Avery goes "under the knife".

Poor Avery has had a weird nasal congestion and sinus issue for about a year. Every time I insisted on some kind of treatment, they put her on another antibiotic, Sudafed, or allergy medication. We tried them all with no results. We just got so used telling her to blow her nose and what came out was not normal. It was so thick! I know, yuck, right?

So I finally just called our doctor and told him we didn't want to come in, I just needed a referral to the ENT. Over the years I have asked if Avery needed to see the ENT, with our doctor always saying it wasn't necessary. Even though she had many ear infections, I guess they just weren't bad enough. Even though we had documented hearing loss due to fluid in the ears. Hmm... maybe it's time to move on to a different pediatrician?

Well, the first thing the ENT did was look in her ears and ask me, "does she have problems hearing?" I said, "why yes, she does! It's all been documented in an audiology finding." Anyway, I'm not as miffed as I sound about it. When our pediatrician said that maybe she should have seen an ENT before this, I just told him I trust that God is in control and I'm just glad she's going to get taken care of now.

So, anyway, the ENT made a quick decision that she needed tubes in her ears and her adenoids removed. The purpose would be to improve her hearing, since she was filled will fluid (later the doctor said it was more like mucus - some sort of condition she had), and hopefully clear up her nose. My thoughts immediately went back to the day I was in first grade and we were leaving school one day. Mrs. Akers told the class that Erin would be out for a while because she's having surgery to get tubes put in her ears and to get her adenoids taken out. Same surgery. Same age. My scanner/computer isn't cooperating so I didn't get a chance to scan the cute picture of me on my hospital bed with my CareBear. I'll try to post it some other day.

So Avery had her surgery just 3 days ago. This is when her Daddy was carrying her into the hospital in her pj's.

Mommy and her cute little surgery patient.

Avery was a champ. She had been explained what would happen and still wasn't the tiniest bit nervous. We kept asking her if she was doing alright and she just replied, "um... yeah...".

Last pic before they wheeled her out.

After it's all done. Enjoying a popsicle and looking a little droopy.

She was just so good. Rich and I were so proud of her. She got a wheelchair ride out to the car and we were out of there something like 6 hrs after we had arrived. She's had some minor pain as she's mended, but much less than I expected. This morning she need a little Tylenol for her throat and she's been running all over the house. Thank you, Lord, for safe surgery and easy recovery! And she hasn't had to blow her nose for 3 days. Woohoo! :)

Thank Goodness!

Thank goodness the school year is almost over! I don't really mean that to say that it has, in any way, been a hard school year. Avery has had a wonderful year with an awesome teacher. Her teacher is my parents' age, has been doing this forever (starting with homeschooling her own kids and then running a small private school with her husband), and loves the Lord. Not to mention that she seriously knows what she's doing when she's teaching kids to read. No, Avery's had a great year. I just can't wait to have her home!

Don't worry. I'm not delusional. I understand that having her home means that I will be donning my "referee" jersey full-time again. But I just plain miss her! It just seems too soon for her to be gone from me all day! So I'm going to drink in the summer of having my delightful, funny (her teacher just commented to me the other day how great Avery's sense of humor is), active 7 year-old with me all day. And seriously consider never letting her go back to school again...

Growing up, my mom always took us out to breakfast on the first day of summer vacation. I plan to carry on the tradition with my kiddos. Do you have any similar traditions you remember as a kid or that you do now as a family?

Rowzee girls like to run

It's been a few weeks since the girls ran in the Awesome 3000, but I had to post about it! This was Avery's second year participating and it was Allie's first.

They have booths set up and I had to take a shot of my two blondies digging through corn kernels for candy. They look so much like twins!
I thought this was a funny and typical pic of Allie :)

Allie had to run with the pre-K kids, so a parent had to run with her. I don't even remember what the distance was, but it was just silly! Allie and I joined a crazy-big crowd of parents and preschoolers and tried to run not-even one lap around the track. She fell once and I scooped her up for fear of her being trampled! Next year she'll get to run on her own with other kindergarten girls. Don't even bother looking for us in this picture - I don't think we're in it! But that's our group!

Getting Avery ready for her big race - a 1.5 km distance. That's .932 miles. This is the same distance she ran last year. I was still pretty nervous for her, even though she did wonderfully last year. It feels a little crazy to let your tiny little kid out into a giant crowd of 250 kids and go sit in the stands and wait.

Since it was Mother's Day weekend, it seemed like fun to have both grandmas come cheer for the girls. Rich's parents and my parents both enjoyed the excitement of the day.

This is Avery's giant crowd of 248 first grade girls. I was hoping the pink pants would help me pick her out from the crowd. Apparently Avery's not the only one with a genius for a mom. Next year we're getting bright orange hair spray paint.
The first girl back into the stadium was running like the wind. I couldn't believe it! Her legs had to have been twice the size of Avery's and she was book'n it! A few more girls came in, and then my determined little runner-girl came running in! Forget that I have some serious issues with my voice and yelling sets me back days without much of a voice. And forget that there was no way she could hear me! I was cheering with all my might!

There's no one else around her because there are 240 girls still behind her. I'm sorry. I know as a mom I'm not supposed to brag. But I am just so darn proud of her!

I love this picture. Her grandparents were quite proud, too. She has run with me off and on lately and wanted to stop here and there as we ran. She got winded. I really didn't know what to expect with this race. I think that's why I'm even more proud of her. She got into "race mode" and just pushed herself as far as she could. I'm exceedingly proud of that kind of determination. She came in at the same place that she did last year, but with 100 more girls competing against her - 8th place.

