Sidewalk Chalk

The weekend before Morgan started school, her friend and our next door neighbor, Joshua was preparing to move with his family to Oklahoma. He spent most of the weekend at our house because they didn't know when they would get the chance to play together again. I took some shots of them playing outside with sidewalk chalk. We made it much more fun by adding water to it and getting wet!

Ava had much more fun playing in the water, especially running the hose.

She is really trying to figure out how to do somersaults!

Can't take outside pictures without pictures of bare feet! In care you are wondering....these are Morgan's feet!

It was sad to see Joshua go. Morgan spent a lot of time with him either at our house, his house or just talking to him over the fence. I am sure he will be back to visit, as they still have family in town. Now we are anticipating what kind of new neighbors we will have........renters? Possibly. The last time we had renters it was not pleasant, so let's hope for a nice family with nice kids about Morgan's age :-)

More from New York

Well, I finally made it home from New York yesterday. Actually, I was in New Jersey, but spent as much time as we could in NYC! It was definitely an experience. NYC is one place I think everyone should visit at least once, but beyond that, well.....I guess if you like that sort of thing!! It was WAY too busy for me, but so many things to do and places to see. I really didn't get that calm, relaxing feeling from the city like I would normally seek out for a vacation spot. Too much sensory input for my system, but overall we had a great time! I think the best part of the entire trip was seeing Wicked on Broadway! If you ever have the chance to see it YOU NEED TO GO! I would see it over and over. I read the book this winter and it was a little different, but it was still AWESOME!

This billboard was just down the block from Gershwin Theatre.

Inside the theatre....

After the show....
On Saturday, we shopped along 5th Ave and took a carriage ride around Central Park. Here is a picture inside my favorite toy store F.A.O Schwartz. If you ever have a change to go inside one of these toy stores you need to check it out!
Dad recommended we eat at Jekyll and Hyde's - so we did! It was interesting and entertaining! Might be a little scary if you have kids with you! The food was yummy! It was hard to walk around after being so full. We found a Starbuck's (which are on about every corner) and a carriage to rest our tummies!!

I think I mentioned in my previous post that we visited the World Trade Center memorial on Thursday when we arrived. This is a photo of a flag that was found on site. There is also a print of this flag that you can buy and frame. It is absolutely beautiful. I had a hard time walking through the memorial, viewing all the items found from the site, reading and listening to people talk about their personal experiences and then viewing the "Missing" wall with pictures of all the people missing since 9/11. I had to fight back the tears.......
This was taken next door to the World Trade Center Memorial. There is a little fire department tucked in between the high rises and right across the street from Ground Zero.

And this is what NYC looks like ALL THE TIME! Gigantic skyscrapers and millions of people everywhere you go! We saw everything from the homeless sleeping in the subway, to a man begging us for quarters so he could buy a quarter pounder because he hadn't eaten all day to the limos at Central Park and the obvious wealth when walking into Trump Tower.
So there you have it! NYC in a nutshell. The training I attended was awesome and NY was great. I am glad to be home and came home to a sick Ava so had to miss another day of work. I think she is feeling better though, so I will be back to work tomorrow and back to the slow paced Midwest life.

Hello New York!

Hello from New York! I am here Thursday through Sunday attending a Pediatric Feeding Conference (actually in NJ). We flew in around 12:30 NY time today and had a long day touring the city. I will only post a few pictures now and more later, as it is REALLY late and we need to wake up in 5 short hours to get ready for a full day of training at a nearby Children's Hospital.

New York so far isn't the most appealing city I have been to, but I love the architecture of the buildings. This one was taken near Ground Zero.

World Trade Center Construction Site

This was taken on the ferry ride to Stanton Island - don't mind the messy hair and lack of make-up! I had been up since 5 am. We had been on just about every kind of transportation imaginable at this point (car, plane, train, subway, taxi, & ferry!)

And our beautiful Statue of Liberty!

More to come later!!! Tomorrow night we are going to see Wicked on broadway!!

Did you notice?

