Happy 16th Birthday Katherine

Happy Birthday to you ~
Happy Birthday to you ~
Happy Birthday, dear Katherine!
Happy Birthday to YOU!


You have grown up so much this past year, Katherine.  And by that I mean you have taken on many new responsibilities, especially with Michaela not around as much.  Your favorite responsibility is cuddling with a younger sibling, but you help throw together many a meal and a million other things as well.  You also show wisdom beyond your short years, often showing me how to be a more holy person!  

I love you ~
Love,
Mom

Anya, Annika & Coletto, all dressed up for Katherine's birthday tea ~

Tea Party!

Captain America deigned us with his presence, while his male 

counterparts stayed outside on the trampoline.

Nickles Captain America giving his present to Kath ~

Uncle Ben joined us for the evening and bought Kath a pellet gun for gopher hunting.

She was totally stoked! 

 ~ Sweet 16 ~

Max's MRI

Max had an MRI a few weeks ago that the neurologist had been pushing for since his birth.  He had to be completely sedated and I didn't feel comfortable with it while he was younger. Besides it was easier to take one day at a time, watching his development, as opposed to having a specific diagnosis. That being said, I was kinda was looking forward to the day of his procedures.  Along with my not-typically-optimistic-self believing that Max's brain would be fine, I thought that perhaps being under general anesthesia, along with his little surgery, Maximo would be totally chill for at least a day.  

He wasn't. 

Upon his arrival home, he was running around with his brothers like a wild man.

Anyway, the results from his MRI weren't quite what I wanted.  Maybe I expected that through Fr. Stu's intercession Max's brain would be completely formed and we could move on with life in a more normal manner.  The neurologist says that he believes Max has Dandy-Walker syndrome.  It sounds so awful typing it out.  It affects the cerebellar area, typically the cerebellum, vermis and corpus collosum.  Thankfully, there is a very broad spectrum that this syndrome encompasses, from wheelchair-bound with limited verbal skills to not really being noticeably affected.  The neuro did suggest beginning speech, occupational and physical therapy soon to optimize Max's development.  

At this point it does appear that Max would be more at the not-so-affected end of the spectrum.  His balance, fine motor skills, etc. are all pretty darn good.  As I watched him stand and jump on the bouncy horse the other night, his coordination appears more on the extraordinary end of the scale.  His speech is a little slow, but after an evaluation last week, I'm feeling more optimistic about that as well.  We'll meet with the neurologist in early June, so we'll know more then.  I don't really think physical therapy will be necessary, the others we'll take one step at a time. 

I just hated hearing an actual diagnosis, a syndrome.  It doesn't change anything really, but it just seems worse somehow, with a label.  No matter what the future holds he's still totally awesome, another of our wild and crazy boys!  

                         Max's hospital gown. It was kinda sad, but kinda cute too!

      

As soon as he was home, Maximo was ready to play.  He'd had enough sleep for one day.

May

May used to be my favorite month of the year.  It is so filled with hope and it's my birthday month, so as a child that was super exciting.  It seems that now May is so busy that I don't even have time to smell the lilacs.....and lilacs are my favorite flower ever!  This year we made a concentrated effort to avoid anything unnecessary during the month.  Thank God we did because Shannon got super crazy with work.  Despite being busy, we were able to make time for a few things that we typically wouldn't have and that was awesome!

My tulips weren't gobbled up by the deer this year.

Happy days!

Eric began helping me with a rock wall and soon he had built the entire thing himself. 

Now it lines an entire section of our driveway and is beautiful!

A waterfall we visited for my birthday.

It was beautiful and in a totally unexpected place for a waterfall.

Max couldn't get his toes into the water fast enough....just like his siblings.

We enjoyed it so much that we had to take Grandma a couple days later. 

Dashing through the falls.....

....with my totally awesome sister.

A fun fact about these falls.....a hot spring merges with the creek a 

bit upstream, so they're actually warm. 

My big, brave boy, Nickles, packed shampoo and conditioner to take a shower.  

When he actually ran under the falls, clinging to Katherine, he decided the water would break his neck and a shower wasn't such a fabulous idea. 

Caterpillars ~

Although we made Nickles leave them in the grass, some hitched a ride home in his backpack.

Yum.

Max is ready for some Cheetos ~

Happy Birthday Annika ~ Now You Are 10!

Happy Birthday to you ~
Happy Birthday to you ~
Happy Birthday, dear Annika!
Happy Birthday to YOU!

My sweet little girl is 10 years old!  You bring such delight to our lives.  You are Maximo's little mother and would keep him cuddled in bed with you if I let you.  Once upon a time, you were my little girl who loved only girly things.  While you still love princesses and tea parties, you also enjoy forts and cars and fishing with your brothers.  I guess it's survival of the fittest....you are smack dab among five boys!  

I love you, sweet girl ~

Mommy  

This was the year of the #10 birthday party.  

