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! : )

Not Enough Time!

I can only say I'm thankful we are halfway through the week, and I'm still making it. It was Dead Day on campus today (meetings and a party), so Ches will be home for Christmas soon. I can't wait-I'm so tired!
It's always busy, but this week is yuck. Monday night we made dinner for some friends, and as soon as the kids got out of school, we drove it to them. They loved it, and all wanted to live there! (in the country!) We saw a knobby tree, creek, and it was just so peaceful. : ) Then we headed back to town, stopped at Sonic for dinner (lotsa fun), and then everyone had to go to the bathroom in their back bathroom (more fun!). Next we took Ethan to the doctor (yes, Ches was in class or we'd have split up the kids!). He had a 102 degree fever, and had had icky poop since last Wednesday. It was determined he had an ear infection and a virus. We got our meds and on to the next errand (yes, I'm crazy). We went to Target to get some canned food (Campbell's was on sale!) and a movie (as we'd already been on the road for 3 hours at that point-what troopers!)-they picked School House Rock! Then to a local teacher store to get Clay's teacher some unifix cubes (they had a food drive-20% off your purchase with cans-hence the Target trip).
After that, we headed home finally. We were on the bypass with Ethan screaming about his eyes hurting, so I turned the video off. I thought maybe the bright light and being tired was hurting him. Maybe a bad choice, in retrospect? At our exit, he promptly threw up! I still don't know if it was more virus, new virus?, or car sickness, or Sonic? The kids started screaming it stunk. I pulled over, cracked the windows, and helped him through it. We got back on the road, and made it home. I had never been so thankful to pull in my driveway!
The kids were good, and started getting jammies on, snacks, and brushing their teeth, as I was cleaning up Ethan and getting him to bed.
I stayed up, cleaned off his clothes and the car seat cover, then ran them through the wash, then washed their coats (extra energy?). He got up a couple times, but never threw up again.
The next day, he woke up at 5:15, and our days started too early!! We took it slow-I was afraid to give him too much to eat. He did fine until around 4:30 or 5. His fever was up to 104.5, so I called the doctor again, and gave him Tylenol. He'd already had two doses of antibiotics (cleverly disguised in some cream soda), so why the spike? They suggested we come in and transferred me to appointments. Their first available was at 8:20! PM!
We took it, and then had to get on with our evening. Mary Claire had gymnastics from 4:30 to five, then we missed church (it was a holy day), and got Clay to his play at 6:15.
I took Ethan to the doctor while everyone else was tucked into bed. He got a flu test first (lovely swab up his nose), and waited 15 minutes for a negative result. Next he got a Rocephin antibiotic shot, and we waited another 15 minutes for a reaction. We didn't leave there until 10:06!
And it seems Ethan was quite the entertainment for the evening. He kept yelling, "No Thank You, No Thank You!" when she came to give him a shot. Then, "Booboo Hurts!" if I quit rubbing it. The nurses just thought he was so cute. I guess it was so late, they were getting delirious. We were the last people to leave! Then when I got preoccupied on the way home telling Ches about our visit, Ethan would yell out, "Ma-mop!?" and I'd ask what? "Booboo Hurts!"
So this morning, it was back for a chest xray, and it was negative. It appears to just be wheezing (inhaler 4x a day), and some mucus. . .
Ok, I have to finish another day. I have started three times, and it just isn't happening this week!

Peepee Pain, and then the Peepee came!

I just never know when I get up how my day shall progress! I was running late this am (when am I not?) and had to grab my sure-thing-easy black shirt, khaki capris, and black (cute) flower sandals (As I'd already changed a couple of times!), and I'm glad I did, cause there was lots of day to come, and who knew I'd end with toothpaste on my pants and pee on my shirt?

