Emma's graduation

Yikes, life has been busy, havent been able to sit and blog for awhile. Summer is off to a busy start. We have been working on our garden area and have it looking really good with a heavy duty ground cover and raised garden beds. Unfortunately, this is all done too late to plant anything, so next year we will have a great garden! Ken is doing fabulous!! He had his last frequent check up with the pediatric cardiologist and won't need to follow up with them again until next year. He continues on a daily aspirin and will have to do that indefinately. BUT all his test were good, although his left coronary artery is still mildly enlarged.

Here he is being his silly self. And below is a picture of the kids with a fun snack we made; potato mice.

Here's a funny video of Ken's "mad face."

Emma is also doing good. She graduated from the Little Country Preschool the end of May. She is so excited to start kindergarten in the fall. Here in Kittitas the kinder kids go all day, 5 days a week.

The little graduate.

Emma's graduation.

Emma and her BFF Maddie.


And with her teacher Mrs. Haberman.

And here's our silly boy getting ready to go to Emma's graduation. Then poor little Emma had to have her tonsils out the beginning of June. She was having trouble with snoring at night and not getting enough oxygen while she sleeps. Here is my brave girl getting ready to go back for surgery.

Sweet little thing.


And here is what Mr Ken was doing while he was waiting for his sister to come home.

They're a couple of little comedians.

Don't worry, we don't encourage him to climb into the dryer:) That's our excitement for now, we have just got back from a vacation to California. When I have some more time I will post about that.

Emma's birthday week.

Happy spring all! Just this week the weather has turned warm, it's been so nice:) Emma had her 5th birthday on April the 13th. It actually turned out to be a "birthday week." On Monday she had her preschool birthday party at school. Grandma helped her with her snack for the day, they made farm animal cupcakes (it was also farm week at school), the cupcakes were a big hit with the kids.

Then on Tuesday, I took Emma to the Great Wolf Lodge by Centralia, WA. Just us two girls! We stopped at the outlet mall in North Bend on the way there and did some shopping. The lodge was great, Emma and I had a very fun time. They have a huge indoor water park with water slides and a wave pool. We got back home on Thursday. We spent the rest of the week getting ready for her birthday party on Saturday.

Here are the kids decked out in their party gear.

Emma and I getting ready for the big day.

Ken having a pre-party snack.

Mommy, when will my guests be here?
The party was a huge success! We had so many great kids and friends show up; everyone seemed to have a good time!


Scooby doo was the theme.



Here is Emma blowing her candles out.


And opening her presents with some of her friends watching.


Here is Emma and cousin Elly playing outside.

Lil Ken got all tuckered out from partying so hard! He fell asleep in his swing. The next few months will be spent getting the yard and garden ready for this summer. The kids love to play outside while I work in the flower beds. We have a trip planned to visit some family in San Francisco in June and are all looking forward to that, it should be fun. Then it will be time to break out the camping gear:)

Happy Easter 2010

Hello all! Here are some new pictures of the kids, some of them from Easter. Ken is doing great! He still has some peeling of his hands and feet and I think the stress of the illness has caused his eczema to flare up, but overall he is back to himself. Emma had an easter egg hunt at school the other day, it was also her snack day. See picture below of snack. The school kids had to hunt the eggs indoors because it was snowing that day! Snow in April!! Crazy!! I'm not sure I buy into this global warming:) We did our egg hunt at home in the house too because the easter bunny (aka - mommy) didn't want to freeze her bum off at 6am out in the cold. Emma only has 2 more months of preschool left, then off to kindergarten this fall! They grow so fast! Emma will turn 5 in April. I decided she has enough "stuff" so I'm taking her away for a "girls only" trip, just her and I. We are going to the Great Wolf Lodge, by Centralia, WA, they have a huge indoor water park and other activities for kids. It should be fun. Ken is also growing very fast, it's fun to watch him learn new things. He does this cute little pout and growl noise now when he doesn't get his way:) He is sure talking a lot now too. Hope this spring see's everyone in good health and doing well. Take care!

Ken helping Emma with her preschool snack.

Peeps on rice crispie treat nests, sitting on

jellybean eggs.

Little Ken napping.

Dyeing easter eggs with Grandma.

Emma with the finished products.

Hunting easter eggs in the house.

Ken's "mad face."

Ken in his Easter attire.

Emma in her Easter attire.

The kids in the Easter outfits.

Kawasaki Disease

As many of you may already know, Ken was hospitalized at Children's Hospital in Seattle this week. We just got home today. Last week Ken got a fever and a rash, he was seen in the ER here in Ellensburg and at his family dr, he tested negative for strep throat and they thought he just had a virus. On day 5, he still had a fever, rash, no appetite, red/swollen eyes, puffy hands and was irritable and fussy. I took him back to his family doctor and he referred me to a pediatrician in town. She was suspicious that he had a condition called "Kawasaki's disease," and called a specialist at Children's hospital to talk with them about it. After a few more blood tests in Ellensburg, we got the call that we needed to go up to Children's that night. Here is a picture of Ken the day we went up to Seattle.

