Random Pictures

Elle's first dance class

He wanted "the wrong Buzz" cake. This would be the Buzz from the toy store, with the blue utility belt, not Andy's Buzz. As he was eating it, he said, "Mom, this cake is AWESOME!".

The marketing people for Toy Story are smart people.... And wealthy:).

Even cowboys have to take potty breaks.

And one of this little pumpkin.

Savannah recap with no pictures

If you haven't been to Savannah, you should put it on your list of places to see. My mom and sister moved downtown and they live in a home full of charm and are surrounded by extremely old, cool houses and extremely old, cool trees. It is just beautiful. We took walks every morning and found a new park to explore. We walked to my sister's new high school. We went to several park squares that had playgrounds. We went down to River Street one night for dinner and got to see huge barges with stacks and stacks of freight coming in and out of port. We went to Tybee Island and played in the ocean waves and sand, saw lighthouses, and chased seagulls. And Grady ran from Ninevah and the whale {we've been watching VeggieTales Jonah}, and then he would jump in to his Buzz Lightyear stance and laser the whales out in the ocean. One time he got water in his eyes and he took off for the nearest towel, which happened not to be ours, and folded himself up in the beach chair in the process. Thankfully, the three ladies to whom said items belonged, did not seem to mind.

We went to an Art museum downtown and I'm positive every patron in there could hear every utterance out of Elle and Grady's mouths. There was quite an echo, but it was a cool museum. We went to CiCi's Pizza and ToysRUs, where Grady walked in and said, "It's BEAUTIFUL!" and my sister knocked down the bigger-than-life cardboard Buzz. We put together my sister's new IKEA dresser and realized why "already assembled" furniture is so much more expensive.

I was really sad I didn't have our camera. It was Reese's first trip to Savannah and all of the kids first {and only} time at the beach this summer. Oh well...

We packed up and headed to Atlanta to stay at the Embassy Suites, by the airport, for two nights. This particular hotel holds many memories for me because it is where we stayed both before leaving for Kazakhstan and when we returned. After a bumpy start to our stay {fridge not working and not very clean room}, we ordered room service and had a relatively peaceful night. The next day, a friend drove up with her two girls from Athens to meet us at Imagine It!, which is such an awesome place. Steven came in to town that evening for the car auction. We had dinner in the hotel, hit the chlorine overloaded indoor pool, visited with Aunt Rhonda, and called it a night. I made the trek home the next day with the kiddos while Steven worked some more. All in all, a fun way to end our summer.

Is he really three?

I am sad to say that I forgot to take my camera with me on our Savannah/Atlanta adventures. I hope to at least write them down soon because we had so much fun and there were many hilarious things said. Mostly by this guy, who is THREE today! Happy Birthday little cowboy! Mommy and Daddy love you so much and are so thankful for you and your life. You manage to make us laugh so hard. You also challenge our parenting skills daily:). We pray God grants you a full life knowing Him and loving people, whether you are a cowboy or a space ranger. Or sometimes both!

Lately

When I was last here, I was getting ready for a weekend trip to Atlanta. It was a lot of fun and a great break from the wonderful, but somewhat monotonous, daily grind of motherhood. My mom and sister showed up a few days later for a week long stay. Mom left {to return to her teaching!} and my sister stayed. We have filled the days with trips to the library, Pump It Up, the McWane Center and another new kids' play place here in Calera.

Grady got to participate in some early birthday presents:

Which resulted in a lot of dressing up

Today we are driving to Savannah to return my sister to her rightful home and help them "break in" their new home downtown. We are stopping in Atlanta for a few days on the way back to meet up with Steven while he's working and do a little more playing before our summer is officially over. I am homeschooling Elle this year for kindergarten. She will also be taking a weekly Ballet and Tap class. We are busy trying to come up with a name for our "school" as well as a mascot and school colors. Very important things for a kindergarten homeschool:).

Time to go! More later...

What's the deal with our kidneys?

