Some Random March Pics

Time is flying. We have been busy and enjoy lots of fun activities.

Kate had a playdate with her friend Audrey and they both got into the swimsuit action.

Lucy adventuring at the park

Math night at the kids school. It was great!

Jaydon planning out his moves in chess

 Kate's school went on a field trip to Safetyville. She had fun touring the mini-city with kid size streets and buildings.

Poor bubba came down with a bug

Kate's school did fall pics (I posted those gems of all 3 kids) and then they came back and did spring photos (including the outfit). I bought the fun collage that included all three of these cute shots.

Lucy helped me make a baked German Pancake - Yum!

Fun in Feb

We enjoyed a few fun events in Feb while also battling a few illnesses.

I got to chaperone Jaydon's school field trip to the HS production of Mulan Jr. We had a great time and the HS kids did a great job on their performance. It sure makes me wish I could be teaching at the HS again. Hopefully soon...

Because of this sign that hangs on our wall Kate calls St. Patrick's Day - "Broccoli Day" it is pretty funny.

We had team pics and I thought Jaydon was fine other than just fighting through croup, turns out by the time we got home he was running a fever and stayed in our bed from about 12:30pm until the next morning minus about an hour and a half that he was on a couch watching a show. Poor kiddo.

One more ER trip under our belt for croup. Jaydon is really aware of what is happening and can tell us what he needs and this time he needed the steroid drug to open his airways. When he woke up at about 4 in the morning and being outside couldn't get his breathing under control I headed to the ER. It is so frustrating that he can't quite grow out of this! Kate and I also battled croup this year but fortunately neither of our cases were that bad. It has definitely been a lingering cold season.

Date Night

Jeremy was out of town on Valentine's Day but we had plans to go out with a group of friends for a fun date night. I got this one crappy picture of the both of us.

Lucy gets sick

Poor Lucy, and poor us.  My kids are all different and that is apparent in how they get ill; Jaydon will get croup, Lucy will vomit and Kate will get ear infections.  It is nice to have a variety :-)

We were hosting our last guests of the holidays, Erin and Jason from the midwest (Erin and Jeremy did band stuff together in AK) when Lucy came down with her illness.  I apologize for grossing people out but I have to at least mention this so I can remember years down the road, skip the rest of this paragraph if you don't want any details.  Lucy went to bed, I heard something and thought it was Jaydon still coughing from his croup, then I heard it again (probably about 10 minutes later) and ran into their room, it wasn't Jaydon coughing, it was Lucy throwing up.  It was everywhere on her bed, her hair, her pjs.  It was the biggest disaster I had seen and wasn't even sure how to begin, we had enjoyed spaghetti for dinner.  Poor girl, I think I just stared at her for a minute wondering what to do.  then I got her in a shower and called Jeremy home from our neighbors house to help.  After washing and drying on the sanitize setting 3 full times the sheets and clothes were finally clean.  Whew, quite a disaster and poor Lucy. 

Lucy snuggled up on the couch upstairs away from everyone else.

Jason taking a funny picture copying Jaydon while I was trying to set up the timer pic

All the reasonably healthy folks. 

Family Time

We got home from MN and were lucky to have Grandpa and Nana and Granny and Papa to hang out with us for a couple days.  

 More presents, this time Jaydon was busy painting in his new book - he had another croup battle so it was a low key day for him to let the meds start working and help him breathe more easily.

Higgins loves Christmas

We went into Downtown and enjoyed wondering around Pike Place and had a fun meal together before Grandpa and Nana had to start their journey back to CA.

Nana and Granny

Lucy and Grandpa

Daddy and Kate

Vacay to B'ham, part 4

Breakfast at a local favorite, one more park stop, and a quick drink with our cousin wrapped up our weekend.  It was great and crazy and a little scary all at the same time.  We ended up dealing with waaay too much sickness between the two families but have all survived.

More swings!

Xander was a total trooper dealing with pneumonia and a nasty double ear infection.

