School's in session. . .

Brady started 2nd grade this year. His teacher is Sue (just plain Sue- which is a little different. . .well A LOT! Brock hates it when a teacher uses there first name, let alone no tittle in front!). He went home sick the first day and I thought we were going to have a repeat of 'being sick' like we did last year. Thankfully that was the only 'sick' day so far. He didn't appear sick at all at the time, and the office convinced him to go back to class 2 previous times, but he did complain later that evening and didn't even eat anything for dinner, so I do think he had some sort of stomach ache. He likes school so far and has been doing reading each night, vocabulary and spelling until yesterday, now he has math for homework too. He unfortanately is in a class with only 2 other kids from previous years, so is making new friends (I hope). He still comes home with pretty much his entire lunch, and his teacher had us pack a snack for the first 2 weeks which he tells me he 'shares' each day (he names all the kids who wanted to 'try' his snack) so pretty much doesn't eat that either! I don't know how he survives!

 Kindergarten started the following week and Lauren has liked going to school so far. Although she was sick today (stomach ache) so was going to stay home, but decided she would go when we were dropping Brady off. Well, that didn't last and I picked her up just over an hour into school. Of course she has been fine since we got home, no complaints whatsoever. I do think the kids have had some sort of GI disturbance - Courtney had the worst of them all with diarrhea, vomit, no appetite for days, and now a runny nose. Lauren didn't eat much yesterday and complained late last night and early this AM, but it was short lived. . .maybe some sort of tummy cramping. Hopefully tomorrow will go better for her. She did comment how Tuesday was a short day (which it technically is short everyday, but Friday is early release and is VERY short!). At least she doesn't feel like school is long. Last night she informed me that she isn't the biggest in her class. . .Mrs. Bradley is (ha ha!). Still a lot taller then kids her age, she grows like a weed! Her and Brady were only 0.5 lbs apart when we checked last. Well, her teacher is Mrs. Bradley, and this is her first year teaching. She said Lauren is doing well so far. I picture her being very mellow, reserved, quiet, and a whole lot different then Brady:) Hopefully they both grow and learn lots this year.

Courtney is chomping at the bit to go to school. Today she got her mini Dora backpack (thanks Alyssa- she LOVES it!) and we had to pack a lunch for her. Then she got my keys and insisted we go outside. I thought she understood we could do school for 'pretends' at our house but she didn't. Nothing was OK then she got sidetracked making me pretend food until the school called. She wore her backpack to school, lunch and all when we picked Lauren up just after 10AM. She can hardly wait for school and begs to go constantly! It makes for a long morning before we get to pick Lauren up from Kindergarten. But I guess I should enjoy the begging. ..one day she may not want to go;)

Brady's 7!!!

This year was Brady's first friend party! I really wanted to do them for 'big' birthdays or milestones, like 5, 8, 12 and 16 yrs. . .something like that. But he missed out on his 5th friend birthday party because Lauren was in chemo at that time. So I guess he will get 2 parties in a row since he is 8 next year. He had a blast! I made the invitations (pictured below) they took a little bit to figure out how to make them with the Silhouette Cameo I bought a while back, but they turned out great especially for my first venture at this. It was a splash party, so we started out with a good old fashion water gun fight while we waited for all the kids to get there. We played some other games, water balloon tosses, and a super fun 'racing' slip 'n slide which was a huge hit (the grass didn't like it so much. . .we had a huge dry/brown rectangular spot for weeks after), some snacks (watermelon, goldfish, water, Caprisuns. . .water themed stuff). Then cake, ice cream, and present time. I think everyone had a blast and left soaked! They all got to take a water gun home in there goodie bag complete with Swedish Fish. It was a super fun afternoon, but pretty exhausting and it surprised me how fast things add up, definitely not cheap to throw a party, but I know he is glad he FINALLY got a friend party:)

On his 'real' birthday we had cake, ice cream, brownies and yummy homemade hot fudge sauce for his family party. He has a wonderful time playing with his cousins too! I made the same cake he had for his friend party, it was easy and turned out good. He loves Lego's, so got a few fun sets for his birthday. He got a little transformer, paper airplane kit, some snacks, star wars Madlib's (which he thinks are hilarious:), $ to save up for a big Lego set (at least that's what he says he wants to get), and  a circuit board set which he will play for hours when he gets it out, it's pretty neat to be able to make different things function (light, fan, alarm) by hooking up the wires differently. He was especially intrigued when we had a repair man come and change the circuit board to our garage door a couple weeks ago, it's hasn't been working consistently for months now so we finally got it fixed. The guy was nice enough to let Brady watch and ask his million and one questions (always very inquisitive) while he explained how the circuit board was similar to his. He loves to see how things work and to build things so these were perfect for him. He is going to be starting the 2nd grade which is super hard to believe, but will be nice to get back to a little more normalcy and schedule.  Only a few more short weeks of summer left!

Not Courtney's Week!!!

Not Courtney's best week! Bonk/bruise on the bum (fell off the stool) @ Grandma Jenny's, bonk on the head with goose egg, bruise and scuffs from falling off the top of the slide platform straight onto cement (SCARY!!!), AND now a broken wrist from catching herself wrong at the bottom of the slide:(

 X-ray findings: Left wrist AP, lateral and oblique views demonstrate a buckle fracture of the distal radius with mild post traumatic deformity. No other soft tissue or bony abnormality is seen.

Now to wait a week to cast it! It's not even swollen, but they don't like to put casts on before that just in case there is or will be swelling. So she gets to wear this splint until then! Next Tuesday will be a BIG day! 1st Courts cast, then eye appt for me to check on my healing following PRK vision correction surgery, then our ultrasound after that! I can't wait to see what it is AND most importantly to see that everything is normal.

Now she is officially a Bryant;) . . .fits right in with Nick, Taylor, and Riley's casts (yes, plural for each kid!). Hopefully this is the one and only for Courtney:)

Opera

So here is the link to the little news clip they have of Brady and his 1st grade class. The kids worked VERY hard on this! Not to mention the parents who made costumes, backdrops, etc. More pictures to come. . .
Brady's 1st grade opera KSL news clip

Preschool Graduation

Courtney was quite the entertainment for everyone while we waited for it to start. Unfortunately she got trapped in the toy house during the little presentation and started freaking out! Thankfully Grandma Nita rescued her and got her to stop screaming.

Our 1 shy kid:) This was the biggest smile she could muster, but she was excited to show Grandma and Courtney her graduation certificate.

Part of the graduating preschoolers. We were there first, so got front row seats. . .no way to get the whole class in the picture from where we were sitting.

Grandma's and Courtney (+ mom) got to see her 'graduate.'

Miss Holly, Lauren, & Miss Tanni.

Lauren and her friend Sienna. Lauren is 1 month older. . .

Mom and Lauren.

Lauren with her 'Dorthy' hair as she calls it.

Playing with some of her high school teachers.

Posing with her graduation hat. She and her little friend Sienna were the only ones that didn't want to wear a cap, but I talked her into wearing it so I could at least snap a picture of her in it:)

Lauren's Checkup

Lauren's CXR and abdominal US were normal. Her BUN is finally normal, but her creatinine is now elevated:( We'll have to head back in 7-10 days to get it drawn again and make sure it's not trending up more. Her next check up will be in September for a CT scan (chest, abdomen, pelvis) and a heart ECHO, + the usual labs and urine tests. . .will make for one long appointment next time!!! . . .and they said her last CT would be her last (but she really needs 2 more), oh well. I guess you have to do what you have to do to make sure everything is good.

The picture says it all. . .