Ava Girl

It's photo shoot time! Ava is quite the little diva.

The Beach...That's Right...THE BEACH!

So how was your Memorial Day?  Ours was great...we spent it at the beach and we didn't even leave Kansas. Yep, you heard me right...THE BEACH!  Apparently there is a beautiful lake just a short 10-minute drive from our house with a fantastic beach...who knew?  We sure didn't.  The kids loved it.  Even Riley who had to stay on the deck in the shade and play iPod for 3-hours loved it.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day has taken on a whole new meaning for me.  It was 4-years ago today that I woke up and knew that something was wrong.  3-months later, I was diagnosed with MS.  It's been a bumpy ride, but so far, so good.  Today I am grateful for the men and women who have served and continue to serve our country.  At the same time, I am also grateful for my health.  Happy Memorial Day to my friends and family.

Riding A Bike

Thanks to Daddy, Tanner can officially ride a bike!  The child was totally ready....It only took him 1-day to master the art of riding a bike with no training wheels.

Yay for summer!!!

Remodel Central

We've been doing a bit of a remodel on some rooms in our house.  The upstairs bathroom, our bedroom, and our laundry room.  (The laundry room is still under construction and not ready to see...yet...hopefully tomorrow I can snap a picture of the finished product!)

First off, the bathroom.  This room was ORANGE when we moved in...that's right, orange!  We painted it...and hated it...so we painted in again.  This time, thankfully, we love it!  I think you will too.

Before

After

It's a slight improvement!  :)

Now for the bedroom.

Before...holy cow!

And After...Love it!

Living in Tornado Alley

You know you live in Kansas when the tornado sirens go off, you get your kids to the basement...

And then run to your front porch to take this picture...

Happy Gradulation Day

Normally I don't put a lot of stock in preschool graduations, but when Tanner hopped into the car during preschool pick-up and excitedly told me all about his "gradulation", I knew I would have to do something special for him.  So, I made these graduation cupcakes for him to give to all his friends.  They were a hit!

Tanner's preschool included a lot of high school students who came every day from the local high school.  They got credit for learning how to be an early childhood educator.  Tanner loved it, but it did make for a VERY full classroom!  During the ridiculously long video, Tanner got a little tired.  He had absolutely no problem with plopping himself on Crystal's lap to take a little break from the rigors of sitting.

Here are some funny videos I got at his graduation.  They are all kind of long...for posterity's sake...but they totally show off Tanner's little personality.

This is the song they sing at the beginning of every preschool day

And what preschool experience would be complete without "A Toodie Ta"?  I sang this song 30-years ago when I was in preschool and it was kind of fun to see Tanner sing it with his preschool class too.  It's a classic for a reason folks.  Any song where you stick your rear end out AND your tongue is destined for longevity.

We have a tradition at our house loving called "The Green Plate".  Whenever something special happens to one of the kids, they get to eat off of the green plate for dinner.  The kids absolutely go batty over it!  It doesn't make an appearance often...it has to be a REALLY special occasion...like preschool gradulation.

And The Loser Blogger Award Goes To...

Wow!  I can't believe it has been SOOOO long since I last blogged.  It's been so long, that when I logged in to Blogger today I had to re-acquaint myself with this whole new system they have put in place (who knew?).

Let's see...what has happened in the past month: Riley had surgery on both of his feet and is now in double walking casts (which come off in TWO weeks!).  Tanner 'gradulated' from preschool and is now a kindergartner.  A tornado touched down close enough to our house that we got a cool picture of it from our front porch.  Todd spent 2-weeks in Europe with his brother Ryan.  Tanner learned to ride a bike. Todd got accepted into graduate school at the University of Kansas.  Yesterday was the first official day of summer vacation...Wow again!  How will I ever catch up?

Well, let's start with Riley shall we.

Riley has walked on his tippie toes ever since he could walk.  Over the past year or so it has gotten a lot more noticeable, so we FINALLY took him to see an orthopedic surgeon to see what could be done.  We were hoping some physical therapy would do the trick...um, no.  The specialist told us that Riley's inner calf muscle is too short and the only way to help him walk flat footed is surgery.  Crap!  So, surgery it was.  The big problem was that Todd had already scheduled this trip to Europe with Ryan and the surgery was going to fall right in the middle of it.  I could have postponed the surgery, but it would have meant that Riley would be in NON-water proof casts for most of the hot, HOT summer.  No way!  (insert big sigh....)  Thankfully, my wonderful mother consented to come and help me be nurse for our darling convalescent.

Riley was such a trooper during this whole ordeal.  He looks mad in the picture, but only because he is playing it up for the camera.  In reality, he was laughing and joking around the whole time.  

Riley got his own personal DVD player and was able to watch Star Wars for a while...he liked it better under his blanket.  

The surgery involved Dr. Jarka cutting his achillies tendons in two different places.  She cut 60% through the tendon from right to left and then 60% of the same tendon, only a little further down and from left to right...then she flexed his foot to make the tendon stretch out like an accordion...GROSS!

Riley camped out on the downstairs couch for several days.  I didn't make him walk for the first day.  The second day I did make him stand up...very briefly...but still, he did not walk.  The third day, however, was a walking day.  This was a sad day.  Someone told him that he was very brave and his response was, "Not really.  My mom made me do it".  The first time he walked was awful.  The second time he walked, not so awful.  Before I knew it, he was walking around like a crazy person...if a crazy person went the speed of a snail and used a teeny-tiny hobbit walker that is.

Within a week he was back at school.  I was so worried how the other kids would react to Riley using a walker, but I needn't have worried.  Riley's friends thought it was the coolest thing ever.  One of his friends saw him and said, "Can Riley play tetherball?"  When he was told no, he promptly said, "Well then I won't play either." He had several friends every recess who volunteered themselves to stay in with Riley and play board games with him.  A little girl in his class even stopped me and very solemnly said, "Mrs. Register, I just want you to know that I am taking care of Riley.  I even gave him one of my colored pencils today."   He felt like a rock star!

A week after that, the walker was gone.  And though he still has his casts on, he runs and jumps and plays like they weren't there at all.  And would you believe it, every moment since the picture above, my Riley Boy has not let one word of complaint escape his lips...regarding his casts anyway ;)