First Place!

Alex had his first Academic Triathalon (AT) meet on Friday night in Pine Island. His team came home with the first place ribbon for the meet. I wasn't sure how long it was going to take to get Alex to come down from the ceiling, he was so excited!

Open Skate

Here are some pictures of the kids at Open Skate last weekend. Alex was great about helping Jordyn when she would fall.

Academic Team

Alex was asked by his Accelerated Studies teacher to be a part of the Academic Triathalon Team at school. This is a great opportunity for him to excel and learn more at school. They practice 2 days a week after school for 1 1/2 hours. Then, he will participate in 4 meets at other schools. I don't know a lot about it as this is new to us, but it sounds like there are several rounds to a meet. They have to answer questions, write essays and do what is called PARTY's. Don't ask me what it stands for as I can't remember, but it is a lot like putting in a short play.

This is very exciting as it is something new that Alex is getting in to. Hopefully he continues to have fun.

Update on Skating

Jordyn has now finished her 4 weeks of Intro to Hockey. Tomorrow she starts the "real" hockey season. Here we go!!!! At the last Intro to Hockey on Tuesday, Alex went out on the ice with Jordyn and Zach. They really liked having him there. Then Jenny, Alex's coach from last year, came to skate with Jordyn. Jordyn just loves to have Jenny around and was thrilled to skate with her. I think the only time Jordyn came off the ice was to change her helmet. After her ice time was done, it was time for Alex to go on for practice. Jordyn was so upset because she wanted to be on the ice more. She tried to sneak on the ice with all of Alex's teammates. Wouldn't that have been a shock for her!!!! Here is a picture that Jenny took of Jordyn that night. Thanks for the picture Jenny!!

And the Next One Starts

Well, we all knew it was going to happen sometime. Last night was Jordyn's first day of "hockey". There is a 4 week Intro to Hockey program that DCYH puts on. We decided to go ahead and put her on the ice and see if she liked it or not. She liked that we got to go early and watch Zach on the ice before her. They did the boys first and then the girls. They both looked so cute in their hockey gear. When it came time to go on the ice, one of the HS girls took her out and then she hung out with Joe (a friend's son who plays hockey). He was so patient with her and so good. She hung in there for about 30 of the 45 minutes and says she wants to go again next week! I wasn't sure how she would do. Normally, the kids are 4 when they start going on the ice. But we figured it was worth a shot seeing as she will be 4 in January. Like the bad mom, I totally forgot to take the camera. I will try to remember to take it next week and then post some pics.

Hayride

Yesterday one of the families from Alex's Cub Scout den invited all the scouts and their families to their family farm. We were taken on a wagon ride through the fields, had a fire with hotdogs and smores and played games. While on the wagon ride, we stopped by the stream and the kids walked through the water. Jordyn wanted to know why the cows weren't talking back to her when she said "hi" to them. It was nice to just get away and not worry about the basement for a few hours and spend family time together.

Chicago

Here are some pics from when Alex went to Chicago. He got to ride the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier with Brian.

They also went to the Lincoln Zoo.

Jordyn's First Day of School

Here is a picture of Jordyn and her first day of school. Other picture is of Jordyn and her cousin, Zach. I had a pretty little outfit picked out for her, but she was very adamant that she was going to wear her Twins shirt. So much for being a little girl:)

Time for school

Alex started school on Tuesday. It was a milestone for him as he changed schools this year. He is now at the Intermediate School in Mantorville. It is hard to believe that he is already in 5th grade!! He seems to like it and is adjusting to taking different buses to and from school and such. Now he has to really make sure he doesn't miss the bus as he isn't close enough to walk to school anymore.

Now that Alex isn't at the Elementary School anymore, Jordyn is. She is starting Preschool on Monday. She thinks it is pretty cool that she is going to "Brother's School". Last night we took her to meet her teacher, Mrs. Sara. She has a teachers helper, Mrs. Lisa. Jordyn wasn't too sure about school when we first got there, but she quickly found all the fun toys to play with. Now, we will just see how the first day goes.

Flying Solo

Alex had his first experience of flying by himself. He left on Thursday afternoon to go see his Uncle Brian in Chicago. Alex and Brian have always been close, so it was fun for Alex to be able to spend some one-on-one time with him this weekend.

The plane was supposed to leave at 5PM on Thursday from Rochester. We were told to be there 2 hours early for paperwork, ect since he was flying alone. Zach went with us so that he could see the planes. I am glad that we went early as we found out his flight was cancelled. So, he got on the 4PM flight and got to Chicago an hour early. Luckily Brian left for the airport early and was there when Alex landed. What an experience going through security! It is great that there is all this security, but it is a busy place. Between taking off our shoes and pulling out any liquids for them to see. Then, they had to hand search Alex's bag because they could see some wires. Turns out it was the power strip that Brian wanted that was throwing them off. But, we made it through and got Alex in the air.

