Monday, July 31, 2006

Another long, hot, busy weekend.

Saturday we went to The Great Escape, Sunday we had a party for Nana and Austin went to a party for his friends Kayley & Ashley at Hoffman's. Jeff finally got a temporary counter into the kitchen and our new microwave out.

Here are some pictures. Kelli took a bunch on her camera, especially of us on the Sky Coaster...I'll post those when I get them.

Friday, July 28, 2006

I have great respect for people that don't have central air (or numerous AC units).

I was mowing yesterday afternoon in the blazing heat, all excited to walk into a nice cool house...except it wasn't that cool. So I check the thermostat...77 and it's set for 70...hmm. Figure it's just a momentary glitch. When Jeff got home I mentioned it to him, checked the thermostat again and now it was 78 in the house. Jeff went out to the unit...only to find a BLOCK OF ICE encasing all the piping. Not good! Remember this unit is only about 2 months old.

So we call our good friend Terry at Proulx Mechanical. He said we appear to have lost the charge and said he's send someone over first thing in the morning.

Last night had to have been the hottest, longest night. Since the kids were asleep when they got home, we stripped them to diapers and they managed to sleep through it with a fan on high. Can't say Jeff and I got much sleep though. Especially with wiggle worm Austin between us.

But bright and early this morning, Proulx Mechanical came out and re-charged the system...thank God for Jaime. I might actually sleep tonight!

Monday, July 24, 2006

Busy week....

Jeff and I visited Schonowe Preschool on Friday. This is an integrated school for typical and identified (love the PC terms!) kids. We have decided to send Connor there. It is a great program and we think he will flourish in it. Although...thanks to his occupation and speech therapists, he's been doing REALLY well. The last week or so there has been a TON of new words and he's even grouping 2 and 3 words together. This is a huge step for him. He is still supplementing with sign, but we are OK with that. We have also decided to send Ben to the same school. We feel he will be a good model for other kids and it'll give him a chance to socialize as well. Ben & Connor will be in different classes, but I think they will both enjoy it. They will start October 1st.













On Friday afternoon, Jeff and I went to the Great Escape with James and Morgan. Jeff felt the 'need' to play the games and we got a little more than we bargained for. Meet the newest member of the family. Thankfulyy we brought the truck and he was able to ride home in the bed of it.







Wanted to send out a big Congrats to Nik & Rob on their newest addition. Our 'couch' finally has another girl. Of course Elana and I have 6 boys between us...so we need a couple more girls to balance out baby girls Jessa and Katie. Katie was born 7/15.









A big Happy Birthday goes out to 1 yr old Kenzie. Your party was lots of fun! Thanks for having us over.










Sunday we had dinner with Jeff's Uncle Rich and family, his grandparents from Florida and Mom & Dad & Eric. The cousins all got along great...only a few mishaps...Connor tumbled down the stairs and Ben cut his eye. Guess the boys got the accident prone gene from me :)

All for now...
Insurance Cos STINK!! To all you who thought we couldn't lose our appeal....you were wrong. The claim has still been denied. Guess now I need to figure out how to pay the $500. I think I will call the hospital and see if they have any leeway on some of the charges! :(

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Sorry it's been quiet around here...nothing new to report.

I will try and get pics on the kitchen up on the blog soon.

Happy Anniversary to Mom & Dad Smith.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

"You should have seen the three boys and Carli all sharing one ice cream cone...it was cute."


Yeah it was so cute until Monday afternoon when we found out that Austin has STREP!!

...ahhh, just another day in the life

Monday, July 17, 2006

All week long Jeff and I eagerly look forward to the weekend...to relax. Well, then why do we never relax?? By the time Sunday comes I am almost anxious to get back to work. Jeff and Eric went to get our new appliances on Friday night. Jeff was supposed to start on the cabinet Saturday morning. Well Sat morning became noon time. He worked hard and finally finished the cabinet about 11 pm. Sunday morning the cabinet was brought in and my oven installed...well installed but not yet wired. At least I can say I have an oven :)

Then we went to the Smith's for a cookout with Aunt Mary and Uncle John. The boys 'swam' and had fun. Jeff, the boys and I and Eric and Kelli went to a Valley Cats game after that. Chris and Rachel and Carli came also. Remind me NOT to bring three kids again. They don't really understand that you are supposed to watch the game :) They did like all the food and the misting tent. You should have seen the three boys and Carli all sharing one ice cream cone...it was cute. We packed it in at the bottom of the 7th though...they were getting cranky!

