Friday Night - Party Night!

Last Friday we traded "Friday Night, Movie Night" for the school carnival.  One of the middle school's where Kevin works was having its annual carnival.  Thinking the carnival would be mostly for older kids, Kevin and I were both going to work at the carnival and the girls were going to hang out with the Nelson's.  On Thursday we got the flyer, and the carnival looked like a blast.  There were going to be activities that the girls would enjoy.  So we rescheduled with the Nelson's and I flaked on the "working" part and opted for "playing".  Jenny if you are reading this, I hope you will forgive me:)  We had an awesome time. 

Of course, I went armed with a plan.  We hit the face painting first, since I knew the lines would get crazy.  Each of the girls picked out what they wanted painted on their faces and the colors.  I think they did an awesome job and so fitting for each of them.  Sidney picked a cute little lizard that perfectly matched her top.

Kendall opted for the flower.  When the lady asked her what color, she wanted all of them!  Imagine that.

 After the face painting, we hit all of the other games.  The girls went "fishing" for candy, tossed bean bags, played with Legos.  Then it was time to eat.  They said they were starving, but really only ended up eating the chips.  It was truly a treat! 

After fueling up, they were ready to hit the gym.  Sidney and Kendall jumped in the bounce house several times.  Kendall will tell you that she ran through the obstacle course 30 times.  Sidney in her usual style acted brave as if she wanted to do the obstacle course too.  However when she was given the opportunity, she wanted no part of it.  Kendall begged and pleaded to do the Velcro wall, but seriously...maybe next year!  It looked pretty crazy. 

After all of that excitement, we settled in at the cake walk.  Kendall's expression below explains it all.  We did the cake walk AT LEAST 20 times and not one cake.  In Rebecca's words, "Is that even possible?"

Oh and if anyone is curious, I think they slept in until 7 the next morning.  Yes, that is sleeping in.

Kendall's First Recital

Kendall had her first dance recital last week.  I really hope this is the first of many as the girls were so adorable.  Miss Kim referred to last week's recital as more of a "parent observation" class.  The girls will be part of a larger recital in May with official costumes and all. 

The girls performed part of the Sugar Plum Fairy from the Nutcracker.  Here is Kendall in her starting position. 

Kendall and a couple of the girls are waiting for their turn in the spotlight.  Each girl had a solo performance in which they showed off their leaps, turns and arabesques.

Kendall prepping for a leap.  If my trigger finger would have been faster, we might have caught her mid-air.  No such luck.

At the end, they displayed the new tap dancing moves they have been learning through a "penguin" dance.  Can you see them waddling?

The Boy With the Blue Hair.

Last night I took Sidney to get a much needed haircut.  She has only had one haircut to date.  Hair has been scarce for her and it is finally starting to really grow.  Her golden locks were all over the place, which I love for the most part, but it was time to tame the lion's mane.  The other day Kendall was describing one of the kids in her class and said, "She has tangled wild hair just like Sidney".  Funny AND true.  My biggest fear was that we would get a hairdresser that would whack off all her gorgeous curls.
So off to Great Clips we went.  When we arrived there was a young man with brilliant blue hair and body piercings everywhere.  Kendall could not take her eyes off of him.  Finally I said, "She is in awe of your blue hair".  The man with the blue hair replied, "Most kids are."  To our surprise, he would be the one cutting Sidney's hair.  Much to my amazement Sid was not afraid of him at all.  She sat right down and let him go to town.

He did an absolutely fantastic job!  He really knew what he was doing.  First off, he did not wet the gorgeous curls as that might have given an uneven cut.  Second, in a very motherly fashion I suggested that we do not take too much off the back as her hair had just started to grow.  The young man gently said, "We can do that...if you want a baby mullet.  I would suggest that we even it out with the sides and it will grow out very nicely."  He reassured me that as soon as we wet her hair, the little curls would be back.  He was absolutely right.  Her hair turned out darling. 

I will definitely be going back to the man with the blue hair, tattoos and multiple body piercings.  I guess I will have to find out his name if I am going to request him.  Who knows...next time his hair may not be blue.

FRONT VIEW:

REAR VIEW:

Who's Afraid of Peter Cottontail?

