Furniture 500

For a combined YW/YM activity someone came up with the idea of the Furniture 500.  The rules- find some kind of furniture that someone was getting rid of and make it moveable.  One leader had to ride on your furniture as you raced it against other classes.

This got modified because we do have one handicapped young man who really couldn't have participated unless he was the rider and again for the deacons, because all those little guys just couldn't do much racing with their rather large leader.  It was totally killing them! 

It turned out to be one of the most fun activities we have ever done and will become an annual tradition in our ward.

We went early to help finish the entries.  Emma is now the president of the Mia Maids class, so she had to be there to help and since I'm a leader, I just really should.  It meant one crazy dinner night, but that's nothing new.  May is just craziness, no matter what!

The Mia Maids definitely came up with the best theme for their entry.  

It is district 12's chair and came complete with loads of braided hair and one Effie impersonator!

They did loose their leader once and a couple people got run over, but otherwise they did a pretty good job and came in second.

The winner's where the Teacher's.  Look at this cool piece of racing furniture!

I loved the Priest.   Very inventive!

Unfortunately they weren't thinking about weight limits when they built it out of two small bicycles that they cut apart.

They were just thinking- this is so cool!

  This ended up being their "furniture" for the rest of the 500 races!

I love that they made him wear a helmet!

The Laurels/Beehives (cause there are only 2 of them) did fairly well, also. 

One leader fell on top of the couch while trying to push and they cut the deacons off to cinch a win one time (very unlady like!), 

but overall great job!

Here is the Deacon's.

They made it so the wheel axil could swivel so they could take corners well, unfortunately that came back to bite them, because they started swiveling too much and got caught underneath a couple of times.  As Emma said, "they thought about it too much!"

Rob couldn't pick the boys up this day, because of studying, but I don't think they minded.  It was a fun, fun night and a lot of parents and kids stayed to watch!

I'm excited for next year!!

Mother's day

Mother's day was chill.  

Rob tried new flowers.

They are pretty, but have no smell.  We had a discussion about favorite flowers.  Mine are tulips, daisy's, Gerber daisy's then roses, and Calla lilly's and then everything else.  I do love a pretty flower.

Robert baked his first lasagna ever.

He did a great job.  I couldn't eat his regular Sunday cooking of roast or steak, because of my oral surgery.

I love all the colors on our table.

They also made me cookies- Ghiradella Chocolate chip and english toffee cookies.

Super yum!

A few days later, I found a paper in Joseph's folder where he answered questions about his marvelous mom.  These were his responses:

What flower would your mom be?  A daisy, because she is beautiful.

What song would she be?  A love song, because she loves.

What super hero would she be?  Superwoman, because she is super.

What candy would she be?  Jellybeans, because she is sweet.

What car would she be?  A van, because she has a van.

What color would she be?  Purple, because purple is her color.

What animal would she be?  A rabbit, because she is fast.

What TV show would she be?  Action, because she likes to be active.

I wonder why he decided that purple was my color?  I think I have one whole thing in my wardrobe that is purple!  Anyway, it was fun to read!  I love the way they think.  It certainly keeps life interesting being a mother!

