A little brag session

My baby sister Amazih scored her 1000th career point as a varsity basketball player about a week and a half ago.  She went into the game needing to score 16 points and ended up with 17 in just the first half and 30 total. 

The Lump

Tyson has a "lump".  I noticed it on December 9th.  I looked at him and noticed the right side of his face was swollen.  Upon further examination, I found a lump.  It was big.  Like at least the size of a quarter.  I freaked a little bit.  This was a Sunday morning, and was also the middle of a Minnesota snow storm.  I called my RN sister in law, and she said she would probably take him in, but I convinced myself it could wait until Monday.  So, Monday morning I called his primary doctor and she was able to squeeze him in.  She checked it out and was pretty perplexed.  She did a few tests.  Strep, checked some blood levels, etc.  She found nothing other than the fact that he had some kind of infection.  She decided to put him on a ten day antibiotic and hope the "lump" would shrink.  It didn't. 
The next appointment included a call to another physician friend of our doctor's, a call to an ENT specialist at the Children's hospital, and a chest x-ray.  So, eventually, she referred us to an ENT doctor at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. 
Fast forward to New Year's Eve.  We took Tyson to his appointment at Children's and the doctor didn't seem overly concerned.  He explained (in a lot of big words) that this was probably an infection.  Something little kids pick up in the summer, but doesn't show up for a few months.  He thought it would most likely need to be surgically removed.  The first step was some blood work, then to schedule a CT scan.  The blood work was done that day.  The CT scan was today.  We never heard anything on the blood work, so I am assuming no news on that is good news. 
For the CT scan, we had to be in Minnetonka at 7:30 this morning.  The two big boys spent the night at my parents' house so that my mom could take them to daycare/school for us.  We got Tyson up early put Ice Age in the DVD player and we were on the road.  The actual scan was pretty quick.  He did need to be sedated, so that process took a little while.  Everything went well, and the results will be sent to his primary doctor and the doctor at Children's.  The nurse from this morning thought we would most likely hear something from Dr. Lander at Children's within one to two days.  Until then, we just hope for the best. 

Well, hello there!

We're back!  It's been months since I've posted, but only because my computer died.  I teach, therefore, I am not rich, so I searched for a killer deal on a new one.  I finally found one early December, but decided to save it and call it a Christmas present.  So, here I am.  I'm working on figuring out this Windows 8 junk, and I think I'm finally understanding it enough to do the basics. 
Things are good.  Kids are healthy for the most part (other than the fact that Tyson is having a CT scan on Thursday this week--more on that later).  We have been busy as usual.  It's basketball season, so we are at Amazih's games one or two nights a week.  I have a kindergartener, so we've tried to slow down a little, although it's very hard. 
So, I will do my best to post fairly regularly.  I've been taking a lot of pictures, trying a lot of new recipes lately, and we are throwing around the idea of a kitchen remodel (hoping maybe that will help in selling this stinkin house!) so maybe I'll post more of that junk too ;)
Ta-ta for now!

The Big Day

Today was the big day.  I sent my baby to kindergarten.  It was a very emotional experience for me.  He, on the other hand, did fine.  As much as I was dreading it, I really talked it up, making it sound like I was really excited, and I think it worked, as far as getting him excited and less nervous.  

We got to school and there were lots of kids waiting in the lobby area.  Once the clock hit 8:05, they kids were supposed to put their backpacks by their lockers and head out to the playground.  Sounds like fun, right?  Well....not so much when you are a kindergartener and it's your very first day of school and you are on a playground you've never seen before and there are about 100 kids running around, many of them three times your size.  He kinda freaked.  Honestly, I did too.  He held on tight to my hand, and I held on tight to my tears.  We walked around for a little bit.  I waited for one of the adult supervisors on the playground to come and take him off my hands, but that didn't happen.  So,  we wandered a little longer.  Finally, a fellow kindergarten friend from Kaydens daycare walked out the door with her big brother.  Alleluia!  They were excited to see each other and big brother offered to show Kayden where to go and what to do.  Thank God!  I didn't know how I was ever going to get out of there before my tears started rolling!  So, off they went, and around the corner to my car I went.  I worried a little bit, but luckily, his teacher happens to be a friend of mine, so, against everything I said I wouldn't do, I texted her just to see how he was doing.  She responded with a very encouraging "Great!'.  

By the time I picked him up from daycare he had lots to tell me about his day, and seems very excited to go back tomorrow! 

A little this and a little that

Ya, ya.  I don't know where I've been really.  No excuses, as usual.  I guess my only semi-excuse is that I've been working and relaxing.  Spending time with my boys and enjoying a wonderful Minnesota summer.  Here are a few things that have been going on around here:

1.  I potty trained #2.  Ok, that's a bit of a lie.  He actually potty trained himself.  It was like one day, he decided he was done wearing diapers, and that was it.  Craziness.  

