graduation day

I think it is very funny and cute that they have graduation ceremonies for kindergarten!  It's actually very sweet because the first year of school IS a big stepping stone, especially emotionally and socially.  Gabe's class did a darling presentation of songs that they presented to the parents.  I loved it!  Gabe was in the front row and kept on his super serious face the entire time, even when they were singing the song "my aunt came back..." with all the accompanying hand/body motions that were so hilarious! :) He is my little stoic man.  When it came his turn to come up and accept his diploma and receive a handshake/hug/high-five (their choice), I watched his face harden by degrees until he looked carved from stone. He came forward stiffly and I saw his mouth crack enough to request a handshake (of course).  His teacher Mrs. Wolcott told me later that his hand was just soaking wet! Poor little guy is just so nervous in situations like that.  Luckily I got him singing all the songs to me at home on the video camera and he was smiling and laughing and so animated! Oh I love that boy.  Congrats big man!

Rolcanos and Dinosaurs

No that is not a typo... that is what Gabe calls volcanoes and I think it's adorable. :) One day he had his friend Sook over to play and they used play doh to make a fabulous recreation of the earth just before the dinosaurs were wiped out!! We even made the volcano erupt (with a little help from baking soda and vinegar)... super cool and exciting!!!  Aren't they creative? 

 

 Ok I decided to share a funny tidbit about this "play date".  Where to start though...?  Gabe is super reserved at school.  I mean it's actually painful for me to watch him struggle so much to open up around others.  For the most part I try not to worry - it's just him and I have to let him be himself and not try to force him to be someone he's not.  But I was more than I little frustrated when encouraging him to talk, smile, look people in the eye and return a hello - even practicing with him - wasn't doing any good.  I would work in his classroom and watch as a whole day would go by without him cracking a smile and barely saying two words to the kids around him.  Argh!  I want him to be happy. I want people to see his bright, vivacious personality.  I could see, plain as day, that he was observing instead of participating and that was just tormenting me.  As I said already though, I had to come full circle in the end and accept that he will do things the way HE wants to do things and I just need to love him the way he is.  But I did decide that at least I could start coordinating play times with school friends at our house so that he could break the ice a little, one on one. Gabe and Sook actually get along great together and play at recess together. Sook is almost exactly like Gabe... so quiet and straight faced that I have only seen him smile a couple times all year!!  So anyway, back to the story... When Sook arrived at our house I suggested Gabe go show him all his toys upstairs.  After a while I went up to surreptitiously see how things were going... and found them both sitting in his room not talking, just kinda looking around!!!  I laugh just remembering it! I was slightly horrified at first and immediately gave them some ideas for a fun time, one of which was making a play-doh landscape.  The dinosaurs and volcano were their idea.  I should have known that those two would need a little help, haha!!!

day trip to the Northern Cascades

 

 

Jill and Buzz for a visit

My dear friend from high school came to stay with us for 4 days before heading out on an Alaskan cruise.  It was so fun to catch up and reconnect after so long.  Jill is one of those heart friends that will always feel like a sister, even when you haven't seen each other for years.  I love her. It was so fun to meet her younger kids (and have her meet mine!) and spend so much one on one time together. We seriously had a blast!

Buzz was happy to have Eric show him a good time biking in the mountains! Of course they came back filthy!! It gave Jill and I lots of girl time to chat! ;)

what a party!

Since we live far from family, I have really enjoyed throwing a big friend party for Gabe's birthday every year. Every year he has picked the theme... and this year he wanted a Bird Party!  So the week leading up to his birthday, we created 3-D birds to hang from the ceiling, cut out and colored jungle trees to tape on the walls,  and discussed bird crafts we could make.  The night before we were blowing up balloons, frosting the cake, hanging up green streamers so it would look like a forest, and cutting up supplies to make feathery bird masks. And Gabe helped with almost all of it.  It was almost as fun preparing as it was enjoying the party!  Gabe had 8 of his buddies from school and church come so we had a full house... I was thankful that Cheryl and Don were here. Having a few extra adults helped keep the chaos to a minimum!  The kids had fun making their masks as well as peanut butter and bird seed feeders but I think the most fun was to be had when Eric took them all outside and had them run races! They did the crab crawl, the bear crawl, the buddy run (arm around each other), the leap frog, the wheelbarrow race, as well as a good ole sprint.  It was so cute!  Here are some of my favorite pictures of the day.

Gabe's quail mask! I love it!!

Ian posing at the entrance of the bird forest!

So many creative bird masks!

probably my favorite pic of the races. Look at all those excited faces!

 

Bear crawl

The crab crawl... Nyah doesn't quite grasp what to do but that doesn't stop her from jumping in and having fun! :)

Leap-frog... now this was funny to watch!!

Opening presents - they started in the middle of the room but all those excited boys crowding closer and closer slowly pushed Gabe right into the entertainment center!

Funfetti cake with a big 6 on top! 

Woohoo for turning 6!!!! We love you bigger than the sky, Gabe!

a trip to Seattle Children's ER

 He doesn't look too bad, does he? In fact, pretty darn cute in that little hospital gown with his IV all covered up with a sock.  Well this picture was taken after a long time cuddling and singing alone with him as he recovered from the trauma of being poked, pushed on, and held down by a bunch of strangers.  All with scary yellow gowns and masks on.  Not to mention that he was in so much pain that he could hardly move a muscle without tensing up and crying out. But if I helped him keep his hips perfectly still, I could get him to smile and even giggle with me- enough to send this reassuring picture of him to Daddy and our family before my phone died.

I better start at the beginning. Since this is my little family journal, as well as a way to keep in touch with loved ones, I like to record all the important stuff (to me, anyway). 

