Happy (Belated) Easter

It was 25 degrees for our Easter Egg Hunt!! Can you say COLD????


The Easter Bunny brought us baskets!


On our way to church...

A Visit to See Grandpa

As some of you may know, my Dad has esophageal cancer. Last week, the tumor became large enough to block off the esophagus. He had been admitted to a hospital in Michigan where he and my Mom were spending a few months visiting when this was discovered. Thursday they put in a feeding tube. On Thursday we packed up the kids and made the 850 mile journey to Michigan to see him. He started to look better each day after the surgery. We arrived Friday night and drove home Monday and Tuesday. He is now home in PA receiving hospice care. Here are some pictures from the trip:

Here are the kids - Ryan is showing the card he made for Grandpa:



Ryan and Grandpa:



Grandpa pretending he is ET and making Kevin laugh:



Eddie and Grandpa:



My sisters Deb and Diane (yes, they are twins) checking out my big baby belly:



Grandma at Creative Health Institute (where they were staying in Michigan) showing us the fresh grass to be made into wheatgrass juice. (They don't call it "The Wheatgrass Place" for nothing):



And we can't leave out BIG BOY - the kids' new favorite restaurant:

Ryan's Turn

Saturday was Ryan's turn to visit the ER. This was his first time. As of Saturday, he was the first of the three to get stitches. We were on a field trip with the Cub Scouts to the USS Salem. We all went up "on deck" to wait for the tour to begin - and as we were waiting, Ryan slipped on some snow/ice and fell on his chin. I saw him fall but did not see the cut as it was under his chin. I thought he was just crying because he was covered in snow. It wasn't until a few minutes later when Eddie said "Wow Mom, he's really bleeding" that I saw the cut and it was a big one. It wasn't too long (about an inch) but it was open and you could tell by looking at it that he needed some stitches... so I grabbed Kevin and Ryan and we headed to the ER. Thanks to the other leaders who took care of Eddie while I was gone - and I was gone for 5 hours!! Ryan was very brave during the whole event and now has 6 stitches in his chin. They have to be completely dry for the first 48 hours. Luckily they are disolvable so we don't have to have them removed although we will pay a visit to the pediatrician on Friday to make sure they are all out and to make sure there are no signs of infection. Funny thing is, after we were done at the hospital, he thought we were still going back to the ship! Maybe someday! I did contact the folks at the ship and they are going to send us a refund and a little something from the gift shop so I'm sure Ryan will be excited about that!!

Seeking a Financial Advisor

Do you have a really good financial advisor? How do I go about getting one? Do I pick one out of the phone book at random? We have a bunch of things we want to do and need some advice. Has anyone read "Missed Fortune"? It's a great book! It's a different approach to investing. I am reading it now. Our mortgage broker recommended it to us and I'm finally getting around to reading it. Well, I actually had "Missed Fortune" before but didn't finish it so this time I am reading "Missed Fortune 101". I've been getting some advice from Dave Ramsey too - but it will be nice to have a sit down with someone and get all our questions answered. Speaking of Dave Ramsey... my kids have been really into America's Funniest Home Videos this year. We happened to watch the "Grand Finale" where someone is awarded $100,000 for the best video (this is after winning $10,000 for being the best on their show). The video that won the $100,000 was of a little boy in a bath tub / whirlpool (one of those big tubs) and his Great Dane. The dog jumped in the tub and they won $100,000. I remember telling the kids that if THAT video won, we'd better get working on some entries. Anyway, I remembered at the end of the show, they asked them what they'd do with their money and they said they wanted to get a pool in their backyard. I don't know why that stuck out in my mind but it did... so I get this month's email from Dave Ramsey (yes, there is a point to this story SOMEWHERE) and the call of the month was from the family that won the money and they had questions about what to do with the money. It's a pretty funny call - check it out!
http://a1611.g.akamai.net/f/1611/23575/9h/dramsey.download.akamai.com/23575/audio/mp3/MyDRS%20Blog/01092008_dave_drive.mp3
*I still can't figure out how to post a link but if you triple click on the link, you should be able to highlight the whole thing and then copy.

I passed! I passed!

