Happy Birthday Grandma S.! We hope you have a great day! We love you!
Love, Riley and Aiden

Jamma surgery

May 2007...one month after surgery

July 2007...Jamma has lost almost 67 pounds since his surgery on April 5th.

Fun in the sun

On Friday night the boys camped out in our backyard. The highlight was the firework show that the neighbors were having!

Aiden in a "bubble" at the playground.

Riley is so proud of being able to go across the monkey bars.

Riley camped out in our backyard. He woke up cold one time and in the morning he said the ground was hard.

Aiden got scared and wanted to sleep in the house. Mommy was all for that! Later we found out that Riley was telling Aiden "ghost" stories!

Aiden caught a fish at Round Lake today.

Riley and Aiden looking in the lake.

Riley caught his brother as he was running off to the playground.

Riley and Aiden agreed to take a picture together if they could go to the park afterwards.

Riley caught the biggest fish!

Aiden caught just as many fish as his brother and was so proud!

Aiden swimming in the pool after a morning of fishing.

Riley swimming in the pool! He can do lots of "NEW" tricks!

They enjoyed their time in the pool!

Just some updates

Riley likes to "help" me do laundry! Funny how he ends up buried in all the clothes!

Grandpa brought us 41 chicken eggs to put in my incubator for school. None of my chickens hatched at school this year, so we thought we would try it out at home to see if it really works. Out of 41 eggs, 4 of them hatched. I now know how to "control" the temperature. I actually learned how to candle the eggs as well! Thanks Dad!!! I will be a pro at this in April when I try it again with my kids!

Riley and Aiden were soooo excited when Daddy called them downstairs one day. He was cleaning the bathroom and heard some peeping. He asked if I still had chickens downstairs. The boys and I were sooo excited. Not only did they hatch early, but there were four of them and the boys LOVED watching them peck the shells off. We had to keep going downstairs to check on them. The boys actually took it pretty well when grandpa came to take them to the farm. They are being well cared for there! :)

They loved watching them come out and giggled when they were kind of flopping around...

We went to my dad's side of the family...family reunion. Uncle Dan read a book to the boys.

Aiden climbed the rock wall!!

The boys loved running and spinning each other on the Merry Go Round.

Well...we have been pretty busy lately. I'll start with Riley. He is getting ready for Kindergarten. Yesterday he asked for new pencils for school while we were at Sam's Club. The smallest box they had contained 72 pencils. We of course needed a pencil sharpener to sharpen them. He came home and had to sharpen ALL 72 of them! He is now doing his HOMEWORK to get ready for school. He is enjoying his final days of soccer and t-ball.

Aiden is trying to keep up with his brother. He wants to do everything that his brother does. He has become very demanding lately. When he has a wet or dirty diaper he wants it changed NOW! I told him if he didn't like the feeling, he should start to use the toilet. Well...today he has been dry ALL DAY! He has gone to the bathroom 4 times in the past half hour. Every time he goes he earns a quarter. Hmmm...I also earned a new cell phone through his potty training. We learned that cell phones don't float after falling in the toilet after doing the "Yeah" potty dance!!!

Jamma is doing great on losing weight! He has lost 67 pounds so far and has a check up next week.

I have been busy with summer school. Also taking Riley to his soccer and t-ball games is time consuming, but well worth it. Becca takes him on Thursdays when I have summer school. I also found out that I may have a hernia on the right side of my stomache. I have been having pains in my side and went in yesterday! The doctor told me to take it easy and just relax on the stomache crunchs and sit-ups. I'm not suppose to do any strenous exercise. I didn't know how to tell him that I DIDN't do any exercise, except walking. I guess this means I am suppose to just lay around for the next month....bummer. If it doesn't get better in a month I will have to go to see a surgeon. Jamma said that maybe they'd do a tummy tuck at the same time as hernia surgery since they are already in that area. Hmmm...always looking on the bright side...wouldn't that be nice???

Aiden

Well....I can now officially say that we are DONE collecting samples from Aiden. It's so sad that he knew EXACTLY how many more times that he had to poop and how many times we had to go to the doctors office. We turned one in on Monday, Tuesday and two today. I think the lab is starting to know us pretty well! As we were there the second time today, I asked the lab tech if any of the results were in from Monday or Tuesday. They checked and Monday's were in. Everything looked normal. Negative results. This is pretty good results....however...that still leaves us with NOOOO answers! If it isn't a parasite...I am wondering what in the world it is. I am very hopeful that he is better...but at the same time I am fearful for when and if this is going to happen again to him. AND...if it is not a parasite....what is causing him to be sick?

First Day of Summer School

Yesterday was my first day of summer school. Any teacher knows the stresses of the first day of school. The biggest one for me has always been getting to know the kids and making sure that I have them all at all times and that I get them safely home. I am always constantly checking my kids...counting them...making sure that they are all there. Yesterday was noooo different. I arrived at summer school and went to the gym to pick up my kids. They came in one by one, a got into our line. One child came up to me and said that he was added to my class...checked his name...yep...he was on my list. Checked each kid as they walked in...all on the list. We walked down to our room and started our day. We did the attendance (and found that one of the kids sitting in one of the chairs belonged to another class...we safely got him there), calendar, and a bunch of other academic activities. It was a long morning of getting to know one another and making sure that I learned the names...which takes me a couple days to do. Now...normally I put name tags on desks...but I didn't do that this summer....thinking that I would give them choice and if I had to, I would eventually label them. In hind sight, this would have made me realize the problem that I had on my hands that I am still laughing about now.

