Safety First

With the addition of our little man we've realized how different little boys are from little girls in so many ways!!!  With the girls we just had to tell them "No" and pop their hands a few times and they knew something was off limits and not to touch...Jack is not learning these lessons very quickly, so we've had to safety-proof our house more than when we had the girls...

Our new oven look!  

Jack recently realized he was tall enough to reach our oven/stove knobs!  Not normally a big deal except we have a gas stove/oven!  Luckily Safety First makes oven knobs to keep little hands (and some adults) away from danger!!!  So glad we have all these safety-proofing measures to keep our little ones safe and our house too :)

MRI

Neither Jody or I have ever had to have an MRI, so when Emma had to have one done recently, we had no idea what to tell her.  We looked up the hospital where she was having the MRI and found pictures and were able to explain to her about the whole process.  Click here for more information about the MRI that Emma had done.   As I said before we decided not to sedate her for the test, so we wanted to make sure she knew what was going on and that there was nothing to be afraid of!  In this particular MRI, she was able to watch a dvd for the duration of the test, about 30 minutes.

Here she is picking out her dvd...

still choosing...

final choice, High School Musical 2 (which is what Jody and I had thought she'd pick anyway)!

We had to remove all jewelry/metal objects, watches, phones, cameras, etc. before entering the room with the MRI because the machine is always on!  They even waved us with metal detectors before we entered the room just as a last minute precaution, so I wasn't able to take pictures before or during the MRI.

But here she is after she was all done!

They even gave her a special prize for holding so still!!!  We were very proud of our Emma and all the tests she's had to endure the past few weeks, great job Emma!!!

Big Shanty

In April was the 34th annual Big Shanty festival!!!  The festival combines the best of the rich heritage of Kennesaw and the Civil War era with today’s fun filled activities. Over 50,000 attendees enjoyed more than 200 booths with arts & crafts, food vendors, merchants, and live entertainment in downtown Kennesaw.  Our church is very involved and we handed out over 2500 balloons!  We also open up our church, due to the close proximity to the booths, for the use of our bathrooms, the alternative is port-a-potties :(  Here are just a few pictures of the event with our kiddos:)

Goodew Visit

My brother, sister-in-law and niece Ashtyn came and visited us in April, I apologize for the lag time in this posting (I was waiting on a picture...ahem MATT)!  We were so excited to see them!!!  They got here just in time to get Emma from the bus Thursday, we had told her they wouldn't be here until dinner time, so she was SUPER excited to see them as she stepped off the bus!  

We played on a huge playground by our church...

then ate at big pie in the sky for dinner, check out this place by clicking here!

Friday we got Emma out of school about an hour early and headed to the World of Coca Cola!

We spent some time playing in the grass, in a kind of courtyard, kiddos burning energy and us wasting time so we didn't have to sit in Atlanta traffic!

We grabbed dinner at a local Mexican Restaurant and then home to bed!

Saturday we headed to the Big Shanty Festival in downtown Kennesaw.

Ashtyn and Jack enjoyed the view from their strollers :)

Sadly Matt, Diana & Ashtyn had to leave Sunday morning so they could get back to NC before having to work bright and early Monday morning.  We were so glad they were able to come visit us in Georgia and had a blast spending time with them!!!  Here are a few pictures that were my favorites of the weekend...

Happy Birthday Diana!!!

Today is my sister-in-law's birthday!  Hope you have a fantastic day today!  Sorry we couldn't be there to celebrate with you :(

Last of First

Friday was Emma's last day of FIRST grade!  They even had early release Thursday and Friday :)  As we were waiting for the bus we could hear cheers, clapping, hootin' and hollerin' and lots of horns honking, we live about 1/4 of a mile from Emma's school, it actually borders our subdivision.  And here she is getting off the bus!  

Some parents greeted their children with water guns, but mostly cameras at our bus stop!

And here is out graduated first grader with her sisters, Daddy was off to greet her too :)

We're proud of Emma, our soon-to-be second grader!!!

Saturday is the day...

for Emma's MRI. Her neurologist thought she'd do fine without being sedated for the test, but ultimately left it up to Jody and I. We agreed with the neurologist since she also mentioned Emma being able to watch tv during the test to keep her still. Please join us in praying for her tomorrow, Pray that...

