Wordless Wednesday: Flower Girl

More Hospital Pics

Laurel Festival

On Saturday, June 19, we went to the Laurel Festival in my hometown of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. At 2:00 we watched the parade (which had NO clowns or horses-what kind of a parade is that!). The kids really enjoyed getting lots of candy.

Taylor enjoyed watching with her cousin, Aiden.

Here is a float with Smokey Bear. I thought Taylor would enjoy getting her picture taken with him-I was wrong.

Jordan insisted that he get his face painted when we went to the green for the arts/crafts fair. He soon found out that facepaint and a 90 degree day do not work out well. He was very itchy.

Surgery Results

Taylor's surgery went well. It started around 8:30 and we were taken to see her around 11:00. She was agitated when she started coming out of anethesia because she couldn't find a comfortable position to lay in.
When we got to her room where she was going to spend the night, she had some apple juice, but it didn't stay down. After a long nap, she decided that she wanted to eat some supper, but that didn't stay down either. After a dose of Zophran in her IV, she kept down some crakers and ginger ale and fell asleep for the night.
I stayed at the hospital and did NOT get a good night's rest. Her IV thing dinged twice in the night and I had to buzz for the nurse. Of course the nurses came in several times during the night and I tried to sleep through them. The chair/bed was really not comfortable. I am not sure how parents do it who have to stay for long periods of time with their children in the hospital.
On Friday when Taylor woke up, she was definitely back to her normal self. I don't think that she has stopped talking since she woke up. She is sure a tough one. Other that the anethesia and one dose of Tylenol at 2:30 on Thursday-she had NO pain meds. I am not sure that I could have brain surgery and not have any medication for several days afterword.
Here is Taylor doing her "I am so glad to have these stupid IVs out of my feet" dance.

Taylor's Surgery Tomorrow

Taylor will have surgery tomorrow to remove the encephalocele on the back of her head. This was one of her special needs (the other is cleft lip) which allowed us to adopt her from China. In the sack on the back of her head she has some brain which is dead.

She has to report to admissions at Hershey Medical Center at 7:00 in the morning. We were hoping it would be early because she is not allowed to eat/drink anything after 12:00 tonight. Her surgeon, Dr. Dias, is a great surgeon so we are praying it will go well. She is probably get to go home without spending the night if she is doing well.

Please pray that there are no complications and for speedy healing.

Stefan's Award

Last Monday we traveled to State College for Stefan's work conference. At night we went to Beaver Stadium to the award's banquet. Stefan received the Ted Moses High Hat Award. Here is a description of the award from the PWEA website:

Description
The High Hat Award is given by the PWEA in honor of Ted Moses, the first Secretary of the Association. This is a service award given to members who have distinguished themselves while working to promote the Association and its programs. The original High Hat, purchased in a Philadelphia pawnshop in 1935, is the Association's most prized and priceless possession. The names of past recipients are lettered upon the hat, and the annual ceremony accompanying the presentation of this award has become a tradition at the PWEA Annual Awards Banquet. Because the original high hat had no additional space for award recipient's names, Ned and Marti Sams purchased another high hat. The Sams' have graciously donated this second hat to the Association so that the names of future award recipients will also appear on a High Hat.
Award Criteria
Recipients should be a current PWEA member in good standing who have distinguished themselves through the promotion of the Association and its programs. Typically, 4 (four) High Hats are awarded. One from each of the three Sections and one At-Large. A WEF Representative attending the Awards Banquet should generally also be awarded as the Awards Committee deems appropriate.

We had a fun spending time with Stefan and meeting some of the people he works with. Taylor and Jordan were a hit on Monday when we visited all the displays from the vendors.

I Love Strawberries!

I love strawberry season. We do have some strawberries growing behind our shed and next to our house however we mainly just eat those as we pick them. I like to freeze strawberries to use to make jam for PB &J sandwiches, so I usually pick strawberries every year. Last year Jordan and I went and picked them (in the blazing hot sun) without Stefan. This year I asked Stefan if he would go with Jordan while I went to yard sales with Taylor (we wouldn't have had anything to do with her if both of us went picking.) On Saturday morning Stefan and Jordan went to pick and came back with some awesome berries. I love the place that we pick our berries because the type of berries they grow there have hulls that stick out of the top of the berries so they are easy to hull.

I do have to say that it is much better hulling the strawberries when you didn't already spend several hours in the hot sun picking them that morning.

I made a batch of freezer jam, froze smashed berries in portion sizes for future batches of jam, and kept some for us to eat-especially my two little strawberry lovers.