Catching up a little bit at a time.....Easter

Dying Easter Eggs

LB Showing off his finished eggs.

 Easter morning. My Azaela Bushed  with the Irises in the background...

LB hunting for Easter Eggs at our house.

Campbell hunting for eggs as well.....

Picture of our house taken while they were hunting.

At the Country Club for Easter Brunch.

Coming out of hibernation.....

I am NOT a fan of winter and many of my picture books, over the years, end at Christmas and don't pick up again until Easter.....so here is an attempt to catch up with what few pics I have from the Winter Months.

January 12, 2012
A month after surgery, Lil Ben went back and visited with his class for a little while!!

February 17, 2012 This was Ben and my 17th anniversary and we celebrated with friends at the Drake concert!

March 12, 2012 Candlelight Ball is always a fun weekend!

We head to Nashville mid-day and spend the day kicked back and relax with friends while watching basketball games.

Then we all get dolled up and head to the Ball!!

Ben and I.

 The whole gang.

 I took lots of Easter Pics this past weekend and will work on getting those caught up soon!!!

Experience Counts for Nothing

      In a typical Friday night fashion, my oldest two girls had plans.  I love that my 16 year old is driving now and on her way to the mall she dropped my 12 year old off at a party. As they walked out the door, I said "Make good choices!" This is the umpteenth time I said this to AnnaMichelle, but the first time I said it to Shelby.  At 9:00 AnnaMichelle texts that she has Shelby and is bringing her home. At 9:22 she calls me and I ask where she is at (expecting her to say that she is right around the corner). Instead she says she is only a few minutes from her starting point. When I ask her why it has taken her so long, she simply says "Ask Shelby." So I tell her to be careful and come home. I will talk to Shelby when she gets home. 


      So Shelby gets home and come to find out that the party she went to,  traveled to the other side of town to TP the house of one of coaches at our school.  Apparently he was targeted because he has an awesome sense of humor.  But I was speechless. AnnaMichelle, being four years older had never done anything like that. I didn't know what to do.  To be honest, if they had TP'ed someone's house that I didn't like- I would have laughed, felt a little bad, and gone on with my life.....but, this Coach is really a good person and although I agreed he would have a good sense of humor about it, I knew it still needed to be cleaned up.  So then I worried, what do I do? Do I confess my child was involved and offer to clean it? (Of course this includes NOT giving the rest of the kids names...don't want to get my daughter in trouble with her friends.) Or do I just stay out of it?  My conscience was eating me alive. This is where having raised one child past the age of 12 I would have thought I was experienced.  But instead, I was clueless. Apparently, even though I told her to "Make good choices" I am going to have to lock her in a closet for the next 7 years!!  Upon some additional questioning, I found out this had been in the plans for weeks. When Shelby showed up at the party there were 40 rolls of TP waiting for them.  They took several cars out to his house and when they got there my daughter confessed that she was the first one to throw a roll.  I asked if they used all 40 rolls and she said no, they got scared and used only about half.  But I could only imagine what it looked like when they got done.


     So I asked Shelby which other kids were there to see if I was comfortable enough with any of the parents to talk to them- and I was very thankful that there was another parent.  The other mom and I discussed it and decided that I would text the Coach and let him know about our involvement and ask what time they would be up in the morning to clean it up.  Coach, of course, was good natured and when I told him my child was involved, I only used her first name and he first thought it was a senior.  When I said no, my 6th grade daughter was involved, he laughed and asked if there wasn't a closer house for them to TP.  Lucky for us, some of his neighbors saw his house and cleaned most of it up for him! I am so thankful to those neighbors, because it is COLD out there this morning!!! 


By the way, the reason the girls were only minutes from there original destination was because Shelby wanted AnnaMichelle to drive out to Coach's house to see it. As AnnaMichelle heads in that direction, she realizes how far away it is and decides she just needs to turn around and go home.  


I sure hope TPing houses in the 6th grade isn't a gateway crime to other forms of vandalism......if it is, I am in big trouble! Lesson learned: Having raised one child doesn't mean you know anything about raising a different child= Experience counts for nothing!!!

Thinking Back to 2002

This morning on the way to school, the kids and I noticed a house that still had their Christmas tree up and the lights were on!! I couldn't help but reminisce about the year 2002......  That was the year that we had our tree up past Valentine's day. I remember it because we had a family member babysitting the kids while Ben and I were in school (me in the MBA program at Belmont and Ben in Law School).  While she was babysitting AnnaMichelle and Shelby, they made Valentines and decorated the tree with them!!! I came home from school that night and couldn't help but laugh!

It was no wonder it was up so long that year:  That was the year we lost a close family friend, very unexpectedly, at the beginning of January. Then my Grandfather passed away 2 weeks later and I had to go out of town for the funeral.  Then when I returned, I had to pack again, because I was going to London for 7 days as part of my MBA program.  Ben and I were both working full time (me as the Director of General Care Nursing Home and Ben as a law clerk at his current office) and we were both going to school 2 to 3 nights a week!! We were both graduating that year (Ben in June and me in August). Taking the Christmas tree down was simply not a priority!!

