Soccer Saturday

It's Saturday again!! Although this is the last Soccer Saturday until September. Soccer season for Sam is officially over. And really, not a moment too soon.

Today started with a different soccer game. We went to see my nephew Noah play in his soccer game this morning. He scored a goal!!!! He has really grown in his soccer skills this year. Last year he played on a team with Megan. Neither one of them got much out of it last year.

It was really fun to watch Noah play today! Here are a couple pictures of Noah:

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And now it is time for pictures of Sam's last soccer game of the season. She tried hard despite how HOT it was today. She almost scored a goal. Are you wondering if they finally won a game?? Seriously people, of course not. They did get another goal though, for a whopping total of 2 goals all spring season. Those poor girls!! They seemed to have fun though.

So now for your last Soccer Saturday enjoyment here is Samantha in her final game of the season:

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And because my little niece Mady is so adorable, here are a couple pics of her sweet face:

I told you she was adorable!!!!

Until next fall,

Jaime

Contest and a cool website

I found the coolest website that sells t-shirts with verses on the back. I bought one that was inspired by Stellan. And now Wild Olive Tees is having a contest to win $75 in free t-shirts if I post about them on my blog. And since I totally already bought one of their shirts that I can't wait to get, I thought "hey why not?" Seriously peeps, these shirts are so cute!!!!




If you feel like you need to know what all the fuss is about just go check them out. Trust me, you won't regret checking them out!

Until next time,
Jaime

School Projects

Both of the girls had projects that are due tomorrow. We finished them up tonight and I thought they turned out so good that I wanted to share them.

Samantha had to make a poster about her favorite animal. She had to choose Elephant because all of the animals she wanted to pick were already taken. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find stickers of elephants??? You wouldn't think it would be so difficult, but it was! We followed the directions and this is what we came up with:

Megan had to make a likeness of herself for her Kindergarten Program next week. We made clothes for her cutout and she helped decorate it. Megan is very proud of her person and wants to play with it. She doesn't want to bring it to school tomorrow because she wants to play with it. It's a paper cutout of a person, but whatever! Here is how Megan's Likeness turned out:

The end of the school year is upon us. Only 2 1/2 more weeks of school. June is a busy month for us. Here is a list of the events that take place in June: Kindergarten program, My birthday, my Mom's birthday, Megan's birthday, end of school, Our Anniversary, Father's Day, SUMMER VACATION. Plus there a couple doctor appointments sprinkled in there as well. It makes me tired just thinking about it.

Until next time,

Jaime

Happy Memorial Day!

I want to say a big Thank You to all the Men and Women serving our country so that we can be free to blog. But in all seriousness, I really do have a HUGE respect for all of those that have served, and are serving our country! A special friend of ours is currently enduring Marine boot camp so that he can serve our wonderful country.

My Grandpa served in the Army Air Corps during WWII. He was a prisoner of the Japanese and endured a very long trip on the Hell Ships. He was released when the Japanese surrendered. It wasn't anything he ever really talked about but my Grandma thought it was very important to make sure his legacy was made known to his family. I am so proud of how brave he was. And he exceeded all expectations by not only surviving but going on to live a very full and long life. He was a very proud American and I am proud that he served our country! I miss you Gramps!!

Rick's Grandpa also served our country. He was a Marine during the Korean War. He has a purple heart and still has shrapnel in his body.

My other Grandpa also served, as well as Rick's other Grandpa who landed on Normandy. Both of our Dad's served in the Navy during Vietnam.

We both come from a line of very brave men. And we are very proud of them!

Until next time,
Jaime

You Can Help Make A Difference

I have become passionate about getting the word out about Crohn's and PSC. The only thing I can do to not let these diseases win is fight for a cure. So I have found a couple things from my friend Brandee that I want to pass on to all of my readers in the hopes that you all will help me out.

The Crohn's and Colitis Foundation has a couple things going on right now. The first is a letter writing campaign to local legislators about supporting funding for the new IBD Legislation, The Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research and Awareness Act. By clicking here you can send an email to your local legislators urging them to support the bill. You can include a personal story if you have one, or feel free to use Rick's story. It only takes a minute, but it could make a big difference for those suffering with IBD.

The second is the virtual IBD March on the Hill. Shire plc has agreed to donate up to $30,000 for IBD research. By joining the virtual walk Shire plc will donate $1 for every step you take. You can log on everyday and take a step. At the moment there are less than 3,000 steps taken, the goal is 30,000. Please join in the walk and support those with IBD.

