Meet Zach

This is Zach...Matt's little brother. They met through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program a few months ago. The mission of the BBBS is: To help children realize their potential through professionally supported one-to-one relationships with volunteers who care about them. Matt has wanted to do this for SO long, years. And in God's perfect timing, Matt & Zach were matched up. Today Zach came over for a visit to meet us, the girls. Mia was so excited all morning to meet...'dads little brother.' The first thing they did was go rip sticking down the path by the golf course.




Some other things they did:
-play basketball
-play mario kart on the wii
-eat lunch
-go swimming @ the hamilton pool

What a great pair Matt & Zach make...they have fun together. And I know Matt needs some 'guy' time!

Kindergarten Musical

Mia had her Kindergarten musical today...it was absolutely precious! Each class sang a song, and then all the classes performed together. Mia was in the front row...being short has some advantages, especially for mom's who blog and like to take lots of pictures!

Chelsea, Crystal, & Mia - ready for their close-up!

The show begins...with the ABC rap.

The class song...


Rainbow arms...

When no one is looking...

When no one is looking...Madison likes to do some pretty funny things. For instance, when she had her lunch today consisting of: peanut better & jelly, apple sauce, & a little bit of banana...she felt the need to add a little parmesan cheese...but not to her lunch, to the fake apples & lemons that is our center piece on our coffee table. Oh I tried not to laugh, but how could I resist. The sad thing is, is we just got the parmesan cheese and now there's maybe a quarter left, if that. Sigh...

Here are some other things Madison likes to do when no one is looking:

-empty the dog food in the dog's water

-empty the contents of my purse to look for some gum

-play with my make-up...squeeze every little thing until it all comes out

-put lotion, or soap, or shampoo in her dry hair

-Squeeze all the tooth paste out on the floor, then try to clean it up by rubbing it all over the floor with a towel, hence spreading it around

-push all the buttons on the computer

-play with any type of phone...leaving it off the hook or calling someone on my cell phone

These are just to name a few...and when I ask...'who did that?' her response is: "Mia did it."

EVBC blood drive

This morning, our church EVBC had their once a quarter blood drive. We had a special visitor with us...Mia! She knows first hand how important it is to donate blood. She was watching everyone very intently...and said, 'Will I get that one?'

I was a little worried my iron count wouldn't be good enough but it was. I failed the finger poke test last time.

Matt was going to do 'power red' - where they take all the blood parts out...red blood cells, platelets, & plasma, separate them and put back in the platelets & plasma...but they needed only negative blood types...and we're both postive. So we both donated whole blood.

Donate blood...it saves lives!

Our dog Max

This is our dog Max...we rescued him at animal control July 31, 2006. How could we resist that sweet little face...?! If only we had known...that he likes to bite. They failed to tell us that part, especially that he doesn't like boys, boys on bikes, or grown men...and really any other kids that are not our own, especially when they knock on the front door. Besides all that, he really is a funny and great dog to have. He is very protective of his family...but gets annoyed when Mia or Madison 'bother' him to much. He has been known to nip at them...grrrrr.

This is Max's favorite bone...he LOVES it. If you say, 'where's your bone?' he will run all over the house to find it. He's SO smart...

Names we call him:

-Max

-Maxy Moo-Cow

-Butter wutters

-Who's a boy dog? (He wags his tail!) -Wag your tail if you're a good boy...it's so funny!

-Mr. Wiggle bottom

-Maximus

-Maximus Moo-Cow

-Ankle biter...reserved for when Grandpa is visiting.

He really loves his bone...he could do this all day.

Listening for something to growl at...airplane, he chases them to try and bite them, garbage truck, front door...etc. The list could go on & on.

Going for a walk

Madison likes to be in charge of Max. Thank goodness no one was around, or he would have pulled her over and chased them...especially other dogs.

A day date...

