Crazy busy

Things have been nuts around here. Both boys did great this year! Cooper was the only State competitor in Math and made fantastic grades! All As and Bs, pretty good for the first year of Jr. High. Jake also did very well, all As and Bs as well. Both boys made Renaissance all four quarters which is a pretty big honor as well :) So proud of them! We finished up school on Thursday and I started with a little sore throat that night :( Friday was full of packing up my trailer, I get to move into the building next year :) In the afternoon Leasha had planned a field trip for the staff months ago. Jan, our acting principal, made fun of us for having an addiction to Sonic. We happen to enjoy those Route 44 drinks during Happy Hour! Leasha had planned on taking us on a field trip to Sonic on the bus. We definitely didn't want to disappoint her so we all piled into Mr. Bill's bus and took off for Sonic! Mind you, our town is tiny so everyone saw us as we cruised around the square yelling our "woo hoos" to everyone! We even got flashed a couple of times, it was quite comical! Leasha was totally with us in spirit, we all miss her so much! Our new principal, Julie, was able to come along. If we didn't scare her off with our craziness I think she's going to fit right in :)

Through the night my throat was really starting to hurt even more so in the morning on Saturday I went to Springfield to Urgent Care. Sure enough, the wrath of strep throat was back. Along with a right ear infection. No wonder I felt so crappy. I spent the afternoon napping on and off, Cooper was shocked. Mom doesn't nap! Scott and Jake headed down to the cabin to do some more yard work and see if the water was down enough to get to the boat dock. Nope, not without a boat to get to the boat! I didn't feel much better on Sunday at all so we stayed home from church and I continued resting and taking it very easy, I was so wiped out.

Yesterday we just hung out as a family and Scott grilled some amazing tri tips for dinner, they were sooo good! I ate a little too much and paid for that later :( but it was still amazing!

When I woke up this morning my throat wasn't sore! I actually almost felt normal! I had a nurse coming today so I was able to spend the day with Jarika shopping for some final things for her house! While we were at Wal Mart we met the sweetest young lady with Down syndrome! She is 34 and was just precious!!! We close on the house tomorrow but since we are good friends with he current owners, she was nice enough to bring the keys over this afternoon! So, we packed up the van and took our first load to Joplin. Jarika's house isn't close to the tornado damage so we didn't have any trouble getting to the house. We unloaded everything that we had headed down Rangeline to come home. If you've watched the news at all I'm sure you've heard of Rangeline. It's the main street in Joplin. The pix on the news really don't show how it looks in person. It was amazing to see. You're driving along and then all of the sudden there is nothing but completely torn apart buildings, beaten cars everywhere and trees that are completely uprooted and broken all apart. It was amazing to see. I just had Jarika take some pix as we were driving so they aren't very good but you might get a little idea.

There is still so much to be done to get the town back to where it was. It's going to take a very long time, so much is completely destroyed. One of the girls that is moving in with Jarika was working at St. John's hospital when the tornado hit. Fortunately she wasn't hurt but her car was completely destroyed. I'm excited for the girls, they are really excited about the house. It's so cute, they are going to have so much fun there!

Sadness

Many of you know that I am a speech pathologist. I have worked with children my entire career. I absolutely love my job and love what I do. I have had many clients that I have been very close to and very close to their families. I have had several parents come to me in tears when it was time for their child to switch therapists. I always thought it was kind of silly, I'm not anything special, I'm just a speech pathologist that does her job. I have shed tears about kids too but I knew we would remain in contact since we live in such a small town and I know I am sending the kids on to good hands. Today was a very emotional afternoon. Today Addy had her last speech therapy session with Mrs. Rachel. Rachel is moving to Florida and will be doing amazing things in her new job. I am very happy for her, I know that it is the best thing for her and her husband, he's actually going to be doing something he is educated to do!

I came home during her therapy session so I could get some pix of them together. Poor Addy was not feeling well AT ALL this afternoon! She was crying and whining and not even talking to Rachel which is pretty much unheard of. I got some pix but poor Addy was not at all cooperative :( Rachel has done such an amazing job with her, she's been tough and set high expectations and that's exactly what Addy needs. She has a tendency to be stubborn and a tad bit on the lazy side. I have no idea where that comes from! Addy's communication skills are a real strength for her. Her vocabulary is beyond impressive. Her articulation skills are phenomenal for a child that has really weak oral motor skills due to being completely tube fed for her entire life and never has use her sucking reflex. (Those are major muscles builders for speech).