These are two very easy things you can do to help make a very big difference. And I have one other thing I am saving for it's very own post. It is the biggest thing I have done and I am very excited about it, so stayed tuned!

Until next time,
Jaime

Smile Part 2

I took Samantha in to the dentist yesterday morning. The dentist said that she was really lucky! If any more of the tooth had broken off it would have exposed all of the nerves. They took x-rays and it showed that the tooth jammed into the socket. The tooth needs to heal before it can get fixed permanently. For the meantime the dentist used filling material and covered over the sensitive area that broke off. That helps to keep the air from bothering the tooth. It doesn't really look any different unfortunately.

Sam will go back on June 1st to have the tooth permanently fixed. She will get that fabulous laughing gas! The dentist will grind down the tooth a little bit and then use a stronger type of filling material to form a "new" tooth. He said it is great that it broke the way it did because she won't have to lose the tooth.

She went to school today and it sounds like everything went okay. I was worried about her being teased, but it doesn't sound like any of that happened.

She is so tough and I am really proud of her! She really is handling this a lot better than I thought she would.

Until next time,
Jaime

Your never fully dressed without a SMILE

And now Samantha's smile is not quite so pretty anymore!!

Apparently Sam and some of the other girls from soccer were playing tag on the playground before practice. That doesn't really sound like a good idea to me, but I guess none of the other parents were paying attention or thought that it was a big deal. According to Sam, the slide was "home base" and she slammed her mouth on the edge of the slide.

I think it is totally disgusting!! Rick was upset about it and Sam was crying. I was at work when I got the phone call. I called the dentist and he said to just wait till tomorrow to come in. He said to let the trauma done to the tooth calm down for tonight. Sam says the tooth is bothering her when the air gets on it, and it is really sensitive.

I don't know what they will be able to do to the tooth. But I hope that it can at least get covered up somehow. I really don't want to have to see it!!! It grosses me out!!!!

Until next time,

Jaime

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off To Work He Goes!!

Rick left for work this morning for the first time in 3 months. Last night he had he girls help shave off his beard. I hardly recognize him now. Without the beard I can really see how skinny he has gotten.

I am a little bit worried about him since the fusion hasn't taken. He has so many limits and restrictions, and I worry that he is going to over do it. But he needs to get a paycheck again and he can't just sit around waiting for the fusion to work. So off to work he went.

Until next time,
Jaime

Soccer Saturday

Time again for another Soccer Saturday post. They played SO HARD today. Unfortunately it didn't produce a win for them, but it was a much better game! Sam played goalie the entire second half. She only let in 1 goal. I think she did fantastic!!

There is only one game left in the season. They have next weekend off for the holiday, so the following Saturday is their last game. I can only hope that they are able to get a win. It would be so great to see them finally win a game.

Until next time,

Jaime

Kindergarten Field Trip

Today was Megan's big Kindergarten field trip. She has been counting down the days for a couple of weeks now. So she was ubber excited this morning when it was finally field trip day. I wasn't quite as excited, well I really wasn't excited at all. I kinda had to mentally prepare for the hectic day ahead. So here is the day in photos.

Megan's first school bus ride.


First we went to Mobius (the children's museum). Megan absolutely loves this place. She ran around like a crazy woman putting on different costumes and trying to play with everything.



Then we walked over to Riverfront Park for a picnic lunch then played on the playground.


Next we walked over to the Carousel and the kiddos got to take a ride. They were very excited and they were all screaming and laughing when the ride started.


And as if that wasn't enough we then walked over to The Big Red Wagon and played on that for a while.



And if you thought that wasn't enough walking we then had to walk all the way to the other end of the park to meet the school buses. Along the way we stopped for pictures by the river.


I am EXHAUSTED!! And the kids were tired too. Megan hardly said a word on the bus ride back to school and my other kiddo that I was in charge of actually fell asleep leaning against me on the bus.

I had to go to work after the field trip and then I went out to dinner with my sister. By the time I finally got home I hadn't really sat down in 12 hours. I am so tired! I should sleep well tonight!!

Until next time,

Jaime

Wordless Wednesday

My kids are so cute!!!

Until next time,

Jaime

Health Updates

I have been procrastinating doing an update on our health situations. I am tired of always having health stuff to blog about but I need to get these updates out there.

First I will give an update on how I am doing. I saw my surgeon and he said that after putting my gallbladder under the microscope it showed as being chronically inflammed. So I guess it was a good thing to have it removed. I am starting to feel better but I am still having some fatigue. I tend to get worn out by the evening. But it is getting better so I am trying not to complain. My incisions are healing nicely and hardly bother me much anymore. I still have some occasional stomach pain but the doctor said that is to be expected because the inflammation affected other areas around the gallbladder.