Ian had a nasty fever (104.7) over the weekend which finally resolved into a normal cold on Monday after Daddy gave him a blessing on Sunday night.  Then Thursday morning, from the moment I picked him up out of his crib, he was obviously in pain whenever I would move his legs - somewhere in his pelvic region.  So with my bigger kids at my friend's house (bless her heart), I took Ian to his pediatrician who did an xray and exam.  She figured out it was his left hip and since the xray was normal thought it was most likely Transient Synovitis of the hip joint (pretty much inflammation of a joint after an infection/virus and not a big deal).  However, he was in so much pain and was so little, she worried it might be something else, like a septic hip joint, so she sent us to Seattle Children's ER. There they put us in viral isolation... a little over the top since he hadn't had a fever in days... and hence the scary outfits that everyone donned on their way in.  Poor little Ian was already in so much pain, especially from his xray earlier (when they were non-too-gentle, grrr), exhausted from a missed nap and so much "excitement", and now he had a bunch of weirdly-garbed strangers wanting to examine him.  By the time his IV was placed, my calm and happy, friendly and sweet, little guy was screaming and clinging to me like his life depended on it... all without trying to move his hip at all.  It was just awful and I'm so desperately thankful I was able to be there to hold and comfort him. (Well where else would I be, right? But still.)  After some slightly abnormal blood work and an ultrasound showing an effusion on his left hip, they still weren't positive it was Transient Synovitis so they had the orthopedic specialist come down to examine him.  Dr Patton was amazing!  In about 5 minutes flat he had diagnosed him with complete certainty, explained it all to me in detail, reassured me that it was not serious at all BUT that it definitely could have been very serious (if it were septic joint) and so I had made all the right choices, and completely validated everything I was feeling!  Talk about a stellar doctor.  So after 8 hours of no pain medication, food, water, or sleep, Ian finally got to go home.  All he needs is ibuprofen for a week and he will be as good as new. What a blessing! Eric and I are so relieved and thankful.

In a nutshell, Transient Synovitis can occur in children after there is an infection in the body like a cold virus. The antibodies collect in the synovium of the hip joint (the inner lining of the capsule of the joint), where they excrete fluid until the pressure causes extreme pain.  NSAIDs like ibuprofen treat the inflammation and it should resolve within a week. However, the septic joint would be if bacteria were in the fluid - that can be very dangerous and requires surgery.  Thankfully that was not the case for our little Ian and he is already doing much better.  Every time things like this happen - where things turn out so much better than they could have - I can't help but think that Heavenly Father is watching over us and blessing us.  I know that hard and terrible things can happen to anyone, and we don't know exactly why, but I still thank Him that this time he has answered my prayers to keep my children safe and healthy.

 

Happy Birthday Baby!

 

Can Ian really be a year old already? Has it really been 12 months since that sweet baby was born into our family?  This past year with him has changed our family so much.  Life is unimaginable without his spunky presence.  And he IS spunky! No one believes me because he is always a quiet angel around others... but at home he really lets his hair down!  That boy has no problem letting us know when he wants or doesn't agree with something. He loves to scream too... in happiness, excitement, annoyance, fear, tiredness, etc.  He is developing a little attitude too... uh oh.  If he wants something and I take it away he will screech so loud it would peel paint off the walls but when I try to give him something else he will chuck it as hard as he can with this really mad expression on his face!  I have even relented and tried to give back the thing I took and he still won't take it - he is so mad at me for daring to take it away in the first place!! He makes me laugh.  On the other hand, our Ian is super silly and loves loves loves to laugh!  It doesn't take much to get him giggling.  He's a little flirt and loves to play games with anyone.  He is my first little thumb sucker and it just melts my heart when I see him sucking his thumb.  We have a sweet little routine of snuggling before his sleep times while I sing to him. He cuddles against my shoulder and pops that little thumb in... sometimes I struggle to lay him down... I hate to let go of this precious baby.  It struck me a few weeks ago that this time is so fleeting with my babies. Even though we will be together for eternity... my children will be adults.  This time that I get to cuddle and protect and hold them close is so SHORT. It kinda breaks my heart.  I don't want to waste a minute or take any day for granted.  (Which of course I will...)  But I really want to remember that this time is a gift and that I need to treasure it. 

 

Well, to celebrate the special #1 birthday for our little man, we took the family to the Family Fun Center. It was our first time and we really had a blast!  Cheryl and Don were here so it was extra fun.  Here we are on the go-cart track... can I just say that Eric is a maniac?! BUT I did get around him at one point. :)  Gabe got to go with Grandma and Grandpa and had a great time.  Nyah and Gabe got to drive their own little bumper cars too which was very exciting!

 

Nyah and Ian watching from the sidelines. There is that little thumb! He was missing his nap but no complaints from our sweetheart.

Time for cake and presents!  Nyah and Gabe went together and bought Ian a big blue ball... do you think he liked it?!! :)

 I made him a cake that would really fit his personality.... a little monkey!!  He LOVED it... oh my goodness.  I was distracted for a just a few minutes and he had snarfed down his whole piece and was very happy about it!  That little dude is about the cutest thing in the world! We love him so much...

 

Happy Easter!

Easter was so exciting this year! The kids are really getting into the swing of things with the holidays and their wide-eyed rapture is so fun to witness.  I dragged myself out of bed at 6:30am when I heard little pattering of feet and excited exclamations coming from downstairs.  Gabe and Nyah were scouring the house for their hidden baskets and coming across the eggs they decorated the day before and set out for the Easter Bunny to hide.  It was a blast to watch!

Later we headed to the park and played games like the egg toss, the egg roll and the relay where you balance an egg on a spoon and run! It was really fun - even with only our little family.  Ian army-crawled around the park and ate his fair share of dirt and grass while we played. :)

For Easter Sunday we had friends and the missionaries for dinner. What a fun holiday to kick off Spring!