It's okay if you are jealous.....

We are always working on projects to make our outdoors more beautiful and relaxing! The mayor has also hired a handsome man to take care of the yardwork.......no, he is not taking new clients. sorry.

The deck is our favorite spot in the morning. We just bring the indoor toys out!

I am now taking reservations for people to come sit in my new deck furniture. Prime seating times are morning hours before 11 and evenings hours after 7. If you've ever been on my deck you know why.......it is too H-O-T.

Kate demonstrating how relaxing the couch is.......................ahmmmmmmm.

Now if we can just get enough dry days in a row, we really need to get to work on sanding and re-staining the deck and swingset! Anyone want to help?

Softball Girl

Her first hit this year.

Playing 3rd

First at bat

Playing 1st

Awards Ceremony

I totally forgot to mention the most exciting thing that happened today....
Tess had her school awards ceremony and she received 3 awards!!

She got an award for "Responsibility" that was given to several kids for being organized, turning in their assignments on time and done correctly, etc. etc.
She also got an Outstanding PE award. Did not see that one coming......neither did she, she said. :) I mean, she's coordinated and all, but to the point of being Outstanding?????? Good job Tess!
Her third award was for Outstanding Academic Achievement. That's my girl! She has gotten this award in both 1st and now 2nd grade and we are thrilled. What an honor.

They give out many awards, most describing a personality trait/characteristic that we should all strive to have. My favorite is the "caring" award, and that is the one I want my kids to get, and I even said as much to the mom sitting next to me. When we got home and Tess was talking about the different awards, she said "there's an award for being a caring person. I want to get that one someday." It brought a tear to my eye.
NOW, THAT'S MY GIRL!!!

For Sale

Went to the orthodontist today. I thought selling one of my kidneys would cover it, but now am considering selling one of Andy's also. Let me know......

So we sat down with the good doctor and discussed her "entire profile" which included pictures of some JACKED UP teeth in my otherwise perfect daughter. We had a spacer placed today on one side, and will have one placed on the other side when the teeth fully come in. Remember that Tess's teeth fall out and grow back in on their own time. They don't necessarily follow any normal development schedule. Next will be an expander on the top and rubber bands on the bottom to slow down the growth of her lower jaw. Finally will be the braces at age 10 or 11 to pull everything together in an organized fashion, I guess. I got lost after "first she will need spacers......"

He also informed us, that in a small population of people, this entire process is null and void and the jaw grows wrong anyway and surgery has to be done. WHAT?!?!?! After all this work and money and trips to the office we could still end up surgically correcting this? I seriously hope cutting into my baby's jaw and wiring it shut for weeks is NOT in our future.

The best part came when it was time to discuss the financial portion of our journey. They gave us option A and option B and both of them made me want to laugh out loud. Where are options C,D, and E? Option A was to pay the entire balance in full. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Option B was to pay a considerable downpayment and then fairly large monthly payments for 20 months. The downpayment they wanted today was over $1000. next option, please......

We left without paying a dime today. And we still got a spacer put in.

How? Two things, really. I mentioned that I knew what another family had put down initially and what they were paying monthly, which varied considerably from option B. AND I questioned why if the work was going to take over 3 years they needed all of this paid off in less than 2. I mean REALLY?!?!?! The lady was very nice and quickly said "sure! Whatever works best for your family!" REALLY?!?!?! Why wasn't it presented that way in the first place? How many parents have been totally screwed out of option C?

By the way, we found out today that Tess does not even have wisdom teeth. There is a 5% population of people that will not have them. Those are some pretty interesting odds. Maybe we should consider going to the casino to pay for all this work.

Nope, luck already ran out. Tess just showed me how the spacer wire has fallen out(almost) and we are going to have to go back tomorrow. They said not to eat anything chewy or sticky for fear of pulling the wire out. Well, I do not consider my ghetto fabulous Hamburger Helper to be either sticky or chewy and yet we have a loose wire. This is going to be a looooong couple of years.

a bite of reality sandwich

I've become an avid reader of a blog found through a friend of a friend of a friend of a family member's friend......you get the picture. Anyway, the blog is written by a mother dedicated to journaling about her child's rare genetic disorder called CHARGE syndrome. The mom had a totally normal pregnancy, and had no idea her son had this syndrome until she met him face to face for the first time. This syndrome is a BIG deal and this poor sweet little boy has had a very difficult first seven months of life. Today his parents met with his care team(yes I said TEAM because it takes 20 plus specialists to keep him alive) and found out that they had the most heart breaking decision to make.....whether or not to continue doing the "above and beyond" measures to keep their baby alive.
WOW.
I am tearful as I write this because I am feeling pretty humbled by their reality right now. Pretty much puts my previously mentioned life-changing decision into perspective. My reality feels pretty insignificant compared to theirs.
I'm thinking we all need to send a mental hug to our loved ones RIGHT NOW.

Change......

Change is brewing in Crazytown........
There is something exciting and disturbing about trying to make life changes. I don't sleep well, and I find myself thinking about it all the time. Sometimes I even get a little too focused on the details and forget the big picture. The worst, though, is when I think "Yes! this is going to be CAKE!" and then I (or Andy) think of another new problem and .........back to square one. The biggest problem of all is that this involves so much more than just Andy and I. My girls are the most important consideration of all........how will change affect them?
Anyone wondering what the ^%#^ is going on? It's too early to divulge, and might be too out-of-this-world possible to even happen.
Prayers, I need your prayers.

Yook Mommie!

Picture Jane in the bath tub by herself. I go to get her out of the tub and she says"Yook Mommie! Rocks!"
Picture Jane holding little "rock" sized pieces of her POOP for me to yook at.
Picture me draining the tub, scrubbing all the toys, cleaning out the tub, and then laughing.
They did yook yike yittle rocks.