Yahh For Summer

I love summer. Especially this summer! We have so many fun things planned...I can't wait to get started!

Gracie had her preschool graduation. It was the cutest thing ever! For those of you who have never had a child "graduate" from preschool (in our case...back into preschool for another year)...I know what you are thinking..."ya ya big deal". I used to think the same thing...before I had a child "graduate". It's not so much that it's a big deal, as it's so stinking cute!! And so totally amazing how much that little person can learn in 1 year. It is the cutest thing ever to watch your 5 year old stand in front of a bunch of adults and feel so proud of herself for knowing all the nursery rhymes & songs...and in between each song, still being a little girl and twirling around in her beautiful dress...because she can, and because that's what you do when wearing a beautiful dress...you twirl!

"Little Jake Horner...."

Twirl break!!

Checking each other out in their caps & gowns!

Congratulations Gracie!!

Gracie & her preschool BFF, Kendall! Can't wait to take this picture again in about 13 years!

So proud of herself!! It was her day!!

After Gracie's graduation we all piled into our car and drove to Seattle for Jake's appointments. My kids are rock star travelers. No DVD players (although it would have been nice), no major melt downs, just the Backyardagains soundtrack on repeat, a few books, the Leapster and the new Pet Pals game, and some naps. Easy 3+ hour ride. The next day we met with Jake's stomach surgeon who said he looks great & said he no longer needs to see him. Then we talked about Disney World for about 10 minutes. Dr. Gow just returned from Disney World with his family a few weeks ago!

Then we met the new ENT. He seemed very mellow, easy going, not quick to cut...just and nice relaxed doctor with an amazing bedside manor! LOVE IT! We decided that Jake would have another sleep study at the end of the summer to see if he is still having a large amount of apneic episodes and to see if his oxygen levels (O2) go down at night. If he is still having a large amount of apneic episodes, we will go forward with removing his tonsils and adenoids in August (surgery is scheduled in August), if not, the surgery will be canceled and we will bring up the idea of removing them after he is 3 years old. He said he does not like to do surgery on toddlers under 3, unless there are major issues that need to be taken care of before 3. If his O2 levels are still dropping at night (they shouldn't be...they were not dropping while he was in the hospital, sick...so in theory they should be just fine while he is healthy), then he will have to go back on oxygen at night. So all in all, it was a great trip. We get our summer free of oxygen tank, tubes, and tape, no doctors appointments, and only a few weeks of therapy. We love our therapist, they are doing AMAZING things (if you guys read this...THANK YOU), but it will be nice to have our days of doing...what ever we want, with nowhere to be!! Hello summer!!

Oh, and we go to Florida in 22 days. Not that I'm counting down or anything! I can't wait to squeeze my little Delana (my 4 year old niece), make some tasty dinners & have glasses of wine with my big brother, and maybe a little sight seeing with Nina (my brothers bride to be)! I am so super excited to take our 3 little ones (my 2 & my niece) to Disney World...yes, I must love the chaos to take 3 kids under the age of 6 to Disney in June! But most of all, I can not wait to spend a little time with my love on our little vacation within our vacation. We are going to take off for a day and night at St Augustine. It will be some much needed adult time. Can't wait!

So...the next order of business...Gracie's 5th birthday party!!

More random-ness

I'm still trying to get over this allergy/head cold so I choose to believe that random-ness is a word, and it's spelled...just like that!

Gracie had her end of the year time at the park with her classmates. She had so much fun. Here are a few pics of that. Only 3 days left of school. You know your kids are young when you are more excited for school to be out than they are!!

So, all the kids that have summer birthdays, got to celebrate their birthday at the park! They got cool little hats, a sticker, a little certificate, and a ice cream cup...I can't get over how totally unimpressed the kids were about this! Too funny!

On Saturday the "Girlfriends" had a yard sale. Crazy huge success!! We ended up with $850! Watch out for us! And thank you to our husbands for forking over your old Play stations, rims, 1 piece ski suits (lol)...you may not get to see any of the money, but you have very happy wives now!! So from now until we go on our "Girlfriends" weekend in October we will use our fun money to do...fun things! We already had dinner & drinks...free drinks always taste better! Here are a few pics from our yard sale. Oh, and YES, my yard sale signs were fabulous! They had glitter on them!! Somehow, I didn't get any pics of them! :(

Yes, we have sweet matching shirts...Zach, digging for goods to be sold!

Roman even found a "must have" item!! That will be .50 little boy! LOL

And last, we leave on Thursday to take Jake back to Seattle to have his post op appointment for his stomach surgery and to meet the new ENT. I'll have to post about that after this weekend!!

Oh, and forgot these pics were on my camera...Gracie getting her sweet ride ready for the summer. She's already been cruising with the neighbor boys.

Quick & Dirty...

Jake had a swallow study done on Wednesday.
He rocked it.
He's a big boy now and no longer needs his liquids thickened!! !
Whoop whoop!

