Christmas at Home

I didn't get too many pictures this year. I was out of it in the photo department. We had a really great Christmas. It was very quiet and calm this year. I loved it. We have had a rough year financially and actually were able to have a very nice Christmas. Our family is truely blessed and being watched over.

Christmas Eve Linden and Michelle and kids came over and had some dinner and played games. We got a new pictionary game where you draw on the man. It was pretty fun.

The kids played there new slider sorry game they got from Great Grama.

The kids always get to open one present on Christmas Eve of new pj's.

Savanna got a phone for Christmas. Now her nose is always buried in her phone.

Jase got an mp3.

Livee got some blocks.

Hallie got a dippin dot maker and some nintendo games.

Aleena playing her new nintendo.

A special Santa gave our family a Wii for Christmas. The kids love it and play it a lot. I think we all woke up the next day with sore arms. Livee even gets a hold of the remote and tries. I need to video that. Hope you all had a great Christmas

Chrstmas at Grama's

We had a fun night at Grama and Papa Dick's. We ate yummy food and were well entertained by Uncle Dave. He started the night out with a little worm he had in his pocket. Then he moved on to showing us his true colors. Not a ton of action shots. I didn't get too many pictures.

Snow Day

We took the kids out to play in the snow a while ago. There is a bike park in
town that the kids love to go to. . Livee fell asleep before we got there. Her suite must have kept her warm.

This is a skateboard thing. It had a sheet of ice in it. Brad had to help the kids out because it was too slippery to get out. It was funny watching all the kids trying to get out themselves.

Savanna was using this swimming tube to try and sled. She was being quite silly.

Livee loved the sled.

Aleena wouldn't get in the group picture. She was mad that we had to leave, so she got a grumpy picture.

Hallie's Checkup

Hallie had a check up today to see how her brace was doing. We have worked up to our 20 hours some days it is 18 but we have been pretty faithful to wearing it, well I should say she has been. I have been noticing the past couple days that the really tight mark wasn't seeming like it was that tight. When Tom looked at her he noticed the same thing and made us new marks. He was able to pull it tighter which is really great news because that means her back is working with the brace. It means her spine has straightened out just a bit and that is exactly what we want. His goal is to correct it by about 50% and keep it there. He was very proud of her wearing it and keeping with the program. She was not excited though to know that we have a new tightness to work up too. The other positive thing is that she has been waking up in the night to go potty. She wears her pullup under her brace and she go potty unless I undo her, but she has been waking up about 1am, going potty, gives her a chance to breath and then we put it back on and she goes back to sleep. She will be so excited to get rid of the whole pull up thing. If He did do a bit of an adjustment on her chest because it was digging in her just a bit so he warmed it up and curved it out. It is tight enough that her skin and tissue hangs over the edge. This way it will be a more gentle edge. Tom is very nice and really makes us feel comfortable. We have to schedule for an xray with her brace on. if the pad is in the right place and there are no concerns then we will just see Tom in 4 months.

20 hrs

Yesterday has been Hallie's hardest day so far. There were a lot of tears. I think there are a few things going on: she is realizing how much she has to wear it and is not liking it, her body isn't used to it so it is agitating her which makes her more sensitive to everything. I definitely was the bad guy yesterday. We had many talks on how she is going to have to think about or do something to keep her mind off of it because we can't take it off every time she is uncomfortable or she will take it off all day. We actually made it through the night last night. She used lots of pillows and propped herself up a bit. That is a big start. We tried wearing it at the tightness it was suppose to be at. She only made it about an hour. So now that we are at the 20 hrs, I think I might try every couple hours tightening it for an hour and then have a couple hours with it looser. She does not like it super tight, so I am definitely going to have to stick to my guns on it and set some time goals because I find her already trying to work it so she can have it looser. It is tight enough that it effects the way she breaths so I understand why she doesn't like it, but we have to get where the marks are or it won't do its job. I think it is important to ease into it so her body will adjust and her mind will adjust. Her skin is adjusting fine. She tends to have dry skin which is a plus for wearing a brace because it can get sweaty in there. I gave "Bracie" a bath for the first time. I just use the soap she uses and give it a quick wash. The straps tend to take a while to dry, so I tried blow drying them and that worked.

8 hrs

Hallie made it through 8 hrs of wearing her brace today. She got up and had 4 hours this morning, and then had 4 more hours this evening. She only had tears one time. She was laying watching tv and was putting a lot of pressure on her one side and so it was hurting her ribs. We took it off and re put it on and she was better. The brace isn't at its tightest so it may move just a little and rub funny on her. Yesterday was 4 hours and at about 3 hours she kept saying that it was hurting her side of her leg. I finally took it off and we looked at it, not a ton of redness, put it back on, and it was better. I think I must have had it a bit too far to the front and so it was hurting her to bend her leg. That spot didn't hurt at all today. She really has been a trooper. Tomorrow we will aim for 16 hours. I might see if she can sleep with it on tomorrow night. Sleeping shouldn't be to hard I hope, She is a back sleeper and that should be fine. The only other thing that is a bit wierd is that she has to wear her underwear over her brace so that she doesn't have to take it off to go to the bathroom. She says that feels a bit wierd.

Hallie's Brace is here....