Today we went to Baby Bookworms, had a great time, but almost at the end, Ethan started holding his peepee, and crying really hard. I thought maybe a hair, fuzz, hard absorbent pellet thingies, etc. I changed his diaper, and tried to make him more comfortable (as they didn't have a changing table fold-out thingie), but he almost touched the toilet seat-freaked me out! Then as we started to leave, it flushed, and splashed my hand!! Also freaked me out. I had to walk out, manage to keep him beside me and WASH MY HANDS!! It was awful. He continued to scream/cry for while the kids got the last books, then we checked out (with Sandra's help!). The kids had picked their own stuff (consisting of 6 Junie B. Jones books and about 12 videos, and two dinosaur books) and had gotten too many videos! They had to hold them till next time we go (Thursday). Then we decided to go to CFA, not thinking this peepee thing would last! Well, it did. He screamed, and cried, and screamed, and I was not doing well. No one even got to eat their food! I went in the bathroom (to check him again), and called the dr. I wanted in NOW! Long story short, they told me to come in, and they fit me in. We packed up the food, Clay and Mary Claire ate on the way there, and we got to see Dr. Swindle again (long time, no see!).
He said he was glad to see us again, and wanted to call this weekend to see how we were doing. He checked Ethan out, and said he was fine physically. He ordered and xray of his neck since he was still worried about him (and he was holding his neck yesterday), and wanted a urine sample. The nurse came in and bagged his privates-not cool-and then sent us to the Diagnostic Clinic for the xray. I called Ches in for backup about now, as I didn't know how on earth I could continue to deal! He came in right before the actual xray, so it got calmer. I read to Mary Claire out of her cute Junie B. Jones' Top Secret Personal Beeswax! It was so funny, Clay got into it! : ) Anyway, then we went by CFA, got Ches some lunch, and Mary Claire and Ethan and I ran into Barnes and Noble (to look for the Personal Beeswax book for her to fill out-like a journal!). We were still waiting for the pee, so I wanted him to walk around.

Well, the pee came. He walked off to the center aisle (away from the children's books!), so I scooped him up, and squeezed the pee bag! It went on my shirt, and all over his shorts (and it was a one-piece). Ahhhh!! We ran to the bathroom as he told everyone, "wet!" and I took off the bag, and put it into the pee cup. We met Ches outside, and drove the pee back to the clinic. It tested fine, no bacteria. And the dr. had the xray and it looked fine. He said he'd only call if the radiologist found anything wrong. (And I haven't heard from him yet...).

So, then back home and put him to bed. He only slept from 2ish till 3:30. The kids were playing legos so loudly, that they woke him up. He was grumpy!! He didn't get a good nap, and maybe was still hurting?

We still don't know what was wrong with him. The dr. said maybe his urine was concentrated, and sometimes it hurts in boys. He said maybe it was a virus that causes the lining of the urethra to hurt/burn/be extra sensitive ?? We'll take him back if it continues, but sometimes it's worse to not know. You always think that the doctor will know the answer, but not always. I'll be glad if the xray is clear though. Then I can rule out trauma from last Thursday!

So, then I called Mom and asked her to make dinner. It was feeling a little Monday-o'clock, and Ches is back to teaching on Monday nights -booo!!! So, we ran over there, and the kids played, and ate some. More later than at actual dinner! There was a little bit of Snickers ice cream left, and Ethan and I shared it. Yum!! : ) It was good!

Now we are back home and all the kiddies are asleep. I only had two come-downs tonight. A lost unicorn, and a shaky bed?? They are very creative. I have to give them credit where due!

Tomorrow is no MDO. I'll have to think of some creative thing to do. I feel like this week should be fun, maybe we'll go shoe shopping (yes, for them too!) I mean shoes for them, fun for me? Okay, should get to bed! My words sound like mish-mash. I am just dreaming about new shoes (for me)! Heehee Maybe I'll have them do their early homework since they'll miss a couple days next week. They both are working on fractions, so maybe we can do a fun math lesson! : ) Ok, good night.

Keep praying for Kathy, her John, Debbie, Corinne (her father passed away last week) : (
God is mighty and hears our hearts before our mouths even move! : )