I just got the call from the OB nurse and my glucose tolerance test result was 95!! The cutoff is 140. I can't believe it! When I was pregnant with Eddie, it was 139!! I don't remember what it was with Kevin and Ryan but I think it was in the 130's. What great news!!! I was so not looking forward to testing my blood 6 x a day and a really strict diabetic diet!!! But I do think it's a wake up call to start eating better and as soon as it warms up a bit, I will walk when the kids are at school... that is, if I'm not napping! By the way, I'm 20 weeks along today so 1/2 way there - maybe a bit more than 1/2 way since I'm sure they'll schedule me a week early for a repeat c-section. Have a great day everyone!

Mr. Handsome

This year I decided to splurge on Easter suits. Here's Ryan trying his on:

Wish me luck!

Tomorrow I go for my glucose tolerance test. Everyone one is convinced I have gestational diabetes... just based on the size of my babies... and the fact that time may have run out for my luck in passing the glucose tolerance tests in the past. So tomorrow I will drink the delicious orange drink and go and have my blood drawn. I really hope I don't have it - I'll keep you all posted!

Oh, Baby!

Hey everyone! I had my 18 week level 2 ultrasound yesterday and everything looked wonderful! The baby was so cute and active! I knew the ultrasound technician from previous ultrasounds and she was awesome! We chatted it up and had a great time. The baby kept putting his/her hands around his/her face. The tech was joking that he/she was trying to suck it's thumb. It was all very cute and I loved seeing the baby! In this picture, you can see the hands around the face. And for those who are wondering - yes, I maintained my willpower and did NOT find out if the baby is a boy or a girl! We'll have to wait 22 or so weeks to find that out! In the meantime, I am thoroughly enjoying being pregnant! It was almost surreal to see the baby on the monitor because most of the time I don't even feel pregnant (aside of being tired but I'm tired anyway!) I haven't had a stitch of morning sickness this time around so that is GREAT!! I can't wait to start feeling the baby move - that is the best! The tech said the placenta is right in the front of my belly on top of the baby so that is why I haven't felt anything yet but soon I will! I can't wait... the kids are very excited to feel the baby kicking!! I'll keep you posted!

We love IKEA

Ed's out of town for business tonight so I told the kids we could go somewhere fun since I wouldn't have to rush out to work. Kevin and Ryan automatically said they wanted to go to IKEA. For those who haven't been to IKEA, they have a huge, bright, clean, well attended and oh, yeah - FREE playroom you can leave the kids in while shopping. Depending on how busy the store is, you can shop for between 30 minutes and 1 hour. Today when I dropped the kids off, they asked if it was OK if I left them for 1 and 1/2 hours. Sweet! I went upstairs to the cafeteria and enjoyed a delicious salmon dinner for cheap and then shopped. I did get called early because Ryan hurt his lip but overall, they had fun. Then we got some frozen yogurt and Ryan was all better. While we were eating the frozen yogurt, we heard an announcement that all Christmas decorations were on sale for FIVE CENTS each! There were some decorations, some ribbons, bows, candles, etc... We got $3.00 worth - yes, 60 Christmas items!! We hit the jackpot. I will use a lot of it for crafts and gifts and will donate a bunch to the preschool!!! What a bah-gain!

Seeking Baby Names

We haven't come up with any baby names yet! I keep joking that we'll be bringing home a nameless baby - but they don't let you do that anymore! (They let you leave the hospital with a birth certificate that says "Baby Boy" Last Name or "Baby Girl" Last Name. We still have plenty of time... any good suggestions for boy or girl?

I should mention that Eddie picked out "Josiah" for a boy and "Sophia" for a girl. Kevin is convinced that "Sully" is the perfect name for either girl or boy.. And Ryan changes his mind daily but has all kinds of silly names like "Flower Flower" or "Pink Pink"....

So excited!

I'm 18 weeks along today and I have my ultrasound on Thursday. It's my level 2 so I'll have one hour of looking at baby! It also means one hour of not being able to pee but that's OK!! I can't wait to see the little one! I hope to get some good pictures I can share with you all!!!

Come On Down..

Anyone been watching "The Price is Right" since Drew Carey became the host? I just love this show!! I think Drew is doing a great job. You can really tell that he loves the show! I'm a game show junkie. Maybe I am "old school" because I just don't "get" "Deal or No Deal"... I do love the old shows, though - The Match Game, Family Feud, that show with the Whammies... Name that Tune, there was a cool game called Pitfall - I loved that show... I don't get a chance to watch "The Price is Right" that often but I caught the end of it today... Way to go Drew!

