Pinewood Derby

Today was Lukas' Pinewood Derby. When we arrived at 11:30am we registered his car. It weighed in at 4.2oz, so we needed to add more weight. We couldn't add it to the bottom of the car because it was dragging. So, we had to stack it on the top front of the car. We weren't too happy about that, but that's all we could do to qualify to race. Lukas didn't have the fastest car or the slowest. He won some and lost some. He was super excited when he would win a race and would throw his hands up and jump. It was so great to watch him. We had Grandma Glenna come and watch Landon and thank goodness we did. The derby was from 11:30am –4:30pm. Ben and I really enjoyed spending the day with Lukas. We both got to enjoy every minute since we didn't have Landon to keep an eye on. Lukas got a drivers license, pitt pass and at the end of the race everyone got a medal with their name on it and pack information. Lukas had a great day at his first pinewood derby. A boy in Lukas' group won first place. We all love how the "dragster" turned out. We got lots of compliments on it. Great job Benjamin:)

Surprise 50th Birthday Party!

On Saturday, we went to Aunt Eileen's 50th surprise birthday party. Uncle John booked the Gilpin Firehall and had a buffet, drinks and DJ. Ian called me and asked if I would make fake tickets for their plan.

This is the story that Eileen was told:
Ian told Eileen that he was going to be the DJ for a fundraiser (Leechburg High School Band Boosters) at the Gilpin Firehall on Saturday, January 23rd. He asked me if I would design fake tickets because he knew she'd want to invite her sisters and other family. And, it would make her believe this event was going on. Jamie (Ian's girlfriend) and Christina (David's wife) took her shopping that afternoon to occupie her while they set everything up.

She arrived at the hall around 5:30 with John and Jamie and was totally surprised. Jamie told me that when the got in the car to leave, she realized she forgot the tickets and had to go back in the house to get them. She walked in holding the tickets... LOL! She had know idea it was a surprise party for her. Uncle John, David and Ian did a great job of planning.

The boys had a blast. It took Landon about an hour to warm up to all the people, but once he did he was gone with all the other kids. Lukas and Landon danced a lot. We knew Lukas would, but we were surprised how much fun Landon had on the dance floor. He really loved the lights. We had so much fun that we ended staying until 11pm. Landon really held up well since this was way past his bed time. 

Here is just a preview of the photos I took. I took close to 200, so I'll be emailing a photo album of all the pictures.

Happy 50th Birthday Aunt Eileen!

Weighing In...

The other night, Ben was using the scale and we decided to put the boys on to see how much they weigh. Lukas weighs 38 lbs and Landon is 27 lbs. After they were done, they thought the scale was a toy and kept doing it over and over again. They were even fighting over who's turn it was and pushing each other off the scale. When they got too rough, I told them that was enough and put the scale away. Thank goodness they're still too short to reach where we keep it. 

We sure have noticed how much Lukas has changed since starting kindergarten. Not only his growth, but how much he's matured. He's definitely not a baby anymore. He's even teaching Landon the things he's learning in school. Landon is saying a lot of words now. He's still hasn't spoke a sentence, but his vocabulary has grown so much over the last month. Here are words that he says: Hi, Bye, Dada, Mama (his fav), kitty, up, yes, home (every time we pull in the drive way he says "home"), hot, cold, hat, more, no, cup, apple, uh-oh, hug, kiss, eye, whoo-whoo, choo-choo (his train noises), Jade, deer, blue, book, Tilly, yum, Mmmm, poop (a new one), and many more that aren't coming to my mind right now. We think Landon is going to love going to school. Every night Lukas does homework, Landon gets up at the kitchen table with him and wants to do it too. It's so cute to watch them. It's absolutely amazing how much Lukas is learning in school. Ben and I are so glad we enrolled him all day. He's adjusted well and still loves going. We will be going to his art show on February 2nd. We are super excited:)

Ben is still very sore from the surgery. He still has some pain in his legs, but everyone tells us that's from the inflammation and it's still aggravated from the doctor digging around. He has been a great patient for me. He has been listening to me and I've been doing everything around the house. I'm exhausted! I never knew how much Ben did around the house until now. After the second night of doing all the chores myself, I told Ben how much I love and appreciate him. I hope he listens next week when I go back to work. He goes to the doctor on February 2nd for a 2 week follow up with his surgeon. We'll keep everyone updated.