Silly little Sidney is afraid of Peter Cottontail.  This does not come as a shock to me, but the apple juice down my front side was certainly a shock!  Yesterday we took the girls to Barnes and Noble for story time.  The woman read a few books and passed out cookies and cups of apple juice for the kids.  Then she announced that Peter Cottontail was coming for a visit.  Everyone was very excited.  However when Sidney caught site of him, she immediately grabbed hold of me launching her cup full of apple juice at me.  Then she followed the clamoring with a few cries of hysteria.  I managed to calm her down and napkin myself off.  The really hilarious part is that after Peter left, she talked about him for the entire afternoon.  Every time she would mention him I would reply, "Sure, you are brave now!"

I had two copies of last year's blog printed, one for each of the girls.  The books arrived in the mail last week.  I was kind of surprised at the girls reaction.  They immediately started calling them their special books.  Sidney sat in the chair for over 20 minutes just flipping through it pointing out pictures.  They turned out very nice.  Well worth the investment. 

About a month ago Kendall had a dollar to burn, so we headed to the Dollar Store.  On the way there I had to run into Walgreen's.  While we were in Walgreen's Kendall laid her eyes on these silly little balls with rubber animals inside.  They were called squinkee pets.  Yeah I had never heard of them either.  But Kendall, who cannot read yet, knew EXACTLY what they were.  Of course she wanted to buy them, but they cost $10 and she only had $2.  Mean  mom that I am said "No dice honey.  You will have to save up your money."  Then along came her birthday, and she received a couple dollars in the mail ($6 to be exact).  She pulled out her piggy bank and came up with $3 more in change.  Still not enough.  Thank goodness for Daddy.  He gave her some cleaning assignments and told her that if she got them done, no questions asked, he would give her the remaining dollar she needed.  I have never seen a four year old work so hard without being directed.  Alas, she had enough money to buy her squinkee pets.  Of course I laid out all the money (quite a pile) and said "Are you SURE you want to do this?"  She replied, "Yes mommy, I am sure."  Here is Miss Kendall with her new prized possession...16 little squinkee pets.  Ridiculous to me...A treasure to her. 

The girls each received a baking set for Christmas this year.  The set came complete with an apron, muffin tins, cupcake holders, measuring spoons, wooden spoons, scrapers and whisks.  We put them to good use last week and made cherry chip cupcakes with chocolate chips.  The girls were so proud to take the finished products to school and share them with their friends.  We have been doing a lot of baking around here lately.  Thank goodness the girls share my love for baking. 

Grandma Terrell sent the girls some super COZY pajamas this week.  The pajamas were a belated Christmas present to go with the pillow pets that she sent.  She had a friend make the jammies especially for the girls.  The girls loved them.  They put them on right away and donned the jewelry and headbands that grandma sent as well.  Kendall has insisted on wearing the PJ's every night since she got them.   They have plenty of room to grow into them, but the girls do not seem to mind a bit!

Pictures and a Movie

On New Years Eve, Kendall and I had a pretty fun day.  She was really happy to spend some "special time" with just the two of us.  We had quite a few activities planned, so I prepared her that 'sleeping beauty' was not likely to get a nap.  She seemed okay with that, even kind of proud.

In the morning she picked out a couple of her favorite outfits (thankfully she was accepting a little input from me on this occasion), and we headed to get her four year old pictures.  Picture day is always fun with Kendall, because she is quite the ham.

After the pictures, we went with the neighbor girls (who are quite a few years older) to see the new movie Tangled.  It was a really cute movie.  After the movie we only had about and hour before leaving for the Brandt's.  Paige and Peyton asked Kendall to come over and play.  I am not sure why that strikes me as special, but my little baby is starting to grow up.  She has friends that she goes on solo play times together, kid initiated.  WOW! 

Home at Last!

My mom was released from the hospital this afternoon and has returned home to rest and recuperate.  It has been a long haul, but she is home now.  The doctors are still anticipating a full recovery.  She will have follow- up appointments and outpatient rehab.  They have told her that she needs to try to get back to normal, but to take things slow.  It is comforting to know that she is home!

