Last day of preschool...for this year

Grant has loved preschool this year and loved his teachers, and his teachers have loved him. Miss Lori called him "Little Theologian." :) She appreciated his passionate, strong personality and helped him use that energy in constructive ways like showing a new student around and setting a good example for his friends during circle time. She was very sweet when he had his tonsillectomy--prayed for him in class, sent cards home, and checked on him while he was gone. We are thankful for a good year. He'll be back in the fall, with a different teacher, though, since we have decided to wait another year to put him in kindergarten. Next year he will go to three days a week instead of just two.

Last day of school!

Mother's Day

The kids humored their mother on Mother's Day and posed for a photo with me.
They spoiled me that morning, too. Greg made us a delicious breakfast, and I didn't have to do any work all day long! I received some lovely hand-made gifts, too.

After church we went over to Grandpa and Grandma A.'s, had lunch (which I didn't have to prepare!), and spent the afternoon with them. Kari spent a long while driving the little boys around.

Stitches...again

We had just gotten back from Kari's soccer game and were prepping lunch when Grant and Joel ran through the kitchen, playing some kind of chasing game. Joel dodged the table, but Grant, following closely behind, ran smack into it with his forehead. I was just a step away and saw immediately that he was going to need stitches. Greg and I sprang into action, grabbed a towel and our shoes, and left Kari in charge to babysit at home. Our pediatrician's office is open on Saturdays but only until noon. Of course, this happened at 12:05pm, so off to the ER we went. Greg rode in the back with Grant, holding a towel over the wound, and I drove with the windows down, trying not to pass out. We made it just fine, rushed him in, and then...sat in the waiting room for an hour and a half. They finally got us back into a room where we waited some more. Grant did great while they stitched him up. Greg hung with Grant while I turned away and covered my ears until they were done. I know my limits. Spending three hours in the emergency room on that sunny Saturday was not in our plan, but we counted our blessings--we have good medical insurance, it was only 5 stitches, and Greg was still in town and not on his business trip yet!

Zoo Boys

Grant and his friend, Ethan, share a passion for Skylanders (video game figures), so we had Ethan come spend the day with us a few weeks ago. I took them to the zoo in the morning, and then we came back to our house to play. Those two played for 3 hours straight.

They were pretty cute at the zoo in their sunglasses and hoodies. They were cracking me up with their maps, too.

Muffins with Mom

I went to Grant's preschool today for "Muffins with Mom." Grant sure can be sweet--loved it.

Yard Improvements

This early spring we've had gave us an early start to our yard maintenance. I've been weeding and planting over the last couple of months, and we finished up most of it this last week. I planted some new shrubs, some flowers, and got my garden boxes planted, too. Many thanks to Dad for sharing his greenhouse-grown plants and flowers. He's my supplier and gardening expert. :)

This crooked tree out front has bothered me ever since we bought the house. Every summer and fall it dropped ugly seeds that made a mess on the sidewalk and street. It just needed to be replaced. It wasn't quite this crooked until we started messing with it and discovered it didn't have very deep roots. Greg took it out the day after I took this photo, and we replaced it with a white flowering dogwood that will be lovely every spring (and straight).

We started in on laying new bark dust over the weekend but didn't have time to get it all done, so Monday morning, I decided to attempt it by myself.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it, but I did! I power washed the porch and driveway, and then I purchased, shoveled, and spread almost two yards of bark dust by myself! I felt so accomplished and so tired by the end of that day! I love how clean and tidy fresh bark dust makes the yard look.

The next day Grant helped me make a stepping stone path on both sides of our house, something we've wanted to do for the past few years. I've had enough manual labor and back-breaking work to last me a while now. I'm done.

Piano Festival

Kari has been playing the piano for almost 2 1/2 years now and participated in her second piano festival. She played beautifully and earned a "superior" rating. It was fun for her to have two friends playing in her same group this time. Sarah and Amaya also take lessons from Katie. They all performed very well.

Tonsillectomy Ups and Downs

After months of chronic sinus infections, ear infections, and tonsillitis and months of being on antibiotics, it was finally decided that Grant needed his tonsils out. After our miserable experience with Joel and his tonsillectomy recovery, we were not eager to do it again but knew it was necessary. The doctor confirmed the fact that it was necessary when he came out to talk to Greg and I post-surgery. Grant had infection in there and his tonsils were "mush."  He had about 45 minutes of pure misery and pain when he got back to his room, but he overall he did really well. The nurse said she'd never seen a patient this young do so well! In typical Grant fashion, he didn't sleep, but he ate his popsicle and did what they asked him to do, and we headed home. 

The first two days were GREAT. Grant was happy to sit and watch TV, sip his juice, and eat ice cream. He had a Rescue Bots cartoon marathon that first day. He took his medicine, no problem! Greg and I were shocked at how well he did. It was NOT that way with Joel. 

We made a bed on the floor of our bedroom for him, and that is where he slept for almost two weeks. We got very little sleep that first week. After the first two amazing days, things went south. Grant had times where he felt fine (in the middle of his pain med regimen) and wanted to run around and play, but then he had times when he was a wreck. Throughout the week, he got more irritable, experienced more pain, and started refusing his medicine, especially in the middle of the night. It is not fun to force medicine down a kid's throat at 2am! It doesn't really work. His surgery was on a Friday morning, and by the following Thursday, he was so miserable (and we were so exhausted!) that I called the doctor, begging for some relief. They called in more prednisone for him and gave him more pain medication that we could give more often. Those two things combined did the trick and helped us get him through the tail-end of his recovery. 

We let Grant go back to preschool 12 days after his surgery, and it may have been a little too soon. His teacher said he started fading about an hour before school was over, but he made it through. When we got home, he threw a massive tantrum over something silly, and I put him in our room to cool down, and when I went back up to check on him, he was sound asleep. Preschool wore him out!

It's been a little over 2 1/2 weeks now, and he's pretty much recovered, just a little more tired than usual. We are all so glad to be done with tonsillectomies!

watching TV while waiting for his surgery
 

helping me plant flowers the day after his surgery

Watching a show with "Hoppy," the stuffed bunny he picked out at the hospital. Hoppy became his new best friend that week.

all done in after a rough night

Happily painting and enjoying gifts from his friend, Caleb

miserable in his daytime cozy spot again--his station for over a week

zonked out in the middle of the day after his first day back at preschool

Joel's American Symbol

We all worked hard on this school project.  Joel had to do a speech on a famous American symbol of his choosing and then had to create a 3-D visual to go along with it. We hot glued sugar cubes to make the Washington Monument. Joel did a great job on his speech and really liked how his project turned out. 

Grant

Time to catch up a little.  I have a bunch of photos of time spent with Grant. He and I spend the most time together, just the two of us. We spent A LOT of time together the last couple weeks when he got his tonsils out, but I'll post about that later. He's pretty good at playing independently, but sometimes he needs some help getting started and sometimes just wants some company.

Every Tuesday is "sharing" day at preschool, and Grant wanted to bring the cats to share. We took a picture instead. Getting both cats in the photo proved to be a challenge, but we did it.

A stop at the Target park makes running errands much more exciting for this four-year-old.

He mastered the rings, which was very exciting. Six months ago, he wasn't able to do it, but now he's a pro.

Here he is, waving at us from up on stage, at his preschool spring music program--pretty cute! Here's the video Grandpa put together of some of the songs. https://vimeo.com/125004613