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!!!



Thanksgiving 2017

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday this year.  It's probably my most favorite time of the year.


We always go to my parent's house for Thanksgiving after our school's program.  We left on Saturday morning and headed towards Elizabethtown.  There is always a lot of people in that small cabin, but thankfully we are able to fit them all in somehow.


This year was special because my Grandma and Uncle was coming for a visit.  I hadn't seen them since my Grandpa died.  I can't even remember how long ago that was.  At least 5 or 6 years, I would guess.


We had great food as always.  No one could critique anything.  We usually all find at least one dish that turns out nasty or someone tried something new.  This year everything was delicious so we didn't have the chance to hurt anyone's feelings.  And yes, sometimes its my dish that gets picked on.  I'll post some pictures that was taken. 


We stayed all night with Melissa and my kids loved staying there.  Of course, she has a dog and the Disney Channel.  We got up the next morning and Titus had a really bad sore throat.  Instead of going to church, we decided to go back home and get him to the doctor.  He ended up having strep and that spread through our whole family pretty quickly.

Food Line can get crazy real quick!!

Sad we were missing Jacob in this picture.

Titus and his tradition of eating a turkey leg.

When will she learn? Mom is gonna find her anyway when it's time to clean up!!

Amelia "hugging" Mabel.

  Unfortunately, on the actual Thanksgiving Day, I didn't take any pictures.  Maynard probably did, but I didn't.  We were happy to have Tara and Rueban with us.  I did all the cooking and everything turned out pretty good!  I even fixed our neighbor a plate to send over.  He's a pretty rough looking guy and has a bad reputation around our neighborhood. I just felt like I needed to do that.  Maynard and Tara took it over and he was thankful.

London Christian Academy's Annual Thanksgiving Program 2017

I love love love this time of year!!!  I worked at LCA last year, but still didn't realize all the hard work that was put into this program.  Like I probably said the same thing last year, but man oh man!  It's not just tough on the staff who help put on the program, but the students have to work so hard.  Practice is not just a break for them.  They still have to keep all their work caught up so it's added work to their day.  It's all totally worth it, but it just makes me even more proud of them.


This year the program was about the story of Queen Esther.  Josiah played the part of a Susan.  He was a "Boy, named Sue!"  Titus got to be Hamaan.  He made a great Hamaan too.  This was his first big speaking part.  He was so nervous, but he done great.  Amelia had a small speaking part of Rahab, and then she had a small solo.  She was so excited to have a solo.


I'll just post a few pics and let them tell the story.  I'm slowly trying to get caught back up on my blogs.

Titus 10th Birthday

We are always so busy around Titus' Birthday.  It started out with first going to a fall festival party at a friends house the weekend before his birthday. They played tons of games and lots of prizes.  My kids seriously had a blast!!

Then the following weekend we decided to go to our Downtown Boo Fest party.  We had never been because we don't typically celebrate Halloween.  Josiah was out of town at a basketball game with his school and Titus and Amelia were pouty.  We decided to go ahead and check it out.  Just get the kids some candy and then head home.

Amelia loved meeting these princesses.  It was hard for her to choose which one she wanted a picture with.  She chose Rapunzel because they had the same dress on.


When we first got there they wanted to ride the fire truck ladder.

Maynard rode with them and I stood in the street trying to get a good picture.


The next day a friend sent this to me with the verse "Be sure your sins will find you out!" Ha Ha

This was a picture on Laurel County's facebook page and no doubt the newspaper as well!!!  I got a good laugh though.  It's fine though.  Everything was free and they got tons of treats and we only seen a few scary looking costumes.  It was mainly just young families.


So Saturday morning it was cool and rainy.  Titus had asked to go to The Tree Top Adventures.  It's an obstacle course with rope climbing and zip lines.  Maynard took the boys and Amelia and I did some birthday shopping for Titus.  She was not too happy that she didn't get to go, but I knew she wouldn't be able to do it.


We stopped by to watch them for awhile.  It was freezing and wet.  Josiah struggled and had to be rescued down.  Titus was almost done when he decided he was tired and didn't want to do it anymore either.  He had to be helped down too.  They want to try again, but wait for a prettier day to see if they do better.  All I got was a short clip video because it was raining.  I'm sure Maynard got pictures, but once again I forgot to check.


After the Tree Top Adventure it was time for our church fall party.  We had it at an inflatable bouncy house this year.  I am so glad we did.  It made less work for everyone and actually saved us money.  We had a good turnout and everyone enjoyed themselves.


Titus' actual birthday was on a Tuesday. 


He woke up to a few presents.

He got Nike socks, Nike shirts, and a new pair of......you guessed it.  Nike's!!!!!!!


He took honeybuns to school to share with his class.


After school we ate supper at Captain D's.


We went home and he wanted to bake his own cake.  He was so proud!!!

We are so proud of Titus.  He is such a hard worker.  One thing I've noticed in this past year is that this boy sure loves his Dad!!!  He wants to be near his Dad at all times.  Whatever Maynard is working on then that's what he wants to do.  If Maynard is interested in something then that is what Titus is interested in.  I'm glad Maynard finally has a fan.  Ha Ha