Post Holidays and Birthdays

Our lives have been so full but stress free, which is what I like.

Alexia had an excellent semester pulling in A's and B's with one C in a Biology Lab. She met some wonderful friends in a Psych class she took and continues to take on the educational world! She will be turning 23 tomorrow (incredible isn't it)and is having a party with her friends at Taro's tomorrow night. She also was one of our major donor's at the Hearts of Hope Holiday party. We had a local non-profit provide dinner and outstanding gifts for the Heart children, Alexia stepped up at provided for the siblings. It was a memorable evening.

Aden turned 8 on Christmas Day and we had a party for him a couple weeks prior at a local roller skating rink. 25 children were there roller skating and having a great time. Two women baked his cake, their blog is The Cake Stand. The photos of the Indiana Jones Lego Cake are below, incredible! Aden's 2nd grade class was also part of the CWS Winter Concert. The class performed two songs in Swedish that are part of the tradition for Santa Lucia Day. This class continues to amaze me! When they perform I become transfixed and cannot take my eyes off of them. We are so lucky to have the teacher we have that brings so much to these children!

Christmas was awesome with way too many gifts but spread out from Christmas Eve through Christmas night was not too overwhelming. Christmas Day we served Frokust, which is a Danish tradition meaning "Cold Table". This stems from Carl's Danish background and has become an important part of out family.

My Aunt and Uncle from Pittsburgh, PA will be here on Wednesday and we will be spending much quality time with them. No doubt, tons of food!

Enjoy the photos:

Advent Spiral

Apple Crisp with Pecans & Orange

Wanna knock your friends and families socks off? Make this. It is TO DIE FOR! Want the recipe send me a email or post in the comment section....you will NOT be disappointed.

On the mend!

So I am officially "on the mend" and doing great! The only draw back to my surgery was a few days of no cooking and my first Soup Night at my house was postponed untill later this month. On an occasional Saturday, during the Fall/Winter, I like to make a huge pot of soup, make some bread and invite friends over to eat and visit. It is a huge amount of fun!

We have been thrust into the Holidays with high 70's weather and I feel like I am in Phoenix. This past Friday night, me and some other Heart mom's had a Mom's Night Out at Piatti's, with lots of wine, food and dessert (you should have seen our bill!). But we had such an awesome time!

Winter school stuff is upon us and we will be busy with so many celebrations. But this is stuff I absolutely love. Stay tuned.

PS: Many people have asked where I got this beautiful header (the Hummingbird) at the top of my blog...well, tis' a painting my husband has done.


Aden's Fort Building


Alexia's cool new ride!



Mom's Night Out



Chicken Stew!

A little better

She is feeling a little better,but she is still sleeping a lot and dealing with the side effects of the Darvocet,which are basically headaches and extreme nausea.Has drunk some broth again and a little apple juice so she is drinking some fluids and she is able to keep them down.

A few Hours later...

Well she is up brushing her teeth right now and she has eaten a bowl of applesauce and she says that it tasted good.She discovered that Benedryl works very well for her nausea and the headache is not as severe as it was earlier.

Hopefully she will feel even better tomorow.

Getting Rest

At about 6:45pm she managed to wake up and eat some broth from the soup that she made yesterday.She was also able to hold a conversation with myself,Aden and Dad for about a half an hour.She was feeling some pain so she took a perscription painkiller that her primary doctor had perscribed for her and was sound asleep pretty soon after that.Hopefully she will be in less pain tomorrow and hopefully she won't try and do too much(But we all know that she tends to push herself.)


Thank you to Andrea for bringing us dinner tonight it was very much appreciated.

Coming Home

She is finally coming home as I write this.She had an episode of nausea right before they were about to release her,so they kept her in recovery until it was gone.She is pretty sleepy right now,but that is of course a result of the anesthesia.

I will keep you updated on her progress and how she is doing because I doubt she will be on the computer today.

And the Surprises Keep Coming

She is done!!!

Everything went very well and she is now in the recovery room.She will only be in there for about 30 minutes and then she will be on her way home.This procedure went off perfectly.