It sounds like they had a lot of fun. They were able to get tickets to see the Cubs day game on Friday at Wrigley Field. Saturday they went to an Air and Water Show. Sunday they walked to Navy Pier and were able to ride the Ferris Wheel and play Mini Golf. They also walked to Buckingham Fountain and other places. When I get some pictures from Brian, I will post them.

Alex's flight home seemed uneventful. He got in about 15 minutes late, which is good in airline industries! He told me that he was able to meet the pilot and see the cockpit on the trip home. So, that was exciting for him. He is pretty tired out and just hanging around the house now. He is ready to go visit Brian again!

Water Logged

For those of you who don't live in SE MN, you probably don't know about the massive rain we have been getting. This past Saturday, it rained ALL DAY. And by all day, I mean all day! This was on top of a week of rain we have been getting. But, back to Saturday. It wasn't just a little drizzle or anything. There were several times it was very hard rain.

Shawn, Jordyn and I had gone to the Cities with Gma Mary and Gpa Ken. We were hoping to go to Como Zoo, but the rain said no to us. We ended up and went to the Mall of America. After a fun afternoon, I drove home in pouring rain. There was so much rain that there was nowhere for it to go. It wasn't a fun drive with some hydroplaining along the way.

So, we get up on Sunday to find that our carpeting in the basement is soaked. When you walked across it, your feet squished in the water. This was not what we had expected as our basement had never flooded before. So, we called in some help. Shawn's sister Michelle and our neighbors the Maxwell's came to help us out. CheyAnne took care of Jordyn, which in itself was very welcome. The rest of us got to work hauling everything upstairs. Then it was time for Shawn and I to put the Wet Vacs to use sucking up the water. We got most of it dried out some, but there is a long ways to go. We are going to need to replace the flooring in one room for sure and possibly in all three.

With more rain in the forecast, we can only hope that our basement doesn't get any worse!

But, having said all of that. I am just thankful we are still alive and not worse off. Just to the East of us, it is a very bad situation. They are having massive flooding and deaths.

He Shoots............He scores!

Today is Alex's last day of hockey camp. He did a camp in Rochester that is run by Doug Zmolek. Alex thought it was pretty cool to have an ex NHL player be his coach. Alex and 4 of his friends from Dodge County went together to the camp. I got to go watch the game yesterday (Thursday). It is amazing how much these kids have learned and how they have accelled. In the game on Tuesday, Alex got a goal!!! Unfortunately I had to miss it, but luckily Gpa Terry was there to see it, so that was exciting.

Finally a Tree House!

This past Sunday, Shawn's family came over to help out with working on Alex's tree house. This was a project that was started by Shawn and Alex before Shawn had his accident. There hasn't been much progress on it since then. We appreciate everyone pitching in to help out. It means a lot to us! Now Alex can get away from his pesky sister once in a while :) Here are some pictures of the work in progress.

Pictures

Here are a couple of pictures from Shawn's accident. After looking at these, it is very evident that someone was looking over him that day. You can see the picture of the hill shows all of the sheet metal that started out on the trailer. They say it was all thrown about 200 feet and spread out like a deck of cards.

Another Trip to the Dr after hours

Here we go again......last night while we were making supper, Alex told us that his head hurt. After looking at it, he had a wood tick stuck in his hair/scalp. We have been out to Nancy and Tim's land the night before, so we figure he must have brought a visitor home with him from there! Shawn tried to pull it out, but it wasn't budging. So, we left supper on the counter and took him to the Dr. We left home about 6:00 and Alex still managed to make his 7:15 baseball game in the middle of the 1st inning.

Update on Shawn

Well, Shawn had another appt with the Dr today. The plan right now is a "wait and see" plan. We are really hoping to not have to do surgery on his shoulder. The X-rays today looked promising as the bones don't look any worse than a couple of weeks ago. The Dr wants to see Shawn back in 3 weeks to see if there is any progress. If at that time, there doesn't seem to be any, then we would talk about doing surgery. In the meantime, Shawn has been given the "go ahead" to go back to work on light duty starting Monday.

Cub Scouts

Alex had his Space Derby races for Cub Scouts. The boys sand down and paint the space ships. Then they put rubber bands inside the space ship to help make it go. At the race, the boys wind up the rubber bands several times and put the space ship on a piece of string and let it go. Alex took 2nd place in his den!!!

Stitches says Bye-Bye

Shawn was able to get his stitches taken out of his head on Friday afternoon. Jordyn was a little sad to see them go. Everytime she looked at Shawn in the hospital, she had to tell him that he had a "spider" on his head. She thought the stitches looked like spider legs. So, we named them "stitches the spider". On Friday morning before she went to daycare, Jordyn had to say "bye" to Stitches!

