new house. Hopefully soon we will be able to start enjoying it!

Potty Training... Big girl style!

2011-09-20T20:54:00.000-07:00

The morning the girls turned 3 I sang "Happy Birthday" to them and told them they were 3 now and big girls. They were excited and told everyone that they were 3 now. I was not prepared for what happened next. Later that day they told me they had to use the potty. I have heard that one before... They actually went, and the next day and the next day and so on!

So, I think I can say that my girls are officially potty trained! They have only been in diapers at night. Yes, they have had a few accidents, but otherwise they have been wearing their big girl underwear proudly! They have even had success in the middle of our move! Where ever we are at they will use the potty. Of course they ask if there are treats when we are out, and usually the answer is no. But I make up for it when we get home :)

Yay! It was so much easier with the girls. I pretty much let them potty train themselves. After the many months of heartache with potty training Trevor we decided we would just kick back and wait for them to let us know that they are ready. I should have told them they were 3 six months ago!

Happy Birthday to my sweet babes!

2011-09-14T20:48:00.000-07:00

Allie and Kara are 3! Where did the time go!?! Happy Birthday to my sweet babes. You are growing up so fast. We had fun celebrating their birthday with some wonderful hot summer weather. Who knew it would be 90 in September! We turned their party into a pool party. Of course we had the party in the middle of the day with just a little shade. It was very hot to be outside but we had fun celebrating with family and friends!

We had two pinatas which the girls help make. One pink and one purple. They got to swing at them at the same time. Then everyone else took turns. We also made ice cream sandwiches and those too were a big hit! Perfect for a hot summer day.

The girls woke up to me singing "Happy Birthday" to them. They had huge smiles on their faces! Happy Birthday Kara and Allie!

Water ball

2011-09-10T23:27:00.000-07:00

Random pics

2011-09-10T23:24:00.000-07:00

Soccer drills

Little fishies in pink and blue

Staycation

2011-09-10T23:16:00.000-07:00

This year we took mini day trips for our vacation. We had a lot of fun and at the end of the day we got to sleep in our own beds. What is better than that! We visited the Jetty, spent the night outside camping in our back yard, went to visit our animal friends at the fair and the zoo. The weather was perfect all week long. Then we came home in time to get ready for school.

Trevor and Allie loved camping in the backyard. Kara not so much. Although she still talks about it :) We definitely need to buy a bigger tent for the 5 of us! We roasted marshmallows by the fire pit and stayed up late looking at all the stars.

Trevor loved going on the boat ride to the Jetty. The tide was out so it was quite a hike to get to the water. But playing in the sand was just as fun :)

At the fair we let the kids each pick a ride to go on. Allie and Kara were positive they wanted to ride in a pink car. We bought the tickets then I walked the girls up to the ride. Kara got in and as I was getting Allie in the car Kara decided she wanted out. So of course Allie followed her sister. We tried to convince them it would be fun to go on a ride but in the end we could not get them to agree. So Trev got to enjoy even more rides. He also went in a big ball on the water. He loved it! We packed a lunch and later bought doughnuts for a snack. That was my favorite thing at the fair when I used to show their as a child.

The zoo was a blast too. We went with other heart families. Although we quickly got separated from our group. We let the girls walk so it took awhile to get from exhibit to exhibit. Allie had gotten a blister from all the walking over the past few days but she was a trooper and did not say anything until the end of the day at the zoo. At first she walked on her tiptoes because she said her foot hurt but she did not want to ride in the wagon... Later in the car we took her shoes off and she had a pretty bad looking blister. It has been over a week and it still has not healed completely. Although with this warm weather and being in the pool everyday is not helping. At least she has not had to wear shoes so that gives her heal a break. Summer is coming to an end and now the crazy fall schedule has begun. We are slowly getting into our new routine.

Long awaited camping pics...

2011-09-10T23:01:00.000-07:00

The kids are excited for their backyard camp out. This is a first for the girls.

Silly girls

2011-08-28T23:17:00.000-07:00

Recently we have bought the girls pillows to use instead of their pillow pets. Of course they would rather use the pillow pets as they are so much more fun than a boring white pillow. We bought them pretty flower pillowcases, one pink and one purple.

Each night we have gone into the girls' room to find the pillow case full of stuffed animals and their blankets, and the pillowcase full of goodies is lying right next to them. What do you suppose they are using for blankets? Their pillows! Silly girls :)

Backyard adventures

2011-08-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

Last night we decided it was time to set up the tent and let the kids have a back yard camp out. Allie and Kara were so excited to be sleeping in the tent for the first time. All 3 enjoyed jumping on the air mattress outside... You would have thought that would wear them out and they would sleep.

We told the girls we were going to look at stars tonight so Allie runs into the house and exclaims, "I need the turtle so we can look at stars outside!" Silly girl, we are looking at the real stars, but we did bring the twilight turtle outside so we could see stars once inside the tent.

Once it was dark enough outside we turned off all the lights so we could see the stars. Kara at first was not impressed when the lights went out. She snuggled her face into Daddy and said she was afraid of the dark. Allie kept telling us "I'm not afraid of the dark!" Eventually Kara calmed down and we all got to enjoy looking at the stars.

Eventually the kids went into the tent and an attempt was made at sleeping. The girls enjoyed having the stars shine in the tent from the twilight turtle. About an hour later we were back at looking at the "real" stars again. Eventually everyone fell asleep. Kara however, was not that comfortable outside. She twisted, turned and whined all night. Finally about 2am Kara and I were in the house together. The others slept restfully outside and Kara calmed down once in the house. The kids are waiting to do it again. Even Kara :)

Little Fishes

2011-08-11T11:15:00.000-07:00

The kids are in swimming lessons right now and they are loving it! Trev has always been a little hesitant in the water, but now that he is 6 something happened, and he is confident and loving it! He is even trying to float on his own. I even got to see him actually swim yesterday! AMAZING!! His confidence in the water is soaring and he is finally relaxed enough to do as the instructor says. Maybe it is because he is a little older now, or the fact that we are not hovering over him this summer as we did last. It is hard to believe it has been a year since his last heart surgery, and 6 months since his last surgery.

Kara and Allie are doing AWESOME!! They are truly little fishes in the water. They are almost 3 but the instructor says they are going to pass this class! Technically you are suppose to be 3 to start. But what is a few weeks... They are blowing bubbles and ducking their face in the water. There favorite part is when they go to the shallow end and lay on their tummies and walk with their hands in the water. It is so much fun to watch them in the water. The girls are very competitive with each other so I think that helps in learning how to swim. One will not let the other do something without the other doing it too.

Imagination

2011-08-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

It looks like we have two new kitties in the house. Allie and Kara have decided they will be cats. This has been ongoing for some time now. It is so cute to watch them use their imagination. When you ask them questions they will meow at you :) They also love to crawl around on the floor. Big brother has shown them how fun it is to put their plate on the floor and eat off of it like a real kitty! Then Mommy and Daddy step in and put the plate back on the table. That makes for unhappy kitties... The girls will say one meow for "yes" and two for "no". They are very sweet, adorable kitties :)

The girls are already having fun with this twin thing. A few weeks back they informed me that they changed their names! They are not even 3 yet... When you call for Kara she will say "No, I'm Allison" Let the fun times begin :)

Camp

2011-07-31T21:07:00.000-07:00

Trevor had his first ever camp experience this year. It was 2 hours a day for 3 days. The first week was sports camp, he played soccer, baseball and basketball. He even earned camper of the day! He found out that he likes basketball so we will probably add that to our list of sports.

The second week was art camp. He had a great time. His friend Bailey went to camp too. They had a lot of fun and made a lot of cool things. Now I have some new crafty ideas to do with the kiddos.

Now it is time for swimming lessons and the start of soccer practices and soon school. Maybe the kids will start to go to sleep at a decent time since they will be worn out? Wishful thinking on my part :)

Slumber Party

2011-07-31T21:01:00.000-07:00

What started out as a one night stay in the girls' room has turned into a change of rooms. Trevor had been waiting to spend the night in the girls room for a long time. Finally the last day of school came and he finally had his slumber party in their room. They have enjoyed it so much it has turned into a summer of slumber parties. At first we just brought Trev's mattress in their room, which eventually turned into bringing his bed in there. Now we have an extra play room :)

We will probably have Trevor move back to his own room once school starts as they are even more talkative than usually with all 3 sharing a room! But for now they are enjoying having a summer of slumber parties together.

ABC's

2011-07-21T22:49:00.000-07:00

Allie and Kara have been interested in learning their ABC's. I am sure a lot of it has to do with big brother teaching them the ABC song they did at school. At night you can hear Kara and Allie saying , "A", aaa Allie, "K" kkk Kara, "T", ttt Trevor, "M' mmmm Mommy, "D" dddd Daddy. It is so cute to listen to them, but they usually stay up so late talking about everything they have been learning throughout the day. They are so eager to learn, and Trevor is so eager to teach them. Trev has been going through the whole alphabet with them as well as all numbers. So after talking with Trevor he agreed we should teach them the first letters of their names and the sounds that letter makes as well as Trevor, mommy and daddy. I love that he wants to teach them everything, and they are eager to learn from him. Hopefully that will last a life time.

Science Day

2011-07-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

The local library is hosting science camp on Wednesdays throughout the month of July. Best of all it is free! Since Trev is into all things science I have been taking him each week. So far I think his favorite thing has been painting/drawing with shaving cream. The staff had put a large board on the grass and filled it with shaving cream. Leave it to Trevor to start body surfing! He was covered from head to toe! Luckily he had decide to wear his Captain America costume so he at least had clean clothes underneath.

We have learned that if poke holes in a bag of water with pencils it will not leak out as long as those pencils stay in place. Another favorite of his, as he has been demonstrating this to a lot of people. We have planted sunflower seeds, set up dominoes and watched the chain reaction when one falls over, learned what objects sink or float, drawn with chalk and many more things.

It has been a great learning experience for him. Too bad it ends next week. We will have to look for more fun activities for him to do.

Party Time!!

2011-07-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

This weekend was Trev's party. The weather started out a little wet then dried up nicely. At least the good thing about a summer party is even when it is raining it is still warm outside. Trevor was excited to see his school friends that he has not seen since school let out. It was a big Kindergarten reunion!

The kids were outside the whole time, even in the rain. They played with squirt guns, then we played a water game that we had learned at VBS a couple days prior to the party. There were 2 buckets at each end one end the buckets were filled with water and sponges, the other end the buckets were empty. There were two teams and the first team to fill the empty bucket with water by wringing out the water from the sponge won. They had so much fun we played a few rounds. I could not resist the temptation to spray them a few times with the hose :) The kids loved it and kept asking for more!

Later we had a pinata and presents. This year instead of a traditional cake or cupcakes we decided to do something a little different. We had the kids make ice cream sandwiches with cookies, ice cream, chocolate chips, sprinkles and crushed nuts. The kids had a lot of fun decorating their ice cream sandwiches and eating them too :) It was a huge success and very little messed involved! Since we did not have a cake we put the candle in the ice cream to sing Happy Birthday. I think this may be our new birthday tradition.

Happy Birthday Trevor, We love you!!

Kara, Kara, Kara

2011-07-15T23:09:00.000-07:00

I think Kara wants to join big brother in the ER department. Last week all three were playing hide and seek. They were having so much fun laughing and giggling and running through the house. Kara decided to hide in our closet, which we have told her not to numerous times as it has a metal frame. I told her to come out and she started screaming. I thought she was upset I told her to come out. She wasn't coming out and once I got her out I noticed her foot covered in blood. She sliced her big toe right at the part where the skin and nail meet. She also sliced a little on the side too. It took awhile to get it to stop and the skin was not going back together. So I took her to urgent care. Because of the area it was at and her age we decided not to get stitches and put on steri strips. I thought they would last overnight as it was late in the evening. But of course they were off by morning. She will have a scar, but as it is her big toe it will not be that noticeable. Everyday she tells us to be careful of her blood. The toe is slowly healing. It looks like she will be keeping her toenail!

