Homeschool end of summer picnic

We had such a great time at the homeschool picnic. We meet at the Boyscout camp grounds. After lunch we had a gamepalooza! There was prizes for the winner of the games. One prize per winner. So a kid could win a few times but only allowed to get one prize. Zach and his team won the sack race. My camera wasn't working right so I didn't get a picture of that unfortunately.

Sam won the apple bobbing contest. Does this really surprise anyone that Sam won a contest involving food?!


Here is Zach with his good friend, William doing a 3 legged race. The tie broke right away so they just put there legs together and did their best.
They didn't win, but had a good time.

Zach's birthday.

Zach had a low key birthday this year. The theme was Neopets. He made his own pinata and helped me decorate his Neopet lemon poppy seed cake. He has been all about Legos recently so that is what he got from almost everyone. Except the few who gave him money. He is trying to save up money to got to camp next year so he put the money in the bank.

Mary Beth's visit

Mary Beth, Mabe for short, arrived at our house around midnight August 7th. She was greeted with lots of hugs and ticked off barking by my dog, Frost, who is normally gentle and thrilled to having people over. This time, however, Frost was freaked out by this person who dared to arrive so late at night in a cap and scarf. She pretty much held that first night's offense against Mabe for several days, but eventually did warm up to her.
Mabe stayed with us for little over a week. It was nice to get a chance to catch up with her and hear all about her time in Kenya working at a school for Deaf children. She has such a heart for them and it pained her to leave. Mabe is gifted in working with children. She knows how to relate to them. What make them tick and what helps them learn. She did so much good there and I know the Lord can't wait to use her again, now that her time there has ended. Speaking of which didn't end well. She was working for Peace Corp, but they fired her. See, Mabe made waves, by showing the teachers what works to help the children learn. The children started improving and making leaps in their education. They didn't like being shown their errors. Once she slipped up and traveled at night they proptly fired her as well as make false accusation about Mabe doing inappropriate things with the male students. We were floored by this news and wished we could have done something about it. Mabe hopes to make it back there for a visit to see how the kids are doing. For now she is back in CA, but we are trying to lure her to move here by us. You know, entice her with snow and a small city with not much to do :-\. I don't know if it's working.

Fair.

My friend Monica called and asked to meet us at the fair here in Janesville. If not for her call, I would have totally forgotten about it. We live so close to the grounds that we can walk there. The kids had a blast with their friend Mathew and I got a chance to catch up with Monica. Zach had a little incident. He bit down wrong, knocked a tooth loose and his mouth started bleeding. It was one of his lower k-9s that we thought was an adult tooth. So I had to leave Sam with Monica and take Zach to the dentist. Our fears were relieved when we were told it was a baby tooth and the adult tooth is trying to push it out but a spacer was preventing it. So we set up an appointment with an orthodontist and went back to the fair to join Monica, Mathew and Sam. I'm glad we were able to go back. It would have broken Zach's heart to have missed the fair.
Eventually the Mega Loop caught Sam's eye. So she went to see if she was big enough. I was secretly hoping she wasn't. But no such luck, Sam was just big enough.
I couldn't join her, but she didn't care. She is a roller coaster girl and nothing was going to stand in her way of a thrill! Zach was like, 'no way, am I going on that!' He went in the fun house next door with Mathew. Monica and I watch in amazement and trepidation as the roller coaster went round and round and occasionally hung upside down! When she got off she was shaking. She said it was scary, but fun! That's my girl!
Eventually the afternoon faded and Monica and her kids had to leave. We stayed and continued going on pretty much ever ride except the toddler ones. We ended the day with a nice relaxing ride on the Ferris Wheel.

July Summary

July is near it's completion and we have been very busy, so before we enter August I figured I better write about what we've been up to around here.

My dad had his now annual 4th of July party at his pond aka, Lake Rusty.

This year they added lobster to the menu. Not my thing, but it was interesting watching them cook them.

