Uncle Rick and Aunt Donna

A week ago today, while Gabriel was sick, Isabelle was covered in blotches and Michael complained about the random bumps on his body, I received a phone call.  A surprise phone call that was wonderful.  Looking at the clock as my phone rang at 6:20 a.m. I noticed it was from my Aunt Donna and Uncle Rick.  Given that I don't get to talk to them all that often and the fact that it was so early in the morning, made me first think something bad had happened (I know, I know, I need to be the glass half full kind of thinker, I guess I'll just blame it on the way the morning had started, I was already in a negative mindset.). 

Anyway, as I answered the phone and heard my Uncle Rick on the other end, I was happily surprised to hear that they were going to make an unexpected, last minute trip to Phoenix.  As we briefly discussed details he said, "We'll see you tomorrow afternoon".  

And just like that, I got off the phone to tell the boys excitedly that we were going to have visitors from Iowa.  For the past several years when we visit Iowa, we have been able to visit Rick and Donna, and their son Eric and Stefanie's farm. Eric and Stefanie have three girls the boys ages and it would be fair to say the boys LOVE every minute they get to spend with Ava, Jordan and Kelly on the farm.  So when I told the boys about our Iowa visitors I said, "Boys, Rick and Donna are coming to visit us!!!!"  Gabriel looked and Michael and Michael looked at Gabriel, each searching for a clue as to what in the world I was talking about.  I then realized, that they needed me to put it in their terms.  So I said, "Ava, Kelly and Jordan's grandma and grandpa are coming to visit us!!!"  And with that shouts of YAY and questions of how soon they would be arriving, filled the air.  (Sorry Rick and Donna, if it makes you feel better, I"m only known and Gabriel and Michael's mom to almost everyone in their social circle. :-) )

Around 37 hours later Rick and Donna walked into our home!  How excited we were to see them.   I think they were a bit tired and sore from driving so many hours, but it was so great to have them visit.  As we caught up about how things were back home and what changes, updates and exciting things were happening, I reflected on how much fun I had growing up living close to them.  I remember our family would often get together with their family, us kids were similar in age and the adults always enjoyed talking and playing cards.  Living so far away from so much family, we often feel like we miss out on so much.  And now when we do get the chance to go back to Iowa, it is pretty much a race to see as many people as we can, so the chance to sit down and just visit doesn't come around all that often.  I guess that's just one of the reasons why I had such an enjoyable time catching up.

That night we made plans for the following day to take the kids to Bass Pro Shop, having never been before, I learned it was an experience in itself just visiting the huge store.  Indeed they were right and although I forgot my camera, the boys found about 50 things they wanted/insisted they needed and proceeded to beg Donna and Rick to buy it for them.  I think Rick finally decided to postpone the conversation about buying a 4-wheeler for Gabriel until he is 12. :-)  Rick- I don't think Gabriel will forget that.

Saturday night, Rick and Donna gave Jarrett and I a chance to actually talk to each other and offered to watch the kids while we went to a friend's birthday party.  What a wonderful gift (for us)! Actually for all of us, all of the kids had a lot of fun playing with Rick and Donna and after picking them up that night the boy's couldn't stop talking about all the fun they had while we were gone.  "Mom- did you know Donna is a really good cooker?"  Yes Michael I did. "Mom- did you know Donna said I could take all these cookies home and she said I could eat them before we go to bed, even with milk mom okay?"  Nice try Gabriel, you can have some in the morning (even though Mom may or may not have had 3 of those tasty cookies before bed). "Mom- Did you know Rick played bear with us? He sounds like a real bear!"  "Mom- Rick and I talked about football and his favorite team" "Mom, can Rick and Donna be our grandpa and grandma too?"  It was clear, the kids had fallen in love.

Even though it rained the entire time of their visit, on Sunday we decided, despite the clouds and rain, to take a trip to the Phoenix Zoo.  It was fun as we walked around the exhibits and the boys shouted out for us to keep going to see the next animal. That day I did remember our camera and so below are a few shots...

