Thanksgiving 2013

We hit the road again this year for Thanksgiving!  We headed to Iowa on Wednesday afternoon.  The kids did great in the car and Madelyn was so excited to get to Mama and Gampa's house!

We celebrated Kenny's 70th birthday on Wednesday night.  Chris smoked ribs and pork - delicious!  It was a fun family night.  Eric and Heather made the trip from Chicago and it's always fun to see them….since they don't back to Iowa as often as the rest of us.

Thanksgiving Day we celebrated with Emily's side of the family.  There were 43 people there - amazing since there are 25 if my entire family (both sides) would ever be together at one time!  Always fun to see Ryan's family and they all enjoy seeing the kids and are amazed at how fast they grow up.

Considering we forgot our camera we still got plenty of pictures!

Pitstop at the gas station on our way to Iowa

Uncle Chris and Happy Jack

Showing Milton some love

Auntie Heather playing dollhouse with Madely

Grandma and Jack

Grandma and Madelyn

One of my favorite pictures
Belly laughs from Jack and Grandpa!!

Grandparents with the Grandkids

Uncle Eric and Jack

Friday we took off for Owatonna.  We stopped to see my Grandma who is in a care center.  My Grandpa Arnie met us there too.  It's always good to see them.

Great Grandpa Arnie, Baby Jack and me
I love this picture!  It makes me smile every time I see it!

Grandkids with the Grandparents

Love my dad & sister!!!

Papa & Jack - always happy together!

The big kids eating a treat and lounging around

These two melt my heart!  They love each other so much!

Saturday we celebrated with my dad's side of the family.  Grandpa Ray & Darlene came along with Bob, Sandy & Tim.  We missed seeing Jeff & Danielle but it didn't work for them to make it back this year.  Hopefully we'll be able to see them at Christmas.  Aunt Sandy gave the kids autographed children books.  She always has the best ideas and the kids love her gifts!

Great Aunt Sandy giving the kids books!
They loved them!
The girl in Madelyn's book looks a lot like Madelyn - so special!

Nana & Jack having so much fun!

Nana reading to Madelyn

Madelyn looking so grown up

Madelyn & Nora

Love Bishop's smile & laugh!  It's so contagious!

The big kids

The girls

Jack took a bath by himself!
Next year he'll be one of the big kids!

Lots of laughs before bedtime

Jack in his Christmas pjs!

We came back home on Saturday night.  That has been our routine the last few years.  We like having all day Sunday at our house after a fun time on the road!

Madelyn having her first (and last - at least for while) piece of gum while watching the Bears game!
She doesn't quite understand the "no swallow" concept yet :)

Last day of Nastics

Madelyn was in gymnastics again this fall.  It was the same class as the spring.  She enjoyed it and was able to do more things this time around.  I have to say that I'm glad it's over though!  I didn't think the 9:00 class would be hard to get to since we always seem to be up by 6:30-7 at the latest on the weekends but I realized it's nice to not have to be anywhere early at least one day of the week since we seem to be rushing around every other morning of the week!  Plus Jack is more mobile now so he wanted to crawl around and get in on the action as well!

Nana came up for the last session so Madelyn loved that!  At one point Nana came over to sit down with Jack and me and Madelyn was sad because she wanted Nana to help her :)  Everyone loves Nana!!

Nana helping Madelyn on the bar

Somersault!

Backwards somersault with the help from her teacher

Big smiles!  So excited to have Nana there!

Getting her medal…...

and not interested in looking at the camera!

Another ear infection…...

but this time it's for Jack!  Jack slept a lot and was fussy for most of the weekend but he seemed better on Monday morning so off to daycare we went!  I got a call around 11 that Jack was having a tough day and was uncomfortable.  Thankfully my parents were able to come up and be with Jack.  I was in the middle of benefit open enrollment meetings and with Ryan starting a new job it was a tough week for either of us to be off.

