Day 9: Fine Arts

 The choir program at our high school is top notch. They continue to earn awards. Libby has always loved to sing and it is great that she has a school that embraces that love. They got to sing the National Anthem at the homecoming game this weekend.

Libby is in Chamber Choir which is like an honors choir class. Last year they got to perform at multiple venues. It is great to see how close they have all become because of their shared love of music.

The choir teacher goes above and beyond to encourage and promote her students. I have been able to chaperon two choir retreats and was so impressed with how much she respects her students and in turn receives the students respect. I'm very thankful that Libby has had this opportunity. ~Happy Friday!

Day 5: Vacation Days

Mark took a vacation day today and we took Libby out of school so we could check out ArtPrize7. We learned after the first year of ArtPrize that it is much more laid back on weekdays versus the weekend with all of the out of town visitors. 

She put her hand print on this piece of art.

Libby got this picture of Mark. He is always so willing to lend a helping hand.

Libby and I called this Grand Rapid's take on Chicago's "Bean".

Our only "usie" of the day.

 

My angel. 

I'm so thankful that Mark enjoys using one of his vacation days to see ArtPrize every year. ~ Happy Monday!

Youth Hunt

The other weekend our youngest 2 girls got to participate in the youth hunt. This was the first time that Libby got to hunt and she was successful!

Here is Libby and Kaylyn with Libby's 6-point.

Here is Libby with Mark.
And here is Libby back at home showing Mom her kill. She was one happy girl!

Wordless Wednesday - Fall love

On a side note... does anyone have any tips for making the trampoline stop letting off black?

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Wordless Wednesday - Beer Bread

She thinks she is so funny.
Want to make it yourself without a mix? Here's a link.

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Some kids have no luck.

My poor Libby got the bad teeth for all 4 kids. She is the only one who struggles with cavities. Only one of the other three kids has a cavity and he only has one. Libby on the other hand has many "silver stars" in her mouth. She has even had one molar pulled because the filling would be too big. You know it's bad when your child looks forward to the dentist because she gets to wear the "clown nose". All of her cavities are in baby teeth so far. I just keep praying that when her permanent teeth come in they are less prone to captivities which the dentist tells me is very possible.

She shoots, she SCORES!

Libby had her first basketball game this morning. She really enjoyed it. It was quite an eye opener for her to realize how winded she was after only a 45min long game. She was hoping they had practice during the week. No such luck. She will have to get some running in on her own while daddy walks the track. It was an early lesson in the importance of conditioning. Wink!

That is her taking the shot and she did make one basket. I took this picture with my phone. Phones really aren't good for action shots. LOL!

Guess what day it is?

It's an Emily day. Libby was actually happy to have a dentist appointment today because she knew that meant she would get to spend more time with Emily. Maybe I should schedule all of those not so fun appointments on Friday's. Poor Libby is very stuffed up though and I think you can see it in this picture. 'Tis the season I guess.

Mono? Really? She's 10!

Libby started running a fever on Sunday afternoon and fell asleep on the couch. I kept her home on Monday because of the fever and noticed that she was complaining a little about her throat hurting. She rode along with me to bring Zack back to MSU. She slept pretty much the whole way there and back. When we got home she went to her own bed and slept. At dinnertime I pulled out a flashlight to get a look in her throat. She was very swollen, red, and white ick (that is a very medical term) was on her tonsils.

Tuesday morning I got her into see the doctor. They did the swab of her throat for strep and swab of her nose for a virus. The strep test came back negative. The doctor looked in her ears first and found that she had an ear infection in her left ear. Then she put her hands on Libby's neck to feel her glands and her reaction was shock. I hadn't even thought to feel her neck and when I did I couldn't believe it. Her glands were so swollen it felt like baseballs. Then she looked in her throat and again couldn't believe just how swollen her tonsils were. The doctor ordered blood work because she was quite certain that Libby had mono. Apparently it is going around by us although I haven't heard of anyone else that we know with it. She looked just miserable. She also tried to answer the doctors questions with motions because it hurt too bad to talk. The doctor sent us off with 2 prescriptions, one for the ear infection and prednizone for her swollen glands.