Johnny, pictured above went pond hopping with his snowmobile. He didn't make it across this time at all. They dragged it out of the pond and were able to start it up again!
Then there was a ballon fight and Mike was soaked by the time they were done because Shane and Jacob really got him good. The kids enjoyed chasing Shane around trying to get him.

After a change of clothes they brought out the sparklers for the kids. Sam was burned by a spark and has now sworn off sparklers completely. Zach was even scared to hold one after that. So when he finally did take one, he made a sparkler volcano in the sand area instead of holding it.

Mike was the fire works man this year. Jacob and Shane helped, but Mike did the majority of the work. He did a great job spacing out the fire works so that it kept our interest and it wasn't too long either.

Matt's work, Great Lakes, had their annual employee picnic at Henry Vilas Zoo. Not surprising, the kids really enjoyed it.


The kids and I attended my friend (and 3rd cousin) Jenny's wedding. She married her best friend Denny Hackel in Wausau.

The next day, after the wedding, my mother-in-law came to visit us in Janesville. I rushed home from Wausau to join them all at John and Jenny's house.
Grandma Rose left us this morning at 7 AM to fly back to CA, but has informed us that she hopes to move back to Wausau next summer, yay!!!

Phew, now on to August. Mary Beth is planning a visit Aug 8-21. Can't wait to see her. :o).

Mom's heart scare.

This past Monday (6/15/2009) my mom started experiencing a burning sensation in her jaw and neck. She woke my dad and asked him to take her to the hospital. He did (after taking a shower first). When my mom describe her symptoms, they rushed her back to run the gambit of test for her heart. Oh, let's see if I can remember them all.
1. She had a heart cath: A thin hollow flexible tube is inserted in the artery by the groin.
Pressure was measured and an x-ray angiogram movie of the heart and blood vessels are taken. They inject a "dye" through the catheter to make the arteries visible on the x-ray movie. I was surprised that they keep you awake for this one!

2. Ultrasounds on her heart and legs.

3. TEE (trans-thoracic echocardiogram)

Mom said the TEE was torturous! She said the tub going in wasn't that bad, but then the doctor asked her to cough. That is when the gag reflex kicked in and 2 nurses had to hold her down as she thrashed around til the doctor pulled it out. It is, of course, completely normal. Who wouldn't gag and thrash.
I'm sure there's more, but this is me so what do you expect.
With these procedures, they were able to see that my mom had a small heart attack in her right ventricle. The cause of the heart attack was a blood clot found in a vein at the base of her heart. Her arteries are otherwise clean; no plaque. She does have slightly high cholesterol, so the doctor proscribed her some meds for that and blood thinners. Also, they gave her nitroglycerin tablets to carry around with her. If she develops the same symptoms (burning sensation of jaw and throat.) She is suppose to take up to 3. If after three, the symptoms don't go away, then she is to go to the ER.

So that is the facts of it all, here is how it all went down on my end. My dad called me Monday morning at 9:35 to tell me something was wrong with mom and that she is with the doctors in the ER. I spent the morning waiting, worrying and praying (kids included). My dad told me they might put in a stint. If they did, there is a risk of a heart attack during the procedure. Later, he calls me and tells me she had a heart attack. For you Facebookers, you will remember I thought she got a heart attack from the stint. I was wrong and didn't know the full story til I drove to Wausau, to visit my mom. There, I got the info from the horses mouth, ie, my mom.
I left, Tuesday afternoon with the kids for Wausau. I drove to my sister's new house, dropped off the dog and kids with Laura's mother-in-law, Carla. The kids were just too antsy to visit grandma in the hospital. I got the blessed opportunity to meet the male nurse who talked too much and butted in on our conversations. I mean, the man well meaning, but he was just too much.
The next day was Wednesday, check out day. Mom was so eager to get out of the hospital. Plus, Laura was having an ultrasound that day and mom wanted to tag along. I met mom at the hospital just before she left with Laura, because I was in charge of gathering the massive amount of flowers people had brought her in the hospital. She got so many complements and comments on the numerous flowers she received. One nurse asked her how long she had been there and was shock when my mom told her two days.
After dropping the flowers off at mom and dad's house I met them, laura, Jeremy, and Carla, at Buffalo Wild Wings were we all learned that Laura is having a girl, Sydney Mae. Yay!!!

