Roller Coaster Ride

It's been such a roller coaster ride the past few days. On Wednesday night, I took Holiday to the vet to have her bandages removed. The vet said her wound was still bleeding so Holiday would need stitches. The vet wrapped her back up and I took her home.
On Thursday morning, I dropped her off at the vet in the morning to have her stitches done. I picked her up that evening and she seemed to be doing well. We left the house for about an hour and a half to have a video conference with Jason on base (yay!). When we got home, I noticed Holiday had managed to get herself out of her bandages. I called the vet and she said to come right over and she would fix the bandages. The office was closing, but they waited for us to get there.

Everything seemed to be fine this morning, but I was worried about leaving the house for a full day. After work, I took Zachary to church for a soccer assessment. He wanted to sign up for soccer through the church's sports league. Today was assessment day. He got measured for his uniform and ran through a few drills to see what his skills are. They want to be sure to make the teams as even as possible as far as skills go. He will start practice at the end of March and his first game will be on April 12. We got lucky and will get a refund for more than 50% of the cost because Jason is deployed.
When I got home, I was happy to see that Holiday's bandages were still on. But...what I did notice, was that her ear was bleeding. I called the vet again and we headed back. This time we got some good news. Holiday's stitches were fine. The blood was from the cone rubbing against her skin. The vet said she would be fine without the cone and the bandages. I hope we don't have to make another trip back before March 15, when her stitches will come out.

Poor Holiday

Last night, we made our second trip to the emergency vet in one week. Holiday got scratched by Maddie. I didn't actually see it, so I can only assume that's what happened. She's been provoking the cats since the beginning. It was only a matter of time...
At first I couldn't tell where the scratch was. I was just freaked out by the amount of blood everywhere! Finally I was able to find the cut on her ear and cover it with a large bandage. By the time I cleaned up and shampooed the carpet (at 11pm), Holiday had taken the bandage off. I kept trying to replace the bandages, but she kept pulling them right off. When I finally ran out of anything that could possibly be used to stop the bleeding, I decided it was time to wake up the kids and make the trip to the emergency vet (at 12am).
The vet tried surgical glue first and that failed several times. She then wrapped her entire head with a bandage and put a cone around her head. She said the worst case scenario would be stitches (plus blood tests, anesthesia, medication, etc)...$850 later. I was hopeful that the bandages would work and we could avoid stitches. We finally got home around 2:30 am and got very little sleep before we had to start our day.
I took Holiday to our vet this afternoon, hoping the bandages would be removed and we would go back to our normal routine. Unfortunately, the wound is still bleeding and needs stitches to heal. I will drop her off at the vet in the morning for the procedure.
Poor girl (even though she asked for it)!

Beads of Courage

Tonight for Kailani's Brownie meeting, I arranged for the girls to make strength bracelets for the children's hospital through the Beads of Courage program (http://www.beadsofcourage.org/pages/beadsofcourage.htm). The girls each made two bracelets; one for themselves and one for a child in the children's hospital. They were able to write a little message to send along with the bracelets. The girls had a great time making the bracelets and learned more about giving back.

Remembering Gabby

Kailani has been taking the loss of Gabby very hard. Gabby slept next to her every night in bed. Kailani found a stuffed animal that she now carries everywhere with her. She calls the stuffed animal, Gabby.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Gabby:)

Cartwheel-a-thon

Today Kailani participated in the cartwheel-a-thon at the YMCA. She didn't collect pledges from people, but I donated $25 so she could get a t-shirt. The money raised through the cartwheel-a-thon helps support families who need financial assistance.
They separated the kids into groups and each group had 10 minutes to do as many cartwheels as they could. In between each group, the girls in the higher-level classes did demonstrations on the bars, beam, and floor. Kailani said she did 200 cartwheels!
After the event, the kids had about 45 minutes of free gym. They could use any of the equipment they wanted to. Zachary spent the whole time jumping on the trampoline into the ball pit. Kailani made her way around the bars, beam, and foam pit.

Gabby - Always in our Hearts

Gabby has been sick for several months now with kidney disease. We knew there was nothing that could cure the disease, but it could be kept under control with proper care. I thought Gabby was doing fine with the change in diet and medication she was on, but she had lost a lot of weight during that time. She stopped eating this week and mostly hid under the bed. Last night after we got home from our meeting, she looked like she was in a lot of pain. I decided to take her in to the Pet Emergency Center. The doctor said she was very sick. She was only 6.8 pounds (at one point had been up to 14), severely dehydrated, and lethargic. Unfortunately, I decided we had to say good bye to her:( It was a very difficult decision to make, especially without Jason, but I think it was the best thing to do for Gabby. The vet is going to make a clay paw print and send that to us.
Gabby was the first pet Jason and I got together. She was almost 10 years old and I will treasure the time we got to spend with her. We already miss her very much!

