1st Purple/Black Eye :(

Well, we have our first black eye.  Poor little guy was heading downstairs to see Daddy.  He usually goes up and down the stairs very well.  Kurtis knew he was on the way down but stepped into the laundry room and all of a sudden we both heard a thump, thump, thump.  Kurtis was able to catch him before he hit the bottom.  However, in the meantime he tumbled down about 6 stairs.  He ended up with a black and blue eye and a couple bumps on his head.  He cried and cried but then about 10 minutes later he was back to playing!  Tough little boy!   

Memorial Day Weekend!

For Memorial Day weekend we headed to Grant to spend time with the family.  We headed out Saturday morning as we both had really really long days on Friday and were not in the mood to travel; plus we had nothing packed.  Then Saturday morning we had some car issues after slamming on our breaks to avoid begin hit by a semi truck.  With a slight delay in Kearney to get my car looked at we finally made it!  I am very thankful they just had to reset our traction button.  We spent a lot of time just hanging out!  Kurtis was able to go to the races Saturday night and we celebrated Roan's birthday at the park.   Landon had fun playing with his cousins…or should I saw trying to keep up with them!   The best part of the weekend was heading to the Memorial Day service in Madrid.  It really made me miss going to the service with my family and Grandma as this used to be a family tradition of ours before my Grandmother passed way.  Definitely thought about my Grandma and Grandpa though on Monday and all of the other men and women who serve and have served our country.  God Bless them! 

Landon loves balls!

Roan and Amberlee were imitating Landon's bear crawl!  So cute!

On Sunday Kurtis, Landon, Karl and I headed to Julesburg, Colorado to check out the races.  However, we probably should have checked the schedule….they weren't racing.  :(  However, we hit A&W on the way back so it was all worth it!  

Year 5 is Complete!

A picture from our Beach Party! One of my favorite days of the year!

My empty classroom :(  This summer they are putting in a new heating and air system which will require them to lower the ceilings.  For this to happen, we had to remove everything from our classroom and take everything off the walls.  It will be interesting to see the transformation at the end of the summer.  I'll be starting the year with a clean slate!  

Wow, I have a ton of "crap".  I didn't realize how much I actually had until I had to move it all to the gym.  I better never change professions or I'll have to rent a storage unit to hold all of it.

My 2011-2012 class on Field Day!

My wonderful 2nd grade team!  

Since I have been teaching there has been a change in 2nd grade every single year.  The first year I had to move classrooms and every year after that someone leaves or comes in.  Krystal (far right) took he Integrational Specialist position at our school so she will be leaving our team.  She has been amazing to work next to.  I can't even begin to say how wonderful and caring she is.  She definitely helped me a ton this year.  Krystal will be replaced with a great friend of mine who will be looping with her first graders which will be a ton of fun!  Can't wait to see what my sixth year has in store!    

May Photo Dump

So, after getting an iPhone I am finding that I am taking way more pictures, so I am going to follow my friends and do a photo dump at the end of each month to share some of the random pics.  Here is May!

Landon and his friends watching the Newell kids at field day.  I loved how he was sitting there like a big boy!

Grandma was blowing bubbles at Landon while he was waiting for supper!

Aunt Erica helped us turn Landon's carseat around.  He was so excited!

Landon got another haircut!  Kurtis thinks he looks like Lyod from Dumb and Dumber.  

Multiple Steps Closer!

We have been working on walking for the longest time.  He was doing so good until he got sick; then we went backwards.  However, at church on Sunday Landon and I went up to the stage afterwards to see Kurtis.  Landon played on the drums for awhile and then all of a sudden he decided to walk from the back of the stage to the front without any help!!  He had a pair of drumsticks in his hand for extra balance support!  Of course I knew if I got my camera out he'd stop so I just enjoyed the moment.  I later caught him walking a shorter distance. We're getting closer!  

Happy Birthday!

Happy 30th Birthday to our friend Abby!

On Saturday evening we headed to Miletta Vista Winery in St. Paul to celebrate Abby's 30th birthday.  Landon and his friend Monroe stayed at home with my brother and sister-in-law.  Kurtis and I had an amazing time hanging out with our friends.  We never go out so this was a treat for us.  Afterwards we headed to the Elsbury's house in Doniphan for a night of playing horse races.  Definitely a good time!  

Mother's Day!

 For Mother's Day this year we met my entire mom's side of the family and some of Carissa's family at Harmon Park in Kearney for a family picnic. We ordered chicken and then brought various side dishes to go along with it.  It was nice to spend the day with family and just relax.  Then of course Kurtis took me to Target afterwards!  Can't go to Kearney without stopping at Target.  

Being a mommy is the best thing in the world!  

Landon loved playing at the park.  We all took turns chasing him around.   

Seriously!

