Three First Days of School, fall 2009

Evie's first day of speech therapy, August 12, 2009









Emily's first day of seventh grade, August 20, 2009















Evie's first day of 4 year old preschool, August 24, 2009

an Uninvited Guest in our Backyard

Emily found this huge snapping turtle out in the backyard this afternoon. We called all over to see if someone could come and relocate it for us, but couldn't get ahold of anyone. Rich finally called a pest control guy we found on the DNR website, and he said that he could come and remove it for a fee, or we could wait and it would probably be gone tomorrow. We put the basket over it so it couldn't get close enough to the fence for neighbor kids to stick their fingers through, and so the dog would stop harassing it. We were going to take the basket off tonight, when the kids would be less likely to be out.

A few neighbors who are hunters/fishermen came by and chatted with Rich over the back fence - they ended up taking it away for us. The man who came in the yard to get it told Rich it was worth at least $60 for the meat, so I am guessing that they are not practicing catch and release! They said that they hadn't seen one that big in years. (You can see how big it is next to an old basketball, and under the laundry basket!) We have no idea how it got in the fenced backyard!

Three Years Ago Today...

We met Evie for the first time!






Happy Family Day, Evie Rosa! We love you so much.

Evie at home

She tried to play hard this morning, but ended up sacking out on the
couch while watching Dora after lunch. I gave her eardrops and she
told me they made her ears feel funny.

Evie post-surgery

Evie recovering from surgery with her special Muh bunny and Hello
Kitty blanket.

Evie pre-surgery

Evie in her "princess gown" before her surgery.

Evie

The nurse just came to take Evie back to surgery. They gave her a
white Teddy bear with purple sparkly feet. Evie named it Ruby. They
let her take Ruby, Muh and the Hello Kitty blanket back with her.

Now we wait.

update 10:00
We are home. Evie did well. Dr. R put tubes in both ears, he said the one in the right ear wasn't working correctly anymore.

She was pretty unhappy when they brought her back to the room, but then the nurse let me hold her and that made things a little better. She perked up pretty quickly. She drank a cup of ice water and ate a whole bowl of fruit loops, then they decided we could leave.

Evie danced out of the hospital.

Right now she is curled up on the couch with Muh, her new bear, and her Hello Kitty blanket, and she is watching Nick jr.