Things to remember

Katie on counting to eleven, "I'll have to use my nose."

On our bike ride, Sam lost a pedal and we had to walk home about two miles.

The grill is up and operational after about 1.5 years of disuse and two moves. It only took two SOS pads and about ten minutes to clean the grate.

The Kernels are a feeder team to the LA Angels and the coach/manager was ejected from the game for arguing with the ref.

If you play with water balloons - odds are you will end up wet.

Sam lost his 7th tooth.

We met our new neighbors that live behind us. Erisa, should be easy to remember :) They have two children, Sammy, age 4, and Emir, age 1. Debating the fun of having a third child...again. At some point, my age will prevent this debate.

Sam and Kate love to play with the magnext and they are a source of endless entertainment.

Our garage will be clean and organized by the end of the day!

Huge storms. Knocked over the basketball pole.

Sam's Birthday Party - Sam is turning 7 Here is the proof.

A Met's fan through and through....Happy Birthday Sam.


















Group photo of the party at Guthridge Park.

A visit from three skis & Summer baseball

Tracy, Riley and Jack


















Riley, Jack and Kate


This weekend we had a visit from my friend Tracy and her two children, Jack and Riley. Tracy and I went to UW together and have been friends since we were 18. That's 17 years of friendship and my the things we've seen and done together! Heart break, heart ache, turning 21, drinking, partying, studying, carousing, getting in trouble, staying up late, crying, living together, being neighbors, standing up in weddings, serving as godparents, drinking wine, going out to dinner/lunch, laughing, watching movies, eating ice cream, working, cleaning, walking, playing tennis, talking on the phone, visiting each other, sending email, turning 30, finding out about babies, you name it, we've done it all and probably seen it all :)

This was our first time together overnight those with all four of our chidren together. What a special time and a new course of memories to make. We don't see each other often, but we keep in touch often and we'll be friends until we are old and gray.

Riley and Kate played together fabulously. They really were self entertained, which is good, as having a one year old baby in a house that is not child proof, requires the attention of at least one adult :)

Here's some photos:

Erica's RA Update

Just returned from quarterly rheumatology appointment. First I want to commend Dr. Bagheri and Physician's Clinic of Iowa for always being on time for my appointments. The last four visits, I've had Kate and/or Sam with me, and the doctor is always on time, very much appreciated!

The good news is Dr. Bagheri may take me off the methotrexate at my next appointment, to see if I'm in a remission, or at least begin the tapering process. I've been on the methotrexate for two years this fall, since my horrible hospitalization and diagnosis time. I've always tested seronegative or negative for the RA factor. He explained, with his seronegative patients, he likes to try reducing and removing the medicine to see if the body is able to forget the illness, ie the medicine has suppressed the immune systems for this time period and it's likely to forget the RA. Pretty cool huh?

It's worth a try, definitely! I've only had one mild flare and some swelling in my wrist over the past year, but nothing since March, so at my October 21 appointment, he will assess and determine the next course. I'm pretty excited!!

The doc also reconfirmed the 12 pounds I've lost over the past four months. Whoohoo!!