So of course, after telling this story to the kids, they all laughed and said: "We decorated the tree with hearts?!"  LOL, should have known that was the part of the story they would focus on!!

Christmas Break in Review

With this December being so crazy, I have gotten behind in posting, so I am going to catch up today!!

To kick off Christmas Break, Clarksville Academy had their Christmas Program.  Campbell (in the rainbow hat and scarf) played her recorder...... 

 and sang the song: " Winter Walk" with her grade.

After the performance was over, Christmas Break started.


Buddy, the Elf has been with us since Thanksgiving weekend! He has found some pretty crazy places to hang out!! This would be one of them!

December 19th, Monday was my birthday. Since I was really hoping for a relaxing day, but the kids were so funny.  They were so excited it was my birthday, you would have thought it was their brithday's.  Lil Ben woke me up in the morning with kisses and saying  "Happy Birthday, mommy...mommy, wake up, mommy, Happy Birthday!" I couldn't help but laugh!! He was the first one in the house to wish me Happy Birthday- and he did it all on his own!! So much for sleeping in!


Since Lil Ben still couldn't leave the house, Ben came home and made a Hananoki style meal of steak, lobster and fried rice.  It was pretty awesome!! Here the kids are watching me open my gifts.

I felt so bad for Lil Ben.  He had begged and begged for me to open my presents all day, but me being traditional, I wanted to wait until after dinner and cake- but he wouldn't take a nap and so he fell asleep.  We tried to wake him (as you can see) but he was so grumpy we put him back in the bed.  He didn't even get to sing Happy Birthday or eat any cheesecake! Luckily he never said anything the next morning- which I was glad he didn't remember!! 

This was the picture that Campbell drew and colored for me! I was very surprised! As you can see, I am not dressed for public viewing, still in pj's! But this was a nice memory so I had to include it!

December 24th: Christmas Eve (Saturday)

We backed cookies during the day on Christmas Eve. Here Campbell and Lil Ben are helping me out!!

As Christmas Eve came to a close, Big Ben read "THe NIght Before Christmas" to the kids! An Annual tradition! Although I took numerous pictures, the older kids looked bored in all of them- except for this one! Lil Ben must have said something funny.

Since we ended up shopping at the last minute this year, we had to move the Family Christmas celebration from its normal Christmas Eve to Christmas Day.  So we let each kid open a gift before they went to bed.  AnnaMichelle told me that I was not to put this on facebook.....this doesn't count, right?

Campbell, got the art set she wanted!

Shelby, loved the CA colored Abercrombie shirt!

Lil Ben loved his "Cars" Themed art supplies (to keep him out of Campbell's art supplies)

They put cookies and milk out for Santa. Campbell even put carrots outside for the reindeer!

Then, right before they went to bed, we took one last picture with Buddy, the elf! I will have to say that I was sad to see him go!! I will miss!! Waiting for next Thanksgiving! (You can see Buddy sitting on the step above Campbell's stocking)

December 25th: Christmas (Sunday)

Upon waking up, Campbell took on the job of reading the note that Santa left for the kids. He told them what he was proud of from the last year and what they needed to work on. 

Lil Ben was so excited about the BatCave that Santa brought. As you can see in the picture, he is already eyeing the rest of the presents! (AnnaMichelle and Shelby each got Ipod  docks and Campbell got a sleeping back from Santa)

We invested in MarioKart this year. So each kid opened a piece of it.  They usually end up with one gift that is for all of them to share.

Campbell always has the best look on her face when she opens gitfs. So she has two pictures posted below. Here, she is opening her Sperrys.

And here, she is opening her Northface jacket.  She was so proud of this gift, we found it a couple of hours later, with her name already on the tag!!

Later in the day, Gramma and Poppy came over to eat with us.  The kids (and Big Ben) wanted to show them MarioKart! It was an awesome source of entertainment!

Once Brandi and the boys got to our house, the gift opening began! Here, AnnaMichelle is studying the "Quarter Book" that Gramma slaved over (for months)! She made one for each of the 6 kids!! 

Bryson opening a gift.

Lil Ben showing off his new gun.  Look at that smile!

Brandi, with her awesome laugh! Opening a gift. I love you, sis! Thanks again for being flexible and coming over on Christmas Day instead of Christmas Eve!

My handsome husband. 18 years together on December 29th and I love him more now than ever.

Shelby being goofy.

Braydon and Poppy trying out Braydon's new gift!

Lil Ben and Poppy, trying out Lil Ben's new gift!

