Visiting Jeremiah

When I received an email 4 weeks ago from Connie depicting Jeremiah's recent baby adventures, below the handsome chubby face was a little sentence that caught my eye: conference in South Carolina, looking for someone to watch Jeremiah, any takers? Sounded like fun; we have only seen Jeremiah a handful of times over the course of his young life. What better opportunity to (ruin) enjoy him as his parents would be gone all day? Well, in typical family style...there ended up 12 of us traveling north hang out with this little cutie.
What a fun weekend it was. Our rental house was in a campground, so we had plenty to keep entertained. With swimming (indoor), video games, putt putt golf, tootling around in golf carts and playgrounds, it was non stop fun for all. The only thing I didn't get to do was play a round of cards with the big folks; by nightfall we all crashed. And as for Jeremiah and his parents, I'm sure they will ask us to come again, that is if he needs a sitter when he's 15;)

Cows Moo Eight Times for Celebration

We love the Chick-a-Way cows. So it's no surprise that we spent another birthday with those famous poor spelling bovines. It was a surprise for Bryce though-we had his favorite friends waiting for him when we got there. Thank goodness Bryce is fairly oblivious; time after time another sibling would almost drop the news. This is the last time I will plan an event as a surprise!
PS to my friend...sorry I sent you to the wrong restaurant!!

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Super Mario Brothers

Anyone who hangs out with Bryce any length of time is subjected to intense conversation about his favorite pastime...playing the Wii. Currently his favorite characters are the classics; Mario and Luigi. So when the subject came about what each wanted to dress up for the Halloween season, guess what Bryce wanted to be? Aidan of course, followed suit. I kinda figured Bryce would be Mario as he was the leader, but he chose Luigi - (Bryce was playing by rules, both he and Luigi are the taller of the two). So this afternoon in typical last minute fashion-in my defense the boys only informed me last night they wanted to be these characters, I headed to Goodwill to see if I could find some overalls. Happily I left with 2 pair in the right sizes and colors - Luigi overalls are dark blue; Mario's are a lighter blue. T-shirts were dug out of closet and hats were hastily made from old Christmas tree skirts and past costumes. A little face paint, and TADA...Mario and Luigi were standing before me!
Tonight was the fall festival at the park. We met up with cousin Spider-Man Sara, and some friends Batman and the Queen of hearts from Alice in Wonderland. Thanks to Aunt Michelle and Mrs. Johanna, Shelby was able to dress up as a veterinarian.
We enjoyed all the fun a fall festival offers; games, bounce houses, and a costume contest. When Aidan and Bryce's age group rolled around, I sent the boys over to enter. Bryce came back before it started as he didn't want to participate. I pushed him back in to stand with his brother and cousin. There were about 45 kids in all. Each child was brought to the front in turn, most smiled-some twirled or waved and then headed back to their spot. Then came Bryce's turn. All of the sudden he comes to life and jumps to the front in what I'm guessing is a Super Luigi pose, closely resembling the infamous stayin' alive scene. From there he strikes a couple more poses-and Aidan jumps in beside him to mimic Bryce. They spend a few more seconds posing together and finish off their show back to back. It was as if they had practiced it! In the end the two of them won the funniest award together. If I had any idea Bryce would perform I would have had video on-at least Aunt Michelle got some decent shots. Thanks to all for hanging out with us!

Argh, mateys!

Uncle Kevin finally caved. For the first time in his 3 1/2 yrs, Gage came to visit WITHOUT his parents in tow. And aside from the fact that Aunt Kate has no juice (or sandwiches) I think he is enjoying himself. He did ask for daddy last night, and once for mommy today (when I told him I had no juice), but usually he's been content to do whatever "cousins" do. Since Gage is such a big pirate fan, we dug out some pirate and knight costumes for all to dress up in. And to round up the night what else is there to watch but Pirates! Don't worry Uncle Kevin, we promise not to throw your boy off the monkey bars. He will be back home before you know it!

Celebrating his 5th birthday!

Happy birthday Aidan! Your (usually) smiling face and silly sense of humor keep all of us entertained. Especially your banana peel joke which you love to share at any moment! Love, mom and dad

Dear Aunt Tanny and Unca Jack!

We got your card today-thank you! Love, the little people
Ps-Aidan's get well card cracked him up...he's carried it around for days! (the non-smile now is because I'm making him stay outside!)

Bet ya thought we went home??!

Haha, fooled you! We are still hanging out at the hospital. Dr. came In a little while ago and although she is better, she wanted to monitor how the change of medicine will affect her. So, at this point, it might be Saturday before we go home. Still, she's keeping busy. Back to school backpacks were handed out along with some fun crafts. Now that she's allowed to wander the hall she spends most of the day in the playroom. Dog therapy came by amd she has had some wonderful friends drop in. If we could only sneak the dog in she might not go home:)

Peanut update-Monday (I think?!)

