August Happenings

1st Day of School 2013!  We have an eighth grader, fifth grader, fourth grader, two third graders and a second grader!  Time goes by SO fast!!  They all had great first days and have walked in to school with a smile on their face every day since.  Carter announced he had three new friends when he came home and Lanie was happy to get back to see all her friends and her teacher Mrs. Olson.  

The Lincoln Highway Days parade was this weekend.  Carter walked in the parade with his football team, the Titans.  They sang their Titan cheer about 15 times and Carter was actually given candy along the route which made him a very happy guy.  Matthew, Lanie and I walked in the parade with the PTA, which I am honored to be vice-president of this year.    Unfortunately, Lanie was behind Matthew in the wagon and we didn't grab her in time for the picture:(  She stayed happy in the wagon the entire parade, sometimes waving with both hands to both sides.

Matthew and I met Allison and Jeff at the State fair this year to watch Hairball.  It was a really fun concert and surprisingly I knew ALOT of the songs, not as many as Matthew and Allison, but still alot:) I missed taking the kids to the fair, so will definitely do that next year.

The kids did their Public Library summer reading and each earned two tickets to a Cubs baseball game. They were so excited that grandma got to go with us!  Not a very exciting game, but some good quality relaxing time together and lots of yummy food and drinks:)

We tried to squeeze out another thing on our summer bucket list today by going to the Des Moines Blank Park Zoo.  The weather was cool and it was a great family day together.  The new Australian area at the zoo is really nice and as always the kids loved the playground area.  The highlight of the visit this time was the giraffes.  We had to leave quickly or we were about to have to explain how babies come to be to Carter:)  I wanted to stick around but Matthew insisted we move on:)  We shared our love of buffets with the kids with lunch at Old Country Buffet.  It  brought back lots of great memories of living in Iowa City. 

 

Paddle boat trip with Mom, a great way to spend a beautiful summer afternoon

Backyard summer fort:)

Not a great way to start August, but that's just the way it is.  And yes, those are motorcycles on her hospital cap:) After going to the ENT in June it was decided Lanie needed new ear tubes (3rd set) and it was time to take her enormous tonsils too. We had been concerned with her sleeping and breathing and this would be a good step to try to fix the problem.  Although it was a 4 hour pre-op wait, Lanie was an angel the whole time.  The surgery was less than 30 minutes and we got to go home at the end of the day.  The nurses at Mercy were really kind and took great care of Lanie.  She seemed to be in very little pain the whole time we were there.  The next couple days at home were good for the most part, she'd wake up with some pain and need some ibuprofin right away and she would get really tired and whiny, but other than that recovery seems to be going great.  She seems to be sleeping more soundly and is eating well.  The last couple days we've noticed her voice seems to be changing, and her words are less articulate, but hopefully with some speech therapy and more recovery time, things will get back on track.