A very sad and sick looking little boy. My mom and Emma drove up with us and we arrived at Children's around 11:30pm on Monday night and he was worked up in the ER. He got more blood tests, an IV, he had to have a catheter to get a urine sample and he had an EKG. At around 9am on Tuesday we were taken upstairs and admitted to a room on the medical ward where the team of doctors there assessed Ken.

Dr Feldman (the head doctor) was skeptical that Ken had Kawasaki's disease and ordered an echocardiogram. The echo showed an enlarged coronary artery that goes into the left side of the heart. Our team of doctors met with a cardiologist after the echo and it was decided that Ken probably has Kawasaki's Disease. This is an illness that young children, usually younger than 5 can get. They don't know what causes it and it can last from 2 weeks to a few months. There is no "test" to diagnose it, but a diagnosis is made when doctors see certain symptoms. Kawasaki's can cause swelling and inflammation of the small blood vessels in the body and can affect the vessels in the heart, which can be very serious. That is why an echocardiogram was done. The good news was although one of his coronary arteries was enlarged, there were no aneyurisms found, which can also happen with Kawasaki's and is even more serious. Ken was treated with a medicine called IVIG (intravenous immune globulin). It was given into his IV overnight to treat the inflammation that was all over his little body. He was also started on high dose aspirin, also to treat inflammation. The next morning he was looking so much better already!

Emma helped her little brother feel at home in his hospital bed. Ken was also started in a research study for a medication that is being studied as a treatment for Kawasaki's. About 20% of kids don't respond to the IVIG medication, but this new medication brings it down to about 5% with little side effects. Since it's still in a research study only half of the kids in the study will actually get the medicine, the other half get a placebo. Wednesday Ken was just under observation, to make sure he was getting better and not having any reactions to the medications. He had a good morning, but vomited a few times in the late afternoon, was fussy again and had a fever. He got a dose of Tylenol and the fever went away and stayed away all night. Thursday morning my boy was back to his spunky self. Smiling, playful, hungry and just looked so much better! Here he is in the window sill trying to push some buttons.

Emma was happy to be coming home too. Ken will continue on a lower dose of aspirin for 6-8 weeks. He will also need to be followed up by the pediatric cardiologist and need repeat echocardiograms in 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 1 year, then probably every 3-5 years. But he seems to be back to himself tonight, so we are very happy about that. I couldn't have been happier with the care we recieved through this whole process. He was diagnosed early on and started on treatment before his heart was damaged. Our doctors here in Ellensburg knew when things were not going right and referred us on to a higher level of care before he got sicker. The doctors at Children's were all just great also. We had lots of support from friends and family which helped a lot; just to know that people were thinking of us and praying for our little guy!

Just a few new pics.

Just a short blog today so I can post some new pictures. Ken has been sick the last 5 days or so. Fever, rash, cough and just feeling icky; poor guy. We have been to the ER and the Drs office, both did a strep test and both were negative, so they think it's just a virus. Hopefully he is better soon. Emma is great. Her preschool had a fieldtrip to the fire department yesterday, she had a blast there. She will miss school when it's out for the summer! Well, gotta go fix the kids some lunch. Take care, hope you all like the pictures.

He's a climber!

My pretty girl.

Mmm, chocolate.

What a ham.

My sick little boy, chillin on the couch.

A busy winter!

Today is day 2 of being a Mac owner and I have to say, I'm very pleased. I should have thrown the PC out a long time ago. The new computer has been easier to figure out than I thought it would be. I'm having lots of fun with it! Hope everyone's winter has been good. We have been busy as always. The garage is up and I'm so glad I don't have to park in the mud anymore! I've cleaned both kids closets out and put extra stuff out in the garage for storage. Emma is busy with preschool 3 mornings a week, gymnastics 1 day a week and the past month her and Ken have been taking swim lessons 2 days a week. Whew, I'm busy being a mom! Still working 2 shifts a week at the hospital in labor and delivery, I love my job, it's a lot of fun. Emma recently had a snack day at preschool, they were studying President's, so we made Abe Lincoln top hats out of rolo candies and chocolate cookies and an Abe Lincoln log cabin with carrot and celery sticks. Emma even memorized a short report about our 16th President and recited it for her class. She did a great job, such a bright little girl. I sign her up for Kindergarten next week. I can't believe she is going to be 5 years old already; time flys! Here in Kittitas, the kids go to all-day Kindergarten. Little Ken will be lost, as he asks me repeatedly where she is when she's at pre school for only 3 hours. Ken is doing very good. He's a crazy little boy, very rough and tumble, but always the comedian! Get's away with too much already with his cute little grin! The animals are all well too. Chickens are still laying lots of eggs! The weather is starting to warm up, so we will have a busy spring getting the yard and garden area cleaned up and ready to go. Well, better go for now. Jacki.

Emma in an igloo.

Silly little guy.

Abraham Lincoln snack day.

Smiley boy.

Just having fun.

Sleepy head.

Such a comedian.

Ken and mommy.

Emma and mommy.

Pretty girl.