I must say, it was the most subdued birthday party we have ever had.

I'm still not sure what was goin' on! 

 We played horseshoes and roped a horsie ~

And pin-the-udder-on-the-cow ~

And ate junk food ~

And jumped on the trampoline.
Annika had a ball, but I wasn't sure what to do without 
everyone acting wild and crazy!

Sweet Halle came out for a visit before dinner on Annika's real birthday ~

Annika almost let us make her creme brulee for dessert, 
but changed her mind and chose a treasure chest cake. 

A DIRNDL! 
We all knew what her favorite present was :o)
Auntie Margaret ~ she was fairly certain she was in Heaven!

Doing Nothin'

I have a horrid habit.  When asked what I'm up to I typically reply, "Oh nothin.'"
This has landed me in some tight spots over the years.  "Great!  Then you'll be able to fill in the blank tomorrow."

Um, no, probably not.

Alrighty ~ let me be more specific.  When I say I'm "doing nothin'" I mean that I'm not going sky diving, am not leaving for vacation, will not be going on a whitewater rafting trip, and will probably not be scaling Mount Everest.  That being said, I'm certainly doing something.  This past week after catching myself stating that I was "doin' nothin'" I actually tracked what I DID do on a given day. Here is what "nothin'" looks like ~
A couple hours of business paperwork, five loads of laundry, planting flowers, instructing my boys as they prepared some trees for transplanting into our rental units in town, painting and preparation of a rental unit for a new tenant, dropping tools off for Shannon, picking up a last minute item for Annika before she goes on a trip, visiting with Max's neurologist and pediatrician, and baking a few loaves of bread for snacks.  Of course we still needed to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and keep the house relatively clean.  And did I mention that we also had schoolwork that day?
And this week "nothin'" was repainting the interior of our house, all the while continuing homeschooling as well as the normal stuff that goes into a family.  As a side note, I had no idea our house was so filthy.  I'm realizing the benefit of moving every couple years, if for no other reason than to escape the dirt that accumulates unnoticed.

The next time someone asks me what I'm doing I need to be more honest with myself and them.  Plain and simple, we've got a lot going on!
You could bring me a coffee if you want though.....make it a triple shot of espresso!

Even the youngest is doing something ~

April Funnies

During a picnic with my boys they were climbing all over some rocks playing king of the mountain. They were taking turns naming which god they were pretending to be.  After listening to his older brothers for a while, Nickles pipes up, "I'm Jesus."
They immediately responded that he couldn't be Jesus because Jesus is God.
Nickles said, "Yeah, well, that's why I'm Jesus."

Nickles just came in from outside with pockets filled with rocks.  He tried to bargain with me, attempting to exchange the pretty rocks (which weren't all that unique from ordinary gravel) for a dinner of hot dogs roasted over a fire.  Sorry, Bud, you'll be enjoying your spaghetti and salad.

We listened to a Fr. Michael Schmitz CD the other day called The Four Last Things.  On the CD he relates a rather disgusting story from his childhood about cottage cheese.  Now my kiddos typically really, really enjoy cottage cheese, especially with spaghetti.  Imagine my surprise when a 16-ounce container was all we used the other night for dinner.  That poor little tub traversed the table, each child declining and passing it along.  I figured out what had happened rather quickly, but it was pretty funny. 

I was taking a nap one Sunday in anticipation of a super busy Monday.  All the older kids left, as well as Shannon. Max was napping as well, so Shannon left Annika, Dom and Nickles watching a movie with the instructions to wake me if they needed me.  It was snowing that day, so the three kept making snow cones with syrup; they never needed me enough to wake me. That would have interrupted their fun. Nickles informed me that snow is "U-lishus!" 

Shoe leather would be delicious soaked in maple syrup, dude!

This next one I probably shouldn't make too public.  However, I want to remember it in the years ahead and this is my journal.  If you're easily offended, click off now :o)

Due to the craziness surrounding Max's birth, he wasn't circumcised when he was born, so to make a long story short, he was circumcised Monday.  It was a complicated day because we wanted an MRI done as well and he required general anesthesia for both procedures.  When we finally made it home everyone was excited to see their little brother.  Nickles was particularly fascinated with the bandages and monitor stickers still attached to Max.  I was in another room when Nickles came flying in, "MOM!!! Dom said that Maximo had some skin cut off his_______!"

"Yes, that's what happened.  You had the same thing when you were a baby."

"Then why is the band-aid on his FOOT?!?"

That kid never fails to make me laugh.
 

Hmm ~ this looks interesting.

Just like Daddy ~

"Wooohooo!"

Who knew soaking your feet was so fun?

Then he got wild and we had to take his bowl away.

My favorite picture from the past few months ~

The two that pretty much fight constantly ~

Proof positive that they do love one another!

Pretzels

Katherine was teaching a friend how to make bread during Lent and decided to make pretzels.  I just had to make sure this picture made it up, although it is a bit old.  They were having so much fun!