Dump of snow

We got our fair share of snow today!  By the time we got home from work it had finally stopped, so we were able to shovel/plow if off our driveway.  It is times like this that we LOVE having our snow blower...it makes the job go by so much faster.....and if you are Glen - you love it so much you do the neighbors driveways too!!  All the neighborhood kids were out and about there was plenty of snow to play with.   We first started with the driveway clearing....

Once that was done then all the kids went sledding down the backyards and had fun playing in the massive snow pile in between our houses!

Growing up stats

Today the boys both had their 'wellness' check ups.  Zach was being seen for his 5 year old exam and Logan was being seen for his 3 year old exam.  They both did excellent in the office - quite well behaved.  Zach just kept asking if he had to get shots.  Starting at 5 years old they prick their finger to test hemoglobin levels, collect a urine sample, and check their vision with the eye chart.  Both boys still have tubes in their ears.  Everything else checked out fine.  Here are the stats:

Zach
Age = 5 years
Weight = 43 pounds (65th percentile)
Height = 44.2 inches (74th percentile)

Logan
Age = 3 years
Weight = 33.6 pounds (67th percentile)
Height = 38.5 inches (70th percentile)

And finally....the BEST part of wellness check ups (NOT!)...the shots.  Logan apparently didn't need any (really?).  We opted to not have Zach get his kindergarten shots at his 4 year old check up, so today he had THREE injections.  He started to get all worked up for the shots, and when the nurses slapped the band-aids on his legs when they were done - Zach looked all confused.  He didn't even feel the shots!  Of course being the good parents that we are we totally talked it up on how 'brave' Zach was...yup, that was the talk of tonight.

Ride 'em cowboy

Logan decided that tonight he was going to be a cowboy.  He saw two perfectly good horses to ride.  

The first horse he mounted was Grandpa Gray...

Then cowboy Logan decided to ride Dustin...

After some wrangling and some taming, the cowboy decided to be the horse.  Yup.....you can see how well that went!

ENT surgery round #3!

Nothing like meeting your medical deductible only 18 days into the new year!  This time for the ENT it is LOGAN!  We've been monitoring Logan's speech and hearing for several months now.  Last October both his ears passed the 'newborn screening', then in early December the right ear failed, then the first week of January both ears failed.  The audiologist knew there was fluid in his hear based off the tests, yet she couldn't see fluid in Logan's ears and they were not infected.  So off to the ENT we went, knowing Logan needed ear tubes.  The ENT agreed and also recommended Logan get his tonsils and adenoids removed.  Logan's tonsils have been HUGE for well over a year and he had his first round of strep throat in November.  He has had problems with sleep apnea and snoring...all due to those HUGE tonsils.  So today was they surgery day - tubes in both ears, both adenoids and his tonsils removed.

Logan was the youngest patient for our ENT in surgery today, which meant he was the first on the schedule.  We were to show up to the hospital at 6:30am and surgery was to start at 7:30am.  Lucky for us we got a recovery room with a DOOR so we could not let Logan get too worried about what was going on around him in the other recovery rooms.  We got him dressed up in his gown and he was set with watching the TV in his room.

Once they gave him the 'happy juice' to relax him before surgery, that is when things got really fun.  Logan just kept looking at his Scooby Doo stuffed animal and hiding under the blankets.

Shortly after 7:30am, they wheeled him back for surgery.  30 minutes later our ENT came to the room - that was a fast surgery!  He said everything went well...the tonsils were HUGE and Logan had really thick mucus type liquid in his ears (that is why they couldn't 'see' it just by looking in his ears, it didn't move!).  The ENT was confident Logan would be hearing much better as soon as he woke up from the surgery.

About 30 minutes later they brought a crying Logan to us.  Apparently he was freaking out and tugging at his ears when he came too so they gave him morphine and then brought him to us.  He cried in Dustin's arms for about 10 minutes and then fell asleep.  The nurse same in and didn't like Logan's oxygen levels so we laid him down on the bed and put the oxygen mask right near his mouth while he slept.  Morphine slows down your breathing, so they wanted to watch him until the morphine wore off.

Logan slept peacefully for about three hours.  He woke up and started watching TV and ate two popsicle's.  His oxygen levels stayed above 90% after the morphine wore off and we were discharged to go home.

He has been such a trooper at home.  He really hasn't been complaining of much pain, and he is willing to eat popsicle's....lets see how he does the next couple of days.

5 year old in the HOUSE!

We have a FIVE YEAR OLD!  Whoa...when did that happen?  Oh - TODAY!

Zach wanted to spend his birthday with all his friends at school and daycare.  At Challenger we got to go and tell Zach's class about him and they put a birthday crown on him and sang him 'Happy Birthday'.

At daycare we brought in some Star Wars cupcakes (from Sam's Club) for the class to enjoy after lunchtime.  Apparently the kids had quite a fun time playing with the little light sabers that can on top of the cupcakes all afternoon.

After work Zach was in for his biggest surprise!  Grandpa Gray had driven to town on Zach's birthday (he will be staying with us for a few weeks to help out with Logan's surgery recovery and to hang out) and was ready to head out to dinner with us.  Zach wanted to go to "McDonalds" for his Birthday dinner.  Our neighbors, Hallie and Sydney also joined us!

After McDonalds we headed back home for cake and presents.  Grandpa Gray had brought a spiderman piñata full of candy - the kids loved taking turns smacking it as hard as they could to get the candy out.

Zach finally busted it open!

For the cake this year, Jen didn't make it all from scratch.  With everything we have been dealing with with the house and Logan's surgery tomorrow...we opt'ed for a Sam's Club cake with a few additions to  personalize it for Zach.  We placed two Transformers (bumblebee and optimius prime) on top of the cake.  Zach thought it was so cool - which is all that matters!

When it came time for presents Zach was VERY excited...check out the looks on his face!

Zach is such a mini-Dustin in so many ways.  He is totally a BOY and has some serious personality.  Everyone wants to be Zach's friend.  He is such a helper and is always willing to go the extra mile.  Zach has already had a few 'girlfriends' his age and continues to have a major crush on Miss Chelsea at daycare.  Zach is really good about trying to keep Logan included in what ever he is doing and the two of them pal around all the time.  We have LOVED having Zach in our lives the past five years and look forward to an eternity more!

Let the repair work begin!

Now that things have officially 'dried out' from the flooding a few weeks ago - it is time for the repair work to begin!  It took about three trips spread out over a week to get the walls in the basement finished and the baseboards put back on.

The hardwood floors pretty much took a full work week.  They started on a Monday and were completely finished late Thursday - we stayed in a hotel most of this week due to the fumes from refinishing the floors.

Here they are replacing some warped/damaged boards....

Now time for the sanding....

Now a filling coat to plug up the gaps....

Now more sanding...

One of three top coats put on....

FINALLY!  We have our house back!

Now isn't that so PRETTY!  We love how the hardwood floor refinishing turned out.  

Picking Carpet

Why is it so hard to decide on a new carpet?  We spent way too much time today at RC Willey trying to pick our replacement carpet.  Here is the spectrum we settled on....

Jen wanted something similar to what we currently have just a bit darker....Dustin wanted to change it up completely.  

So we narrowed it down to two choices.

We went back and forth and back and forth......we liked both carpets!  We looked at them in different types of light (sun light, lightbulb light, etc.).  In the end we felt the darker one would be too dramatic of a change for us, and looked a bit more 'yellow' in certain lights - especially in the basement.  So the winner is the lighter one that has just a tad more brown mixed in than our current carpet.  Now we just have to wait 3 weeks for it to be installed!