While we waited for a brief rain cloud to pass cover, Rick taught the boys thumb wrestling.... I think the boys thought if they made Rick's arms crossed they had a better chance of winning.  They were wrong. :-)

By the time we came to the elephant exhibit, we found it was actually time to feed them.  Being that the zoo was not crowded, the care taker shared with us how she places food throughout their "home" and how much they eat a day.  Each elephant eats ~100 lbs of food a day, and for those wondering beer from a keg is not in their diet. They actually place food inside the keg and there is a small hole at one end.  The elephant has to turn the key and use its trunk to get the food out.  Although it looks like the elephant is just putting the food from the key directly into its mouth, it isn't.  She is holding it with her mouth and using her trunk, just like we use our finger, to pick the food up.  It was fascinating to watch and we a learned something.  Also I don't think I've ever been so close to an elephant.

We of course had to visit the lions, they were so excited to see us.  Can you tell?

And then we had to ride the carousel. 

And while the boys did that, Rick and Donna watched Isabelle for us.  I don't think they minded the wait.

Isn't his smile/surprise face the best?  This is what I get when I ask him to smile. :-)

And after a fun day at the zoo we returned home for it was back to work/school the next day and the boys had to get ready for bed.  After dinner Rick and Donna came over for their last evening of their visit and we played cards.  Isabelle was still up and even though she was ready for bed, she was determined to stay up.  I tried to give her the bottle but she wanted down.  A few minutes later, she had walked/crawled over to Rick's lap where it was clear, she wanted him to hold/feed her.  While he held her and fed her the bottle she started pointing at his nose.  I think she was telling him to make sure they come back to visit and to make it soon!  A few minutes later she was fast asleep.

We sure had a wonderful time with our surprise Iowa visitors.  Thanks again Rick and Donna for such a fun weekend!  Please come back again soon!  We miss you already!

Until next time,
Angie

You can tell you've played hard at daycare...

when you come home looking like this...

Yes, that is her hair sticking straight up in all different directions.  I promise you she goes to day care with her hair combed nicely and parted to one side.  In fact, today she went with a pretty pink bow in it.

 Now what happens between the hours while I'm at work is unknown to me, but I am happy to report that more and more I find Isabelle enjoying her time at school.

 From Ms. Lisa I understand Isabelle has a "friend" she loves to play with.  Her and Emily play with Isabelle's blanket, babble together and smile at each other often.  I've also heard Isabelle is NOT to fond of the other boys in her class.  When they try to come up and "play" with her blanket, she lets out a high pitched squeal that clearly indicates she wants nothing to do with them. Maybe that's what happened today????  Perhaps she got into a rumble trying to defend her blankie.

And although I'm so happy to hear she is enjoying school more and more, I can't help but wonder what goes on to have her hair stand on end like this.  They assure me there have been no fingers in an outlet, so I guess it is pretty harmless. 
And in a way, we all find it endearing and think she's a little cutie no matter what direction her hair is in.

Until next time,
Angie

Welcome to the infirmary, oh I mean Haskovecs

Lately it seems we live in an infirmary.  If it isn't Isabelle sick, (wait maybe I should instead say), when Isabelle is well, which seems to be rare, someone else has something and lately it seems it is all hitting at once.

I remind myself not to stress too much because as long as it isn't anything serious, it will get better.

For the past two weeks Isabelle has had some sort of virus which caused her to be home from school. At the end of the weeek two weeks ago, her virus turned into the flu, which then turned into yet another case of ear infection.  After our bought of illness in December the pediatricians office was very proactive and gave us the next level antiobotic so that she wouldn't have a repeat of what happened before.  Thinking we had cleared the hurdle, Isabelle headed back to day care late last week and I finally went back to work thinking, great, we've gotten through that bug.  The funny thing was that before I could even get to work on Thursday, after just dropping her off, I was called by the school to pick her up.  This time she had developed "Thrush".  Not even knowing what in the world that was, when I went back to see her, I said, "Oh no that's not Thrush, that's just the milk residue on her tongue, I just fed her a bottle before dropping her off."  To which the well informed teacher replied, "Actually it is Thrush, milk rubs off (showing me with her gloved hand), thursh doesn't"  Low and behold she was actually right. Who knew?