A few days after her toe she got her hand shut in the door where the hinges are. Her knuckle starting swelling right away. I thought she might have broken it. Since again this was late in the evening I gave her some tylenol and ice. She was able to open and close her hand but she said it hurt. By morning it was a little bruised. She said it hurt, but yet she was playing with that hand just fine. I am so glad that ther were no broken bones. This one she doesn't even talk about. Never a dull moment around here :)

A perfect match

2011-07-15T22:49:00.000-07:00

Tonight at dinner, Allie and Kara were picking food off of each others plates like they always do. But tonight Allie decided she did not like her broccoli. So Kara decided to eat it as Allie told her not to eat it all. So Kara ate the tops of the broccoli then gave the stems to Allie to eat. They were so happy with this arrangement! Soon Allie started feeding Kara, then once Kara ate the top she would take it from Allie and feed Allie the stem. These girls are just so cute!

Happy Birthday Trevor!!

2011-07-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

The morning of Trevor's birthday I could hear the kids talking in their bedrooms. I couldn't believe I had slept in so long that they were all wide awake and talking. I looked at the clock in the bedroom and it said 4:45am! No wonder I still felt so tired... I went down the hall and I could here Trevor talking to his sisters in their bedroom. " Babies, what number am I going to be? It starts with an "S"."Three!" exclaim the babes. "No, I'm 6! You are going to be 3" Trev must have been a little excited for his birthday :)

Later that morning Trevor went to the Children's Museum and out to lunch with Daddy for his birthday. After Allie and Kara woke up from napping we opened presents. He got a video camera he has been asking for and has been taking videos of everything! Later we went to a local church where they had a lot of games and rides. Trevor's favorite was the rock climbing wall. It was his first time and he did awesome! Once he got to a point where I could not help him down I asked if he wanted down. Of course he said "No, I'm going to the top." He got pretty high and all of a sudden fear struck and he could not get down. The teenager in charge of the rock wall had to go up and coax him down. Once down, he wanted to do it again. We have some great pics, If I ever figure out how to get them onto the computer from my cell I will post pics.

We got home late for dinner as Trev was "stuck' on the rock wall for awhile. We made homeade chicken nuggets and fries, his favorite dinner. Then it was time for cake and ice cream. He was so tired that he fell asleep at 8pm! That has not happened in a long time...

We had a wonderful celebration with family. With his friends from school we will be letting the kids make their own ice cream sandwiches. Should be interesting :)

Fun 4th

2011-07-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

It was a rare gorgeous day for the 4th of July. Our summers really do not start until after the 4th, but this year we had an early treat. We took the kids to a local parade and they had a lot of fun. There was so much candy thrown around I though I had the wrong month! Trevor came home with so much candy it was crazy. The girls even scored a couple of suckers. They were so excited! Allie and Kara loved seeing everything going by. They kept commentary through the whole parade :) Afterward we walked down to the duck dash. Of course on the way back both girls wanted to be carried and it was uphill! Scott got his workout in for the day.

We had a late dinner then went outside and got ready for fireworks. We let off a few in the backyard and then got ready to watch the neighbors. They had put on quite a show! Kara was not happy about the "pretties in the sky". So I went inside with her for awhile, then later Scott came in with her. Allie on the other hand could not get enough of the "pretties in the sky". Trevor was just over excited and hooting and hollering and running around crazy every time one went off. He was loving it!

While inside with Kara we made smores for everyone. She put on the chocolate and marshmallows. She loved watching them spin around in the microwave. We then took them outside for everyone to enjoy. That helped a little. But as soon as it really started getting loud we headed back in the house with her.

It was around 11:30 when things settled down and we were finally able to put the kids to bed. The next morning Allie kept asking to see more "pretties in the sky", while Kara said she did not want to see them :) Good thing Kara gets to wait a few months before people are letting them off again.

ER

2011-06-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

So today started out just like any other day. I was going to surprise the kids by taking them to the library and making sundaes, but that did not happen. Trevor had other plans! Around 11am Trev said that his chest hurt. I asked him where and he pointed to the area around his heart. I tried not to panic, but inside I was!

I called his cardiologist, but of course he was on vacation. So we were told to go to the nearest ER. I quickly packed up the girls and Trevor. We got in the car and my phone was almost dead! The pain lasted almost 40 minutes. It ended shortly after we got to the ER. Thank goodness there was not a lot of traffic. Once in, Trev got admitted right away. I had mentioned his cardiologist being on vacation and they looked at me funny and asked why a 5 year old needed a cardiologist. I went through the whole history with them. Luckily I still remember dates and procedures. Although, if he has too many more I will most likely start to forget when and what has happened...

His O2 was 100! I love seeing that number :) It wasn't always that way. I still look at him in amazement at how pink he is! Apparently his EKG was abnormal so they were having Children's hospital look at it. (We did not go there since it takes an hour or so to get there). It turned out that his abnormal EKG is normal for him. They then ordered chest x-rays and blood work. Cardiac wise everything looked great! Everything was clear in his lungs too. The blood work turned out great so after 5 hours we were sent home. Trevor was a rock star through the whole experience. But when has he not been!?! He was so brave when they were taking his blood. We avoided the word needles and he was not aloud to watch as they put it in. He did however watch the blood go into the tubes. All three thought that was the coolest thing ever!

The girls were rock stars too! They missed their naps and were wonderful through everything. They got to ride on the bed with their brother when he got his x-ray. They kept asking to go on more rides :) They hopped like bunnies in the hall, watched some cartoons, spun around on the chairs, crawled through each others legs and had fun in general. The most fun came when I realized I did not bring my diaper bag and they both were messy and needed to be changed. Because of course they do not want to use the potty and they do not like messy diapers! No one was around so I tried to clean the diaper off and reuse it, but in the end that did not work. Eventually I found someone and they only had size 3 diapers. I had to cram their bums in those tiny diapers! At least it held everything in until we got home :)

In the end they never did find out why Trevor had chest pains. We tried to get him to describe the pain and he just said it hurt. He wasn't crying and he still played through it. But with his heart history we took him in right away. Hopefully it does not happen again. That boy loves to keep us on our toes!

Since I had planned on taking them for ice cream I told him we could get ice cream for being such a trooper during his visit. I did not plan on leaving at 5pm! So we went out to dinner. When the ice cream cones came they were huge! They looked bigger than the girls' head! They all deserved the extra ice cream for how wonderful they were.

Field Day

2011-06-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week Trev finished Kindergarten. He is excited to be going into the 1st grade. Almost 6 years ago it was hard to imagine this far ahead. I had the opportunity to work in his class all day on his last day of school. It was so much fun! The whole school put on a dance festival. Everyone did a wonderful job! Although my favorite was Trevor's class :)

I enjoyed eating lunch with all the kids. It was kinda sad knowing this would be the last time I would see them all. I have really enjoyed working in Trev's class this year. 5 year olds are just so much fun! After lunch the kids did a little math while I helped a couple other moms pack up his teachers room. Soon it was off to field day. What fun that was! The sun came out just in time for the kids to spend and hour or so outside. There were so many things to do. Trev ran from one thing to the next. He had his face painted, danced on stage, bowled, played the drums, ran around like a crazy kid :), potato sack races, bubbles, picked up marbles with his toes, bouncy balls, played on the playground. There could of been more, but I do not remember. It was tiring just watching him go from one activity to the next. Afterwards we all sat with our classes and had popsicles. So much fun and so many fun memories.

Trevor had a great teacher this year and I was blessed by my friends to let me work in her class, as well as his teacher letting me come and help out.

After school we ordered take out and ate in the living room and watched a movie. We are hoping to make this our yearly end of school tradition. The kids had a lot of fun with it!

Colors and Numbers

2011-06-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

I love listening to the girls say their colors " Boo, geen, lellow" I remember when Trevor use to say them like this. Sometimes he still does :) They also love to count. Everything starts at 3. 3,4,5,6,9,10,30. They have got some of them in order :)

Colorful worms

2011-05-20T22:21:00.000-07:00

Not sure where my kids got their love for worms, but they love playing with them! They think they are soft and love to have them wiggle in their hands. Often, I get asked to hold the worms, NO THANK YOU!!

Recently the kids have been collecting worms and putting them in a dump truck. They (the kids) have built a nice house for the worms. Lots of dirt, grass, rocks, flowers and of course water. We now have a little worm habitat growing in our backyard. The kids check on the worms frequently, holding them when needed. (Which is quite often).

The other day the kids were playing with sidewalk chalk in the back yard. I had them color the rocks thinking it would not go any farther than that. I went in the house for a moment and when I came back outside, sweet Allie came to show me her worm. "Don't you like my pretty colorful worm?" she asked. Yes, you heard that right, colorful! She colored her worm with chalk. Silly girl. She even put him in a plastic egg for safe keeping.

Not sure if the worms liked being colored or not, but they were trying to color them again today. I tried to explain that worms do not really like to be colored on. We'll see if they remember that the next time they play outside with the chalk. All 3 kids giggle when they hold the worms and they start to wiggle in their hands. The girls even try petting the worms and say they are so soft and pretty. Not sure we are looking at the same thing here. I never thought of worms as pretty.

Cake pictures are up!!

2011-05-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much to Lisa and Sabrina at Just Desserts for doing such an awesome job on Trevor's cake! He loved it!! Also, thanks to Icing Smiles for setting this up for us! We were truly blessed by you all!

CELEBRATION

2011-05-02T18:44:00.000-07:00

We had a great time celebrating Trevor's life with a few of our family and friends. We were able to raise some money for Children's hospital as well as gifts for the kids who are staying there. Trevor did well knowing that all the gifts that he received were going to Children's hospital.

Trevor had an amazing cake donated by Our Just Desserts. They did a wonderful job! It was a 3 tier cake that featured Buzz Lightyear. It had a lego theme on the bottom tier. Buzz was in the middle and outerspace graced the top. There were even stars and the moon coming out of the top tier. I will post pics soon!

We went to one a birthday party over the weekend for one of Trevor's friends little sister. (She is a heart kiddo too, our kids shared a room during their OHS stay at Children's) It was so fun to watch them playing together. It was hard to imagine this 5 years ago when they had just underwent OHS and were recovering. The future was a blur. Unknown. Now we are planning their future. Izzy was asking if someone could marry her. Trevor said he would :) Wouldn't that be something. These kids meet in the hospital as babies undergoing OHS and someday they marry each other.

Thank you so much for everyone's support during Trevor's surgeries and all the time in between. Hopefully we will have a few more years until his next open heart surgery.

Celebrating Life

2011-04-14T12:57:00.000-07:00

5 years ago we were preparing our baby for his first open heart surgery. It seems like a lifetime ago... 2006 was a tough year. Trevor had his first OHS, my mother in law passed away as well as our sister in law. Trevor had some rough times recovering from his surgery. But in the end he was thriving! He has undergone 6 surgeries. 4 of them for his heart. There will be more, but for now on this 5 year anniversary we are celebrating life and our wonderful son, Trevor.

Today Trevor is active in sports, doing extremely well in school, and is loving life.

We are having a party to celebrate and collecting donations for Children's Hospital in honor of Trevor. If you would like to donate click on Trevor's picture. Please be sure to put in honor of Trevor in the memo line. All proceeds will go to provide comfort bags for those kids undergoing heart surgery.