Surprise

My mom was just wheeled into the OR two hours ahead of schedule.Now I see why they wanted her in early just in case this happened.Being ahead of schedule is good.

Will let you know how it goes once I find out.

Today's The Day

This is Valerie's daughter updating her blog while she goes in for the procedure.I asked her if she wanted me to keep people updated and she said yes so whenever I hear something from my dad I will definitely update all of you.They left for the Surgery Center about fifteen minutes ago.The doctor wanted my mother there at 1:00pm even though the procedure isn't scheduled to begin until 3:30.Anyone else find this even slightly odd considering this is an outpatient procedure?

More updates later as I hear them.

More stuff

So, it turns out, that my surgery is this Friday. Fun, fun, fun. At least I was able to fully enjoy the Presidential Election. Know what my biggest worry is about Friday? Nothing to eat or drink after Midnight, which means NO AM COFFEE!! Ughhh.

Well, untill I return, last night's dinner in honor of our new President and a group photo from Lorraine's Halloween bash.

Such business...

We have had such full days, I haven't had a chance to post anything!

Let's get to the important health stuff first. Alexia had her 6 month appointment with her Cardiologist. She had a EKG and a Echo and both were great! We will go back in April. I had my appointment and am having surgery in the next couple weeks. It is out-patient and fairly simple although they will use general anesthesia. I will update with a date when I know.

We have done several things with my friend Lorraine and her children. Apple Hill, Protected Path and of course her Halloween Bash, that is "the party to be at". Did I ever tell you how much I love this school?

Our house has been painted and now on to a kitchen and bathroom remodel, hmmmm wonder why we are doing this......

I recently was nominated into the Sutter Children's Center Advisory Board. I decided to go ahead and take a seat because it truley is an honor to be asked. We had our first Board Meeting this past Friday and I was surrounded by some high powered people. I am tickled! We are focusing on the new Women and Children's hospital being built as we speak.

Yesterday, Carl and I had a date. We went to see Religulous and had dinner at the 33rd Street Bistro. We loved both and I highly recommend seeing the movie.

Below are some random photos from the past month...enjoy and I love you all!

Bloggy Giveaways Time and last nights dinner

It is that time again and I am excited to participate in the Quarterly Bloggy Giveaways! I will be giving away, to a Random Winner, a jar of my "famous" candied walnuts and a Fall Leaf bracelet. All you have to do is leave a comment about your favorite Fall tradition. Winner will be announced on Saturday, November 1st.




Good Luck!



I wanted to share a dinner I made last night. We recently were gifted a twice monthly delivery of farm fresh organic veggies and fruit (can you say heaven?!). Friday, early morning, we received as huge box including kale and butternut squash. So tonight we had roasted butternut with shallots and fresh rosemary, sauteed, garlic kale and balsamic porkchops with carmalized onions, yummy!

The plan is.....

Friday, October 31st I go see the OB/GYN to decide what is to be done about the "things" in my ovary. My thought is he is going to want to take it out and biopsy, but who knows. Will update about that later.

I took Aden to the Grand Opening of the new Lego store (sick and everything). He loved it and we met alot of people standing in the 2 hour line to get in. I also participated in the Together For Kids Walk at the mall and I raised over $1,300.00, I was the number one fundraiser, yay!! I won a $250 gift card for Arden Fair Mall.

Today, Aden is off from school and my friend Lorraine and I are taking the kids to Apple Hill, should be great fun! Tomorrow, his class is going to the Pumpkin Patch.

The Verdict is........

Still out.....

Yesterday I had a ultrasound, ct scan and blood work to rule out fibroids. My blood work was normal and I do not have fibroids but my right ovary showed one large "cyst" and several smaller "cysts". I have been referred to a OB/GYN. Lorraine (my dear friend and Physician) said a biopsy is probable to make sure they are cysts and possibly a removal of the right ovary.

Ughh..

Bee's wax

This is Aden's creation our of Bees Wax. This would not be like modeling with play dough or clay, it is much harder to get it to model what you want. The heat of your hands is what warms it up and makes it soft and easy to work with. I thought the creation very sweet and very "Halloweeny".

Me and medical gunk (is that a word??)

