Throwing out some crumbs

I know I haven't been doing much blogging lately. It just doesn't seem like I've had much blog-worthy material. Life's going great, but we've been involved in the January letdown of just getting back into the work/school routine. But, I know we still have some loyal followers, so here are a few pics to help us reach our cuteness quota for the month.

A little over a week ago, Elizabeth and I went on a girl's outing at Carolyn's house. We all got together with our kids and decorated cookies. As you know, Elizabeth's now a pro at that (since she's now done it a total of THREE times), but she always enjoys coating the cookies with lots of sprinkles! And, this time she got to do it with the BIG GIRLS, so it was extra fun!



And, to get her to accompany them back to the operating room for her surgery, the nurses at the hospital made a big deal out of telling her how she'd get to blow up "the balloon," aka the bag on the anesthesia stand. That was all well and good until she wanted her balloon when she woke up after the surgery! But, she'd been such a good girl through it all, we told her we'd go out and get her a balloon on Saturday morning. By then, she was over the balloon, but she knows a good thing when she sees it. So, she asked us if she could have a "very pink, very big" ball instead. I'll leave it up to you to be the judge....think we met her request?

They're fixed again

Elizabeth had her 2nd ear tube surgery yesterday morning. We had to have her there at 6:45 am for a 7:45 am procedure. Once again, we were on time, but the doctor was not. It takes a lot of self-control to smile and shrug when your doctor walks in late for the SECOND time, telling you he's sorry he overslept. I'm sure he didn't remember that he said the exact same thing to us last time, but I sure did! I mean, seriously, if we can get ourselves and our child there a full hour before he's supposed to start, don't you think he could try to arrive on time also? But, I digress....

The surgery went very well. Elizabeth's left ear, where the tube had already fallen out, was "full of goop," so it was a good thing we went ahead and had the surgery done. While he was at it, he went ahead and fixed the right ear, so she shouldn't have any problems with it either. Elizabeth's tummy hurt pretty bad for an hour or so after the surgery, but once the gas settled out, she was just fine. She was a little off balance yesterday afternoon, but the poor child's balance was never that great to begin with! And, it's much easier to get the ear drops in her ears now that we can reason with her than it was when she was 18 months old. Thank goodness!

New schools

Work and school have started back in full force for us and are keeping us all very busy. David started his first on-line class at Morehead State University. When he's finished, he'll receive his Masters in Middle School Education, with a specialty in Math. His first class involves Research Methods for Education. He likes the class material and the teacher, but it looks like it's going to be a lot of work for him! In addition to his regular coursework, he's going to have to do a special research project. He's still trying to figure out the topic for that, but he has some good possibilities.

On Tuesday night, we went to Lafayette High School for Jonathan's first orientation session for next year. It's heard to believe that he's going to be a freshman next year! He also turned in his schedule for next year this week. They offer a lot more interesting elective classes than they had when David and I were in high school. He's trying to sign up for Art, Computer Applications, Spanish 2 and a photography class, in addition to the Advanced classes of all the core subjects (Geometry, Social Studies, Science, and English). He's going to be busy, but he's looking forward to some of the freedom of high school.

This week, we also signed Elizabeth up for a new preschool program for next year. It's a great program that meets 2 days a week at a nearby church. I was very impressed with it when I went to visit. The program director and the teachers in her classroom have all been there for over 12 years, and the facility is well suited for the program. We also put her on the list for the preschool program at UK's Early Childhood Education center over a year ago. But, it's very difficult to get into that program, so if she doesn't get into that, we now know we have another good option for her.

We haven't taken any new pictures this week - we'll try to get some more for you soon!

Like Mommy, like Daughter

Elizabeth has defied the common stereotype by becoming not only a "Daddy's Girl" but a "Mommy's Girl" as well. In fact, we've discovered that she actually seems to be the fondest of whoever is not around. If she could choose, she would have both of us with her at all times.

But, she remains a clone of me as a little girl. There's no denying she's a Waggener/Bridger girl, even though her hair takes after David's - it's stick-straight, baby-fine and blonde. If you'd asked me before yesterday, I would have told you that her eyes are the feature that most resembles mine. But, now I'm not so sure. Her ears are now a close second. I'm not talking about the external portions of her ears either - it's more her internal ear canals, to be precise. She seems to have inherited my infection-prone ears, which resulted in ear tube surgery for me, more ear infections than my mother or I could even start to count, and the resultant scarring that's still present.

Yesterday, we had a follow-up appointment with her ear doctor, after another ear infection showed up in her left ear about a week after he told us the tube in her left ear was no longer functional. We didn't think that was a coincidence, and neither did he. In fact, he was so convinced of it, he went ahead and scheduled her for her 2nd ear tube surgery, which we were thankful for, because we're convinced she needs it and didn't want to have to deal with a string of ear infections before he was convinced. She'll go in for the surgery in a couple of weeks. Now we're just hoping that she can make it 2 weeks without another ear infection. That might be difficult, since she has just come down with another cold. Poor thing!

For those of you with high-speed internet access and a little patience, here's another video of Elizabeth reading her favorite book of all times - Barney's Mother Goose. If you watch it, you can play the game, "Guess that Nursery Rhyme" as she zips through several of them for you in Toddler-ese. I just took the video last night, so you can also experience a tissue break in the middle from the aforementioned cold.

Visiting with the Waggener/Bridger family

We've had a lot of fun visiting with the Waggener/Bridger clan this week!

We made peanut butter balls in preparation:



To be more specific, David and I made peanut butter balls and Elizabeth ate them:



Here's a fun game we played all week called "Pass the Baby":















Baby Bridger is just adorable. He's quite the chunk and always has a smile for everyone!

The girls had fun ringing in the New Year on New Years Eve (albeit several hours early):



And, of course, there was a lot of general rough-housing and merriment throughout the week:





Christmas presents are always fun, even if they're opened on New Years Day!











We even managed to sneak in an early birthday party for Brooke - featuring Thomas the Tank Engine, of course!





Then, we had a special surprise: SNOW!!!














And, of course, we all did a lot of what our family seems to do best: EAT!!!



Thanks for visiting, everyone! Come back again soon!