Happy Birthday Aunt Suzanne

Happy Birthday! We hope you had a great day!!!

Love, Riley and Aiden

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Happy Birthday Daddy! We hope you have a good day!!!!

All Better

Riley and Aiden enjoyed playing in the pool today.

Riley was playing in his stuffed animals today.

Aiden was playing with his dinosaurs.

Once again, we think that we are on the mend! The boys started feeling better yesterday afternoon. We threw out all the chicken nuggets in the freezer and went shopping for new ones today. We do think that they were getting food poisioning. Thank goodness they are such light eaters and would only eat a few nuggets at a time. We can't imagine what would have happened if they had eaten more!!!

Riley got a new bike yesterday. He was so excited to be able to go out and ride it today.

The boys enjoyed spending time today in their pool. They helped get it all set up and fill it with water.

We also grilled out for the first time this season today. Riley kept saying that it was such a good idea to have a picnic on the deck!

Anyway, that is about all! I am officially on summer vacation!!! Hopefully we will be sleeping in tomorrow!!!

And the boys are feeling...????

This is how Aiden has been laying all morning! Poor thing!!! He gets scared when he is throwing up and just wants us to hold him...both of us (one on each side.)

Okay....we think that we have figured out what is wrong with the boys. The last two weeks have been a whirl wind for us. The first day Riley woke up with the flu...coming out of both ends. Bad...it was really bad!!! We thought flu when it is summer??? It can happen. He was fine the next day but had it again the next. And Aiden got it. Wow...both of them having it??? Yuck. We thought we'd get through it though. They both had it...better to get it over at once. On Monday it was a trip to the doctors. Riley just wasn't shaking it!!! We were told this could go on TWO weeks. What the heck???? Well Tuesday Aiden got it again. Then they were both fine. It was a big deal when they pooped something solid. We did the solid poop cheer!!!! YEAH!!! Both of them have been fine!!!! Feeling great! Running around!!! In fact, yesterday they even went outside and could go to the park without worrying if a toilet was within running distance. (Only to find that Riley's bike was stolen. That's another story.) Anyway, the boys were feeling fine yesterday. And then it happened again. BOTH of the boys woke up with the flu...coming out of both ends BAD. We've changed about 5 diapers in 1 hour and the buckets are held to the head on BOTH kids. Now, we have started thinking, maybe this is NOT the flu. Maybe they ate something bad. And we have narrowed it down. We recently bought chicken and pudding in bulk. We think that the chicken may be the culprit. They LOVE chicken nuggets. So we have it every other day...which is consisent with when they are becoming sick. We are officially thinking they both have been getting food poisioning. Today we are throwing EVERYTHING that was left over away. We are cleaning everything!!! All the windows are open to air everything out! Hopefully we have found out the cause of their illness and it will be done for good!!!

Updates

Just wanted to update you on some things happening in our family.

First of all, Jamma has lost 43 pounds since his surgery on April 5th. He is getting around and feeling fine.

Riley and Aiden still have the flu. Riley woke up again today with a bad stomach ache. He knew exactly what to do! We took him to the doctor today. This could last up to two weeks. UGH!!! I hope he's done with it soon. Aiden has a much milder case of it and seems fine.

I am almost done with school! I have 2 days left with kids and 2 days of work days. I will be teaching at a new school next year so I am busy packing all of my things. I have so much stuff and am ready to throw a bunch of it out! I am excited to be done and can't wait to spend time with the boys!

Creative things to do when you are sick...

Yes...the boys are still getting over the flu. They have not left the house since Thursday night, so they were thinking of creative things to do to keep busy. They climbed onto one of our bunkbeds and started looking through the ladder. They pretended that they were "LIONS". Whenever we would come near their cage, they would stick out their claws at us and make ROARING sounds. They also had fun painting pictures, coloring, playing on the computer, watching movies, reading books, etc. We can't wait until they are better and able to play outside again!

I thought flu season was over!

