Reese Recited

Playing duck, duck, goose...

I want to be goosed next!

I get to be the gooser!

Goose, goose, goose, GOOSE!

Memorial Day Weekend

It was a really fun weekend! We thought about going camping but decided that it wouldn't be so much fun with crappy weather so we took the day and spent it at Farragut State Park. It was really pretty! We hiked/walked around Lake Pend Oreille and watched the sailboats and skipped rocks.

Reese was obsessing over walking sticks.

Gwen loved eating the rocks.

Carson tried skipping rocks.

There was a fun little park with a rock climbing wall perfect for the kids and the best climbing tree back at the camp. Carson was in heaven. He's really into climbing trees lately.

We played lots of baseball and ate a lot of food and the men went frisbee golfing. Later on, Gwen ended up falling asleep on Grandpa's shoulder. :)

We headed home and went hot tubbing, had dinner, and went home to bed. That's the kind of camping I'm in to! 

Sunday morning I was giving the boys haircuts and found a tick in Carson's hair! We were able to pull it out without any problem but it was still really disgusting. Went to church then over to the Crandall's for dinner. Monday all the women went to lunch at Olive Garden and then got pedicures. Headed home and played volleyball in the backyard and had dinner. It lots of fun! Perfect Memorial Day weekend. But Tuesday after I picked Carson up from school I noticed some black things in his hair by where the tick was. It looked like little black seeds. I was totally freaked out that they were tick eggs so I took him in to the doctor and she said that it was just scabs from black fly bites. Apparently this time of year is really common for ticks and black fly bites. Poor Carson had to get both. He didn't seem too bothered by it though. I think he actually thought the tick was pretty cool. In other Carson news, we're going in for the MRI in the morning. Wish us luck!

Reese Recited

I need some oatmeal to help with the pain in my legs.

He gets very creative with his excuses when he wants something.

Lately, his favorite thing is to vacuum. I'm not complaining but he's getting to the point where it's not dirty enough so he'll take crackers and grind the crumbs into the carpet just so he can vacuum. I wonder how long this stage will last...

Reese Recited

I am the master of everything.

Oh, really? Well tell me something awesome.

Don't pee in the bed. Pee in the toilet.

  

Gwen's birthday

Gwen turned one last week! I wasn't going to make a big deal out of it, just some cake with family. But once I came up with the cake plan I couldn't not make everything all cute and girly! It was really different planning pink and yellow owls but it was so fun! 

The family came over and we had chicken salad sandwiches and fruit salad and lots and lots of candy. Then I wanted to have her open presents next so she wouldn't be a mess in her new outfit that Grandma Connie sent her. Gwen was spoiled and Ryan even admits that it's kinda fun cleaning up girl toys now. :) At first Gwen wasn't really into the baby dolls she got but now she won't put them down! And she's always loved her "pretties."

The quilt that I finally finished... a year later!

She was not a fan of the cake at first. Gwen is a very picky eater already. Even if she likes it she'll spit the first bite out before eating more. I think it's a texture thing for her. She really didn't like the ice cream though because it hurt her burnt fingers (and I don't think I ever added this picture... She touched a hot lawnmower and it got her good!!!)

But once she figured out the it wasn't poisonous and we gave her a spoon (she refuses to eat dinner unless she's holding a spoon even though she can't even use it) she did just fine. 

The whole day Gwen was just super cute and perky and fun. She could tell it was her special day. We would sing "Happy Birthday" to her throughout the day and she would get a big grin on her face and start dancing. At the party she was having the time of her life, literally. :) Gwen loved all the attention and she was so smiley and happy and just talking up a storm. I'm glad she had such a good day because I did too! Happy birthday little lady!

Seattle Trip

We went to Seattle a while back and it was a quick trip jammed packed with fun! When we first got to Seattle we went straight to the tourist attractions because we knew we wouldn't have another chance to go. We saw the "Spacing Niddle" as Reese liked to call it. 

The boys got a kick out of the gum wall!

Visiting all these places took me back to when I first went to Seattle with my college roommates. That was an awesome trip! Ryan and I had just started dating and I would spend hours talking to him on the phone when we weren't out having fun. That was when he told me that he thought we would get married some day. He even said that he was thinking like sometime in October. It was March and we had been dating for a month. :) But it all worked out and we ended up getting married in August! Eight years this August! 

Anyway... After we saw most of the fun stuff, we went to Ivar's. 

We were too late to go to the Pier but the boys (and Gwen) did get their picture taken on the famous pig. 

