Father's Day and good news

We had a great Father's Day this year, despite Mark's having to work most of Sunday.  The best part: ice cream cake from Dairy Queen!! 

Great news for me from the neurologist. The MRI confirmed no masses and the facial pain I've had since college is indeed trigeminal neuralgia, caused by "vascular loops" that are pushing against the trigeminal nerve. It's great to finally have a cause pinpointed. There's no reason to think the pain will worsen and this kind of situation can be surgically fixed if the pain got unbearable (well, unbearable for longer periods of time anyway, rather than the short periodic bursts). Medication can help control the pain. More information at www.fpa-support.org

Fruits of our labor

Check it out, dad!! Here are the zinnias and cosmos that we planted not even a week ago!

Here are my lettuce and broccoli rows...dad, we just planted this broccoli not two weeks ago!! Wow!! And I tasted some of the sprouts today (I read somewhere they have MAJOR antioxidants) and they tasted just like real broccoli. Imagine that!

Here is a shot of my summer squash and another of the last of our peonies. Don't you just love it!

Update part 3

And the last update for today (I promise to do better next time and not let it go so long...this has taken me ALL NIGHT to do).

Granny and Papa just left on Sunday. The boys have certainly had a GRAND time (wink, wink) in the past couple weeks. Right now they're with Nana and Grandpa and totally lovin' it. Swimming like fish and playing with their beloved "Nan" (remember when Avery used to call Nana that?) and Grandpa.

Granny and Papa were here for almost two weeks and it was a wonderful time. Lots of grandparently things to do: parks, bike rides, baking cookies and then letting the boys wash the cookie sheet in the sink afterward (man, they thought that was AWESOME! Josiah was so excited about it that he wanted to make sure he was *actually* doing it when Dad came home. So he watched the cartoon until Dad's car pulled up and then ran into the kitchen to finish scrubbing, just so he would be on task when Dad walked in the door.). They colored and colored some more. And went to the Cosley Zoo. It was a wonderful trip for everyone.

Here they are just as they were leaving Wheaton to meet Nana and Grandpa at Bloomington to trade the boys over. There was a storm brewing here. Isn't their hair a riot??!! And check out Josiah's eyes in the 2nd pic.

Update part 2

Here is Josiah discovering drinking out of a can and V8! He liked it!

And here's Josiah snoozing in the patio chair after a hard day's play....

And here he is napping on Papa's lap last week....

This is typical for Josiah: run and play 150 miles per hour until you just crash from sheer exhaustion. 

You have to love it about him.

Some updates, part 1

It's been a very busy 6 weeks or so! Let's see: Josiah completed potty training and earned his new bike. Avery had his end-of-the-year program, completed preschool and visited kindergarten (all of which made me cry). Nana and Grandpa came to see Avery's program and that was such a special time. And Granny and Papa came to visit for almost two weeks, which was also a very special time. (More on all of that in the next post...this one won't let me post so many pictures in one post, apparently.)

Some of the highlights are:

 

The boys and I (and Papa, too, when he was here) completed the garden. This year we have tomatoes (9 plants and 6 varieties), cukes, summer squash, watermelon, broccoli, green onions, leaf lettuces, and a bunch of different herbs. We also planted seeds in the front of the house, which are already coming up!! We'll have cosmos, zinnias, sunflower varieties, and snapdragons. Yea!

Here you see the AMAZING earthworm that Avery found when we were preparing the soil. Isn't it cool?

Also, we were so excited last month to discover a cardinal family had made a nest in one of our bushes!  There were four beautiful blue/gray speckled eggs and shortly after we found it, there were two ugly little baby birds! It was so, so cool. 

We checked them almost daily and watched them grow bigger and bigger rather quickly. Sadly, one day we went out to check the nest and it had been knocked down and the babies were gone. We've seen the dad once or twice but we think an animal (raccoon?) got the babies...

Sweet and compassionate little Avery was very sad about that. 

He was also so precious the other day when we were watching the four small green caterpillars on the picnic table and a very big one appeared to be attacking and eating the tiny inchworm. He clapped his hand over his mouth, "Oh no!!!" Eyes widened in horror. Josiah wasn't quite so worried. He was busy commenting that "there are SO many creatures over here!" (Cracks me up. "Creatures" from a 3 year old.)

Happily, the caterpillar tussle ended fine, without any caterpillar casualties.

Here are some pics from Avery's preschool program. Oh man, if you could have just seen how unbelievably darling the whole show was. Avery was a wonderful singer and very engaged (unlike the Christmas program, when he was Reluctant Joseph). 

What touched me the most was that it was "What a Mighty God We Serve" that you could hear Avery loud and clear over the other voices. He was singing so strong and proud. Oh my goodness, it was too much. And then they sang another praise song that included a bit where they sang, something, something "Amen." And they were supposed to put their little hands together and close their eyes, bow their heads. 

Well, Avery was very deliberate in his movement, so sweet as he closed his eyes and bowed his head, singing "Amen."

 

It really was too much for this mama!

Also, at the end, they sang their "goodbye" song, which they sing at the end of every school day. At the end of it, it goes "May God watch over you." 

Avery and his best buddy, Calvin, pointed to each other (you know, one of those points that take your whole body to do, arm all the way out) when they sang that part and I got the feeling that it was something they did every day. What a nice moment, to witness your son interacting with a dear friend. Here they are at the ice cream social after the program.