We Have a Tree House!

After a ton of stressing, research, discussing and deliberating, we brought Sharon (Uncle Dennis' awesome girlfriend) into the process. There is a lot to this story, but I am sure no one wants to read about all of my doubts, questions and deliberations. So, to make a long story semi-short, I discussed everything with Sharon. Not only did she come up with a great idea and location to place the tree house, but she also pitched the idea to Allan and CONVINCED him to build it on Saturday. I will be forever grateful to Sharon for this, and so will our children.
We started on Saturday after breakfast. The guys, Allan, Dennis and John were heading out to the local Lowe's to purchase the supplies. We sent Will along to keep them on track and Sharon gave Dennis a firm speech about sticking to the task before they left. For those readers who have men in their lives, you know why we had to resort to those measures.
The day was perfect, with 70 degree weather, and the project went smoothly with only a few doubts. It is amazing what a group of hard workers and good ideas can get you!
We worked until almost dark and ended up with a fort in the trees, two sides of spindles and a slide. Since Sharon and I couldn't bear not letting the kids play on the fort until the rest of the spindles were done, who knows when, we finished them the next day, on Easter. And while the Knot Master (aka Dennis) was in our midst, we added a swing and rope for climbing/swinging.

I knew the whole thing was worth it when the kids had to be pried off to come inside to eat and the words "thank you" kept coming out of their mouths. It was truly priceless hearing little Jack say thank you over and over. They have played in the tree house everyday since it was built.

I can't begin to express enough thanks to everyone who worked on the tree house and especially to Sharon who initiated the whole project. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
Once again, we had an awesome time completing a project with family. It almost isn't work when you have as much fun as we did! I think our muscles told us otherwise though. :)

Tonsil Update

We had an appointment with an ENT yesterday regarding Will's tonsils. Long and short of it is that he is going to have the tonsils taken out. The doctor will look at the adenoids during surgery and determine from there if they also need to be removed. His guess is that they will have to be removed as well. No big surprise there.
So far, the surgery is scheduled for June 25th. We have really been playing this surgery up, just in case, so Will is now fully prepared and almost looking forward it. His main thought is: ICE CREAM and Popsicles. He even wrote a letter to his friend yesterday telling him that he had to have his tonsils removed and.....p.s. I get to eat lots of ice cream.

Dry Morning #2!

Last week, Jack woke up with a dry diaper. This was amazing, so I immediately put him on the toilet. After being uncomfortable for a bit, he relaxed and we heard the SOUND. It was the beautiful sound of pee tinkling in the toilet!!!!!! It was such a celebration! Emma and Will came in the bathroom and we had high fives all around. Then, we did some dancing, clapping, singing and other antics that no one really wants to envision. :)
Jack then went to Emma's school and told everyone he saw that he went potty in the toilet. It was hysterical. He was like a rock star that day! Everyone was giving him high fives and candy (it was the Easter party day). We really lived it up because I certainly didn't expect it to happen again anytime soon.
Leave it to Jack to prove me wrong! He woke up again this morning with a dry diaper and I put him on the toilet. He wasn't happy about it this morning, but I told him to just sit for a minute while I got Emma's toothbrush ready. All of the sudden he was yelling "I did it! I did it!". He sure was! More high fives and celebration today! One step at a time and big celebration with each one.

Our First Geocache!

In a word, it is fun! Last weekend, we ordered pizza for lunch and had 15 minutes to wait for it to be done. Allan, the genius, decided to look for our first geocache. We had previously downloaded geocache sites onto our GPS for future use.
For those not familiar with this activity, here is how it works: People hide geocaches all over the world. You can go online to geocache.com to find the locations. You must have a GPS to locate the geocache. The GPS will direct you to a pretty specific area. From there, you have to hunt for the "box". Inside the box will be a log book to sign and "treasures" as termed by our children. You have to leave something, if you take something.
For our first hunt, we headed to a local park. We parked the van and had to hike into the woods to find our geocache. Will and Emma were literally running down a path trying to be the first ones to find the "treasure". They didn't understand that it wasn't going to just jump out at them! Of course, Allan had the GPS in hand and Jack and I brought up the rear because his little legs had a hard time maneuvering over the logs and around the puddles. :) After Allan had directed the big two to the general spot, they began searching. All of the sudden, we heard a scream. It could only mean that Miss Emma had found the geocache! They waited to open it until Jack and I arrived at the spot. It was a green metal box and inside was a log book, which we signed. There were also a few trinkets that we could choose from to take. We left an American flag and took a geocoin.
The kids talked about this "adventure" and "treasure hunt" all day long. It was SO much fun! And it was free! We haven't gone hunting again yet, but plan to make this a family activity as often as we can.

Catching up

A lot has been going on since I last blogged. Since I don't have a lot of time and the beautiful weather is calling me, I am just going to hit the highlights without much detail. I know, that will be hard for me to do, but I am going to attempt it!

