Michael Phelps

Owen worked really hard at the pool yesterday to learn how to swim.

Over and over and over and over again.

He would go under, kick and kick, move half an inch, and stand back up.

He walked/swam from one side of the shallow end to the other repeatedly.

Must be all the Olympic hoopla or something, because the boy was determined to learn.

And apparently becoming the next Michael Phelps is exhausting.

Beach Trip 2012

Sadly, the Roberts Family Vacay has come to an end.

We had a great week full of laughter, cousins, food, fun, and sun.

And wind. Lots and lots of wind.

I'll just let the plethora of pics speak for themselves:

One of the cutest pics of the Week?

 I think so.

Adorable niece and nephew? Check.

 

Lainey was all....."okay, I guess since it's my last day here I'll let Uncle Todd hold me for one minute or so." 

 

Hilariously inappropriate niece and nephew? Check.

 

Group Fun? Check.

Tired Toddlers? Oh yeah.

Shout out to the Red Raiders? Of course. 

Doesn't everybody do that on their family vacations?

And now I have to wait another five or six months before I get to see the sister again.

Which pretty much sucks.

Because, you know, she rocks.

 

And I promise my mother was on the trip. She just somehow evaded the camera at all costs. And the few pics I did have of her, she would kill me for putting on the internet. And she has ammunition against me so I'm scared. She thought it would be funny to take loads of pics of me and Sister working out one day. So I'm going to be kissing up to her for the rest of my life to assure those don't make it online as well. 

Goodbye Beach Trip 2012.

We miss you already.

 

All done

We're tired.

But everything went great.

Owen was super happy and relaxed before going back there so they didn't have to give him the pre-meds that always make him drunk. He's also getting a little bit older so they felt comfortable doing the procedure without a breathing tube.....which pretty much rocks. This means he came out of anesthesia much more pleasantly and doesn't have the sore throat to go along with the grogginess.

Everything looked great internally and now we just wait on biopsy results.

Here's my lil' man playing while he waited his turn in the OR.

Happy Monday!

Summer Fun

It was 103 degrees today so I think it is definitely safe to say that summer is here. We've been swimming and lounging and swimming and playing games and swimming and watching television and swimming and well, I think you get the drift. 

We have a sweet little girl here from Russia staying with us this month. She is part of a great program that helps kids from the Chrenobyl blast area get dental and medical care. She is very very shy and an only child so I imagine life with our family feels like a whole different universe/circus! She skyped with her mom tonight and it was fun to listen to their laughter and wonder what the heck was being said. 

(If you would like to learn more about this program or hosting a child next summer, just leave me a message in the comments and I can email you a link. Seriously. Great great program.)

Todd and I celebrate 12 years tomorrow of wedded bliss. 12 years. I can't believe how fast time flies.....most of the time.  :) Here we are today with the pastor/friend who led a prayer the night of our wedding and did our premarital counseling. I don't think any of us have aged one bit since then. Cough cough. Nope, not one tiny little bit.

Monday is hospital day for Owen. We go in early for his scope and biopsies. Based on the way he's been acting lately, I'm expecting good news. He seems to be feeling great and is having a blast being home everyday with his siblings. He also has no fear of the water this year. No fear. He constantly goes out too deep and then just hops on the back of whoever happens to be standing there and points to the shallow end. Most people at the Y are learning to just walk him back over to where he can stand. It's kind of hilarious and humiliating all at the same time.

Speaking of swimming, we went to a swim party the other night and Isaac told me if we had a pool in our back yard that he probably wouldn't ask to play video games as much because he would be swimming all the time. Nice try, Isaac. Our backyard is the size of a small pool. The answer is still no. That kid trips me out. All the time. And dude has some ups.

Emma Grace is busy being Emma Grace. She switches back and forth between being super helpful and sweet to showing some pre-teen sass. Isn't it too early for this? I swear it is. She's not supposed to think I'm totally stupid until 11 or 12, right? Oh well - I guess she's advanced.  She has been a huge help to Liza and I think Liza enjoys having a "summer sister." I think. I really have no way of knowing if Liza is enjoying her or if EG is annoying the snot out of Liza, so we'll just go with the better option of the two.

And that's it so far.

This super long update is officially brought to you by all caffeinated tea I drank at the wedding tonight.

Really. I should be in bed right now and I'm not even starting to feel sleepy.

Uh-oh.

Hello, Mr. Pfaff

Todd's been gone on youth trips for two weeks that at some moments feels like two years.

And we've been doing okay.

We kind of buckle down and do our thing when Todd's gone in the summers.

But still, reinforcements are always nice!

And Nana came and jumped right in making cookies and changing diapers and treating me to iced coffees and folding laundry and well, just plain being awesome.

Thank you, Nana!

And not only did she do all of the above, but she also got my sewing machine back in working order. Well, not that it was technically broken or anything, but she rigged it up for me and treated me to a trip to our favorite fabric store. We picked out some fun materials for dresses for the diva and she reminded me that even though life has been harder since Owen was born, I still need to do creative things for  myself.

And dang it, I think she was right.

(She seems to be right a lot of the time. I don't remember her being like that when I was a teenager. I really think she's matured a lot since then.......)

So tonight after taking care of a vomiting child all day and dealing with other issues and trying not to get too frustrated with my three year old who doesn't handle change well (change being his brother was sick and couldn't sleep in the same room with him.....) And after finally getting everyone settled around 9:30 and then having a small crying pity party for myself when I realized I still had 26 hours to go until Todd gets home, I decided I would take Nana's advice.

And it has been so long that I was scared to start a project with my pretty, new materials.

 

But I dusted off the old pfaff machine, and pulled out a cute ballerina pillowcase a friend gave me eons ago and found some ribbon that would do and in less than an hour?

I'm not crazy about the ribbon and there is nothing fancy about it, but it felt good to do something creative again.

So welcome back, Mr. Pfaff.

Thanks for cheering me up tonight.

24 hours, 2 minutes to go.

We so got this.