Hounds, DS, and skirts

Just a little of this and that...

Nolan. He really enjoys his Nintendo DS. The kids get limited time on electronics, so when they do get to play, they take it pretty seriously. This particular day, I found him sitting in the laundry basket playing his DS. Probably more amazing than the fact he enjoys sitting in a cramped basket, is the fact that he actually found an empty laundry basket to sit in. Those are a rare sighting around these parts these days!

And speaking of laundry...

Nat thinks it's super fun to sit in the washer.... another thing that is rarely empty!

When Grandma Bauer came to North Dakota to visit, she made the girls a couple of Hello Kitty skirts. They are super cute, and the girls love them!

Kaitlyn wanted to wear her skirt and have a special hair do to go with it.

And Nat was more concerned that she had cute bows to put in her hair than what her hair really looked like.

And the hounds...

Yes, they need a haircut, but are kinda cute with the shaggy look going on.

VCUG

We went back to see the urologist today, and Kaitlyn had a follow-up VCUG. This was the final test to see if the surgery was successful. The study showed that she did not have any reflux back into her kidneys.  Thank you, Jesus!!! 

These are the comparing X-rays.

Before surgery. (The dark line on the right side of the picture, is the contrast that they injected. You can see that as her bladder empties, a large amount of urine goes back up the ureter into her kidney.) 

After surgery, at the same point in the imaging study. No evidence of reflux is seen.

Again, we are so thankful that the surgery was successful.  She does have a significant amount of scaring on that left side, but her kidney function with both of them is very good. To God be all the glory!

Out for Lunch

Nolan got some birthday mail.  He was so excited!

...especially since it contained money!

I work most Mondays, but since I had the day off, we decided to go to lunch at Ebeneezer's with Papa and Granny.

Pie anyone?

We had a 'Pie in the Face' fundraiser for the the youth group.  Tyler and Anthony were just a couple of the good sports that were volunteered to participate.

Good job, Babe, and just remember... it's for a great cause!

Nolan's 5th Birthday

It's hard to believe my little Nolan-bug is already 5 years old!

We had a big birthday party yesterday. He had a blast celebrating with all of his friends!

They had some war game going and they all had long sticks that they were running around with.  The nurse in me wanted to confiscate them, and give them something they couldn't poke each other's eyes out with, or impale themselves if they fell.  The mom in me really enjoyed the fact that they were having so much fun and using their imaginations.  The mom side one.  No one got their weapons taken away, and no one got hurt. Win-win!

The finished product... the Mario cake that Grandma Bauer made for him. It was super cute, and tasted fabulous too! He loved it!

(...though you would never know it by his face, would you?)

Group picture with all the kids

Time to open presents!!!

He got a lot of really fun gifts!

I love Kaya's expression in this picture. She was shocked when he opened the doll!

Jonathan and Taneil kept telling him they were going to get him a baby doll of his very own.  He didn't believe them. Guess what they got him... Yep, his very own baby doll.  He wouldn't touch it.  It was pretty hilarious! They also got him a fun 'boy toy', so he gladly gave the doll to Natalie.

One thing he requested was "a hat like Uncle Jesse's", so Uncle Jess and Aunt Ruth got him one.  He was very pleased.

Thanking everyone for the gifts.

Me and my baby boy. Love him to pieces!

Natalie wanted a picture of her in her "wollers".

"Cheese!"

What a fun day.  Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate, and helped make Nolan's birthday so special!

Grandma Bauer's here!

My mom came to Minot to visit us.  We decided to surprise the kids, so when she came in at the airport, they were so excited!

Here they are with their back to the gate, trying so hard to be patient, waiting for our 'visitor' to arrive.  I took mostly videos when she walked through the gate and the kids saw her, but was unable to upload them here.

Needless to say, they were very excited!

Since she was here over Nolan's birthday, she made him a Mario cake for his party.

Curly Girlies

Nattie and Tinney's hair all rolled up in curlers on Saturday night.  These two are a mess. Such a massive amount of energy, cuteness, and spunk, all bundled up in smiley little bodies.

Tinsley's curls.  So cute.  She was playing hard-to-get, and was running from the camera.  I did snap a few pictures, however, before she took off completely.