Hallie finally got her brace. She had her fitting appt on Wednesday. Last time we were there, they took measurements of her body, where her ribs, waist, chest, all that. When we started on Wednesday he had this brace for us. It had marks, and no straps on it. She has special tanks that she wears underneath them. They are made out of a special fabric so that they don't get smelly and stuff. They actually feel quite comfy. He had her put on the brace and taped it on her. He had to check different spots on it. The brace is quite low in the front so he made sure that when she sat down it didn't hurt her legs. Under her one armpit comes up quite high, so he checked that spot. He then took it back into his lab and did some trimming. That took about 30 min. to do the trimming. The next round he rechecked those spots and had her do some walking and more sitting. Then he put a pad on one side where it will force her to straigten out. The glue had to dry for about 30 minutes. He then checked where the straps where going to go and went and put them on. After that, we had to learn about the straps and tightening, and she had to wear it for about 10 minutes at its fullest tightness, which is where she will work up to. We then checked her skin for redness. There was some redness where the pressure is being applied. Which the red spots are telling him that it is doing its job. So apparantly there is good redness and bad redness.

During our waiting time we got to watch cable tv, that was a real treat. And I let her make 2 bracelets. Then she just colored a bit. It wasn't too terrible waiting.

Hallie was having a shy moment.

Here is our end result. She has her shirt pulled down funny, so she looks a bit silly. She will pull her pants up over her brace.

The pad that he put in is under her right armpit, you can see it sticking out just a bit if you look real close. The straps are velcro. Each one has a black mark on it that we have to work our way up to. Our first day we wore it for an hour. Then we increased today to 2 hours a just a bit tighter. Tomorrow we will aim for 4 hours. She is finding that she has to adjust how she walks up stairs and sits because there is one side on her thigh that is lower and digs into her if she bends just wrong. She will adjust and it won't be so awkward after a bit of time. Luckily she loves sweats because those seem to work right now for her. Christmas break will actually be perfect for us to get used to it. We have to work up to 20 hours a day. She can't wear it to school until she sleep through the night with it. We will have to do some training with some friends, school nurse and some family members. She can't get it on by herself. We'll go back in 2 weeks and see how it is working.

Mom's knee surgery

Mom went in for knee replacement surgery yesterday. She seems to be doing good. I haven't had a chance to talk to her yet today. The dr. said it was in pretty bad shape and said she was probably living with a lot of pain, which she was. She kind of was hobbling a bit and couldn't get around very well. We are all hoping and praying this will eliminate the pain and help her get around better. Hope your feeling better Mom. I love you... xoxoxoxo

C-C-C-old outside....

It has been really cold around here lately. The kids can't go out to recess because the teachers think it is too cold. I come home last night and my kids are outside trying to build themselves an ice patch so they slide all around. They were content as can be. I wonder if it is really necessary to not let them go outside at school. I say if they are prepared and they want too, let them out. I had to finally drag them in at 6 pm because it was dark out. They would have stayed out there longer if I would have let them. I am so glad they love to be outside, but I worry with them playing out in such cold weather. Maybe it is because I am wimpy. It doesn't seem to bother them. We are suppose to maybe get some snow this weekend. I see some snow forts in the near future.

perfect moments

The other night, I had an "AAAHH" moment. It reminded me of an episode from like Leave it to Beaver or something. Savanna and Hallie were sitting to the kitchen table playing Boggle, actually getting along, Jase was reading to Aleena and Livee in front of the fireplace, Brad was cleaning the blind in the room, and I was cooking dinner. Everyone was peaceful, there was no fighting or even loud noise, it was just Christmas music in the background. I couldn't help but feel myself smile. These are the moments that make it all worth it.

Festive Brownie bites

I am making these for my M-in-law's luncheon this weekend. Can't wait. They look yummy.

Go Here for the recipe. Thanks Picky-palate.com for the post.

Walmart Find...

I saw a cookie Jar like this one at Walmart today for only $12. It's paper was blue, and different pinks on top. I was looking on line for one like it, but this was the closest one I found. They are both cute. LOVE IT. This post is for my husband in case he doesn't know what to get me for Christmas.

While browsing I saw these cute little holders. They would be cute with pictures on my cute kids in them. Just a warning for the future. I am a bit obsessive when I get a subject on the brain. I am sure there will be many cupcake posts.

Kitchen makeover

I have been getting the painting/redo bug. I would really like to start with my kitchen. It is truely the heart of our house. I have a crazy love of anything with cupcakes. I have been wanting to start collecting something, but didn't know what. I was teasing the other day that I wanted to collect something besides kids now that I am done having them=). So I am going to turn to my love for cupcakes and chocolates. The Cracker Barrel has the cutest set of pillows and dish towels that had little truffles on them with a sweet saying on them. I think that is when I fell in love. So I am officially going to start collecting things with chocolates and cupcakes on them. I have this crazy idea of putting that love into my kitchen. I need some help deciding how to do it without being to crazy. I really love the colors of pinks, blue, and chocolate, maybe even some red. I found a few pictures of things I liked color wise. I have some plant shelves that I could start to put some of my collection on, like mugs, or pillows, or what not. But I need anyone's creative ideas. What color should I do walls? I love to paint. I was thinking I could put a cute saying about something sweet, and maybe some cupcake decals. Is this going overboard? I also have a table and chairs, that could really use a makeover. I was thinking painting them chocolate but somehow get some color on them. Something whimsical. Help. I need some ideas.

Pumpkin Pie

I definitely have to try this one. Check out Bakerella here for this recipe.