Weekend Adventures!

Another quiet weekend in the Anibal house.

NOT!!

We started on Friday afternoon with E’s inaugural cross country meet.  Thanks to this mom not knowing a dang thing about cross country….specifically where the meet is….we were late.  As we pulled up, a mob of 300 girls ran literally right by the car.  I encouraged (basically tried to push) E out of the car, but she wasn’t having it.

After LOTS of convincing by me, the coach and another mom, E decided to run the race with the boys.  Not an intimidating feat at all for an 8 year old girl who has NEVER run a meet before.  Bless her little heart!

She ROCKED It!  Came in about middle of the pack of 300 boys.  And these boys weren’t little; the majority of them were in middle school!  I’ve never seen E run so hard in my life.  She about collapsed when she finished.  I was SOOOO proud of her!  I promised her that we would make it on time to the next meet or I owe her Cherry Berry every day for a month J

Saturday was filled with swim lesson and H’s soccer game, which they clobbered the other team!  Way to go Pink Cheetahs!!

Grocery shopping and the HUSKER GAME!!! And a quick shopping trip to Justice (seriously the key to every little girls heart…..p.s. I hate that store!  Even with 60% off, E’s pants still cost more than mine. WTH?)

Sunday morning, the girls and I volunteered at an aid station at the Omaha Marathon.  We had a blast!  Listening to H bellow “Gatorade” over a 1000 times what just hilarious.

Cleaning, laundry, car washes, and just relaxing.

And then I ended the day by making two huge pots of soup.  YUM!!!!  I LOVE FALL….mostly because of the food.  I could eat soup every day.  It was glorious.

What did you do to fill your weekend?

Hope it was great J

 

P.S.  I know…I know…I know…these posts are better with pictures.  I’ve been a ROYAL slacker lately with my camera and my phone.  I suck.

This is how we roll.....cookie style!

As promised (to both you, my blog followers, and to my children), we celebrated EIV's 2nd Heartiversary with a giant chocolate chip cookie from the Cookie Company.

The Cookie Company donates a portion of sales from the heart cookies directly to Heart Heroes.  Check out the Heart Hearts website for more info.

EIV was stoked!
(Sorry...all iphone pictures, so they are not super quality)

2nd Heartiversary!!

Today, September 14, 2013 marks EIV's 2nd Heartiversary!

This day always will stop me in my tracks.
On this day in 2011, Ed and I handed our son over to the skilled hands of Dr. Duncan to fix the two holes in his heart.

My cousin (who's always been a sister to me) stood by our side and digitally captured so much of what my brain couldn't absorb.
Remember how much he disliked that one nurse:

My aunt and uncle came to the hospital and brought us goodies and lots of love and support.

My parents were there.  Sat with us through it all.  I'll never forget the silence that fell on the room when EIV went on bypass and when our breathing resumed when he went off.

And Ed's parents were here...taking care of our precious girls.
We were surrounded with love.

I'll never forget the first time we saw him:

 

Still takes my breath away!

 

And here he is 11 days post-op:





And here he is today:



































A rambunctious, full of life, and full of energy 2 1/2 year old, who is also the featured Heart Hero of the Month for Heart Heroes, Inc.  Check his blog post out here:  http://heartheroes.org/heart-hero-edward

I've always struggled to put into words all the feelings about that day.
First and foremost, I THANK GOD for protecting our son and placing him in Dr. Duncan's skilled hands.
Dr. Duncan - is and always be our Hero!
Our family and friends who supported and loved us.  You are all the only reason why I'm not locked up with a straight jacket on.
Our girls....who loved and comforted us and their baby brother. And brought (and continue to) us joy beyond words.
And all of our Heart Hero and heart family friends....who walk this journey with us every day.  Who understand exactly how I feel. And share the same joys and sorrows.

I'm so very Thankful for my son.  For his heart health.  For his smile.  For his baby blues.

We are celebrating again this year with a cookie and a party!  because nothing screams heart health like a bazillion calorie cookie!!  We are also giving back with a day of random acts of kindness.  (More on both of these later!)

Big teddy bear

H thought Jeter looked stunning in her entire scarf collection

 

 

 

 

Oh....my poor big teddy bear.

he's such a glutton for punishment (and adorable pictures).

 

 

I need a caption.  Would love your help with one.

Labor free weekend!

Did you have an enjoyable Labor Day weekend?
Was it filled with BBQs, outdoor activities, friend and family? 
Sure hope so.

Ours was not.
Let me rephrase....ours INTENTIONALLY was NOT!
Summer exhausted us (even though I wouldn't give a moment back for anything!).  But still we were exhausted.  So we made an executive family decision to do our best to DO NOTHING for the 3 day weekend.
No scheduled sports
No BBQs or trips to the lake.
Nothing, but home and laundry.
And Naps.

Besides the girls having a play date with a friend, watching the Husker game with a friend (which about gave me a dang heart attack! I CANNOT handle another season like this!!!), hitting Burger King for dinner (yuck!) but the kids love the play tubes....we totally accomplished our goal.

Low key.
Naps on Sunday afternoon
Yes...believe it or not (I still am in shock!)...our entire family napped.  Woo Hoo! It was heavenly.
Laundry which had been so desperately neglected I found clothes that I forgot I had!
We didn't even bother showering for a couple days.  Gross I know!

Exactly, exactly, exactly what our family needed.