On Thursday Shawn goes to get x-rays of his shoulder and see the Ortho Dr's. Hopefully they will be able to tell us what kind of time table we have to look forward to.

If Heather has to see the ER again......

She will go crazy! Tuesday night Jordyn was running around the house with a friend of hers. She fell and hit her head on the corner of the wall. So, off to the ER Heather goes again! Jordyn was such a trooper and was so brave. The Dr's ended up putting 3 staples in the back of her head. Poor girl!! Those will get taken out tomorrow afternoon.

Update

Shawn got home from the hospital Sunday afternoon. He is finding muscles that he never knew existed. He ended up with a broken collar bone, broken shoulder blade, cuts on this horehead and little cuts all over.

He will be off work for a while. We won't know more until Friday when he has a follow up Dr appt and gets his stitches out, ect.

Heather is working shorter hours during the day so that she can be at home more with Shawn as he needs it.

It sounds like the truck is not coming home....they are going to bury it in Worthington. There are pictures of the truck that other drivers took, but we haven't seen them yet.

We just thank God that he decided to keep Shawn here with us longer.

Good News

The Dr's have cleared Shawn to go home today. He has been getting up and walking a bit and actually took a shower today. That was a tiring ordeal for him. We are just waiting for the final OK and paperwork before we take him home.

He will be pretty wore out and sore for a while, but we are just thankful that he is ok and still here with us.

I am sure he would love to get cards, ect....

Not a Good Friday

As some of you already know, yesterday wasn't a good day in our family. When Shawn was out making his delivery for the day (he drives semi for McNeilus Steel), he took a sharp exit and his truck rolled. They figure he rolled 2-3 times. He was carrying sheet metal and they say it spread out like a deck of cards.

Shawn has a broken collarbone, some cuts on his forehead and is pretty well banged up. We are just thanking God that he isn't hurt worse than that. Thanksfully, Shawn always wears his seat belt. I didn't see the truck or anything as he was in SW Minnesota (Worthington). They decided to transport him back to Rochester before we could get to Worthington. It sounds like the truck is smashed beyond recognition.

Today (Saturday) is his 30th Birthday....what a way to spend it! Right now he is in St Marys hospital in Rochester. We are waiting to hear from the Dr's this morning to find out how long he will be there and what all needs to be done to his collar bone and shoulder blade.

Please keep Shawn in your prayers as he goes through this tough time.

The time has come....

The message has come along that Heather's first date at her new job is going to be next Monday, may 7th. She is looking forward to it, but is also a little nervous.

On the Move

Heather got offered a new job yesterday and accepted it. So, she will be moving from the Downtown location of the Credit Union to the St Marys office to become a Member Service Rep. She will have her own office, work better hours and work half as many Saturdays. That will be nice for all the busy family life that we have. It is going to be tough for her to leave her friends she has made downtown, but hopefully we can all stay in touch:)

We aren't sure when the actual move date is yet, but probably the first part of May.

Jordyn

Jordyn just turned 3 in January and boy is she a bundle of energy! She is pretty excited right now as the Easter Bunny just came this past weekend and left her a new bike. So, she has been exploring the new world of riding a bike and not to peddle backwards (that this will stop you). Once I get a picture downloaded of her on her new bike, I will add it. For now all I have is a picture of her from last Fall.

Alex

Boy, where do we start with what all is up with Alex. He just turned 10 and is very active, as I am sure most 10 year old boys are. He just finished up his first season playing Squirt Hockey. This means that he played real games and we did a lot of travelling to and from games. It was a lot of fun. This year was special in that Alex had a teammate that was from Canada. Keaton is only here for one year unfortunately as we because friends with his family. Shawn was one of his coaches, so that was extra special for Alex. The whole team had fun during the season and learned a lot.

Now, Alex is playing hockey in a Showcase League. It is a team from Dodge County that plays together for games in the Twin Cities area. They normally play 2 games a weekend (luckily they are both on the same day!). The season is a short one and about half done. So far the team is 4-0 and on a roll.

He is also playing "fun" games on Monday nights in a 3 on 3 league right in Kasson. This is a way for him to improve his skating, but not realizing he is doing it.

Just Starting UP

Hey there! We have heard some about blogging, but don't know much about it. So, we are going to try and see what we can do. Shawn's sister, Nancy, is the one that has gotten us thinking about this. So, I guess we have her to thank for it.

As so many families are, we are so busy it is hard to keep up with everyone with what is going on in our lives. So, hopefully this way we can update this blog site and keep everyone up to date.

Let us know what is going on in your lives, too

Shawn, Heather, Alex and Jordyn