Oh to be so flexible

First Day of School

I can't believe my kids had to start school today! It's so early! They all had a great day and were happy to be back. I officially have a SENIOR!, 5th grader and a 3rd grader. Avery has decided that he now wants to go by Jake so I'm going to try to honor that but I'm sure I'll forget. (his middle name is Jacob btw :)) I start with students on Monday so today I just helped out some and worked in my room. I only had a few lost kindergartners to rescue so I think it was all in all a good day! The bottom pic is from 07, I couldn't find 08! I know I took pics, oh well you can still see the changes!

Busy weekend

We have been so busy this past week and weekend, I'm beyond exhausted! We celebrated Addy's Gotcha Day with some bright pink cupcakes! She enjoyed licking the icing but didn't really eat any of it but she did like it!

Jarika had a run through Friday night for Regional Cheer Competition yesterday. I couldn't take flash pix during the competition so these are from the rehearsal. The squad is a really young inexperienced squad so I didn't think they would make it to state this year. It didn't help that Jarika's ankle injury messed up the ending so they had to redo it just three days before they competed. They had her basing a stunt and that puts a lot of stress on her ankle, however, she didn't want to do nothing so she went ahead and did it even though she knew it was bad for her ankle. Yeah, sprained it again so no more basing, we are going to an ankle/foot orthopedic specialist to confirm this information again though. Anyway, there were six squads in their division and the top 5 make it to state. I'm a former cheer coach and cheered in high school so I have a pretty good handle on the sport. I watched and knew there was no way they would be in the top five. Their routine just wasn't very impressive and didn't have much difficulty in it. Our girls also don't show a lot of spirit that they needed too. I'm always on Jarika for that! Anyway, after they competed Jarika was allowed to leave before the awards so my mom and I took her out to eat. On our way home she got a text from her coach saying they came in 5th!!! WHAT??? I thought there's no way! Well, there is a way when two teams tie for first! So our Varsity Jays are making it to state this year! I know they will have a much better routine and it will be more impressive by November, they will have a lot of time to clean it up and add more elements so that will be good.

When we got home from competition, our church was having a swimming party at the local pool. Jarika was too tired to come with us so the five of us went. Addy didn't care too much for the pool last year but this year she liked it! She didn't like being spun around or anything like that yet, but she loved being carried around completely submerged, except for her head of course! There's a ledge at the side of the pool so sat on that and kicked her feet and splashed with her hands and laughed and laughed! It was too cute!

Remember how Avery just learned to dive at the lake last weekend? Well look at this! Way to go buddy!

Cooper is doing so much better in the water, he had fun twirling around and around. Our poor pastor was dunked and dunked and threw the kids all over, Scott told him that he would probably feel that today! I didn't get a chance to ask him, we all way overslept this morning! So I am spending my very last day of my summer vacation, cleaning and doing laundry, trying to get organized again before going back to work full time! I'm never ready to go back but I'm sure after I'm there tomorrow I'll be fine, I gotta go back sometime huh?

It's Gotcha Day!

When I first met my daughter 8/4/07

Our Gotcha Day! 8/6/07

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Jarika performs at the Cardinals Game

Last night was Marshfield Night at the Springfield Cardinals baseball game. I really do enjoy going to the games, they are a lot of fun. Unfortunately it was sweltering HOT! I hooked Addy up to Pedialyte so she wouldn't dehydrate, one of the benefits of a g-tube! She stayed hydrated but got pretty sweaty so we only stayed a couple of innings. Jarika was worn out and had to go to work early this morning. Well, early (9 o'clock) if you are a teenager trying to enjoy your last days of summer vacation! Scott and Avery stayed until the end of the game, unfortunately our baby birds lost, but the big birds (St. Louis Cardinals won, thanks Albert!) The girls did a good job performing,they are getting ready for Regional Competition this Saturday.

Addy Update

I heard from Dr. Pediatrician yesterday and we are increasing her feeds by 20 mL per feeding for a week. If she tolerates it okay then we will increase another 20mL per feed. He also referred her to the nutritionist so we will most likely see her in the next couple of weeks to see if she is on the right formula and calories and whatnot! I took her to the surgeon today, well actually his nurse practitioner whom we adore! She rechecked Addy's little booty and said that it is doing great so no more dilations! Woo hoo! She is going to check her again in a month just to make sure the scarring hasn't returned again but that's no biggie. She also filled out an order for Addy's nurses to treat her g-tube site with Milk of Magnesia a couple of times a day while I'm at work. Yes, I have to go back to work Monday! UGH! Anyway, I've been treating Addy about 3-5 times per day with the MofM and her site looks TONS better! I've tried this before and didn't see much progress but now there definitely is! Yeah! After the surgeon, I dropped Cooper and Avery off at Aunt Jill's for a little cousin and Rock Band time so I could take Addy to the ENT. We also did a hearing evaluation and she passed with flying/blazing colors! Yeah! She also had normal tympanograms so the ENT feels like things are going ok and he doesn't need to replace tubes unless she has more ear infections so this is good! Tomorrow is Jarika's turn for the doc. She re-sprained her surgically reconstructed ankle so the doctor referred her to a podiatrist and we get into them tomorrow so hopefully we will get some good news!

Weekend at the Lake

We finally got to go and spend some time at our cabin at Tablerock Lake. We've been so busy that we have been neglecting our down time something awful and I go back to work on Monday and the kids start school next Thursday!! We are planning to try to go three or four more times before it starts getting cold, so I'm hoping these aren't the last lake pix of the season!

Avery finally learned how to dive!

Cooper on the boat, he is NOT a lake water person!

My darling Addy boo!

Avery LOVES the lake!

I LOVE this pic of Addy, I don't know why, it just is precious to me! I think I may be getting a tad bit better with my camera!

Jarika and Avery on the Wave Runner.

Jarika and her friend Kelly.