We've been at the Mayo clinic....

w/ Rob, for his cardiac procedure (When I say "we" I mean me and Rob's dad, Bob...what a trooper). What a fantastic hospital/clinic/establishment. They were never late with an appointment, the nurses/staff/physicians have been excellent, and he is recovering amazingly well from surgery.

We are very relieved that things went so well, and I'm excited to rejoin the kids (and my parents who volunteered to kid-sit) tomorrow. I'll post a much more in-depth recap tomorrow, but just wanted to let you know where I've been, etc.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

In honor of my (meager) Irish heritage, I am making corned beef and cabbage. For most of my years I have claimed to not like this dish. Why? I'm not sure. My sister shares this feeling, yet neither of us has a real recollection of ever eating it. The kids are all gung-ho about St. Patty's Day this year so I decided to give it my best shot, and cook the quintessential Irish-american dish. I was planning on Irish soda bread as well, but I had a paper due- it is Wednesday after all (paper due date). It's really too bad....the Irish soda bread, at least on paper, sounds like the most appealing part of the menu (available at Trader Joe's ;) Anyhow, I'll let you know the end result in the morning.

Tomorrow Emily goes in to our much trusted Audiologist to figure out why the heck she can't hear when my back is turned or in the backseat of the car. She's really struggling in the hearing arena right now which is not good for her- she's a bit scattered anyway. More to come on the hearing front. We've had it pretty easy ever since Jake's temporary massive loss (he's still holding steady- thank goodness!).

Also, quick question for the masses (at least those masses that include parents of special needs children). Do you get to weigh in on teacher selection? Just curious as I'm considering doing this next year (at least a bit.) Is that a bad idea? Good idea? Neutral?

No pictures today (at least as of yet, but Trey has t-ball practice later so maybe I'll be inspired).

What I've Been Up To (Since I've Been MIA)-

Saturday was Emily's birthday party


So I spent all day Friday making party favors....


and baking this obnoxiously green cake! Isn't it bright?



I also dyed t-shirts the same very bright shade of green that the party guests then decorated with massive amounts of fabric paint. I should have bought extra containers of the glow in the dark paint. Who knew that would be the hit of the party? A few of the shirts turned out bright yellow as Delaney forgot to add salt during the dying process- oops! (Sidenote: Thank you to Delaney and Alexa for being my craft helpers. Delaney, next time you shake the paint make sure the lid is CLOSED).

The girls went on a scavenger hunt looking for various green items (beaded necklaces, light-up buttons, etc.) and gold coins (both plastic and chocolate). They then came back and made their shirts, beaded rings, and St. Patricks Day magnets (just included because it was one of the easier crafts....don't magnets scream St. Patricks Day ? ;).

(If you squint you can see the magnets....)

Milo (the non-housebroken puppy) escaped several times


And took great delight in running away from all fourteen party guests, my son, and the adults chasing him down. Those watching from inside the house seemed to find it rather funny. I did not. Right after this I realized we only had 15 minutes left to inhale pizza and cake, and open presents. Mass chaos erupted, but we managed to get it done (giving away extra cake as people departed). And we *still* have green cake. Next year we're bowling.

Happy 10th Birthday Em!

Ways to Procrastinate....

I'm supposed to be writing a paper on Learning Disabilities and the Classroom, but I'm finding my mind is wandering to a million other things. So, I thought I'd see if any of you can do some brainstorming for me so that I can write a 1,000 word paper asap ;)

We are having butternut squash ravioli tonight and I need some kind of sauce for it. My only caveat is that I do not want it to be too heavy or fattening. I love butternut squash ravioli but always struggle when it comes to saucing it up. For the record, I will be the only one eating this as my family has no taste, I mean prefers standard ravioli w/ cheese (yes, boring). I'm also going to throw in some regular whole wheat pasta w/ basic tomato sauce for those who cannot even handle a square pasta stuffed w/ something (Rob and Delaney).

I also will be visiting one of our local middle schools to sample various dishes prepared by a select group of students (Emily included). It is an annual recipe contest sponsored by the district's nutrition department. We practiced her dish last night and it was pretty good- I would have added a few extra ingredients, but she had to follow the recipe she submitted. She is making a basic tomato and basil crostini. She will have an adult helper to slice the bread (so as to hopefully spare her the loss of a fingertip), but will otherwise do all the preparation/cooking on her own. Maybe she can help cook dinner tonight, right? Nope, forgot she has soccer.

Milo- 5 1/2 months

Yep....still not housebroken. Yep....still pretty cute.
Definitely getting bigger as well (becoming harder to sit on my lap while I'm on the computer- just don't tell him that).

Emily's Birthday...