1. She'll lay still for the entire 30 minute MRI, if not it has to be rescheduled during the week.

2. The neurologists will find the source of the misfire (causing the seizures) or nothing at all!

3. If we can find the cause of the seizures it will be something we can continue to control by medication and that she will grow out of epilepsy.

We trust in God and His plan for our lives, whatever comes our way we know we can handle it with His help!  We'll keep you updated!

AWANA Awards Ceremony

Here are a few pictures a friend snapped of our kiddos at our AWANA awards ceremony Wednesday night, I of course forgot my camera and the picture of Lizzy didn't come out (one of her friends jumped right as the picture was taken, completely blocking her from view)...

Emma receiving her awards...

Anna about to recite her disciples...

Lizzy did an awesome job leading her fellow Puggles in "Jesus Loves Me", she definitely sang the loudest :)

We love AWANA and are sad we will not be able to attend AWANA again until the fall!

More on bags...

A few of you asked where I got my pattern, here's my original post of the bags I made for the kiddos...and here's the link to the site I first saw the cinch bags on.  I did however modify them by not using gromets for the bottom strap.


I bought gromets but decided to just sew the straps to the bag.  I also used plain fabric instead of the pillowcase they suggested.  But for Emma's bag I used an old curtain we had that we used in our old house back in NC :)  If I have time I'll make another bag and show you step by step how easy these were  to create!  I may even give the bag away, so stay tuned...

Movie Time

The girls wanted to watch a movie on a dreary day last week, as I was getting the movie ready Jack plopped down in the bean bag chairs too!  Thought it was a cute picture, he only stayed there about a minute after I took the picture :)  And no his bean bag chair is NOT the purple one, his is the red one!!!

What a little pain!

I went to the orthopedic this morning for my 4 week follow-up for my broken toe. Click here for the original post. I waited forever for my appointment, they did x-rays and the doctor came in the room asking if it was still bothering me, "still a little tender and sore" I responded, He said "not a lot of healing going on", NICE! So although the x-rays revealed the bones are still lined up perfectly I still have to keep it taped for another 2-3 weeks until it heals! If it's still bothering me after that time I need to come back in. What a little pain!!! But at least my broken toe did not require surgery :)  Here's the before and after in case you are a little curious...

See what you can create...

by just being creative and digging through all your "stuff"!!!  This all started when I wanted to get Jack a bag just for him.  Each of our kiddos has their own bag they take to church with them for all their stuff, bibles, papers, crafts, etc.  But Jack didn't have a small bag to be handed down from his sisters!  I've been looking all over for a preschool or toddler sized bag that I could personalize with his name.  Of course the ones I did find were too expensive never mind adding his name!  So I thought I'd pilfer through all my old fabrics and things to see what I could find.  I decided on a cinch bag because you could alter that pattern to fit any sized child :) And here is Jack's finished bag...

Can I also add that Jack absolutely loves his bag!!!  He wouldn't let me take it off last night so he could go to bed and as soon as he saw it this morning he had it back on :)

Since I made Jack a bag the girls picked out some fabric and ribbon for their own bags...

Emma did not want her name on her bag and it had to be big enough to fit her sketch pad and pencils!

Anna of course wanted her name in white paint, but because of the fabric we decided to add glitter while the paint was drying, flashy just like our Anna ;)

Lizzy chose green, surprise, surprise!  She also wanted her name and some squigglies (in between the letters of her name).

And here are all 4 bags that I created in a matter of a few hours (all together) throughout the day yesterday!!!  Oh and I made them all from my own stash, so they didn't end up costing me anything!!!

And here are the kiddos with their bags

I love being crafty, especially when it's functional, my kiddos love the outcome and it doesn't cost me anything but my time!!!

Wordless Wednesday...Firehats at Firehouse Subs :)

A gift for me :)

Here is my Mother's Day gift, I absolutely love it!!!  Handmade (the best kind of gift) by my awesome hubby and fabulous kiddos!!!  Thank you guys so much for making Mother's Day special for me :)

WARREN

Our "Warren" came to visit us this past week.  Lauren is one of our youth from Stony Hill, she was in 6th grade when we started our ministry there and just finished her sophomore year of college!  She attends college at North Greenville in South Carolina and made a pit stop in Georgia on her way to North Carolina :)  We had so much fun with her!!!

