Getting Better

We left the house at 4:30 to make it to the hospital by 6am. I hoped Morgan would sleep on the way there but I think she was too anxious. She dozed off 20 minutes before we arrived. She was calm but had lots of questions. She was determined to be brave and not have to drink the yucky stuff. (They only give the sedative juice to kids who freak out.)

When we arrived they informed us it was a late start day so we would have a bit of a wait. (Wish we could have spent that extra hour sleeping in our beds.) We hung out and watched some TV and colored pictures and talked about what Zane might be doing. (He got to have a sleepover with some pretty amazing friends.)

It also gave us time for more snuggles.

Dad traded days off so he could be there. He gave Morgan lots of words of encouragement.

Finally it was time to get dressed. The gown was not exactly princess style but the accessories were pretty cool. Morgan was VERY thankful "Stary" the bear got to come along.

Her bear got some cool accessories as well. And a tummy bandage to match Morgan's. The nurses and doctors were SO incredibly awesome. They made us all feel comfortable and took such good care of Morgan.

A purple popsicle brings a smile, almost.

Morgan was such a champ! She was so brave and didn't cry. She went right to sleep and woke right up with no problems. They put her to sleep and then put the IV in her hand. She was a little stressed when she saw the IV after waking up. She was confused as to how it got there without her knowing it. She was VERY worried when it was time to take it out but once it was out she said it didn't even hurt.

The lump in her tummy turned out to be a benign, fatty tumor called a Lipoma. It was about the size of a large walnut, bigger than we thought, and came out without any complications. She has to take it easy for a couple days and no swimming for 2 weeks but should heal pretty quickly.

She spent the afternoon resting and watching TV. Oh, and eating more popsicles.

Go TEAM!

Morgan started the soccer season off slowly. She had been sick for a week when she went to her first practice. I'm sure her coach thought there was no way this quiet, little mouse would do much. However, after a few practices there was no stopping this girl. She has no fear!

This adorable group of girls plays some pretty mean soccer! They won 4 games, lost 2 games, and 2 games were canceled because of weather.

Even Zane made a new friend. (They played hide-n-seek during the games. It was hard to "blend in" with the open grass but they tried.)

I think she was cheering for her teammate who just scored a goal.

Getting ready for the kick-off.

Morgan sometimes had difficulty connecting with the ball but that didn't stop her from going after it. She would run right in front of the other team and just kick the ball away. (She had a couple fouls called on her.) Once when she was playing goalie, she got lots of practice doing goal kicks. The wind was blowing right at her and it took several tries to kick that ball past the white line.
But she never gave up.

The wind caused problems for most of the games. In one game, a girl kicked the ball up and the wind caught it. Before the ball landed 3 girls were crying and hold their cheeks. I didn't think the ball was ever going to come down. It kept bouncing off of their heads!

I just have to say that SPRING soccer is not any better than FALL soccer. Morgan played most of her games with a sweatshirt under her jersey. I wish they would do an early SUMMER season. Oh well.
We can't wait 'til next year!

Accidents Happen

Accidents seem to follow this girl. Maybe because she is energetic and fearless. Maybe because she is a little short and others don't see her. When I picked her up from school today she said, "I don't know why I am getting hurt all the time!"

Friday, she got kicked in the eye on recess and made a trip to the nurses office. Yesterday, she had two more trips to the nurses office for injuries from falling at recess. She also had gotten a poke in the eye and a scratch on her arm that she just didn't report because she didn't want to go to the nurses office again.

Last night I told her, no more injuries. Today was a field trip to a museum so I figured it would be a safe day. At 2:00 the school secretary called in a bit of a panic and I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. Seriously. The secretary called back 5 minutes later to say the nurse was there and the bleeding was stopped. All teeth were accounted for and there was not much else we could do except for the ice pack to keep the swelling down. I told the secretary I was on my way.

After 20 minutes with the ice pack the swelling seems to have stabilized. She will probably have a fat lip for a few days though. She was worried about how she was going to eat with that big thing.

