It's Caturday!

Fabulous Fall Friday

Well today was another amazing fall day. Looks like we are finally making up for all those crummy rainy days we had earlier this month.

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Today was the Pumpkin Patch field trip at Zander's preschool and since Natalie didn't have school today, she was able to go along too. I wasn't feeling quite up to going this morning and as much as I really wanted to go I was glad that Dan was able to go with the kids. This way he got to have some fun and I got to have a quiet house!

All the kids and parents got to have a hay ride over to the pumpkin patch. They also got to go in the hay maze which was dark, so they all used flashlights to find their way out. For a project, they made "dirt babies," which I'd never heard of, but they are a favorite part of this field trip every year. The kids fill up a nylon stocking with grass seeds, soil, tie in a knot and decorate with a face. After it is watered it sprouts grass hair! I'll have to post a photo after they have "hair."

Here is Zander's pumpkin!


Playing in the Leaves

Natalie dives head first into the leaves as Zander jumps full speed ahead...do you think they were having fun?



The slide was a big hit!

Hayden thought it was funny to throw leaves at me!

Zander had fun stuffing his clothes with leaves. "Look mom, I'm a Fattian."
"What's a Fattian?"
"It's a really fat cat!"

I somehow captured this photo of Natalie in between silly faces and flying leaves every where. She looks so grown up.

Fabulous Food Friday

Before you get any bad thoughts in your head...no, we are not serving up babies for Fabulous Food Friday!!!

Yesterday my sister Andrea came over and spent the day with me. It was nice to have some company as Dan was working at the college all day. It was also great to see my nephew, Brandon...he gets cuter every time I see him and is crawling all over (army crawl style!)

Anyway, we spent some time looking at recipes in magazines and decided we wanted to cook something yummy for dinner. I suggested potato pancakes. I have Horst Mager's recipe book with all the delicious German cuisine from the Rhinelander restaurant and loved the potato pancakes when I made them years ago. Last night we made them as the main course, but they are traditionally a side dish.

Potato Pancakes
2 pounds russet potatoes
2 small onions
2 teaspoons salt
3 whole eggs
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons finely minced chopped parsley
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg

Peel potatoes and grate (I use the food processor). Dice onions very fine. Combine eggs, flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Use a wire whisk to mix into a batter.

Squeeze excess water out of potatoes and add to batter. To test for salt, cook a small portion of batter and adjust to taste. (I found that the 2 t was a bit salty, so I would reduce a bit of salt). Pour liberal amount of canola oil into a skillet. Heat oil almost to the smoking point. Take a ladle of batter and put into the hot oil. Press it down to make a fairly thin pancake. Cook pancakes on both sides until golden brown. Remove from skillet and place on paper towel to drain off excess oil. Serve as a side dish with applesauce and sour cream.

NOTE: our sour cream was past the point of eating (it was multicolored!) so I used a dill dip and it was really, really good with the potato pancakes.

Surgery II Update

Everything went as planned yesterday. My mom drove me to the hospital and stayed with me until we left sometime after 8 pm. Originally she was going to watch the kids, but Hayden was coughing and has a runny nose, so Dan stayed with them and was able to get some work done too. I suggested he take them to the matinee to watch "Evan Almighty"...so at least that killed some time.

Anyway, I have yet to talk to my doctor, but she came in and told my mom that she removed all the fragments she could see...and she also spotted some new stones which she removed. When I heard there were new stones I was kind of frustrated. This means (in my non-medically trained mind) that I am probably going to continue to have problems with kidney stones. My doctor recommended that I see a kidney specialist, so I will be eager to find out what can be done from here on out.

While in recovery, they gave me some anti-nausea medicine to counter the effects of the anesthetic. The nurse gave me 1/10 the normal dosage and within 10 minutes I was asleep. I can't imagine how tired I would be if I had the full dose. After a nap, I was discharged and my mom drove me home. It was a nice ride home with her heated seats. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open, so finally I just closed them and took another nap.

