Toothless!

Just had to post a pic of Maria with no teeth! She lost 2 yesterday... The last big top front tooth and one of the smaller ones on the bottom.. Needless to say the tooth fairy was kept very busy last night! She'll thank me for this later in her life, I'm sure... Much, much later... HA!

Lillian has her appointment with the Plastic Surgery dept. tomorrow regarding her bump and sedation... Stay tuned for more on that continuing saga! Enjoy your Monday!

Little Bo Peep!

Mike, being the phenomenal Dad that he is, was able to break away from work today to go see Maria's last performance! He made it in time with a few minutes to spare.. And afterwards he went and had lunch with Maria in the cafeteria.. What a very special treat for her! And the best part is that he brought the camera... Apparently the audience was a little bit more rowdy today.. It is difficult to hear what Maria is saying but you get the jist... Way to go Dad!

Not much else has been going on today.. just the usual Friday... Swimming tomorrow! Stay tuned..

I forgot my camera... AGAIN!

I don't know where my head has been lately but it seems that I have been forgetting my camera to everything!! Maria had her "Name that Character" game today. Each of her classmates in her class had to choose a storybook character and write a riddle about their choice. They then had to dress up as their character and read their riddle out loud to an audience (made up of parents and a couple other classes) and the audience had to guess who they are. They are putting on 3 presentations, 2 today and 1 tomorrow. Maria was Little Bo Peep. I went today and I must say all the kids did great! Their costumes were wonderful and they all got up and read their riddle with very little apprehension! I think this was a wonderful idea of Mrs. Zimmerman's, Maria's teacher. It is giving the kids a taste (many of them for the first time) of how to speak in public to a group. Kind of a scary thing to people of all ages! A wonderful, fun activity for the kids to do with a great underlying purpose. Way to go Mrs. Zimmerman and Maria's class! I just wish I had remembered my camera so you all could see Maria "perform"! Take my word for it, she was terrific! And she looked pretty dang cute too if I say so myself... Thanks Dawn and Curt, my amazing neighbors, for letting us borrow your cane! You can't have a "Little Bo Peep" without a shepherd's hook!

We got SNOW!!! Well, kind of...

A generous 2 inches worth... maybe even 3!!!! Wow, It was enough for Mike to take the kids up to the preschool for some snow/grass sledding... They had a riot! One more winter activity checked off the list.. now all we need to do is to build a snowman and winter can be over! Mike even got the snowblower out to clean the driveway.. Now I am going to tell you that in my humble opinion there was not nearly enough snow to warrant the use of machinery.. Personally I think a shovel would have been quicker and probably would have gotten the job done better.. But I must say that I am so glad that Mike was able to FINALLY satisfy some of his manly urges and get some use out of his winter toys. Now I won't have to listen to him whine nearly as much about mother nature denying him his winter fun. Hallelujah! We got snow!

Swimming!!

Well here you go!! I promised you some swimming pics and even threw in a video to boot! The kids did wonderful, they had lots of fun and we are seeing some improvements even after the second lesson! Money definitely well spent. We should have enrolled them in lessons much sooner, but hey, we didn't... We're bad... They are in them now so that's what counts, right?

As for what else is going on, let me think. I finally got all my xmas decorations down yesterday, I know, a little late but I dread doing it. It takes so long to put them up and then you have to turn around and take them all down again. It took me all day but they are all put away and now my house is bare once again... and dirty, but it is always that.. I really need to clean now. Mike is stilll working on the laptop.. it is kinda working and he kinda knows what is wrong.. It's getting there... It's snowing outside.. The pretty fluffy stuff.. We are still waiting for our big one.. And that is about it! Just another normal day at the Gross'!

FYI.... Stay tuned..

Hello everyone! If I drop off here for a few days again it is not because I am neglecting you... We are having computer issues again.. It is mooovvvviiinnngggg.... rrrreeeeeaaaaaaalllllyyyyy.... sssssslllllllooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.............

So hopefully Mike can figure out what is going on and get if fixed.. In the meantime I can still post from our other computer, just might not be able to attach photos though.. Stay tuned in for some great swimming pics! (maybe, if Mike can fix this computer.. or show me how to upload pics to the other computer...) Later!

A week of the Gross'.. in abbreviated form..

Alrighty then, a week of "The Gross Life" in one post.. Here we go. First swim lessons on Saturday.. Excellent job.. Will remember the camera next week. PA Farm show on Sunday.. Lots of chickens, cows, and rabbits.. Lots of fun. (except when Lillian stomped in the cow poop.. not so fun then.. ) Again, forgot the camera.. School, school, and more school... AH! Girl Scouts cookies order forms came home.. however we can't start selling til tomorrow... Apparently this girl scout cookie selling is serious business.. 2 troops have been reported to the Girl Scout council for selling cookies before the official start date.. Who knew? Weather's cold.. still no snow.. I want snow!!!! Never thought I would say that but it is true.. We need one good snow for a snowman and day of sledding and then it can go away.. I kicked some butt playing Cribbage and Monopoly.. better luck next time Dad.. and that is our week in a nutshell.. Seeing how I kept forgetting my camera for the "big" events, and I hate posting with no pics, I am including some pics of Mikey's tonsils and Hoops.. I wish I was a cat.. Such a rough life. I promise I will try to do better in the near future with updates!

