Becoming a patient (and conquering my fears)

The next few day are going to be very busy for me. Tomorrow I go in for my first MRI so that my doctor can get a good look at this bump in my cheek/jaw (please forgive my sweaty, post-run pictures)

































Then early next week I go in for surgery to remove this bump.


I'm terrified.


I'm claustrophobic.


I hate hospitals. (Why do I work at one??)


I can't wait to get this all behind me so that I can just enjoy the rest of my summer.

Shower her from A to Z

One of my college roommates, Meredith, is getting married in Chicago in August. A couple weekends ago the groom's aunts threw Mer an A to Z shower (her maiden name starts with an A and her new married name will start with a Z). We were each assigned a letter and had to find a gift to match that letter. It was a really cute idea for a shower!

Ella was excited to spend an afternoon with all the ladies!

Hallie, Mer, Ella and I:

Our mom's!

The beautiful bride!

While I was busy performing my bridesmaid duties (keeping Mer moving with her gifts), Ella was busy enjoying dessert....

.... or taking self-portraits with Mommy's camera

Bad, bad blogger

My dad (and sister) have been on my case for not updating the blog. Did you guys forget that I work full time, spend an hour and a half in the car everyday, come home and take care of 2 babies, plus am trying to train for a half marathon????

I had good intentions of blogging tonight. I had planned on putting the kids to bed at 8pm. However, it was 8:50 by the time we made it upstairs and brushed teeth, went potty and finally got in bed.

Ella was screaming bloody murder the second I put her back in her crib, so I went back up and tried to rock her for a bit. When I put her back in bed, the screaming started again.

Then the dogs started barking so Ben got out of bed to see what all the noise was. I put his back in bed. But then he decided to had to go potty again. After our trip to the bathroom, he was climbing on his stool to get back in bed and slipped and fell and cracked his head on the corner of this bookcase. So, I spent some time trying to console Ben. However, Ella is STILL screaming during all of this.

I finally got Ben settled down and into bed and then went back to Ella's room to rock her again. FINALLY, she fell asleep.

Now here it is. 10:30pm. I am usually asleep by now because my alarm goes off at 5:30am each day. But I have a list of things that I want to blog about, but am having a hard time finding time.

So for now, I will leave you with this pic of me and my first baby boy, Mr. Chaser Roo, the sweetest dog on the planet.

I promise to try to post more update this week! I know you want to see some pictures of your grandbabies, Dad!!

Playground Project - Step 7

COMPLETION!

Introducing....

Our New Playground!!

Who wants to come over and play?

We both love

these new RED wedges!

Seriously.... how cute are her little feet???

Playground Project - Step 6

Hauling Stones

Matt told me it would have taken me about a thousand trips with the

wheelbarrow to move all the pebbles from the driveway to the playground area.

WHAT?

I thought my just was to just watch the kids so no one got in the way or got hurt?

(please ignore the fact that Ben DID get hurt - but it wasn't because he was

playing somewhere he shouldn't had been)

Thankfully, our next-door neighbor Walt has his very own skidloader

and was kind enough to come over and help us move all the stones!

What would have taken us HOURS to do with a wheelbarrow,

Walt was able to finish in less than 30 mintues

Of course the kids were fascinated and had to eat dinner out on the

back porch so that they could watch the action!

Playground Project - Step 5

Construction - Day 2

The boys planning the days events

Matt and Todd were back on railroad tie duty

Checking out the new slide

I L-O-V-E this picture of Ella!

Riding our toys!



Everything was going great, until.....

Thankfully Uncle Todd was around to offer some cuddles

We thought the playground construction might come to a halt with the construction manager injured on the job, but he eventually was able to get back to work

Coco really enjoyed being out in the country!

The swings are installed!

It's starting to look like a playground!

The day ended with a lovely dinner of Chipotle

Playground Project - Step 4

Construction - Day 1 - Divide and Conquer

Matt and Todd worked on railroad tie placement

Doug and Jeff were on the assembly team.

Ben, as the construction manager, rotated between the teams. Even when the guys took a break for lunch, Ben kept right on working!

When he finally did take a break, he had to be close to the action!

It's starting to come together! Ben is excited!

Overall, it was a good first day!