Ryan's surgery

Ryan had surgery earlier in the week for an undescended testicle and fluid in the other one. The surgery took and hour and a half. All went well. The pictures show him before and after. The blue hat was before he went in, the next 2 pictures were after. If you look closely at the last one, his smile is really forced, poor guy. He has stayed home from school all week and has kept busy playing Wii. He got several new games courtesy of Mike and Uncle John and Aunt Crystal. He seems to be healing well but will have to take it easy for the next month. That means no p.e. or recess.

Ryan's gymnastics

We got back in town from Minnesota with 10 minutes to spare before Ryan's parent day at Gymnastics. He loves gymnastics and is getting stronger by the week.

Minnesota Trip

We went to Minnesota this past weekend for Jake's going away party. He leaves for Air Force boot camp next month. In addition to Jake's party, the kids and I spent the afternoon at the Mall of America with Sam and Bella. They enjoyed riding the rides at Nick World and taking turns holding baby Bella. In case you're wondering why there aren't any pictures of Jake, the memory card popped out of my camera so I lost a bunch of pictures.

Maddie's Daisy Induction

Tonight Maddie was inducted into her Daisy troop, which is a part of the Girl Scouts. She received a special pin and was welcomed into the troop by the rest of the girls who started Daisies in kindergarten. Congratulations Maddie!

Ryan's 7th Birthday

Ryan had his birthday party at Airtastic, a bounce house place. He invited all the boys in his class, plus 2 neighbors for a total of 17 kids. He had a really good time and Mike and I have a newfound respect for his teacher, who has to handle his class every day. :) He had a Star Wars lego cake and he made the lego ships on the cake himself. The majority of his gifts were Star Wars legos with a few other boy things thrown in. Mike's favorite is the 2 nerf dartguns. I never know when one of those darts is going to randomly hit me as I'm watching tv or relaxing on the couch. We gave him a lego train station which he put together in 2 days and has been playing with daily.He's a great kid, my little Ryan, 7 years old.

Maddie's 7th Birthday Party

We had Maddie's party at Build a Bear Workshop. There were some last minute adjustments as Tori ended up being sick and had to stay home with Daddy. Luckily my neighbor volunteered to help me with the party. I had to stay at the store with the girls while she set up a table in the food court with the cake and ordered the pizza. The girls (and Ryan) had a great time picking out their bears and outfits at the party. I thought it was really fun. Then we ate pizza and cake and opened presents. It was a really busy weekend. Maddie and some of her friends went to party the night before, then had hers Sat. morning, another one Sat. afternoon and another one Sunday. So Maddie had a LOT of pizza and cake that weekend. Her present from us was "Julie" an American Girl doll from "way back in the 1970's." We are reading a book about Julie each night before bed and it amazes me everything I am learning about the decade I was born in! We sure have come a long way. Happy Birthday my beautiful Maddie!

Labor Day

Meme and Poppa made their first visit here Labor Day week. They drove from San Antonio which was quite a long trip. The kids were thrilled to play with them and show off their new neighborhood. We went to brunch at downtown Naperville at our favorite Cajun restaurant "Heaven on Seven." Mike and I also took Meme to check out the casino in Aurora. Poppa got to visit some flea markets. After several days they left to drive on to Kentucky to Meme's high school reunion.