Doctor to doctor to doctor... Enough already!!!

Well we are back from Lillian's appointment. I wish I had something new to report, but true to the medical profession, I do not. I am now waiting for an appointment with the Plastic Surgery department to discuss sedation options for Lillian. Apparently the Dermotology department does not have the means for any kind of sedation, whether it's conscious or not. Hence I now have to wait upwards to 6 weeks for a consult with Plastics, which does do sedation, to decide which type to use for Lillian. THEN at that time I can make an appointment to have her last Pilomatrixoma removed. I only hope in this time that it does not grow into the size of a grapefruit. I am just annoyed. It seems like you have to make an appointment to see a doctor to make an appointment to see a different doctor, only to have to wait longer to get an appointment to see yet another doctor before you can even think about getting your problem resolved. Enough already!!! Anyway, the kids were excellent today, very well behaved even with us and 3 other doctors crammed into one tiny room. Really, does it take 3 doctors to tell me that they can't help me and I need to talk to someone else? They were wanting me to hold off on the surgery, trying to tell me that pilomatrixomas are slow growing and that maybe in a year she will sit still for the horrible stinging shots in her arm... Ummmm, no. This is her third pilomatrixoma (which is very uncommon to begin with), they grow very quickly in her, she already has 2 scars over an inch long and at the size her bump is now we are looking at a half inch scar. She was traumatized from the last removal and there is no way in holy heck she will forget that or sit still to let you do it again. Give her the drugs!!!!! I know my daughter and her bumps better than they do.. so listen to me! OK, enough venting. I'm done.. for now.

COFFEE!!! Must... Have... Coffee!!!!

There is nothing worse than those mornings you wake up and just can't seem to get it in gear.. I had one of those mornings this morning. Due to staying up late watching mindless TV (why do we do that? You know its crap on TV but you just can't seem to tear yourself away from it...) and a very restless night for Mike... hence a very restless night for me... (thanks for that honey..) and being up with the kids a couple times.. I had a horrible nights sleep. Needless to say morning came way to early this morning. And why does it always seem that the more tired you are the more awake and rambunctious the kids become? I only wish I could wake up as happy and energetic as they do! No need to worry though, it's all good now.. After dragging myself out of bed and downstairs and desperately stumbling through the motions of making my lifeblood, coffee.. All the while telling the kids to stop yelling (well it seemed like yelling to me.. more like just talking REALLY loud..) I FINALLY got my lifeline and am on my second cup of golden fortification... I love you Coffee... Aaaahhhh.....

All right.. Off to get cleaned up for Lillian's appointment. More on that later!

Normalcy....

I can not express enough how glad I am to have my daily schedule back to normal. The kids went back to school today and in turn I have recouped my precious quiet time! For 2 and a half hours today I had only one child, which is a huge treat! No constant fighting and sibling squabbles to referee. Now don't get me wrong, I love the hangback days where we stay in PJs all day and bum around.. But after 2 and a half weeks of it I am ready for quiet! I think we were all ready to get things going again. Tomorrow Lillian has an appointment to get the bump on her arm looked at again.. I am going to go ahead and schedule a time to get it removed.. with sedation.. Hopefully they can just get some happy juice to give her and that will be it. I really don't want to put her all the way under but I know that after the last time there is no way she will hold still for another one to get cut out.. she knows better now!! As long as she can get a little loopy I think she will be fine.. We will see what the doc says!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year everyone!!!!! I hope everyone had a safe and happy one! I certainly did! Mike had planned a huge new years eve night out for us.. Our first since having kids.. about 7 years now! He bought some tickets for "Big Night Baltimore", a huge New Year's eve ball right in the heart of Baltimore in Camden Yards.. Our hotel window looked out into the Orioles Stadium.. You could literally see inside the stadium, home plate and all! It was a great night with a lot of great music and dancing.. Yes, as you can see in the pic, Mike actually got out on the dance floor! We had a great time so thanks so much babe!! Love ya!!

As for the what's going on now... Not much! Mike is working on his truck.. again.. And the rest of us are just taking it easy and recovering from the excitement and chaos that always occurs when company comes. Mike's mom left to go back home yesterday and we had a wonderful visit. Thanks again for the gifts and watching the kids Cindy!! My parents come in tonight just for the one night so I better go dust off my Cribbage board.. Dad, prepare to be annihilated!!!!