Good Report

Today we had Kensley's VCVG test and we got the results back this afternoon and everything is normal. They do not see any abnormalities or reflux. YAY!! That is the news I was hoping and praying for and YAY, we got it!! I did not sleep a wink last night worring about the test and how Kensley would do, but she did great. They are still finding some levels of bacteria in her urine and they did a cath collection today while they were doing the VCVG and if this collection reveals the same amount of bacteria after cultured they will go ahead and treat her with another round of antibodotics. The Pedi gave us the clear to travel and just monitor. We should have the cultures back later this week. What a huge sigh of relief!! Thanks for keeping our little sweetpea in your thoughts and prayers!!

Hey Honey We're Not Having Fast Food Tonight....

On Monday's we usually fast food it for dinner because Kaden has Kung Fu and usually by the time it is over I'm in no mood for cooking. This week Kung Fu was cancelled due to the 4th of July holiday and Jenn just happened to invite us over for a last minute Monday night get together. Well, of course I jumped all over that since John is an awesome chef. I mean, who doesn't love chatting with good friends over good food. This time we feasted on Italian food and it was AWESOME. Thanks John and Jenn for having us over for dinner. You guys are the hostess with the mostess!! Being the annoying snap happy person I am, I photographed dinner for your viewing pleasure because A. I have a picture taking addiction and B. how can I describe an awesome dinner without pics?? I now bring you dinner from Chef John, drooling is allowed:-)

Fresh Brew

Caprese Salad

This fresh salad just screamed summer. I loved how light and fresh it tasted. Perfect combination of salty/sweet. I could seriously eat this everyday and never get tired of it.

Chicken Parm

Yummy, yummy, yummy, I've got LOVE in my tummy. Pasta just right, chicken crispy, perfect sauce, all smothered in melted cheese. Need I say more???

Drum roll.....dessert.

John will have to forgive me on this one because I can not remember the exact name of this little delicious number, but it was fantastic. Fresh berries in a crepe with an amaretto cream sauce, yummy, yummy, yummy, I've got more love in my tummy.

Our hostess with the mostess
Thank you for saving us from another fast food Monday. I thank you, the kids thank you, and espeically Ken thanks you. See ya next Monday, okay??

Jump!!

Today Kaden and even Kensley threw caution to the wind and both jumped into the pool today, YAY!!! This is huge for us. As long as I can remember, I've been the overly cautious Mom at the pool due to their ear tubes and it seems I'm always nagging, " are your plugs in," "don't get your head wet if your plugs aren't in," "is water getting in your ears" don't go under if your plugs aren't in," "for the billionth time, put your plugs back in." Okay, you get the picture of how we have spent our last few summers. Since Kaden and Kensley have had ear problems for what seems like FOREVER and like I mentioned I have always remained cautious around water, it honestly has taken some of the fun out of getting wet. This year I purchased custom fitted ear plugs and it has made such a huge difference. They actually stay in their ears, the kids think they are cool because of the colors, and plus the kids think it is neat that they were specially made for their ears . It was great seeing the kids doing normal kids things at the pool today. Now that the plugs have been thoroughly tested, maybe I can now think about swim lessons. I always hesitated to do them because in the past we spent more time chasing ears plugs in the pool than we did swimming, but now it seems like we have found our fix and we have dry ears!! YAY!!

Of course I had to through in a pic of Koko. She loved playing in the water with sister's water baby. Not sure if the baby doll liked it or not I think Baby Born was trying to yell for help,lol

Happy 1st Birthday Lily

Yesterday we buzzed over to Lily's garden to help celebrate Lily's 1st birthday. We had a great time and the party was classically crafted by Lily Bug's Mom, Christine. As always, great job Christine! The party was a hit, the kids had a great time as did we, and kudos to Brandon for a grilling job well done. I took a ton of pics, but only posted a few because I wanted Christine to be able to share and post her favs. Happy 1st birthday sweet Lily!!

Christine made the cake and even made her own fondant to sculpt the lady bug. How's that for crafty? Since Christine will probably not brag about her own cake, I will. It was adorable and tasted just as good as it looked.

This is one of my fav pics because Lily was so willing to share her cake. Everybody loves a messy cake face!!

How do you beat the heat??

Swimming is the only way to beat this insane heat!!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday Courtney!!!!!!

Hope you have a fabulous birthday!!!