 

With you all the way!

Tonight we attended an FRG meeting. The kids were given free gifts from the USO...a kit with a bear, movie, and journal to help kids through deployments. Here the kids are posing with theirs:)

Real Pirates at the NAT

Today we hung out with some friends at Balboa Park. We ate lunch by the koi pond and then headed to the Natural History Museum. Today was the monthly family days activity and it was pirate-themed. The kids enjoyed making pirate crafts and participating in pirate activities. They learned about the value of spices and each made their very own spice jar.
In addition, a new exhibit just opened at the museum called "Real Pirates." The exhibit showcased items found in the wreckage of the sunken pirate ship The Wydah. Apparently the pirate treasure we saw in the exhibit is the only real pirate treasure ever found. Surprisingly it was not a chest filled with gold doubloons. The pirate treasure was silver and not perfectly circular like a coin. Unfortunately, we were unable to take pictures in the Real Pirates exhibit.

Valentine's Day

We had a great day today! Kailani and I were both off from school. Zachary went to school and celebrated Valentine's Day with a party and Valentine exchange. I forgot to take a picture of the kids in their Valentine shirts:(
Kailani did a booth sale at the Miramar Exchange. The sales started out slow, but the girls ended up with 68 boxes and 5 Operation Thin Mint donations.
Zachary had karate today. I think the holiday/day off affected attendance. He was the only one in the class for about 15 minutes. After that, only about 3 more kids (out of 20) showed up.
Tonight we went to see the Harlem Globetrotters. The kids enjoyed the show and were able to get some autographs after the show.

Jump Rope for Heart

Today Kailani had her Jump Rope for Heart event at school. I love being able to go see all of the activities at school. Kailani had a great time and raised $100 for the American Heart Association.

Mi Familia

Zachary's representation of "mi familia."

Valentines

Tonight the kids finished up their Valentine cards. Zachary made little goodie bags and Kailani made maze cards. Kailani also signed 57 additional cards for the kids at the YMCA. Kailani's party is on Thursday and Zachary's is on Friday.

Mini Mermaid and Fairytale Fondue

Today was such a busy day! We started off with the Mermaid 5K at 7am. Kailani and I ran/walked the 5K with Zachary in the stroller. After we finished, we hung around and watched all of the people who ran the half marathon cross the finish line. It is such an emotional experience for a lot of people! There was one girl whose legs would just not work anymore. She couldn't get up to finish the race so two bystanders carried her across the finish line. It is such an amazing accomplishment and I hope that I can have that experience one day. After the half marathon, they started the Mini Mermaid, which was a 1.5 mile race for girls ages 6-12. Kailani ran the mini mermaid:) All three of us got a finisher's medal for the 5K, which was a necklace that says "Run Beautiful." It was different to receive a necklace instead of a medal, but really nice. Kailani got a different necklace for finishing the girls' race. Hers says "Mermaid Athlete." Our next race will be on March 1.

I surprised the kids with lunch at The Melting Pot. I had only been there once before and the kids had never been there before. They were having a special event, Fairytale Fondue, where the kids got to have a princess/prince event for Valentine's Day. When we arrived, they gave Kailani a tiara and Zachary a crown and sword. Each of the kids got boxes of chocolate covered strawberries too. While we were waiting for our table, the kids got to go back into the kitchen and see what goes on back there. We had a three-course meal: cheese fondue appetizer; chicken, steak, and shrimp for the main course; and white chocolate fondue for dessert. Cinderella walked around visiting with the families and she signed pictures for the kids. She taught the kids a dance. It was such a nice event and the kids enjoyed it. They will be doing another event like this for Easter. 

After lunch, we stopped by a friend's house for a "we bought a house" celebration. The kids enjoyed playing with each other and I enjoyed time with other adults.
On the way home we stopped to pick up Kailani's glasses. She has been having headaches for a while now and the outcome of a recent ER visit was a referral to an optometrist. She is a bit far-sighted, but doesn't need glasses all the time. The doctor prescribed Kailani reading glasses. We will see if those make a difference. She picked out a cool blue frame!