Whoa oh oh oh oh oh!

Part II...good times. Isn't this what everyone does after church?

If Ya Like It Then You Shoulda Putta Ring On IT!

Okay, the coloring gets better the longer you watch...and for the record, it's not me giving directions. That's Auntie Steph...the one who teaches Brooke this stuff. I for one, stick with Laurie Berkner.

Catching Up...Random Photos

Okay, I know, I know. I still haven't divulged the FAB story of my crazy orange haired hospital roomie, but I couldn't help posting these!


I took these tonight. She's posing, as you can tell, but the BEST part is if you look closely in the background...well, it's lightsaber fighting night.

More posing...more stabbing...Jack was vanquished!

Yesterday...Yup, that's Nate in the middle of the road. And me behind the lens yelling "Get Outta the street! Outta the STREET". He doesn't listen. But I KNOW he can hear me.

In the middle of the road. How awesome is HIS mother?!

Our dear friend Amy from Church brought Maddie a new bike. Amy has 2 gorgeous girls-the youngest is 8 and has outgrown the bike. Mads is doing so well riding, she tries so hard. I love it.

Of course daddy was "helping". But she didn't really need it.

Using her Weg Muscles.

Okay, so last Saturday kicked off the baseball season in the burbs. Jack marched and threw candy, and afterwards my dear friends and their family and our family met at the best burger joint around.

We want this planter for our house. How great is it?

I walked with the little ones to have lunch. How cute is this?

I love this shot and my camera for the simple fact that you can see each individual piece of candy as Jack tossed it to us in the parade.

Jack and his daddy and his assistant coaches Aunt Chris and Uncle Greg marching in the baseball parade. Yup, we're the A's. Pay homage to the Maguire/Canseco duo.

Nate at the parade. Typical Nate face!

Okay, my favorite Cards fans in Iowa...how cute is she? The Cubbie blue just brightens her whole complexion. She has Auntie to thank for her fantabulously egregious hair accessories. That's why I have a sister....

Smiley, cute. Baseball Parade ready!

Our neighbors gave Nate this sweet trike. He gives his fave chicks rides on the back.

Jack...saving the Earth, on Earth day. Sweet get-up.

I just love how happy these two are together...for this quick moment at least!

A Cubbie Girl Even a Cards Fan Could Love

Did you see at the end how she has mastered avoidance of Nate's infiltration of her video with his Lightsaber? Classic.

Yes, that is the Transformers theme song. "Autobots do destroy da ebol forces of the decetacons!"

And lastly, Nate demonstrating his skills.

Shot thru the Heart...

And unfortunately he dances like his father...

In case you can't see it, he's got my ipod.

Maddie Sings

I'm slowly trying to figure this out. I hope this little "test" works.

The Real Story of Jesus on The Cross-As told by Nathan

Before I elaborate on my time in the hospital with the crazy orange haired dairy farming roommate, I thought I'd tell this story, lest I forget....

According the the middle child, THIS is what happened that first Easter Weekend:

"Well, you know mom, JeNus got nailed to the cross like this (arms flung wide) and he got DEAD!"

For anyone who doesn't have boys, death, dying, shooting, maiming, mauling, blood, and general ickyness are the soup du jour all day every day. Even when you try to teach them how to be civilized and say, "We don't talk that way dear", the TRUE obsession with the Easter story is how JeNus got DEAD. His story continues thusly:

"And then, after he got DEAD they put him in the tunnel with the big stone. But then JeNus wasn't weally DIED because the X-Men and Wolverine came in the hewicopter and rolled the stone away and KILLED all the bad guys who had hurted JeNus and so JeNus didn't really get Dead, he got out of the tunnel and went to heaben."

Easter Lillies and New Life indeed! In the mind of a 3 year old, JeNus is apparently, some sort of superhero. Wolverine claws optional of course.

