We surprised our nephew Nicholas in early May for his masters graduation party in Georgia. Ben and Alex had never been to Atlanta so they enjoyed seeing all the major landmarks. Their favorites were the Coca Cola Museum (because what kid doesn't love all you can drink soda?!), and they were really into all the behind-the-scenes action at CNN. We were even able to catch the Atlanta Hawks play against the Cavaliers in the early playoffs. On our final day we were finally able to see Nick, his wife Jen, my sister & Valerio and all of Nick and Jen's friends. But oddly enough their biggest entertainment was riding the elevators over and over again at our hotel. It was spooky and cool for them all at the same time. Next time we'll save a ton of money and just take them to down town and have them ride those elevators for hours on end-- just kidding!
Fun at the Braves game.
The scary yet mesmerizing elevators.
Chris showing how proud we are of Nick by beating him at Beer Pong.
Dori worked really hard for a couple of weeks with his teacher on making me an adorable Mothers Day artwork and singing me a song. He was kinda in a cranky mood when he started to perform it but he livened up really quickly and sounded so cute while singing along to his well rehearsed tune. It was so heart warming! He is so precious and his teacher and nurse had been so patiently working with him behind the scenes, it really meant alot to me.
Alex enjoyed his baseball season with the St Rita's 6th grade league. He decided to give soccer a rest and we were proud of him starting something new. He won some impressive awards for his writings and for loving Social Studies this past year. We are so proud of both of them for stepping it up academically this year. YAY!
Winner Winner (academic) Chicken Dinner
GO SPARTANS!
Dori and Papi catching up on their day after a long day of work.
For Memorial Day weekend we took a trip to Kiawah Island, South Carolina for our friend Bryan's 50th birthday. The kids all had a blast playing in the ocean and watching movies together. Our full day was perfect weather but then a tropical storm came in so we did lots of card playing, movies and eating with everyone.
Ever since Memorial Day weekend Dori has had on and off days with fevers, respiratory distress and sleepiness. After two rounds of antibiotics and one round of steroids our pulmonologist recommended we go to the ER to get him chest x-rays and have lab work done to check his carbon dioxide levels in his blood. X-rays revealed his left lung was partially collapsed due to a respiratory infection (more than likely viral because his strep and pneumonia all came back negative.). We spent from 2PM-9PM in the ER until he was stabilized enough to bring home. Since then he has been progressing from needing to be on all his "heavy duty" breathing machines (his bipap trilogy vent) and his rebreather mask (the mask that has a baggie attached to it) for when he eats. Poor fella has been bored to death in his room since we can't easily transfer him from room to room on all that equipment he isn't typically on when he is healthy. His will to be "in the mix" and his stubbornness to not want to miss out on the fun and commotion in the other parts of the house have willed him to get better. He is now able to breath for 30-60 minute stretches at a time on his nasal cannula. Here is a picture of him on Sunday night when he had his first bath outside of his room. He was so happy to be out of his room surrounded by the rest of us. I caught something in the ER so I've been on antibiotics and steroids so this week is finally when I've been able to hang out with him more without the fear of getting him sick from whatever crud I had all stuffed up in my lungs. Thankfully nobody else came down with anything.
Last week Alex also had his adenoids and tonsils removed. We've had an exciting 1st two weeks of the summer with Dori in the ER and Alex getting his tonsils removed; but we've managed to still work in alot of fun and family time. Here is a picture of Alex eating some super soft Mac n Cheese at the Cheesecake factory earlier this week.
Last weekend had a nice time with our buddy Alden from KC who spent the weekend doing all kinds of silly things with Ben and Alex.
And here is a picture of Chris and I, celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary on May 30th! Crazy how quickly the time has flown by... I told him we finally made it to the "adulthood" part of our marriage since we're 18 years in. ha ha ha!
Wishing Chris and all the wonderful dads that may read this a wonderful father's day this upcoming weekend! This is one of the last pictures we all took as a family together with Wynnie. Please say a special prayer to all the fathers we hold in our hearts this year; this will be our first year without Chris's dad Dave. I'm sure my dad and his dad have gotten well acquainted at this point and are having a grand old time together.
The boys and I are truly blessed to have such a loving, fun and supportive Big Papi in our lives. It's neat to see how their relationship continuously grows and blossoms as they all get older. Dori still thinks that Papi is the coolest person on the planet and is always excited to hear his voice, being held by him after he comes home from work, and having their frequent R&B jam sessions in our bar area while watching sports (to very questionable music that normally is not suited for 7 year olds which makes it even funnier!!). We call Dori "White Chocolate". Life is good and we're thankful for all our friends, family and nursing staff that help make that possible. Wishing you all a great summer... stop on by and see us when you get a chance!