The next day was Grandma Dorene's surprise 80th birthday party. It was quite the shindig! There was a lot of singing and dancing and that's about all I can really put into words. It was awesome and I doubt there's another family out there that can compare. Here's the extended family but I think there's still quite a few missing.

The boy sang "I'm an Old Cow Hand." The video says it all!

The next day was Sunday and we got to go to Ryan's cousin's mission farewell and then the rest of the family headed home. We stayed an extra day so we could take Carson to the Craniofacial surgeon at Seattle Children's Hospital. We met with a bunch of different doctors and surgeons all that deal with Carson's deformity. They told us that they deal with this birth defect all the time and that we were really lucky that Carson's case was so mild. Usually kids don't even have an ear but Carson has a normal-looking, fully functioning ear. They said that his teeth were still lining up well and his bite was normal. Which is fine for now, at least it's not ruining his teeth, but that means he'll have to have surgery on both his lower and upper jaw later on after he's fully developed, around 18 years old. At this this point, since he can eat and communicate normally and it doesn't cause him pain, it's just cosmetic so there's nothing to do. I'm not really interested in giving my 5 year old a bone graft. So we were all set to just go home and come back in two years for another check up when another doctor came in and noticed that he kept pulling and leaning to one side. I thought it was just Carson playing the shy card but the doctor said that he wanted to do an xray of his neck just to make sure and that it was probably nothing, just muscle weakness which is another issue with HFMS. So we did the xray and headed home. A couple of days later the doctor called saying that they noticed "something" was wrong with his neck that they didn't anticipate and that we needed to get him in for an MRI. He said that it was an emergency but it's definitely something we needed to follow up with.

At this point, I'm not sure if it's related to his HFMS or if it's something completely different. Doing research on HFMS it says that there can be problems with his c-spine so I'm not sure why the doctor was surprised. I did find one website that said kids with HFMS have a 10-15% chance of having problems with their neck so maybe that why he was surprised. He's the one in a hundred. That even with all the cases he sees, neck problems are still really rare. So from what we can find on the internet, we think it might be Atlantoaxial Instability. But we have his MRI scheduled for next week so we'll find out more then. But man, this just really sucks. I hate not knowing. The doctor asked if he played sports and I told him he plays soccer twice a week and he said that as long as he wasn't in gymnastics or anything then he should be fine. I guess that since his vertebrae isn't formed right any wrong movement could make him a quadriplegic. So the last couple of weeks we've been living on pins and needles not knowing if we need to put Carson in a bubble or what. It's hard to think that's something's wrong though because he's just a normal kid. Hopefully we'll have more answers next week.

My Bday

I had the best birthday this year! Ryan and the boys made me breakfast that I didn't have to clean up and then I went and got my hair done after I got some stuff ready for the party. And I actually really liked the way my hair turned out so that was awesome. Later that night, I had a bunch of friends come over for a Bunco party! It was SOOO much fun!!! I almost forgot how much fun Bunco can be! It was loud and competitive and just a ton of fun! It was a little awkward opening gifts, I must admit. I didn't really think people would actually bring gifts but I got some really awesome stuff and then they even made me an ice cream cake that was so yummy. Peanut butter and chocolate... doesn't get any better! I'm really glad I decided to throw myself a party this year. It was weird planning stuff that I wanted rather than thinking of what someone else would like. Plus, we now have a monthly Bunco group! Yay!

Spring Soccer

I must admit that it is getting harder and harder to keep this blogging thing going. It's great and I love the books that we have so far but it takes a lot of time and effort and lately there's so many other things that I would rather do. I know my family appreciates it and checks for updates all the time and I'm glad I have all these memories recorded. I just have to keep reminding myself the importance I guess.

Reese wasn't ready for soccer this year. The first day was okay but every time after that it was like pulling teeth trying to get him on the field. He just wasn't into it. He didn't seem to enjoy it like Carson did at this age. I think his size might have something to do with it because he's so small, way smaller than everyone else his age, and even with a small ball, it's still pretty big for him. Although, now that I think about it, Carson was the same way his first time playing soccer. We'll give it a year and try again but I think he'd enjoy something like gymnastics a lot more. 

 

Carson's season isn't over yet but he's doing okay. The competition is tougher than last year because he is one of the younger ones but also because the kids this season are really good! I think the main reason Carson loves soccer is because Ryan is his coach. Carson is our runner so he has that going for him. We'll see how he does in the fall.