So....we are about to go outside for recess. This is the first time that we are going to be leaving the room and the kids will be running FREELY with a bunch of other kids. Just as a mother hen is protective with all her chicks....I started counting my kids. I wanted to make sure that I had the same number of kids when I came back into the room that I brought outside with me. SOOOO...I count my kids. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,.......15. Okay...I have 15 kids. But wait....I have 16 kids on my class list and 2 are absent. Hmmmm....in doing the math I should have 14. I count again...1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ...15. Hmmmm....does anyone else see the problem here? I have 1 extra kid!!!! What the heck???? How did one extra kid end up in my room and who is it? We have been having fun all morning...all 14 + 1 of my kids. So now....right before recess I have to figure out who is extra. I tell all the kids to stand up. I tell them that when I hear their name, they are suppose to sit down. I am looking at my class list as I read names. When I get to the bottom of the list...they are all sitting down. I tell them, "One of you should not be sitting. Who sat down without hearing their name?" I ask. No response. I do this again...this time telling them to stand when they hear their name. Same thing happened. NO EXTRA KIDS!!! That one kid is still in our class...This time I tell them to go get in line when I call their name. As I am looking at the names and reading them...they all line up. Again...that one kid is in line. Now I am starting to loose my mind. I count again. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,...15. Yep...there were 15 kids there. Again I do the math...16-2=14. 15-1=14. What the heck!!!! Now, 5 minutes into recess I am trying to figure this out. I finally tell them...when I call your name...please come and physically touch my arm. I go through the list...child A, child B, child C, child D, child E. Yup they are all here. I got to Mike Johnson (whose name I have changed). "Mike Johnson", I call. Two kids come up. I look at them. I say, "Which one of you is Mike Johnson?" "I am", they both reply. I look at their name tags. Yup...they BOTH say Mike Johnson. Weird I am thinking. Both kids have the SAME name and they are both in my class. Only one Mike Johnson is listed. Sooo...I have found the problem...I take all 14 +1 extra kid with me to the summer school office. I tell them my story. Another teacher who works with families in the district recognized both of them...one from one school and one from another school. Only one Mike was suppose to come to summer school and the other must have gotten the paperwork by mistake. One Mike stays in the summer school office and the other 14 kids come with me. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...14 kids I count...14 kids I bring back from the playground and 14 kids I put safely on the bus at the end of the morning. Whew...I think...what a first day!!!! Now, if I wouldn't have been so nice and given them CHOICE...if I would have just labeled their desks and told them where to sit...I probably would have seen two kids with the same name, fighting for the one chair!!!!

No New News...

Well...we took Aiden to the doctor again today. And again...we really have no new news. He had an x-ray done and found nothing. He had more blood tests done...again nothing...and now we are doing stool samples again. We just got home today and he decided to produce his first sample...so...we turned around and drove back to the doctor to deliver it. We have to do collections for the next two days! Hopefully we will find something. Aiden's ped thought that maybe he could have a weak parasite that is not being detected in one sample...this is why we are doing three samples. Hopefully this will give us some answers. He keeps asking what kind of "bug" is living inside him.

Poor Aiden

Well...we've been up for a few hours now with Aiden. Yep...he's throwing up and is having the yucky diapers again. The last test results at the doctors that we got back were normal...no parasite...no hepatitis...no bacteria...maybe a food allergy. So here we sit, trying to figure out what he ate yesterday that was different from the day before. Chicken, applesauce, apples, muffins, mac and cheese, pancakes, hmmm...all pretty normal things. What was different about yesterday? Chem Lawn came and sprayed. Could he be reacting to that? In May we signed up to have them come and spray. They have done three applications...May, June and July. Hmmm...this is when Aiden started getting sick. Could he be reacting to that? I don't know...I think I am reaching...trying to find an answer...anything. So...when the doctors office opens this morning up we are bringing him back in. We're calling Chem Lawn to see exactly when they were here...and then we are going to compare the exact dates that he got sick to see if there is a connection. Don't know if I am being overly paranoid by bringing him back in....last time I asked the doctor if I should bring him in again if he had another episode. His response was...it could just be the flu that is going around...but follow your gut! What the heck...follow my gut???? My gut is telling me a three year old healthy child (besides his allergies) does not get sick with the flu as many times as he has in the last three months! My gut is telling me to do whatever I can to make him feel better! No three year old should have to be crying and telling his mommy and daddy to make it stop hurting. No three year old should have to tell his mommy and daddy to take his stomach out so it stops hurting. No three year old should be bent over the toilet or bucket as many times as he has in the past couple hours! So now we wait...trying to find answers!!! We'll let you know when we find something out...if we find something out!!!

Fourth of July

Aiden loved eating corn on the cob! He had two whole cobs!!!

Aiden liked peeling the corn!

With 4 missing bottom teeth and 2 loose teeth on the top of his mouth, Riley struggled to eat his corn!!! He still managed though!

The boys loved sitting by the bonfire.

Riley was really tired after our last few days.

Aiden roasting marshmellows!

Aiden enjoying the fireworks that were behind him!

4th of July was sad for us this year. We lost our aunt Kathie after a courageous battle with Lymphoma. She passed away on Saturday. We will miss her a lot. She was one of the kindest and most caring people that I knew. Her service was on Tuesday. We spent time with our family at a potluck on Wednesday. Wednesday night the boys wanted to have a bonfire in our backyard...so we made smores and watched fireworks from all different areas!