Exciting August

Surprise! Life can change in an instant. For us, that means one day we are moving along as usual, the next I am in the ER with my hubby waiting for him to get an MRI, ending up in emergency surgery that night. In the course of 24 hours, he went in, got diagnosed, operated on, came out of anesthesia (hilarious!), slept some of it off, and waited for clearance from many doctors and nurses to go home and recoup for about a month. His stay at the hospital was exciting. Hubby is not one to stay still, so it was a nice change to be the one by his side helping if needed. At home...a slightly different story but after a week, he is being pretty good about not doing too much and I think recovering well. The silver lining to when something unexpected and potentially life threatening happens to you and/or your family: friends and family are there for you wanting to help and make life easier. I appreciate the kindness, it's what makes life so special in the end.

 One of the best and most fun gifts we've received since his surgery is the building of a tortoise pen for Maggie. It was something we were in the middle of so two of hubby's best buds came over to make it happen. It resulted in a day full of laughter between three goofy guys that might as well have been kids back in high school. Maggie somehow ended up on the name Wendy, which evolved into Wendell. It has a back story but the tortoise is most likely a male, so either way, he's covered.

 

 

Our trip to Oregon this summer was brief (sigh) but tons of fun. I was a little worried about Max being a handful in the car and also at night but both turned out really good. We managed to pack in fun activites every day we were there. We travelled with our friends and one of the best parts of the trip was talking over the radio between cars while travelling. That's where we reminisced about past trips (most before kids) and laughed a lot at eachother. We were able to spend a day at Crater Lake and show our four kids combined what it was all about. While the two littlest ones slept on us in ergos, we hiked the Discovery Trail along the rim of Crater Lake. Maggie did great walking 2 1/2 miles. Overall, we got some hikes in, visited a fish hatchery, the guys fished one evening, took the kids on a fun and funky train ride, visited a native american art gallery that is always a must, and made most of our meals at our cabins family-style. All in all a great time.

 

{Kiddo catch-up}

Maggie @ 4 1/2 yrs:

LOVES having her nails painted, tea parties, music and recently Mary Poppins songs (over the movie), her stuffed animals which all have names and they often are being fed with bottles and the like, picnics, and helping me cook.

She tried out soccer this summer and had a good time. She's been asking me what words mean when we're reading books - sly, tricked, cocked (as in "the crow cocked his head" from one of our library books :-). She does not look forward to her hair being brushed but loves ponytails and all types of braids. She is very sweet with her brother. This is one of the best things about having two. Maggie will sometimes mimic us when talking to him and sounds like an adult. They give the cutest hugs and kisses to eachother.


Max @ 1 (16 months):

Max needs a lot of haircuts! He loves to dance, all you have to do is turn on some fun music or he copies Maggie. They like to dance to the intro. of the cartoons Maggie likes. The kids love dancing in the car too while strapped in to their carseats. They made us laugh on the Oregon car ride.

Max gets everything we say to him and gives big nods for yes and shakes his head for no. He says a lot of uh-ohs. He started saying mama at 15 months. Then he started saying recognizable words like turtle, blueberry, and duck after that. He's our goofy boy. Not as dramatic as Maggie but they love to fight for attention at the same time.

Ok, ready for fall and Halloween costumes!