Nice to be Recognized

I had a fun experience today. I was asked to attend the kids' school award assembly today. I knew Ryan was g etting an award (he got an award for completing his math facts) so I didn't really think much of it. In the middle of the assembly the principle stood up and said that there are a few people who really work hard to make things happen for our school and that she wanted to recognize the school volunteers that had given more than 100 hours of service this year. She called my name among about 7 or 8 others. Three of them were High School students who volunteer at the school and the rest were other moms like me. I nearly started crying when the whole student body and parents attending stood up clapping. Amazingly I was able to keep control. They presented us all with a certificate, a pin and a potted plant. It was really nice to be recognized in such a way.

On another note, the preliminary results are in from our carnival and we had gross sales income of $7900 with a bit more money still trickling in for silent auction items that have not yet been picked up and paid for. We had expenses right around $2500, so we have a net profit of around $5400. That is more than triple the profit we have had in past years. It is so exciting to see that all our hard work as a committe over the last 5 months has paid off.

Welcome to the world Brady David Pierce!!! (more)

My brother Kevin and his wife Cassie had their baby on Friday, April 25th. We are so excited to welcome another little Pierce into the world. Here is a picture.

Isn't he cute?!!!!! I love him already. I wish I could go down there to see him and kiss those cheeks. Hopefully we can go for a visit this summer. This is baby boy number four for Kevin and Cassie. I wonder if they will try to match us and try for a girl!!! I guess time will tell.

Carnival is over and done. Big sigh!! It went off really well. I wish I would have remembered to take my camera with me to the school to take some pics. Oh well. It was a great time for all who attended. I know my kids had a blast and we got a lot of great feedback from other parents. Now we will start planning for next year. (very loosly planning that is)

The other wonderful thing that happened this week is that we got a membership to a local pool and tennis club. I am so excited!! Many of our friends are already members and we have gone several times as guests and the kids and I loved it. This year we decided to use part of our stimulus package to finally get our own membership. This will give us lots of time at the pool (everyday if we want), but it will also give me something to do close by with the kids each day. It is a social activity as most of the members of the club go to our elementary school. The kids will be hanging out with their friends, and I will be visiting with mine and catching some rays. I can't wait til Memorial Day weekend when the pool opens for the year. Yippee!!!

It's Carnival Time

Well, this is just a quick post for sanity sake. I have spent almost 3 hours per day this week at the kids' school preparing for the carnival that is tonight. I am so ready to be done with it. will be there all day today until the event is over. It is going to be so much fun for the kids that it makes all the hard work worth it in the end. We are having a circus theme this year and every year we have pries for families that come dressed up in costumes to match the theme. My kids are dressing up this year and are so excited. Tiffany is goin g to be a trapeze artist, Ryan is the strong man, Jake is a lion tamer, and Kyle will be a clown. I also have a clown costume and if I have time between setup and the start of the carnival, I will dress up too. Kaylee is helping at one of the booth so she won't be dressing up this year.

We will be having over 20 different game booths, cotton candy, popcorn, dinner of pizza and soda, glow sticks and necklaces, a clown making balloon art for the kids, and a caricature artist. I think it is going to be really fun.

Well, I better run. There's lots to do, but I feel better already!!!

Tuesdays With Morrie

I finished this book in a day. It was soooo good. Thanks Michelle for the recommendation. The book makes you look at yourself and the things in life that you think are important. It helps you to see what things in life really are the most important. There were some great quotes in the book that made me think about my own attitudes and priorities. I hope that I can take something from Morrie and make my life even better. What a great man he must have been. Anyway, if you haven't read the book by Mitch Albom, you should read it.

It's been a few days since my last post, so I thought I would just post a bit about what has been going on with us over the last week.

We have been quite busy it seems even though we don't seem to be doing much. Last week was the kids' Spring Break and of course we had wrotten weather most of the week. It rained and snowed and it was cold. On Tuesday we went to see the movie Horton Hears a Who. It was pretty cute and the kids enjoyed it.

Of course on Thursday we had the kids' surgeries and after that there wasn't much we were able to do. Mike stayed home on Thursday and Friday and was able to help out a bit with things here. It was nice to have him home.