Poor baby Jack…..he had an ear infection and his throat was extremely red.  I guess that explained why he wasn't very happy over the weekend and wasn't interested in eating.  With Madelyn I knew whenever she had an ear infection but with Jack it's so hard to tell - one day/night he's up screaming in pain and the next day/night he seems fine.  Through it all he's usually got a smile on his face though!

My parents ended up taking him to Owatonna for a couple nights so he got some extra love!  Madelyn missed her brother - she was so sad at night when it was time to go to bed because she couldn't kiss Jack.  We have our routine and she always comes in to kiss Jack before she goes to bed.  She is our routine girl so she was pretty sad.  I always think she will like some one-on-one time with Ryan and me but she loves her baby brother and really misses him when he's gone!

We were all back together as a healthy family of 4 by the end of the week!

New Job

Ryan started a new job today at Amphora Medical.  He is very excited about this new opportunity and the kids were excited to see him off on his first day!

Tubes…..Round Two

Madelyn hasn't had any ear issues since she had her tubes put in.  At her follow up with the ENT in July one of the tubes had fallen out and the dr thought he saw a cyst on her ear drum.  He wasn't concerned but said to follow up in 2-3 months and if the cyst had grown then we would have to figure out some options.  He said many times the cysts just pop and basically go away on their own.

She had a follow up appointment at the end of Sept.  The cyst was gone (yay!) but she had an ear infection.  Now the tube in the other ear was still in her ear but it had moved and wasn't functioning anymore.

We had another follow up appointment last Friday and she didn't have an ear infection but there was a lot of fluid build-up in both ears.  We had the option to 1) wait and see what happens, 2) have tubes put in or 3) have tubes put in and her adenoids removed.  We chose option #2 which we felt very comfortable with.

Madelyn had her 2nd set of tubes put in yesterday.  Everything went great!  She is such a trooper and she had more energy than all of us the rest of the day!  Nana came up to help with Jack as we had to be at the surgery center by 6:30 am and our daycare doesn't open until 6:30.  It ended up working out well as Jack wasn't feeling 100% so he got some extra care and snuggle time with Nana.

Madelyn's surgery was scheduled for 7:30 am and we were back home before 9:00 am.  It is amazing how quickly this procedure goes.  We are so impressed with all the doctors and the highest level of care that we receive during this process (both last time and this time).  Madelyn's been a happy camper through it all - you would never know she had tubes put in.  Hopefully these tubes work as well as the 1st set…..I'm sure they will!

Getting some love from Nana before we take off!

A little tea party with daddy before surgery
Wearing my cute Minnie hair clip from Nana!

All ready!  Such a brave girl!

Snuggling with daddy after surgery

A sugar cookie with sprinkles for being such a trooper!

My Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated my birthday with my family.  It's always so fun to be together!  The kids have such a great time and everyone always loves seeing Nana and Papa!  Papa had a surprise for all of us……he showed up as Spider Man!  The kids loved it!  Such a fun afternoon - we had lunch and then watch the Vikings game while the kids played.  Everyone spoiled me and Nana brought 2 of my favorite desserts!  YUMMY!

Halloween gifts from Nana & Papa

Play doh, Madelyn's favorite!

Happy Jack playing with his bag

Bishop & Jack playing!

Love these three!

Nora LOVES her Nana!!!

Papa & Madelyn - such a special bond!

The "big" kids…..so happy together!

Jack will be a "big" kid soon!

I love my dad!

Spidey with our family!

Then on Monday night we celebrated just the 4 of us.  It was a perfect night!  Picked up dinner and then got ready to watch the Bears game.  Ryan and the kids got me a beautiful necklace with the "M" & "J" initials.  I love, love, love it!  Madelyn and Daddy made me a chocolate cake which was delicious.  Jack can attest to that as he had his first taste of cake for my birthday :)  I couldn't have asked for a better birthday!

Homemade Birthday Cake from Madelyn

Jack loved it! :)