Thank you to all of our family and friends who have been there for us we truly appreciate each and everyone of you.

http://www.itsmyheart.org/imh-chapters/washington/greater-seattle/

Spring Break Fun

2011-03-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

Since Trevor is on spring break I set up a couple field trips for him through MOPS. The first one was to Albertson's for a Healthy Eaters Tour. The kids had a lot of fun walking around the store learning the importance of breakfast and learning what all the different colors of fruit mean for your body. I think the favorite of everyone that attended was all the samples! Lots of fresh fruit and sandwiches. We ended up having lunch there with all the food they gave us! Trevor is excited to use his card he got from Albertson's to go and get his free apple! Everytime we go in to the store if we bring his card he gets either a free apple or banana!

On Tuesday we had a tour at a Chinese restaurant where the kids got to make their own egg rolls. This is a favorite of Trevor's. This is the 7th time he has done this particular field trip. He is always requesting it. It is a lot of fun and great food too! The girls joined us for the first time and had a blast. Allie got into the egg rolling. Her favorite part was finger painting with the egg! Both Allie and Kara enjoyed rolling them up, but Allie enjoyed dipping her fingers in egg the most :)

There were a lot of kids that came and it was fun to sit down and enjoy our lunch that we helped make. Allie was being very helpful and picked up the container I was putting food in and rice came flying out when she turned it sideways. Rice was everywhere! Her pants, shoes, chair, floor... Rice is very hard to get out of clothes. She kept saying that she was helping mommy. She was a great help too, too bad I hadn't closed the lid first :)

Trevor is looking forward to more field trips. So far this summer we will be going to a pediatric dentist, local library and a radio station. I have others planned but so far they are not confirmed.

Sleep over

2011-03-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

Ever since Allie and Kara have come home from the hospital Trevor has been anxiously waiting to sleep in their room with them. Well, a little over two and a half years and that dream has finally come true! Since yesterday was the start of Trev's spring break we decided that would be the night he could sleep in there. He has been so excited counting down the days!

He has been asking the girls if they want Trev to spend the night in their room. They say "yes" but I am not too sure they no what that means :) Last night we put in a movie and the kids ate popcorn on the couch. We watched the Jungle Book. It only kept Allie and Kara's attention for about 30 minutes. Trevor on the other hand finished the whole movie. They got to stay up later than usual as it was a special night.

Trevor took his mattress and put it in the girls' room and got his sleeping bag out. The girls were very curious about what was going on. We got the kids ready for bed and read stories on Trevor's bed. They all had a lot of fun in their talking and giggling. The girls kept staring at Trevor wondering what he was doing in there. Trevor kept playing with the night light moving the stars and moon all over the room. The girls had a lot of fun with that. Trevor finally wanted to go to sleep and wanted the girls to be quiet. Of course that did not happen :) Trevor fell asleep first and finally about an hour later the girls fell asleep. Trevor had a lot of fun sleeping in their room and they all did great. I'm sure there will be more slumber parties in the room next door.

Ladybugs need friends too...

2011-03-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

This weekend we have been outside enjoying the beautiful weather. We found a ladybug and showed it to the kids. They thought is was pretty exciting. The girls squealed with delight as we put it in their hands. Trevor had then taken it and I thought he eventually had let it go.

Later I noticed all three kids were gathered around their dump truck. I looked inside and their was one lone ladybug amongst many squiggly worms. I asked why they were all in there. Trevor replied " I'm looking for friends for my ladybug". Of course! I wouldn't want it to get lonely :) The kids spent an hour looking for bugs so the ladybug and worms would have lots of friends to play with. Worms do not bug me, but I would rather not touch them. I asked Trevor why he wanted to hold them, "because I like when they dance in my hands" :)

Next he'll want to go shopping for real.

2011-03-05T14:05:00.000-08:00

Recently I have been teaching Trevor how to count money. He knows how to count by 1's, 5's, and 10's. I was amazed at how fast he caught on how to start counting by 10's (dimes) then go right to 5's (nickels) and then to 1's (pennies). We have been playing store. I write down the price on a sticky note and attach it to the item. I then place coins in front of him and have him count them and see if he has enough to buy the item or not. He got everyone right! I was surprised at how fast he caught on! He asked if we could go to the store so he can buy something using his change. I told him we need some more practice at home first. He is learning so fast. This kid amazes me!!

Snow Days...

2011-03-05T13:55:00.000-08:00

We had a rare end of February snow storm that at first delayed schools and then closed them for most of the week. I think at one time we had 4 inches! It snowed off and on for about 5 days. Accumulating, melting, freezing, repeat again the next day.

The kids had a blast playing in it. We made snowmen and Trevor taught the girls the art of eating snow :) I think that was Allie and Kara's favorite part. Towards the end of the week we bought a small sled and towed the girls around the back yard. They had so much fun! Trevor was able to go to the airport trials and slide down some hills.

By the second day of the snow Trevor was ready to go back to school. He loves it so much. I was glad for the snow to finally be gone and school to resume also. I do not want to spend more of the summer than I have to making up snow days from this snowstorm and the one we had in November.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T15:51:00.000-08:00

We had a fun day with the kids. They got a rare treat and had fruit loops for breakfast. The girls kept wanting more "colorful cheerios". Later in the morning I had planned a Valentine's party with the kids. We had friends come over and they decorated cookies, made cards and fruit loop necklaces. We all had lunch together. Everyone had a lot of fun. They were all on a sugar high by the time everyone left :)

When Daddy came home from work, we gave the kids their gifts. They each got some stickers and a chocolate. Since they had been eating junk for most of the day when they wanted their candy before dinner I thought why not! They loved it :) For dinner we enjoyed a heart shape pizza and a smores pie for desert. It was yummy!

Everyone had a lot of fun. Thanks to all our friends who came out and helped make the day special.

Silly girls ~ Random posts

2011-02-08T21:29:00.000-08:00

‎Not to be outdone by big brother here are what my sweet babes have been up to this week:

2 two year olds left a lone for one minute. 1 play ladle. 1 play spoon. 1 lid open on the toilet = Two girls "feeding" each other toilet water.

At least that is a lot cleaner than the lake water they liked to drink this summer :)

I went to check on them during nap time today. They had stripped their clothes, diapers and bedding. Fun times!!

They have dumped the cat food into the shower.

During nap and bedtime the girls have been taking all their stuffed animals to bed with them along with a couple wash clothes. They put their "babies" to bed and lay down along side them. So cute!!

They like to take the pillows off of our bed and drag them down the hallway saying "come on pillow, you can make it" as they bring the pillows to their room. They then proceed to put the Care Bears on the pillow and put a blanket on them to go to sleep.

They have gotten into Trevor's crayons and redecorated a chair that Scott had just upholstered a couple weeks ago. I guess the new Red color just wasn't enough for them :)

Recovery... Part 6

2011-02-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

Recovery started off tough and as of today is slowly getting a little easier. Trev developed itching with his meds so he was on benadryl also. That seemed to help. He was pretty sore for a few days. He had a noticeable limp and was slightly hunched over when he walked. Holding his buffalo closely to his battle wounds.

Sleep has been hard to come by. Both Trevor and the girls had been staying up very late and getting up very early. Lack of getting energy out can do that to you. Of course I wasn't able to go to sleep until they did. So that meant even less sleep for me. Last night Trev went to bed at 8:30 and woke up around 9:30 this morning! Yay Trevor!!

Yesterday he said his pain was a zero for the first time. It really showed too! I think that is why he fell asleep so early. But this morning he woke up in a lot of pain. It was back to a two. The only thing he wanted to do was play video games or watch movies. It took about 4 hours for the medicine to finally kick in.

Hopefully he will be ready for school on Thursday. If not he'll be back in time for the Valentine Party. He will have another week off of gym and recess, but he will get to do fun stuff during that time like computers, library or playing video games. So I do not think he will mind that much.

Hopefully he starts sleeping better so I can sleep. Also I hope his pain subsides soon and these two weeks of recovery will be over and he can start running around outside again. On the bright side it is rainy and cold outside so that is easier to keep him in the house.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us and helped us out. We are very grateful for such wonderful friends! Everything happened so fast we did not have time to think. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around everything that happened. It still feels surreal to me.

Hospital stay... Part 5

2011-02-04T21:54:00.000-08:00

By the time we got to our room and settled in it was close to 3am. We got Trev to take a couple sips of water and administered some meds. Soon after he asked for a popsicle. Then nurse explained that he had to wait 15 minutes to make sure he did not get sick from the meds or drinking the water. He seemed fine with that. I was almost asleep on the cot when I remembered Trev's popsicle. It had been about 10 minutes but he was already asleep! I followed soon after, trying to turn off my mind. My body was exhausted and finally it won. Trev woke up around 10am looked at me and said "mommy, why haven't you gotten my green popsicle yet?" I told him because he fell asleep and just woke up! Silly boy! I then got him his green popsicle.

During those early morning hours the nurses were constantly checking him as he had just gotten out of surgery. It was very hard to sleep. Around 4:30 am a surgeon came in and started asking questions on how he was feeling. Really, why do you have to wake him up! Most of the time when asking about pain he said he was a number 2 smiley face. Quite different from his heart procedure where he was the happiest face the whole time. By the way this surgery was exactly 8 months from his last.

At the hospital Trevor enjoyed many popsciles, movies, ice cream and what ever else his little heart desired. How could one not like the hospital? We went down to the playroom a couple times to play and bring back movies, books, games, legos and crafts to the room. He was still very sore and did not want to walk until he got some strong pain meds. Then he was able to walk around a little better. He also enjoyed a few wheel chair rides. Trevor is waiting for his next hospital stay. Hopefully we will wait a few more years for the next one. This was surgery number 6 for him!

Now we are home and recovery is going as well as expected. He is still very sore and has a cough that makes his tummy hurt even more. He also started to itch after taking his meds. So now we have added benadryl to his medications. He should be able to go back to school on Thursday. He will have to take it easy for the next two weeks while he heals. No gym or recess during that time. He will get to play computers or bring in his own video games to play. I think he will enjoy that :) He was suppose to start swimming tomorrow, but I called and got it switched to March. I am glad they were so accommodating. Although March will be a little busy with swimming and baseball.

I forgot to add that when we were in the ER trying to get an IV in. There were 4 people holding him down, and eventually he needed to be mummy wrapped. He wanted to watch what was going on and it scared him once he seen the needle. I am grateful that he does not have much memory of that particular experience.

ER... Part 4

2011-02-04T16:34:00.000-08:00

I checked Trev into the ER and they had our paperwork ready to go and said they had been waiting for us. We got into triage right away. Once in there I thought I recognized one of Trevor's cardiac nurses from when he was a baby. (She was there for the first 3 surgeries.) Luckily we seen her and she expedited everything for us. They had poor Trevor jump up and down. He was in tears at the thought of it. He did one tiny jump and they were satisfied. We then waited in the waiting area for about 30 minutes.

Karen (his old cardiac nurse) came out a few times and got some info from us that the Dr.s would be asking us and also ordered an ultrasound. This helped a lot as the ultrasound lab tech went home at 7. It was 6:30 at this time. (We arrived at 6pm) At this point we had not met with the ER Doc as Karen kinda took over as he was still seeing other patients ahead of us. She told us that at this point the more serious concern was his appendix not his heart. In a weird way it was almost nice to be there for a normal kid thing, even though it was considered an emergency.

We got to the ultrasound a little after 6:30. Trevor is truly a rock star!! He was so patient as they were poking and prodding on his belly. He kept asking if they were going to make him better after seeing the sleep Dr.

Within 10 minutes of getting to our ER room after the Ultrasound we were greeting with 2 nurses ready to give him an IV. I was stunned, so this means his appendix is coming out now? The nurses were surprised too. They said this never happens this fast. Karen must have pulled some strings to get him seen faster and it was a good thing too. The surgeon had stated if we had waited any longer it would have ruptured.