Now on to Rick. You know, the more important one.

Rick saw his surgeon on Friday. The news was not what we were hoping for. It seems that the fusion has NOT started to take at all. There is zero bone growth. Which basically means he is still in the same position he was in eight weeks ago right after surgery. Although he is starting to get his energy back and he doesn't really have incision pain anymore, he is NOT healed. He has to continue to wear his brace for the next six weeks, which at that time he will have another x-ray to determine if there is any fusion happening yet. That will be 14 weeks since surgery. I don't really know for sure what it will mean if there is still no bone growth at that point. I don't really even want to think about that right now. I can't change the situation so I am going to just try not to worry about it.

Dr S thinks that all of Rick's other diseases are what is causing him to not heal. That makes sense because he takes immune suppressing drugs. But he needs the medications to prevent him from getting sicker. It is a tough situation to be in. He is going back to work next week. He hasn't been getting a paycheck for over 3 weeks now which is starting to cause him stress. Fortunately he will only be going back to work part-time for now. I can understand his need to get back to work. But I am nervous about it because I don't want him to get hurt or cause some damage since he isn't healed. We thought that by this time he would have at least had some bone growth, making him more stable and making it safer to go back to work.

This is not the position we thought we would be in at this point. I was expecting that by now things would be getting back to normal. And I use the term normal very loosely. But we deal with the cards we have been dealt. Nothing we can do to change it.

Until next time,
Jaime

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope that everyone has had a Happy Mother's Day. We had a lovely day together! It was fun celebrating Mother's Day and Sam's Birthday on the same day. We had a fantastic brunch at The Coeur d Alene Resort. Granted we had to wait an extra 30 minutes past our reservation time, but it was worth it in the end. It was so yummy!! We treated Rick's Mom to brunch. And then we went for a walk around the boardwalk after we ate. It was such a beautiful day here. We ate dinner at my Mom's house. And I use the word "ate" loosely. We were all still pretty full from all the food we ate at brunch. But it was a really fun day.

Happy Mother's Day to my fantastic Mom! I love you! Thank you for everything that you have done for us, and for always being there when I need you! You are fantastic!

Happy Mother's Day to my Mother-In-Law! Thank you for helping us out with the girls so much! That has been so wonderful and we really appreciate it!

Until next time,

Jaime

Happy 9th Birthday Samantha!!!!!

You are such a beautiful girl! I can't believe how grown-up you are getting! It amazes me how much you have changed this year. I enjoy your stories and your creativity. You are such a wonderful daughter and I love you very much!!

Happy Birthday Samantha!!!

Love,
Mom

Birthday Party/Soccer Saturday

I can't believe that my baby is turning 9 years old. I can't believe how fast time flies. I was in labor at this exact moment 9 years ago. This child put me through 32 hours of labor, most of it without any meds. And then to thank me for giving her life she peed on me after she was born.

Here are some pictures from the party we had for Samantha today. The theme was High School Musical if you can't tell, or are lucky enough to not be familiar with HSM.



Samantha with "Bamber", Rick's Mom:

Samantha and Nana, my Mom:

Samantha with Grampa Mike, my Dad:

Samantha with Gigi, my Grandma:

The Family with the cake:

Samantha and her megaphone pinata:

Samantha with Great Grandpa Bill and Granny, Rick's grandparents:

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After the party we took Sam to her soccer game. Yet again the team didn't score a goal. Sam played pretty well and did a good job as goalie. I think that she really enjoys playing goalie.

So here is your Soccer Saturday:

It was a beautiful Saturday! And tomorrow is supposed to be even better. Tomorrow is Samantha's Birthday and Mother's Day. This is the first time that they have fallen on the same day so we are going to try and make it an extra special day. We have reservations for brunch at The Coeur d Alene Resort and then we will walk the boardwalk. It is going to be so much fun. And yummy too!!

Until next time,

Jaime

Paper Pants

We had a little, well a lot actually, fun with some really stylish paper pants that Rick had to wear at the surgeon's office today. He had to put them on to have x-rays taken of his back and I just couldn't stop giggling. And since we had to wait a bit we decided to have some fun with the paper pants.

Here is Rick wearing the paper pants:



Paper pants fit on the head too:

Paper pants don't really work as a shirt:

And since we were having so much fun we just had to take them home. Look, both of the girls fit into one pair of paper pants:

When life hands you paper pants, put them on and take pictures.

Until next time,

Jaime