We're prayin' while losing teeth on the beach

That just about covers what's been going on here.

Chesney lost her second tooth a few weeks ago. It has been loose since we were in MN for christmas, so its about time it fell out. Chesney was at rugby practice and came running off the field to show me her tooth sticking straight out and turned sideways. told her she would just have to pull it and low and behold she did it.
and that thing on her eye- Dr says its a stye. been there for 2 months and can't seem to get rid of it. any suggestions? tried antibiotics and warm packs- we really want to avoid having a dr poke it with a needle

we spent a day at Shelly beach- which is a great beach to go to with kids- it is tucked in and protected a bit from the ocean so there are no waves on the beach- great for the kids to play in- we also notices many scuba divers and snorklers around the rocks at the beach prompting duey to think of the great idea of giving me scuba diving lessons for my birthday. very excited to do it.



Logan-"I want a hat, I want a rubber band. I want this, I want that"
Me-"I want, I want, I want"
Logan-" Mommy- you can't say I want, only I can say I want."
cheeky little bugger

Logan is loving his preschool and loves having his own group of friends. He came home from school the other day and told me the prayer they say in his classroom before they have lunch,
Fold our hands and softly say,
Thank you for our food today.
Amen

Chesney has been showing her creative side lately- she is enjoying writing short stories and recently wrote her first song entitled "I love you air". She has also asked if she could take singing and guitar lessons so she can one day sing on the stage. So I am looking into that for her.

She has decided she was tired of saying our dinner prayer so she wrote a new one for us to say, it goes a little something like this:

I love you God, I love how you made the world, and I love how you made me. Amen

I for one am heading to the Hunter Valley wine region with three friends for the weekend to drink wine, eat cheese and chocolate and sit in a spa. Have a good weekend everyone.

Mooloolaba, baby!

We ventured out to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland a couple of weeks ago for some much needed family time. We met some friends from Tasmania and had a fabulous time. here's the pictures to prove it:
We spent a day at the Australia Zoo- Steve Irwin's, AKA the Crocodile Hunter, zoo. This was the nicest, cleanest zoo I have ever been to. you can tell he really loved animals by how his zoo is run- and you could just feel his presents everywhere. It was wonderful.
here's a Koala just lounging around- which is what they do about 20 hours a day

with a bronze statute of the Irwin Family

Cindi and I on the beach


Rowan, Chesney and Logan

Chesney trying boogieboarding for the first time
At the Australia Zoo

Logan with the most poisonous snake in all of australia- actually I really don't know what kind it is


Dinner on the beach- taco night.

Mira goes bowling!

Today Mira went bowling for the first time. She and Chris met Chris's brother and his family this afternoon. She was really excited about the special red and white shoes she got to wear. Her favorite part was when she bowled the ball herself. Mira bowled a 67. She loved that you get two turns in a row.

Here are a couple photos of her adventures!


An the love between sisters:

More photos of Anna

Welcome, Annabelle Jo! We all drove down to visit her today. She is so cute and such a peanut! Really adorable with a little head. Mira had the chance to hold her and looked so proud! Amelia kept saying "Baby Anna" all day at our house. I think she was excited to see a baby too. Anna slept the entire time we visited. It was so fun to see her. Her room is adorable. Justin and Mandy seem completely prepared for the journey ahead! Here are a few photos of the newest addition to our family:

Welcome, Annabelle Jo Norstad!

We would love to announce that Justin and Mandy had their baby tonight!

Welcome to the family, Annabelle Jo!

Born: Feb. 12 at 7:23 pm.
Weight: 7 lbs, 10 oz.
Height: 20"

She has a fair amount of blondish, reddish, brownish hair and is really cute! She has Mandy's nose and lips, and Justin's eyebrows (blonde and nonexistent!) and chin.

Mandy is staying at Methodist hospital and will be there until Saturday. They were just going to her room when I talked to Justin, so they didn't know the room number yet.

Congratulations, Justin and Mandy! We know you will be excellent parents. Anna will be so loved! Here is a photo Justin sent me from his phone:

Samantha

Hi all,
I know Kristi will post more on her blog but I wanted to let you know that today was a good day! Praise be to God!
She had a slight temp when we got there this morning -- 99.8, then it went up to over 100 so they put her on tylenol...it came down slightly. Then they felt they needed to do another CT scan because the tube in her side going to her lung was not drawing out the fluid much at all.
They said based on the CT, (to look for pockets of fluid in her lung) they would either move the tube around (maybe even use a bigger tube) or do surgery to make a 6inch incision and put their hand in and pull out the fluid pockets which are actually more like jelly sacs.
Glory to God....they only found one fluid pocket left in her lung and were able to move the tube up and around the back of her lung to drain that out.
The DR came out and said that procedure went well and the fluid is draining well and this will help to get her off the ventilator, hopefully, tomorrow.
Her temp is still about 99.6 so they took all her covers off and gave her more tylenol to cool her down.
Her blood pressure and pulse are still flucuating but can be expected from what she's been through.
We continue to pray for God's healing hands to take all this from her body and make her well and whole.
deb

Samantha

I have a blog set up for Sam to do updates. www.newsonsamantha.blogspot.com So all of you can check on that blog. She had her second round of Chemo on Sat. It is hard to tell if it is working. Yesterday she was still pretty sleepy but did manage to get a walk in. Today she was more alert and walked twice. When she walk's she seems to tire easy but atleast she is walking and working her lungs. Did not see Dr today so hopefully tomorrow. I will keep you posted on the new blog. Sam and I can't thank you all enough for the support, prayers and gifts. I know when she start's feeling better she will want to thank you all personally. Love to you all and make sure you check out the new blog

Kristi