Nothing to do, but cry in the background

Friday was Samuel's Procainamide challenge test.  I have been super nervous about this, because I didn't want him to have Brugata syndrome.  It would definitely change his life, as well as ours.  Sam is a great athlete and loves to do anything athletic.  Having Brugata syndrome would have forced him to stay away from anything competitive.  It would also cause him to have some very invasive procedures done, since a pacemaker is the treatment for Brugata.  Also, I was worried about the potential side effects of the Procainamide.  I was determined that they would let me into the cath lab to view the whole procedure, because I thought there would be nothing worse then me waiting nervously in the room and then having them come in to tell me that something went wrong.  When we got there, it's the first thing I brought up and they agreed to let me go in, if I was in scrubs with my hair covered.  Check, not a problem.
Sam got all hooked up and then they came in to do the IV.  I could tell it was a brand new nurse.  She had an assistant with her, which is not unusual in a children's hospital, but then when she found a vein, she checked that it was a good sight with the other nurse.  I decided to let her do it, because we all have to practice- it's the only way we get good at IV's and Sam has good veins and I knew would be a good first patient for her.  She fished around for awhile while the other nurse talked with Samuel.  Sam was doing fairly well, I thought.  He sounded completely normal the whole time as he talked with the other nurse.  Finally, newbie nurse took out the IV and stated that she couldn't get it.  Boss'n nurse took over.  At this point I looked down, or over at the doctor- I don't know which, but I quickly heard the sounds of something going wrong.  I looked up and Sam was stiff, eyes rolled back in his head.  I yelled, "what did you do to him?" and then the doctor took over.  It was no ER scenario and I had to keep fighting to keep my mouth shut and my hands to myself.  In the end I had to back myself in a corner.  I knew that if I started trying to help, that they would spend valuable time trying to get me off, instead of taking care of Sam.  So I stood in my corner and cried as they took 3 requests from the doctor to finally get some oxygen on him, 2 requests before they called the code.  Then everyone and their dog flooded into our room.  Unfortunately, this seemed to cause more confusion about who was doing what!  They were getting the drugs out, trying to find a pulse, trying to find any vital signs at all.  It was only 30 seconds to a minute before they announced that he was breathing again on his own and waking up, but it was the worst 30 seconds to a minute ever!  In the end his heart had stopped for  22-23 seconds.  After reviewing everything they said that it had nothing to do with his Brugata syndrome and it wasn't a seizure, even though it looked very similar.  He wasn't shaking, just stiff and his hands and arms came straight up like they were fighting against a huge force of gravity.  He had no post-ictal stage, though- he wasn't extremely tired, he was alert as soon as he woke up and not confused, he never wet himself or anything like that.  They said it was just from lack of oxygen to the brain.  At this point they decided to go ahead with the test.  This made me extremely nervous.  I asked them nicely that the best person available put in the IV and then followed them into the cath lab where the doctor put in the IV.  The test went smoothly and was inconclusive.  Even though it looks very much like Brugata syndrome, they can not call it that.  At this point, we just have to redo his EKG every year or so and possibly get genetic testing.
Cincinnati children's hospital is a teaching hospital, so they had lots of doctor's there to review the case.  One of them is doing a syncope study (fainting).  He said that frequently when people faint, their heart will stop, but we just don't know it, because they aren't hooked up to any monitors.  He said he has one guy whose heart stops for up to 60 seconds before restarting on it's own.  They believe that what caused the fainting was stimulation of the vagus nerve which causes your blood pressure to drop.  Sam's blood pressure was 42/nothing.  This must have been caused by the fishing around for the vein, although they weren't doing anything at the time he did go out.  This happened when he was knocked out in football, too.  We say "knocked out", because it sounds better, but he was totally awake and alert after it happened, he passed out about 10-20 seconds, afterwards.  He must just have a delayed reaction to pain.
Rob has found me 3 times in our marriage after I have passed out.  He said, at least one of those time, that I looked like I was seizing.  That is the one I don't remember, at all.  I suppose whatever fainting problem I have, Sam inherited.  Lucky guy!  I know I am going to be a lot more nervous when he plays sports.  Knowing he has an irregular EKG and knowing that his heart likes to stop when he faints are two things that will worry me.  Everyone asks me if they shocked him- no you don't shock a heart that isn't beating.  But I think I am still going to insist that they have an AED available at all competitive events!
Sam told me when he woke up, "I wish I was in school."  I could only pat his hair and say, "I know buddy."  When the test was done, he got to watch a movie and eat a big breakfast of omelet, and hash browns and donuts and then he said, "now, I don't wish I was in school."  I am so glad everything is Ok with our little buddy!

Emma goes to Prom

Ok, it was Mormon Prom

and there was no date- despite this picture!

 We took a non-Mormon and a contraband 13 year old- she turned 14 the next day. (She is actually the tallest one in this picture!)

I stayed for awhile, because there weren't many people to start out with and they said, "Don't leave us, here!"

After an hour, when Emma

was dancing a slow dance with her crush, I figured it was good to leave.  In the end, they all had tons of fun.  The non-mormon's mom said she would take conversion lessons if we got her daughter to dance.  Emma just told Mary that it was a rule,  if a guy asked you to dance you weren't allowed to say "no."  So, she danced!  Guess we have to contact the missionaries now!

Great!

Our birthday balloon has lasted 3 months now and is still flying around the house with a patrol base hanging from it and 3 military scouts.  Sam decided this would make a great egg drop contraption and so he confiscated it for his school project.

His team's design was one of the best.  It let the egg drop nice and slow down from the bleachers.
In other great news- we went to see Lake Erie the other day.  Rob and the boys all dipped their feet in the great lake.  Emma and I refrained, because we were so cold to begin with.  It was a whole 10 degrees colder up in Oregon, Ohio!  We also walked around the nature walk and scared all the birds away before the birders could get out their binoculars.   It was the biggest week- birder week- who knew?  I have got to see that movie, now!
I guess I was too cold to remember to do anything, because I have no pictures of our adventure to the Great Lakes!- but I promise, we went!

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Our baby bird eggs hatched- two of them anyway, so we had two new birdies.

