Heart Reunion

Every year, the Le Bonheur Heart Institute has a Heart Reunion.  Hundreds of kids come back to visit doctors, nurses and other families who had heart surgery, too.  As a family, we love seeing our doctors, nurses and other heart friends.  As a mentor to other heart parents, it is so nice to see these kiddos up running around after seeing them and their families enduring such vulnerable circumstances.  The staff does such a great job planning activities, yummy food and a fun day all around!

Miss Jessica - our awesome cardiac nurse!  We just love her to pieces.  She is so great at what she does, and she totally gets all the kids' symptoms because she is a heart patient herself!

Dr. Joshi - he takes such good care of our girl!

Three of our favorite nurses who are no longer at Le Bonheur :(  Julie and Laura moved away, and Miss Linda retired.  So happy they came back for the reunion!

Dr. Wetzel, our rhythm doctor - we love him, but are thankful we don't see him anymore.  Madeline's WPW has not returned since Dr. Wetzel ablated it 2 1/2 years ago.

MIss Alicia - oh, we go way back!  She was Dr. Joel's nurse, then moved into surgery coordinating and Cardiac Kids Camp director!  We LOVE her!!!!

Miss Ann, Miss Jessica and Miss Renee -- Ann and Renee were Madeline's nurses when Dr. Becker was her doctor - between Dr. Joel and Dr. Joshi.

Sweet Jessica Joshi -- she is Dr. Joshi's daughter.  Jessica comes to camp every year and has been such a blessing to us!  She has taken Madeline under her wing and watched over her so well!

Le Bonheur is a special place full of so many special people!

Basketball

One thing I have noticed about parenting as the kids get older is that there are a million activities for them to get involved in.  Soccer, gymnastics, t-ball, ballet, art, chess, basketball, swimming, etc., etc., etc.  It can get a little overwhelming and kids can get too over programmed.  It has the potential to take over the day running kids around town.  They can't always do everything they want to do, and, it can be hard to find that thing that each child really loves to do.  For Eli, it has been swimming (lessons to start this spring) and basketball.  He really has no interest in soccer or t-ball, but he loves basketball!!!  

He loves to play defense!

He actually got pretty good at knocking the ball out of the opponents hands without fouling!

He likes to dribble and shoot - but we do need to work on that a bit -- we may need to invest in a big kid adjustable basketball goal for our back yard!

So happy getting his medal and his team picture!  He has been on this team with several of the same boys for 3 years, and he's got a couple of really dedicated coaches!

Down by the River

One Sunday afternoon, we took bikes and lunches and headed down toward the Mississippi River!

The kids love to throw rocks in the river ...

Love seeing the joy of riding a bike down a hill!  A little scared, then pumped that she made it!!!

There's that joy again!

Susanna's turn!

She did part of the hill, too!

We will definitely do this again!  We all had a fun time getting outside, playing near the river, and conquering the hill!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day

We started celebrating with a little cookie decorating at Miss Alyson's house!

On to Eli's class for an ice cream sunday party!

Making a graph with conversation hearts.

Ahhh - I love this boy!

Susanna just loves this doll house in Eli's classroom!

 Now, on to Madeline's class for some fun games and treats!

I love these three miracles!

A little bit of SNOW!

I know it's crazy, most people don't want it to snow - the bad roads, delays, etc.  But, I am just like the kids -  I LOVE SNOW!!!!!  I never lost that "wish for a snow day" mentality of my childhood.  Even as a teacher, I loved a snow day!  We finally got a bit of snow! (We were a tiny bit jealous of our family in St. Louis - they had a TON of snow this winter!)

Nate slept over at our house that night, and Madeline was at Lindsey's.  

So sad, you can see the ground through the snow - we get so excited about a little dusting!!!!  

Snow is snow, right!

There's a little playground in the park across the street.

Oh, I wish they knew what real sledding was like!  Next year, we are going to go to this great hill in Overton Park - at the Levitt Shell - that will be fun!

Not quite enough for a snowman, and not quite wet enough - a little too dry/powdery!  

Love the earmuffs on Nate!

We can dream of snowmen!!