Twins?!

Jaxon and his buddy decided to be twin brothers from another mother. They were both dressed up since we went to another buddies baptism and Casey came home with us. We decided to keep him for the afternoon and go to the Aquarium. They both spiked their hair and had the same pants on so why not wear the same sweatshirts too? They had a great time pretending to be twins. They thought it was funny that people were looking at them.

We always have a great time at the Aquarium. This time they had new additions we hadn't seen before. The leopard frog that they got their pictures taken on was a hit. Grif pretended he was riding it like a horse saying "hee-yah, hee yah!" There were also enormous king crab and northern lobster that the boys loved seeing and trying to guess how much they would cost for dinner. And one of my favorite animals the Sea Horse. They had a new display that was pretty intriguing. It didn't beat seeing the baby sharks growing inside their eggs but it was close.

The boys also thought it was awesome to see the green boa out of it's usual corner hibernation. To me is was terrifying to see how enormous it really was but at least it is behind glass and it can't come out like in Harry Potter. I think I would have a heart attack if I ended up swimming with a snake that big.


The boys also studied a new fish we had never seen before. It looked like a hunk of coral at first until it's mouth stretched up and out about 3 inches to reach for food. It was amazing. A new kind of camouflage.

Not Again!!!!!!

This may disgust you but I don't write much anywhere else right now and I just want to update what is going on with Jaron. The poor kids has suffered from these awful mouth sores for about 8 months now. The doctors have tried different things from antibiotics to magic mouth washes but the sores come back with a vengeance too often. They keep coming for longer periods of time closer together. We finally had it after day 14 of the sores last month and they started some testing. Jaron had to get blood drawn two days in a row. That was complete torture for all of us but especially him. He is so brave though it is amazing. From those tests we found out that some of his markers are high, which means something is wrong but it doesn't tell you what. We also ruled out oral herpes. It sounds gross but that is generally what cold sores are. We were trying to get an appointment with the infectious disease department but to no avail. After three weeks we still did not have an appointment. Luckily we got one with the immunology and rheumatology department very quickly. We were able to see the head of that department last week.

I was kind of frustrated when only a week had gone by when Jaron started getting the sores again. It was then that I realized what a miracle it was that he was so healthy and happy on Christmas. That was our Christmas miracle. The only redeeming thing was that he actually had the sores beginning when we went to see the doctor. There we discussed all kinds of things it could possibly be but we needed to get rid of the sores before we could do more testing. We already had blood draws done with the sores now we needed them without. So, we started him on prednisolone to see if it would help get rid of the sores quickly. It worked within about 4 days. It was great at first, the side effects are increased hunger and energy. He doesn't usually eat when he has the sores so this was a relief until he just kept eating until his tummy was about to burst and he kept throwing up. He also had so much energy it was hard for him to sleep. So we will see if we decide to use that method again. Hopefully, we can figure out what it is so we don't have to treat it that way every time.

So with the mouth sores gone we had to go in for more blood tests. He was so nervous he was shivering, dry heaving and had to go to the bathroom multiple times since he knew what was coming. This time his little arms were so cold we had to warm them with heating pads so they could even draw the blood. Finally they got him warmed up enough to get 6 vials. That is a lot of blood for one little boy. Now it is the waiting game again to see if we have anymore answers. Hopefully he will stay healthy for a little while longer this time.

Movie Night

What do you do when it is Christmas break, Daddy has a day off, and Grandma and Grandpa's puppy is visiting? I don't know what you do but we move all of the furniture out of the room into the kitchen and clean the carpets. Then we have a movie night. The boys loved having the extra space. Too bad we had to put all of the furniture back.

Happy New Year!

Can you believe that it is already 2010. Not me, I am in a tad bit of denial. That means that we are all getting older and hopefully wiser. We celebrated the New Year with Lex's family with of course delicious Japanese food and a little bit of chips and salsa too. We were supposed to bring Mango Salsa but if you can believe it the store was sold out of mangos but they had a avocados. So we went to town and made guacamole and my favorite black bean and avocado salsa. I think we had too much food but what a happy celebration with no trips to the ER .