Happy Father's Day

Hope all you awesome Dads out there had an awesome Father's day. Today was all about Ken, my Dad, and relaxing. Relaxing in our family means hitting the lake. Maybe it is the sound of the boat, the coolness of the water, the smell of the fresh air, or the hot sun, but being out on the water is extremely peaceful. We spent most of the day on the lake and it was great. We relaxed, did a little skiing, did some swimming, and called it a day.
Happy Father's Day to the 2 BEST Dads in the entire world!!! We are so lucky and blessed!! I hope the both of you enjoyed your special day.

Having Fun In The Summer Time

Today is officially the 1st day of Summer, even though it already felt like Summer arrived months ago since we are already well into the 100 degree temp days. Here's to swimming, spending times with family and friends, snowcones, backyard fun, Bar-B-Ques, trips to the beach, making great memories, and having the best Summer ever. Welcome Summer 2009!!!

Yes.....

Yesterday after reading this blog post by Kristin, I was inspired to make today our YES day. Saying YES is so much more fun than saying NO, which is a word that I probably repeat a billion times a day. However, today I made a conscience effort to cut back on saying No and focus more on saying YES. Have you said your YES quota today?? If not, you should give it a try. It just feels good and the return smile on your child's face is priceless. I love that sometimes it is the little things that brings us so much more happiness than the big things.

Blister In The Sun

Okay, you can go ahead and thank me now that you can not get that song out of your head:-) Well, blister in the sun is exactly what happens when you have to much fun in the sun. Today I broke out the big slide and even though I re-applied 50 block several times throughout the day, I think we just spent too much time outside and stayed in the water a tad too long and hence I now have a kiddo that blistered in the sun. Kaden is a little red on his face and arms, but he is not complaining. Let's just hope the rest of the kids that were over today are not giving their parents any grief from blistering in the sun. I find it comical that the song lyrics are actually literal now. I have mixed up images running through my head. They consist of Kaden's sunburn mixed with images of my life before kids shouting this particular song at the top of my lungs at Maggie Mae's on 6th Street after I had probably had way too many. Hum, maybe Mommy spent too much time in the sun today. When I'm out walking I strut my stuff yeah I'm so strung out..........

Swimming In A Sea Of Creatures

Kaden has more fun filling up his kiddie pool with his collection of plastic creatures than he does actually swimming in it. So, beware, if you are going to go swimming with Kaden you will also be swimming with an alligator, a jelly fish, several frogs, a lizard, a king cobra, a turtle, and other miscellaneous made in China pieces. Oh the joys of being a boy! I guess the good thing is that his sisters are not really scared of any of this stuff.

So close....

Gigi we are getting some good use out of your camera you accidentally left behind. I love that I have the capability to post some mini clips of Kohen trying to walk since I can not do this with my camera. She is getting so close to taking her 1st steps and since we have your camera, I will hopefully be able to capture and post her 1st steps on here for ya.

Frogging Around

Lately I been playing around with some manual settings on my camera and I'm always looking to practice with willing subject since my kiddos run almost every time they see the camera. I had great subjects to photographer, thanks to the Hubbs , but I was not too thrilled with the final outcome come. I was hoping to get better images with this setting. I think I need to read and practice more. Practice makes perfect right???

I think she likes noodles.........

We are in full on recovery mode!!

After a very rough night last and a 104.7 fever, I called the Pedi this morning just to let them know what was going on with Kensley's recovery. The Pedi did not feel comfortable with the high temp and the fact that Kensley had been on antibiotics since Tuesday. They ordered a kidney ultrasound at Children's today to make sure there wasn't a blockage or abscess. The ultrasound took what seemed like FOREVER, but Kens did great. After the ultrasound we had orders to report back to the Pedi for a follow up examination and a repeat CBC. Most of our day was spent running around from one appt to the next. The good news was that Kensley's temp never went above 99 and that was great news YAY!! The icing on the cake was that her CBC levels were down from 38 to 9!! More great news, Yes!! The cherry on top was that the Pedi finally got the report of the ultrasound and everything looked normal!! Praise God!! Ken and I were both so relieved and now that the fever is gone, Kensley is pretty much back to her normal self and we are loving every minute of it!! The Pedi thinks Kensley just needed the full 48 hrs before her body started responding to the meds. We go back to the Pedi for a follow up screening in 10 days and then we still have to get a repeat ultrasound after we are done with the meds and also the VCUG. Knowing that our baby girl is in full on recovery mode and that the scary thunderstorms have passed, I'm going to sleep like a baby tonight.

