Final Four Weekend

Jacob's tourney picks continue to be well-played. Going into today's games, he remains in the 97th percentile for ESPN.com. He's got UK vs. KU in the final with UK winning, so he's positioned to be in the 100th percentile as many are predicting just that to occur.

Janie Loves the Grass

We've quickly learned this Spring that Janie loves to sit in the grass in the backyard. The problem is that the grass is growing so quickly that we're afraid we might lose her back there!

Thanks to gorgeous warm days and plenty of rain, the yard could be mowed every 4th day right now and the results would be obvious!

Cousins at the Pond

On a beautiful Spring Day in Greensboro, a visit to a local pond was in order.

Bottoms Up!

Janie was sure to identify herself during her nap!

Children's Museum Fun

The girls recently had fun at the Children's Museum...

The Fort

While new technology yields greater distractions, children still cannot resist the allure of a good fort built of couch cushions, blankets and pillows. Some things never change!

(Jensen had pink-eye when this photo got snapped.)

Tourney Picks Update

Kudos to Jennifer...She correctly selected 11 of the Sweet 16 teams including going 4 for 4 in the Midwest Region...yes, she selected Ohio (Taylor University alum is the head coach) and NC State (the sentimental local pick...although they've been playing good ball for weeks). If Jennifer were entered on ESPN.com, she'd be in the 96th percentile...impressive!

Jacob has 10 Sweet 16 picks correctly made. He too predicted the UNC/Ohio match-up coming later this week. Jacob's picks through 2 rounds would have him still in the 99th percentile on ESPN.com. Wow!

Jacob's Tourney Picks Update

Not quite as good a day for Jacob's picks, but with two #2 seeds falling not many fans had a stellar day! Nevertheless, Jacob still had another impressive showing by going 12/16 leaving him in the 100th percentile on ESPN.com. Naturally, he had Missouri and Duke winning. He also had selected Memphis and Temple. His choices of Purdue, Ohio, Xavier, and NC State proved to be prudent.

On another note, we're thinking Jensen was one of the few that had picked Lehigh and Norfolk St. to both win!

Jacob's Picks

Got to hand it to the boy...he went 15 for 16 yesterday with his picks on Day 1 of the tourney. But for "Linsanity" the last few weeks he probably would have gone 16 for 16. He got swept up in the Harvard basketball phenomenon and took them over Vandy. Otherwise, he nailed it! It puts him in the 99.8 percentile on ESPN. (Guess I shouldn't have snickered at a couple of his picks!)

Jacob's Birthday Party Recap

All set for the party...


It was a beautiful March 3rd after rain/wind had been in the forecast...

Game Face...

Carter around the edge...

The Giants would fear this squad...

"Happy Birthday to you"...

Time for basketball...

Janie looks on...

She enjoyed having all these sweet boys at the house...

Birthday pie with the Millers...

Jacob's Birthday Recap

Here's a summary of Jacob's big day turning 7...

The annual early-morning phone call from Granny...

Serving rice crispy treats to his class at school...


Open-gym at gymnastics with Jensen...

Dinner at Subway (his choice!)..."Eat Fresh"

Ice cream at Coldstone...

Opening gifts...(Uncle Aaron and Aunt Jessie continue a Huitsing tradition of a shirt with age on front and name on back...in Bulls colors naturally)

Jensen reads to Janie

After waking up from her nap, Jensen thought Janie needed a story...

Final 4 Pics

The oldest four in our home filled out brackets for the NCAA tourney tonight...

Jennifer - she may be a Southern gal but she's a Midwesterner at heart

Indiana
Missouri
Kansas
Wisconsin

Jacob - liked his style...went with 2 safe picks, took the necessary gamble on a sleeper that you need to win it all and went counter-intuitive by going with Syracuse when many will drop them early in light of a top player being suspended. (not sure he thought of it that way but it sounds good.)

