Dear Blog: April 2017

Hi Blog!

Four days in a row. I know, I'm stunned too. Never say I'm not determined! Our family is really busy, and April didn't disappoint in that department. Here are some highlights:

I did another self-update. 

Always willing to give her insight, Kat made herself available. 

Angela enjoying a good book. She wasn't feeling well this day.

You can tell by the dark circles around her eyes. 

We have learned over the last couple of years

these dark circles are a big red flag. 

Sure enough! Later that day we were in the ER. 

Her ammonia level had skyrocketed. 

Do you remember Gladys the giraffe? 

 We repainted the entire interior of the house. 

That's when I got the idea to white wash the brick. 

I'll never do that again!

I love the look, but what a pain in the neck. That and the 

ceiling is really high and I hate ladders! 

Unfortunately I didn't listen to the painter we hired 

for the walls. I had a specific color in mind. 

Once it was all done, it doesn't look right in certain rooms.

I hate it, actually, and want to re-do the main living areas.

It looks great in our bedroom though! 

We took a family trip to Amos' sending state

and visited the local zoo. We had the entire place

to ourselves! The weather was great and the 

kids really enjoyed it! 

The next day we had court to finalize Amos' adoption.

He is SO handsome! 

We were all ready for court, just waiting to be called in.

Then our attorney came out, "I have bad news..."

The way things were handled on the other side caused 

a lot of confusion for the attorneys and judges involved.

The judge didn't feel comfortable signing the order

so sent us packing. Back to Minnesota we would go,

where the had to start the ENTIRE process over again! 

Yes, that's right. We paid for this adoption TWICE!!! 

We still owe the attorney in the sending state $2000 

that must be paid by January 1st. 

But that smiling face? Totally worth it! 

Got Angela checked into Masonic Children's Hospital

at the University of Minnesota

where the miracle workers attempted to fix her liver once and for all! 

It seems it was a success, and within hours 

we had our spunky, energetic young lady back! 

 Finally got Audrey's bedroom done. 

Before we could blink, it was Easter! 

Big brothers Noah & Tyler 

were in charge of hiding the eggs. 

This guy turned 14! 

So handsome.

Abel requested a chocolate cake.

Hyvee, which is going to take over the world

along with Amazon, makes an amazing truffle cake.

In case you were wondering, your eyes  have not been

playing tricks on you

We welcomed new great niece

Norah into the family.

Dean went back for his second knee replacement. 

Six weeks. Two knees. New pain-free life.

Two little people had been having some problems getting along in school. 

They are both in the same class. Actually, they WERE the class last year. LOL

Anyway, one day I told them 

"If you have a good day, you can have candy when you come home."

This picture is self-explanatory.

Sigh...little girl growing up.

Angela and her good friend Laura love to shoot hoops.

And Asher just likes to hang out in the trees.

Angela's friend Laura turned 21. We loaded all the young adults 

and the moms in our giant white van

and headed to The Metropolis in Eau Claire, WI

for an overnight water park party. It was GREAT fun!

I started a city skyline project in Axel & Abel's room.

(FYI, it's still not done. )

Audrey started  having some suspicious episodes 

that looked very much like seizures. 

She had and EEG done which did not show 

seizure activity, but did show some abnormalities 

in the brain waves. Not really anything we can do about it.

Abel was having a lot of problems in school, 

so I ended up pulling him out and homeschooling him 

the rest of the year. He did really well. I had hoped this would

break the behavior cycle he was on. 

We attempted Miracle League baseball with these four.

Unfortunately we discovered it was  not a good match for us, 

but they sure looked cute in their uniforms!