So mark it down as another adventure in the specimin that is Isabelle's medical chart.  After having so much fun staying up throughout the night with Belle as she was in pain from ear infection and her virus, I was next lucky person to get worn down enough to come down with a bad case of sinus infection.  Finally this week, I decided enough was enough.  Not having any and I mean any sense of smell or taste has been fun (NOT really, okay, maybe only when it comes to changing Isabelle's dirty diapers) so I decided spending almost 4 hours in urgent care until midnight would be worth it.  Let's hope the antibiotics kick in some time.  And then when we were just about silly with how wild and crazy this sickness train has become, Isabelle decided to throw us for another loop when she woke up the other morning looking like this...

Yes thats right, shes covered in welts, spots, rashes all over her entire body.  Yes.  It is fun.  I know your super jealous right now.  So back to the doctor we went.  Within a few minues of looking at her, the doctor has decided she's developed an allergy to all penicilin based medications.  Thanks to her sickness in December when she was given every antibiotic in the book, she has now developed an allergy to that family of drugs and will not be able to have that type of medication for at least 3 to 4 years.  And I guess that will be fine, because since life follows my plan, I've decided we're not going to have any more cases of ear infection, strep throat, or any other illness requiring medication for the next 5 years.

And thinking that was going to be the plan starting this 24th of January, I woke up to the message that I'm not in charge.  For Gabriel had spent the entire night sick with the flu.  A fever of a 103 and pains, aches all over his body reminded me this morning that when it seems all is going wrong and you just can't catch a break, you might as well laugh.  So that is what we did.   As I put lotion all over Isabelle's spots, helped Gabriel clean up his messes and attend to every need he had, I laughed giving thanks, at least I still had one child healthy.  And it was sure fun, until Michael came up to me and said "Mom, why do I have these bumps all over my body?"

Stay tuned, the adventure continues!
Until next time,
angie

The other day while Dad was at work and Isabelle sleeping the boys insisted on making me lunch.  They said they had made it before at school, and although I knew that wasn't the case, I went along with it and allowed them to make it for me.

Below I share with you the recipe for "lachas" 

Lachas

Ingredients:

• Water
• Sugar (1Tbsp)
• Pepper (a shake or two)
• Grapes
• Peaches
• Paprika
• Parsley Flakes
• Baking Soda (at least 1/3 of a cup)
• More Water
• 2 Ice Cubes
• Country Time lemonade dry concentrate

 First take a bowl and fill it with water.  Add the sugar.

Put it in the microwave for 30 seconds.

 Tell Mom that you will count to make sure it isn't longer than 30 seconds.

 Get excited for the 30 seconds to be up

 Pour the mixture in the bowl into a pan and add more water, while your brother scopes of the refrigerator to see what other ingregients to add... Ah Grapes!

 Add Grapes and Peaches to the pan

Then add more water

Never mind that they touched every piece of the fruit with their hands, I guess germs is another ingredient. 

Next Add baking soda (and only becuase it has the word soda in it, becuase anything with "soda" had to taste yummy).

Only a "little bit" i.e. 1/3 of a cup at least.

 Next add parsley flakes and pepper to taste.

Finish it off with Paprika and put on the stove for 40 seconds.

 Smile as you show off the ingredients to your mom or taste tester.

 Finally pour the final ingredients into a bowl and serve.

Here Mom I'll try your's first to see if it is yummy!

 Next take over the two boys and eat the finished product, the one you made for your mom, yourself.  And vola, there you have lachas!

 

Don't worry though, mom didn't put up too big of a protest.  Turns out the boys thought it was super tasty and tasted just like, can you guess?  Soda!

Until next time,

Angie 

I want a bottle... I said I wanted a bottle...

Guess whose figured out that if you want something around our house, you just might have to get it on your own?  Especially if you can't wait any longer for mom to respond...

 

Yep that's right... our little purple pumpkin...