Once we got home I was pretty hungry, so I dished up some chicken and veggies for my mom and I that I had made in the crock pot for Dan and the kids to eat for dinner. It was so good, I wanted to keep eating, but didn't want to repeat my mistake last time where I ended up throwing everything back up.

This morning I feel pretty good considering. I am really tired, but not in much pain. I am still taking Vicoden to help with the discomfort of the new stent. I should have this stent removed in 5-10 days. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers through this whole mess...Well, my Vicoden is kicking in now, so I'm gonna go before the "fog" sets in too much!

Kidney Update

Here's the scoop: My original surgery was October 2nd. Since then I have had 2 sets of X rays done to determine if there were any stone fragments remaining inside of me. The first set of films showed that I had a small cluster still in my kidney and another bunch of stone fragments all lined up on top of one another along my ureter. My doctor gave me some Flomax (which is normally for prostate patients) to help relax the ureter in hopes that the stones would move.

Fast forward to Monday when I went in for my second x ray. Nothing had changed. Doctor Kim said I could wait another 10 days, do another x ray and see if the stones, given a bit more time would take care of themselves. She also said I could have another surgery and she could remove them with the scope. I decided to make a follow up appointment in 10 days, so I left the doctor's office with my appointment card and my stent still in place. Totally bummed, I went to Taco Bell for some comfort food then drove to my parents to pick up the boys. By the time I got there I had talked myself in to having the surgery instead.

Yesterday I called the Urology Clinic back to find out how soon I could get the surgery scheduled. She gave me a few dates that were a few weeks out, but said she would get back to me after she talked with the doctor. Well, as it turns out there was a cancellation and I got scheduled for today at 2 pm. The actual surgery is at 4 and I should be ready to go around 6 pm if all goes as planned.

Although I am not really looking forward to the next couple of days, I am really looking forward to getting on with my life again. The whole month of October has been in a fog with complete dependence on Vicoden for pain relief.

I just ate my last bit of food for the next 8 or 9 hours...an egg and toast with a protein bar to hopefully keep my stomach from growling too much this afternoon. I tried to get my wedding ring off this morning, but it is stuck again. I gained back 2-3 lbs since the first surgery earlier this month and it must all be in my ring finger, cause it's stuck.

I guess that's about it. I am going to take Zander to school now...I'll update when I can.

Pumpkin Patch 2007

Today was such a beautiful fall day. We have had such a wet/grey October that the sun really felt nice. After making plans to undergo another surgery tomorrow, I decided I better take advantage of the nice day and get the kids over to the local pumpkin patch.

Sitting under the cornucopia.

Got wheelbarrows, will travel.

Zander and Hayden decided to be scarecrows! Natalie wasn't in on the plan.

Hayden had fun picking up the little pumpkins.

...so did Natalie and Zander.

Hayden had a great time today.



Here is Natalie posing like a pro...she set this one up all by herself. She must have a mom who takes lots of pictures...(I used to stay "she must have a mom who scrapbooks," but seriously...who has the time these days?)

After purchasing the pumpkins and some caramel corn, the kids wanted to check out the hay bale maze and corn pit etc...but when we got there I saw signs posted that there is now a $2 charge for kids to use the stuff that was free last year...How lame. I was not impressed by this at all as the kids had really looked forward to playing. I only brought one check, which I just used to pay for the pumpkins, so I just had to explain it to them and they took it pretty well.

Natalie and Zander had to stand on a box on their tippy toes to get in the above picture...soon after taking this photo, we packed up our pumpkins and brought them to the car...at which time I realized that I couldn't find my car keys. I searched my pockets a half a dozen times and they were no where to be found. I figured they must have fallen out when I pulled out my camera...so back to the pumpkin patch we went. I walked the kids back to the car, through the mud to see if they got left in the car. Fortunately, I left the car doors unlocked, but unfortunately the keys weren't inside. I finally decided to ask if anyone had turned them in...no one had...much to my complete disappointment.