Poor Trevor and his 2 failed IV attempts. He was screaming in pain and fear as they kept messing up. Finally I put my foot down and told them to stop. There had to be a way, any other way. This will not be Trev's last surgery and I do not want him scared of hospitals. I even asked the surgeon the same question in front of the nurses. I think they could tell I was not happy at this point. Heck, I had been crying right along with Trevor on the second failed attempt. Finally we got a new nurse and she got it right away.

The IV drip and antibiotics were started. This was about 8:30 pm. We were told he would be in surgery once the antibiotics were finished. My dad showed up around 10pm with dinner for me. Thanks Dad!! I hadn't eaten since noon and was famished. The nurses kept offering me food and drink but I kept saying no as Trev could not have anything. Finally around 9pm I gave in and I snuck out of the room to eat crackers and drink some juice. I did the same thing once my dad came back with my sandwich.

There happened to be two other kiddos that came in with a more emergent case than we were so we were bumped back. About 11:45pm Trev was wheeled back and my dad and I stayed in the waiting area. My dad had a nap (he had been up since 2am). I tried to nap but sleep was not in my future. I borrowed his lap top for a while. (The reason for my 1am posts :))

About 1:15am the Surgeon came out and said the surgery was a complete success and Trev did awesome through the whole thing. He explained that because of his heart defect they had to do the classical incision and healing would take a little longer. He said we were lucky that he got it out when we did. Another 20 minutes and the thing would have ruptured! God was surely there with us that night as we ran into Karen and she helped expedite things. About 2am and we got to see Trevor. It was so great to finally see him! The day still seems kind of surreal. Everything just happened so fast!

On our way... Part 3

2011-02-04T16:14:00.000-08:00

Once at home I explain to Bri what was going on. I tried to pack things but I could not function. The only thing I could think about was getting Trev to the hospital. He was very excited to be going. He loves his hospital stays :) Movies and popsicles, it doesn't get much better than that!

Scott arrives home and he puts Trev's car seat into the truck. Then he loads Trev up. I know other stuff happened but I do not remember what. I could only focus on getting Trev to the hospital. My dad would be coming later with our stuff while Scott stayed home with the girls. Bri offered to stay at the house with the girls while Scott took the mini down to get the tire changed, and I took Trev to the hospital.

I charged the phone and made a few phone calls to inform people what was going on and to pray for Trevor. Later I looked at Trev's feet and he had no shoes on! Hopefully Scott packs some for him :) I let Trevor know what was going on and that he got to stay the night in the hospital again. The smile on his face was huge!! The first thing he said was he was going to be eating 30 popsicles!! I explained the best I could what would be happening. Of course I would find out that emergency surgeries are much different than planned ones.

The traffic was pretty good until we got to the U district. It took us 30 minutes to go through to get to the hospital! Once we arrived there was no room in the emergency parking so instead of going to the overflow parking ( I knew we would be staying anyway, plus it was dark and Trev had to be carried, no shoes remember!) I headed over to the whale parking. Once inside they had to escort us to the ER since we came in a different way.

Seriously!?!... Part 2

2011-02-04T15:47:00.000-08:00

Sometime during the night on Tuesday Trevor came into our bed saying his tummy really hurt. (Later he told us that it hurt so bad he had to crawl to us). He fell asleep pretty quickly so I didn't think much of it. When we woke up in the morning Trev looked a little pale, and had the sniffles and the starting of a cough. I was right, he was getting sick...

He stayed in my bed and watched cartoons all morning. Not moving an inch. He refused to eat during the day. I pushed fluids on him and flavored his water with apple juice. Around noon he started to scream in pain that I had to carry him to the bathroom. I thought he might have a tummy bug at this point. I rushed him to the bathroom and he was in so much pain. This scared me, I started pushing on his tummy and he would scream. I then tried his sides and back and he was fine. I then called the Dr. right away. We got an appt. for 3:20 about 2 hours away. It didn't seem fast enough, but I needed to find someone to watch the girls. My gut instinct told me something was really wrong.

I made a few phone calls and finally Bri came to the rescue! From talking with her and looking things up online it looked like he may have appendicitis. I sure hope my gut instinct is wrong! Okay here is the part of the story where someday I will find the humor in all this:

Since I knew that Trev could not walk on his own I loaded him up in the mini before Bri got here. Once Bri pulled in, she pointed out that I had a flat tire. You have to be kidding right! I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry at this point. I finally pulled it together and Bri offered me her car. She then informed me she was out of gas and I would need to fill it up. By this point I had about 15 minutes to get to the appointment and it was about 15 minutes away! We load Trev up get to the gas station and some not very nice person pulls in front of me. Arrgh! I quickly get gas add a little extra as a thank you, and back up in a weird angle to get out of there!

We finally arrive at the Dr's. office 10 minutes late. Did I mention because of the insurance change this is a brand new Dr. who has never met Trevor before! I was impressed of his knowledge on Trev's defect and that made me a little more comfortable with his new Dr.

I told the nurse what I thought was wrong with him. The Dr. asked a few questions about Trevor first and I told him that I thought it was his appendix. After examining him he said that yes I was right. Why did I have to be right!?! I told him it was great meeting him and welcome to your new patient :) The first day he meets Trevor it is for an emergency. Hopefully he is prepared. Trev has a lot of tricks up his sleeve!

The Dr. informed me they would not be taking him by ambulance and that because of his heart history he wants him to go to Childrens. Great! That was my first choice also. But over an hour away in the middle of traffic. Lovely. The Dr. told me they would call Childrens and they would be expecting me. I go to call Scott from my cell and the battery is dead! The nurse lets me use there phone and and call Scott. He is not answering his work phone or cell... Not good. The nurse looks up the main work number on the computer and we go from there. Of course I am put on hold for 5 minutes and transferred twice as I tell them who I am, and what is going on and I need to get a hold of Scott now. Finally I get a hold of one of his co-workers who passes the info along. I then go to the car only to find out I do not have Bri's keys! Are you kidding me!?! We go back inside and they are sitting on the desk. I must have put them down while making phone calls.

Looking back it all adds up... Part 1

2011-02-04T15:20:00.000-08:00

On Sunday Trevor started to complain that his right side hurt when he jumped on the trampoline. (He seemed fine otherwise, running around the house playing) We told him not to jump then if it hurt. He said, "no, I like jumping" So we figured it must not hurt that bad then. The same thing happened on Monday, we told him the same thing.

Tuesday morning we got him up for school and all seemed fine. I packed him his favorite lunch, pancakes. When he arrived home he did not run to me, which he usually does, but walked slowly. I asked him if he had a tough day. He said his tummy hurt. Once inside I looked through his backpack and noticed that he only ate 1 pancake. I asked if he was hungry and he said no. I figured he must be coming down with something. He took it easy until dinner and just picked at dinner. At 7:30 he volunteered to go to bed. Yes, he must be getting sick! So we started to get ready for bed. It was perfect as the girls had not napped that day either. While brushing teeth Trevor asked if his Daddy could do it and carry him to his room. He was asleep within 5 minutes!

I decided that since he did not have school on Wednesday I would let him stay in my bed and watch cartoons. It seemed he was coming down with something and I wanted him to get his rest so he could go to school on Thursday.

Nude New Year

2011-01-11T15:25:00.000-08:00

So the girls are still hesitant about wearing clothes. Although they now like to wear their "princess" Tutu's :) That is a start...

On the bright side of the girls not wanting to wear clothes, they want to sit on the potty. I think it is starting to work. Kara went poo on the potty and she was so excited!! I gave her some M&M's and she even shared with her sister. I'm sure if Trev would have been home she would have shared with him too :) You know she is her daddy's girl when she exclaimed "Take picture! Daddy!!" she wanted to "show' him what she did today. My kids are the cutest :)

When asked the girls will tell you they are princesses. The other day I told them they were my love bugs. Their response? "NO! Princesses!" I wonder where they get that from?

The girls are getting so big and their vocabulary is growing everyday. They are so expressive and crazy silly. I love it! Trevor has learned how to read and tell time. Watch out world here he comes! He loves to learn and picks up on new things so quickly. I hope that he will continue to love school and love learning when he is older as much as he does now. His new passion right now is legos. In the few short months he has had legos he has gotten pretty good at them.

Too cute for words

2010-12-16T13:02:00.000-08:00

Diaperless December

2010-12-02T15:19:00.000-08:00

I went into the girls' room during nap time and they were completely naked! No clothes, diaper... they even took off there sheets and mattress protector! What silly girls they are :) What is it with 2 years not wanting to wear clothes, especially when it is so cold... At least they have been dry during nap time, so I just make sure they are covered up with lots of blankets and let them sleep in their birthday suit :)

Maybe with them being naked all the time they may want to start using the potty? Right now it is used for putting little people in. They have never used it for its intended purpose, so I guess until then it can be an extra "toy"

Cardiology Appointment

2010-12-02T15:16:00.000-08:00

Today was Trevor's 6 month appointment to check the placement of his amplatzer he had implanted last June. And to see how his heart is doing and if a valve replacement is in the near future. Of course his cardiologist meets locally on Thursdays and that is one of the days that Trev has school. (He only goes twice a week but full days.)

We dropped the girls off with a friend and Trev and I drove to the appt. We were a few minutes late courtesy of all the thick fog :) He has grown 1 lb and 1.5" since July! No wonder his clothes are not fitting as well... He was measured, weighed, had an EKG, echo (he watched Air Bud during the echo) and talked with the nurses and Dr. about being in Kindergarten and playing soccer. They said he looked wonderful! His heart looks great and the amplatzer is right where it should be :) His Right Ventricle is slightly enlarged but not of any concern at the moment. As of now we can wait a few years for his valve replacement. He is now back to yearly appointments. What a great Christmas gift :)

He made sure I took a lot of pictures so we can print them out and make a poster board for his class to see. He was actually excited to see the "Heart Dr." today. We had plenty of time to eat our picnic lunch and get to school in time for the second half of the day. His Dr. also let him listen to his heart. I think that was his favorite part of the whole visit. Or maybe the webkinz he received afterward :)

He still has no restrictions which is great. Today was also his last day of Aspirin! He is now off of all medications again.

Soccer ball cupcakes

2010-11-24T13:32:00.000-08:00

Here are the soccer ball cupcakes Trev and I made for his soccer party.

Fire Trucks

2010-11-19T13:42:00.000-08:00

This year for Trevor's end of season soccer party we went to the fire station. It was a lot of fun! The kids got to see the fire station, go inside a fire truck and ambulance. They also got to use a fire hose! After pizza, cupcakes and trophies the coach (who is a fireman) took each family for a ride in a fire truck! It was so much fun. Allie loved it, she kept saying, "Firetruck, again! Firetruck again!"

I made soccer ball cupcakes. They turned out pretty good! Trevor helped of course. Once I get the pics loaded up on the computer I'll have to remember to post a pic :)

Trevor had a lot of fun this year playing soccer. He is already waiting for the next season to begin... It will be a long 9 months. At least we will have baseball to look forward to in a few months. He improved a lot during the year. He scored a goal in each of the last 4 games of the season.

Naked November

2010-11-07T21:02:00.000-08:00

What is it about the leaves changing color and the cooler weather that makes two year olds want to run around naked? Lately it has been a struggle to keep clothes and diapers on Allie and Kara. As soon as I get one dressed she takes off her clothes and diaper as I chase the other down to get her dressed. It is a never ending battle. As long as we have nowhere to be I let them run around in their diaper. It just isn't worth the hassle. Maybe I can save money by not buying clothes :)

Putting socks and shoes on the girls is pointless also. As soon as I start up the car the shoes and socks are off! Even though it is getting colder I put their shoes and socks in the car and finish getting the girls read once we get to our destination. Maybe someday the girls will enjoy wearing clothes again :) Until then, beware if you come over there may be two little girls running around only in a diaper.

