Easter 2018

Like usual, we waited until the last minute to dye eggs.  We worked on them Friday night because we were leaving for Elizabethtown the next day.

They turned our really pretty.

  We went to my Mom's house and she had made an Easter Bunny cake like she used to when we were kids.


We ate and then the kids had their egg hunt.  They know that Mamaw puts money in them eggs and they all wanted to hunt eggs.

Amelia found the lucky egg.  I think it had $10 in it.


We went home and got ready for Easter Sunday.

I didn't give them much candy again this year.  Josiah was dieting and I didn't want to tempt him.  They mainly got snacks and a special drink.  Amelia and Titus got a small chocolate bunny.

Dressed and ready for church.

Tara and Rueban came in for Easter this year.

They were gonna go on a Spring Break vacation with us to Gatlinburg so stay tuned for that post soon!


Hope everyone had a good Easter.  So thankful that Jesus arose again and that we can celebrate that in church not just once a year, but every day!!!

Goodbye Homestead Lane

We had our house on the market to sell for almost 6 months.  We decided not to list it again until Maynard had time to make some repairs to the house.  However, someone made an offer to our realtor to buy it even though it wasn't listed.  Of course, we didn't know that, but he called and was persistent that we put it back on the market that very day.  The offer wasn't that great so we declined it.  We kept praying about it and even sought council of what we should do.  The offer was less than we wanted, but it was a deal where we sign a paper and we're done.  No repairs and no hidden fees.  Finally, we decided to go through with it.  We thought we would be out some money in order to pay our realtor, but it ended up to where we just broke even.  We didn't get the profit we hoped for, but we also didn't have to worry about making repairs.  We didn't really have the money nor the time for that.  With a potential house fire, not too many people probably wanted the house any way.  I mean, I wouldn't have.  The heat/air unit had gone bad and that is what had to be replaced. 


The sale happened so fast, that our realtor didn't even put his sign back in the yard.  I couldn't wait to take a picture of it that said "Sold!"  That was disappointing, but who cares!!!  On Saturday, February 24, 2018, we met at the lawyers office and that was it!!  Our house was sold.  No more house payments.  It was exciting to lead to a debt free life.  We had one bill left to pay off and we will have zero debt.  That sounds great, but the cost of living is so high things are still tight.  So crazy!!!


We went back to visit and say our goodbyes.  Josiah took it hard.  Of course he was the first baby I brought home there so he had been there the longest. 

Took pictures of them standing next to their bedroom windows.  It was a bittersweet moment.  Sad to see it go, but excited all at the same time.

Guess what Amelia got for her Birthday?

Finally!!! Finally!!  It was January 5, 2018.  Amelia's Birthday!  She was so excited to finally have her birthday.  Her plans were to have some friends come skating with her and then have a sleepover at her house.  She even wanted to bake her own birthday cake.

All smiles opening her presents!

She wanted a donut before school!

After school we went home for supper and then it was finally time to go skating.  We had a pretty big group to show up.

They were starting to skate and Amelia remembered her knee pads outside in the car.  She asked me to go get them.  I was coming back in to see Amelia on the floor and people gathered around her.  I had been gone for 3 minutes tops.  Her party had only started 10 minutes prior.  She was crying and was in so much pain.  Her ankle was so swollen so bad.  Her party was ruined.  She couldn't stop crying.  I felt so bad for her.

Even presents didn't cheer her up.

She got a Skate Walker thing and started using it to get around.  She was still in pain.  We gave her Tylenol and it seemed to help some.
Her sweet friend's parents bought her some tokens and they played some games and that really cheered her up.  She later said that they saved her party!!!

Amelia's little friends.

The party was ending and I had a van full of girls anxious to party.  I didn't know what to do.  Amelia really needed to go to the hospital, but she cried and begged to have her sleepover so it wouldn't completely ruin her birthday.  We went home and Maynard took one look at her foot and said it was broken.

He really wanted me to take her then to get it checked out, but Amelia was distraught.  I kept ice on her ankle and we kept it propped up.  She really didn't complain that much, but you could tell she was hurt.

They ate pizza and then made her cake.

Isn't it beautiful!

HaDassa's B-day was the next day so after midnight we sang to her.  Her and Amelia actually shared hospital rooms when they were born.

They finally fell asleep and I made them pancakes for breakfast, then it was time to take these girls home.  Amelia was still hurting and she needed to see a Dr.



Poor girl!  Her foot was broken in 2 places.  They thought it involved the growth plate which was going to mean surgery.  They put her in a splint and gave her crutches.  We made an appointment to see a doctor for Monday.

She was waited on hand and foot by her brothers.  They were so worried about her, but boy was she crabby.  They would ask her if she needed anything and she would snap at them.  I told her to enjoy it while she could and quit being so mean. Ha Ha

She went to the Dr on Monday and he didn't seem to think it was broken as bad as they had originally thought.  It didn't involve the growth plate and she just needed a cast.  Amelia asked for a rainbow cast.  I told her they don't have rainbow casts.  Well guess what???  They had tie-dye.  Boy was she happy!!!

Bath time was a bit intense.  I had to help her a lot and she giggled the whole time.  We had a cover to put over her leg, but she was terrified of getting her cast wet so we just wrapped it up in a plastic bag.

