eBay

Well are trying the eBay thing. Since the kids have been home from Christmas break they have been cleaning out their closets and game cabinet and we are posting it on eBay to see if we could get some money for them/us for extra activities. It is amazing how much stuff we have in our house that we haven't used. My craft room was clean until they turned it into the eBay room. Hopefully this we teach them the value of money. David and I have also posted tasks that we want done around the house and put a value amount to them. Once the task is completed, then they get rewarded for it. So far all the leaves are picked up. Tomorrow they said they are detailing my car and washing windows inside and out.

Christmas

Make a Smilebox slideshow

In-OUT Burger

We stopped on the way home from Disneyland at In-Out Burger for lunch. Our kids love this place. Hannah gets very excited when she sees the fry tray and her cheese burger. It is amazing what we take for granite in this world. Five months ago I don't think Hannah was eating cheeseburger and fries. She is one amazing little girl.

Disneyland 21-23, 2008

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Look Who Met Mickey!!!!

Me and Emily waiting for Fantasmic! at the 10:30 showing. This is one of my favorite shows!

The three kids with the "Big Cheese".

Dad and Hannah goofing off in Toontown.

Hannah LOVES It's A Small World. She's always looking and laughing at everything.

And, as an added bonus, I noticed that there was some stage lighting inside the Candy Shop along Main Street, and I walked in to check it out. Low and behold, Guy Feiri was in there filming his Christmas food show for next year!!!

Ok, since we really haven't had a chance to do this on our mini trips to Disneyland, we finally made it to Toontown :-( lol (I have a problem with it being WAY OUTDATED, but I won't get into it.) Anyways, we took Hannah to Mickey's house, and got some pictures!!! I've wanted to do this for a while, and finally got the chance!! She was soo cute!! She waved at Mickey, and just stared at him!! Enjoy the pictures!

>>Jake

(P.S. look for a bigger update tomorrow night!!)

Ride to Disneyland

My wonderful husband driving us to Disneyland. He is concentrating on the road as he pulls our 31 foot travel trailer to Disneyland!!!

Emily trying to get Jacob to wake up to answer a question.

One tired kid. He had a baseball camp all weekend. He is wiped out.

Hannah is entertaining herself with the In-Out Burger fry container.

Cookies

Enjoying the cookie dough!! Her little nose is so cute with all the flour on it.
Trying to get two spoons into her mouth!!
Emily stirring in the chocolate chips and the mint chips. These cookies where AWESOME!
My AWESOME mixer that my AWESOME husband bought me last CHRISTMAS!

Emily needed to take chocolate chip cookies to her school Christmas party. I realized when I was making them that it was Hannah's first homemade cookie. She loved making the cookies.

Zooming Shopping Cart

Jacob attached the camera to the bottom of Hannah's cart and zoomed her around our house. She thought it was so much fun. She now wants it to be a nightly routine.

Finals & The Constitution

Jacob has finals this week and Emily has the Constitution test TODAY!!!!! It is going to be a crazy week around our house. The Jake and Em get out of school for CHRISTmas break on Friday. They are both really looking forward to some time off. It is amazing to me the this marks the half way point for the school year. Hope everyone has a great week!

BCHS Championship Game

They did it again!!!

We could barely see the scoreboard, and this was zoomed all the way in! It just looks like the numbers are hanging there. . .

Rebecca, Taylor, and Stephanie.

Emily, Jennifer, and a some girl whose name I can never remember. . . . *cough cough Brooke*

Where's the players?

Well, BCHS won their second Championship in a row last friday night. We played Corcoran, a small town in the middle of nowhere, covered in fog. Mom and Hannah stayed home because we didn't want Hannah out in the cold. Dad took me and Emily, and some of her friends up to the game, and brought a few of my friends home. It was really fun. Cold, but fun.

The Christmas Tree!

We have the tree up and Hannah loves it. She thinks it is lots of fun to play with the snow globe under the tree. The big boxes of presents that need to be wrapped are from family friends that live in Alaska.

Hat

It has been pretty cold her due to the fog. Since Hannah has had the tubes put in her ears I put a stocking hat on her. Hannah thinks it is pretty fun to take it off and on.

5 Months

We have had Hannah 5 months on December 7! It seems like we have had her forever!!!

Happy Birthday Nanny!

Today was by mom's birthday! Hope you had a great day!!!!

Emily's Christmas Program

Emily had her school Christmas Program tonight. She did a great job with her silent praise team.

Fog & Banana bread

Today is a very cold, wet, and foggy day. I am all caught up on work right at the moment, so I thought today would be a perfect day to bake. I had 4 very ripe bananas so I turned them into banana bread. I did it a little differently this time I used Splenda instead of sugar and egg beaters instead of eggs. It turned out really good. There is nothing quite like hot banana bread and a dab of butter. It makes the house smell so good while it is cooking.

Disneyland November 2008

Our trip to Disneyland the day after Thanksgiving. We had a nice weekend it was quite and relaxing. The kids had so much fun.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Christmas Cards

It is that time of year again for Christmas cards. I have been price shopping for the best photo cards this year. The best place I had found for them was Costco. You get 50 cards for 14.99 and 5.99 for every 25 cards after that. Here is our cards for this year. We decided to do a Disney theme this year since we are a big Disney family!

Update on Dad #5

My dad is home and doing fine.

Update on Dad #4

My dad is getting to come home tonight. The culture came back negative for MRSA. Praise the LORD!!! He has a really bad bacteria infection from his gall bladder surgery. Thanks for everyones prayers.

The straw and her name!

