Snow Day and Gold Sneakers

..did I ever show you the cute ad that is coming out this month in Celebrate magazine?  heehee, it's my girl! : )

 
We did that photo shoot with Jeremy Caviness last summer (..remember the dE-Lish cupcake shop?? Yum!), anyway I finally uploaded phone pictures...

Yesterday we went to Sam's to get my new tires (the ones I asked for for Christmas?)-I was nervous about driving without them in snow or ice.  And I knew Today was coming.  I had to have Mary Claire at the orthopedic surgeon's office at 8:20am!  I did call at 8am to make sure they were open, and they were!  So, we set out.  It was icy in Springdale, but they had salted/graveled (I actually followed the truck!), and then the big 540 bypass was totally dry.  Fayetteville streets were also dry, so I can see why they had school (I forgot to mention we didn't!).  Mary Claire had more xrays today:

because I forgot to take a picture last time (and she didn't even have to change into a gown!)

Can you see the cracks in her upper humerus?  One is coming in from the bottom (arm pit) towards the upper growth plate line, and the other crack is from the outside up to the line.  She already has some bone that's grown over the cracks to heal them-in ten days!

She doesn't need surgery, praise the Lord!  Even after all the goofing off (sliding!) she's been doing.  She has to wear the sling for four more weeks, and we'll have more xrays on February 9th.  She can't exercise or put any pressure on her arm.


Then we ran errands (she had some money for her A's on her report card that was burning a hole in her pocket!), went to Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart, then home.  I was ready to work on some pump pouches! : )  I had a Pay-It-Forward debt to pay forward!  My first project was to make a pump pouch for a little girl we were going to see tonight.  She wanted pink and peace signs.  I knew Mary Claire would like the same thing, so I made her one too.
We started with fabric-you have to prewash it so it won't shrink!

My plan was to make two for Mary Claire-one for Valentine's Day, and the peace sign one for both girls

Then, I cut out the pieces-it takes four (front, back, loop, and long strip for the waistband).

Then I work some sewing magic with a zipper, velcro, and elastic...and they are pump pouches! : )

While I started working, I had three little bundles playing outside!  I just had to stop and take pictures.  It was only 14 degrees here, and the wind chill was below ten, so I wrapped their noses and mouths with scarves-quite adorable.  They made us laugh-when we cleaned our garage (on my birthday if you remember), we threw out the sled-it was broken.  So the kids pulled stuff out of the big pool toy box to slide down the hill on!  They used a "skateboard", a boogie board, and an innertube!

love their scarf-masks : )  (Ethan came to the front door and told me his scarf was wet with snot.  Yay.

Ok, just one more activity..we had our JDRF Awards Ceremony this evening at Fast Lane!  We had pizza, awards, and got to ride go-karts! : )

NWA JDRF Walk Awards Ceremony

Her first award was for the Silver Team award-raising between $2500-$4999 for the JDRF Walk To Cure 2010.

Her second award was the Golden Sneaker Award (her name is fourth on the left) for individually raising at least $1000.

Up at the front with her Golden Sneaker (a glass sneaker safely tucked away in a padded box!)

I think it's her fifth or sixth one?  She did break one, but now she takes better care of them! : )

 I like that this year's golden sneaker is more oval-ly.  It's usually a shapely sneaker, that's not so stable on the base, hence the broken one.  This one seems stable!

And then...the FUN!  We used our tickets to ride go-karts!  I got this picture since Clay got to go with the group before us, after that, I rode every time, and my camera was packed away in my purse.  Sometimes, I'm having too much living life to take pictures of it! : )

Oh, what a great day-we began with good news (and a Snow Day), and ended with joy.  Hope you had a sweet day too!

Don't forget-I'm still taking comments for a $25 gift certificate to CSN.com!  I'll announce the winner on Thursday, January 13th-only T-W-O days away! : )

Our Haunted House

Golly, golly gumdrops-what fun!  I used to not like Halloween that much, but with the candy (umm-chocolate)-it sure gets sweet. : )  We are so busy (needless to say!).  After the Hoedown, my mind has moved on!
We went to Boingo Bounce with some friends on Friday!  It is a new bouncy place-and it's so nice, clean, and cool (lots of leopard, zebra, and NeW toys!)-we loved it!

It's kind of hidden away, but big enough inside, and the party rooms are soo cute!  The best is the big one (of course!), and we checked out party prices-we may just need to have Ethan's birthday there! :)
Ethan got started right away-he couldn't wait!  I took socks too, but had trouble keeping up with him.  He was going so quickly from one bouncy to the next-I was having trouble balancing!  His center of gravity is so low, he doesn't seem to have any trouble (that..or the fact that he's in better shape..).

Here he is as he takes a *teensy* break in the under five kids' play area:

 

(Sorry, this is my phone, so they aren't so clear!)  Then he went up the Tidal Wave..(which was pretty tough to climb-straight up, on air!):

And he came down sooo fast!