Did you notice my Harry Potter countdown on the right side of the screen? Did you read one of my previous posts saying how excited I was that the move will be released in November? Well....it took me a few days to figure out why my counter no longer says 90 days to go and now says 330 days.......WB delayed the release of the movie until July 2009 -You have got to be kidding me!!! Something to do with profits and wanting a big hit for 2009......so I sit and wait for almost another year......such a sad sad day! :-)

I Love These Two

I love watching Dana and Ava together. She is such a Daddy's girl. When Daddy is around, Mommy really doesn't matter much :-) He is always able to get her to giggle and calm her down when she is upset! He is the first thing she asks for in the morning and I always have to tell her that he is working. She gets excited at the end of the work day when she hears the back door open and yells "Daddy!"

Back to School

Morgan went back to school one week ago, August 11. She is now a first grader! So far it has been a pretty good start to the school year. She got an awesome teacher who is young and seems to be energetic and loves kids! I am so excited and hoping we have a successful year. And the best thing about her teacher is she will have her for 2 years because the school Morgan goes to has looping - so she will be with the same kids and teacher for 1st/2nd and then a new teacher for 3rd/4th. It was a good week, but of course with kids (and worrisome parents) we had our issues too. Morgan has already come home saying some of the girls are mean to her or no one will play with her. Finally, I think we discovered that is isn't that that won't play with her, she just doesn't want to do what they are doing and they don't want to do what she is doing, so she chooses to play alone sometime. She has also been moved to the front row because she was complaining she couldn't see the board, so we have an eye appt scheduled for the first week in September. I guess everyone in our family has glasses, so why not her? She has also started back with physical therapy and added chiropractic. Upon re-evaluation it was determined she didn't have full range of motion in her legs and was also tight in her heel cords, hamstrings, hips, etc etc. The PT recommended the chiropractor see her, and x-rays showed she has a reverse curve in her neck - so we are doing PT and chiropractic 3x a week with exercises and equipment that we work on at home. I will have to take a picture of her wearing her attractive head weights. Swimming & Girl Scouts starts up again in a couple weeks, so we will be very busy with out therapy and extracurricular activities! Not much time to do anything else! So I guess it has been a good week, yet busy - and we are looking forward to the weeks to come.

First day of first grade

First day of Kindergarten

First day of preschool - Look at how little she was :-)

You can learn a lot from.....

a six year old! Yesterday we said good-bye to our dog, Izzy. She lived 13 happy years! I wasn't as brave as I thought I would be and had to have Dana call and make the appointment and take her to the vet. He stayed with her until the end. My plan was to have him take her and then tell Morgan that she had died during the day. I didn't want to have to explain to her that the vet "helped her die". But, Thursday night I decided that it wouldn't be fair to Morgan to not be able to say good-bye. As I put her to bed that night I reminded her that we were taking Izzy to the vet tomorrow and we wouldn't see her again. We talked about how old and sick she was and she was going to go to heaven to be with God. She would get to be with Winston (our Basset Hound that died 3 years ago) and she wouldn't be sick anymore. Of course she teared up, but then had all of those questions that I wanted to avoid, "How will Izzy get to heaven?", "Can we go see her?", "I want to go with her". But we worked through most of those questions and she was okay. Friday morning she said her good-byes as I was trying hard not to lose it completely and then said, "Mom, today is a happy day, Izzy gets to go to heaven." And that is all there is to say. She had a wonderful last day. She ate a hamburger for lunch with me, got lots of snuggles and petting, got to run and play in the yard with Dana and got to go for a nice long car ride. And then, she got to go to heaven. So....it was a happy day! (And yet I still have tears in my eyes).

Picture taken March 2006

It's Almost Here!

I LOVE HALLOWEEN! Here is a taste of what I am working on for costumes.......they will most likely be a different color and they will be wearing clothes underneath :-) - this was just a test!

These Boots are Made for Walking

Ava is into a shoe stage right now! If there are shoes laying around she will try them on. While I was checking my email a couple days ago she decided to step into daddy's work boots!

County Fair

Friday was finally dry enough and cool enough to take the girls to the fair. My only regret was that we didn't take them earlier in the week. It would have been a little hotter, but when we got there all the animals were gone and the exhibits were closed. Guess we know better for next year not to wait until the last day. The girls still had fun despite the fact the animals were missing. The animals have always been my favorite part.