Kentucky
Murray St.
Syracuse
Kansas

Jensen - went exactly as expected...no rhyme or reason. Pics were made for odd reasons. She knew immediately to pick Lehigh over Duke, picked Temple several rounds because Jesus hung out at the Temple, no #1 seed advanced past their first game, picked IU to keep Daddy happy and has Davidson winning it all because some friends have the last name...Davidson. 3 NC schools in the Final 4 but no UNC!

Lehigh
Davidson
UNC-Asheville
NC State

Jason - completely boring

Kentucky
Michigan St.
UNC
Ohio St.

JG at Gymnastics

Janie enjoyed the open house at the gym too. She was all over the different mats and liked the floor.

Jensen at Gymnastics

Here are some pictures of Jensen at gymnastics during a recent "open gym"...

Jensen Medical Update

At the end of February, we asked for prayer for Jensen's medical procedure that was necessary in order to have polyps removed. Well, we are thrilled to let you know that the results of the testing done on Jensen’s polyps indicate that they were benign. Given the quantity she had, she’s certainly at risk for having them again in the future, but we’ll take benign polyps over some of the alternatives. Thanks for your prayers.

A Wild Bird in the House!

Tube Free!

As of this morning, Janie no longer has a feeding tube of any sort! We're certainly grateful for the lifesaving help her feeding tubes have provided and now we're thankful they are no more. As we've shared before, we have not used her feeding tube for nutritional purposes in more than 6 months, so it had become unnecessary. The medicine we'd been running through the tube can be done orally.

We need for the hole to heal up naturally over the next week so that another procedure isn't necessary in order to seal her stomach/skin.

I'm not going to suggest that we've lived in constant fear of needing to make an unexpected trip to the ER to have her tube fixed/replaced as we did 4x when her feeding tube was in her nose. (The fact it's been in for 6+ months without a hiccup is remarkable.) However, we've grown accustom to feeling her belly each time we pick up her up in the morning to make sure it's in place. We've been careful when we hold her and ask others to watch where they place their hands. Janie has rarely worn shirts that could allow her fingers unabated access to the tube. When we've left her with a babysitter, family member or friend, the concern that it come out on their watch has been top-of-mind (not that it would have been their fault). For the first time, Jensen can squeeze Janie where ever she wants to! Janie can now crawl over an obstacle without a nervous thought that she's going to snag her tube and dislocate it. Therefore, having this out is a breath of fresh air for all of us and a significant step down the road of greater independence. Oddly, we got this same breath of fresh air 13.5 months ago when Janie first got a feeding tube. At the time, we got relief from the round-the-clock force-feeding we were attempting. It's amazing the difference a year can make!!

Cousins

Jacob & Jensen got to spend some time with cousin Miller on Monday.

JG Pics

Janie is loving bath time now that she doesn't have to sit in a supportive seat any longer and has the freedom to move around and splash.



We see her interacting with different toys nearly everyday.


Everything goes into the mouth!

Today, Janie was playing the sun room while Jennifer stepped into the kitchen. Moments later, Janie was in the family room standing next to the fireplace having pulled up on the hearth attempting to reach a toy. That was a first!

Happy 7th Birthday Jacob!

True to form, Jacob wanted to calculate how many hours he's been alive this morning at breakfast...61,322 to be exact. He found that to be facinating.

Here are pictures from each year since 2005 including a current one...

Potholder Princess

Jensen has begun to make potholders. She finished her second the other night. Surprisingly, it took only about an hour to have it ready for removal from the loom. Her little fingers were moving much quicker than mine ever did/will (she doesn't use the wand with the hook to pull the band through). Of the 20 or so bands that were woven, she probably only had to redo about 3 or 4 of them. I couldn't believe it!

Jennifer and I both made these as kids as did some of our parents when they were kids. I recall there being a time in late elementary school where I think my grandmothers got one each Christmas and birthday for about 5 consecutive years!

Jensen whispered to me that she wanted to give it to mommy for her birthday (in September). I told her we could make another one when September approaches. Last I heard, she was planning to give this one to her gymnastics coach.

Janie's Drivin'

Watch out! Janie has taken over the steering wheel. Jensen had just as much fun being the engine.