 Its actually really comical because in order for her to get it open she has to scoot back as far as she can, then lean back, pull with all her might and after getting pulled closer to the fridge because the door weighs more than her...

 she finally gets the door to open slightly.  Then she has the next problem to try and fix.  See in the process of trying to pull the door open, and instead pulling herself too close, she's now blocking the door from opening...

 Anymore than 5 inches.  At which point she decides if she shuts the door scoots back as far as she can and tries to pull again, maybe she'll...

 be far enough back that next time she'll be able to open the door all the way...

but after several tries and continuing to be pulled "in" by the door, she gives up and a screaming fit ensues.  At which point mom gets the point, that she is really really tired of waiting for her bottle and I best stop what I'm doing (taking pictures) and actually help her.

Until next time,
Angie

ESPN overload...

In each of our lives, we may know someone who is the typical sports addict.  You know, that person who sits in their lazy boy recliner for hours and hours as they watch game after game, who follows ESPN’s sports center like it is a ritual and who lives, eats and breaths sport statistics from the past 30 years.  Yep, most  people can think of one person who fits that description. 

And as you think of that person, how would you describe them?   Well for me, I have to admit the person I picture is changing.

The person I picture now, wakes up at the crack of dawn and the first words out of their mouth are:  Who won? 

The person I picture, races through their morning routine in order to fit in 15 minutes of “down time” to catch up on the latest ESPN news before they have to leave the house to begin their day.

This person, would rather search the computer, the I-Pad and even the I-phone for sport clips and highlights from teams they didn’t even know existed just a few months ago. 

This person, checks out book after book after book from the library to read about and learn as much as they can about x football team, or x football star.

This person, insists on alternating their outfit between one jersey and the next.  When asked to “dress up” for church they decided a Cardinals jersey and mess shorts were the perfect “dressy combo”.

So have you figured out who this person is?

Yes, the person I am describing is my lovely 7 year old Gabriel.  He’s got it, he caught the sport bug and can’t seem to get rid of it.  I don’t mean to complain, in fact I think it is a great bug to catch.  I hope sports continue to be an important part of his life as Jarrett and I firmly believe sports can teach a person many things including the importance of taking risks, developing self confidence and how to work together as a team.  We are happy he loves sports so much.  What amuses us is how obsessed he is with them.  For example, he new favorite channel and the only one he’ll watch is ESPN (that is unless there is a football game on another major network).  It doesn’t matter what is on, he wants to watch it and the fact that ESPN has a bar across the side and bottom showing the latest statistics is an even greater benefit.  When he get a few minutes to watch, he’s tuned in, and I think he thinks I’m just as interested, because he’ll start spilling out all the scrolling headings/statistics/updates as they go by.   I’m tempted to record him because each update sounds just like Bob Costas reporting an Olympic  swim race Michael Phelps just broke the world record in.  “MOM-  the NY Nets won!  87-77,  2 seconds later, MOM- Oh my goodness THE RAVENS ARE BEATING THE CHARGERS  27 to 14, MOM I HAVE TO SEE THIS! And on and on and on.  Seriously less than 2 months ago Gabriel didn’t even know the ravens were something other than a bird.  For that matter he probably didn’t even know that.

It really is comical how much he LOVES everything that involves a ball and some sort of athletic movement.  Yesterday morning, after watching his 15 minutes of ESPN, on his way to school he said, “Mom, if I get my homework done at KZ (their after school program), can we watch the Monday Night Football game?  Seriously, the reason why this is so surprising to me, is that in the entire 2 1/2 years of knowing the boys, we have never fully watched an NFL football game, including the super bowl.  If I would have known all I have to do to get Gabriel to do his homework is offer the option of watching a football game, I would have started bribing 2 years ago.   When given the opportunity to play on the I-pad, you know what he does, he googles sports highlights and trivia.  And when he goes to the library at school, each week he brings home an encyclopedia of a different teams accomplishments in history.  Like I said before, he’s got the bug, the sports bug.