We headed over to have her blood drawn. Poor thing was already becoming dehydrated from not wanting to swallow so it was really hard to find a vein. The nurse ended up finding one in her hand to use. Libby had been doing fine but the minute she realized that the nurse was going to put a needle in her hand she lost it. The look of fear in her eyes just killed me. The nurse stopped for a minute and I explained to Libby that it was really no big deal and it wouldn't even hurt as much as her flu shot. Libby calmed back down and after it was done agreed that it really didn't hurt.

On the way home we picked up her medicine. The pharmacist told me the prednizone had to be taken with food. That would be a challenge since Libby won't hardly swallow water. So we got home and I seen that it could be food or milk. We went for the milk. Then I gave her the liquid medicine for her ear. Then it was time to take the prednizone, 5 of them. They are really small pills and if you have ever had them you know how awful they taste. They must not be coated. So we both agreed it would probably be best to take all 5 at once since they are so small. BAD IDEA! She started gagging on them right away. Up came everything, milk, pink medicine, and the pills. Ugh! Then she ran to the bathroom and continued to heave. Poor kid!

I called the doctors office and they suggested I bring her back in and they would give her the first dose of prednizone via injection. I knew that was they best option but I was so not wanting to tell Libby. She took it fine. I think by then she had lost all energy to fight. We get to the doctors office and Libby pulls up her sleeve for the shot and the nurse says, "I'm sorry hunny but this one has to go in your hip". There was that look of fear again but no tears this time. She did say that that one stung bad.

Long story short she does have mono. She has been doing a lot of sleeping. Hasn't had much of an appetite. Her swelling has gone way down. Her fever left yesterday. She is regaining energy. She has gotten a week off school. And we have told her she has to stop kissing boys. Wink! Who would have thought a 10 year old would have mono? Not this mom.

Been busy?

Who hasn't right? But my blog is shriveling up. So I thought I better post something and since I don't have time to write creatively I thought I would just share some pictures instead. After all they do speak 1000 words right?

Youth hunt '09





Art Prize '09

The doll Anna is holding is a class project. It's a computerized doll that is designed to give the students an idea of caring for a real baby. Both Kaylyn and Anna have the class and they were both ready to be done with caring for the baby after only one weekend. Success!



Libby likes having her picture taken. Can you tell?

Check out the bronze "statue" in the next picture...

See a diference?

It is a real live man! Isn't that crazy?

Worth Framing!

Libby heard me telling Anna about this post I made on Twitter this morning:

I would really like to just get away for a long weekend somewhere warm and lay around in the sun with nowhere to be and no one needing me.

Then I showed both of them this header from Kat's blog and said I will just have to imagine myself sitting in that red chair soaking up the sun.


Later in the morning after I came down from taking a shower I found Libby painting and here is one of the things she painted just for me....


I will be framing it and hanging it in my bathroom. I just love the compassionate heart of my sweet Libby!

Wordless Wednesday - Fun at Aunt Julie's

Check out the older two carrying on a casual conversation while the youngest looks like she has a death grip on the handles. LOL! It is always like this.


See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Life is busy

I have so much to blog about and so little time to do it.

Zack's track is keeping us busy you can also keep up to date with that at his blog Zack's Journey.

Anna had an excellent soccer game last night and scored 3 goals which she tells me is called a "hat trick". We weren't able to be at her game because we were at an awards dinner at school for her and Zack were she got an award for being a scholar athlete. She also got pulled up to varsity for a game on Monday night. She has been a very busy girl also.

Kaylyn will have her last track meet tonight if the weather allows. She is throwing 29' 9" and pole vaulting 5'9". Her goal for the year is 30' and 6' so hopefully tonight won't be canceled and she will have a great night.

Libby has not had hives since Saturday so we are hopeful that we have seen the last of them for this bout of them. Once she has been hive free for 2 weeks we will start weening her off her medicine again. Hopefully we can get her off them for a month and tested before another episode of hives. Maybe I should enforce a rule of no eating new food for awhile. Not a bad thought...

I got a new camera out of necessity for a Mother's Day/Birthday/Anniversary gift. Mine died right after Zack's regional meet. It was already having some issues so it was only a matter of time before we would have to replace it but with Prom and State track meets coming up there was no waiting.

So here are some random pictures from me playing with my new toy and then I had to include one Prom picture. When exactly did he grow up?

Zack and Tricia

Zack

Anna

Kaylyn

Libby
(Little explanation... my new camera has a feature that it can detect when someone smiles and then snaps the picture on it's own so I told Libby to smile and I guess she thought it had to be a really exaggerated smile. LOL!)