So it's Monday...back to work...sweating and a/c isn't working right :( ...can't wait to go home.

I'll post some picture of the kitchen work in progress soon.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

So, on Tuesday night we went to Lebanon Valley to see the Monster Trucks. We were smart and waited until Tuesday afternoon to tell Austin. It was still a long ride of 'Are we there yets'! There were 8 monster trucks and some local drivers also. We got to see flips and rolls and fires.

To the left is Austin with his Monster Mutt truck(he also got a Grave Digger shirt). MM is his favorite...as well as Grave Digger. Below is El Toro Loco and Allan Pezo and Predator. Coming around behind Predator is Maximum Destruction and Grave Digger.

Ya know, these trucks looked really small from the top of the bleachers...until a person stood next to them! It put everything into perspective.

Speaking of bleachers....I am not a big fan of LV's bleachers. They didn't seem really sturdy, especially because the four people to the right of me (and sharing my bench) totaled probably a ton...and no I am not exaggerating. I kept wondering what would I do if the bleachers started to give way...took some of the enjoyment out of the night :(

Below is Batman & Hot Wheels racing and then Batman doing some freestyle.









Here is Austin's favorite...Monster Mutt...really blurry, but his floppy ears are cute!

The only truck I didn't get a good picture of was Rolling Thunder...but he caught on fire.






And last but not least, the Green Mamba, a jet engine powered car. He raced along the track for awhile and then parked in front of an old junk car...which he proceeded to melt into a pile of molten metal. Pretty cool!

Austin was asleep about a mile from the track...not surprised since the show didn't end until 10:30.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Ben & Connor are too cute. I find myself constantly taking pictures of them while they sleep. I guess it's because they seem so 'close' to each other...sometimes literally! Yes Ben is using Connor as a pillow. I swear they always start out in their own beds!








Have I mentioned that we are working in the kitchen? Our microwave died so I decided to replace the oven also. Well new cabinets are really expensive, so Jeff is going to modify the old one. At first we were just going to widen it completely and then Jeff decided to add counter space. So we are going to lower the oven and raise the microwave. Then we are going to order new countertops. I really wanted solid surface but at a starting price of $40/sq ft...I decided we'd stick with laminate for now. It's about a tenth of the cost. Of course now we have to repaint also. It was due anyway. We haven't repainted since we moved in over 7 years ago. Here is the work in progress.










Anyone see the moon last night...it was really red. I attempted to photograph it...not very well though! I guess you just had to see it :)

Monday, July 10, 2006

Had a cookout with the neighbors on Sunday.
To the left is Allison
Below is Allison, Carli and Enzo












To the left is Carli, Connor & Austin; below is Connor













And here is Ben...playing in the BLUE sand, what a mess :)

Friday, July 07, 2006



Austin & Ashley at the fireworks

Thursday, July 06, 2006

We had a great 4th. It was steamy, but the rain held off. We went down to Albany like usual, with my Mom and three sisters, their friend Abbie...my in laws, Eric, his girlfriend Kelli and her two kids Austin (yup another one) and Ashley. We had a GREAT time. Ashley is about 6 months older than our Austin and they get along great. They are so cute. My sis took some pictures. I will post one when she sends it to me. The fireworks display was the best I have ever seen.

Yesterday I took Connor to the geneticist. He agrees that there is something going on, but admits we may not figure out what or if we do there may be no treatment. Luckily I am well aware of that, but I hate not knowing. So they are doing a full metabolic screen including Carnitine, Amino Acids, Lactate, Pyruvate, pipecolic acid, urine organic acids and fragile X. He did feel that the TSC2 test would also be helpful, but he did not draw blood for that yesterday. One because he needs to get prior approval from the insurance company and two because he was concerned about blood volume. They took about 7 viles...Connor was NOT cooperative!! So, now we wait. I am not a patient person!

That's about all that is going on here...oh the driveway is being paved today, but that's not fun...it does look great though! So, all for now...

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Pictures from the Family Reunion


Austin, Ben, Connor & Aaron


Gram, Gramp & Austin









Buck- one of the hosts