The Sweater

My wonderful college roommate Jen Danielson made this sweater for Andrew, and it has been now passed down to Ryan. It seems to bring out the sillies in them . . (Andrew first, then Ryan)

My oh-so-spooky pumpkin

(sorry to any McCain supporters out there . . .)

Cubbies!

I've dreamed of cubbies for years, and this year my dream came true. My mudroom is now one of the nicest in the house, and I'm protective of its neatness. Of course, the rest of the house looks like a tornado went through it. Or two, Category 5 and Category 1.5.

Ok, death sucks.

A sidebar here - my uncle is dying. I went to visit him in the hospital again today, and for once he was awake, but he didn't know me. This is a guy who two weeks ago was shooting pool at the community center and chatting with me and playing with Ryan. This is a guy who once punched his huge horse during a parade and knocked him to his knees. This is a larger-than-life guy, who is small in stature but always seems to take up a lot of space.

Now he's lying in misery in a dreary hospital.

This sucks.

Note - James R. Bannon passed away the next day. He received full military honors at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery.

I miss him.

The CUTEST sweaters

Ok, I had seen these around, and they've been featured in Real Simple Family and other magazines, but what I didn't know is that they are made by people I know! In my preschool!

http://www.sevensmooches.com/index.htm

So cute, and so green!

My little Cherub

Andrew decided to be in the Cherub Choir (5-8 year olds) this year, and today was his first performance. He did great -- you'd never know he was 2 days post-op!

Under the knife

So Andrew had his first, and God-willing last, surgery yesterday -- a frenulectomy. THat's when they cut that flap of skin under your tongue because you're tongue tied. Andrew's awesome speech therapist had worked for 2 years to stretch it to avoid surgery, but we finally decided that it was time. Hopefully this should make speech easier for him.

He was a stellar patient. Cool as a cucumber. Steve and I were not. It was funny, when he woke up from the anestesia he said "I don't want to be here!!" and we said "I know . . " But then he surprised us and said "I want to go have my surgery!"

It was a long day, but the surgeon said everything could not have gone better. And its done.