I forgot to tell you about our Christmas Night trip to the urgent care. Jax and Jar were playing with cousins in another room when I heard Jar's broken something cry. The kids were playing and dropped him, not on purpose, but he got hurt never the less. He cried and couldn't stand up for over an hour and we tried to get him to walk to the car but he just couldn't do it. So off we headed to Urgent Care. (I really didn't want to go the the ER on Christmas) But we got there 2 minutes too late and they would not see him. So we decided to wait out the night and take him in the morning. Luckily nothing was broken and he woke up with a smile saying "Mom, I can walk!" Those are precious words to hear when you have a boy with such fragile bones. We were happy we made the right choice. Sometimes a good nights sleep can take care of a little boy who had way too long of a day on Christmas.

We hope that you have a happy, healthy and adventurous New Year!!!

Merry Christmas!

What a magical Christmas we had. The boys were so excited. Jaron had a really, really hard time with Santa this year. I think almost the worst yet. He is not a big fan, a believer, but not a fan. He barely made it to Preschool the day Santa came to visit. Thank goodness it was our good friends turn to drive or he might not have made it with just mom. Sometimes peer pressure can be a good thing. That being said it made Christmas morning that much more special when Jaron woke up and saw his big red sled that he asked for. "Mom, Santa gave me my wish. He must have put me on the nice list!"

During presents Grifin took a turn at being the cutest. Every present that was opened he said, "Wow, wow, Oh wow!" It didn't matter if it was a box or something he really loved. They all got the Wow stamp of approval.

You can see from the smiles on their faces that they were happy, happy boys!

Christmas Eve 2009

I love Christmas Eve! We went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for our traditional dinner. We have always had chowder since I can remember. We eat by candle light and the kids can't wait to blow them all out. This year it was only our family, grandma and grandpa, Uncle Mark, Great Grandma and our Great Aunt Norma. The boys kept asking when cousins would be there but they stopped worrying when grandma pulled out all of the Santa hats and Reindeer antlers. We sang Picture a Christmas to tell the story of baby Jesus and then we had our own sing a long.

When we got home the boys got to open their new jammies and then we read my favorite christmas book I Believe in Santa Claus. It is a treasure. Daddy wanted to watch Polar Express but unfortunately we would scar Jar for life if we did. He curls up and hides when that movie is on. Maybe next year Santa won't terrify him so badly but this year it just won't happen. Good night boys and sweet dreams. Grif didn't start dreaming until too close to midnight. He was just to excited to sleep. Just when we thought he was giving in he would whisper "Hi dad, Hi, Hi, Hi". It's cute unless it is 11:45 on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Singalong

What a Scrooge I was being. Bah humbug. I really didn't want to drag the boys out into the cold while dad was working, but I am really glad now that we went. It was so fun! Thanks dad for standing in the long line for us. We had so much fun singing Christmas Carols as loud as we wanted to with cousins and grandma and grandpa. It was so fun to watch the kids. They all new most of the songs, some better than others, but they didn't care they were just singing away.
It also helped that they got their free hot dogs and soda too. It was a real treat when Jon Schmidt came out to play the piano. I am now obsessed like millions of other people about his crazy piano renditions of other people's songs. He arranged one for his 8 year old daughter, here favorite song was Taylor Swift's love story but he didn't know how to end it so why not add Cold Play's Viva la Vida? Why Not? He had a cellist doing his percussion and backup with a kick drum. It was AWESOME! I had to look it up on You Tube as soon as we got home. The boys were happy I was happy and we got free tickets to an upcoming game too. So thanks mom for talking me into going.