Trick or Treat

2010-11-02T14:45:00.000-07:00

We took the kids downtown on Saturday to do some trick or treating. We were preparing the girls for the next day. At first they were a little hesitant. Finally they grabbed each others hands and were dancing down the street holding their buckets up and saying trick or treat. Once they turned around they kept yelling BYE!! It was so cute to watch them.

On Sunday they wore their costumes almost all day. They kept chanting LADY BUG, LADY BUG!! They love their costumes, so we let the kids wear them while they were shopping. It was cute to see the girls walking down the aisles holding hands and Trevor (Buzz) right next to them herding them along the way. That night Trevor was running excitedly to each house. His sisters slowed him down so he went with Daddy while the girls and I went a much slower pace. The girls held onto each other as they went up each step, knocked on the door until someone answered it, held up their buckets and said trick or treat. Sometimes they stood their waiting for more. Once they turned away they would say bye Halloween. After a few houses the girls rode in the wagon while Trevor gathered more candy.

We brought the kids back home to pass out candy. Trevor's friend TJ came over so we went out with him for a little while. During that time the girls stayed home with daddy and passed out candy. The girls stayed in their costumes and were being cute everytime someone came to the door. They would say trick or treat, then as the kids left they yelled bye, until the other kids answered back. Trev had so much fun trick or treating with his friend. He ran from house to house I think we did as many houses in 30 minutes with his friend as we did in over the hour we were out previous with the girls.

Now to find something to do with all this candy. I think we will see if the kids want to trade in their candy for the new Toy Story 3 movie coming out.

Volunteering

2010-11-02T14:36:00.000-07:00

Recently I had the chance to help out in Trevor's Kindergarten class. It was a lot of fun. I took him to school and we got to his class. I helped the teacher get books ready for a lesson coming up. The first 20 minutes the kids did busy work while the teacher was gathering all their folders from the day before and taking attendance.

The kids had their first science lesson and they learned about the different feels of fabric and what you would use different fabrics for. I helped kids cut out pieces of fabric and they made collages. I was able to stay for two hours. 5 year olds are very busy but such a fun age! I walked with Trevor to the playground. He knew I would be leaving at that time but he was more interested in going out to play with his friends. His teacher said I was leaving and Trevor never turned around, he just ran off! I called him back hugged him and told him I'd see him after school. He quickly hugged me, said bye, and was off and running with his friends. I'm glad he is having such a good time at school. I can't wait until I get the chance to go back and help. I just need to find some friends willing to watch the girls for me :)

GOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!

2010-11-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

Trevor has had a lot of fun playing soccer this year. Recently he scored his second goal (The first one was by accident as it hit off of his leg and ricocheted into the goal :)) He ran down the field keeping the ball in front of him and scored!! You would think this would cause him to be excited and do his little dance he enjoys so much on the field, but no. He just turns around and walks to the middle of the field to start over. Everyone was wondering if he was excited? All the other kids jump and holler when they score. He didn't really think much of it.

Of course later during the game he is down by the goal as he is suppose to be protecting it and he is dancing around being goofy :) Silly 5 year olds.

Picture Day

2010-10-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

So I thought I'd try getting the kids' pictures done again. I made sure to get the first appointment in the morning so there would be no waiting. After we parked and I got everyone out of the car, I drop a sippy cup and it rolls under the car, right in the middle of course. That would have to wait until later... We get to the Picture People (where I have never had a good experience)one minute before our appointment. I was pretty proud of myself :) I check in and we are told they will be with us shortly...

20 minutes later we finally get in...grrr... What happened to getting the first appointment of the day!?! Of course by this time the girls want nothing to do with pictures and they want to eat and play. At least Trevor was minding :) The photographer was wonderful! She patiently waited for Allie to stop crying and got some wonderful shots of her playing. Silly Bandz and goldfish did the trick. Kara on the other hand kept it up for almost the whole photo shoot. Part of the time the girls had thrown themselves on the floor. The joy of 2 year olds :)

At the very end something switched in Kara and she was happy and wanted her picture taken. We got some very cute pics of all 3. Separately of course... Getting the 3 of them to pay attention and look at the camera at the same time is more of a dream than a reality :)

We waited for our pictures, another 45 minutes, that were only suppose to take 5 minutes. Go Figure. Of course the kids became restless and starting running around the lobby and climbing on and off the chairs. I strapped the girls in their stroller and they protested rather loudly. Finally by the time we got out of there with our pictures it was over 2 hours later. The other frustrating part was they wouldn't accept my coupon that THEY sent me!! Okay enough about that.

We then went over to the play area and met Wyndi, Izzy and Nola. It was great seeing Trevor and Izzy playing, running and jumping around. Especially since when they met Trevor was 5 days out of open heart surgery and Izzy was awaiting hers. They shared a room for a couple days. To remember how far these two have come is amazing. Especially to see them as the energetic kids they are today.

Trevor and the girls shared yummy pretzels and went to build a bear where Trevor got to stuff his first doggy which he named Trevor Jr.

Once we got back to the car Trev reminded me of the sippy under the car. I drove out of the parking stall, parked the car and retrieved the sippy, once the kids were all buckled in of course :) As I was getting the sippy someone drove up and had to wait for us. They didn't look to happy, but I did have to save that sippy, Trevor's request. I had counted it lost as soon as it rolled under the car.

Silly Bandz Silly kidz

2010-10-25T13:57:00.000-07:00

Trevor has been asking for sometime to buy some Silly Bandz. I found a generic brand and brought those home to the kids. You would have thought I told them we were going to Disneyland, they were so excited! Maybe they are not old enough to appreciate Disneyland yet.

The girls wear them on their wrists and ankles. They also love to put them into a paint cup and run around the house with them chanting "silly bands, silly bands!" They love to see the shapes. I bought animal ones as I knew that would make the girls go crazy, and rock band for Trevor. Let's see how long they last. We have already had a couple of them break. At least it is cheap entertainment :)

Skeletons, Bats, Jack-o-lanterns, OH MY!!

2010-10-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

The kids helped bake cookies for my parents Halloween Party. We made gingerbread men, bats and jack-o-lanterns. The smell reminded me of Christmas time. We should make gingerbread more often. It smells and tastes soooo good! We made skeletons out of the gingerbread men and bats. They turned out pretty cute and tasted even better!

Allie, Kara and Trevor loved helping. Trevor put all the ingredients in and helped stir. All three helped roll out the dough and press down on the shapes. By the time we were done the kids had flour all over themselves, the table, chair and floor. But we all had a great time. Of course I decided to finish the final product after bath time, and that is when the kiddos had flour all over the place :)

We also made mini pumpkin brownies and had those for desert. The girls love helping just as much as their brother does. It is a bit trickier with 2 two year olds in the kitchen...

On the night of my parents Halloween party I took the girls to Fred Meyer in their adorable lady bug costumes. They walked through the store holding hands chatting back and forth. It was such a cute sight! Everyone, even teenagers dressed in their homecoming attire commented on how cute they were. Allie and Kara were loving every minute of it:)

Sisters

2010-10-19T14:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the cute things the girls say while they are suppose to be napping :)

Allie: "Picture!"
Kara: "Cheese!"
Allie: "Smile!"

Maybe we take a lot of pictures?

Kara:"1,2"
Allie: "3,4,5"
Kara: "6,7,8"
Allie: "9,10!"
Both: "Yeah! Again!!"

Allie: "Ready? GO!!!
Kara: "See you!""

They say this as one puts a blanket over their head to play hide and seek.

Allie and Kara both asked to be wrapped as a burrito before taking a nap. Basically it is a swaddle with a big blanket!

We have also caught them pretending to change and wipe their stuffed animals bottoms saying "oooh gross!" when they have a dirty diaper :)

Those girls are so cute!

Al - EYE

2010-10-13T16:12:00.000-07:00

When the girls call each others name they always say Al-eye. They both call each other Allie. We try and explain that one is Kara and the other Allie. Maybe one day they will understand they each have their own name :)

The girls have been waiting for Pax to come back and play. (He is the little boy I have been babysitting). Well, this morning was the day he came back to play with us. The girls and Trevor were so excited to have their friend back! He will be back the reminder of this week and all of next week. I think that will be it for awhile as the person who originally watches him will be having her baby soon and not be taking on any sub jobs until after the New Year. He has been a lot of fun to have around. Pax and the girls have been learning about sharing. Not an easy task for toddlers!

The weather continues to be beautiful! This weekend was busy with soccer, church and a harvest party as well as sick kiddos and a sick daddy on Sunday. Trevor has been enjoying soccer. Next week is the last week of practice then 5 more games and we are done for the season. Trevor will miss it. It will baseball in the spring and maybe some swim lessons this winter to pass time. We need to find something for the girls to join too. We might try tumbling with them. Trevor started at this age and loved it!

Trevor is enjoying school. He only goes twice a week. He is becoming a great reader! He catches on so quickly and he loves to learn.

Is summer finally here?

2010-09-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

It is the end of September and I think summer is trying to make its appearance? This last week has been beautiful! Especially with all the leaves changing colors. I think we have had more sun these past couple weeks and warmth than we had during our actual summer. The kids have been excited that they actually get to go swimming outside! It looks like our nice weather will continue for a few more days. I am enjoying this as much as I can as I know it will not last, especially since October is only a couple days away!

Trevor has been enjoying school and soccer. His favorite subjects our computer lab and library. So far he has played 2 soccer games. He is enjoying it, and slowly starting to understand the concept. It is funny to watch all the little kids hover around the ball following it where ever it goes. He is already asking when he gets to play baseball! We have a few more months for that one...

Kara and Allie are now onto 3 word sentences! GO KARA!! GO ALLIE!! Pretty soon they'll be able to use full sentences. They are getting so big! Lately they love it when we wrap them as burritos for nap time. You can here them in their room, "mommy, burrito!" So I go in their and swaddle them tight. You would think that 2 years wouldn't want to be swaddled, although their brother asks sometimes too, silly kids!

Extreme Sports... Take Two!!

2010-09-29T22:24:00.000-07:00

The event today is how fast can we switch places in our high chairs? The girls were sitting comfortably in their high chairs eating fish crackers. For some reason I decided this would be a good time switch the laundry. These girls are fast and fearless! The laundry room is right next to the kitchen so I thought I would be able to hear them... When I came out they both started giggling when they saw me. Both girls had gotten out of their high chairs and were on each others trays starting to get into their new seats! The time it took them to do this... 2 minutes!!

Later that evening, They played how fast can you snatch Daddy's chips? We were finishing up dinner and Daddy had left 2 chips on the table while he was drawing the girls' bath water. I went into the kitchen (which is basically the same area as the dining room) turned around and put the enchiladas in the fridge. You would have thought I had learned my lesson from the days previous event, but thinking I was right there they wouldn't try anything, boy was I wrong! Within those few seconds of turning my back to put the enchiladas in the fridge Kara decided she would be the one to go for the chips! When I turned around she had gotten out of her high chair crawled across the table and grabbed both chips. The girls thought it was pretty funny. I went over to her but let her finish to see what she was going to do. She crawled back to Allie and gave her a chip. What a sweet sister to share in the prize :)

Earlier I had caught them in the act of trying to scale their changing table. Looks like that one is leaving very soon! They also like to try and get on the window sills since they have a ledge where they can stand. Every time they try one of these tricks I just shake my head and say "your brother never did this!" Soon we will have nothing left in our house, as our little monkeys use the most basic things to get climb on. With Trevor we were able to tie the kitchen chairs to the table legs, but not with the girls, they will use those chairs to climb on the table. So if you ever come to our house, that is why you will never see chairs at the table, except for when we are eating :)

Entering the school years...