We celebrated Emily's birthday in phases this weekend. I was gone for much of her actual bday (due to a soccer game out of the area), but we managed to have a great night. The next day we went to her soccer game w/ cupcakes, and then went to see "Alice in Wonderland". Emily, Jake, and I really enjoyed it. Trey was kind of scared and didn't like the 3D glasses, and Rob thought it was just o.k. The movie was visually very attractive, and I thought the special effects were great (for what it's worth). It was a nice way to finish the weekend. That said, I needed one more day of weekend to catch-up on life...

We have birthday weekend number 2 coming up. The one in which 20+ girls show up at my house for a Leprechaun treasure hunt, assorted crafts, and food. Have I thoroughly planned it??? NO. But, I have the key pieces such as a couple of pots of "gold", and some lovely silver and green beaded necklaces- o.k. not really lovely, really just cheap silver and green beaded necklaces, but for our purposes we're going w/ lovely.

Now I just need to figure out a few craft ideas before Saturday and we're in good shape. My birthday party partner has left me (my sister) and moved out of state, so I'm on my own this time around. In the past anytime I came up with these involved party ideas I had a helper, which was always needed. This year I'm going to recruit my oldest daughter to help out (whether she likes it or not).

Today is Emily's Birthday (and at some point I will write a typical bday reflection)....

but we got home from Delaney's soccer game in Redmond about two hours ago and promptly whisked Em off to her birthday dinner (at our local Japanese grill) and then came home to enjoy cupcakes from the cute cupcake bakery in Redmond. Typically I let the kids pick their favorite meal (because that's how we did it in my house) but my mom cooked our meal. Tonight I had to scream "uncle". The japanese grill was a great replacement, and we came home w/ a ton of left-overs.

Delaney did not play today- her coach claimed he didnt' want to injure her prior to state cup, and that could be the case. But, she was heartbroken- she's worked her behind** off to get back on the field, and this was the last regular season game. Hopefully State Cup will be a new chapter in her soccer career (meaning a better one).

**feel free to supply your own synonym :)

My husband and I celebrated (o.k., not really) our 15th anniversary yesterday-

We didn't really celebrate as Rob was home sick with bronchitis....Which in his case is never ever really just bronchitis. For those who are new readers he has HCM (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy), which makes most illnesses a bit bigger than the norm.

On a good note, he is feeling a LOT better today. Now we just need to keep him healthy for the next month. He will be having fairly major surgery towards the end of the month to help improve his quality of life (i.e. walk and run without being winded, etc.). It's a fairly invasive procedure, but should be worth it in the long run, but for the next 10 weeks this blog may be heavily focused on cardiac issues :)

The good news is that as of this years check-up the kids all show no signs of HCM (which is genetic in our family's case, and is about 50% chance per child). I'm hoping our "beating the odds" in the hearing area means we'll get off scott free for cardiac issues....right????

Bonus Day.....

So, I don't post forever, but you get two today (I think I'm procrastinating....I have a paper due). Anyway, yesterday I was told that Trey's teacher thinks maybe he needs one additional year in Kindergarten. It was not totally unexpected (we've considered having him repeat a grade as he is young for his grade, but we were planning on doing it when we bring him to our neighborhood school). And, maybe in a grade where they learn more academics.

Not sure what we're going to ultimately decide....
I'll keep you posted (and would love to hear from you if you've had a similar experience :)

Update on Delaney's Knee.....

Finally I have some good news to share! Delaney was able to attend her first soccer practice (since December) last night. She made it through a full practice with no knee pain :) So exciting!! However, we did have to explore creative treatments to get her there.

For those who don't know the backstory, Delaney tore/sprained her MCL in an indoor soccer game in late December. She was diagnosed with a grade 2 tear (but it could not be fully looked at as she is unable to have an MRI due to her cochlear implant). She was in an immobilizer for several weeks, and then a knee brace- and did physical therapy for several weeks with no improvement. As of a week ago Friday, she was in tears as her knee was no better, and it looked as though State Cup was going to be a no-go for her.

Then we heard of someone here locally who does ARPwave therapy,and he has had some success w/ ACL and MCL tears (among other injuries). So, we gave it a shot. She limped in on a Monday, and by Thursday was running sprints in his facility at 100%, with NO PAIN.

She had another treatment on Monday, and was cleared to go back to practice (but w/ a stern warning that if there was any pain, to stop). Anyway- she'll be working with this trainer for another few weeks, learning better form to avoid future injuries.....

Exciting, right?

My poor magnetic blog....

This blog was my 'baby' for awhile, and then my kids became 'normalized'...which is good, but I lost my fodder. It's now a magnet for WEIRD random comments. It's not so exciting to type "my child is doing THIS, and THIS", and they are (here is the big BAD word) "normal" . But we are good. That said, our life is now getting interesting again in a crazy, chaotic way, but I think that is our normal.

I'll try to ignore the weird comments and keep posting :)