It has been a long week in our house. On Wednesday Riley woke up at 3 in the morning with the flu. We did everything that we could to keep fluids in his stomach. Because I am in my last week of school, daddy had to take the day off and stay with Riley. We decided to send Aiden to Aunt Becca's house because Riley required so much attention. On Wednesday night, Riley seemed better. He was running around the house, jumping up and down. We thought we were done with it. Thursday was great. Both boys went to Aunt Becca's. She said Riley's appetite wasn't the greatest, but we expected that. Then the whirlwind started. On Friday morning, Riley woke up screaming that his belly hurt. He had the flu again! This time it was worse than Wednesday, and we didn't think that would be possible. This time he knew what to do. I was getting ready to leave for work and called Aunt Becca to tell her the boys were not coming again because Riley was still sick. Riley listened to this conversation. When I hung the phone up he said, "Aiden can still go. I am the one with the flu and Daddy needs to take care of me. Aiden is fine". Aiden then chimed in and said, "I have a tummy ache too. I need to stay home too." Riley insisted he was fine and said that he should go. We decided to keep Aiden home. 1o minutes after I got to school I got a phone call from Jamma. He let me know that right when I left Aiden threw up all over the place. Wow...now they both have it. Poor Jamma. He had his hands full. He must have done 15 loads of laundry, changed about 30 diapers and rinsed 30 outfits! We'll let you know when they are feeling better!!!

Graduation weekend

Aiden was excited that he got Jello with marshmallows on it!

Aiden and Mommy

Aiden and Riley

Riley and Grandpa S.

Grandma S. and Riley

Mommy and Riley

Uncle Dan came to Mommy's graduation. He sat by the BIG POOL in our room with Aiden. The boys were so excited about this bathtub.

Aiden loved wearing Mommy's hat!

Riley and Aiden looked so cute together. They actually got along for most of the weekend. They did very well sitting in the car on the way down and then again through the graduation ceremony!

I did it!

Mommy and Riley

Mommy and Aiden

Rebecca, Me, Ted and Rachel (my siblings)

My parents

Riley, Aiden, Jamma and Me

I finally did it! I graduated and earned my Master's Degree this weekend from St. Mary's University. My family came down to Winona to be with me on this day. After 2 years of hard work, it has finally paid off. I am so happy to be done. We went to dinner afterwards and then the boys went swimming in the pool at the hotel. Thanks to everyone who has encouraged me and supported me through this whole process. I am so thankful to Jamma for giving me the time I needed to get all my work done. I am so happy that I can finally be home with my boys EVERY weekend now that school is done.

Losing more

Since J. has had his surgery on April 5th, he has been doing great. He is moving around and feeling great. He has lost a total of 35 pounds so far. He thinks that he will start losing in spurts. The boys are sooo excited for 10 days from now, when daddy can lift them again. They want to climb on him and be carried. It will be an exciting day for them when daddy can do this again.

Having Fun

The boys enjoyed the wonderful weather that we had today. They played outside at Aunt B's house. When I came to pick them up, they both insisted on driving my car. Ry wants to know when he will be able to drive. Aid just follows along with his big brother. Every day Aid is Ry's little shadow and Ry hates it!!! He keeps telling him to stop following him around. We keep insisting to Ry that Aid thinks he's so cool. That's why he does it. We can't even imagine what it will be like when they get older and are more competive with one another!

One Month Later

The boys wanted to be in the picture that we were taking of J. for his one month after surgery picture.

J. has lost 30 pounds so far. He is feeling good.

Brotherly Love

#2 Usually ends up in our bed in the middle of the night. He crawls into our bed and peacefully falls back to sleep.

Today #1 decided that he doesn't want his brother to play or sleep in his bed. So...he thought it would be a great idea to make a sign telling us that.

This is the sign that #1 drew. It's a picture of #2 in the middle with a big X through him. It says, "No #2 in my bed!" He's so artistic!!!