Aunt Pat and Uncle Larry drove down, with my mom in tow, to join in on the Welcome Home Celebration for Chris. We had a GREAT visit with lots of catching up, card playing, cocktail hours complete with homemade wine (thank goodness Uncle Larry inherited Grandpa's winemaking skills!) and way too much food! It was a wonderful visit, but way too short. Uncle Larry promises that they will be back and I WILL hold him to it!

The end of February our time was devoted to Will. He was in a Cup Stacking tournament, a Cub Scout pinewood derby and had a sleepover at SciWorks with his dad and a couple hundred other scouts. He won a third place medal in Cup Stacking, but didn't place in the derby.

The beginning of March brought lots of beautiful weather and we have been taking advantage of each day. Will started baseball practice and is extremely excited about playing this year. He is in a more serious league this year, so we are all anxious to see how things turn out.

Allan put up a bird feeder for me (my birthday present) and we are squirrel-free so far. We tried wrapping copper sheeting around the post in hopes that it would not allow the squirrels to climb. Stay tuned our final results. Now, if we could just keep the deer away from the backyard flowers and plants......

Here are a few pictures to highlight the last few weeks.

We have grass!

Will's Doctor Visit

For quite some time now, Will has been having some breathing issues. He snores a lot at night, it is difficult to understand him while he is reading out loud because he breathes through his mouth while doing so and he has had a lot of congestion off and on since school started last fall. At first, I thought it was a cold, but even that is odd for Will because he just NEVER gets sick. As these problems have lingered on for months now, I finally decided to take him to a doctor. We also switched doctors as of this visit.
To start the visit, the nurse was asking me if Will was allergic to anything. I told her "no" and Will interrupted by saying "yes". Of course, I looked at him like he was crazy, but he went on to explain that he is "allergic to salt, errr, I mean pepper, just like everyone else". I could not, for the life of me, understand what he was getting at. Then he started explaining how everyone sneezes when they smell pepper. Thus, everyone is allergic to it! That nurse about fell out! She was still laughing about it when she left after all of her questions.
Then came the doctor. First, I was told that he has incredibly large tonsils and adenoids. This is not news, but since he is now 7 years old, we are past the window which allows a child to "grow into" his tonsils. Given this, we were referred to an ENT and Will will more than likely have both tonsils and adenoids removed in the near future. I can't wait to squeeze this event into our busy calendar!
Next, the doctor suggested that he more than likely has allergies that are related to our current environment/region. She believes he has allergies because of the purple half-circles under his eyes, the pale color of the inside of his nose and the allergy-related nodules that are in the back of his throat. To find out more, she did some blood tests on Will. He had to have 3 large vials filled.
The boy was cracking me up during this procedure. The nurse wanted him to lie down so she could draw the blood. All he wanted was to see the vials, the needle, and the rest of her equipment. He wanted a full explanation of what everything was and what it was used for. He even asked if the vials had to be completely filled! I think she thought he was nervous, rather than inquisitive, so I had to step in and briefly explain Will's nature and his future ambitions of being a researcher. That being said, SHE calmed down a little and was able to fill all 3 vials.
To get a hold on these allergies, we left with instructions to buy Zyrtec, a probiotic, Lil' Critter vitamins and cod liver oil. How's that for a combination? I'll keep you posted on his progress.
THEN, to top off Will's already fabulous day, I demanded that he get a haircut in preparation of the upcoming annual Bunny Pictures. He really was not happy with me. Even though, I did not let her cut "the wall". But that is a whole other blog topic.

Our Will

It certainly isn't news that our kids amaze us. Not a day goes by that one of them doesn't do something that makes us say "wow!", or "can you believe they said that?!". I certainly can't share everything (even though I would LOVE to). But, from time to time, I just have to get it all out.

Sunday night, after the extreme excitement of welcoming Chris home, I was talking to Will in bed. We reviewed our experience of happiness, excitement and pride that went along with Chris coming home. I then asked Will if he thought he would be a soldier when he grew up. He was very thoughtful and then said, "probably not. I think I would prefer to be one of those guys on the boats. That would be much safer. I am going to take the safe route." I figured out that he meant he would like to be in the Navy. That is good enough for me. Please, DW and PD, don't give him too much information!

Last night, Will attended "Faith Formation". This is our church's form of religious instruction for children. His assignment was to "love and serve" someone in his family for a day. We as parents were asked to write down who he chose, how he intended to love and serve them, and then follow up with what he did to love and serve this person. On the way home, I questioned him as to who he was going to choose and what he intended to do. He said that he would choose Mommy and that he would give me a "makeover" as a way of loving and serving me. I won't get into the rest of the conversation, but will say this: my children think I am already pretty, but have the ability and desire to make me even MORE pretty. God love 'em.

Tonight, Will quizzed us at the dinner table with presidential facts. Do YOU know what bird Teddy Roosevelt wanted to have as the national bird?! If not, ask Will.

Children are complex and unique individuals. They bring more insight, love and joy to my life than I can even describe. It is something that no one can even venture to understand until they themselves are a parent. I feel extremely blessed that God has allowed me to have this experience.