Last but not least here is a picture that is getting a lot of feedback of Zack and his friend Stephen taken before Prom. They are in track and choir together. Funny picture! Mark took it with his camera. Thank goodness because I missed it wile trying to figure out the new camera. There is a bit of a learning curve with it. Wink!

They're back

We thought we were going to get answers to the mystery hives soon. They have been gone for a long time and she has been off all medication for a month or so and then last night they decided to make an uninvited visit.

I sent her to school today medicated. She took more medicine right before leaving school and I got a call from the bus driver asking me to meet her because the hives were getting worse quickly. I called the allergist and they have put her back on allergy medication and told me to double the Benadryl. If we aren't seeing an improvement by Thursday I need to call them. And if, heaven forbid, she gets worse tonight instead of better on the stronger medicine we need to take her to the ER. Just so happens Kaylyn needs to get allergy shots at the allergists office Thursday so Libby is coming along this time. That why I can let them see her and decide if they are comfortable with how she is doing.



Please pray for her. She is very uncomfortable right now. If you can see in the picture half of her top lip is swollen. The hives are always random on her as far as where all they show up.

I am sure you are wondering what caused it this time... so are we. As far as I can tell it might be another powder mix. The allergist felt with the seasoning packet the first time that it might be a preservative and since Libby had a drink made from a powdered mix last night right before she broke out it makes sense that it might be just that.

Fine Arts Night

Libby had a Fine Arts Night at school last night. She had this on her desk to show us...

(click on it if you can't read it)

It really touched my heart. I love reading my kids thoughts.

We also got to watch her class perform a song for us in the Cafeteria. I caught something really funny at the beginning of this video. Watch (the first 15 secs) the little boy in the middle row wearing a black sweatshirt. Make sure that your volume is turned up so you can hear what he says. It just cracked me up! Libby is in the back row wearing the black sweater.

Edited to add: Since people are having a hard time figuring out what David said I will tell you. "The suspense is KILLING ME!" Now just try and not laugh when you see how he expresses it. What a riot!

I have great kids!

I love it when my kids get inspired to help each other. While I was gone this past weekend my older two girls helped my youngest clean, organize, and re-arrange her bedroom. I couldn't even walk into this bedroom before I left because Libby is known for trying on clothes and leaving them on the floor and bringing up clean clothes and not putting them away. It was a mess and a headache for me every time I seen it. I just haven't had the time or energy to help her tackle it and it had become to overwhelming for her to accomplish it on her own. Sisters to the rescue. Anna and Kaylyn spent much of Saturday helping her sort through things that could be given to Goodwill and things that could be dumped. Bless their hearts. I am REALLY glad they showed me her bedroom and the hallway closet (more of their organizing) before I found the results of the cleaning in the laundry. It was much easier to over look the unsorted clothes all on the floor after seeing how much work they put into the closet and Libby's bedroom.

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for Libby. Yesterday was her first day without hives. She had an appointment with an allergist on Monday. Apparently what ever set off the hives put her body into histamine overdrive and is causing her body to put out histamines over everything now. We need to use all dye free and fragrance free products until Libby is off all medications and remains hive free. She put Libby on 2 more medicines that will give us a longer lasting effect than the Benedryl. The allergist thought I was probably right about the seasoning packet causing the hives but Libby can't be tested until the hives have stopped and she is off all of the medicine. She has to be weened off the medicine so it will be awhile before we find out for sure what she is allergic to. The allergist also told me that there is always the possibility that she doesn't test positive for anything and we might not ever know what did it.

This picture was taken Wednesday before the hives hit her face.


On another note, last week Wednesday Zack signed his letter of intent to Michigan State. We are very happy for him and glad that the recruiting process is over and he can focus on his last HS track season.


Here he is with Mark and me and his HS track coach and throws coach.

Hives Go Away!

We are still dealing with hives over 48 hours from the first sign of them. She is now on Prednisone and has an appointment Monday to see an allergist. She is also taking Benedryl every 4 hours and is miserable for the 2 hours leading up to the next dose. I am hoping the Predinsone will start kicking in and give her some longer lasting relief. Poor thing!

Pictures taken at 4pm this afternoon.



Pictures taken at 7:50pm tonight right before her next dose of Benedryl.