A Belated Happy New Years

This is a little late coming, but better late than never!  We spent New Years Eve with the Brandt family.  It was a great evening, enjoying good company and watching the girls play.  We all marveled at how different things were just fours short years ago.  We were with the Parson's at my cousins cabin in McCall.  We had stayed the weekend, skiing, eating, sipping eggnog and playing a few games.  Now we have 6 kids among us and there is never a dull moment (Did I mention they are all girls?).  Here is the only shot that I managed to get of the three older girls together.  The Parson's were unable to join us this year, because of crazy sickness!

It always amazes me that Emily is only 3 months older than Sid.  It seems like she is decades older.  At that age, they learn so much in such a short period.  I can always look to Emily to see what Sid might be doing next.  Emily has mastered the potty, so I can only hope that she will master that next.  In fact the following morning, Sid managed to go to the bathroom in the potty.  Then she kept saying how she was a big girl like Kendall and Emily.

Here is the infamous game of catch.  The girls had a blast.  They did not seem to mind that the head of the animal was somewhat dangerous.  It was perfect to them.  A little weight in the head makes for a good toss!

 Claire just admired all of the fun and probably cannot wait until she is big enough to join in the fun.

Photo courtesy of Kendall.  She loves to take pictures, and we will take what we can get.

Happy Fourth Birthday!

Kendall celebrated her fourth birthday on January 3rd.  I cannot believe how fast time flies.  It seemed as if she grew up overnight.  While we were home for Christmas my Mom and Dad through her a huge Birthday bash.  Here is the little princess all ready for the big party.

The neighbor girls joined in the fun.  Kendall has been getting to know the twins, Abby and Elly quite a bit in her adventures to Grandmas house.  Sid kept popping the balloons and scaring everyone.  The first time she scared herself, after that it was game on!

Mom had bought Kendall a pinata that looked like a tiara.  Here is everyone waiting to take a swing.

Little Sid even got into the action...

 Kendall genuinely seemed to relish every minute of the party.  She had a radiant glow about her the entire time.  Here she is listening to everyone sing her Happy Birthday.

The girls were helping her admire her new gifts. 

Uncle Jason even got into the fun by showing Kendall how to apply her new chapstick.

Happy Birthday Kendall Marie!  Thank you Mom and Dad for throwing such a great party!

A Step in the Right Direction!

Yesterday was a VERY rough day.  Mom was in a lot of pain and seemed to have lost a lot of desire to get moving.  Her surgery had went well, but the surgeon had warned us that the day would be rough.  My sister had rode in to my Dad's work with him to fill out some paperwork, and I stayed in the room with my mom.  The morning did not go so well.  Mom was very sick from all of the pain medication and trying very hard to get off of it, but the pain was pretty intense.  Finally at about 2pm, the nurse told me that my mom would need to get up and sit on the side of the bed or else they were going to get her up involuntarily.  My mom was pretty sedated, but this rattled me.  I ordered up a smoothie (she had not eaten all day) and proceeded to rouse my mom.  I told her that though she did not feel like eating, she "must".  I also told her what the nurse had said.  Did she want to get up on her own terms or their terms?  At first, she did not know if she could do it.  Once the smoothie arrived, I started feeding it to her.  She had not eaten and felt full very quickly.  When the smoothie was about 1/5th gone, I pushed the nurse call button and told my mom that she had 5 minutes (the time it would take the nurse to get there) to visualize herself sitting up.  That woke her up.  She was amazing!!!  The nurse came in and helped her sit up.  She even decided to sit in a chair and sat there for a whopping 45 minutes.  We were all amazed at the vitality that came back in her face when she was able to sit up.  After that she was pretty wiped out, but it was a great way to end the day.

Today she tried to sit up more and get up to the restroom again.  She said the pain was definitely subsiding, and she just felt extremely tired and fatigued.  By the afternoon, they were ready to move her out of the ICU and into a progressive care room.  The weekend will be a time of rest, healing and exercise.  On Monday, they will do another ultrasound of her heart.  We are all hopeful that the improvement will be remarkable and she will be heading home Monday or Tuesday. 

Thanks to everyone for all of your thoughts, prayers, cards, flowers, visits, etc.  It has been amazing how much people have been there for all of us!

Crazy Day.