2.  We went to the zoo.  We took our annual Little Falls Zoo trip with Leah and the girls and Susan and her boys.  Pretty sure we picked the hottest day of the year, but we had fun.  Seven kids five and under with their three mama's sweating their butts off.  It was glorious.  

3.  We have been camping pretty much every weekend.  The boys are loving it!

4.  We have been showing our house about once a month.  Still nothing.  Frustrating!  

5.  We have had a few too many friends and family members diagnosed with that crap called cancer.  It's getting really old!  

6.  My big kid is getting ready for kindergarten.  The freakin' school supplies were out at Target before the Fourth of July!  Sickening I tell ya!  As much as I know he'll love going to school, I am dreading it!  I just hate that my kids have to grow up!  This is one of the main reasons we are enjoying every last minute of this summer.  

7.  We bought a membership to a local private beach and we're loving it!  It's nice and close to our house, not a ton of people, has a playground, we just love it!  

I do have pictures to go with a lot of the happenings around here, but they'll have to wait.  So, there you have it folks.  A quick re-cap of our summer so far.  I'll keep trying to do a better job of keeping up with this blogging stuff.  Until then....

A two, A three and A five

Well, my number two turned three this week.  Tyler's birthday was Monday.  We celebrated with a combo Tyler-Tyson birthday party on Sunday.  We did a camping theme and everything went really well.  The weather forecast was pretty grim, but by the time the party really got underway, it turned out to be pretty nice.  We were able to do our pinata outside, the kids ran around, the guys fried a turkey and there was lots of eating and relaxing going on.  

The only part of the day that to be a little bit much for me was when we got to the gift opening.  I wasn't sure what the best way to do things was.  Tyler open one, then Tyson open one.  Tyler do all of his, then Tyson do all of his....there were options.  I decided to go with every other one.  Then, things just got crazy.  There was paper flying everywhere.  I feel like I didn't get to see half of the gifts they got and I'm not even sure whos are whos when it comes to some of them.  But they were happy and that's really all that matters.  

*Tyson got a baby and a stroller from Pat and Leah.  He was beyond excited!  As soon as he saw what it was, he was yelling and clapping and smiling from ear to ear!  Once it was open and the baby was strapped in, he headed out the garage door and could have cared less about any of the rest of his presents.  He even insisted on sleeping with the baby AND the stroller!  

Monday was Tyler's actual birthday.  He had his 3 year check up in the morning and he did AWESOME! He was so cooperative I couldn't believe it!  I did ask the doctor about two of the fingers on his left hand that are swollen and have been for a few months.  She seemed pretty perplexed by it and decided to do an x-ray to be safe.  She didn't really find much other than the tissue around the bones is kind of swollen.  She decided we would just keep an eye on it for now.  

After his appointment--because I have an unbelievably flexible job--we were able to stop at Toys R Us for a game and a case for the Leapster he got from Rhonda and Troy, then a quick lunch at McDonald's before heading back to daycare where he celebrated some more!

This is what works

I'm a teacher.  I'm a licensed kindergarten through eighth grade teacher.  I have taught.  I have worked as a substitute teacher, I have worked in an after school care program, I have taught toddlers, infants and preschoolers.  

I am currently teacher toddlers.  I LOVE what I do.  I go to work every morning and help mold the lives of 20 children under three years old.  I see them learn and grow and they teach me things every day.  The only reason I ever second-guess what I'm doing is in the fact that I attended four and a half years of college to get a degree that I am not technically using.  Sure, my very first childcare center experience came during those four and a half years, and I learned a lot during that time.  But I paid--actually, am still paying for--a degree that allows me to teach bigger kids.  I worry that the longer I stay out of the elementary classroom, the less chance there is that I will ever go back.  Things change very quickly in the education field.  I have only been out of the classroom since last June, and I'm sure I am already completely out of the loop of the latest strategies and testing and terminology.  

On the other hand, I'm happy.  Like I said, I really do love what I'm doing.  I'm not going to get rich doing it, but I enjoy it.  I enjoy being with the kids, I enjoy the people that I work with, and I enjoy the fact that my job is flexible.  I was able to take last Friday off to help my mom work at the flower shop before Mother's Day.  I'm off this Friday to have a garage sale.  I went with Kayden to eat lunch at "the kindergarten school" today.  I will take days off to be with my kids, I will take time off for appointments, I may even take a mental health day here and there, and it's ok.  

For now, this is what works for us.  Only time will tell what the future holds for us, but for now this is what works.