Drama Camp

Only one more year until Ella gets to join her big brother at Drama Camp. The first week of summer break for 1st graders, and older, is spent at the Sunnyside High School (this year the middle school because of renovation). They do activities, eat lunch and have a great time with their friends. They performed "The Little Mermaid." Ethan played a frog and a bird.

A lot of friends were in the play. So much fun!!!

Ethan is smack dab in the center of this picture- good luck finding him.
There is not a better way to let out some excited energy than to go over to Kent's office and jump on the bounce houses they had for Community Dental Care's "Free Dental Day." Ethan, Ella and I got there when there weren't that many kids playing so I decided, since my parents were at home with Cannon, that I wanted to enjoy the moment and climb in with them. We played tag and laughed until we cried! Cannon has had a very tough week and it was nice to toss my emotions to the wind for a moment and just be happy!

Who couldn't be so completely happy with these darling faces to play with?!!

These Boots are made for Trottin'

My heart has a hard time staying inside my chest when I see pink gator boots, freshly skinned by her own daddy's hands from a pink gator (we have pictures), a dress that matches, and two little ponytails that make my little horse rider ready for lessons. Today's goal was met when Ella successfully was able to get her new "best friend", Dot, to trot. Look at those ponytails go!!!An expression of genuine joy- caught on camera.
When did my baby get to be so big?!
I learn more and more about my daughter's personality as I see her develop new talents. I see her interests and dreams as she tries her best with what her instructor says. She works hard to be brave and responsible and that makes me so happy!

Father's

What a wonderful blessing to have so any amazing examples of Father's in my life- beginning with my own Dad. Even now, as a grown woman, he still takes care of me. I can always count on him, along with my mom, to help my little family. While my parents were here this week my dad assembled 15 office chairs to go in one of the new dental clinics. Ethan and grandpa had some bonding time in the garage doing "man's work" :).

Ella was very proud to have grandpa here this week so she could show him how well she is doing at horse lessons!

One afternoon, my mom and I ran to the dollar store and Wal-mart. Cannon had just fallen asleep, so we said we would be back in less than one hour with grandpa babysitting. We told my dad to call us as soon as he woke up and we'd be home in less than five minutes (since Cannon has been running a fever and throwing up, we didn't want to leave my dad alone for too long). When my mom and I returned, an hour later, we saw Cannon snuggled up on my dad's tummy and they were both napping together. I guess Cannon woke up 15 minutes after we left. Thanks, Dad!

My children's father is the best they could ask for. He is always snuggling them, wrestling with them, playing with them and teaching them how to be more responsible. Ethan loves that Kent is his basketball coach. Ella thinks it's funny that she and her dad have a little competition about who is cuter between the two. Cannon knows that his Daddy is always there to make things better. I am thankful that my children feel love and have an example to look up to. I chose to post pictures that show the pictures that would have special meaning for Kent (and his kids).

The kids LOVE the fact that Kent is so crazy!!

Kent's dad is one of the greatest men I know. I am thankful for the time we were able to spend living near to them in Florida during dental school. My love for him grew and continues to this day. I know Kent looks up to his father so much and a lot of his strong qualities are those he learned from his dad. While we were at the hospital in Seattle last December for Cannon's first surgery, we were blessed to have George and Laura there to help us. Thank you all for being true Father's in every sense of the word. We are lucky to have you in our lives. Happy Father's Day!

When George and Laura were visiting, they went to Ethan's school for lunch. Ethan convinced them to stay for recess. George set up a game of football and was telling them all about the Florida Gators. He even taught the group of girls how to do the cheerleading chants. It was a lot of fun.
The grandkids love riding in the back of Papa's truck, looking for critters and snakes on the road. We love to hear stories of gators and Papa never fails to tell the best stories. Don't mind Ella's hair!

Thank you all for being true Father's in every sense of the word. We are lucky to have you in our lives. Happy Father's Day!

Hard work

Only a little while now until Community Dental opens up two more clinics- one in Prosser and one in Zillah. Kent has been spending a lot of his time getting everything ready for the big Grand Openings coming up in the next few weeks. We went over to help him sweep before they put the flooring down, and do some digging to plant the trees in the front. I am glad my dad keeps coming back to visit us after all the work we make him do while he is here!

Vote for Zachary and Raise Awareness

Click on this link to vote for

Little Zachary Mark

This precious face belongs to a boy who has Menkes, like Cannon. It would be truly amazing to have his picture on the cover of Parent Magazine to raise awareness. Let's face it- he is so darn cute!!!!!!

Personalized Place Mats

Thank you Melanie for sending this link to me! You knew I would LOVE it and I do!!! Look how creative and darling (and practical) these place mats are! My kids would just think they were the bees knees if they had one of these- and yes, I said "the bees knees!" You can read the tutorial on This Blog.

Feeding Pump

We've ordered it, we've received it, we've set it up in the corner of our room next to Cannon's bed, we've hooked it up and then we've been staring at it ever since. We were told it would help with Cannon's vomitting, we were told it would help him sleep better at night- both good things, right? So why have we been avoiding it? I can narrow it down to two reasons:

1. Exhaustion: Some might call it lazy, but at this stage of our lives I prefer exhaustion. Kent and I keep saying that we want to do the pump at night because having Cannon hooked up to a machine during the day would make things a lot more complicated as we try to keep up with schedules, appointments and errands. By the end of the busy day, when it is actually time to set up the feeding bag and pump we are just lazy. . . exhausted.

2. Implication: Niether one of us have had to say it, but I know the second reason we have avoided using the feeding pump that will "alleviate a lot of our problems" is that it is just one more piece of medical equipment that says Cannon is slowly losing his skills. The skill to digest his food properly. We know these measures are there for his benefit, for our benefit, but it sometimes is a bigger pill to swallow than we are ready for.

That being said, we started using the feeding pump and the jury is still out on how much alleviating it really does. The first night we realized how darn bright the screen is- it was quite the (unwanted) night light. Secondly it beeped every 5-10 minutes saying there was a clog in the line. I just kept hitting the "continue" button and prayed it would not beep again- it continued to beep. Then I realized the med port on Cannon's tube had been popped open and the drip was running right out! I'm not sure how long that was happening so I can't really be sure how many ounces he got during that time. After several more beeps, several more times pushing the continue button, I saw that the plug was locked, not allowing flow through the tube. There really was a clog! I fixed the lock and pushed continue and it didn't beep again until the bag was empty- one hour later. Last night we made sure all the ports were locked, the tube was NOT locked and that the bag was completely full! We had a much better experience on the second go round, beep free! I'm hoping it wasn't a fluke but that the feeding pump really can make our nights better.

Cannon 15 months

Our little Cannon boy is 15 months old today! I thought I'd celebrate by posting a picture! I absolutely LOVE this little angel of mine.

Dining Room Eye Candy

I just had to share some beautiful pictures I found while I was day dreaming (at 2:00 in the morning) online as I try to get Cannon to fall asleep.

Someday . . .

Maybe.

Accessories and Cartwheels

We've always known Ella is extremely girly, but our point was proven when we were on a little vacation this weekend. As we all walked in the automatic doors of the hotel, instead of saying "Open Sesame!" she said, "Open Accessories!" Kent and I look at each other with puzzled looks on our faces and then started laughing so hard! I imagine images like this go through Ella's mind all day long.

Later in the day we saw some go-karts that we were going to do after swimming. When she realized that swimming was done and we were not getting ready to go she said, "When are we going to ride the cartwheels?" Our little girl keeps us laughing!!!!