Happy Birthday Jim!

This is 1 handed b-day post for the best husband in the land. Birthdays are a big deal in our house and I have been very worried that Jim would have no cake, no fun things, and no great gifts due to the arm. We have been so fortunate to have my mom and wonderful friends helping us with food and thanks to one of them, the birthday was complete wuth a cake that was even safe for the boys. Thanks Jill for taking the wheel when I couldn't. It is great! Jim is all the things I could wish for in a spouse and father of my children and I am so glad we are the ones he chooses to be with. Happy Birthday Jim! We love you.

For the morbidly curious...

Here are some pictures to give an idea of what is going on with Karen's wrist.


Here is someone else's normal wrist:














Here is Karen's wrist after the accident, showing a majorly displaced hand and crushed radius bone:











Here is Karen's wrist post surgery. A three inch metal plate and 10 screws have been used to peice the wrist back together. The dark spot in the middle is where they used some "bone cement" to fill in a pretty big gap in the bone.











The kids love Karen's new bionic arm.

by
Jim

Happy Birthday to Poppa!

Happy Birthday to the best Poppa we know!!

12 Years and Still Counting

As of yesterday, we have been married for 12 years. We celebrated with some time alone with no one interrupting our conversation or asking for anything. It was delightful. We think that it seems like there is no way these last 12 years could have gone by so quickly. We laugh a lot, cry some, and hug even more. The laughing keeps us sane, the crying gets us by and makes us stronger and the hugging keeps us close. What a wonderful gift to be married to your best friend.

A Lot of Catching Up

This weekend, my cousin Shannon came to visit from Texas. It has been a LONG time since we have had a chance to spend time together and we had a lot of catching up to do. We drove up to Mall of America and shopped for the day, spent a morning at the zoo, hung out at our house a lot and topped the trip off with paddle boating at Gray's Lake. I even got a chance to have her to my self one evening. It was great. The boys LOVED having Shannon here and spent all their time competing for who could hold her hand. It was so nice to see that they feel a connection with her, even though we live so far apart.

Notice anything missing?

Look close... no training wheels & very proud smiles on those 2 faces! We decided that today we would see how the kids did with no training wheels. Nolan cried and cried that we threw his training wheels away (they were actually broken) but once he got over that he gave it a good try and discovered that he could ride with no training wheels!! Below is the proof. They are very proud of themselves and should be. They did great!

Happy 4th of July

Despite the cool and rainy weather we had a great 4th! We went to Jim's parents acreage, ate hot dogs, watermelon, super yummy partriotic cupcake (made by chef Quinn) and lit small fireworks. As you can see from the pictures, Quinn made us all celebratory hats to wear, some with fireworks launching out the top and others with a flag with birthday candles on top. Very chic. :) There is a picture of Jim's mom holding a sparkler. She told me it was the 1st one she had ever held and she turned 75 this week. We love living close to family so we can experience little moments like this all the time. Happy 4th everyone!!!