I don't know what happened to the third.  The other day I went out there and there was only one little birdy left.  Then Sunday Rob went out and found no one left in the nest.  We don't know if a predator got them since they were so low or the cold nights- it's been freezing cold here the last couple weeks or what.  It's so sad!  I so wanted to show the kids the eggs grow into birds, but we never even saw them get fuzzy and open their eyes.  I wonder if they were really viable to begin with.  It seemed like a long time for them to not open their eyes, but what do I know about birds?
I made a nest in this fun thing I bought from our new Home Goods store.

Love that place!  It was sitting like this and I thought it was the coolest looking cloche and I love how it turned out all springy- with a bird that won't die.

After I got it home, I realized that it was also a cake plate if you turn it over.  So very cool!  Rob wanted to know why I would pay money for something all old and rusty?
I bought this table from a wood furniture place and painted and distressed it myself.

Rob wasn't happy with my distressing it, at first.  He kept saying, "why are you making everything look old?  Believe me, just leave it around these kids for a couple years and it will be plenty distressed!"  In the end he said he really liked how I did it, though.

I also bought this, something blue, at Home Goods.

I love it!
Finally, something borrowed- I borrowed the gum tissue from the roof of my mouth to put on my two lower incisors that had receded so much that there wasn't any tissue left on them.  I now get to eat soft foods for 5 more weeks.  The first few days I looked like that guy on all the movies who is supposed to be a Russian and who will break you in half with his bare hands- you know the guy I am talking about?  My jaw was so square and so big!  Emma said, "it doesn't look that bad!"  And I said, "are you serious?  I look like a man!"  What was really fun, was I had to go to work like that!  Talking was really hard and in the ER, you do a lot of talking!  Now I am feeling much better and the swelling is almost gone.  That poses other problems- I forget!  I had pineapple juice in my smoothie the other day and that really hurt!  Then I tried to chew too much and that hurt and popped some stitches!  Then yesterday I accidentally flossed on one of the teeth.  Today I am going to get that all fixed!  Darn!!  The other bad part is, I figured with all this pain and suffering that I would loose a few pounds- bonus, right?!  Unfortunately, cake, ice cream and milk shakes are all soft.  Must do better!
Oh, and not to forget my other new thing!  The other day was cookie day- I forgot.  I was taking a nap, but the little kids didn't forget- they never do!  They had bought me a present to thank me for all the cookies.

Isn't it the cutest thing ever?  So sweet!  Now, I guess I better go make them some cookies!

This one has no Pictures

Subtitled:  Soccer Mom extraordinaire- Not! 
Subtitled:  I hate the Cold!

Saturday was a divide and conquer kind of day.  Emma had a soccer tournament in Columbus, and we had two other soccer games here.  I stayed home and Rob went to Columbus with Emma.  It was a cold, drizzly, wet, windy day.  It was miserable.  Emma played 2 games, the last one starting at 6 pm.  They were chilled to the bone when they got home.
Me, uh, I hate the cold- remember?  I sent my children out to play and stayed in the car where it was warm!  Yes, I did feel a little guilty.  With Max's game, I would run out of the car and stand at the side lines and give him thumbs up, especially the couple of times he scored goals.  I would stand there freezing and watching until I was sure he was completely distracted and then I would run back to the car.  With Samuel's game, I didn't even pretend.  I parked my car where I could see everything and didn't set foot outside of it!  Hence, the no pictures, thing.  I am hanging my head in shame, in my mind.
We all started the day off in the cold wet drizzle.  Robert decided the whole family was going to do an APFT (army physical fitness test) and nothing was going to persuade him otherwise.   We did sit ups, push ups and a 2 mile run.  I am happy to report that I passed!  Everyone did better than we thought they would- except Emma who refused to try.  She did one push up and 5 sit ups and ran with Max for the 2 mile.  I stayed with Joseph.   Joseph surprised us all by running the entire 2 miles!  He was awesome!  Samuel surpassed all our expectations.  At 12 years old that boy beat his Dad in the 2 mile run!  I thought Rob was sandbagging it, until he told me that he had run the 2 miles in 15 minutes and Sam had still beaten him!  Sam also got 79 sit-ups (1 less than Rob) and 50 push-ups.  Wow!  Max went an entire mile!  I have to admit that I wasn't real thrilled about the start to that day, until we were at the turn around for the mile run and Joseph was still running and Sam was staying with Rob and little Max was trotting along as hard as he could holding onto Emma's hand for support (that was the cutest picture!  I took a mental one!)  What great family time!  Thanks, Robert for making us do that together before we split up for the rest of the day.
Besides the APFT and the two soccer games, we had two birthday parties.  By the end of the day, I was smoked- no more of those kind of Saturday's- Ok?