Tiffany has been struggling a bit still with her recovery. She has not been back to school yet and is still relying on her pain medication every 4-5 hours and it isn't quite cutting out all of the pain. The last couple of days she has also had pressure pain in her ears which they told us to expect. Her neck hurts to turn her head so she is very stiff and it is still hurting her quite a lot to swallow. She has eaten lots of ice cream, popcicles, jell-o, and chicken noodle soup. We are hoping to see marked improvement over the next couple of days. She really wants to get back to school.

I have been very busy with the planning of our school carnival. It will be held next week on Friday the 25th. It always takes so much planning to pull of this big event. It is the biggest event we do all year. It is generally very well attended and the kids look forward to all year long. We have all kinds of games with prizes, food, and fun. I have been working with my committee since January and I will be glad when it is over. I will try to take some pictures and post them next week of the event.

Mike is out of town again yeserday and today. He is in Nashville meeting with people in his company there to find out more about the job possibilities that may have him traveling for the next year or two with work. The construction job he was hired in Denver for has been postponed for a bit due to the crash of the housing market and ey are trying to find him another job to run until the one in Denver is a go. I hate the thought of him being gone all week and home only on the weekends, but this company is so great we will do all we can to make it work. I will write more about this when we know for sure what is going on.

I have been going to my physical therapy appointments twice a week and it seems that the excercises the therapist gave ma are doing some good. My range of motion has improved quite a bit in my shoulder though the pain hasn't changed at all. I have another week or so of appointments so hopefully now that the range of motion has improved we can start treating the pain. I have been taking celebrex twice daily with very little pain relief from that. It amazes me how many little jobs around the house require the use of that arm and shoulder and how often I find myself straining because of the pain. OUCH!!! It may take a bit of cortizone in the joint afterall.

On another note, I thought that I would just update on my progress on the goals I set back in March. I have been able to avoid chocolate, mostly. I have treated myself on a couple of occasions, but have been amazed that I haven't struggled more with this one. I have been tempted every time I go to the store to buy a chocolate bar but have for the most part resisited the temptation. I have still been eating a few other kinds of sweets and perhaps will ty to cut back on those now as well. I figure I can't cut everything at once or I will go CRAZY!! I have been doing better about exercising especially since I have to do my PT exercises. I have just added 100 sit-ups and leg lifts and a few other easy exercises when I am already on the floor doing the PT stuff. I have also walked on the treadmill a few times. I have noticed small improvements to the toning on my elly and definitely have had some soreness in the abs, quads, and gluts. All the areas I have been targeting. So I feel good about my attempts so far. Yeah me!!

Well, this is getting long so I better be going. One last thing, after reading Michelle's post (in case you don't know, Michelle is one of my new step sisters)about the book Tuesdays with Morrie, I am starting to read that book today. I will let you know my thoughts when I am done in a couple of days.

Touching video from American Idol

So you probably all know that I am obsessed with American Idol. I have watched it now every season since the first. I have been more impressed some years than others. But one of my all time favorite bands came from American Idol and I just have to share the video they made this week for the American Idol Gives Back Fundraising episode. I loved Chris Daughtry from the first time I saw him on the show and actually picked him to win. It's amazing that he was fourth place that year and has gone on to sell more records than any of the others. Inlcuding now holding the title of fastest selling rock album EVER. I love his music and this song was one of my favorites even before seeing this video. The video here gives it a whole new dimention. Anyway, check it out. (Of course it doesn't hurt either that one of my favorite actors to look at is the one introducing them. Ohhh Brad!) Enjoy!

Surgeries are over...

Tiffany and Jacob had their surgeries today. Jake's ear tube surgery went great and the doc thinks this will likely be the last set of tubes he will need. He did have fluid in his ears which they drained before inserting the tubes. Other than a bit of a headache. Jake is doing great and right back to his normal busy self.

Tiffany's tonsilectomy and adenoidectomy went great as well. The doc said it is a good thing they did take out her tonsils as she had pockets of puss on them. This should help her stay more healthy in the future. She is doing well though she has the expected sore throat. I think as long as we stay on top of her pain meds, she will be fine. She was such a trooper and didn't even flinch when they put in her IV.

I knew my body was out of whack!!

