Sketch Book

Maddeck got a spiral sketch book for his birthday from his Papa and Mimi.  I thumbed through it today and took some pictures of his work.  Maddeck continues to love drawing and coloring.  I was surprised by some of the things he came up with, as he doesn't show me all of his work anymore.  There were a few pages where he had drawn something and then scribbled over it because he didn't like it.  This must come with age, because he didn't do it when he was little and I have yet to see Evan or Miles dislike anything they are working on.

Nice

Miles found my purse.  At least he didn't swallow it.  

Home Stretch

Graduation from Multnomah Bible College in 2004

We are coming down the home stretch with Kyle's MBA.  I am so proud of him for working so hard over the last 3 years.  He began taking online classes through WSU before he was laid off from Smith Barney.  The classes were expensive so he started shopping around and we decided to enroll at UMass Lowell.  He began classes in January 2010, just weeks after getting his new job at NCNB.  He has not taken a break from school and has worked hard through the summers to finish as quickly as possible.  Kyle's grade point average earned him a membership in the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society and a medallion to wear during commencement.  I could not be more proud of him.  Through all of his studies and sacrifices he has been an amazing husband, great father, and excellent employee at work.  To say that I am excited for this to all be over is a gross understatement.  I have senior-itus so bad and I am not even the student.  We are blessed and thankful that God has given Kyle so many talents and the ability to learn well.  We have never regretted our decision for Kyle to pursue higher education and hope that Kyle can be an example to our boys of what it looks like to work hard and make sacrifices of our time.  Many people have asked if his degree will provide him with a raise at his job or promotion.  It will not.  We chose this before he began his job with the hopes of providing a way for us to remain in the Wenatchee Valley.  God has provided Kyle with an excellent job that he loves and we are so so so thankful.  It is pretty great to know that he could teach at the junior college or pursue his CPA license if it ever became necessary.  Kyle will be wrapping up a class this weekend and then will have one more summer course to finish his Master in Business Administration.  

Kyle Strong, you rock.  I love you so much!  Congratulations (almost) for a job well done.   

Walk humbly with your God.

Kicks

Love my new kicks.  Ready to rack up the miles on them in Boston.  Thank you Mom & Dad.

Anniversary at Maryhill

We bought concert tickets for our anniversary to see Alison Krauss & Union Station at this amazing place.  I have looked for tickets for years but they are hard to find and normally too expensive for our cheap taste.  If we had a bucket list for concerts Alison Krauss would be on it.  I found this place after seeing that she was going to be in San Diego in May.  I dug around online and found that she is stopping in Goldendale, Washington.  We love Goldendale!!  It was our favorite portion of the trip from Portland to Leavenworth when we were in college.  The landscape is beautiful!

Looking forward to a long drive together, lounging in the grass at the winery, eating dinner from a picnic basket, drinking wine, and listening to Lucky One with my hunnois.  We will be going strong for 11 great years in August.

Riding Bikes

The boys were riding their bikes yesterday.  Miles has a sucker in his mouth so he is extra happy. 

You can tell why he is so happy compared to this ...

Ball Game

Riding & Walking

Miles has started to walk with his cast on a little bit.  It doesn't look comfortable and he usually decides to sit down and drag him self across the floor instead.  However, he can ride his bike!!! Yahoo for Miles.  He is so happy to sit on his bike and ride around.  He has a perma-grin the entire time.  I put one of my socks over his cast so he won't stub his toes.

Blue

Miles chose a blue cast.  The appointment didn't go very well.  I am SO glad Kyle came with me because I don't think I could have done it alone.  The cast was put on but his foot was too pointed so he couldn't stand  up.  They had to saw it off which is when the trouble began.  He hated the saw and all the noise.  Three of us had to literally hold him down to get the thing off.  Miles completely freaked out.  It was pretty traumatic for all of us.  It was finally sawed off after everyone in the entire building was cringing from the screams coming from our room.  Once he was calm they put on a new cast.  Whew!  He did great while both of his casts were put on.  He refuses to try and walk at this point.  I hope that changes tomorrow.  

Long Night

Miles fractured his tibia Monday night (4/23).  I was going down the slide with him at the playground and his foot caught on the side of the slide and bent his leg backward.  I knew it was bad instantly.  We went home after T-ball and dropped of Kyle and the boys and then I took him to the Walk-In clinic in Wenatchee.  We arrived around 8 PM and were checked in placed in a room at 8:30.  The doctor came in around 9:30 and ordered X-rays.  He held perfectly still during the X-rays.  The X-ray machine made a cool sound and he started laughing and when they were finished he said "pictures, fun".  His response got a giggle out of the X-ray tech.  We saw the fracture on the X-rays and then we waited to have it splinted.  The man who was doing the splint said that Miles was awesome and couldn't believe how well he stayed still as he wrapped the splint and held his leg for 10 minutes while the splint formed to his leg.  The nurse said he was better than 95% of the kids that walk through the door.  We were on our way out of the clinic at 10 PM.  Miles was amazing for the entire time we were there.  He was sweet to all the nurses and doctors and did whatever they asked of him.  He was such a blessing and I just wanted to squeeze him and cuddle him ... which I ended up doing as I slept with him in the back room on Monday night.  It was a loooooong night.  He woke up screaming several times and it took me at least 15 minutes to calm him down.  Tuesday was similar and there were ups and downs with his pain. Kyle slept with him last night and he said he did much better and only woke up a couple times between 3 and 4 AM.  Tomorrow afternoon he gets his cast put on.  I am 99.9% sure he will pick blue.  I am already praising God and giving thanks that it wasn't a break, but rather a fracture because the recovery time will be so much less.  He will hopefully have his cast off before the really hot weather hits and summer swimming.  He also can wear shorts because the weather is warm enough.  I think it would be really hard to dress a two year old in winter clothes with a cast on.

He was so tired Tuesday morning.

He cried himself to sleep Tuesday morning.  

Touch A Truck

My Mom and I took the boys to Touch a Truck on Saturday.  Kyle had a paper due and needed us out of the house so we took off in the morning and spent the day at Touch a Truck and the park.  We saw lots of kids from Maddeck's school and enjoyed lunch in the park with my friend Jenn and her boys.  I took lots of pictures.