Ouch!

Poor Charles slammed his thumb in Steve's car door on Sunday. I wasn't there when it happened, but he was still whimpering an hour later when he came home. He woke up that night with shooting pains in that hand. It was a doozy.

I'm not sure what it is about him that makes him so accident prone, but we have had to administer more first aide with Charles than with the other two combined!

It's a good thing he's cute!!!

Thomas and dogs

Something funny Thomas said...

The whole family was in the car, driving home from somewhere. We turned down our old street and said "hi old house" like we always do. Next, here is what happened.

Steve: Look guys, there's a wiener dog
Boys: Where? I don't see it.
Steve: Right over there.
Joshua: Oh, I see it.
Thomas: Where, I don't see it
Steve: right there
Thomas: Oh...(long pause)
Thomas: (quietly, whispering almost to himself) So that's where hot dogs come from.

Huh?

No wonder nobody around here likes hotdogs!

No more Tonsils for Charles

Charles went in to have his tonsils removed on Friday, the 6th. He wasn't really ever sick because of them, but he did snore pretty loud and even had trouble talking. His tonsils were extremely large.

He wasn't really nervous about the operation. In fact, he didn't seemed bothered at all by the whole idea. Here he is hanging out in the waiting room before the surgery

After waiting there about 30 minutes, they took us back to a bed that was essentially in a hallway with nothing but a TV playing Kung-Fu Panda and two chairs. This was where we talked to the doctor and anesthesiologist before the actual procedure. Unfortunately, we ended up waiting here for about an hour and a half because they got behind. That was pretty tough, but we made it through playing lots of "I spy" and drawing on the paperwork about patients rights we were given. Charles also got his hospital bracelet here.

Then they finally brought the "goofy juice". I can't remember the name of the drug, but it is in the Valium family. They give this to the kids before they take them back so that they don't freak out when they are wheeled away. After he was taken to the OR, they gave him gas to fall asleep and then inserted the iv. So, Charles didn't have to be stuck with a needle one time while awake. He was pretty funny after he got the "Valium"; he started acting really silly and then would stare off into space. At one point he said "I was dreaming I was in a restaurant." I think he was hungry, poor guy. He kept leaning to the side of the bed looking through the bars.

Then they came and got him for the surgery, and we waited for him in the waiting room. The surgery took about 30 minutes, maybe less. They called us back just as they were wheeling him back to the recovery room. He ate a Popsicle for them before we even saw him, and ate another one while we were with him. He said his throat hurt and kept sucking on his lips. He asked for his glasses right away too.

About 30 minutes later the nurse came in and removed the IV. It was in his foot. Who knew.

After that we were cleared to leave. Steve went and got the car, and the nurse wheeled him out in a kiddie wheel chair. He got to pick a little stuffed animal with the hospital shirt on him. He chose the Cow and later named him Texas.

The ride home was uneventful. He dozed a little, and didn't throw up. When we got home, Steve put him on the coach to watch TV and he was quiet for the next few hours, in and out of sleep.

By the time the boys got home from school, you would have never known anything happened to him except for the fact that his voice is quite a bit higher and squeakier. By then he was running around, jumping, and had eaten jello, ice cream, a bowl of oatmeal and lots of juice.

He is still doing well, but the pain has started to kick in. His throat is scabbed over and he gets pretty sore when its time for his next dose of codeine or Motrin. He also doesn't have much of an apetite and spikes a low grade fever every now and then. We heard that the first couple of days are the easiest, and now know it is true. But all in all, he is doing really great. Thanks for all the thoughts, prayers and warm wishes from everyone!!

Garage Make-over

This post is really for our dads...they both helped us with this project. It's just much easier to put it on here than try to do this via email.

We have never had an organized garage. We were stubborn enough to have it somewhat clean so that we could park both cars inside, but it has never been organized. When we moved to this new house 2 1/2 years ago, we got an extra 1/2 car space in the garage which was perfect for a work bench and all the various tools we own. We just never got around to it, and a hand-me-down chest freezer was our makeshift tool bench. That being said, Grandpa Winton bought Steve a tool bench for Christmas and it inspired us to finally get completely organized.

I only wish I had before pictures to share.

Before the work bench arrived, Steve installed ELFA shelves all along the back of the garage. It gave us TONS of needed storage space, and looks great. Here it is.


The next area he tackled was next to our trash can. Normally we had a line of dirty cleats, boots and work shoes lined up from my car along the path to the door. It was pretty out of control considering each person had at least 2 pairs of shoes there plus skates. That's 20-30 shoes stacked up and in the way. So, Steve installed drawers next to the trash can. The really nice, deep Elfa drawers. There are also two shelves way above them for our recycle bins. We each have our own drawer for shoes, gloves, hats, skates...whatever. Even Steve and I have a drawer. Check it out.

We even have a spot for firewood now.

The drawers are also labeled...with my new handy-dandy labeler.

This is where our shoes used to be...all along this wall. Looks nice huh? We even got a new rug and have a spot for the ripstick and helmets.

And the pieze de resistance...the work bench. It took about a month to get the actual hardware to put it together. Sears had a product issues, but it looks great, holds all our tools and makes us very happy. Steve took it all one step further and installed a pegboard above it for virtually all of our small tools. Now everything is in easy reach. I bought an organizer for all the little screws, hooks, anchors etc. (hanging on the right)


I even labeled every one of those little tiny drawers.


Thanks Papa for the work bench, and thanks Grampa Kall for the advice with the pegboard. The next time you are in town, you will have no problem finding any tool you need to help us with our next project!! Hee hee.

Stock Show

Over the long MLK Jr. Holiday break, we decided to check out the Ft. Worth Stock Show. At the rodeo itself, it was "Mexican Heritage day". So after rambling around the stock yards for a while, we did catch a bit of the rodeo which was fun for Steve and I, but excruciating for the boys (especially Joshua). It started off great; a big bowl of popcorn, a nice seat away from the COLD outside. But even I will admit, after about the 5th mariachi cowboy, I was ready for a walk around the midway. It still counts as culture nonetheless.

When we got to the midway, we had a little lesson in economics. The prices for rides on the midway were $1 per ticket and each ride was anywhere from 3 to 5 tickets. We had already been there about 3 hours and spent all we wanted on food and other stuff, so each kid got to pick one ride. The older boys picked the big slide and Charles wanted to ride the teapots.

Fine.

When they were done, Joshua decided he REALLY wanted to walk through the fun house. Think State fair. Funny mirrors, moving walls etc. It was another 3 tickets. Since we literally had $5 left in our pockets, I said no. He told me he would pay me back at home, and I so I let him. (I always loved the dumb fun house as a kid too). He walked through and when he came out we asked him if it was worth $3. (that is 1/3 of a months pay for him). He said "yes, it was"

Darn pride.

When we got home, Joshua pulled out his most recent IOU from his wallet. That IOU was from me...I don't remember what it was from but promised him it was as good as cash. (IOU $10 signed mom) He promptly changed the $10 to $7 as payment to me for the fun house. Not only did he make good on his promise to pay for his ride, but he now understands how our banking system works. The whole concept of money exchanging hands "on paper". Ha!

Here are a couple of pictures from our day!

The food was surprisingly good all around the stock yards. Here were some cowboys cooking up burritos.


The animals were all so cute.




The cows were cute too (hee hee)


The petting zoo was a big hit with all three boys!

Here is the Mexican rodeo. The little Mexican kids were adorable.

All in all, it was a really fun day!