Christmas Sunday

Our Three Handsome Boys on Christmas Sunday. Although not quite as frilly and pretty and Christmas dresses our boys couldn't look more handsome if you ask me. Grif has loved Christmas this year. He is quite good at pretending he is "Nanta". He runs around the house saying "Huh, Huh, Huuuuuhhhh!" He even wrangled a reindeer to pull his sleigh. Jaron still wants nothing to do with Santa though unless he brings his one wish - A sled!

Light Up the Days Till Christmas

Jaxon's 2nd Grade Program was awesome. They worked so long and hard on it. It was so fun to hear him count down to it. Daddy was even able to make. The day before the program Jaxon was so excited he had to tell everyone, even one of the other 2nd grade teachers, that the program was tomorrow. They learned a lot of cute songs.
I think Jaxon's favorite was I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. They were so prepared and so cute!

Jaron...

Jaron wins brave boy of the week award this week. He has had to have his blood drawn two days in a row . The first time he didn't know what he was in for, he just knew we were at a doctor place and he didn't want to be there. He was so unhappy he cried himself to sleep in the admitting rooms very uncomfortable chairs.

The long story short is that he has horrible sores in his mouth very often. They first started about 6 months ago and would come for about a week and then go away for about a month. Now they are coming more frequently and staying longer and longer. Just imagine having sores on your tongue, gums, cheeks and lips. It is horrible. Thank goodness for chocolate milk though. It is the only thing we can get him to consume most days.

Needless to say while he has them he is completely miserable. We try everything we can to keep him comfortable but it is a difficult task. For some reason we get all the weird wild crazy things that no one knows what to do about them. For now we are still investigating and hoping for a small miracle that they will just disappear.

The Nativity

This year our Neighborhood Nativity was so sweet. Jaron and his best friend got to be Mary and Joseph. They were so sweet. The pictures just don't do it justice. They were so calm and peaceful it was incredible. After Jaron was sobbing because he was freezing and back to his normal self. Thank goodness for miracles.

Jaxon and his friends were also the Wise Men. I was a little worried about how regal they could act but they were crazy boys before and after but they were just great. We do this every year but this year was just special. All the kids involved couldn't have done their parts better. I was so proud but it made me even more proud when my mom called and said that it was the sweetest thing she had seen in a long time.

Thanksgiving Eve 2nd Annual Zoo Trip

So I have a new tradition with the boys. For the last two years we have gone to the Zoo on the day before Thanksgiving. It is such a great day to go because the animals are happy because it is not hot and there were so may new babies this year. The weather was even pleasant. We have met up with different friends and we just have a really great time visiting all the animals when there are not hundreds of people there.

The baby elephant was sleeping so we sadly didn't get to see him. BUT the baby giraffe and tigers were so fun to see with their mom's. The tiger's were wrestling with each other and then mom joined them to give them a tummy rub. There were even baby siamese crocodiles, they were like the baby alligators we saw in Florida. It was a fantastic trip to the zoo. Hopefully we can do it again next year!

Disney on Ice

When we got home from our vacation daddy had a fun surprise for us one day. He had won tickets from a drawing to see Disney on Ice from the Suites at the Arena. Who can say no to that. So I packed up the boys and rode the train downtown, which Grif loves, I just don't do it very often because it is faster to drive. It's also more work to keep the boys together and not falling down when the trains are crowded.

Anyway, we had a really fun time. You can see by the look on Jaron's face that he was probably the happiest one all. He loves to play make believe and he (like his daddy) loves Ariel. Jaxon tried to be cool and pretend he didn't like it but I caught him smiling a few times. Grif just loves everything from ball to singing and shaking his hips. I am so glad that we went it was a really fun surprise.

Naples - Bare Foot Beach

Ahhh the beach! I love going to the beach and so do my boys. The name of the beach was a little deceiving though. There were too many shells washed up on the beach to really want to go barefoot. It was an incredible day and we spent a whole 7 hours playing, working, shelling and swimming. The kids really do work hard at the beach. It is so awesome to see their imaginations at work.

