Last Swim Meet of the Season for Woods Run

It has been a busy summer with daily swim practices, and twice a week swim meet that last 4+ hours.  What a time commitment! How Jeff's mother had the patience to encourage seven children to participate in this sport (several of them into their college years) is beyond me.  It has been fun to get to know our neighbors better, and to watch the kids swimming progress in a short time.  But the parental time commitment is tough.  I am hopeful things will be more fun next year since Elena is ready to join the team- she can swim all the way across the deep end on her own now!  But I am not sure that juggling two two-year old twins at the hot, crowded swim meets that go on and on and on will be any easier...

Brian enjoyed eating his shoes on the way to Alex's swim meet

David and Elena engrossed in a princess movie on the way to yet another a swim meet

Elena telling Jeff something really, really important about her day, while he takes a time out from his busy line judging responsibilities.  He and Alex did not get home until after 9pm that night, so it was a good thing they got to hang out together for a couple of minutes at the meet.

Brian and David hold hands while plotting some sort of escape plan from the stroller

Alex placed 1st in his freestyle event! This was especially impressive because he was the very youngest swimmer on the league this year.

Woods Run Swim Team

a close-up of Alex in the second row, behind his best friend, Alex R

Brian Showing Off His New Shirt

Elena Is 5!

Elena's big day was Barbie-tastic!

The Barbie banner, Barbie cake and Barbie presents

Cheesing for the camera with Mom

The Birthday Girl getting ready to blow out the Barbie candles on her Barbie cake

Wearing the Barbie crown with cousin Blake and Alex

Brian was ready to unwrap the presents

Elena with one of her many, many new Barbies

Uncle Jamie and Aunt Jill came all the way from Michigan to help celebrate the big day

Stacking up all the new Barbies

Giving Dad a birthday hug before bedtime

Sharing a pre-birthday meal with Grandma Sandy at Elena's favorite restaurant, Bob Evans

Alex Takes a Swing at Playing Baseball this Spring

Alex loved putting all the gear on to play catcher

a little backyard practice

Up at bat!

Great hit!

The twins cheering on their big brother

Alex with his Coach and trophy at the end of season ice cream party

Eating ice cream with pal Ashton

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

Mom and Elena enjoying their sweet treats

Summer Fun

The Binky Wars

The boys are only allowed to have their pacifiers or "binkys" in their cribs.  At bedtime, one of their favorite things to do is to run around their room and gather up all the binkys.  Then, they wrestle and steal binkys from each other before they are put to bed for the night.  This evening, Brian was the clear winner of the Binky War, with four binkys. Better luck tomorrow night David!

Go Yankees!

David likes to "borrow" Alex's super cool baseball cap to wear around the house.  Here he models the hat (along with a few things he managed to steal out of my purse) after a hot afternoon of watching Alex play in a big game.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

At just 13 months, David can already open up doors.  We are in serious trouble with these over-sized boys!

Rush Shirts

The Walker boys in their Rush t-shirts

Happy Valentine's Day!

Elena, at home after ballet class, was thrilled to show off the $3 Grandma Liz sent along with her Valentine's Day card.  You would have thought she won the lottery, she was so excited! The girl makes up a song for EVERYTHING these days: she has one for putting on her socks, one for mean I am for making her sit in time out, and an adorable one that almost always cheers up her baby brothers.  So it was no suprise that she made a song up about the first time she recieved a dollar bill that was hers.  She even made up a dance to go along with her new hit song "I'm rich, oh yeah, I have money, money, money, oh yeah." I hope it doesn't totally crush her to finds out how little $3 will get her at the toy store.

Brian and David were very content to hang out together in their brand new MacClaren double stroller- their Valentine's Day present from Mom.  This is officially the 12th stroller I have bought since we starting having kids, which is a bit ridiculous.  But I truly think that THIS is the one will make getting out of the house a little easier. By the way, those are not matching bruises or birthmarks on their left legs. Elena decided they each needed a Barbie tatoo which has stuck around now for over a week despite daily baths.

I volunteered this afternoon at Alex's 1st Grade Valentine's Day Party and it was fun to watch Alex interact with his classmates. This was the first year he has attended a school that exchanged valentines, and he worked diligently at picking out the exact right one for each of his friends.  He had a great time playing all with the special activities during the party, especially Heart Bingo.  I love his competitive spirit!

It is an amazing blessing to be able to say I love you to these wonderful children on Valentine's Day, and every other day of the year.

Go Packers!

Alex the Cheesehead eating his football cake and wearing the Green Bay Packers shirt Aunt Pegi and Grandma Liz sent him.

Alex and Elena showing off their football cake, something they were almost as excited about as the big game. Brian crawled into this photo at the last second.

Although it is a little hard to see, this is all four of my guys watching the big game. Elena and I are totally outnumbered!

 

Happy Birthday Grandma Sandy!!!

We met up at Buca di Bepo's Pope Room to celebrate Grandma Sandy's 61st birthday together.  There was lots of good food to share, and the kids had a great time sharing Grandma's dessert with her.  Happy Birthday Grandma Sandy!!!!

My 6th (and hopefully last) Surgery at Clarian North

My sixth surgery in the last 14 months was on December 28th at Clarian North.  I was in the operating room for 6 hours this time, 4 hours less than originally predicted.  After my last 10 hour surgery, I was prepared for a MUCH longer surgery and so happy they were able to address the adhesion and obstruction issues so quickly.

I spent two weeks inpatient at Clarian North, and was not smiles the entire time.  However, anesthesia used me as guinea pig with some kind of new implanted pain balls that released numbing medication into by abdomen for a few days afterward.  This made a huge improvement in my pain control!

 Seeing the kids smiling faces was a huge brightener to my day, and provided motivation for me to get better so I could get home sooner.

Elena had her class's Traveling Teddy with her for the weekend, so she made a big deal about showing him around the hospital.  He brushed his teeth in my bathroom.

They read books together in my hospital bed.

 They walked the hospital halls with me so I could get my strength back up.

They made a stop at one of the hospital's water fountains together. 

It was pretty sad when it was time for them to leave each night. I am so glad to be home sleeping in my own bed again!

 

The Twins Vacation in Michigan

The twins spent some extra time at Grandma Liz's after Christmas while I had and recovered from surgery.  They had a great time, and got to spend lots of time with their cousins, aunts and uncles as shown in the following photos.