 

There was this great little play area for kids under five (but bouncy)-it was a Barnyard!  There were barrels to climb through, a tiny slide, a dog and horse (that they tried to ride!), and learning "walls" with lots of velcro words and numbers to match-sooo cute! : )

 

Then, it was time to go-we had to get some work done!  We headed to Panera for macaroni and cheese (if you haven't had it, try it-it's aMaZiNg!!) and apples, and Ethan wanted to eat outside.  I left my phone in the van, but I SO wanted to take pictures of him outside munching his apple, fighting off a fly.  I restrained myself, and just enjoyed the moment. : )

Then he went with Gigi and Papa for a while to go check out garage sales!  I'd given him a small $4 to spend-and he spent it fast!  He got a baby walker/car, like we had and gave away (and has enjoyed the heck out of!), a pirate hat and spyglass, and a water gun (and a small round soap for free).  He got to swing at someone's house, and shop-he was happy!  I went to the school, made copies, then worked at the church for a little bit, then picked him back up.  He was trying to talk them into a new bike-poor kid only has a tricycle, bike, ride-on motorcycle and tractor..he's so neglected.  

We had dinner at Mom's-yum-veggies!-and then on the way home...we hit a deer.  It wasn't as bad as I'd thought-but it dented my door with its antlers, and probably its teeth.  We pulled over immediately) since I was partially freaking out-there was some wet (saliva?), but no blood.  It really wasn't bad, but it'll have to be repaired (never good).  And Clay scratched the other side again, so Poor Van. : (

Then Mary Claire had a friend spend the night, and Saturday she was off to a Red Cross program, "Masters of Disaster"-she really learned a lot, and had fun!  She told me all about our emergency supply kit (that we need to assemble..), and tornadoes, and where they happen, and myths vs. truth-she was full of answers!

Clay had an awesome birthday party at Fast Lane-he got to play Laser Tag, eat pizza, and bowl-he loved it!  Then Ches took Clay and Ethan to see Alpha and Omega.  We worked on Clay's invitations for his birthday (have to plan early-he has a Thanksgiving birthday, and his friends are always out of town, so we have it in early November..which is next week!).  He's having a movie party again, this time for the release of Megamind:

 

Yes, I crafted this on My Digital Studio! : )  I ordered them to be printed at Wal-Mart in Fayetteville, and then forgot envelopes.  We went to Target, then Hobby Lobby for envelopes and stickers.  I can't just do it the easy way-I like it Just Right!  We found the cutest spaceship/boys stickers and dark blue envelopes.  He had made a list for me before they went to the movie, so I got to work.  I had them ready by 4, but we drove around looking for the latest Saturday pickup location, but kept missing it.  I guess they'll go out on Monday.

We also had dinner at Olive Garden, had a bad waiter (yes, we would still go back, but they gave us a gift card!), but the food is always wonderful.  We had to ask a few times for mints-I don't understand that.  When you frequent a place, you kinda get used to some things like chocolate!  This is my girl-she dressed up to match me: white denim jacket, pink scarf-she was so cute, I had to take a picture:

Then we came home (late!) (Booed our neighbors-gave them lots of treats and toys, a Boo! sign and instructions for booing other friends secretly), and the kids had been crying and fussing to go to a Haunted House.  It was soo rainy, and I didn't want to walk in mud or get all wet.  We agreed to make them a haunted house here!  First, we set it up for Mary Claire and Ethan.  Ches, Clay and I got all ready-Ches was a ghost, ran the red-eyed battery-powered dinosaur with red eyes, and grabbed legs (we all had at least two jobs!), I dripped blood (water) on them, rubbed spiders (hairbrush) on them, and touched them with rubber gloves, and Clay was a ghost, made noise, touched them, and made scary noises.  They laughed, freaked out, and loved it!  Then, again, then Mary Claire and Ethan made us one!  They were even funnier!  Ethan made a water (blood) puddle for us to walk in (yes.), and they had touching, screaming, "boos!", spider webs, crunchy styrofoam shredded on the floor..ahh, fun!

Then we settled down, and watched a movie we saw at the theater before Ethan was born: Monster House.  It was pretty good, and we had snack together-the kids went to bed late!

I finally finished all the girl scout bags for tomorrow's patch ceremony!  They are so cute-the girls will be excited to get them-they all earned about 6-8 patches!  And I love the cute ones: the science one with the beaker, the one with the building blocks..so sweet!  The three caring bears.  It's kinda what you get for all your work-and soo adorable.

I better get some rest-there's more tomorrow!  I have to finish getting Clay's class Halloween party ready-I'm planning some luminaries (as long as the teacher okays them!) and some "body parts".  Clay thought up most of the ideas-always the best!  There are peeled grapes that feel like eyeballs..cooked spaghetti for brains..dried apricots for ears almonds for teeth..etc.  He found one of my Marc Brown books that had quite a list!  I need to make the foods...  Let me know if you think of any more! : )