Today was the day that we all thought mom would find out when she is going home.  That was not the case.  She had her echo cardiogram at about 9am.  We were waiting in anticipation for the doctor to come in and share the results.  Then at about 10am this morning, she started experiencing intense pain.  I have never witnessed such pain.  On a scale of 1-10, she was reporting a 10.  Pain medication would not provide relief.  She was rushed down to a CT and an ultrasound.  "Rushed" is relative term, as time seemed to have stopped and we were all anguishing with her.  Then she was rushed into the operating room.  The hospital staff was great and allowed us to stay with her and try to give her comfort.  Even through the pre-op, they let us remain by her side.  As it turned out, the main artery that they had went through to do her angiogram last Friday had opened up and was bleeding internally.  The bleeding was causing pressure on her nerves, which was causing the intense pain.  During the operation, they sutured the artery. 

After the operation, she was placed back into the cardiac intensive care unit.  The doctor said that to experience this kind of internal bleed more than 72 hours after the initial procedure is extremely rare.  He has only seen it occur twice in the last two years.  The last time was actually 7 days ago.  My mom is definitely doing this with style and trying to go unprecedented that is for sure. 

After all of the excitement, the cardiologist was able to go back and review the echo cardiogram.  Her heart is operating at 30% right now.  This was less than we were hoping for, but it is improvement!  The positives are that her heart endured the stress of today like a champion.  With the pain she was experiencing, her blood pressure went up instead of down, which is a really good thing.  She is back in the ICU, which is the absolute best care possible.  She will be in the hospital for a bit longer which is the best place for things like this to happen.  She is right there where she can get the help she needs.  Thank you for all of the prayers.  Keep them coming.  Specifically for a speedy recovery and for all of our spirits to remain positive.

Update...

My mom was moved out of the ICU yesterday afternoon.  She is now in a progressive care room.  Her appetite is good, and her spirits are good.  They are letting her get up to use the restroom, which is great.  She also got to take a shower today.  It is amazing how the littlest things will put such a big smile on her face right now!  The doctor will be doing another echocardiogram tomorrow, which is basically an ultrasound of the heart.  Originally her heart was operating at 20%.  Tomorrow, they would like to see it operating to at least 35%.  If everything looks good, she may go home late tomorrow or Thursday.  We are all very hopeful!  Please keep the prayers coming.

Mom...

This morning has been a difficult time.  My mom has always been a healthy woman.  Last year, she had the flu and ended up in the emergency room with complications.  That was the first time that I can recall my mom ever being sick.  This time it is different.  Here is what happened last night:

4pm:  I talked to my mom on the phone.  She said that she had a touch of the flu the night before, but was feeling better.  About 10 minutes into the conversation, she said she had some indigestion and needed to call me back.  I told her that we could talk later.  We were heading over to our friends house for New Year's Eve.

4:30pm:  As we were going into the Brandt's house, I sent my mom a text as to see if she was feeling better.  I didn't hear back and assumed she had laid down to rest.  Kevin and I left our phones in the car.

7pm:  We got back into the car and Kevin picked up his phone.  There were numerous missed calls from my sister.  Before I had a chance to check my phone, Kevin's phone rang.  It was my sister.  She had just received a call from the hospital.  Mom was in the emergency room and Steph was on her way.  Dad was with my mom, something about her heart.

The rest was kind of a blur as details rolled in.  My mom had suffered a "massive heart attack" is what the doctor said.  Only 20% of her heart was working.  The rest was damaged.  They took her to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.  From what they can tell, there is no blockage, etc.  The doctor said this is one of those FREAK heart attacks.  Similar to a young triathlete or basketball player that just suffers from a freak heart attack. 

Today, they will run some more tests to determine whether the heart will begin to heal itself.  The cardiologist said that if the heart heals itself, she will look back on this in a couple of months as if it never happened.  That is what we are praying for. 

Personally, I struggle.  We do not have serious illness in our family or tragedy for that matter.  Therefore, I do not know how to deal with it.  My friend Amber stopped by this morning and told me to stop being an engineer and just feel.  That is hard.  I don't know WHAT to feel or HOW to feel.  Strange, but true. 

So here we are, starting out the new year on a very strange note.  If you are reading this, pray for my mom.  The doctor kept telling my dad that this is not something you exercise, eat, medicate or 'will' yourself out of .  So, I say we need prayer!