I still remember one summer, when I was in elementary school, I went to the fair to hang out with my friends in the pig barn. I wore one of my mom's new scarfs (I guess they were in back then) and it ended up falling in with the pigs and got eaten!! Another summer, I talked a stranger into coming to my house to ask my dad if I could have one of the left over puppies. Guess what? I didn't get one! We use to hang out at the fair all day and all night. Too bad it's really not safe to do that anymore. At least in a town this size. Doesn't really seem like there is much going on during the day anyway. The rides don't even start up until evening. Oh well, the kids don't know any different. We are thinking about having Morgan join 4-H when she is 7. Maybe she will get to experience a side of the fair that she hasn't before if she joins!

Here is Morgan going down the slide - one of my personal favorites!

Ava was too little for rides last year - so this year was a blast for her. She loved riding the "horsie" and cried when it was time to get off.

Who can go to the fair without eating funnel cakes and drinking freshly squeezed lemonade? Another one of my favorites! Ava enjoyed the cars as much as the carousel. She had fun making it beep and pretending to steer the wheel! Morgan and I also went on the Ferris Wheel. I forget from year to year how much I hate that thing! Guess I can't handle heights and spinning as much as I could when I was a kid!

The National Guard had a climbing wall set up that Morgan just had to do. She wasn't able to get very far, but she sure enjoyed trying. I think she had more fun letting go and swinging in the air!!

Thank You

Last week I sent many of my friends and family members an email requesting donations for a walk-a-thon I am participating in on September 13. I had a personal goal of only $100, however after only a few short days and 4 donations I have already surpassed that goal! I want to say THANK YOU so much for those of you that have already donated!! I now need to set a higher goal thanks to you! For those of you who did not get the email or are wondering what I am talking about, please read on!

First of all, I want to give credit to Bethany for this post. It seems to be the best way to get the information out for this important cause! Please click here to read her post. I have also copied & pasted information from Lisa's blog for simplicity for those of you who do not want to click to find the info! This is Avery. She is the reason I am creating this post to begin with. I met Avery through my friend Lisa. You have also seen lots of pictures of Avery's sister Kaylen on my blog.

This is Avery's story in Lisa's words:

I have always intended this blog to be a place for me to record and share all of our "happy memories" and decided early on not to write about Avery's illness. As time goes on I realize how ridiculous that is/was. Tuberous Sclerosis Complex is as much a part of Avery's life as anything else, and so by not writing about it, I feel like I'm trying to "pretend" in some way that it doesn't exist. Perhaps someone who stumbles across our story will have their eyes opened to this horrific illness, or perhaps someone else is going through similar struggles and can relate.So. I'm going to start from the beginning, for those of you just joining us, welcome, it's nice to meet you. Get comfortable because it's a long story. . . .
The truth about Miss Avery is this. When she's happy, she's gloriously, joyfully, happy. And when she's mad, look out. I have spent most of my time writing in these journal entries about the positives and joy Avery has brought to our lives (which are so many) but reality is that most of the time, Miss Avery is incredibly high maintenance. She's very fussy, irritable, cranky, whatever you want to call it, a lot of the time. She always has been. She is a two and a half year old little girl who seems to have a really bad case of colic. Is it because of the her disease?
I have no idea. Tuberous Sclerosis Complex is a nasty, nasty disorder that causes benign tumors to grow on every organ of the body. Avery has tumors on her brain, heart, kidneys and skin. When people hear the word benign they think "harmless" but these tumors are anything but harmless. Avery suffers from horrible seizures that interrupt her play and fun every single day, leaving her exhausted, confused, and cranky. When Avery was only a year old, she underwent two critical brain surgeries to remove tumors that we doctors thought were causing her seizures, sadly those seizures returned only six months later. We almost lost Avery to post operative complications. . . but that's a story for another day. Back to Miss Avery . . . we know lots of little ones with TSC who don't spend their days fussing, so maybe it's just Avery's personality? As anyone who has ever spent any significant amount of time with our sweetie knows, she’s a ‘fuss bucket!’ (But a very cute one!) I’ve finally accepted it, and just do my best to keep her content, even if that means the laundry doesn’t get done and the house is a wreck. . .I can remember when she was seven or eight weeks old and cried for hours on end. Everyone kept telling me to just hang in there a few more weeks, because all babies outgrow their colic by three or four months. Instead Miss Avery just cranked it up a notch with every passing week. I read every baby care book I could get my hands on, and nothing applied to or worked with her. Then one day her eyes rolled up in her head and she started convulsing violently in my arms. It was so surreal. Everything seemed to slow down, and as I held her tiny jerking body I thought rationally to myself, 'she's having a seizure,’ in some ways it was a relief. I know that must be hard to understand, how could your baby having a seizure in your arms be a relief? From the first days of her life, I sensed something was wrong. I just couldn't explain it to anyone. We were at the doctor almost every day for those first few weeks of her life all to no avail., so when she had that first seizure it was like, "Oh, so that's what's wrong with you, you poor thing."Avery had almost driven me completely over the edge by that point, and so it took me awhile to convince my poor husband that our baby was truly seizing. He was in the shower when I came running in with Avery yelling, “She’s having a seizure!” I feel bad for him because I know he probably thought I had finally, completely lost my mind. I was seriously sleep deprived, as Avery had gotten up every hour on the hour for two or three days before the first seizure. Her longest stretch of sleep that week was literally, thirty minutes. Britton was working late nights most of the time and so finally, I packed up her cradle, her blankies and binkies and headed home to my parents’ for some backup. I had already shipped poor Kaylen off to Grandma Joy's in Salina. Avery then had another seizure in her infant seat on my parent’s kitchen table, but of course Grandma and Grandpa were unloading the car and didn’t see it, so when I again proclaimed, “She’s having a seizure!” they weren’t entirely convinced either. I’ll never be able to explain what seeing those first two seizures by myself felt like. I knew what they were that day, somewhere in my brain it the fact that my baby was having convulsive seizures spelled disaster, but I can understand why no one else immediately thought anything was really wrong with Miss Avery. They just assumed I needed some sleep. (Well, that or they assumed that I was completely crazy, and by that point they were probably right!)That night my mom took Avery for the night and I slept downstairs on the couch so that I wouldn’t hear her. But in the middle of the night I heard my mom call out for my dad, and I ran upstairs to find Avery seizing in my mom’s arms. I was again overwhelmed with those bizarre conflicting emotions of relief that I wasn’t losing my mind, mixed with terror in my heart for Avery. The road since that day over two years ago has been a bumpy one to say the least. Someone asked me shortly after her brain surgery, “So that’s it? She doesn’t have TSC anymore?” Ahh, if it were so simple. Avery will always have TSC. Avery continues to have seizures every day. She has tumors in her heart that seem to have been acting up since the surgery, tumors in her kidneys that we may have to deal with down the road, and too many skin lesions to count. Women in particular sometimes develop tumors in their lungs later in life. Oh, and let’s not forget the dozen or more brain tumors left in her brain.This journey is just beginning. I don’t usually feel sorry for us, because I know of so many other families who are fighting more difficult battles than ours. And this may come as a surprise to you if you have healthy children, but in so many ways the diagnosis of TS has brought blessings upon our family that we would not have received otherwise. We’ve met so many amazing people with such courage and love, we’ve learned to treasure our time with our babies, and we’ve learned to trust our God more each day. I understand my God better now than I ever did before, but that’s a story for another day. You can’t look into Miss Avery’s beautiful green eyes and see her breathtaking smile and feel sorry for yourself. She’s among the most precious gifts I’ve ever been given, and I will never give up trying to give her the amazing life she deserves.To be continued. . .

NOW FOR THE REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF........I NEED YOUR HELP!!!

On September 13 I will be participating in the Second Step Forward to Cure Tuberous Sclerosis Walkathon. If you would like to help raise money for this cause please go here, and click on "sponsor me". If you are unable to give the set amounts listed on this site you can always mail me your donation with checks made out to TS Alliance. Any amount, big or small, is appreciated. If you don't know my address you can leave me a comment with your email and I will send it to you!

I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to become friends with Lisa and get to spend time with her family. Avery is a true miracle and has touched my heart. She has a wonderful Mommy and Daddy and big sister that will do anything for her! Let's do what WE can to help find a cure for this horrible disease!!