Recovery

Tuesday, December 20

Poor Lil B is so incredibly frustrated with his physical limitations.  He feels good, so he doesn't understand that he can't do whatever he wants.  Yesterday afternoon he ask if he could get on this tractor outside.  After I told him no a couple of times, he turned into a broken record....asking over and over again, each time with a louder and faster request. He did this until he was finally crying and screaming at me. A full fledged temper tantrum. Campbell was trying to (at first) be firm and tell him to stop and (then, second) reason with him.  I told her he was frustrated and just let him get it out.  After about 15 minutes, he finally calmed down and we were able to distract him with some 'arts n crafts' activities.  I figured the tantrum wasn't too bad and to be honest I probably would have done the same.  The crazy thing is about 2 hours later I was laying down with him watching TV and during a commercial, he quietly said "Mommy, I'm sorry for throwing  a temper tantrum." I felt so bad.  He knows he shouldn't have thrown one and feels bad for it, but I feel like if there was ever one that was justified, that was the one!!!

December 2011: 3rd Surgery -Picture Story

Wednesday: Lil Ben, modeling his superhero cape given to him by his classmates to help him through his surgery! This was the night before. December 7th- also, his sisters birthday!

Picture of all the kids from the birthday dinner:

Thursday: Pre-Op. This is the nurse anesthetist is pushing him to surgery in a cozy coupe!

Post Op Recovery Room.  This was so much better than in the past.  There was no screaming and thrashing about.  As we walked around the corner of the recovery room, he was laying on his side with his eyes open.  When he saw me he tried to sit up and he started to cry a little....a think more from relief from seeing us, that anything else.  He soon fell back to sleep.

In the PICU at Vandy.  I was worried he would pull his IV or catheter out, so I put a sock I had in my suitcase over his hand. But then he fell back to sleep.

When he woke up for a couple of minutes, I was able to convince him to smile for a picture.

Eating a purple popsicle later that evening.  He was so funny- he got really mad at the nurse, because he wanted an Icee and she kept telling him they didn't have any.  He said, in real hateful voice; "I SAW IT on the MENU!!"  I couldn't help but laugh. I had to explain to her that in post op recovery, they had shown him a picture of 4 items: juice, popsicle, coke, and Icee and asked him what he wanted.  He was so out of it, that I chose a popsicle for him, but he really never ate it.  I felt bad when I realized his missed his opportunity for that Icee!! and apparently he wasn't that out of it,because he remembered the "menu"!

I got a real good nights sleep after I showed Lil B how to use the nurse call button.  The night before I had gotten up every 15 minutes from 9pm til midnight.  I was so exhausted after having been up since 4:30am, that I finally slid into the bed next to him, figuring I could help with most of his issues easily if I were right there.  Well, as soon as my butt hit the mattress, the nurse came in to inform me of the "rules." I told her I was well aware of the rules from 4 years ago.  I then handed lil Ben the nurse call remote.  I explained to him that if he needed to use the restroom, had a sick tummy, his head hurt, he wanted his movie swapped out or restarted- to hit the nurse call button. He did so good! He didn't call my name until 7:30 the next morning.  The poor nurse probably spent 90% of her time in his room during the night.  I really didn't feel TOO bad about this because I know that Dr. Fearon's hospital in Texas allows the parents to climb in the bed with the kids. That their rules are: whatever is best for that child.  Vandy, unfortunately, has the same rules for everyone....and since all kids in the ICU are not medically stable enough for parents to lay with them, then no parents can lay with their children.  Oh, well. I got a good nights sleep and was so much better able to take care of him in the morning.

Friday: The first morning after surgery! I was shocked to see that his eyes never swelled shut during the night!

He is playing spongebob games on the nickelodeon website.

Daddy finally arrived Friday late in the morning.  He brought a gift that Poppy had bought for Lil Ben.  It was kind of a big toy, but he had begged for it non-stop since he woke up from surgery.  So daddy brought it and they spent about an hour assembling it in it the ICU.  Lil Ben was so bossy- telling us where all the pieces and stickers went.

About lunch time, the day after surgery, I requested to move to a regular room.  Lil Ben had never needed any additional blood after the actual surgery, his eyes never swelled shut and he never ran a temperature. He was so bored sitting in the ICU bed.  I knew that if we moved to a regular room, he would be able to go to the playroom.  So later that afternoon they moved us.  The next day we were finally able to get to the playroom.

Saturday: In the playroom checking out all the cool toys.......

Until he discovered the foosball table! He was so happy to make up his own rules and beat me numerous times using those rules!

Then he discovered MarioKart......getting some ideas for Christmas gifts!

Sunday: Discharge Day!
When the doctor came to see us Sunday morning, I asked if we could be discharged! I presented my case- Lil Ben was NOT vomiting, drinking and eating fine, off IV fluids since the day before, was taking very little pain medication, and was so extremely active that I was afraid that he would get hurt trying to get in and out of the high hospital bed.  Not to mention I was worried that I would slip into a coma, if I had to watch one more repeat episode of scooby doo!! Despite a slight fever that morning, the doc agreed with me and decided to discharge us!!

This was our final trip to the playroom about an hour before we left to go home.  From this angle you can't even tell he had surgery.  His surgical incision and tape are not showing.