I am so glad I went up there. Not only did I get to see the ultrasound pictures right away, I was able to help my mom out a little. Some of you may already know that my mom is not one for sitting down. She is persistently on the move and has a million projects she is doing or wants to do. Telling her she can't lift anything over 5 lbs for 48 hours is equivalent to torture. But, that was the doctor's orders, so she had to allow me to things for her like plant the flowers she got while in the hospital in her garden (at least the ones that were potted) from and do laundry. Luckily, my aunt Jackie cleans her house every Monday, so she doesn't need to worry about that. I just wish I could have gotten her lawn mowed, but we ran out of time. I'm hoping my brother or dad will take care of that.
I can't believe how fast the time went. Mom is going back to work next Monday already. I wish could be up there longer to help her more. She isn't suppose to lift anything over 10 lbs for the next month. Yeah, I give her a week.
During my visit I made note of several things. One, my mom is proof that a life serving others is a blessing with rich returns. The day after she is out of the hospital she is having me take individual pictures of the flowers she received, so she can make personal "thank yous." Her mind was yet again on others. She saw how many people called her, sent her cards, and gifts. I could see she was blown away and yet she says, "oh, don't waste your money." I think it did her good to see that she was so loved. I know it was a testimony I won't forget, and that's saying something. The second thing I noticed was, the power of prayer. When I heard my mom's health was in jeopardy, I logged on to Facebook and pleaded for prayer on her behalf. I'm so thankful for all who lifted her life up before the Lord. Most had never met my mother or barely knew her! While I was driving up to Wausau, I did have a sense of calm wave over me. I just knew that things were going to be okay. Finally three, God is good. Oh, I've known that for awhile now, but it was nice to be reminded.
Mom's little scare helped her (and me) see the need to slow down, enjoy life a little more, stop stressing so much about little things, cherish those you love and allow other to serve you so they can be so blessed. Now, hopefully she will heed the Lord's little tap on the shoulder and gather the blessings He wishes to lavish on her.

Fame and new swing set.

The kids and I went to Farm and Fleet to buy a much needed weed-whacker. After locating it, we went to look for swing sets. I just went straight down the isle without really looking what was ahead of me. I was a little annoyed with all the cords laying around for me to maneuver my cart around, so I wasn't really looking as I loudly drove my cart into the production of a Farm and Fleet commercial. Oh, the massive embarrassment followed by apologies. So, after slinking out of there, we finally found the swing sets that were actually sold-out. Well we were already there, so we stuck around as they filmed the commercial. Zach was enthralled with the whole process and super excited when the main actor waved at him. Sam on the other hand, just played with the stuff animals on a nearby stand. I practically had to drag Zach out of there. He started plotting on how he could stumble into the commercial. Sorry buddy!

I did eventually find a swing set at Toys R Us which was last years model and on clearance. It took 3 days to put up. And technically it's not finished because we still need to put on the other 3 anchors. Oh, and if I every find the guy who put the directions together, I might strangle him.
But, after all the pain, sweat, and sudden out burst of screaming. The kids finally got to enjoy it a little with their neighbor friend, Lily.


One more little side note, there is suppose to be a teeter-tooter connected to the swing set, but it is currently on the rafters in the shed. Why? Because the lovely directions don't tell you which legs go where so we have the leg where the teeter-tooter attaches in the front. Turns out it has to be in the back or you can't connect it. So, in order to put the teeter-tooter on, we have to take off the 2 legs on the side and switch them. Matt, said that's not going to happen anytime soon (if at all).