Getting a call at school from the 911 dispatcher saying a police officer is on the line for me is not what you want to hear…Around 2:55 I was getting my kids ready to go home and Gail called down saying I had a phone call then the next thing I knew my principal was walking into my room to cover my class.  I picked it up and on the other end was the 911 dispatcher transferring me to the officer.  My heart seriously stopped and fell to the bottom of my stomach.  My first reaction was car accident…Landon, Kurtis...  I was so worried.  It took them forever to transfer me so I yelled in to one of my kids to grab my cell phone so I could see if anyone tried to call me so I at least had an idea.  When the officer finally got on the phone he asked if I lived at our address, so then my next thought was oh no my house is on fire.  Nope…come to find out two 15 year olds were caught trespassing on our property. Seriously shouldn't they be in school?  One I guess was hiding behind our trash can on the look out while the other was supposedly in our back yard.  My neighbor knew they looked suspicious and called them in.  Luckily they didn't take anything, but still…. after our last incident this is just icing on the cake!  We did press chargers so hopefully they will learn their lesson that it's not ok to be messing around.  Guess we'll need to do some talking to see what our plans are for our future in this house.  

15 months!

Landon is already 15 months and it is so hard to believe.  Just seems liked he turned a year just the other day.  I always run into people and they ask how old he is and I have to stop and think for a second.  Landon is turning into such a little boy.  It just seemed like he changed overnight.

Here are some of the fun things he is doing right now…

* Bear crawling…we haven't mastered the walking business yet.  He'll walk with us holding his hand and he'll walk between two people if they are close together, but I think he is on his own schedule for walking by himself.

* He absolutely loves playing outside!  He will play and play outside as long as we let him.  When I go pick him up from daycare he screams bloody murder because he doesn't want to leave. I always carry him out kicking and screaming. We ended up buying him a swing set, so I can't wait for it to arrive. I have a feeling we'll be out there constantly this summer!

* He is a pro at climbing stairs and going back down.  No matter where we are he always ends up finding the stairs.  They could keep him entertained for hours.

* A few of his favorite words are: puppy, ball, truck, car, milk, up, look, Landon, Scott, papa, and uh oh.  Not too many yet but we'll get there.  He does know what a lot of words mean though.

* Every now and then he'll let us know when he is ready for bed.  He'll grab his blankie and binky and head for the stairs.  One night he even pointed up stairs, we took him up, laid him down and he was out.

* He finally has learned how to play catch and throw the ball.  This is one of his new favorite activities.

* He loves being tickled!
   He loves bananas!
   He loves flirting with everyone he sees!
   He loves puppies!  I think he will be glad when Wally returns home from his puppy vacation in Kansas.
   He still loves music!  He loves watching daddy play the drums at church and anytime he hears music he  
   starts bobbing to the beat!  Musical toys are his favorite!

We head to the doctor in a couple weeks so we'll see how big our big boy really is!

Answers

Today I headed to the ENT specialist to discuss the cyst the radiologist found on my MRI last week.  When I first got there Dr. Nabity pulled me to the back to show me my MRI scans.  He showed me the two sinus chambers and how they should look and how the one looked with the cyst. The cyst had completely taken over my one chamber; so it's pretty large. We discussed the two types of cysts.  It could have either been filled with water or mucus; however, after looking in my nose he thought mine was full of mucus due to slight drainage he could see. He did show me how it was pushing against an eye nerve which was possibly causing the dizziness and blurred vision.  He was surprised that I was a very healthy individual that has not had a huge history of allergies or sinus infections.  I did ask what caused it and he said with my case it was just per luck.  Joy!  My biggest concern was how it was going to be treated.  The Dr. wants to start with a steroid and an antibiotic to try to shrink it.  He said if it is working my headaches should start to disappear.  They only bad news is the side effects of the medicine but I guess that comes with all medicines.  It is better though then the next alternate which would be full blown surgery.  I will take the medication for 1 month then head back for a CT Scan to see the status of the cyst.  We will then decide the next step!

More news...

Well, I have been holding off until I got my test results back and now their back.  I went to the doctor last Monday because I have been really under the weather lately, horrible headaches that last from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to bed, dizziness, blurred vision, tiredness, loss of appetite and the list goes on. The doctor and I discussed some possibilities including depression, stress, hormone unbalance, etc; however, she wanted me to have an MRI to rule out a few things.  I ended up getting a MRI Thursday night and the test results came back clear.  No brain tumor or masses; which is a relief. However, I do have a cyst behind my eye in my sinuses.  The nurse who called me gave me no information on the size, treatment, etc.  However, I am headed to see an ENT doctor this Thursday afternoon to get more details.  Hopefully the treatment will be simple and it will cause these horrible headaches to go away because they keep getting worse each day and I'm tired of feeling like this.  After that we'll see how I start feeling and then what the next step will be.