Ben's surgery

This morning Ben had is back surgery on his L4-L5 lumbar disc herniation. We had to be at the hospital at 7:00am and surgery was at 9:30am. Pastor Ron came to visit Ben before his surgery and do a prayer with us. It was great and really calmed Ben down. We really appreciate him doing this. He's an amazing man and we're so lucky to have him as our pastor. 

The doctor came to the waiting room at 11:00am. He said the surgery went well. My father-in-law was waiting with me the entire day. They transferred Ben to the recovery room around noon and told us that we wouldn't be able to see him for a couple hours so we went to lunch at Max & Erma's. We got back to the hospital shortly after 1:00 and Ben was still in recovery so we got his room number and decided to wait there for him. 

It was 3:00 and Ben was still not back, so I asked the nurse what was going on. She called the recovery room and they said he was having a hard time coming out of anesthesia and his oxygen levels were down. She said that I could go down and see him, but for only a couple minutes. When we walked in the room, he looked like a ghost and could barely keep his eyes open. He was coughing up blood and I asked him why and he said from the trachea. 

They finally brought him up to his room at 5:45pm. He was still coughing up blood and was having irregular breathing so they called the doctor and he had them do a chest x-ray. His doctor was off duty, but they had another doctor look at the x-ray and he didn't see anything irregular, but they will have Dr. Liss look at it tomorrow morning. Ben was actually breathing better and wasn't coughing anything up when his dad and I left. 

Grandma Glenna is keeping the boys and they are doing great. Landon slept all night for her and even took his nap for her today. We really miss them, but this arrangement has really helped us. Thanks so much Mom for watching the boys!

Ben and I want to thank everyone for your prayers, calls and visits. It's great to know how many caring people are in our lives. THANKS SO MUCH!!

Family gathering

Tonight we went to CJ (Ben's cousin) and Janine's house for a family get together. It had been a year or two since we had seen each other and they called and invited us out to a late Christmas party they were having. It's amazing how close we live to family and we never take the time to get together. It was very nice to spend the evening and get all our kids together. Thanks CJ and Janine for having us:) Hopefully we can get together real soon and go sled riding!

4 WHEELING

Ben doing doughnuts down at the river...

...and the boys loving it!

The hill behind my Dad's house. This is where we'll be taking the boys:)


This afternoon, we went riding around in Gilpin township. Ben wanted me to show him the hill that we used to sled ride on when we were kids. Then we drove around on back roads for an hour and half enjoying the winter scenery. It was cold, but beautiful day.

SNOW

It has finally warmed up enough to take the boys outside to play in the snow. Landon isn't fond of the snow, but he surprised us today. Ben yelled across the yard, "is he actually walking?" Yes he was and everywhere. He wouldn't wear his mittens, but he doesn't like to touch the snow anyway. Lukas was running and rolling through the snow. He even helped Ben shovel the neighbors sidewalks. He didn't even want to come in after being out there for an hour. We have yet to take them sled riding. We don't want to take them on the streets because that can make them icy and we're not sure if Landon will enjoy it. I guess we'll never know until we try it. Here are some pictures from early this afternoon.

HaPpY NeW YeAr!

The four of us rang in the new year right here at home. Landon and I were sick, so we decided to stay home. We had snacks and  jammed to music all night long. The boys actually made it to midnight to watch the ball fall this year. It was nice to ring in the new year with them and give new year kisses all around the room. Lukas counted down with the TV. We made many great memories that we'll cherish forever.

This afternoon, we took the boys to Toys R' Us to use the gift cards. Lukas picked out a DS game and Landon picked out a new take along thomas item. Both boys also got a pack of PEZ. After shopping, we went to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner. While at dinner, I asked Lukas if he was ready to go back to school on Monday and he said "NO!, I want to stay at home and relax." LOL! Kids say the darndest things. We absolutely love these moments. We had a great day spending it together. What a great way to start off the new year! 

Ben and I are really looking forward to a brighter, healthier 2010. It's been rough the last few months. Ben is going for back surgery on January 14th. We are praying that everything goes well, quick recovery and for our lives to get back to normal. All we really want in 2010 is good health for all. We all take this for granite. Watching and living with someone that is in so much pain is awful. It's stressful on that person and everyone around. Please keep us in your prayers. We'll keep everyone updated after the surgery.

Happy New Year from our family to yours!