Man's Best Friend

Izzy is my dog. She has been since I bought her as a puppy 13 years ago. I met her before I met my husband. She has been my friend and my companion. She has lived in Iowa, Minnesota and Kansas. And she has lived 13 long years. Unfortunately, as with all living creatures, their time here with us must end. Izzy has been wearing down for about a year now. We asked the vet when we would know when it would be time to bring her in. He simply responded, "When she can't take care of herself anymore." What does that mean? She can still get in and out of the house and she can still go up and down the stairs. But, the deciding factor for us is she has been vomiting a lot. She has lost a significant amount of weight, has lumps all over her body (see her legs below), and is losing hair. But how can one make that decision? It seems kind of crazy to me that we can schedule the death of our pet, our loved one, a member of our family. But, we can. And we must. She seems so happy for a small fraction of time, which give us a glimmer of hope, but what about the other 99% of the time? We can't be selfish and it no longer seems fair to her. Izzy has always been fearful of things, especially storms. But her fears are getting worse. I don't know if it because of her loss of senses or if she is going a little crazy! She frequently barks at things that are not there and pants in fear at we don't know what. You can tell the pictures below are not the best......that is because she is afraid of my camera and runs in fear! So my friends, this week is probably the week we will say good bye to our friend and family member. I said I wouldn't cry because I have been preparing myself for this moment for a long time, but I have already been in tears once today. The hard part is going to be explaining things to Morgan and having it be final. But, after losing my first dog, Winston, 3 years ago, we know life goes on and we always remember those that have touched our lives. Izzy will not be forgotten.

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here,

that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.

There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.

There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and are old are restored to health and vigor;

those who were hurt or maimed are made whole again,

just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing;
they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when

one suddenly stops and looks into the distance.

His bright eyes are intent; his eager body quivers.

Suddenly he begins to run from the group,

flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet,

you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again.

The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head,

and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet,

so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together...

Ladies, Start Your........CREDIT CARDS!

After a long summer of being home with the kids and only working part time, I was ready for some time away. Don't get me wrong I LOVED being home with my kids, but don't know how to take time for myself! Well, let me tell you what....last weekend I took A LOT of time for myself. I went shopping with my friends Angie and Lisa. Our weekend was full of shopping, eating, relaxing and more shopping. Lisa calls it retail therapy! After last weekend I am going to need some debt therapy! It was so worth it though!

At our first stop, Angie decided to visit Zoltar for a reading!

Zoltar used a lot of big words that we, as teachers of young children,

didn't understand! But, he did say that Angie was in need of

some relaxation!

Another big highlight of our trip was our makeover at Bare Escentuals! At one point before leaving for our trip we thought it would be fun to go without makeup, but then later decided to wear it. But.....someone forgot to give Lisa the message! She had been without makeup all day and Angie and I didn't even notice! Now that's good skin.

Here I am waiting for my person to return. Lisa and Angie were almost done with their makeover before mine started. My lady was a little slow with her clients before me. I wish I would have gotten a picture of her, because she was giving me advice on how to wear my makeup, when she was wearing WAY TOO MUCH! She kept telling me to put on more mascara, as I was looking at her clumpy eye lashes telling her NO. Oh, and don't you LOVE the headband?

Here is Lisa's before.......NO MAKEUP

And here we are after. Bad picture of me....eyes kind of closed and a half smile, but you get the idea!

By this point in our trip we were all a little giggly. We were a little exhausted and hadn't eaten in probably 6-8 hours. Angie and Lisa were posing like some of the mannequins that we saw in the mall. Guess you just had to be there, but it was funny wondering what real people really pose like that! And would you let your teenage daughter wear those clothes???

Beautiful sunset behind our hotel. We were on our way back out for more shopping (still hadn't eaten supper yet)! Later that night we got to watch fireworks too!

Here is what the back of Lisa's car looked like when she dropped me off at home. Full to the brim with all sorts of goodies! Angie even found a hall table.

I'm not sure I have had a girls weekend ever.....or at least one this fun. We have decided to make this a regular event. Angie and I have been friends for a long time and Lisa we have known for about a year. Not sure why we didn't do this sooner, but we will be going back again for Christmas shopping. We just need to give our credit cards time to cool off.