Six Years and Going Strong!

Today was our sixth anniversary! It was a hot hot hot afternoon at the Tincaps game, but what fun! The boys made it through most of the game with Grandpa Stiver helping them play random kid games. But by the 7th inning, Jordan was pretty exhausted (I guess missing his nap didn't help). Grandma Burkhardt and Savannah had fun walking around checking out the park and found a cool face painting table. I don't know why I didn't get a picture of it. It was so pretty. What a great day. The Tincaps smoked South Bend! 7-0!!! Thanks again Grandparents!

Random picture I took one night after they pleaded for "jelly toast."

The other jelly eater. ;)

Tiger lilies that bloomed recently above our fish pond.

Standing behind the fish pond trying to get a good shot.

Silly Face

On the way to recovery.

Some of you know that over the last few weeks I have been suffering from some major hearing issues in my left ear and some other things going on. Well, when we were on vacation, I put my head under the water when I was swimming and ever since, felt as though I had water in my ears. I also felt like I was in an airplane because there was a TON of pressure on my ears and I couldn't hear as clear. It was very hard to live with. I tried everything I could think of to get the water out myself.

My family all has medical insurance except me. Its very rare that I ever get sick (besides colds), and we just thought it would be a way to save an extra $150/month. But now I really needed a doctor and I didn't have one. I decided to call my pediatrician and explained my situation to him, which he then told me to come in "free of charge" and he would check my ears.

He said I had an inner ear infection and gave me Amoxicillin. I took this for a week and had no change. I call him and he went ahead and prescribed me another ear medicine called Bactrim. Both of these medicines were free by the way, through Meijer's pharmacy. Well, Bactrim was a bad idea!! I got very sick that night. So I quit taking that.

Finally, I decided to call a regular family doctor to see if I could get a referal to go to an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor (ENT). I called some doctors around here to see if they were accepting new patients, but the ones that would take me wouldn't get me in for an appointment until the end of JULY. So my dad came to the rescue and talked with his family doctor and they got me in the very next day! Thank the Lord.

My mom met me in Auburn the next day to meet with my dad's doctor. He looked at my ears and immediately knew what the problem was. He said I had a very large wax buildup and I needed to get my ears flushed out. Finally, someone knew what was wrong. He then had the nurse come in and use a machine to spray gushing water into my ears until it caused the wax to come falling out. I can't tell you the difference in hearing I had. It was amazing. I still felt some vertigo, but he said that will go away in time. The crazy thing was, my ear problem had nothing to do with swimming.

That was last Tuesday that I had the issue taken care of. I am still not 100 percent, but so much better than I was. My ears are pretty much good now. I just have to take it easy for a while.

Anyways, I guess I wanted to talk about what I have been going through to give a reason as to why I haven't been blogging as much.

Tomorrow Nik and I will celebrate our sixth anniversary!! Barb and Eric are going to treat us to a Tincaps game. My mom is going to join us and my dad is going to take the kids around and play games at the ball park. They have a lot of stuff for little kids to do.

I hope to get some good pictures at the game tomorrow.

Random Kid Quotes

CARTER SAID -


"Mom, you look so beautiful!"


"Cool purse mom."


"Girls are beautiful, boys are handsome, and I am fantastic."


"I don't ever want to move, never ever."


"Mom, you are now Mary Jane."
(He has been calling me this every night at home)



JORDAN SAID -


"What's up Peter Parker?!"
(After pulling off Carter's Spiderman mask and running away with it)


"Mom, I wuv you."
(I hear this almost every day at random times. I love it!)


"I will wear it for the rest of the day."
(After being told he needed his poopy diaper changed.)


"I am the real red good spiderman."

Zoo Time

What a great weekend! Friday night Nik and I went to a Tincaps game. It was Nik's third time going and my first. The park is awesome! We were behind home plate, so there were several balls that were hit our way. Sometimes people weren't paying attention in the crowd, and a couple people got hit. Sometimes the ball would go on the roof behind us and come rolling back. That always freaked me out. My mom and dad and a close friend of the family came with them to the game and were able to get seats near us. Halfway through the game the people that were sitting beside me left and I had them come sit by us. I would love to go to another game, it was a lot of fun. It was also 80s night there at the ball park, so they were constantly flashing scenes from 80s movies on the large scoreboard and playing 80s music all night. During each inning, they also had fun games on the field that pre-picked kids went out and played. It was very entertaining.

We had some friends of ours watch the boys and they even kept them overnight! So Nik and I went to a bonfire after the game at our pastor's house and were out till 1am without the kids!! I didn't know what to do with myself. Hahahah... And the next morning when we went to pick up the boys, they were instantly upset that we were going to take them home and they couldn't stay and play longer. At least we know they weren't crying for us I guess. :)

Saturday we took them to the zoo. The African Journey exhibit is finally open after years in the making. It was pretty cool and a very large exhibit, I must say. I only wish some of the animals would have been a little more lively or closer up to the glass. But for the most part, it was pretty cool. Our boys were very whiny though and we didn't stay very long because of that. Jordan had a tummy ache and layed down in the wagon some of the time.

Sunday was great. I love our new church so much. We just have so many close friendships now and I look forward to going every week. Nik is helping out with the youth now and they are meeting every Monday night. God is good.

Some cool purple flowers at the African Exhibit

Hyenas


Some kind of Foxes




Jordan not feeling well.


Feeding time.

Tennessee Vacation!

We had an awesome time once again at Fairfield Glade, TN. This time though we stayed in a different set of condos that we had not been in before. They had three levels! We were pretty spoiled I must say. Thanks mom and dad!! ;) The first evening we were there though, Nik wasn't feeling well, and ended up with the flu. The next day, Carter and Savannah both got it. So we had to disinfect our condo and stay away from the rest of the fam... But by Monday, we were all feeling better. Although I just talked to dad last night and he said Megan and Graham ended up getting sick too. Sorry guys! Anywho, we had a great time relaxing in the mornings and spending our afternoons/evenings at the pool/beach, playing tennis, corn hole, home run durby, basketball. Each family prepared a meal for a designated day. It was some good eatin'. :) Can't wait to go back.

The boys watching a movie while the adults played some Scrabble.

Hunting for bugs.

Jordan 3, Carter 4, Graham 6, Isaiah 4

Joel

Miss S

My little water buddy.