Here's Drew and one of my favorites - the Showcase Showdown:

Can't sleep - got any tips?

I haven't been able to sleep most nights... I just toss and turn... then I end up getting up to pee - it seems like I never get to sleep. Does anyone know of any tricks that work during pregnancy? Is there a tea or something that will help?

Christmas Pics!

I'm finally putting up some Christmas pictures! Enjoy!!

Here are Kevin and Ryan posing with Sponge Bob at the Elks Christmas party:


Kevin and I at his classroom Christmas party:


Ryan at his classroom Christmas party:


Christmas morning:


Kevin is enjoying opening presents!


"Hey look! A Shrek toothbrush!!!"


Eddie opens Don't Spill the Beans...

No School Today!

We are getting lots of snow today - so far probably 3 or 4 inches... we received a call from the school this morning at 5:45 am saying there would be no school. I was psyched! I am so glad I do not have to do my usual drop off / pick up routine; drop off Eddie at 8:35, come home, drop off Kevin and Ryan at 11:30... pick up Kevin and Ryan at 2:00 then sit in front of Eddie's school until 2:50 when it's time to pick him up... However, today Eddie would have had reading group after school so I wouldn't have had to pick him up until 3:30 so we would have had time to come home in between pick ups but I'm very glad we don't have to do all that in the snow! The kids are outside having a grand time in the snow and I'm inside cleaning and doing laundry! I plan to spend the afternoon scrapbooking and then going to work tonight. Who could ask for anything more?? (Well, except for having work called off...) They do say we are getting another storm on Friday! Just when our lawns were all green again; more white stuff!!! At least I don't have to work Friday night! Stay warm everyone!

$4 Prescriptions at Walmart

If you haven't heard yet - Walmart offers over 350 prescriptions for $4.00. I ended up taking Ryan to the walk in clinic yesterday morning at the pediatrician's office. Ryan woke up Tuesday night in A LOT of pain - his said his right ear hurt. When the nurse practitioner looked in his right ear - she said he was 100% correct; he had a HUGE infection in his ear... so she prescribed amoxicillin and sent us on our way. Usually they fax it to my pharmacy but this time she gave me a paper prescription and I remembered that Walmart had $4.00 prescriptions... so off we went to Walmart (we needed to do some shopping anyway) and dropped off the prescription... we did our shopping and 15 minutes later, the pink stuff was ready for pick up and only cost $4.00. I imagine with my insurance, it probably would have been a $10 copay as opposed to the $25 or $45 copays we often to have to pay but it was still a savings of $6.00 and you figure over this year, we'll have at least 10 of those equalling a total savings of at least $60.

For more information, you can see www.walmart.com/pharmacy - and you can see the complete list of covered drugs at: http://i.walmart.com/i/if/hmp/fusion/four_dollar_drug_list.pdf

Found Videos

I found these videos when I was going through my pictures to order some prints for scrapbooking. I realized, though, that I have hardly any video of the kids... TONS of pictures but not that many videos!!! So my goal is to take more videos!!! Enjoy!!!

Here's a video of Kevin and Ryan in the early stages of walking... and yes, that really is a tractor tire hanging around his neck!


Here's a video of Eddie from our trip to Disney in 2005:

T'was the Night Before Christmas...

We had a busy night the night before Christmas... things started off with a get together at our good friend Linda's house and then we headed to church for the 6:30 candlelight service. After church, we went home and put our reindeer food out on the lawn, Santa's cookies and milk out and hurried off to bed...

Here we are getting ready to put out the reindeer food:


Eddie


Ryan


Kevin


Eddie sound asleep


Kevin and Ryan trying to fall asleep so Santa will come


Kevin working on sleeping


Ryan pretending to sleep


The Gingerbread House we made

Make a Joyful Noise

As promised, here are the videos of the kids singing at church:

Matthew Begats (This is the song that I mentioned was really hard for Eddie to learn... yes, this really is his group although you can't see him - sorry the picture is out of focus but at least you can still hear it).


My God is so Big


Joy to the World

Baby

Here's the picture I promised of baby! It's pretty blurry but hopefully you can still make it out. I hope to have some more pictures after my level 2 ultrasound on 1/24.

Hi everyone!!!