For your viewing pleasure I decided to add our series of pictures in our attempt to get a "good" picture :)

Is Lizzy gaging herself?

Gaggy Lizzy and Crazy Anna...

Jack had just slammed his head into my chin and throat...

Anna was re-grouping and Lizzy wanted to show you she still had tonsils...

Emma was cheezin' it and Anna had her princess wave goin'...

Must have been too bright for Lauren...

Oops, now she's trying too hard to keep her eyes open...

But this was definitely the best of the bunch, even though Lizzy is obviously scared of something!!!

We sure were sad seeing our "Warren" leave and go home to North Carolina :(  But were glad to be able to spend some time with her!!!

Happy Mother's Day

To all the Moms out there from The Livingstons!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Today is my Dad's 53rd birthday!  Since we were not able to be there for his birthday, we created a video greeting just for him :)

We love you and miss you!!!  Hope you have a great birthday today :)

Update on the Update :)

Unfortunately I wasn't able to email or send messages to everyone about the results of Emma's neurologist appointment today.  I only had a few minutes so I updated the blog and then sent a link from facebook.  


Before today, Jody and I had a limited knowledge of epilepsy. Epilepsy is really a blanket or broad term.  Epilepsy is a medical condition that produces seizures affecting a variety of mental and physical functions. It’s also called a seizure disorder. When a person has two or more unprovoked seizures, they are considered to have epilepsy.  Seizures happen when the electrical system of the brain malfunctions. Instead of discharging electrical energy in a controlled manner, the brain cells keep firing. The result may be a surge of energy through the brain, causing contractions of the muscles.  Seizures cannot be stopped once they start and must run their course.   They can last from a few seconds to a few minutes.  Emma has simple partial seizures, where she is awake and aware but cannot control the parts of her body affected, they jerk uncontrollably.  

Emma's EEG was normal but she still has seizures, not that uncommon for those with epilepsy.  She also had a CAT scan which was normal.  We are waiting to hear back from the hospital for when her MRI will be scheduled.  Her neurologist felt an MRI would give us a better, clearer picture of her brain to see if we could find a cause to the "mis-fires".  Sometimes during brain development in the womb cells ended up in the wrong part of the brain, the MRI will show if this is the case for Emma.  For now she is classified as being epileptic and is on medication twice a day to prevent any further seizures and goes back to her neurologist in two months to see how she's doing on the medication.  Once she has been seizure free for two years they will gradually take her off the medication.  We are thankful for a diagnosis, even though we don't know the cause, but that it can be controlled with medication.  For more information on Epilepsy, click here.

Neurologist Appointment

Just another quick update...we had Emma's doctor apt this morning with the neurologist.  Her EEG came back normal, but they did classify her as having epilepsy.  She is on medication twice a day to prevent seizures.  Once she is seizure free for two years they will gradually take her off her medication, but until then we just have to wait and see.  The neurologist/hospital here is scheduling an MRI (we don't know the date yet) to see if we can find the source of the "mis-fire" that caused her seizures.  The news today wasn't the best we had hoped for but definitely better than what could have been.  We are so very thankful for God's lovingkindness towards us and for His provision and timing.

Easy-Peasy

If you are a blog junkie, as many of us who blog are, did you know you can check them ALL in one place?!  I love reading blogs, especially since we recently moved and have family and friends all over the United States!  Blogging is a fun and easy way to stay caught up on what's going on with people!!!  When I want to catch up on my blog reading I go to http://www.blogger.com and there they are, all the blogs I read, listed  by the most recent post :)  When I find a blog I want to follow, I simply click on the "follow" button on their blog (you only have to do it once) and voila, all in one place, newest first :)  Super easy and you don't have to worry about bookmarking pages or remembering the web address:)  Super handy when you have a laptop and desktop or not at your home computer!  

So...I'm expecting a lot more followers after this post!!!