For about a month now, I have been dealing with some shoulder pain. It hasn't been unbearable, but has truly been an annoyance. It hurts to do my hair, brush my teeth, turn when driving my car, vacuum, mop, wash the table, and during many other of my daily tasks. I have had shoulder issues off an on since I was 16 and I tore my rotators cuff. Often it comes on and bothers me for a few days, then goes away. This time, I kept expecting that it would go away, but it hasn't and has only been getting worse. So, last week I went to the doctor to have it checked. They did x-rays and as far as I know all is well with the bone structure, but the doc says he suspects that I have Tendinitis. No big surprise there, that is basically what I was expecting. He wrote me a prescription to see the physical therapist and I went to see him today. He basically told me that my whole body is out of whack causing undue stress to my shoulder. He says it starts with my left hip, which, when he performed a diagnostic test, had very little flexibility. That has messed up my pelvis, ribs and eventually my scapula which is in an awkward position causing the tendon pain in my shoulder. So he has given me hip exercises to do twice daily to help ease the burden on my shoulder. He also told me I should not vacuum, mop, wipe the counters, pick up the kids, or do anything else that I do not absolutely have to do using that arm. He says the combination of the hip exercises, resting my arm, ice, anti-inflammatory medication, and bi weekly PT treatments to reduce the inflammation in my shoulder, should get me feeling better. He says his hope is that by treating my hip situation it will help so this doesn't continue to be a recurring problem. Treat the source of the problem, not just the symptoms...imagine that.

I don't know why, but it seems like things have just been going downhill where my body is concerned ever since I turned 30. Up until then the only medical issues I had were a couple of gymnastics injuries as a teenager, and having my babies. Since I turned 30, I have had 2 babies, 4 surgeries, a broken foot, and lots of aches and pains. Oh well, such is life.

Pictures from our Weekend Getaway

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A Super Spontaneous Weekend Getaway!!!

Mike called me on his way home from work on Friday night and asked if I wanted to get away for the weekend. He made reservations for a cabin up at the YMCA of the Rockies-Snow Mountain Ranch. We spent Friday evening packing and headed out early on Saturday morning. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive but so worth it. When we got there, we went sledding. Here are some of the pictures from this super fun winter activity.After we went sledding we checked in to our cabin and had lunch. Here is a picture of one of the cabins at the ranch. Unfortunately I lamely forgot to take a picture of our cabin before we left.
After lunch and a little rest time in the cabin, we took the kids to the indoor swimming pool and swam for a while. It was great fun. But I didn't take any pictures. We took the kids out to KFC/Taco Bell for dinner. After dinner we all went down to the Recreation Center. In this building, they had roller skating, basketball, volleyball, ping pong, foosball, and rock climbing. We spent about 2 hours participating in the various activities there. Here are a couple of pictures.

After our adventures at the Rec Center, we headed back to the cabin for games, snacks and a fire in the fireplace.
It wasn't long before the boys were ready to crash!! They fell asleep in me and Mike's bed.Sunday morning was pretty restful. We decided to take the kids ice skating before we left and headed home. Here are a couple of those pictures.
We had a great family weekend and enjoyed this ranch so much and all their activities that we will be looking at coming back again and again. They have great activities year round and the price was really reasonable for the cabin and all the activities included. It was really nice to have some time like this toegther as a family without the interuptions of phones and other things. We had a blast just being together. More Pictures coming.

I Hate Wednesdays!

For some odd reason our school district thinks the teachers need more planning time so we have this "Early Release Wednesday". I have only heard of this concept one other place before and I think it is silly. While I do believe that teachers need planning and prep time, I don't understand why this can't be done on a daily basis for and hour or two after school.

On Wednesdays I feel like all I do is run from one place to another just picking up or dropping off from school. A typical Wednesday for me goes like this(when it is my turn to carpool to the middle school which is every other week).

7:00 Kaylee to Middle School
7:30 Ryan to Elementary School for Student Council Meeting
8:00 Tiff and Jake to School
10:20 Kindergarten Gets out, Pick up Jake
1:10 Middle School Release, Pick up Kaylee
2:00 Elementary School gets out, Pick up Tiff and Ryan
3:00 Take Kaylee back to Middle School for Track Practice
Also 3:00 Ryan to Cub Scouts at church Every week, and Tiff to Activity Days every other week
4:00 Pick up from scouts and Activity Days
4:30 Pick Kaylee up from Track Practice

Wow, it makes me tired just looking at it. On Wednesdays, I do not plan to do anything else except maybe housework which is a daily thing anyway. There just isn't enough time between drop offs and pick ups to get much done.

I find that Wednesday is the day of the week that I dread. I Hate Wednesdays. That said, I am off to take Ryan to Student Council.