2010-09-10T15:58:00.000-07:00

Trevor woke up at 4am the morning that Kindergarten started! He was so excited to be riding the bus and going to school. We eventually got him to crawl back into bed with us, but that didn't last very long. His friend Caitlyn came over to ride the bus with him. She is in 3rd grade now so she is an experienced bus rider :)

When he seen the bus he ran over to catch it. He hopped right on the bus without looking back. We called to him to turn around so we could get a picture, but we could only get his backside. We crossed the street so we were on the side of the bus he was and waved "bye" to him. Allie and Kara kept saying "Bye Bye Trevor".

We then loaded the girls in the mini and followed him to school. He got right off the bus and was headed to the spot his teacher had told him to go during orientation. He acted like he has been doing this for months! We stayed with him as his class walked to the classroom. When it was time for the kids to go into the classroom he turned around waved and yelled "Bye Mom, Bye Dad!" and walked into the classroom.

Caitlyn rode the bus home with him also. They got to ride next to each other so that was good. Trevor said he had a fun day and made some new friends but didn't remember their names :) He got to play on the computers but he said it wasn't enough time but it was still fun. He got two recesses and got to eat lunch at school! He can't wait to go back. To bad he only goes 2x a week. It seems like he had a great first day.

Happy Birthday Allie and Kara!!

2010-09-10T15:45:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that my babies are now 2!! They are getting so big. They have a huge vocabulary and are slowly learning how to put two words together. Soon they'll be talking in sentences! They still love to climb and play in the dirt as well as shoes and tutus. Very well rounded little girls :)

The morning of their birthday happened to be Trevor's first day of Kindergarten. The girls were up early so we all walked Trevor to the bus. As Trevor was leaving on the bus they kept saying "Bye Bye Trevor" It was so cute! We then loaded them up in the car and followed Trev to his first day of Kindergarten. After that we came home had breakfast played awhile then got dressed and took them to lunch. They had a lot of fun having Mommy and Daddy all to themselves.

After there nap Trevor came home and we played outside and ate dinner out there even though it was cold! We then ate fresh brownies right out of the oven with vanilla ice cream :) They were on a sugar high so bed time came a little later. They loved it when we sang Happy Birthday to them. Hopefully they'll like the attention again at their party.

Budding Artists for hire

2010-09-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

If anyone is need of some redecorating, we have two adorable budding artists for hire. They will redesign your walls, doors, floors, toys. Whatever you want them to do. Just feed them and they will be happy! We guarantee the artwork will be one (two) of a kind!

Earlier in the day as I was cleaning the kitchen and high chairs from the girls rather messy breakfast, (I just started putting milk in their cereal) I noticed the girls running from the toy closet over to our bedroom door. I walked over to see what they were doing. Our bedroom door along with the bathroom door had beautiful artwork all over! I looked a little closer and they had redesigned some toys too.

I had sent Trevor outside a few minutes earlier to play and didn't realize he had left the toy closet open. The girls found the markers and pulled them out of the drawer and went to town. Our white doors now have a splash of color.

We have gotten use to having things a little lower for Trevor to get to them. Now the girls are big enough to reach almost anything in that closet. It has been about a month since we took the gate down that protected the closet if it was left open. Looks like it is time to find a new home for Trev's art supplies :)

August

2010-08-31T15:48:00.000-07:00

What a busy month this has been! With Trevor's surgery at the beginning of summer and his recovery for all of June and most of July we didn't do a whole lot. We tried to cram everything in during the month of August. The weather hasn't been all that great either. We have had to "heat waves" this summer. Other wise it has been rather cold.

This month we have gone to baseball games, camping in our back yard (It was in the 90's and no air conditioner in the house!), VBS, lots of parties, made a few trips to the beach, parks and trying to enjoy the outdoors as much as we can before school starts.

Trevor is very excited about school! I hope he feels this way when he is a teenager :) He has made his teacher crafts and pictures. Tomorrow he gets to meet her and give her all his gifts he has made for her. The day of the girls birthday will be a busy one! That is also the day Trevor starts Kindergarten! That afternoon he will have soccer practice and I have a meeting I am suppose to attend. Trevor's friend Caitlyn will be coming over that morning to ride with Trevor on the bus. She is in 3rd grade, so she is an experienced rider :)

Zoo Day!

2010-07-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

Scott took the day off so we could all go to the zoo. We left early in the morning so we could be there when it opened at 9:30. We got to Shoreline and Trevor said, "Daddy, the babe doesn't like her milk she spit it out." I reached behind me and touched Allie's hand. It was wet and had milk chunks on it. She threw up in her car seat. Of course the only change of clothes I had was a shirt. She had it everywhere! Thank goodness she took off her shoes and socks prior to this happening.

We got to the zoo, at 9:30, but we had to clean Allie up. Of course the sun was not out this morning like it has been the last few weeks so it was a little chilly. We stripped her of her clothes and put the new shirt and a jacket on her. We then got inside of the zoo and headed for the family restroom. We washed the clothes off and dried them with the hand dryer. She was now good to go :)

The kids had a lot of fun at the zoo. They loved the freedom to walk all over and see the animals. The girls kept pushing each other and giggling. Whenever Allie would stop pushing Kara, Kara would put her hand on her back and say "again, again". They were running and giggling and had everyone smiling at them.

After lunch I gave the girls a cookie while they were still in the stroller. They wanted down but I told them they either gave me the cookie and they could get down, or they could finish it then get down. Kara finished hers right away. Allie on the other hand wanted to save hers but did not want to give it up to me. Finally after seeing her sister have some freedom she shoved the cookie in her mouth. I finally let her out. A few minutes later I noticed her mouth was full. I gave her cheeks a little squeeze and out comes some cookie. She held onto the rest like a little chipmunk. 10 minutes later she spits the whole thing out. So not only is she a little smelly from her earlier episode, but now she is dirty from her cookie sitting in her mouth for 20 minutes!

We enjoyed the rest of the day at the zoo. Once we got home we put the girls right into the bath as Allie really needed it after her excellent adventures today. As soon as they got into the bath Kara pooped in the tub! I got them out right away, then Allie proceeded to go to the kitchen and pee on the tile in there. Finally we got them back in the tub and cleaned. Of course they went outside to play in the dirt... What a day!

Extreme Sports... Toddler Style!

2010-07-28T20:38:00.000-07:00

For the first event we have the potty chair standoff. Whoever can get their potty chair on the kitchen chair and stand on top of the potty chair wins.
And the winner is... Kara!

Our second event involves a shelving system in the bedroom closet. Whoever can stand on the shelves and reach the books (almost 4' off the ground) and successfully get one book down without being stuck or falling off wins.
And the winner is... Allie!

We are tied at the moment. Stay tuned for more from Extreme Sports... Toddler Style!

***DISCLAIMER*** No toddlers were injured or encouraged to do these stunts. They thought it out all on their own. Potty chairs and books have since been moved to a different location after discovering our talented twins.

The potty chair event happened while I was cooking dinner. Trevor started laughing, "hurry mommy, you have to see this!" When I got to the living room (Where the chairs had been kept do to the girls climbing the table and into their high chairs...) Kara was proudly standing on top of her potty chair which was placed on the kitchen chair. Allie's potty was also on top of the chair, but she was still climbing when I found her.

After removing the chairs and potties I went to finish dinner. The girls went into their room. There isn't much in there for them to get into. Or so I thought until I heard the screams. I went in and Kara was stuck on the shelves and couldn't get down. I grabbed Kara turned around and was comforting her. In the meantime Allie thought it would be a great idea to try and climb the shelves. By the time I seen this and put Kara down Allie had grabbed two books. I removed her and started to remove the books. She tried climbing again... Never a dull moment around here :)

Max Bye Bye

2010-07-26T20:46:00.001-07:00

Allie has finally said her first two (three) word sentence! She is now saying Max Bye Bye! She pauses about two or three seconds after saying Max then says bye bye right after it! Who knew it would take pet sitting for her to start putting words together :)

Bye Bye Max

2010-07-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

Max left today. The kids got to hold her one last time before Ryan and Ari took her back home. They spent about 30 minutes holding onto her before we gave her back :) Tonight as I was getting the girls ready for bed they went into Trevor's room chanting, MAX! MAX! But of course she was not in there. They were looking all over the room for her. They are in bed now one of the girls is saying MAX! MAX! while the other one is saying Bye, Bye! They miss her already. Trevor did a great job of feeding and watering her everyday and even helped clean her cage out.

Today I took Trevor bowling for a birthday party. He did so much better than he did last year! He bowled a 116 with no help from me. Of course the bumpers were up :) He got 2 strikes and a spare! He beat most of the older kids too.

We have been busy this summer going to parks, the beach, family night at church, lots of BBQ's. I love this time of year. Soon we'll have to have Trevor start getting to bed a little earlier so he'll be used to it for kindergarten. I hope this next month goes as slow as June did :)

So sweet...

2010-07-23T14:17:00.000-07:00

This morning after getting Kara ready for the day I let her down so she could go see Max, a guinea pig we are watching for a friend. I was finishing up with Allie and I didn't hear anything from Trevor's room. I went in and checked up on her. She was snuggled in bed with her big brother. They were so cute. Of course as soon as I got the camera she was sitting up. I asked her to lay back down so I could get a picture. Her response... Nuh uh...

Whenever someone is sad Kara and Allie will go up to them and pat them on the back. They are such sweet little girls. :) Yesterday they took that to a whole new level. Allie was hitting her sister in the back as Kara was giggling. They kept this up for about 10 minutes. It was the funniest thing to watch. Of course we do not have that on video either. I think we need to set up cameras through out the house so we can catch all their sweet and funny moments. Or I can try and remember to blog about it on here...

House Guest

2010-07-16T23:17:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine asked if we could keep her guinea pig, Max, while on vacation. I said yes. When I told Trevor he was so excited! I let him know that she will be sleeping in his room. He said, "I don't want her in there, she will poop all over my room". I told him that she will sleep in a cage in his room. He thought that was a great idea!

Last night Max came over to spend 9 nights with us. The girls have been squealing with delight! They love to hold her. When she moves it tickles their legs, and the girls giggle :) Trevor has been holding her all the time. While he plays school, reads, watching TV, etc. Trevor is in charge of watering and feeding her every night. He is excited for his new job! He has been telling everyone that he is taking care of his friend Ryan's "hamster"

Poor Max is going to get a complex when she leaves here. The girls call her a bunny and Trevor calls her a hamster. Unless she already has one as her name is Max and she is a girl :) That is what you get when a 5 year old that likes Max and Ruby names his first pet :)

I hope Max is ready and well rested for tomorrow. I'm sure it will be more of the same as today. At least the weather has been nice so I have been able to convince the kids to play outside and give Max a break.

Trevor's 5!

2010-07-13T21:11:00.000-07:00

Trevor was so excited to wake up and be 5 years old! On his birthday I took him to a science lab with 3 friends and they learned all about energy. They had a lot of fun. We cooked his favorite meal, homemade chicken nuggets and fries with broccoli and mac and cheese. Later in the evening he and I went to Baskin Robbins and ate ice cream. Of course we brought some home for Daddy too!

Today we went to a karate stranger danger class and learned what to do if someone tries to take you. It was quiet informative and I hope to be able to go to one again soon, as I was busy chasing my sweet babes, so I didn't get to listen to everything.

Allie and Kara were enjoying some homemade yogurt pops with each other today. It is so cute to watch them feed each other :) Trevor enjoyed his own of course :)

Trevor has started karate and says he enjoys it, but he doesn't want to participate in the 'boring' stuff. We'll see how long it lasts. Soccer starts next month and he is pretty excited for that.