So today was a ultrasound, CT Scan and blood work, for me???? Fibroid Tumors, I hope that it is all it is. Lorraine guesses it could be my Thyroid but I am asking you all....what would be the symptoms that causes these things to be checked out? If you guess (and you can be blunt in your post), I am mailing you a little something.....

So many, many things!

Crazy lives.....

*Carl's folks just left to go back to their home in Phoenix! They came for a visit and to help give our house a new coat of paint and it is DONE! We saved about $3,500 in doing it this way and I just kept the food/drinks going. Worth it.

*Last Friday was Aden's Michaelmas Festival. The 2nd grade (Aden's class) were Knights who tamed the Dragon. The audience was awe-struck, photos are below. We had many new families join our school this year but I actually have someone who lives in my area now!

*I have been asked to speak at Sutter's new hospital Groundbreaking Ceremony next week. Should be interesting.

*Alexia has her 6 month checkup with her Cardiologist on Friday, and I have my 6 month upset stomache because of it.

* Oh, check out my new favorite cake shop, The Cake Stand, these women know how to make cakes!

* I think chicken marsala sounds good for dinner.

Soft Star

Every year we buy Aden a new pair of "indoor shoes" for school. These are customly made for his feet and are either suede or smooth leather and he can pick the colors/design that he would like. This year was no exception, below is a picture of Aden in his 2008/2009 Soft Stars.

Then I wrote and told them about sweet Arianna and they custom made a pair for her and gave them as a gift! She wore them soon after she was able to be up and walk around the hospital floors. Thank you Soft star Elves! See picture below.

The weekend!

I was given a suite to the Ring Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus this weekend. We had a great group with us and Aden and his buddies had a fabulous time! There was all you can eat popcorn and hotdogs! By far, this was the best circus I have ever seen and the children were mesmorized!

Another family to keep in your thoughts and prayers

The support group that I help run has been in existence for 1 year now and thriving with active members and group of moms that would do anything for anybody. Our first meeting consisted of 6 women, one of them a pregnant mom, Kira, who is a 25-year-old woman with CHD. She was born with Coarctation of the Aorta and had a couple surgeries when she was younger. She then married and became pregnant with Baby Ross who has HLHS and has had his first two surgeries. During all of this Kira found out she had a aortic aneurysm that needed to be removed and last Friday had it done at Stanford by Dr. Hanley. That night she had a massive stroke and has alot of hard work in front of her.

Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers.

Food again...this time out with girlfriends!

Can I make you hungry again?

This is what we had: Family Style:

Ahi Tuna Poke (one word...YUM!)
Mediterranean Chicken Salad
Pasta dish with chicken, sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese

Pomegranete Martini's and Ice Tea and two wonderful friends, Andrea and Bahar at the 33rd st Bistro!

PS: When Bahar's daughter gets out of the hospital it is time to start looking for houses in Sac!

Michael Phelps at an early age

Cute!

Let's get back to food.......

First, If you are looking for the bracelet auction, go here.

Blogless Jill, AKA, my neighbor brought us the most delicious tomatoes grown from their own back yard. I really didn't belive that tomatoes, such as these, could be grown in Sacramento. Only I would get excited about a tomato but they were so delicious that I wouldn't dream of cooking them so into a salad they went as the main ingredient! Jill, I would take your home grown veggies anytime!

I also learned a secret to caramelizing onions, starting on a high heat with a little kosher salt and then turning down the heat and adding little bits of water for about 1/2 hour makes the most delicious onions ever known.

Sunday was our Labor Day as Carl worked yesterday. We marinated 2 tri-tips for 48 hours teryaki/red wine marinade and smoked them on a charcoal grill with almond and apricot. Mouth watering delic!

Every Fall I have a treat that I make for my family and friends. It is hugely popular and I always seem to be "re-filling" containers. The treat is candied walnuts but I have a secret ingredient that makes this snack highly addicitive, if you can guess what it is, you will get the first jar of them!

Alexia has been back at school for about 1 week now and Aden starts second grade tomorrow at the most wonderful school! The days are a little longer for him and we also have another girl in our class which will be nice.