Back Tracking

Quilt I am working on. Some of the blocks are going in the wrong directions. That is what happens when you stay up too late.

Beach ride with new bike trailer for Lil E to ride with us.

Ethan at the playground after a ride to the ocean.

Two vampires.

Lil E and dad after applying all the makeup.The beginning of the transformation.
Dress up day at school. I am Pippi Longstockings and Lil E is Harry Potter.
Lil E as Harry Potter - for dress up day; the day before Halloween. 10-30-09.
Pumpkin carving time.
In the pumpkin field at Cal Poly.

New road bike I got as an early birthday/x-mas present. Love to ride.

Lil E's eye exam. Eyes are doing better, but still need help.
Extraordinary dessert - after visiting the Festa in Little Italy. Yum!
Some art at the Festa.
Mom down in Little Italy. A once in a blue moon outing that we got to share.
Silly kitties.
Ethan meets a new friend at the bike shop
Crazy hair day at school - we did blue hair this day.
Sprinkles - an escape up north for a treat.
Lil E's first day of 1st Grade. Way back in August '09.

Berkeley Bound

Danielle heading off to Cal. It's bitter sweet. Danielle is such an awesome daughter, sister, and person. We are going to miss her a lot, but we are also excited for her knowing that she is heading out to start a new chapter in her life. She is so smart and is always eager to learn and grow, I know that her destination today will help to fill those voids that need filling.

Lil E and GoGo will really miss her game playing, her kindness, and her silly sister dances, but we will visit via ichat and going up there too.

Lil E started to cry when LaLa gave him a hug. It is a really hard concept for him to understand why she is heading out to school and when he will see her again. She started to cry too, because she loves him so.

Regrouping after hugs and kisses too. She is off.

GoGo started to run next to LaLa's car and then Lil E got off his bike and really started running after her car not realizing his sisters were joking around. He cried for awhile after she left and I had to carry him inside. He loves his big sister LaLa and all his sisters.

Busy Week

Lil E had eye surgery this week. He was such a trooper too. Here he is learning how to give his bear some sleeping gas.

Lil E in recovery. He was enjoying a cherry Popsicle and was very talkative too.

On the ride home we stopped and got a Slurpee; it felt good on his throat. Note the cool glasses to protect his eyes from the sun. He fell asleep shortly after this picture was taken and slept even after we moved him into the house. His little body was stressed and exhausted.

Lil E didn't sleep well the night after his surgery, so he was very tired the next day. A lot of rest to help to heal the eyes. Note his favorite stuff toy, Beary.

Cool new jacket for school that Lil E saw at Target. He got so excited about how cool he thought it looked. Cute, this is a new style by Shawn White, the snowboarder. It is really too hot to wear right now, but try telling that to him.

Summer Fun

Adventure Guides End of the Year Beach Day:

Lil E went ahead and won so many races/activities on this day that he won this really cool surf monkey.

Lil E was taking private swim lessons to refine his skills and he learned a lot in 2 weeks.

He learned how the free style, back stroke, butterfly, pencil dive, kneel dive, and standing dive. On his very last day which was Monday August 10, 2009; he was being taught how to do a flip kick off the wall under water. Pretty cool. We did all this just in time for his eye surgery which is scheduled for next week on August 18th.

Update On Life

May '09 Margaux graduated from High School!!! Yes, it was a long journey, but she did it. Big sister, Lauren, came down and Grandma, Uncle Eric, and all of us were there to support her. She was also able to go back East to visit her Grandma Breta and see here aunt Robin too. She is a lot older now and was able to taken in a lot more than she would have if she were younger.

Ethan busy reading while Margaux was enrolling at the local J.C. He has really taken off with his reading. We need to do some review of math facts and reading/ writing words before he goes back to school, but he is doing really well.

Now that we know that he does not have Myasthenia Gravis, he will be having eye surgery instead to correct his double vision. He doesn't seem scared at all and just wants his eyes back to normal. We hope all goes well, it has been a long journey trying to gets some resolution to this problem. Here he is with his new eye patch that he has to wear 4 hours a day now.

Ethan has been getting better at his skate boarding too. He has been having a fun summer. A lot going on.

A Buddy Todd Park Day

We were lucky enough to hook up with a really nice mom and her two sets of twins who live in Fallbrook.  Her on boy is in Lil E's class and her daughter actually comes to my class for reading and science/social studies.  Nice family, she is originally from Maine and might be moving back soon.  
We spent over 2 and 1/2 hours at the park and the kids just played, climbed, and rode bikes or scooters.  Great day, beautiful weather, and nice company.  

Big Day

Wednesday 4/15/09 

This was the big day for lil e's EMG.  We got up early to get down to Children's Hospital on time, so there would not be any mix ups or problems.  The only problem we encountered was that no one seem to know where the EMG was to be administered.  Well after a few ups and downs on the elevator and down different hallways, we asked a medical person who just happened to know where we were supposed to go.  

We were able to find the location and waited until someone showed up.  There was some entertainment in the waiting area.  A big Plexiglas box with balls and levers that moved entertained lil e while we waited.  We were finally seen and got right to work.  I was told we were going to do an EMG and a test where they insert a needle into his muscle, but that wasn't done, instead a  RNS, repetitive nerve stimulation was done.  They placed electrodes on his right side of his neck and shoulder and repeatedly shocked him at different levels.  He initially was able to tolerate it, but as the test proceeded he was getting upset, which is totally understandable.  Anyway the results for this test came back negative for general myasthenia, according to this specialist.  He could still have ocular myasthenia, that is why more blood testare being done and will be sent to a lab in Boston, that specializes in neurology type blood work.  We will have the blood drawn for this on Friday when he goes for his CT on his thymus.

Little E and big sister being silly outside Ronald MacDonald House.

Fun at the park before heading out to get some lunch.  Beautiful day!  

Silly sister, just goes to show you are never too big to have fun...