Echos

2010-07-08T21:49:00.000-07:00

At night Trevor is "teaching" the girls new words. He will say a word from his bed and the girls will repeat it. It is so cute to listen to them interact this way. When Scott is reading Trevor his bedtime story and it has an animal in it, you can hear the girls saying an animal from there bedroom. Last night the book was about cats, so you heard "Meow" every time the word cat was said. We caught on rather quickly to what they were doing and added a few more animals to the mix :)

Weekly ramblings

2010-07-08T21:47:00.000-07:00

This has been such a busy week! Trevor's cardiology appointment was a week ago and since then he has been on the go, and he is still having a hard time falling asleep! We went to Sassy's (Grandma and Grandpa A.) and he bounced on the trampoline and ran all over their back yard. We went back for a BBQ and did it again the next day too! He has been to the park several times walking back home just to walk back again. He constantly is going outside to run around just because he can :) He just started karate this week and seems to be enjoying it. The pool and slip and slide have been getting a lot of use also. You think with all this activity that he would be getting tired.

Allie and Kara are getting very independent wanting to do everything themselves. This is going to be a very long summer! I am going to need to enlist help to do anything. Yesterday we went to the Credit Union where I used to work. Both girls had to walk up and down the stairs themselves! Then Trevor held Kara's hand to the parking lot and he led her across the parking lot because she "wanted to" as he put it. Earlier as I was getting Kara in the car at home Trevor took Allie and started walking her across the street. 4 years are helpful, but not always in a good way :) He does try though and is a great big brother.

The girls enjoyed their first popsicles yesterday as it reached 90 degrees here. (It is about time summer arrived!) We then had them run through the sprinkler to get cleaned up. Today was a repeat of yesterday. I think the girls are going to expect popsicles everyday now.

Allie and Kara love playing in the water. We set up the small pool and all 3 were in there jumping up and down splashing and giggling. It was a tight squeeze with all 3 in there. I think it is time to set up the bigger pool.

Surgery pics!

2010-07-01T20:55:00.001-07:00

one month post op appointment

2010-07-01T14:32:00.000-07:00

Today was Trev's one month post op appointment. It seemed to take forever to get here, but here we are one month out. He has never been so pink in his life, and I love it!! Even though he has been on restricted activity he has had so much energy. His cardiologist was pleased with the way everything looked. No leaking from the device site, yea!! We go back in December for another follow up. He was lifted from most restrictions, except for contact sports. We still need to be careful for awhile and have him avoid getting hit in the chest.

The first thing he asked after we were done with the appointment was if he could go to the park, jump around, ride his bike and go swimming. Yes Trevor, you can :) He was very excited about that... His cardiologist asked him how he liked the hospital and of course Trev told him he liked it and it was fun :) I guess not too many kids think that way about the hospital. We'll see if he still has that same attitude in a few years when he goes back to have his pulmonary valve replaced.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support during this time. Now hopefully the sun will come out and stay awhile and we can enjoy the rest of our summer!

What will they think of next!?!

2010-06-23T22:44:00.000-07:00

The other day I was folding laundry in my room. Trevor and the girls were safely in the house. All the gates in place and doors closed. Or so I thought. After about 5 minutes of folding clothes I couldn't here the girls. I went looking for them and they were no where to be found. I glanced down the hall and seen the doors were shut. I asked Trevor where they were, he didn't know either.

I start panicking as I open all the doors and looking in all the hiding areas. The last place I look is the bathroom. There they are super quiet with the toilet full and the garbage empty. As soon as they see me they start laughing and saying "water, water". They were so proud of themselves. They of course just couldn't empty the garbage can they had to start on the drawers too.

I had to fish out old diapers (at least they were only wet ones to begin with), loofahs, lots and lots of toilet paper. Trevor's bath crayons, and hand towels. The floor mat and the towel were soaked with toilet water. It was fun times cleaning that mess up :)

I keep thinking to myself, I was only out of there sight 5 minutes... There brother never did anything like this! What will they think of next?

My little monkeys

2010-06-17T21:20:00.000-07:00

While I was putting laundry away, Kara decided to explore a little. As I went into the kitchen I was startled by the fact that Kara was sitting in her high chair. It was just about lunch time, but I could have sworn that I did not put her there! I asked Trevor if he put her in there, although I know that would have been next to impossible.

Trevor said " No, she climbed onto the table and over it then climbed into her highchair." She had the biggest grin on her face when I seen her in there. She was very proud of herself :) Now if I only had a hidden camera so I could catch all that cuteness in action...

Later in the afternoon I caught Kara trying to climb the table again, so this time I grabbed my camera and tried to hide while filming her. I did catch her in the act as well as Allie climbing the table and trying to get into her highchair.

Later, while eating dinner I cut up apples into straw like pieces. Big mistake. Allie decided it would be funny to put it up her nose. She too, had a huge grin on her face and was so proud of herself :)

2 down, 2 to go!

2010-06-17T10:16:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Trev's ASD closure was 2 weeks ago. I don't even remember being in the hospital! Last week Trevor had some leg pain at the cath sight. After calling the on call cardiologist and talking with him he thought Trevor was just overdoing it. I could have told you that :) He is finally getting in a groove of watching TV, playing video games and doing art. He still likes to run and jump of course. He is having a very difficult time falling asleep as he expends no energy during the day. Hopefully when we go back to cardiology in a couple weeks they will tell us that everything is looking great and the device is where it is suppose to be and Trevor can go back to doing anything he wants, within reason of course :)

Allie and Kara are talking up a storm. They have about 50 words, although they do not put two words together yet. They love reading, shoes, tutu's, dirt, rocks and cars. Kara has started climbing the table. Whenever I see her on it she is spinning on all fours. I have tried to take video as it is cute, but I do not want her on the table.

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for Trevor and brought him gifts and blessed us with dinner!

One week down, Three to go!

2010-06-11T12:54:00.000-07:00

Trevor is now into his second week of recovery. Overall he is doing great! It has been a challenge though to keep him from running, jumping and doing everything he is not suppose to do right now. July 1st is not coming fast enough... I sure hope the Dr. will lift his restrictions then. Trevor has been having difficulty falling asleep as he is not expending any energy during the day. So now instead of being asleep around 8, it is more like 11. He stays in bed wide awake just talking to himself and reading books. Hopefully these next 3 weeks go a little smoother.

Allie and I went to a Drs. appointment on Wednesday. It was beautiful at our house so she wore her sandals and a short sleeve shirt and no jacket. During the appointment you could hear the rain pounding on the roof! I thought they had metal roofs and it was hailing... No! That was the rain we heard! Marysville got over 1.5" of rain in one hour! I have never seen it come down so hard before.

We tried to wait it out in the waiting area, as there was thunder and lightening too. The parking lot was flooded and there was about 3" of standing water. The water was slightly above the gray on the wheels. It was crazy! My shoes were completely immersed in water! And of course Allie was getting cold as she was dressed in her summer outfit. The streets were even flooded. Once we got home it was blue skies here. Somehow we missed all that rain... Thank goodness for that!

Kara is now sick. Fever and cough with a rough voice. Although she still loves to play and dance around. So that is good :) Both girls are expanding their vocabulary everyday. It is amazing what they can do! They truly are not babies anymore, even though we still call them our babes.

Recovery update

2010-06-07T22:33:00.000-07:00

Trevor is full of energy these days! I think they must have replaced his batteries while they were in there :) We are trying our best to keep him calm with no running, jumping, climbing but it is proving to be a challenge. At least the sun is in hiding so we don't have to worry about parks and bike rides at the moment.

Trevor has enjoyed the cards that his friends have been making him. He also enjoys company but for now it is proving to be a little much for him. It gets him rather excited, so we are holding back on having more of his friends for the next few days as he heals.

He is enjoying playing hospital with us. Kara and Allie are the nurses, while mommy and daddy are the Drs. and Trevor is the patient. He remembers every detail from the hospital and we have to be sure to include all of them when we play. He even wears his red socks he got from the hospital. Although they have now gotten a hole in them from so much washing, I'll have to find a pair somewhere :)

The girls have been enjoying lots of quality time with mommy or daddy by themselves. As it has been easier for Trevor to do quiet time activities if he is with just one of us and the other is out with the babes. They have been so worn out going so many places that they have been taking great naps and falling asleep fairly quickly at night.

Reinactment

2010-06-05T15:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while doing play dough Trevor wanted to build a hospital room complete with a bed with wheels. We built Trevor in his bed with red socks, green hospital gown, an IV, bandages and all the wires he was hooked up to. We also put a popsicle in one hand to represent the many he had :) He had his tray with pudding, coloring books, and juice. His moose was also in bed with him :)

We also made a TV, the chairs that folded into beds, mommy, daddy and the nurses. He had so much fun at the hospital he wants to do it again. Hopefully not for many more years! I'm glad he had such a great experience though.

Trevor is pink!!

2010-06-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

I still can't get over how pink Trevor looks! I think I can get use to this new look! He seems to be getting a little pinker each day since his ASD closure. The mornings have still been cold so I expect to see him a little on the bluish side. But now that is Oxygen levels are now at a heart healthy persons level the blueish undertone is gone. Pink is my new favorite color for Trevor!

Trevor's trip to the ER

2010-06-04T20:17:00.000-07:00

Trevor and I were watching a movie when all of sudden he said his chest hurt a little. I asked him to show me where. It was right in the middle of his chest. So of course I got scared and called the Heart Center right away. They told us to come in right away. Either to Children's or the ER, they would call me back with where to go. Since we are so far away from Children's I left immediately with Trevor. Scott stayed home with the girls while Trevor and I started driving to Seattle. The hospital called back and said to go to the ER as they could not squeeze us in for an appt. We got to the hospital around 2. Trevor had his moose and 3 other beanie babies with him plus his leapster :)

They were waiting for Trevor when we got in. Trev was still complaining of chest pain. They did a battery of tests including EKG, echo, chest x-ray. Trevor was a trooper during the whole experience until it came time for the x-ray. He wanted nothing to do with it. He started to freak out. There were four of us holding him down. But we eventually got what we needed. His heart looks great! The device is still where it needs to be which is great. The Doctors said the pain could be from anesthesia where the esophagus had a spasm. Or from his aspirin it could have made his tummy upset. Also, he could have anxiety from his procedure which could cause pain.

Everything turned out great and we finally got home around 7:30. We still do not know the exact cause. But we know it is not his heart or lungs, so that is great news! We are to go right back if he experiences any chest pain again as that is a sign that the device has been dislodged. Thank you everyone for your continued prayers during Trevor's recovery.

How do you keep the energizer bunny down?

2010-06-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

Trevor hasn't even been home for 24 hours and already he is bouncing off the walls. We were told to have him take it easy for the next few days. We try to explain it to him so we don't scare him too much. He ends up crying, then I end up crying. This is going to be a very long month. I think he got maxed out on movies watching 8 of them in the hospital! He doesn't want to color, do artwork, watch tv or movies. All he wants to do is go outside and play and run around. I wish this part of recovery were still in the hospital. Then I wouldn't worry as much. Trevor is normally a very active kid. This is going to be tough on all of us. Any ideas on how to keep him down will be appreciated!

What kind of face are you?

2010-06-03T15:28:00.001-07:00

Last night one of the nurses asked Trevor how he was feeling. She showed him a chart with happy and sad faces. He studied it and when he didn't answer she asked him if he was a sad face or happy face? He said happy face. She asked which kind of happy face, this one (kinda happy) or this one (really happy)? He pointed to the really happy face as he was laying in bed eating a popsicle and watching a movie.

