Yesterday was a great day! I ran on the treadmill, ate pizza-crust and all and got a haircut, all things I have wanted desparately for a couple weeks now. Life is good and I am recovered. I have been playing catch up this week on house work, real estate work and everything else.

Easton has been LOVING basketball this year, he is sure making his mama proud. He scrored 8 points in his game last night. This is his 2nd year playing and getting better all the time. I played basketball up through high school and I really miss it. Fun to see our kids excelling at something we love, even though I know they will develop their own interests apart from ours. Plus we love the inside-a-warm-building sports for other reasons too. :)

I hate oatmeal.

I may have blogged too soon about feeling better because that night I had some complications. After getting a little ambitious at dinner...I made some quick english muffin pizzas before rushing off to Easton's basketball game. I was SOOO hungry and have been told only soft stuff for 2 weeks. Well the pizza topping looked kind of soft to me, so I ate some. It was so good. I am so hungry these days and can't wait to have real food again. That proved to be the wrong decision. About 1:30am I was in pain and to spare you all the gross details, the rest involved a long successful attempt to stop bleeding and calls to the doctor. So I have learned my lesson. Listen to the doctor no matter how hungry or how good you may feel. Back to smoothies and oatmeal(I have never liked oatmeal, but eat it lately because it is healthy and soft). On a happy note...last night while our neice Kortney and her husband entertained our kids, Jon took me to DQ for a hot fudge sundae. It was a nice treat and relieved a bit of my cabin fever.

I had surgery 8 days ago. I guess Jon's previous, very graphic post(with an AWFUL photo of me) tipped you off. Today is the first day I have felt semi-normal. It has been extremely difficult and painful. The first 5 days were spent in bed or on the couch, attempting to drink fruit smoothies and ice chips. Day 6 I graduated to cream of wheat, day 7 was mac & cheese and scramble eggs which brought me to tears. I am weaning off the "hard" drugs so I am now able to drive. My best friend has been our Vita-Mix, I SO recommend this blender to EVERYONE. You know, it's the kind the sell at the fair. I begged 12 years for one of these, finally bought one last year...it was SO worth the money this last week. So yes, I am back to the land of the living, even down 7 pounds(at least for now). Today I even put make-up on :) For me that is big, those of you that know me might also know that I wear makeup all the time, even when I know I will be home all day long. To go a week without is an indication of how BAD I felt. So thanks for the prayers and thoughts, they definitely worked. No complications, very textbook recovery(for my age). Oh, and here is the moral...if you wonder about your child's tonsils making them sick...get them out now while they are young and resilient! The lady at the doctors office told me "honey, you are young, but you're not THAT young". Getting old stinks.
Before I forget, thanks to Jaymi, Melia and Becky who brought yummy food for my family that I wish I could have eaten, for Becky and Barbara helping with cleaning, for Alicia(that iced white mocha had healing power ;)) & Andrea for helping with kids. Also for my sweet husband who worked so hard taking care of me and everything else!!!

Tonsillectomy Tuesday

DID IT!!! There are now two ginormous holes in the back of Maria's throat where just 9 hours ago her infectious tonsils were attached. Not now monfrere. Those babies are gone, replaced with the cauterized hope of a strep-free future. Someone recently said that you know your tonsils are a problem when not only have they stopped helping you but when they have joined the other side. Well, Maria's dynamic duo finally met their match today.

The procedure went off without a hitch. Actually, the way they do it these days it very fast. It literally took 9 minutes from when Maria went "out" to the doctor being done. How about that? Of course she took another 45 minutes to wake up and come to her senses in the recovery room before we loaded up and drove home. Pretty fast.

Time for more smoothies!

Daddy Daughter Dance

Last night Jon and Peyton attended the community's Daddy Daughter Dance. They had a "date" that included a corsage, dinner, dance and a litte foot ferry ride. I must say I was a little jealous :). At the same time, Easton and I went to a movie and left Macy with a sitter. I think it is really important to give our kids one-on-one time to make them feel extra special.

Working From Home

I consider myself both a stay at home mom of sorts AND a real estate agent. I can make this happen because my "office" is at home. We no longer have a physical desk at our Prudential office. Working from home is both a blessing and a curse...I think many moms can relate. A blessing because I don't have to pay for a sitter all the time and because I can be here for my kids. It is a curse because I have to learn to balance(more like juggle) my priorities and time. It is truly amazing at how the minute my cell phone rings, the kids start screaming, arguing or suddenly hurt themselves. The other part of the curse is that when I am on the computer or phone when my kids are awake, they are left to see "how quickly we can destroy the house before mom sees what we're doing". Macy has been mobile now for awhile and so very curious. Many days I find myself rolling the toilet paper back up because she thinks those rolls are put at her level solely for her enjoyment. Today I found her sitting quietly (that is the first hint) in the kitchen with Peyton's box of markers dumped all over putting "makeup" on her lips with all sorts of colors. Here is a photo, again taken with my rediculous camera phone because it was the only one within reach before she would run away. Also notice her saying "eeeeeeze" (cheese)for the camera.

Easton and Peyton just had their 2nd swimming lesson on Saturday morning. 8:30am start is early for a Saturday. They are really doing well. Prior to the first lesson I told Easton, now you may not actually learn to swim for real today, but will learn some basics. He was a bit dissapointed at what I told him. Well I was wrong. He was crawl stroking by the end of the half hour. Guess I will be keeping my mouth shut! Here is a photo of them on the first day all bundled up.

Last Sunday at church was a fun time for us. Jon and Easton read a scripture in front of the church.
Hebrews 12 Discipline in a Long-Distance Race (Taken from The Message) Jon read the italicized words and Easton read the regular typed words.
Have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children?
My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline…
but don't be crushed by it either.
The child he loves, he also disciplines. The child he embraces, he also corrects.
God is educating you.
That's why you must never drop out.
He's treating you as dear children. This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God's training so we can truly live?
While we were children, our parents DID what seemed best to them.
But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God's holy best.
At the time, discipline isn't much fun.
It always feels like it's going against the grain.
Later, of course, it pays off handsomely,
for it's the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.

The same service Easton and Peyton got to sing "Seek Ye First" Peyton's favorite song in front of the church. It was so sweet. Their cousin Afton is to the right of Peyton.

Tonight we had a birthday party for "Big Elmo" (turned 7) and "Baby Elmo" (turned 1). This was all Peyton's doing. She did a great job planning a party. She made birthday cards, wrapped presents and we put candles on a cookie cake. We even all sat around sang happy birthday and told the birthday elmo's what we like about them. (This is a tradition in our family). Here are some photos of the shin-dig.



Macy seems to be a sponge lately. She is learning rapidly and makes us laugh constantly. She loves to dance and spin like her siblings and cousins. She recently learned some new words, like no-no-no, hi and cheese. (more like eeeeeze). Here she is saying cheese for the camera, with makeup wand in hand.