Nina and Parker's NEW Best Friend...

ABBY!!! Nina got a new puppy! Abby is a little TOY POODLE and is absolutely ADORABLE! :) She is a little over 1 lb and will get up to around 5 lbs! (Peanut) She is an apricot colored toy poodle... and the boys (especially Parker) just adore her! When Mom got her they told us that for every 20 minutes of play she needed 1 hour of rest! - - hehehehe... can you imagine?? This concept was foreign to me considering I rarely get even 6-7 hours of sleep a night! :) She is a good girl and is doing great at potty training! The boys miss her so much and can't wait for Nina to come visit again next week! Here are some pictures of our newest family member...

WELCOME to the family Abby... we all already love you!!! :)

VBS and Taste of Hope

Last week Parker went to Vacation Bible School again... this time at Lutheran Church of HOPE in West Des Moines! He went with his friends Cooper and Corbin (and even Braxton went too this year)! The kids had a blast!!! I included a photo of his shirt... I thought they were pretty fun!

Then on Sunday the entire family went to Taste of Hope! This was the first time we ever went... and it was a great time! They served FREE food, had games, fireworks and blow up toys for the kids... and TONS of people! - - Seriously, TONS of PEOPLE! The lines were ridiculously long!
I love taking our family to these things... but I can not handle the lines. We waited 20 minutes at least for 1 ride! CRAZY! So we left after 2 rides... but promised the boys we would take them to Family Fun Night this week... so we will hopefully get some great pictures from there to post!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

What wonderful family and friends we have!!! Phone calls, cards, gifts, visitors, a meal and more came pouring into our home when Parker returned from surgery on the 17th! What a lucky little boy he is! He is just in heaven with all of his new gifts.... THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! everyone! :) Here is a look at Parker's wonderland....

More on Parker....

Surgery is complete.... it went well!!! A little over an hour! He was in recovery for a while and we are now discharged (around 10:30 ish) heading back home!!! The cyst did have some blood in it so they are sending it to pathology to be sure all is well - the dr is not too concerned! We thought our team was EXCELLENT - our dr was GREAT! He is a little sick to his stomach and is on pain meds! We are GRATEFUL! Thanks for the prayers!
He will be sore for about a week... then in about 3 weeks he will be back to normal activities. In two months we will go in for another x-ray to be sure that the bone is regrowing in the area where the cyst was.
We are home (got home around 1:30ish) and he is resting and coloring up a storm. He has pain and isn't able to bear weight too much. They did say that he may not walk on it today but should be able to tomorrow. He hates his pain meds (great!) and fights us everytime we have to give him some. - poor little guy. He has been eating graham crackers only for now.

I am adding some pictures from the hospital! Parker was a little trooper! After he realized surgery was over he said to Daddy... "Daddy I was tough!" :) - - oh we love that little boy! :)

In recovery... Parker got juice and a popsicle! Of course Owen wanted one too and the nurse got him one too! :)

Parker Update....

Parker is in surgery! They estimate 2 hours or less... he was pretty loopy before he went in since they gave him medicine to put him out. He was a little scared... but really not too bad! We are praying!! :)

Twas the night before surgery....

and in the motel... (ok... not a good rhymer so we will just stop there) :)

The boys were excited all of the way to Iowa City... all they wanted to do is go swimming! :)Parker, Owen and Daddy got in... I wasn't feeling well again with my throat and ears so I was the designated camera gal! :) Poor Daddy got pretty tired because the boys kept wanting to jump in and have Daddy catch them and then be lifted out to do it OVER and OVER and OVER again! :) They had fun though!! :) My Mom came with us too and she helped with Owen lots - - THANK YOU! :)

My Mom's SURPRISE remodel!

The past 2 weekends Nick and I worked on remodeling my Mom's bedroom and master bath while she was in Canada! We wanted to surprise her with a NEW space that was relaxing and all hers! We also did lots of odds and ends around the house for her to get things organized before she returned and before she has her ankle fusion (my poor Mom has lots of pain).

Some of the things we did included: new window hardware, new curtains, new bedding, new pictures and frames, new flooring in the bathroom, new bathroom hardware, paint, new lighting, etc. Nick worked on outdoor projects too! We had lots to get done and not a lot of time to do it!

It was fun getting to create a new space for my Mom and the best part was that she had NO idea!

Thank you Nina & Papa for helping so much with the boys so we could get this done... we REALLY appreciate it! :)

Here is a look at our work...

The bedroom BEFORE:

The bedroom AFTER:

The bathroom BEFORE:

The bathroom AFTER:

... I will add a flooring photo, I forgot to take one! :)

The kitchen AFTER: (we added the mirror and vinyl wall words)

Last T-ball Game....

Thursday night was Parker's last t-ball game! He had a great time playing this year... and I am so glad!!! Last year he really wanted nothing to do with it and I felt like he might be that way this year so we gave hime several options for the summer and he still picked t-ball!! So now... here it is July and he is done! He told us on the way home Thursday that he will miss all of his new friends from t-ball this summer! It made me smile! :) He really did great and had so much fun... so t-ball will be on our list for summers to come! :)

Here are a few pictures from the night!