We waited until the week before of her next appointment to let anyone sign her cast.  Mainly because I think it looks tacky. Ha ha  Papaw came to visit and he was the first to sign her cast.

Amelia had the hardest time using her crutches.  Her cast was so heavy she was afraid of falling.  She moved so slow and cried the whole time.  Someone let us borrow a wheelchair because it was the only way we could get around.  At home she just crawled around.  It was like having a puppy in the house following me around.

Having a wheelchair in the van wasn't easy.  Especially when grocery shopping.  I remember this day being my breaking point.  I had all 3 kids, wheelchair, and a shopping cart and things did not go well.  It was raining.  I forgot my wallet.  Didn't have room to put my groceries in the back.  Amelia only wanted me to push her in her wheelchair and on and on.




After about 2 weeks I started weaning her from her wheelchair and insisted she use her crutches.  People would ask her where her wheelchair was and she would say "My mom took it away!"  Sounds awful, I know, but it was for her benefit. (And mine.  I hurt my back lifting that stupid thing.)


She finally got faster on her crutches and took off.
She had another dr's appointment to see if she could get the cast off a month later. 

 She got her cast off, but the swelling was still awful.  The Dr was a bit surprised so he wanted to send her for an MRI.  He said he would have put a cast back on, but needed it off for the MRI so he put her in a boot for a few weeks.

I am not even joking.  Can you tell by her face she wasn't happy?  She asked the nurse if they had any boots in any other colors.  This one was too ugly. Ha Ha  She has always liked shiny and sparkly.


She had her MRI.  That was hard for her.  For some reason she couldn't stay still.  We never heard back from her dr.  She continued to be in pain.  Her legs were giving out and she cried and cried.  When we went back to hopefully get her boot off, the dr told her that her foot was broken in two places.  One bone behind her pinky toe and the other was a stress fracture in her ankle that wasn't healing like it should be.  He referred her to Shriners Hospital in Lexington.

She still had to use crutches, but she was pretty fast on them now.

By the time we got in to Shriners, her foot had done a lot of healing.  Everything looked good to them.  They suggested she get physical therapy to exercise her foot where it had been so immobile for so long.

She had several weeks of physical therapy and then they said she didn't need to come back anymore.  We were so thankful that this journey had come to an end.  Originally, we were told she would have to wear a cast for 3-6 weeks and this ended up being 3 months instead.  Sometimes I still catch her walking oddly and I have to remind her to straighten her foot.  PT said it was habits of where she had to wear the awkward boot.


I'm thankful she's better and hopefully there won't be any long term effects from this break.  It could have been worse and involved surgery.  I'm so glad we didn't have to go that route.


I'm sad her birthday was ruined.  Maybe next year will be better.  Guess what kind of party she isn't having next year?  Yep!!  SKATING!!!!!!



















Christmas 2017

Merry Christmas!!!


Of course, I'm so behind this seems ridiculous to type, but I'm trying so hard to get caught up.  This isn't even for the purpose of anyone else reading it, but for my own records, so I'll keep it short.

I've lost 40 lbs since having this picture taken so it makes me cringe a little even looking at it, but that's what I looked like back in December.


We did some decorating in our new home.  It took us awhile to agree where to put everything, but we finally got it done.  I can't even find a picture of our finished tree.  We have to get a new tree next year.  The kids are begging not to, but it's too big for our new house.

See!  It takes up half the room!!

Amelia was allowed to decorate her desk at school.  Did you expect anything less?



Love how my piano turned out!  Maynard didn't want a tree in our room because he said it was too bright!

And we can't forget about Christmas traditions!!!




Still not too old for Advent Calendars

They make this every year and every year I hope for the best! Ha

Tara bought them gingerbread house kits.

They turned out cute!  No one was interested in eating this kind!

And of course our elves came.  I made them wait to come the 12 days of Christmas because I have lost my creativity and these elves make to big of a mess.  I thought I had the best idea for their first day.  I had them show up the Hale Kid's house.  Instead of them getting a good laugh, they were mad.  Amelia pouted all day at school even though the Hale kids were thrilled it made her mad.

They showed back up the next day.  Poor elves didn't know where to go since the Parker kids had moved from their old house.


Here's a few more pictures of a few things the elves did.

They had programs at the church the kids were involved in.  The boys did a lip sync thing that was awesome.

 

We stayed super busy all season long with lots of activities including Christmas on main and parties at school and church.  We went Christmas Caroling and we passed out homemade candy that we made for our neighbors.  Before we knew it, it was Christmas day.  We had our usual Christmas breakfast traditions and then got ready to head for E-town.  They did have some time to play with all their gifts.  I always like to include some of the things they got just to remember years to come.





Josiah- Clothes, Puma jacket, fitbit, ipod, Case/Charger, The Rock wrestling figurine, Socks/underwear, colored pencils and pencils.  Plus stocking stuffer items.

Titus- fitbit, Steph Curry basketball, Rick Flair wrestling figurine, sock/underwear, Nike shirt, Steph Curry shirt, tool kit,  beef jerky and stocking stuffers.

Amelia- AG locker, AG wheelchair, mermaid Barbie, Hatchamal, AG dress for her and doll, Legos, and Fitbit and stocking stuffers.

They also got gifts when they got to their Mamaw and Papaw's house.  They had fun playing the seran wrap game with their cousins.  Lots of kids everywhere!!!