I know this is not a very clear picture. David took it on his cell phone at lunch today. We where both VERY excited, because Hannah learned how to drink from a straw. I know some of you are thinking big deal, but for us it is a very big deal. This means she now knows how to use her upper lip where they repaired it. Those muscles are working properly. She thought it was pretty cool to. She didn't want to put the glass down. No soda in the glass, just good old ICE TEA!!!!!!!!!! Hannah also learned how to say her own name. She says it over and over again and laughs. She is such a goofy girl!

Update on Dad #3

Dad is doing fine! He is still in the hospital. The doctors are just waiting for the culture results to come back. That is about it for today. We are just in the waiting game right now.

Update on Dad

Ok, the update on dad. They have done several tests and lots of blood work. The CT scan that they did on Tuesday afternoon has come back negative. This test was to see if he had a stroke. They have done an ultrasound on his abdomen where he had surgery about 3 weeks again to make sure everything was ok. What the doctors found out was that his kidneys had a small cyst thing on it. Nothing to worry about at this time. Dad does not have any gall stones in the bile duct with is a huge relief to hear. Dad has an incision that did not heal from his gall bladder surgery. I talked to his nurse today and mentioned to him that dad had been exposed to MRSA. The surgery site infection burst opened today and they cultured it today. Hopefully that is not what it is. They have dad on IV antibiotics and a whole bunch of other stuff. They are having and infectious disease doctor come check dad out. Let's all pray that it is not MRSA. As you all know it is nasty stuff.

Dad is sick!

My dad is really sick and in the hospital. Yesterday we had to have him transported to the hospital. He was very disorientated and out of it. He had to do a fasting blood work in the morning so we that his sugar maybe caused it, but we really don't know what is causing it. The doctors can't get is sugar levels in the normal zone. When he got to the ER is sugar level was 1066. Yes that's right! Normal is 80 - 110. Talk about a scare. His potassium and salt levels are all messed up to. They have him on the heart floor to monitor him. The doctors seemed to think that maybe something internally is wrong and that is what is causing his levels to not be right. I will keep you posted. This has been a HUGE wake up call for me and what I put into my mouth. I really don't want diabetes. It is a horrible disease.

Story Time

Emily loves to read Hannah stories. This is one of the few times you will see Hannah sitting. This child is on the go ALL of the time. Emily has her pick out a story and then Emily reads it to her. It is really neat to see the bond going between these two.

Hannah's ear surgery

Hannah had PE tubes put into her ears today. We had to be at the hospital at 5 and we were out by 8. It took a matter of 10 minutes for Dr. Zerlin to put the tubes in. He drained all of the fluid out of her ears and put the tubes in. Below is a little information about what they did to her.


Tubes for ear infections

Ear tubes are plastic and shaped like a hollow spool. Doctors suggest tubes for children who have repeat ear infections or when fluid stays behind the eardrum. A specialist (otolaryngologist) places the tubes through a small surgical opening made in the eardrum (myringotomy or tympanostomy). The child is unconscious under general anesthesia for this surgery.
View the slideshow on ear tube insertion to see the steps that are performed.
Tubes can help with ear infections because they:
Allow air to enter the middle ear.
Allow fluid to flow out of the middle ear through the tube into the ear canal.
Clear fluid from the middle ear and restore hearing.
Prevent future buildup of fluid in the middle ear while they are in place.
Decrease the feeling of pressure in the ears, which reduces pain.
What To Expect After Surgery
Tubes can be inserted in an outpatient surgery clinic. Children usually recover quickly and have little pain or other symptoms after surgery. Children can usually go home within 1 to 2 hours after the surgery. Your child will probably be able to return to school or child care the next day.
Follow-up visits to the doctor after a child has tubes inserted are very important. The doctor checks to see whether the tubes are working and whether the child's hearing has improved.
While the tubes are in place, the child needs to take extra care. Keep water from getting in the ear when your child takes a bath or a shower or goes swimming. The ear could get infected if any germs in the water get into the ear. If your doctor says it’s okay, your child may use earplugs. Or your doctor may have other advice for you. He or she can tell you when the hole in the eardrum has healed and when it’s okay to go back to regular water activities.
Tubes normally remain in the ears for 6 to 12 months. They often fall out on their own. If the tubes don't fall out on their own, your child may need surgery to remove them. After the tubes are out, watch your child for ear infections and fluid behind the eardrum.
Why It Is Done
Placing tubes in the ears drains the fluid and ventilates the middle ear. Tubes may keep ear infections from recurring while the tubes are in place. They also keep fluid from building up behind the eardrum. Doctors consider surgery to insert tubes:
If a child has had fluid behind the eardrum in both ears for more than 3 months and has significant hearing loss in both ears.
If a child has repeat ear infections.
How Well It Works
Ear tubes often restore hearing. While the tubes are in place, they often prevent buildup of pressure and fluid in the middle ear. And they can reduce pain.
Tubes may keep ear infections from recurring while the tubes are in place. But, infections may return after the tubes are gone.
Risks
Minor complications occur in up to half of the children who have tubes inserted. Usual complications include:
A thickening of the eardrum over time, which occurs in about half of the children. These changes in the eardrum may affect hearing in a very small number of children.
Discharge of pus (otorrhea) from the ear. This is common and can become an ongoing problem in some children.1
Other possible complications:
The tube may become blocked, allowing ear fluid and infections to return.
The tube may slip out of place, possibly falling into the middle ear (rare).
Tissue may form behind the eardrum (cholesteatoma). This is also rare.
What To Think About
Some children who have tubes inserted may need to have tubes reinserted.
Tubes may scar the eardrum. Scarring may lead to minor hearing loss.
After surgery, a child needs regular checkups to see that the tubes are working. In some cases, the child may need antibiotics to prevent or treat infections