Thankful...

Among many other things, this is what I am thankful for:

I am so very blessed!

Thanksgiving...

We had SUCH a great Thanksgiving... Megan, Drew, & Aiden came for the whole week from Utah, and Wendy, Derek, & Norah came from Austin for 2 days. It was so much fun. Here's the holiday in pictures...

The three cooks (take note of my hair... you won't see it again :( ...):

Megs & Hannah:

Wendy, Derek, & Norah:

Drew & Aiden kickin' back:

Megs & Brock:

We never got a picture of the food, it was devoured too quickly. I did do something different this year- I "brined" my turkey. And I must say, it was SOOOO juicy and flavorful. Thanks for the recipe Emeril!! Wendy brought appetizers and they were yummy too! It was a good food day!

I should have been an Orthopaedist...

Ok, seriously, we have totally supported our local ortho's office this year. With 5 kids and a VERY active husband, what else do I expect? We are always in some sort of doctor's office or another! Now, before y'all go and report me to CPS, let me explain:

Nov. 2007- Hannah gets "double bounced" on the tramp and gets landed on by one of her brothers (the one whose name starts with an H), but I won't say which one. She breaks her tibia, down close to the ankle and begins the string of bad luck. She's fitted with a BRIGHT PINK cast from toes to hip... Mom is 6 months pregnant and LOVING carrying Hannah to and from the potty to the wheelchair, into the car, out of the car, etc. Hannah gets cast off 6 weeks later and wears a walking boot for 4 weeks.

The very week that Hannah gets her cast off, Daddy decides it's his turn for some visits to our friendly orthopaedist. He'd been suffering from a torn meniscus for a few weeks and makes the decision to get his knee operated on. Dec. 16th he gets a full arthroscopic knee surgery with removal of a bunch of old football wounds to go with the meniscus. He healed pretty quickly and had some physical therapy and follow up appointments through Feb. 2008.

April arrives and it's been a whole month and a half since we've seen an x-ray machine. Gotta do it! Brock falls while playing "hopscotch" in the backyard. (That's what the babysitter said... hmmm! j/k- but he likes to say he got hurt playing football, not hopscotch.) Mom tells him to tough it out but the wrist starts to swell and voila, click click- a few pictures later, we've got a growth plate fracture and a nice blue cast on his left arm. Checkups through June.

We went all of July, Aug., Sept., and Oct. without another visit to the 4th floor of our doctor pavillion. Oops, sorry- correction. Brock got a deep thigh bruise in football in Oct. that we had to have checked out. X-rays again. No break, just the contusion.

So, last night the boys were fooling around and Brock squirts Hunter with the spray bottle. Hunter is quite surprised and trips and falls on his left hand. Can't move his thumb or pointer finger. He went to bed about 8:30 pm and was in our room a few hours later with a throbbing hand and some bruising and swelling. He slept on our couch (thank goodness for that couch!), and we made an appointment to keep our ortho's office in business for yet another month. The diagnosis: a broken thumb. Black cast for 3 weeks. Good thing basketball doesn't start for 3 weeks!

SO... what does all this cost, you might wonder? LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF MONEY. Into the $$$thousands$$$ between surgeries and wheelchairs and physical therapies and meds. But the end result being healthy children and a healthy husband with great stories to tell: Priceless. I should have been an orthopaedist. *and no, I didn't spell that wrong... it's really spelled that way. Looks weird, I know, but it says it on the business card. I checked.*

Who are you and what have you done with my wife?

Our First View of Dodger (and Donovan)

That's the question Bill had on his mind all day today. You see, I am not a dog lover. In fact, I don't like ANY animals. I am the POLAR opposite from my sister Kelly in that regard. About 5 years ago in primary, my kids were asked what their mom's favorite animal was. Their answer: Stuffed. And that's really not even true. I don't like stuffed animals AT ALL! They're just germ breeding, shedding, dust collecting knick knacks. So imagine Bill's surprise when I was getting down and dirty with Dodger today. (turn your sick mind elsewhere folks... I was playing with him.)

