Hippie kids

My friend made these shirts for the kids for 4th of July.
I think they look awesome, and the kids are adorable.

Updates:
Morgan's tonsilitis is gone. She was better the next day, but we continued the antibiotics for the full 10 days. Her allergies/coughing are getting better too, so we told her she could stop taking her inhalers for now. That made her happy!

Orin is Orin. Banged up and bruised and no idea how these things happen. For instance, the inch long scab on his forehead. There's no way he fell and smacked his head, we would've heard screaming at some point. So we're thinking rug burn.

Kids' pictures came in. They look so much better in person than they do on the computer.

Can you believe how hot it's gotten out there? It was 90ºF yesterday, and so humid. It was like a brick wall. Hard to breath.

Tonsilitis?

Yep, that's what Morgan has now.
Fever spiked to 103.4 on Friday afternoon. It finally went down with motrin. Fought the fever for nearly 24 hours and then took her to Urgent Care on Saturday afternoon. He did a strep test (came back negative).
He said he's giving her antibiotics for tonsilitis. 24 hours later and she is so much better. Fever completely gone. Tonsil still swollen, but she feels like a new kid.

I have the most beautiful children ever....here's proof!

BTW, I LOVE Picasa for the collages!

8 years of wedded bliss

Yes folks, that's right. Chad and I have been married for 8 years now.
Our anniversary was Monday (Memorial Day). I got him an awesome poster of the KC Chiefs stadium, packed in all it's glory. He LOVED it!
He got me this beautiful necklace. And I LOVE it!













We're celebrating tonight though. My awesome sis-n-law is coming over with my niece Hailey, and they're baby sitting for us.

We're going to Licking, MO to this castle restuarant called the Black Forest Grille.














And tomorrow we're all (including kids) going to Springfield, MO to get the kids' pictures taken @ Penny's and then we're having lunch @ Chuck E Cheese.

Fun filled weekend.

AND....I don't have to work!!!!!

I am so sad

I just got word today that my dear sweet friend Ruthann passed away last week.
I don't know how or why, but I know that she's not in pain anymore.
I know that she is happy and healthy in Heaven.

Ruthann and I met online on a scrapbooking board. Several years later, even when we weren't both a part of the same scrapbooking board anymore, we were still friends....keeping in contact through email, facebook, text messaging and an occasional phone call.

Her super soft voice surprised me when I first heard it on the phone. I knew how sweet and reserved she was, but the softness of her voice really stopped me in my tracks.

I will miss Ruthann so much. She was such a dear friend. And she had an impact on hundreds of people around the scrapbooking world.

Ruthann, I will see you again someday. Save a place for me at the scrapbooking table in Heaven. Love ya!

Forgot to say

Check this out! It's my newest addiction!
Have a ton of fun. I do!

http://www.tetrisfriends.com/

So, Morgan's school pics came in. Who is this child that is supposed to be SEVEN? She looks like a teenager.












Tomorrow is the last day of the school year. We are SO EXCITED that we don't have to get up with an alarm anymore on the weekdays. Well.....I'm excited anyway. lol

Yesterday was my 5 year anniversary of working at the place that I work. And I got to celebrate by working a double shift! Well, an extra 6 1/2 hours anyway. But you know what? That 6 1/2 hours of overtime is gonna put nearly $100 extra in my pocket next week. And with that extra money comes a brand new hair style. Yeah baby! I am desperately needing to get my hair done. Can't wait!

I got a new stove! A flat top range with a see through door and an oven light. Yes, it's the little things that make me happy. But the best part? It is a nearly brand new GE stove that we bought from a friend who had it in storage. It cost him $1100. He sold it to us for $300! Yeah, we jumped on that one!

Recap of recent goings-on

There's not a lot going on in our happy little lives, but here's a recap of sorts.

~Morgan only has 18 days until her last day of 1st grade. She's sad about it because she has so much fun in first grade that she thinks that 2nd grade won't match up. She's such a worrier.

~Orin is now wiping his own bottom when he goes potty. This is exciting! He's 3 years and 4 months old and he's completely potty trained (he's now wearing undies at night too instead of pull-ups). He knows when he needs to go, and he goes. Hasn't had a daytime accident in well over 4 months. And in the past 3 months, he's only had 1 or 2 accidents while he was sleeping.

~23 days until our 8th wedding anniversary! Can you believe it's been 8 years?
Can you believe that Morgan will be 7 1/2 in one month?

She just recently lost 3 teeth (which brings the total to 7 lost teeth). Look at that smile!












~Because our anniversary is ON Memorial day this year, we are gonna celebrate the following weekend. Licking MO has a restuarant called The Black Forest Grille. It looks like a castle. Chad and I are going there for dinner on Saturday, and then we are taking the kids to Springfield, MO on Sunday. We're getting their pics taken at Pennys and then going to Chuck E. Cheese's for lunch.

Well, that's about it for now. I'll post again when we get Morgan's school pictures in. Should be soon.

Wanted to share some pics

This was the easiest and fastest way to get so many pics in one post. :)
Just click on the collage to view larger.

Wanna play an addicting game?

Click the link... www.games.allmyfaves.com/frogger/
Not the pic.

















Edited to add, you might have to copy and paste the link instead because it's not "linking".

Nothing life shattering, but...

Holy moly, the tooth fairy is gonna go broke.