Craig got a little Kate time

Jaydon woke up in the morning with a low fever not feeling great, he and I stayed home from the breakfast but he was feeling better so we went to the park to get some fresh air before leaving town.  He started not feeling well and needed some snuggles, he was also quite chilled.  About an hour after this pic was taken I found out his temp had gone up to 106, so we headed to an urgent care clinic where he was given some more meds.  Quite scary to see such a high number!

Aubrey with Kate and Lucy!

Another sick day

Lucy caught more crud, another round of fever and vomiting.  This one though was a bit strange, when the meds were in there she was fine, when they wore down, she was miserable.  No appetite and thankfully it wasn't long lived.

Some play-dough time

Then nap time and shows with Higgins

"Picnic" lunch

We were all bummed, Jaydon was going to get to have a sack lunch with a neighbor before heading to school while Lucy, Kate and I went to a child development class to talk to high schoolers about little kids.  Unfortunately Lucy came down with a fever at the last minute so we had to cancel.  Jaydon was quite bummed so I let him have a sack lunch picnic in the living room - not the same but he was somewhat appeased.

Sick Jaydon

Not too long after Lucy had the lingering crud Jaydon also came down with it, his got so bad that he couldn't keep anything down for a whole day and we eventually took him to the walk in clinic, after they gave him an anti-nausea med they were almost ready to send us home when he was pretty violently ill again and that worried them so they sent us to Children's hospital.  Luckily he wound up just needing a bit more time for his system to have nothing in it and by the next morning he was doing better.  It was a bit of a long haul for all of us.  You can see Higgins snuggled with him for a brief bit!

Sick kiddos

Unfortunately we had a nasty run of flu like symptoms at our house.  It seems from late Dec through early May we had more than our share of stomach viruses that led to lots of yucky times for everyone in the house.  

These photos were taken of the kids having a bit of Handy Manny show time to keep them low key during the midst of Lucy's three week off and on yuckiness.  So cute that they cuddled up together and bundled in blankets to watch a show.

Coaches vs. Cancer

Every year for the past few years our basketball conference has done a large scale fundrasier to help fight cancer. Every team plays in a game decked out with pink and we all wear special t-shirts and have honorary coaches who have been impacted by cancer. This year with some snow changes to our schedule we went from hosting the game to being the visitor and while I was always going to have my mom come to my JV game, she got to be our varsity honorary coach as well. Jeremy was out of town and we had to bring Jaydon along as well so grandma got to be an honorary coach and babysitter. It was a great event raising money to fight cancer or crush cancer as our t-shirt logos said. Thanks mom for coming up and participating.

Jaydon watching from the stands with our statistician and a couple players. He later climbed down and came almost onto the cour during the game before I caught him and took him to the bench to be with grandma.

The girls getting ready for the starting line-ups to be announced and my mom with another coach on the side.

My mom had to stand in the center to be recognized, they always read a write-up about every honorary coach and this is what was written and read about her.

When Susan Lahti was diagnosed with breast cancer in June of 2010 her thoughts went to her mother, Jean, who had battled and beat breast cancer 3 times before losing her fight with colon cancer a number of years later. Susan decided that aggressive treatment was her best option and after her double mastectomy she was declared Cancer Free!! She has been able to go from a participant in Casting for Recovery, a fly-fishing support group for women with cancer, to an instructor, continuing to help others deal with this terrible disease. Susan is the mother of Squalicum Assistant Coach Sarah Smoldon and has helped instill in Sarah and her entire family the love of basketball and the pursuit of good health. Susan played basketball for the Western Washington University Vikings and basketball has continued to play a large role in her life and lives of her family. She is a physical educator at Mt. Lake Terrace High School where she coached varsity basketball along with having previously coached at the community college level. She is happy to be here tonight, back on the court, where she spent so many years playing and coaching, and is honored to be part of such a wonderful event to help CRUSH CANCER!