It will be fun to see how Gabriel’s love of sports changes (I don’ know if it can grow any more) over the coming years.  I hope his passion in it continues and that he falls in love with a sport of his choosing where he can begin striving to achieve his own amazing highlights and statistics to remember.   Until then I have a feeling channel 33 (ESPN) will receive a lot of air time in our home, even though Michael is already complaining about “how boring this show is”.

Until next time,

angie

Nap time

Isabelle isn't much of a napper.  From day one she hasn't been the type of baby that sleeps for hours at a time.  Her idea of a long nap is just under 45 minutes.  Seriously, from day one she's been like this.  And to be even more specific, she seems to prefer the 35 minute nap.

 It kind of reminds me of when I was in college, for some reason I loved to nap, for 11 minutes.  Only 11 minutes.  For some reason, no matter where I was at, home, the classroom, the library, the union, I could find a place to lay my head, cross my arms and within seconds fall asleep only to awake all on my own 11 minutes later.  No matter how hard I tried to sleep longer, I'd wake up, 11 minutes later, ready to charge ahead on what ever homework was in front of me. I digress.

So back to Isabelle's naps.  She takes a nap in the morning and one in the afternoon.  I usually feed her before her nap and on the rare occasion she doesn't fall asleep drinking, she goes to sleep on her own, listening to music.  Being that we've had several visitors stay with us in our guest/Isabelle's room, I'm a tad bit embarrassed to say, she's still sharing a room with us.  What can I say, we like visitors (oh and it is so much easier to walk to her crib 2 feet from my bed in the middle of the night, than to walk 15 feet to her bedroom down the hall)!

Recently I put Isabelle down for her nap and listened on the monitor as the music played softly.  For a few minutes she talked okay more like, insisted she wasn't ready to go to sleep, and then all of a sudden it was quiet.  Convinced she had fallen asleep I walked toward our bedroom only to see a light shining out of the window that is above our bedroom door.  Thinking I second-guessed myself, I was sure I shut the blinds.  How did they get opened?  That has to be where the light was coming from.  Slowly I opened the door expecting to see a peacefully sleeping baby and the blinds open.  I admit I think I lost half of my brain when we became parents, I can't remember half the stuff I use to.  As I opened the door, instead of a sleeping baby, I saw this...

Yep, that's her opening and closing the blinds.

This is where I said, "What are you doing?" when she turned around and realized she'd been caught!

 

Yep that's right, baby decided she wasn't going to nap but she'd quietly open the blinds to take a good look at the view for herself.  I couldn't help but laugh and that's when she turned around.  Seeing me laugh, she started smiling and jumping up and down. 

She knew she had been caught, oh and knew she wasn't suppose to be doing that (see that's one of the things she's learned in the last month... and when she gets caught doing something she's not suppose to she does the following: Smiles (which always gets me), waves her arms up and down quickly and if standing bounces up and down as almost to say, "You caught me, you caught me! This is such a fun game!"

And as I approached closer, I knew the nap time was over.  A whole 4 minutes of quiet time only to find out she had been watching the birds drink from the pool out the back window.  With her cute faces and her new "look at me point at you mommy"  she has me wrapped around her finger.  Here she's shaking her finger at me saying, "Mommy, I told you I didn't want to nap."

Until next time,

Angie

PS:  I just had to add this picture... Isn't she starting to look like a little girl and not so much a baby?  I can't believe how quickly it is happening... Although still small, she's just growing up way too fast.

Until next time,

 

Angie

I love swimming....

July, 2012

We recently took Isabelle into the pool for the first time.  We were unsure how she'd feel about it, even though she LOVES her bath.  We were happy to find out she loves going swimming just the same.

 I just love how cute she looks in her little swimming suit.

 And she even has 400 UVB proof sunshades to keep the sun shine out of her face.

 When we got in the water she wasn't sure what to think at the very beginning but soon enough she was smiling, kicking and splashing water everywhere.

 And when we put her in this floating thing a friend let us borrow, she couldn't stop laughing and smiling.  I thought it was becuase she was enjoying the water soo much...

And even though she was having a great time, after looking MaeLyn's way, I quickly discovered she was laughing at something else too...

 Silly MaeLyn, bonnets are for babies, not you.

Until next time,

Angie