Recovery

2010-06-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

Trevor got a room around noon. The cardiac floor was full so he went to the general surgery floor. When we first saw him he was a little groggy but in good spirits. He got to ride in his bed to his room. He thought that was great! He asked for his first of 8 popsicles right away. He had to try every flavor they had :) He watched a lot of movies, ate a lot of popsicles and enjoyed having mommy and daddy all to himself. The first four hours he had to lay completely still. A hard assignment for an active 4 year old! He did pretty good. By 5:00 he was able to get up and he started climbing all over the chairs! He enjoyed eating dinner and snacks in bed, along with candy and popsicles. Around 6:30 we moved to the cardiac floor as they had beds available for us. We had to share a room. It wasn't bad except for at night the little girl next to us her alarms went off all night! And with the beds for parents being uncomfortable we got no sleep at all! The little girl never did talk or cry. Maybe a whimper when they were poking and prodding her. I think she was Allie and Kara's age. Trevor got to take some wheelchair rides which he enjoyed. During the night his blood pressure dropped, but it eventually went back to levels they were satisfied with. We took Trevor to the playroom in the morning. He was bouncing, jumping, running... Very excited... all the things he can't do for a month. This will be a very long month! We had to have the nurse explain to him that he has to take it easy so his heart can heal. It looked like the poor little guy was going to cry. He doesn't understand, especially since he feels so good! He did ask last night when the sleepy Dr. was going to come back in so he could go to sleep again! I'm sure I'm missing something and after I get some sleep and I remember it, I will post it for you all to read :) Thank you so much for all the prayers and gifts for Trevor.

Surgery

2010-06-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

He went in at 8:38 for surgery. All the staff was calling him a rock star! He went back with the sleep Drs. gave people high fives and pounds when asked and got on the table put the mask on and fell asleep. The surgery itself was a huge success! Dr. Jones said his heart looks excellent! And the ASD closure should work great! For the first time since his open heart surgery is SATS have been in the upper 90's, even 100! Dr. Jones is thinking that Trevor can wait at least 5 years for his pulmonary valve replacement. What wonderful news! He should no longer look blueish/purple when he exercises, or when it is cold outside. That is a look I think I can get use to :) At 10:21 we were paged that he was done and it was a success! The device they put in is called an amplatzer septal occluder. It is 13mm. They also put a tiny camera through his other leg. It is amazing the technology they have nowadays!

Pre-op

2010-06-03T14:26:00.000-07:00

Trevor and I went to pre op while Daddy was going home to get his moose. Trevor remembered the way back by following the purple circles to the room. We were in the green room. Lots of Dr.s and nurses came in and checked on us. Trevor kept asking when the sleepy Dr. was coming so he could go to sleep. He was ready to start his sleepover :) He told everyone he was going to sing his ABC's while he was going to sleep. (He never did get to sing them as he fell asleep before he could start :) Before I knew it, it was time for him to go. He was holding onto his blanket and I thought he was going to take it with him. He then tossed it to me and started to walk with the sleepy Drs. I asked him if he wanted his blanket, he responded, "no, my moose will be with me when I wake up so I don't need the blanket." What confidence he has... I had to ask him for a hug and kiss so he came over and let him know I would see him in a couple hours. He acted like he didn't even care. He was excited for the sleepy Dr.!

Whatever you do, DO NOT FORGET THE MOOSE!!

2010-06-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

We had our bags packed for the hospital the night before, with the exception of Trevor's favorite moose and blanket. When we woke Trev up yesterday morning we grabbed his blanket and him and headed out the door. We were about 20 minutes away and realized WE FORGOT THE MOOSE!! We decided not to say anything to Trevor as we didn't have time to go back home, or so we thought. We ended up at Children's 40 minutes early as there was no traffic. Hard to believe, I know :) We drove around for awhile before heading into Childrens. We finally decided to head in early as our nerves couldn't take it anymore. Trevor was so excited to spend the night in the hospital! (Trev woke up at 3:30 asking if it was time to leave for the hospital :) We told him no and to go back to sleep and we would wake him when it was time to go.)

We got to check in and the nurse asked us lots of questions and had us sign lots of release forms. Then she looks at Trevor and smiles and asks him if he has a favorite stuffed animal or blanket he is taking with him. He is smiling ear to ear when he looks at me and says "yes". I then had to look him in the eyes and explain that we forgot the moose and mommy and daddy made a mistake and his moose would be waiting at home for him when he was home from the hospital. Instantly he went from happy and excited for his hospital stay to crying and not wanting to listen. The nurse tried to give him another stuffed animal but it was not his moose! He declined all other toys. I took him away from everyone and told him not to worry that either mommy or daddy would go home and get his moose and it would be there when he woke up. He was happy with that idea. So at 7am Scott decided he would go home and get the moose. Trevor's surgery was at 8:30. Scott made it back to the hospital around 9:30. We got the id band on the moose ran him back to the pre op room and told the nurses he needed to get to surgery with Trevor. How did we ever forget his most precious moose?

"This is fun."

2010-06-03T07:20:00.000-07:00

Trevor announced the above quote while enjoying popcorn, his ninth popsicle and watching his favorite movie, Toy Story 2. From his perspective, this must seem like having a sleepover. We took a couple wheelchair rides last night and he was feeling great. No pain. He didn't even want help getting down off his bed. "I can do it, Daddy!" He fell asleep around 11pm, so we'll let him sleep as long as he wants.

On deck this morning is rounds, breakfast, ultrasound and an EKG.

Amazing...

2010-06-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

Trevor is laying down, watching a movie and enjoying a "super big" red popsicle as I type this. The surgery was successful and no complications. He has to remain flat and still for 4 hours. If all heals well, he should be able to sit up and go for a wheelchair ride or two this evening. When I ask him how he feels, he says, "good." He is an amazing little dude. He was so ready for this surgery that he walked back with the surgeon all on his own. We actually had to call out to him to get him to come back and give us a hug.

Get this...his cardiac surgeon's name is Dr. Tom Jones. Trevor doesn't find that as funny as I do. Maybe some day.

eee-eye-oooh

2010-05-26T23:09:00.000-07:00

Trevor has been listening to his school play CD for some time now. Every time it is playing and the girls here Old McDonald Had a Farm, they start singing eee-eye-oooh. It is so cute to listen to them. There is a part in one of the songs where it says this is the way we pet the cat, so the girls follow Trevor's hand motion and pet their arm like they are petting a cat. It is so cute to watch them! They love to mimic their big brother! They also say all the animal noises at almost the right time.

Trevor has been teaching them many new words! Some of them are good, some not so much. He has been teaching them their ABC's, shapes and how to count to 10. They know some of them, but I doubt they have any idea what they are really saying. Trevor is such a great big brother teaching the girls everything he knows!

Hospital Tour

2010-05-26T23:04:00.000-07:00

Today was the day Trevor and I went to the hospital for a tour and to find out why he gets to spend the night at the hospital. I have been dreading this day. So afraid that he may get anxious after finding out everything. He handled everything so well! He was AWESOME through the whole thing!

We started out the day by meeting with a child life specialist. We took pictures of the fish tank, then followed the purple circles back to the preop room. Trevor got to weigh himself and see how tall he was! He also got to check out the gown and socks he will be wearing. He thought that was pretty neat. The best part was the TV in the room!

He is excited to have strawberry flavor when the sleepy Dr. has him go to sleep. Also, he gets to ride on a bed with wheels! What is more fun than that? He has informed us that he will be eating 100 popsicles, along with lots and lots of pudding on his sliding tray he gets to put over his bed. He thought that was great he gets to eat in bed :)

All day he has been telling everyone what he gets to do in the hospital. Trevor also knows that the Dr needs him to be asleep so they can look inside his heart. He keeps asking when he gets to go. I told him it is still a ways out and we will let him know when it is closer. We still need to tell him that he will wake up with an IV. But that particular detail can wait until later. I hope he continues to be brave and continues to do wonderfully through this whole process.

Graduation Day

2010-05-26T22:57:00.000-07:00

Trevor has officially graduated from preschool! He had is graduation performance last night. They sang some farm songs and each had a line to read. Trevor's was "Y is for the yarn that is made from fleece". At the end they showed a slide show of all the kids, then passed out their certificates. Once the child's name was called they were suppose to go sit with their families. They called Trevor's name he got his certificate then proceeded to go sit back down with the rest of his friends on stage. Trevor didn't disappoint and once again started picking his nose during the performance :)

We invited a friend along to help us out with the girls as Scott was doing video of the event. She actually got to enjoy the whole performance as the girls sat on Grandpa's lap the whole time. They were mesmerized by everything going on. They did wonderful!

How Comedies are Made

2010-05-15T22:55:00.000-07:00

This morning started as innocently as any other. Once I heard the girls talking in their room, I went in so I could change them and get them ready for the day. Once I picked them up I realized they were soak and wet. Even the sheets were wet. I knew this would be trouble. Once I got the clothes off I noticed there was white gel all over them. The diapers had exploded as they were so wet! I couldn't get the gel off of them by washing them with a towel, so I took both girls put them in the tub and hosed them off. They were not impressed to say the least. Of course the towels are in the other bathroom and I had nothing to dry them off with. I quickly went across the hall to their bedroom and got the fleece blankets they had slept with. Which of course were soaked too... I wrapped them up and dried them off.

Finally I gave the girls their sippy cups only to discover later that I forgot to put the plastic valve cover on the lids. Milk was everywhere! The hardwoods, them (of course they were just bathed minutes ago), the rug and couch. This was all before 9:00 a.m.

A little later I was getting ready for our play date. As I was in the bedroom changing the sheets I hear lots of laughter and what sounds like toys being dumped on the floor. I knew it was trouble just from the sounds. I finished with the beds as that had to be done. Once I got into the playroom Kara and Allie dumped every bin of toys onto the floor. The gate was also left open to the other hallway and they got into the toy closet and dumped all those toys too. There were cars, little people, stackable toys, etc all over the floor! I kept the mess on the floor as I knew 4 little boys were coming over soon to play with Trevor. The house would get messy anyway.

Since it was sunny and warm we played outside. I was sitting on the deck talking with my friend watching our kids play in the backyard. I noticed Allie squatting intently playing with something. I couldn't see what it was so I went over to look. It was poop! Why did it have to be Poop! I know if Scott was home he would have grabbed the video camera before cleaning her up, but not me. I quickly took her in the house to wash her up. This is crazy, we don't even have dogs! This should not be a problem for us as we have cats! But, of course, our cats weren't given that memo so they use the grass for their catbox.

The kids had a picnic lunch outside and then frozen yogurt for dessert. They were filthy form head to toe! I had to get Trevor to preschool. The first time all year that he had been late. That just went along with the rest of my morning :)

I went back home, cleaned the girls up, got them in bed and relaxed. They fell asleep right away as they were exhausted. They woke up right before we had to pick Trevor up from preschool which is something they don't do very often. Most of the time I have to wake them from their nap and they are not happy about that! The girls were in a great mood, so we decided to go to Costco. It went very smoothly! We came home, played in the backyard, had a picnic dinner on the deck, then went to the park and played some more when Daddy came home. It is amazing how different the last half of the day was compared to the first! I swear I can't make these things up even if I tried :) This is life with a preschooler and twin toddlers...

Picture Time!

2010-05-12T22:42:00.000-07:00

Today I took the kids to get their pictures taken. My mom wanted a picture with all 7 grandkids. The last time we did this our sweet babes were only 9 months old. So it wasn't too bad. Fast forward almost a year. Now we have 20 month old independent toddlers and an almost 5 year old who is very hungry for dinner since he didn't want to eat his lunch :)

The picture with all 7 kids wasn't all that bad. Although my 3 did not want to smile. We got a decent group picture. Then it was time for just my kids. It was comical to say the least... Trevor didn't want to smile and my sweet babes were everywhere but where they were suppose to be...

So in the end, we came out with a group shot. But that is okay, we have lots and lots of candids...