So today Rachel and I both shed major tears as it was time for her to go. We are going to miss her so much, I am now that parent that feels there is no way that anyone is going to work such wonders with my child. The therapist in me knows that that is not the case but I'm still a mess. I've cried ever since I knew for sure Rachel was leaving. I know Addy doesn't understand but she's going to realize that Rachel is gone. I know she'll be asking about her :( We are so lucky that we have the technology that we do, I know we'll be Skypeing to keep Rachel up on how well our little amazing girl is!

We are going to miss you so much Rachel, we wish you very well in your new adventures!

Devastation

A devastating most likely EF4 tornado tore through Joplin, Missouri. That's an hour and a half from here where Jarika goes to college. Fortunately she is home tonight and not involved in this:

It hit the hospital and the main drag in Joplin. 24 dead so far. Please pray for them.

We got blessed with this after the storm.

Last Day of Preschool

Addy went to school today since it's the last day before ESY. She usually doesn't go on Thursdays but I didn't want her to miss all of this!

Painting :)
Dancing with our friends :)
Painting with sidewalk paint :)

Should have checked the pockets

The boys have their spring concert with their honor choir. I told them to get their clothes together so I could wash them. Cooper said his were clean (doubtful) and Jake said his needed washing. I guess he was right. I went ahead and washed both boys' stuff. Now I just hope when I take them out to put in the dryer I'm able to get all of the candy out of the way!!!

Torture

For some reason Addy is having major issues with her enjoyment of vestibular activities. She used to love to swing, now she freaks out when we put her on the swing. She used to sit on her Roddy horse pretty well with very minimal complaining. Not lately though (this started before surgery), she absolutely freaks out! Today her nurse, Kim, brought a couple of things over that she was going to put in a yard sale and thought Addy might want first dibs. I thought this dinosaur rocker would be perfect!!! As you can see on Addy's face, epic fail.

Better :)

Addy is feeling much better! She was a little crabby on Friday and very subdued on Saturday but she is starting to show her old self again! She is still bleeding a little bit in her right ear and out of her nose but it's much improved! She's still not wanting to keep her glasses on... sigh. I was hoping the tear duct stuff would help, but it hasn't yet. I need to take her to her eye doc for her annual exam anyway so we'll probably order new frames. These have been bent so many times they just don't fit right. If new frames don't help and she continues to pull glasses off, I guess we'll have to break down and buy a strap! This has been so frustrating, she wore her glasses with absolutely no problems for months and months and then when her tear duct really started giving her trouble, the glasses came off more and more :(

Surgery

I got up at 3am today to get ready to leave by 4 to take Addy to St. Louis for her tear duct probing and ear tube surgeries. She was so smiley at 4 am and didn't sleep the whole three hours to St. Louis! I couldn't believe it, I figured she would sleep the whole way!

BEFORE :)

We got all settled in and she went back for surgery pretty quickly. ENT went first and the tubes were placed with no problems. One ear (the right I think) has some pretty significant scar tissue from 3 sets of previous tubes and rupturing twice so he's not real sure if the tube is going to last long :( Dr. Dresher really doesn't want to put t-tubes in unless he really has to.

She absolutely loved the remote of course!

Dr. Lueder talked to me quite a bit before he did her tear duct surgery. He wasn't expecting any problems. However, Miss Addy being the stinker that she is, was blocked much lower in the tear duct than usual so he had to probe pretty deeply and he's not convinced it's going to work :( He thinks he's going to have to put stints in but we are going to wait and see if this helps at all. It should some! Poor thing has had a pretty constant bloody nose which she isn't too thrilled about of course!
This is the first time I have EVER seen an IV in Addy's hand!!! It's always had to go in her head or neck!! It was on the side of her hand but better than her head!

After: I'm pretty sure she's thinking what in the world just happened???

Beautiful swollen teary eyes.

Bye bye!!! Let's go home!

It was a rough trip home! Poor baby kept bleeding everywhere :( She's much better now that we are home with a nice clean face and clothes. She got another dose of Tylenol and her first bit of formula and Elmo is on the TV, life is so much better now!

Thanks for all of the prayers for my girl!

Gorgeous

I'm pretty sure my daughter and her roommate, Janessa, are the most beautiful girls at Missouri Southern State! I can't believe she is finished with her first year of college next week! So proud of you girl!

Recess

I've been swamped, working late for preschool screenings this week so my blog is neglected. I have several things to share but this one was quick! I got this text message from Addy's teacher, Rissa. We decided that she was trying to get in!