We are having a yard sale tomorrow morning.
I should be in bed.
I made Yard Sale signs...with glitter on them.
My husband called me a retard.
I forgot to tell him that "retard" is not a term we use anymore.
They are hot.
I will have my camera out tomorrow, I'm sure it will be a "must share" event!

Gracie's last week of school is next week.
Where has the year gone?
Looking forward to not having to rush out of the house every morning.
Not looking forward to not having 1 less kid everyday for 2 hours.

We go to Seattle on Thursday.
We will have a stomach surgery follow up & meet the new ENT.
Stomach follow up, no biggie...ENT, dreading a little.
Shopping...SUPER EXCITED!

And that's my bunch of random thoughts for the night!
Peace out...home slice.

The 15 minute pitty party...

I like to try and keep them to a 15 minute minimum...it doesn't usually work. But Wednesday it did. Wednesday morning was pretty typical for us...Gracie off to school, Zach working, Jake & I to the doctor. Haven't heard that in a long time have ya?! No worries, this was a planned appointment. I FINALLY took him in for his 6 month (2 months late) cardiac follow up. The nurse couldn't believe how much he had grown in the past 8 months. She had to keep checking the chart every time she would jot down one of his numbers. He gained almost 5 lbs in 8 months! WOW! Anyway, they did a echo & the doctor came in the room. We love our cardiologist. He asked if we were planning on seeing the ENT (Ears Nose & Throat) doctor anytime soon. I thought to myself that it was weird that he would ask that but told him that yes, we were taking him back up to Seattle at the end of the month to meet a new ENT (the old one made this momma mad with his lack of bedside manner), and to talk about possibly taking out Jake's tonsils and adenoids. It's common for children with Down Syndrome to have large tonsils and adenoids, which in Jake's case, is believed to be part of the airway obstruction issue. Easy enough fix...TAKE'EM OUT! The kid took open heart surgery like a champ, what's a little outpatient surgery?! Back to why the cardiologist was asking about the ENT, the doctor was watching Jake's echo (isn't technology great) in another room while it was being done & saw that Jake still has some higher than normal lung pressures on his right side. They are not dangerous 37-40 when they should be 20-25, but still high. His concern is that we stopped using oxygen at night about 4-5 months ago, & feels that he should be on it still. We stopped because we couldn't see any reason that he needed to be on it. Anytime we had him monitored at the hospital, his oxygen levels were always great, to the point that the doctors at the hospital didn't even use it. We talked with our pediatrician and came to the decision that oxygen was no longer necessary. Our cardiologist feels otherwise. So, in 2 weeks we take Jake up to meet the new ENT, and we are 99% sure that he will be having another surgery with in the next 6 months, and he will be back on oxygen. This is where my 15 minute pitty party came it. Life was so NORMAL for such a long time (yes, 6 months feels like FOREVER after the last 2 years we had)..I don't want to go back to having to deal with that stuff again. Grrr. Then I took a few deep breaths and had to remind myself that oxygen at night isn't that big of a deal. We can handle it. It sucks, but we can do it...we've dealt with much worse. So, we have two weeks of freedom from tubes, tape and extra air in the house. Feel my excitement?! LOL.

I've been wanting to post this, but didn't want to move down my post about Zach being named Fire Fighter of the year! I'm so proud of him! Other than that, I have been plugging away on Gracie's birthday party goodies! I'm having so much fun, I can hardly stand it!! ;) I took a few pics to make Gracie's b day invitation...here are a few! Happy spring/summer (depending on where you are)!

Our Hero

Richland Fire Department

Fire Fighter of the Year

2009!

Congratulations Daddy! We are so proud of you!

Normalcy...

is BORING! And that is what our lives have become...lately! I have been wanting to make some posts to my blog, but I'm feeling kind of boring! Go figure. I'm going in 100 different directions, and have tons of things going on...but nothing that I feel is blog worthy. LOL. I'll work on that for ya. Ha ha. So, here is what we have coming up...that might make the blog...

1. Jake sees his cardiologist next week for his 6 month follow up from heart surgery (done in July...oops, a little behind...what can I say, we have been enjoying life w/o doctors).

2. I have our 2nd meeting for our (unnamed) benefit planned for next year! Yahhhh!!

Oh, and here are a few little things I have been working on for Gracie's b day party...in June. She is having a Garden Tea Party! So sweet!!

These "poms" are so cute...cheap...and easy!! Just tissue paper and curling ribbon. They are my test run for the ones I am planning on making for her party! I will probably jazz hers up with some bright colors, some fancy ribbon, and oh...I don't know, maybe some GLITTER! I do love glitter!!

This little espresso set tea party set will be perfect for the party!

But a little plain Jane...hmm...

Ah ha! Paint markers! Perfect! Here are a few that I have finished! LOVE THEM!!

And after lunch today, we will make our Mother's day gifts for Grandma!! Pictures, messy, messy, pictures to come!!