Sissy's Ear Surgery - 2/2015

On February 2, Juliet had her third surgery for ear tubes. I'm noticing that doctors these days are younger than me, which is weird. Her surgeon was good, though, and that's all that matters. She was fretting over doing this again, probably because she's older now and gets it. We went in first thing in the morning (7 I think) and she got all settled in. They had a child comfort menu where the kid can check off what they would like (tablet, crayons, movie, heated blanket, etc). Sis checked just about everything off and they chuckled and started her off with crayons and a coloring page. The anesthesiologist was super friendly, sitting next to her and asking her what she would like to dream about (she wanted to dream of Hawaii) and showing her pictures of his son. I requested Zofran as a premed because she threw up last time - he wanted to wait until after since she would only be under for 8 minutes. After, he told me her chin quivered a bit before he put the mask on, but overall she did good. She woke up dizzy and at that point I asked for the zofran. She loved the Popsicle (even thought she had trouble holding it) and the graham cracker. She cried a lot after - she didn't understand why waking up in the morning didn't feel the same. There were quite a few moments I had to fight back tears because I just wanted to take her discomfort.

They gave her this bear and it made her so happy.

This is a before surgery picture - her smile is a result of some pink drug that made her happy going into surgery.

Headed home - she was pretty well recovered by then.

We bought her a steamer on the way out of the clinic.

I love this picture!

Since these are long acting tubes, they will stay in until we have them surgically removed, as opposed to having tubes done every couple of years.

Valentine's Day 2015

I thought this Valentine's Day was special because the kids put thought into the day. They thought about those around them and I just had to document that.  A couple days before while Colin was at work, I had the kids write/color/draw a page any way they like in his card journal. Instead of buying him cards, I bought him a Moleskine journal at Target and for each special day (birthday, Father's Day, etc), each person decorates and writes on a page however they like. I ordered a robe for him because he mentioned he would like one quite a few times.

Here is Boss' page - can you tell he's proud?

Jude was thoughtful enough to make George a special treat since it was George's birthday. He turned 11.

Sometime after Colin and I went to bed on the 13th, Jude taped this sweet homemade hearts all over the kitchen and even on my Bible. It was really sweet to wake up to that.

Colin bought me these beautiful flowers and we went to see "American Sniper". He was going to take me on a hike to Multnomah Falls, but we had to rush to the hospital to see my dad who was having chest discomfort and dizziness. Brandy was here watching the kids, so it was nice to have kid free time with Colin, even if it was at a hospital :)

Here's the robe. I told him he looks like Hugh Hefner.

Samuel made these little coupons to give us - things like putting our clothes away, make our bed, wild card, washing the car, free babysitting when he turns 13. It was really sweet.

And Sis spent some time on this heart for Colin's journal.

It's great to see the kids have unselfish moments like these!

OMSI Science Club

The kids started OMSI Oregon Homeschool Science Club this month. I've been wanting them to do this for awhile but just finally pulled the trigger recently. Signing on for anything on a weekly basis is a huge commitment when one has this many kids. We go every Tuesday and the first day Samuel absolutely loathed his class. He claimed the kids were way younger than him and after Colin attended one, he agreed. We switched Samuel to a different class in the Planetarium and things are much better now. This week I was the parent helper in Jude's class and the cool thing is that I got to bring Samuel and Boss in with me.

Boss played in the playground area which I'm sure was loaded with germs. I only let him play for a couple of minutes and then I sprayed him down with sanitize.

After OMSI this week, I treated the kids to a new coffee shop experience. Colin told me Coava was a really great one and so we tried it. They didn't have anything but soy and dairy, so I didn't get anything, but the kids enjoyed chocolate croissants and a scone. Sometimes education is about science, sometimes it's about culture :)

These kids were learning about craters - dropping different balls into sand and watching the different impacts.

I love that Boss was a student too.

Just because I so rarely get into photos...

The first day Sis learned about internal organs.

I'm so glad we are doing this - our science curriculum is sorely lacking and boring. I'm hoping to sign them up for more classes in April.

Cape Lookout - February 2015

This last week we took an extremely impromptu trip to Cape Lookout. We had to deliver to Hillsboro New Seasons. It's been a tough season around here with some family health issues and Colin decided it would be best if we fled town for a few hours. I always love capturing everyone in their element on the beach. I also love seeing how kids live so fully every moment - enjoying building things with sand, running in the ocean, feeling sand between their toes, etc.,.

Boss really wanted his pants off and the cool thing about February at the Oregon coast is that there is NO ONE there. Pants free is totally acceptable.

These kids spent the majority of their time on these rocks. Throwing them, collecting them, climbing.

We went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory for ice cream. Samuel got the marionberry, Jude and Sis Rocky Road, Boss got strawberry and Colin black cherry. I watched enviously since I gave up sugar years ago.

I couldn't decide if I liked the color or black and white of this one.

Love this one of Colin and Abe looking at the ocean. Again, just capturing them in their moments.

A rare photo of Colin and I - it's nice having a 10 year old that can take pictures.

It was near sunset and the cheese factory was empty - perfect photo op to catch this guy. It seems like it's hard to get a photo of him these days.

What a perfect photo of Juliet! She usually gives me such cheesy grins when she knows her picture is being taken, but this is just truly her.

I can't remember what these two were doing, but I love how the picture turned out.

We came back tired, yet refreshed. It was such a nice escape from reality.