I have come to face the fact that in order for this dog to behave and respect me, we have to have a good relationship. If he's going to make my life easier, I'll make his easier. So we're buddies. And we're going to be good buddies for a long, long time. He's a great dog. Tonight I was telling Bill that I feel like I just brought a newborn home from the hospital. I have NO IDEA what to do, if we're both going to cry all night, or how we'll get along, but we will because we love each other. (WHAT?!) We had an amazing time with Donovan at his FANTASTIC Bed and Breakfast in Abilene. It was so much fun. We will always remember the experience of getting our DODGER DOG. We can't wait for many more happy and fun times with our new dog. In the meantime, wish us a good night's sleep... I hope!

Today we become DOG OWNERS

"DODGER SIVLEY"

Those were the words Bill said to me this morning as he was getting out of the shower.

Yes, you read that right. We have caved, we have given in, we have been bought. By this sweet face:

This has been the LONGEST WEEK of our children's lives. We broke the news last Friday night amidst a candy sugar high on Halloween.

"We are adding to the family!"

"WHAT?!?!?"

"And he's 1 year old!"

"HE? Tell me it's a girl mom-- PLEASE!!!!"

"Sorry Hannah, it's another boy."

"WHAT?!?!?"

"We are getting a DOG!!!"

(Cheers and Tears all around!)

So we've been working with our new friend Donovan for a few months now, hoping to get a dog for Christmas. Donovan is an amazing animal lover who rescues dogs from the pound, trains them, and then finds them a good home. This is the good home that Dodger is coming to!! And we are READY!! Donovan found him at the pound 3 weeks ago and we just couldn't wait until Christmas, he's fully trained and ready to come home now! He's a 1 year old full-bred yellow lab-- we can't wait to see him! Video camera is charged, Dig. camera is ready to go--- we'll be posting again soon with new DOGGIE pics!! :)

Here's the doggie supplies:

Here's Dodger's Kennel for nighttime... (notice food storage on the right side-- this used to be our food storage closet!)

Here's Dodger's Bed next to the fireplace:

We are heading 3 hours east to go get him tonight and bring him home tomorrow evening!!

Sweetness...

So, my rough and tough- Mr. very serious man has a sweet side a mile wide. Many of you don't know this side of him, so I thought I'd share it with you...

I have recently been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands. It's pretty severe and is worsened significantly by doing detail work such as sewing, doing my hair, typing, makeup, cooking, etc. (pretty much EVERYTHING I love to do!) I have braces on both hands and they seem to be helping, but I just don't have the strength in my hands that I used to. It is especially bad early in the morning and late at night.

The other night, I was trying to untangle these darling jewelery cases I bought as gifts for my friends' birthdays (Attention: all friends w/ birthdays coming up, forget you saw this!!!) It took me about an hour and I was getting NO WHERE, FAST! I set it aside and went to bed.

Yesterday I was gone all day w/ Brock-- see "RUSH" post. Bill took a family sick day and took care of the killer B's all day long. I came home for a few hours and then left again for Enrichment last night. I came home at 11:30 pm... and this is what I found:

Seriously!! It brought a tear to my eye... and I felt so loved. Thank you babe-- you are SOOOOO sweet! XOOX to you too!

Oh yeah baby!!!

Here it is-- I just had to take a picture!! It has been OVER 5 years since gas was this low!! Can I get a YAHOOOOOO?! It now only costs me $65 to fill my tank vs. $125! I'm happy, so happy, oh yeah... it's your birthday- uh huh! (enough.)

RUSH

I feel like all I do is RUSH around. RUSH RUSH RUSH- that's the story of my life. So today, Brock and I had a whole day of RUSH-ing. Don't know what I'm talking about? Check it out: RUSH IMMUNOTHERAPY. Basically, Brock got about 8 months worth of allergy medication in 8 hours yesterday. That's the only reason it's called RUSH-- because we were certainly not RUSHed through there. We were there from 8 am to 3 pm. In that time period, Brock had an IV placed and hep-locked in case they needed to administer rescue meds, and 7 shots of allergens. He was basically a big pin cushion. So here he is, my BIG BRAVE BROCK. (I think this was shot #3)...

it was a quiet and "pokey" day at the doctor's office. But within 3 months, Brock may be off almost all his meds and symptom free-- that'll be the day!!! Way to be brave buddy!