She lost 3 teeth in the 15 days. All top front teeth.
One was on 3/24 and the other 2 were yesterday and day before.

Not much going on, hence the reason for me not posting often.
Morgan is still doing great since they put her on prevacid. It's been 3 months since she's gotten sick. 2 1/2 months since starting meds. It was 1/2 a pill twice/day. But we've just recently started just giving her 1/2 a pill before breakfast each day and that's it. She's still doing good. The doctor said we could take her off the meds when school's out for the summer, and see how she does. If she starts being sick again, then they'll put her back on it. It's just an antacid though, so not that big of a deal if she has to take it for long periods.

Did I mention that Morgan is an artist?













That's an apple, cat, spongebob, pineapple and watermelon. lol

And Orin is such a hamm!

Updates and random stuff

First, and most importantly, I want to mention that Morgan hasn't been sick in 8 1/2 weeks (knocking on all the wood I can find). I guess the prevacid is working. (YAY!)
You have no idea how helpless I feel when my baby is uncontrollably sick. It kills me to see her in such misery. And now she is healthy. :)

Chad has his court date in 8 days for his disability case. Please keep us in your thoughts on this. We need all the good thoughts that we can get.

We measured Morgan this morning. She has grown an entire inch in the last month!
Holy crap, her size 8 blue jeans are beginning to be too short. Thank neptune for those adjustable elastic straps that they put in jeans now, or we would never be able to clothe her because she's so dang tall and skinny.
For the record, she's 4 ft 4 & 3/4 inches tall! I am only 5'2" tall (I shrunk an inch). At this rate, she's gonna be taller than me by the time she's in 3rd grade.

And Orin's right up there with her. He's 3'3" tall (at 3 years old).
I'm glad my kids got their daddy's tall skinny jeans.

It's been a while....

...since I've been sad over not having my momma here.
I think that this year is gonna knock me on my butt. I'm trying to keep it together, but I'm getting a little sad here.
January 30th is my mom's birthday. She would've been 55 this year.
That same day also marks the 5th anniversary of my Grandma passing away.

I miss them both terribly.

But I'm picturing them in Heaven, drinking iced tea, and sitting around a card table putting together puzzles and eating birthday cake. :) Makes me smile.

Update on hospital visits.

We went to STL yesterday for Morgan's test. They did the scope, and said that her stomach and intestines look normal. Her esophogus though does not. It is supposed to be smooth and pink, like her cheek, but instead, it is wrinkled like her hand after a bath.
They said it could be because of all of the vomitting, but it could be what is causing the vomitting too.
So they put her on prevecid. He also took cells from her stomach and intestines to look under the microscope more closely. He's supposed to call with any findings.

She says her chest hurts quite a bit, but they said that was normal. Her muscles are sore.


Anyway, my dad's doing better. Still in the hospital, but much better.

Tuesday, Jan 20th

Please keep Morgan in your thoughts. We're leaving tomorrow morning (tues) to go to STL to Cardinal Glennon hospital for her to have the endoscopy done.

Also, my dad's in the hospital here in Rolla. He's fighting pnemonia.


I will update tomorrow night or the next day.

December came and went.....

...and we're half-way thru Jan. already. {shock!}

December was a month of madness. Morgan's birthday, Morgan being sick, Christmas, Orin's birthday. (Madness I tell ya!)

Anyway, Morgan was sick the night of her party. She had been sick for about a week, every other day. We got her on medicine (prilosec) the following monday, and she was to take that for 21 days. If there was no more vomitting, she could stop taking the med.

On the 21st day, she took her medicine that morning and started vomitting again a couple hours later. Non stop. Couldn't keep anything in, not even water. She was so dehydrated that the next morning, she couldn't flex her foot. It was stuck in a ballerina pose (toes extended out).

I took her to the doc on monday morning and they admitted her to the hospital. That was 3 days before Christmas. They put in an I.V. and administered fluids for the whole day. She got better. They also drew blood and checked for a variety of things. All came back ok. Except she had an elevated white count and said that it looked like she had a UTI. They gave antibiotics through the i.v. and then found out there was never any UTI. (itiots!)
They couldn't figure it out, but after having the fluids all day, she was better. And she has been since. It's a mystery.

So they finally got her an appt. with a GI doc at Cardinal Glennon in STL. We went on the 5th of Jan. They drew another 7 vials of blood and did a short physical exam and history. And they scheduled an endoscopy for the 20th of Jan. (for those that don't know, an endoscopy is where they put the scope down your throat and look inside your esophogus, stomache and intestines.). They'll put her under anestetic for that.


In between all of that, we had Orin's party on his birthday (the 28th of Dec).
It was a blast for the kids. They had a lot of fun.

Soon, I'll post pics soon....
Please keep Morgan in your thoughts. One week from tomorrow...

A 7 year old girl's birthday party

This was a totally girly party, featuring Hannah Montana.
2 girls got to stay all night, one had to leave at 6:30 pm.
They had a blast!

Halloween kids

Here are the kids all dressed up for halloween.
Morgan was a witch.
Orin was a fire fighter.
Hunter (my nephew) was a dragon.
And Hailey (my niece) was a beautiful princess.

My daughter the artist

OMG, I forgot to post about this.
Morgan drew this for me. It is supposed to be me.
Can you believe how well she drew the face. I'm just amazed at her artistic abilities.

Oh, and she got straight A's (and S's = Satisfactory) on her 1st quarter report card!