Weekend Memorial Day 2018

Saturday, I decided to drive out to Fort Snelling National Cemetery and visit my dad. I think it's been a few years. They had flags on every grave site this year. I was disappointed to see that the black ink is all washed out. There is no way to replace it. You can't even pay to have it done. He was once again a challenge to find. I always know the section, but have to take a while to figure out how far back. I always underestimate his location.

 

Logan's now 6' 1 or 2" and he hasn't climbed our front tree in years. He decided to go up and wait till everyone was ready to leave. I found his name carved up on a branch. I had no idea he did that. Too funny!

He also had all 4 wisdom teeth taken out. That was a tough one with having to expose the 12 year old molars. They had to cut the gums away from the molars. I think after almost two weeks, he is recovered.

We always go to the St. Paul Farmers Market. I was determined to check out the Minneapolis market this weekend. It was bigger, more food selling venders, but I still like the St. Paul one best.

 

Sunday, our plans were screwed up. We had planned a family picnic at the Winery. Then the kids didn't want to do that. So we figured, might as well go any way. Then the kids wanted to go with. Ugh! Some quick texting and who ever wanted to join us, found us at one of our stops. Alexis Bailys, Cannon Falls Winery, and the brewery, Spiral in Hastings.

 

Celina's Accomplishments

It's hard to believe Celina will be graduating in just four days. There is so much going on at the end of the school year.

There was an award ceremony at school. Celina received her French National Honors cords for graduation. She also received her 4th academic letter. So proud of her and all her accomplishments!

She had her last ever band concert, playing the flute since 4th grade. She stuck with it, even though she didn't want to play other then when she had band classes.

 

 

 

This week she will graduate on Saturday. Then on to Mankato State University in the fall. She wants to be a chiropractor or a dentist. We'll see what she ends up deciding.

So much!

I have so much updating to do.

Steve had his donor cornea transplant a little over a week ago. This was a BIG moment! His accident was over 6 months ago and we are hoping this restores his vision. So far, his vision is still very foggy. That is to be expected and will improve each week. We were just hoping he would be seeing better already.

 

I texted out after his operation, because you have to find humor any where you can, "Steve in his big boy chair" They put him in this red stroller chair to wheel him during recovery from surgery.

 

I was overly worried about his surgery when it went past the two hour mark by another 2 hours. All went really well and they got out most of the oil in his eye from the retina surgery/silicone bubble. We are hoping this is the LAST of the eye surgeries. He's had plenty since his accident and this should be the last. There is a small chance of cornea rejection but we aren't even going there!

 

This Thursday, Logan had surgery, exactly one week after Steve's eye surgery. Logan had his wisdom teeth removed and some of the gums covering his 12 year old molars. Poor kid, it was suppose to be 20 minutes and it took over an hour. Again, I was freaking out a little when it went far past the 30 minutes. They didn't even take him to the recovery room because he was pretty out of it. He kept saying "how long was I asleep?", "I was mad, they didn't let me count to 10" and "My legs are shaking". I think we kept going over and over the same questions for at least 30 minutes. He is resting at home and his face is puffed up. He has to eat soft foods for a month because hard foods will push the molars down and they don't want that. I'm not sure what he is going to eat other then ice cream, fruit smoothies and cheese pasta shells or soup.

 

Spring is here or maybe summer as the temps have been in the upper 80's. My spring flowers all bloomed and are now pretty much done.

 

Its also soccer time again. Logan's missing his first tournament because of his surgery but hopefully, he will feel better next week for two games.

 

We went to dinner a few weeks ago at Young Joni's

I can check off another new restaurant that was highly rated on my:  to go to list.

Celina tried a salad since she doesn't eat pizza.

We celebrated Steve's birthday 53rd on the 8th of May. He requested a cheesecake. I think this Raspberry white chocolate cheesecake is everyone's favorite. Kendra found the recipe years ago and it's been a good one. I can't believe how good it turned out. I made some chocolate happy birthday Steve letters and made some whip cream for the top and it turned out looking like it came from a bakery. My skills are improving!!

 

 

Last summer pictures from when Annie was here, visiting from France. Nice to have a group photo! I feel so short next to Logan!

 

 

Don't do this!

Poor Zoey wasn't feeling well yesterday. This was out of the normal. She threw up all her food and even the rice. By the time I got home from working at 11, she was just laying there. I knew she needed to go to the vet.

After 2 xrays and an IV for fluids, she was all back to normal. I was happy to find out that she didn't eat anything that was blocking her intestines. unfortunately, this all could have been avoided by not doing this... Feeding the dog people food! Steve thinks she needs people food treats. No, they are not good for dogs. Give her a dog treat but not people foods of peanuts, hot dog and carrots. All which made her stomach gassy and backed up. I've been telling everyone to not feed the dog since we got her. They never listen. Well, as a result, I paid the vet $617 for her to poop. I left the vet bill up on the frig as a reminder for those who want to feed our dog. She just can't handle it. Good news was that she didn't have an obstruction and no surgery needed. I can't imagine what that would have cost! Just glad she is okay after a full day of being sick with worry for my fur baby.

 

I did another 1.5 mile loop around our neighborhood again this morning. Getting back into running once again. It feels good and a little challenging just to run that short distance. I just want to take it easy for my feet and not over do it and not be able to walk.

 

I have  more good news on Steve's eye. He is finally getting the surgery needed to restore his vision in the right eye. It's been since November 2nd, 6 months! He has a cornea transplant on the 10th. The next day, 11th he will go back in for the big reveal. We'll find out how good he can see out of that eye. They did say it could take up to a year for full vision potential. I'm just hoping all goes really well for him and life is good with two seeing eyes!

The only bummer part is that he will need to be out of work for a month, maybe two or three to heal the eye. That's not good for finances but it's a short term set back but we will get through it.

We are not the people to do a "go fund me". As we are fully capable of getting through this with hard work on my part and doing with less for a few months. It's a small sacrifice for his vision and quality of life to return to normal. He will always have to take care of that eye and return yearly for eye exams. I'll update more after surgery.