We were spoiled on our first day at the beach to see a family of dolphins, a manatee, horseshoe crab, star fish, hermit crab, jelly fish and so much more sea life. It was almost better than Sea World. It actually made going to Sea World better by seeing it all "in the wild" as my cute niece Hailey said as she and Jaxon chased the dolphins down the beach. It was incredible to see the sun set and it was also kinda fun to get a sunburn to take home as a souvenir.

Sea World Day 2 - Halloween

Happy Halloween! Oh boy was it hot. Too hot to dress the boys up for Trick or Treating during the day. So we went and got Super Heroes T-shirts so they could pseudo dress up for the day. Even Lex was a good sport and wore a shirt I got him too.


What a fun job it would be to actually work at Sea World. It would almost be like raising kids. Almost! The animals were hillarious. Some of the shows they did not perform exactly as they should have. Clyde and Seamore were the best. They messed up so much one of the trainers started laughing so hard she couldn't stand up on the wet stage. They follow directions like the boys do some days. The Dolphin show was amazing so we decided to go to it again.

We weren't even out of the parking lot yet. I guess we really can have too much fun. Naps before Trick or Treating!



Pirates, Lady Bugs, Ninja's, Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Dog Butterflies, Clowns, Super Heroes and Cats on the Halloween Prowl. Heidi and Derek's house was a zoo. With eight children and six parents we had a roarin' houseful. The kids were so excited to go get their loot. It is a surprise walking out to go Trick or Treating and still be nice and hot in our costumes. Everyone loved the kids costumes. What a fun night with cousins.

Sea World Day 1

I forgot my camera in the hotel so I will add the pictures later. Get excited!

Canoeing with Alligators, Turtles and Crocodiles - Oh My!!!

That cute little alligator sun bathing is the little guy behind us in our pictures. Take a look a little closer and you will see him. You might also spot Grif in the boat with Heidi and I. He didn't make much of a peep the whole ride. He just looked around and climbed from sitting in front of me to sitting on the floor right behind me.


What an adventure. Never in a million years would I have thought let's go canoeing with Alligators. But good thing we do crazy things when we are with our sisters, right?! It was one of the funnest days on our vacation. The boys had a blast. Jaxon and Daddy had no fear. Lex wanted to make sure that the Alligators were real so he canoed up and smacked the log. Real, yes! Hungry, thank goodness not today.

We laughed and the kids laughed and had a blast. Heidi and I were awesome at getting ourselves stuck in funny places. We were just having too good of a time chatting to really pay attention to where we were going. Jax and Hailey were awesome buddies even though daddy was teasing her most of the time. I guess that is what uncles are for.

It was so hot that we even decided to take a dip in the spring at the beginning of the river. It was cold but it felt so good after we melted in the sunshine and humidity. It felt even better knowing that we left the snow at home. What a different part of the world Florida is.

Disney World

What a beautiful day to go play at Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Our good friend Uncle Charlie flew in to join us for the day for his birthday. It was the perfect time to go the lines were not too long, the weather was in the 100's only the 90's and it only rained once (while we were inside eating lunch). The boys all loved different things and we had a great time torturing Jaxon and uncle Charlie on It's a Small World. Jaxon was happy to go on Haunted Mansion two times. What a difference a year makes. Surprisingly Jaron loved Thunder Mountain. Just don't take him on anything in the dark he does not like it. Well, except Peter Pan. That was just cool and we went on it twice so Jax wouldn't miss out. The big boys got their driver's licenses but I don't know how they passed the test because they were horrible drivers. Grif went with daddy on the Tea cups since he is just a bit too small. The look on his face tells it all. The Parades were Magical and I think we are still getting glitter out of Jaxon's hair from Cinderella's Castle. That is what he and Uncle Charlie get for being smart alicks. Thanks for the fund day Minnie, Mickey and the rest of the gang!