The Appendix Outage: Part I, subtitled "My Evening in the Psych Room"

I cannot shake the feeling that someone "upstairs" is trying to tell me something with the events of the past 6 months. First the precancerous colonoscopy thing-which we all know women my age don't have those problems, then the abnormal pap, which turned out fine after a fun round of cauterization, and now this whole appendix removal. If anyone has any ideas why God's finger is pointing at me and singling me out, I'd love to know. I could say timing on this was perfect since we'll be in Disney in less than 3 weeks, but I don't think the Good Lord gives a hoot or holler about Mickey Mouse and me eating in Cinderella's Castle. I don't need to be reminded of who my friends are, I've been taken VERY good care of by so many with calls, prayers, meals, getting my kids out, you name it. Still, I can't shake the feeling something is going on in a more grand sense....

I personally think my experience with this whole thing is HIGH-Larious. Some may not agree, but try to find the silver lining--I've got great stories to tell. I'm starting today with my time in the ER, and maybe more later. I get exhausted sitting straight up and typing for too long.

So, to pick up where I left off, I waited for about FOREVER for my parents to get to my house to get the kids Saturday. They had to drive home to get their other car to put car seats in (apparently pick-up trucks don't fit 3 kids, huh?), but once my parents got home my mom realized that she left her car keys in her friend's car after they went out for lunch"the other day" so they had to wait for her before they drove up. I felt like crap but still found it funny because a day in the life of my parents is like watching funny movies all day.

Eventually they got here and then headed with the kids to my sister's so that Dad could put lights up. It was good all the little ones got to play together, and my sister did most of the physical work like bathing the kids, etc. I have a hunch that as soon as Maddie and her nappy ass hair walked in the door my sister did her mini-freakout (What is WRONG with Your mother and her inability to ACCESSORIZE??) because my mom said Mads got her hair french braided and her toes and fingernails painted pretty. AND my sister complained to me in the ER during a check in phone call before my surgery that Maddie needs something done because her hair is growing in a mullet, and "That's just not right for a little girl Jenny. You've gotta take care of the situation."

Alright, back to the ER. I get there. I check in. They are so freaking busy that I am put into the psych room. I wasn't tethered to the table or anything but it was so boring that I could have gone some kind of crazy. Plain walls. A double locking door. A camera but NO t.v. in the corner (we found the tv later and it had such a sucky picture it was hardly worth it). Covers over the fire alarms. A corrugated "door" much like a garage door that closes behind you to hide all medical equipment. A security guard outside the door who thought it was fun to show us how the garage door worked and laughed with us when interns and orderlies walked past craning their necks to see the crazy in the room.

I got hooked up to IV antibiotics and was stuck watching "Survivorman" and "Braveheart" because there wound up being a horrible accident that killed a mom and her 2 kids and bumped me. I'm okay with that though. That's sad. I DID get to see the crazy in the room next to mine escorted by 2 cops and tied to her bed to where ever she had to go. Speculate away...I know I did.

Eventually I was taken into surgery. The anasthesiologist and I discussed my cycle class, and triathlon training, because he is working towards an iron man. He also informed me that while I was under and intubated and cathetered he'd redo my IV since it wasn't in a good place. Hey dude, as long as I was asleep I didn't care.

In the OR I heard rock music on the radio. Always a good sign, and I begged them to NOT turn on country. Not that I'd know it being knocked out and all, but the nurses assured me that they weren't country fans either, so I felt like I was in REALLY good hands.

And then I don't really remember anything after that.

Turns out I'm NOT So Crazy After All

It's been a rough week. I've been feeling like crap and blamed it on low iron as per usual. It happens for me. It ain't no big thang.

However, this morning I woke up with a pain in my abdomen/girlie area. The slight twingies woke me actually and I couldn't get comfy again to sleep, so I did what any freak of nature does and went to my cycling class thinking that I probably strained a muscle in my pelvic area when I danced with the Devil...or did an ab workout from the devil, also known as exercise t.v. lady. However, it got worse, so I went to the urgent care place thinking they would say, yes, you hurt your pelvis again.

But no, instead I'm blogging, waiting for my parents to arrive to shuttle my children to their home so I can go have my freaking appendix removed. So I'll be down for a few days, but better now than in Disney is what the silver lining is.

So, say a prayer not for me, but for the kiddos who are upset they missed their 2nd Easter Egg hunt today. I know that really, that's MOSTLY what I'm upset about!