She won't move her lip when she talks but from what I can understand, her and a friend were playing on the bars. She did a flip off and landed on the ground. She was getting up as her friend went to take a turn on the bar. The friend's knee collided with Morgan's mouth.

Hopefully her little accident streak is over now. This has been a rough last week of school.

How does your GARDEN grow?

There is something magical about planting a garden. You put the seeds in the dark, rich soil, add a little water and sunshine, and sit back, hoping something will happen. Not being able to see what is taking place under that dirt, it's a lot of anxious waiting. And then, one day, as you sprinkle some water over those seeds, you see a bit of green poking through the dirt. Success!

We have no space for a garden. I decided to try some containers and hopefully grow a few things for salads. With cautious optimism, I filled three pots and let Zane select three seeds. He chose spinach, carrots and flowers. (The flowers will not be eaten, just pretty to look at.) We also had some seedlings growing on a paper towel (Morgan's school project) that we planted as well.

A few days after we planted we had 20 degree temps forecasted for the night so I brought the flowers inside. (They are enjoying being spoiled and are growing nicely on my table.)

We soon had 5 spinach plants burst through the soil. Zane lovingly watered them everyday and I could almost taste the fresh green leaves. A few days later we saw little green carrot leaves, barely visible, and rejoiced in what was looking like a successful attempt at container gardening.

Yesterday, I went to water our little garden and noticed the spinach plants were gone and the dirt was dug up. Smoothing the dirt, I found two plants but the other three were gone. Was it the birds? Was it the wild bunnies that live at the edge of the field behind our house? What creature would dare to eat MY spinach! This morning I am down to one spinach plant and there is a hole low on the side of my planter. Do mice eat spinach? What ever it is I hope it doesn't like carrots.

I guess we are destined to shop at the farmers market this summer for fresh produce. And I hope the creature that enjoyed our spinach is healthy, and happy. Grrrrr!

Attitude of Gratitude

Today my heart is full of gratitude! Maybe it's because of the beautiful sunshine. Maybe it's because my husband spoiled me for two whole days. I just feel happy and very thankful for so many blessings! I'm not going to list all of my blessings, but here are a few things that I have been thankful for this week.

Being Mother's Day, I have to say I am thankful for my mother. She has supported me in all my adventures. She never holds me back. She has always encouraged me and believed in me when others didn't. I am grateful for all the sacrifices she has made for me. I'm also thankful for other friends, family, teachers, and such who have been, and continue to be, great examples of motherhood in my life. Happy Mother's Day!

I am especially grateful for those who call me mother. It is a title I gladly wear. These smiling faces bring tremendous joy to my life. All of the challenges are definitely worth it!

And I am thankful for the man who provides me with the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom so I can devote more time and energy to my little brood.

Last week was teacher appreciation week. This was a BIG deal at our last school. We always had a special breakfast for the teachers and an assembly to celebrate them and present them each with a fabulous gift. As the Art Mom, and member of the PTO, I got to help Morgan's class prepare their special gift. Their excitement to show gratitude to their teacher was magical.

It's not such a big deal here. But, as I thought about how blessed Morgan was to be assigned to her class, I knew we had to come up with some way to say thank you to a VERY wonderful teacher.

I saw a cute idea where they dipped mini Oreos in red candy melts to make little apples. (Here is the link if you want to see the real way to do it.) First of all, I could not find any candy melts sold here in our little town. I dug in the cupboard and found some green left over from last Christmas. There are green apples, right? I couldn't get the pretzel stems to stay and they just looked silly so I gave up on that idea. (They make it look oh-so-easy!)

I found a cute jar at the dollar store and some fun colored m&m candies. (I love the Easter colors!) A simple tag tied on with some coordinating ribbon and it was good to go. This teacher deserves so much more but hopefully she knows we truly appreciate her.

I could go on and on and on, listing the things that I am grateful for, but I won't.

I will simply say... I am so blessed!