Here we sit. At least two of us. Hunny working, little boys visiting cousin, eldest jet setting with the grandparents. Needless to say, it is VERY quiet. As of today, Shelby is still unable to keep anything down. Until she can, the Dr is unwilling to let her go home. This morning she was sad, missing all (don't forget the dog!) So, this afternoon we discovered we could get librivox.org and archive.org on the telly. So the afternoon was spent listening to The Secret Garden and crafting. Then about dinner time, there was a knock at the door and we were invited to a party in the floor lobby. Cookies (lots of 'em) games, coloring and some other kids to hang with. With wishes attached to a balloon, we finished out the fun watching the balloon rise out of sight. (if you look close, you can see balloon in 3rd pic). Shelby's wish? To see Jazz...our dog:)

Passing the time

Since we are just sitting around, Shelby and I actually finished something from my long line of wanna does. Check out Shelby's cherry fingers!

Friday

Sorry for the delay-it was a long day yesterday and when all went home I curled up in bed and went right to sleep. I heard nothing for about 5 hrs; good thing Shelby didn't need me!

Yesterday at noon Shelby was scheduled for her tests. That meant by 4am she could no longer eat or drink. She's been on clear liquids since Wed so by yesterday morning it had really worn her down. In hopes of keeping the tears to a minimum I texted her friends and cousins requesting a pic to cheer her up. Thanks again to everyone who sent in pics-they trickled all morning, and really helped her spirit:)

Initial results are she has Ulcerative colitis. Thanks to sis-n-law Michelle for relieving our minds; we weren't sure how upset we should be-Google results can be frightening! The colon and large intestine can get irritated, thus the upset stomach and other issues. Knowing what is going on helps:)

Anyway, she was a much happier
camper in the afternoon. Visits from Jen, Logan, Rachel, Gma, Papa, Sara and Gage plus our boys (yes, all at one time-I should have taken pic-it was packed in her room!), and dinner was ordered, and although it's still hard for her to keep much down she didn't seem to care. Antibiotics have been started and at this point we are now waiting for biopsy and a few other test results to come back. From what I gathered, we will prob be here thru the weekend.
So, that's it for now-Garry went on to CO for the wknd with Gma and Papa and the little boys went home with Sara, so it will be a quiet wknd here. I did mention to Shelby maybe next time maybe we could just go to Disney World instead, and with a twinkle in her eye she responded that she would not get such great attention there:-)

Update on Peanut-Thurs

It's us again. Dr. Cobian was partly right. She said Shelby would be having so much fun at the Disney Pavilion that she wouldn't want to come home. Yes, we are partying with Disney, but I'm pretty sure she would go home if possible:)
Not much has changed, ped Dr came in this morning and said most samples have come back and everything is negative (no infection or bacterial). The GI dr just came in and ordered an endoscopy and colonoscopy for tomorrow.
Shelby's hanging in there-a little hungry but we are plying her with popcicles. Brought the boys in today to hang out with her so betweem them and Timon (Lion King) bearing goodies and the outrageously large stuffed dog hunny's boss brought in (thank goodness Shelby has a spare bed!) she has plenty to keep occupied. Thanks to all who have sent a shout out-she really appreciates it! As Tigger would say...ta ta for now!

Madeline

A favorite book in our house is "Madeline". As the story goes, Madeline is the smallest of twelve girls in a French boarding school, overseen by Miss Clavel. In the middle of the night Miss Clavel wakes up, thinking something is not right with one of her girls. Sure enough, Madeline has to be rushed to the hospital for an appendicitis. When the other eleven visit her after the surgery, they are awed by the candy, dollhouse and other goodies she received. Back at the school that night Miss Clavel is woken again, this time by all the girls wailing they need to go to hospital too!
While no one in our house has an appendicitis, one of our little people is making an appearance in a hospital this week. And I'm sure that when the boys show up, there will be uproar! Visits from Grandma and Aunt Michelle bearing gifts, multiple phone calls and texts, and a special kid tv that Shelby has to share with no one has made this visit almost fun!
Poor kid has had tummy issues the last couple of weeks-and yesterday her Dr decided to send her in to run some tests and give her fluids since she has been unable to keep anything down.
So here we are; she sleeping and I waiting for breakfast to be served (hurry up hunny!). I'll be sure to keep you posted; if you get a chance she would love to hear from you. A special shout-out goes to the eldest sibling: Thanks, Garry for taking care of the home front while me and dad are away-we love you!

A visit to the splash pad...

and playground with our beautiful nieces. Unfortunately one of these 2 nieces does NOT like anyone other than mommy, daddy amd grandma. Guess I'm gonna have to be a better auntie and take her out more! The older of the two is a regular with our bunch. Hard to believe she will be off to VPK in 2 weeks-she didn't like me either but I wooed her with playdates:) Happy splashing!