Birthdays!

Happy Birthday to my fellow birthday friends!

Happy Birthday, Lisa Rakes!

Lisa and I think we're related because my brother's wife is best friends with her husband's sister. Did you get that? We've spent many hours visiting while my son picked up her dog's poo and while our kindergarten classmates played on the playground after school!

Happy Birthday, Taylor Maliblah-blah!

(otherwise known as The Lumberjack's Wife)

I've know Taylor since she was in elementary school.....but I wasn't exactly in elementary school She is much younger than me. It has been fun to reconnect with Taylor as mommies and bloggers!

Happy Birthday to Amber Ronningen!

Amber and Taylor (I believe) were both in the same junior high Sunday School class that I once taught.

Happy Birthday, Nancy Riberdy!

Nancy is a friend from Arizona. I miss her.

Happy Birthday to Roxanne and Brian

(from my home group) who also have birthdays this week!

Happy Birthday to my cousin Megan and my niece Leigh Anna,

who share a birthday this week....

consequently they also share the day that my Grandpa Lefty was born into heaven 17 years ago!

My dad has a tradition of taking us out to breakfast on our birthdays. He's been doing it probably longer than I remember. I still have memories of going to breakfast in my strawberry shortcake dress and getting strawberry syrup all over it.

This year, daddy is here! So guess who took me to breakfast today (a day early!) Guess who is in town for my birthday? Mom, Dad, and Casey!

....and Dawnell!!

Can it get any better?

Casey's Graduation

My baby brother graduated from high school today!

Casey Brandel was an honor student, and he majored in theatre at

The Academy of Arts and Academics (A3).

Graduating Class of 2010

Springfield, Oregon

Hayden's Kindergarten Celebration

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The Medical Diaries

Riley has had strep four times since Christmas, so last week, we paid a visit to an ENT. He is now scheduled to get his tonsils out, July 12. I'm so hoping this results in better sleep for him and a much better school year for him next year. It has been a really bad years for all of my kids.

Riley has also been blacking out at school and generally feeling woozy a lot. After checking every other option we could think of, the docs decided an EEG was in order.

It was quite the process, I'll tell you.

First, he had to be sleep deprived. So we were to keep him up until midnight the night before, and then wake him up at 4:00 a.m. and keep him up.

At the hospital, they first marked his head in 28 places (precisely measured), with a good ol' fashioned magic marker.

Then they scrubbed those spots perfectly clean. Then they glued 28 little gold-capped thingies to the marked places and then taped them down.

Then they wrapped him up like a mummy and sent me out of the room while they ran some tests.

We're still waiting on results.

Two weeks ago, Riley was hit in the mouth by a swing at the church playground, resulting in two chipped teeth. We had them patched, and the patches have already come out.

Last week, Hayden was leaving a birthday party when a mean old branch jumped out of a bush and grabbed his face, literally laying it open. He got three stitches that night.

Some exciting news....Bill's foot is moving a little more each week. Thank you, Jesus!

We also had a little excitement with flooding this week, you can read about that on Let's Talk About Boys if you want.

Clayton's Birthday Party

It is time I got around to catching this thing up!

For Clayton's birthday, he designed his cake.

It is his personal logo, made up of all three of his initials. He has been using this on lots of things, and thought it would be fun to have a signature cake.

I think we did o.k. :)

He had invited 50 kids. Yes, 50. Unfortunately, I think he invited them too early. In his zeal, and ultra-preparedness, he passed out invitations two weeks in advance. Do you now what happens to information given to middle schoolers two weeks in advance? Me either. No one does.

However, he did have a handful of kids come. I'm not sure if I was disappointed or relieved.

They played kickball.

Boys apparently will play kickball in socks.

Girls apparently will wear cute shoes to a party and then play kickball barefoot when they realize the cute shoes don't work for kickball.

They also had water balloons, which were pretty fun until they started filling them with Hawaiian punch....Hawaiian punch that they had first put in their mouths and then put into the balloons. Yuck! Boys!

Clayton did get his own phone for his birthday. It was more of a self-preservation thing than anything else. I need my own phone....and I was getting to use mine anymore. I had several friends mention that kids don't need phones until they start driving. I almost agree. But I didn't get a phone when I started driving. I got one when I was twelve, though it plugged into the wall and was attached to my alarm clock.

Times have changed. That is for sure.

He also got a Facebook account, which to him, is a major right of passage.

Happy 13th Birthday, Clayton!

Before the creation of the world, God chose to create you - for His pleasure! (Eph. 1:4-5)

He knit you together in my womb. (Ps. 139:13)

You were the first piece of me, that I ever held outside of my body.

You were our first....the son of our youth.

Welcomed by excited family.

When you were brand new, we dedicated you to the Lord -

- something we've had to do over and over again.

You made it clear from the beginning that you had your own way of doing things.

You were my best little friend, the joy of my lonely days....

....the one who tagged along with us in all that we did.

The child your dad waited 28 years for.

All of your firsts, were our firsts too.

You were the one that we have made the most of our mistakes on.

The one we didn't hold often enough.

The one that we let cry more than we should have.

The one we couldn't keep from climbing up everything you could find to climb. You gave me lots of little heart attacks.

You have been the one that challenges our thinking to the nth degree.

The one who has excelled at everything you've tried.

We have only one little problem.

You won't quit growing.

You won't stop changing.

You keep amazing us.

With each passing day, we're more aware of how short our time with you is growing....

....and we plan to make use of every minute of it!

Happy Birthday, Clayton! We love you so much!

Tricky Tonsils

Yesterday, our dear Riley blacked out at school. He was sitting on a stool by his desk, fell to the floor, hit is lip on the trash can (which resulted in a nasty cut), then hit the floor (which resulted in a bump). His teacher walked him to the office. Apparently, he was white as a sheet. He said that he had a couple of dizzy spells during the day and the night before. So we went to the doctor for a diagnosis. He was talking slowly and deliberately and telling the same stories over and over. I could just generally tell he wasn't himself.

The doc checked blood pressure, pupils, heart rhythms, reflexes, muscle control, ears, nose, throat, etc., etc., etc. Nothing popped out as a clear diagnosis. So we went home. He had another dizzy spell last night, so I kept him home today. He laid on the couch and watched t.v. most of the day and complained of a headache.

The doctor wanted us to come back this afternoon and just re-check everything and make sure nothing else jumped out. So they checked blood pressure, pupils, heart rhythms, reflexes, muscle control, blood sugar, ears, nose, throat - "Riley? Does your throat hurt?" "Nope." "Are you sure?" "Yep." "Cause it doesn't look so good today."

I explained to the doctor that he has had strep several times this year and that he never has normal symptoms. In fact, a couple of years ago, we ended up at the ER on a weekend because of weird symptoms that seemed kidney related. He didn't have a sore throat. But the diagnosis? Strep.

So the doctor did a culture, and guess what?! Positive. Strep. Again. #4 this year.

We talked about Riley's strange sleeping habits....how he rips his bed apart every night and ends up on the floor most of the time...how I hear him up at midnight, rummaging through drawers...how he is impossible to wake up in the morning and has been very cranky and moody.

The doctor explained that sometimes tonsils can interfere with sleep. Weird. Who knew.

So we're off to see a ear nose and throat specialist. Riley isn't so thrilled about the prospect of having his tonsils out, but I am! Enough is enough! Black outs, hives, sleepless nights, leg pain, back pain. Seriously.