Crack of Dawn

I know it's raining this week and that's a bummer. But it is still nice to not have to wait until 7:30 am to see a ray of light. Getting up for a run a little before 6 and have it already light outside is soooooo wonderful! However, NOT getting up for a run and have light streaming in everywhere and my five year-old daughter already up before 6 - not so wonderful. I can't get too upset at Allie for being up so early. After all, I'm awake, too! I can't sleep through sunlight. I know, I need to get room darkening curtains and do whatever else makes sense to get my room a bit darker. I've already done that for the girls' room and Allie is still waking up, though.

She's done this ever since I can remember. Every Spring I battle trying to keep her quiet in the morning so that her sister and dad can sleep. The kid doesn't know the meaning of "whisper". It's not physically possible for her. The girls share a room and I try to have her go in the playroom next door, but she gets the blocks out and bangs them around, sings a song, or plays the keyboard. It's always something!!!

So this morning it was 5:50 and I had already woken up around 5:15 and somehow managed to fall back asleep a bit, but she woke me up laying on the floor outside of my room. I was getting up for a run, so it was fine, but I had to figure out how to keep her quiet so the rest of the house can sleep. She lost the chance to watch tv first thing when she began arguing with me, so that option was off the table. I had her come downstairs and snuggle the dog (whose paws seem injured so he wasn't running with me). Evidently she feel asleep!

So all I'm saying is that this is a bit frustrating. I don't have a baby keeping me up all night. I have healthy, happy, secure children - one of which just likes to wake up early. Get over it, Erin!

What's for Dinner, Neighbor?

I've been wanting to blog about my dinner arrangement with my awesome neighbor, Candace. As I began making dinner tonight, I thought this sounded like a good night to share with you what we were having for dinner. I think it's been around 3 years since Candace asked me if I would want to share meals with each other once a week. We had already had meals together a few times and knew that we liked how each other cooked. And I don't care what you say, it matters if you like the food your neighbor makes you.

So ever since then, I double my family's meal once a week, and she does the same thing for me. Lately my night is Monday and her night to make me a meal is Wednesday. This works great for me, since we have gymnastics on Wednesdays and I don't get home until 5. So I come home at 5 with my kids and have a delicious hot meal waiting for me!

We both know some of each other's families' favorite meals. This is one of all of our favorite meals. Grinder sandwich with homemade fries. I buy a loaf of french bread (one for each family) and slice it down the middle. I top it with whatever lunch meat I feel like - tonight it was turkey pastrami and black forest ham. Next comes bell peppers sliced and then tomatoes. On top of the tomatoes I spread a mixture of olive oil, vinegar, basil, oregano, and thyme. After that I put whatever cheese I want, my favorite is pepper jack. Tonight I had cheddar. That whole bit goes in the oven under "broil" (without the top piece of bread) until everything looks hot and the cheese is melted - just 5-7 minutes.

Here's my homemade fries. Simply slice the potatoes, drizzle some oil on them, season with seasoned salt and pepper, and place them on a sprayed baking sheet and cook for about 40 minutes under 425 degrees.

Oh, and tonight I made some homemade guacamole and topped the hot sandwich with it before I put the top of the bread on.

And here's my plate! Yum! I wonder what Candace is making for me on Wednesday???

Here's Allie. She wanted me to take a picture of her, too. And yes, she wore her helmet for the whole dinner...

Hiking at Smith Rock State Park

We went on a quick getaway with my brother and his family this weekend to Sisters, Oregon. We had a great time! It's always nice to get away from your own house every once in a while. We went on a hike at Smith Rock State Park. I guess it counted as a hike. Josh's kids are even younger than mine, at 4 yrs, 2 yrs, and 8 months old. And my kids seem to have tons of energy for plenty of other things, but weenie-out when it comes to going on a hike. So we did a short little hike and enjoyed a beautiful view.

I lost a screw in my sunglasses - I kinda like the "crooked" look :) And I LOVE this picture of Allie.

Allie and her cousin Roderick are something else. They act just like brother and sister. I'm so thankful that they have each other. They were both walking their dogs in this picture.

My oldest daughter is really growing up!

Avery took this picture of one of the climbers. There were a ton of people climbing this giant cliffs! This one just got to the top.

Here we are, the Rowdy Rowzees!

Here's the whole group of us. Good times!

Happy Easter

Rich and I spent the week of Easter at church every evening preparing for the Easter musical. The kids were there, too, and had a blast. The program was a giant undertaking with something like 150 people involved, including costume design, makeup, choir members, drama, set design, orchestra, childcare, tech crew, etc... Rich was working on the lighting crew and I was a choir member.

Last year I helped as a stage hand and longingly watched the choir with my voice down to a whisper. I have nodules on my vocal chords and have made quite a bit of progress in letting them heal, but a whole week of singing and losing sleep strains it beyond what it can handle. So I was just thankful to have any kind of voice by Easter morning. It was scratchy and I couldn't hit every soprano note I wanted to, but it was still there. Praise God! I found myself praying for everyone with solos and drama parts and simply asking God to let me have a voice to add to the choir. He was so faithful. As each song started, I had just a little more to give :)

Our church does an Easter egg hunt every year on Saturday of the holiday weekend and our girls are there, rain or shine!

This year I let the girls pick out their own Easter dresses, in the hopes that they'd actually want to wear them for the rest of the spring/summer season. I like their picks :)

We headed to my mom's house for Easter dinner. We actually had some sun for just a bit and the kids got to hunt eggs in Nana's yard.

This is my sweet niece Olivia. Seriously, SO cute!

Got a fun pic with my sister in law, Jana. Yay for SUN!!!!!!!!