Ahhhh, a morning using my 'spa' gift certificate from Matt & the girls from Mother's day. How relaxing and refreshing. (I had to hurry and use it before (if) they go out of business!) Speaking of the economy, Matt has to take an unpaid day off every two weeks. When I first heard about this, I thought...great, lets go out on day dates! And that's exactly what we did today. We went to an early movie...lunch, and did some light shopping (with gift cards!)...while Madison played at my mom's. It was fun, is this what it will be like when you retire honey??!? I can't wait!

Matt knows my love for Starbucks, so we stopped to have a vanilla iced coffee...yummy on a hot day!

Soccer party...

Alyssa & Katherine cooling off in Abbi's pool for the year end soccer party!

Go Fire Angels...! (Missing Brianna & Kate)

These girls went undefeated this spring season...total goals for them -30- Goals got scored on them - 4-. Wow...what a team! Awesome job!!!

The girls had a plan to push the coach in...but he beat them to it and jumped in himself!

Time for some awards, trophy's, and cake...

Alyssa getting her trophy from 'coach dad'...

Yummy cake...sure looks good.

It was so hot...they had to hose off the trampoline...& of course they went swimming again!

Mia's 45th blood transfusion

Mia & I woke up extra early and head to POTC by 7:00 am. Mia was extra brave at getting her poke, but it did take 2 times which made her sad. Through her tears, she said, 'I'm trying to be brave...' - oh I will never forget that. Bless her heart, and Miss Christine's too!

After the IV was all settled...Mia picked out a fun toy, actually a rug, that came with a car to drive on. FUN!

Getting all situated...

Wow, blood transfusion #45, I can't believe it. On a positive note, her ferritin level is down! YEA! In February it was above 2,000 - which is very bad- and now it's going down...today when we tested her ferritin it was 1758 - which is better but we would like to see it under 1,000. Thanks to the exjade we dissolve in OJ before bed every night and the 4 hour dessferal she gets after every transfusion.

The IV in the hand worked really good today...although getting it in the hand was the hard part. She's so used to her arm, but it worked out better this way. Here is a video of her taking the tape off and pulling out her own IV.

Good job Mia...you did it.

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Adventures in Radiology


Mia's Endocrinologlist ordered a bone age test but I lost the paper work, so we just did it at the hospital since we were there. It's just an x-ray of her hand to have as a baseline to look back on.

Attempt # 1 - This machine didn't work...

Attempt # 2 - Neither did this machine...

Attempt # 3 - Third time's a charm...

They rolled this old thing in and it worked right away! Mia was cracking up all the technicians with her funny comments...'oh the machine doesn't like you today.'

Having Brunch

Today was the Kid's Konnection Brunch...for all the ladies who attended the 'workers' bible study this year. Since we all do childcare for the women's ministries, we don't get a chance to do the classes they have, so Kathy, bless her heart, makes sure she offers a bible study to the workers for anyone who is interested.

She hosted the brunch at her house...the table setting was amazing. It had a Paris flair...

Nothing like some warmed brie cheese...yum!

Kathy baked some homemade bread...it was so fluffy and amazing. Of course I love the espresso sign too!

This is Kathy Montgomery, how I always see her...'serving.'

Here is Brenda, beyond the eiffle tower. I have worked with her for the past 2 years at church. We taught the 4 year olds last year, and then this year we had the 5 year olds, so we had a lot of the same kids. It was so much fun...with Miss Stacey, Miss Andrea, & Miss Kate too!

Lunch is served...

Here's Kathy again, whipping up some fabulous dessert.

Dessert & coffee, my favorite!

Kathy gave us all a special 'white elephant' gift. I stole a pair of cross earings & necklace from Trishelle - (so sorry!) - And just when I thought I was in the clear, my dear sweet friend Marsha, stole them from me. Can you believe that?! Marsha, whenever you're ready to give them back, I'll be waiting. (Ha! Ha! J/K) I ended up with a wonderful journal with scripture verses on every page. What a blessing to have such wonderful people in my life. Thanks Kathy for all that you do for us.