Instead of birthday celebrations, we had a party at the ER on Sunday night. We were watching a movie and Steven said his stomach was hurting. We had enjoyed some cheese and chocolate fondue for birthday dinner so I figured that was the culprit. After about 30 minutes of Steven rolling around the floor in severe pain, and us self-diagnosing him with a probable kidney stone, we needed to go to the emergency room. I called our neighbor {it was 11:00 PM}, and she graciously came down to our couch so our sleeping children would not be left unattended. Once at the ER, Steven was doing such a great job of being in pain, they wheeled him back to a room immediately. The nurse started an IV and gave hime some pain medicine and he experienced instant relief. He stopped sweating, uncurled his body and could actually talk. I said, "Now you know why I love an epidural." After a CT scan, urinalysis {what is with our urine lately?}, a liter of fluid, a couple prescriptions for pain and nausea medicine, we were on our way home at 2:30 AM. **As I'm writing this, Elle is making her stuffed lamb "tee tee in a cup". Seriously.**

Steven left a mere 4 hours later for the airport to fly to Orlando for an auction. I also got up for my job as a single parent for the next couple of days. I'm glad to report he is doing well, has been pain free, and has been drinking more water than he ever has in his life.

My repeated calling to the urologist office finally paid off and I took Reese to an appointment Tuesday afternoon. I was able to get a babysitter to stay with Elle and Grady. It is so much easier to manage doctor's visits with only one child. Maybe because I am rarely able to do this, I appreciate it so much. Now Reese is scheduled for surgery September 7th.

**Just because I like to put pictures with posts, here are a couple from our trip to the McWane Center a couple of weeks ago.**

I am excited to say that I will be meeting my mom and sister for a weekend in Atlanta tomorrow night. And no children are invited:)! We don't have much on the agenda except relaxing, shopping, and a Sunday matinee of Phantom of the Opera. Mom and Madison moved this week, under less than ideal circumstances, so they are in need of a relaxing break as well.

Beautiful

That's how the pediatrician described Elle's urine this morning. All clear. No trace of anything that shouldn't be there. We'll do another check when I take Grady for his 3-yr check up next month, just to be safe. Thank you for your prayers! And praise God for answering this way! Happy weekend!

House for Sale!

We are selling our house! Or I guess I should say, we're trying to sell our house. We spent the majority of our Independence Day weekend painting and cleaning and working in the yard and painting and cleaning. It was long and a bit painful, but the results were well worth it. At least we'll have a very clean, freshly painted home if we can't get a buyer. We decided to try by owner because we can't afford an agent in this market. But, we are offering a nice $500 referral fee for anyone who sends us a closer! Here are a couple links for pictures and more information: here or here.

It's also birthday week around our house. I just celebrated 32 (seriously?) glorious years on this earth and Steven will turn 33 Sunday (which also happens to be his sister's birthday as well!). We are going out tonight to the movies! And there will be a few more celebrations over the weekend.

Elle had her 5 year old check up about a week ago. Things went almost perfectly. We prayed and prayed and had friends and family praying because she had to get shots and I was unable to take her solo, meaning I had all three with me. It was one of the first times she's been able to see us pray for something and then see God tangibly answer (at least personally). We prayed for self-control, that even if she was scared and crying, she would lie down and take the shots bravely. And she did just that! We went to Dairy Queen afterwards for lunch and ice cream....

The bad news was they found blood in her urine. We are in the process of finding out what the cause could be. The facts are: there was a significant amount of blood, enough to warrant further investigation. Beyond that, we're not sure. The sample did come back otherwise clear (no infection, no protein), except for a slightly elevated calcium level (possible kidney stone?). We are taking her back tomorrow for another sample. If it comes back clean, then we'll just recheck in about a month. If it comes back with blood, she'll have to have blood drawn to check kidney function and probably have an ultrasound on her kidneys as well. I told her that her pee pee was not "healthy" and we have been pushing fluids like crazy. She's not the best drinker in the world. Wonderful eater. Not so much with the liquids. But she has done awesome and has not complained with the constant reminders to drink, drink, DRINK!

Still no earlier appointment for Reese, even though I'm almost on a first name basis with the office staff:). He's hanging in there, literally, and the pediatrician seems to think he'll be okay for another few months.

And Grady, well at least we're not having any health issues with him. Just normal almost-three-years-old boy aggression. He's still hilarious as ever. And obsessed with Buzz Lightyear now. He pushes imaginary buttons on himself all day long. And every now and then, he will break in to Spanish Buzz and dance.