Andrew's Ears

Andrew had an ENT appointment yesterday.  The doctor was unable to see how his ears were doing because his tubes were rolled up in balls in earwax so he had to get them out.  Andrew laid so still and let him do it.  I was so very proud of the brave little man.  After they were out, Dr. Graves was able to visualize fluid behind his eardrums, which was confirmed with a tympanogram.  So, we were given 2 options.......start him on antibiotics and Zyrtec to see if we can get the fluid out or just go straight to surgery to get a new set of tubes put in.  Right now, we have the prescriptions for the meds with a follow-up appointment July 9th.  If the fluid is gone, great, we just have to have him followed closely.  If the fluid is not gone, tubes again.  Dr. Graves said trying the conservative route and waiting 4-6 weeks is not going to harm Andrew, but he doesn't want to wait much longer than that.  He has temporary hearing loss and will start to get behind in his speech again.  He does not have an infection.  So, we are praying and trying to figure out what to do. 

BBC Church Kids with Lawson Bates

Hunter is in red and blue stripes and Ryan is in blue stripes with blue jeans (not right next to Hunter, but the one after that.) :)

In the Lord's Army

Proud Mama of Ryan and Hunter!

Date Night

Sean and I got to do a date night and went to Market Square to walk around and eat dinner and then over to World's Fair Park for a walk. Of course Starbucks was visited, too.  Andrea Warren, our babysitter, is such a blessing!

Baby carriage!

Our restaurant view

Sweetwater Valley Farm

We drove about an hour from our house to go to Sweetwater Valley farm, which is a farm that makes cheese, as a homeschool day for Ryan and for us all to have fun and learn a little.  Our good friends, The Carrascos, joined us.  :) We did the how to make cheese tour, ate lunch, and played!  It was a gorgeous day!

food for the cows

Baby cow! (The nursery!)

Milking the cows area

It was a little chilly at first!

Carrasco Boys

And as a bonus the farm was next to a railroad track!  We got to see 3 trains go by!

Backyard Camping

A couple of years ago, we did a camping night so we decided to do it again.  I think Ryan has been asking since the last time!  We all joined together for hotdogs on the grill and Smores over the fire, but then I brought the two littles inside for the night while Sean, Ryan, and Hunter slept in the tent in the great outdoors.  Last time just Ryan and Daddy got to do it so Hunter was pretty excited to join in this time.  I missed having my hubby and certainly didn't sleep as well, but the memories he made with the boys made it all worth it.

Picture courtesy of Hunter :)

Camping day was also a mowing, trimming bushes, and weeding day!

New walker

Cabin Weekend

Well, this is a picture of Andrew's crib, now a toddler bed.  Gagu requested a picture of it.  :)

Ryan picked to go to a cabin for the weekend for his birthday so that's what we did!  We picked a cabin in Townsend, TN, about an hour from us, in the Smoky Mountains, about 20 miles from Gatlinburg.  Dad (Pappy) got to come, too!  We had such a blessed weekend! 

View from our porch

Our cabin (The Robin).  The drive up the gravel road was a bit treacherous and I could've have done without the 2 dead scorpions in our bathroom!  Who knew we had those out here!? 

They loved having their bikes!

Inside the cabin

Our bedroom.  The tub was NICE!

Train museum

Laurel Valley.  We had access to the pool and clubhouse and golf course.  Dad and Sean got to play on Saturday. 

Kiddie pool!  They got soaked! 

Playground we found while Dad, Sean, and Ryan went golfing.  We also got kicked off this playground because apparently it was private!

Heritage Museum

Walking trail that was awesome!  Ryan officially can ride his bike now!



Bethel Baptist Church where we went for Mother's Day Sunday service.  I really enjoyed this church!


We had a lovely time!  Found a delicious coffee shop there, too, called the Artistic Bean.  Dad few back home on Sunday, but we were glad he got to join us.  The kiddos really enjoyed it and Andrew was asking this morning if we could go back to the "tabin". 

No training wheels