Dan was golfing and I didn't have my cell phone anyway, but I tracked down someone and used their cell phone. As I guessed, he wasn't near a phone. Then when I turned back to go look some more and saw a friend from high school (Angela Hugley). I have bumped in to her about once every 2 years and so we caught up a little and she offered to help me look. She looked in my car again and all over in the pumpkin patch. Then she offered to bring us home. Her husband was there to watch her kids while she took us. Before leaving, I went back to our car to pick up anything I would be needing and as I lifted up some of the schoolwork, I found the keys. I was so relieved, but felt so silly at the same time...must be the drugs...JUST SAY NO TO DRUGS!

All in all it was a fun day...especially since I eventually did find my keys. Now we just need to find time to carve these pumpkins!

Our trip to Eagle Crest for some much needed rest!

We have had a crazy fall so far. Dan has been completely swamped with work since August and I have been in recovery with an irritating stent inside me for almost a month now. Lucky for us, we booked a week at Eagle Crest a few months back and were more than ready to sit back and relax for a while.

Here is the view of the Deshutes River out our window and patio. When we left our house it was raining and as you can see...we had sunny blue sky on the other side of the mountain!



Here is our home away from home last week.

Here is Hayden taking a much needed nap.

While Hayden was sleeping Natalie and Zander helped me make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

They both spent a lot of time doing their homework and coloring.

Women of Faith Weekend

This past Friday, after my doctor's appointment my friends (Anne, Debbie and Jenny) and I checked in to a hotel downtown Portland for the Women of Faith Conference. This was my 3rd or 4th time to the conference, Anne had been a few times as well, but it was Debbie and Jenny's first time.

Before we left for the conference, we went out for tacos/burritos at Chapotle. Once we were done we got on MAX and experienced a ride like no other...wall to wall women! It was such a chatty commute. There were really only a few men on the train and you could feel their anxiety level increase at each stop as more and more women boarded.



Once we got in to the Rose Garden we scrambled around to find our seats. When Anne ordered the tickets the only remaining seats were way up in the nose bleed seats on the 300 level. For those of you who have never experienced the 300 level...it feels pretty much like you are going to fall off the side of a mountain. You can barely make out who's on the platform...and that's when your watching on the large monitors all around...forget trying to see them with your naked eyes! It wasn't long before Jenny started to feel sick. Anne went and talked with an usher about getting seats on a lower level. All four of us waited in line to find out we had to wait in another line to buy the tickets. For $20 more we landed ourselves in the best seats in the house!!!

We just upgraded and were now seated the floor level in the 5th row!!! Thanks Jenny! It was so great to be so close to all the speakers and performers. We laughed and cried our way through some amazing stories.

Here is a shot of what it looks like when 18,000 women all come together for worship. It was awesome! After the first night we all went back to the hotel to eat chocolate and watch tv. Since there was nothing really good on, we just crashed...sorry Chris, no pillow fight!

The next morning we got up, had breakfast and went back to the Women of Faith conference.

Starbucks anyone? I don't think the garbages look like this before a Blazer game!!

The speakers were all so great. I really enjoyed myself so much more this time than before and could really relate a lot to the motherhood humor.







Highlights for me...
Anita Renfroe was soooo funny. You can see some of her comedy on YouTube. Her total momsense can be seen here. It has been going around in emails and blogs for a few months so you may have already seen it. I was so excited to learn that we would be seeing here as part of the conference. She also had a hilarious rendition of Faith Hill's song "Breathe" called "Don't Breathe" about her husband's morning breath. She created a video that went along while she sang that was hysterical...All the speakers were funny and had great story telling abilities, but Anita was my favorite.


And the winner for most likely to make a room full of women cry goes to Sandi Patty. While she was singing, like only Sandi Patty can, a young Down's Syndrome girl was signing with her. As the story goes Lisa was learning to sign along with Sandi Patty's CDs and she told her mom that she wanted to sign with her one day on stage. Well, Lisa's mom just kind of dismissed the idea, but once while in the audience at Sandi Patty's concerts, Sandi saw her and asked her to come on stage and she now tours with her once a month. Lisa's enthusiasm was contagious and brought tears to everyone in the Rose Quarter whenever she was on stage.