Rollercoaster

Since Monday morning we have been on the most awful rollercoaster ride. From not knowing to thinking Kensley was having a possible appendicitis attack to not know again, to maybe the flu and everything in between, she was finally diagnosed with pyelonephritis or better know as an upper UTI. Seeing her so sick has just been heart wrenching. Thanks goodness for the power of prayer and modern medicine. Yesterday she got a shot of Rocephine and today we started a 10 day round of Suprax. She has just felt horrible and I hate seeing her so sick. I would trade places with her in a nano second if I could. She might have actually turned a corner this evening because she actually ate something and this is huge because it has been since Sunday evening that she has had anything to eat and she wanted to go swing. I practically ran outside:-) I can not tell you how excited I was to see her smiling. Seeing her precious dimples was medicine for my soul. Hopefully the fever will not come back tonight and she will be back to herself in the next few days. In 10 days we have to go back to the Pedi for a follow up urine screening and and since she is under 5 we will have to have a kidney ultrasound done to check her kidneys and a voiding cystourethrography, which is not going to be fun. We are just hoping this is an isolated UTI from Ecoli and that she does not have any abnormalities that would have othewise caused it. Thanks to everyone who has checked in on Kensley. Your prayers and well wishes have meant so much and have been greatly appreciated.

Koko's 1st Birthday Party

On Saturday we had Kohen's 1st birthday party. They came from miles around, we played, we splashed, we ate, everyone loved on the party girl, and we partied like kid rock stars!! Most importantly, we celebrated Kohen's 1st year of life. A big thanks to all for making Kohen's day so special and fun. I have over 500 pics so I grabbed a few for a slide show because there is no way I am going through all the pics right now.Yes, I am a little picture obsessed!!

Portraits That Talk

On Monday I went to Teri's to pick up my portraits I purchased from our last session and once I saw our wall canvas my world stood still. To see the life in these portraits just took my breath away and filled my eyes with tears of joy. Sometimes it hard to grasp that these perfect little beings are ALL ours. Ken and I are beyond blessed!! When I ordered these canvas I already had the perfect place in mind. I wanted to hang them above our bed in our room. Last night, I sucker Ken into getting them hung for me. I centered them between the ceiling and our headboard. From judging how they look in the below pics, I might need to lower them a tad. As always, Teri you rock!! I loves these portraits more than you'll ever know!!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday To Me

I had an awesome birthday yesterday. Thanks for all the birthday wishes!! Here's a recap of my birthday festivities.....

I started my birthday celebration early. On Monday night I attended an appreciation dinner with my MOPS steering team. They ended the dinner by singing happy birthday. Becky actually took over my camera for a change and got some pics of me being silly. Thanks ladies for special birthday wishes!!


After dinner, I then headed over to Chuy's for an early birthday happy hour celebration. Courtney, Cheryl, Eric, and Tabitha all toasted with yummy Mexican Martinis to me being 21 since that is the announcement the Chuy's waitstaff announced to everyone as they sang happy birthday. Nothing is better than chips, salsa, queso, and Mexican Martinis. Thanks guys for kicking my birthday off in style. You're the best!!
Tuesday finally rolls around and it is officially my birthday. I am greeted with hot coffee, cards and MONEY from my awesome husband and fabulous kids. Mommy is planning a shopping trip. I now have some extra cash just burning a hole in my pocket!! I was then greeted with a phone call from my Dad. Every year he is always the 1st to call to wish me a happy birthday. He always starts the phone call off by saying, X number of years ago, I could hold you in the palm of my hand. He has done this for every year that I can remember. Then my Mom called with birthday love, followed by other family members and friends. Birthdays are always great because it always reminds you of how much you are loved.

I then spent the rest of the day relaxing, well as much relaxing as it get chasing 3 kids around at our community pool with the Hubbard crew. Pizza pool side is the best. Sunshine, pizza, good company equals a very happy birthday girl.

My birthday ended with an awesome dinner at Tokyo steakhouse.

I had an awesome birthday and I felt all warm and fuzzy for the day. Thanks everyone for making my day so special. It is nice to be the Queen for the day. I guess I've been dethroned since my birthday has now passed.....

How Fun Is This??

Here are just some random shots of the kids from the weekend.

Kaden and Kensley think the dry mop makes the best ski. Kaden loves to pull Kensley around on it. Crazy kids....

How fun it is to be a kid.........