Kade

I was cleaning out Kade's binder from school last night and came across this assignment:

You may not be able to see the little stick men too well, but I am pretty sure the one with red hair is supposed to be Blake.  I think they are playing video games. 

 I love finding little treasures like this!  

I especially love how well Mr. Kade is writing his first and last name!  

GO KADE! 

Finally!

Long time, no see...again.

I am tired and I don't want this post to be a novel, so I will try to condense a few major happenings and cram them together.

Chad got the job in Chattanooga!  He started working September 13.  He loves it so far because it is really complicated and he gets to learn new things and play around with Excel spreadsheets.

Chad got released from the bishopric!  On the first Sunday in September, President Crawford came down from the Stake to release him and call his replacement.  After three + years of sitting without him, it is so nice to be able to rely on him helping me get the kids ready for church and sit with us once we get there.  YAY!  I would do it all over again to see him grow and mature in the gospel though.  He is a good man and I think he even surprised himself while he was in that calling.  

As he puts it, at least he knows he'll never be called to be Elders Quorum president now ;-)!

Enough about Chad.  This is my blog, after all!

I had a partial hysterectomy on September 11th.  Not a ton of fun, but I already feel much better and the problems that I have had for years that got much worse after I had Sophie are GONE!  

My mother in law came out to help us for a week and between her and my family I was pretty well spoiled.  

The week after my surgery Chad and I finally got to go house hunting! 

We settled on a house that was put up for sale in the beginning of August.  We had been watching it and hoping it would still be around when we were ready to start looking. 

We put an offer in and after almost a week of nail biting and counter offering, the sellers accepted our offer!  Here she is:

I don't love the exterior, but Chad has always wanted a Tudor style house and this is the closest we could find, so he doesn't mind it.  We have plans to replace the roof in the next year or so and probably get a nicer front door.  I will be painting it a dark brown in the meantime.  Right now it is a weird orange color, which you can't really tell from this picture.  There are lots of features that I do love about it though...like quartz counter tops, wood floors and a huge master closet that has a built in shoe rack(!!).

 I also love the property that it sits on.  It is .94 acres of mostly trees and shade.  It needs some TLC, but we are more than willing to put some elbow grease in since this place will be our "forever home"...at least until the kids inherit it get a lot older!  

The house itself is 3300 sq. ft. which is almost three times the size of the house we have lived in for the past three years!  I was joking with someone that I will be able to tell my kids to "get lost" and they might actually be able to do it for a change.  

Our original plan was to move after Christmas so the boys could finish out the semester, but when all was said and done we decided that it is more important for us to move and get settled before my hip surgery in mid December.  I was not looking forward to hobbling around on crutches behind the movers to get everything put away!  

That being said, we close on the house November 9th and the movers are scheduled for the 12th.  

I am tired of being a "single parent" during the week while Chad stays in Chattanooga.  

Now that there is an end in sight I know I can survive!   

Phew! Time for bed.  I promise to be back before November...maybe.

Merry Christmas!

There are some BIG things going on for us right now!  I want to go in order, so I will start with an update on my hip.  WARNING:  This is very long and I talk a bit about needles, so if you are squeamish you can skip to the end or feel free to leave now...though it will hurt my feelings and I will never speak to you again.  

Just kidding!

I got an early Christmas present last week...but before I tell you what it is I have to tell you a little bit of background story.

Three weeks ago I went in for an arthrogram and MRI of my right hip.  I wasn't fully prepared for how much "fun" an arthrogram is.  They had me lay under some kind of x-ray machine wearing nothing but a hospital gown and some scrub pants that they made me pull down anyway.  They tried to help me have a little modesty by draping some blankets around my left side, but my right side was exposed and after the number of weird exams I have had this year, I am kind of over being poked and prodded!  They had me lay on my back with my big toes crossed and my heels spread apart...then they taped my feet together so I wouldn't move from that position.  Apparently holding my feet like that opened up my hip joint so they could reach it better.  It was pretty uncomfortable given the fact that my right hip hurts anyway...but then again, so was everything else they did to me so I guess it wasn't that bad!

They pulled the x-ray machine over me and then the doctor, Dr. Mayo (who had a really cool British accent), went to town with a Sharpie marking exactly where he was going to insert a big fat needle that I made the mistake of looking at.  After I looked like a connect the dots picture (the unfortunate part about the x-ray machine was the ginormous screen that was like a mirror so I couldn't look up without seeing exactly what they were doing to me!) he explained that he was going to inject some numbing medicine so that I wouldn't feel the big fat needle that he was going to stick in my hip joint.

The crazy part about that is that he was right!  I hardly felt the numbing needle go in, just a few little pinches, and then when he put the big needle in, it was uncomfortable but didn't really hurt.  

Then the real fun began.

While Dr. Mayo was trying to maneuver the big fat needle to exactly where he wanted it, some other guy slipped in to ogle me.  I think he was a fellow or something cause he was pretty young and looked stressed out enough that I doubt he just walked in off the street because he heard there was some half naked lady getting poked with needles.  But then, they never told me who he was, so he could have been a very well dressed homeless guy who bought tickets to the show.  He was pretty helpful when Dr. Mayo complained that it felt like he was hitting against a mountain (thanks Dr. Mayo, like it wasn't uncomfortable enough without you complaining about how big my hips are), and told him that it looked like the ring of the needle was hitting on the bone.  I could have told them both that, because thanks to the spinal tap I had at the end of June, I know exactly what it feels like when a needle is hitting your bone.  I can't really describe it as pain, it is more like that awful feeling you get when you hear nails on a chalkboard...and weird pressure. I guess you could say that it hurts, but it is more that you just want it to end and never feel that sensation again.

While Dr. Mayo was digging around I swear I did more lamaze breathing than I ever had to do while I was in labor with Blake for sixteen hours.  He would stop what he was doing to ask if I was ok every few minutes, which was nice of him.  He finally got things where they needed to be and then he went over and grabbed a big syringe of contrast material, another one with a steroid in it and the final one had a local anesthetic that he assured me would make everything feel all better for six to eight hours.  I could have kissed him when he said he was all done and asked again if I was ok.  My response was, 

"Well I've had worse!".

He said he hoped so (not sure what he meant by that really) and sent me on my way to MRI.  His little blond nurse/assistant helped me off the table and explained that my hip joint would probably feel a lot of pressure since he had pumped it full of everything he could get his hands on and it was a little "full" in there.  She wasn't kidding.  It wasn't painful so much as just a weird uncomfortable pressure that the numbing meds didn't take care of.

 Once again my big toes were taped together in the most uncomfortable way possible and I was shoved into the MRI machine for a boring nice little hour long "nap" where they tried to give me hypothermia by pumping in as much cold air as their system would allow.  Half way through I couldn't feel my toes anymore, which was nice since they were cramping from the position they were taped in.  I went through every Primary song I know (not out loud...in my head) while I was in there and then I started planning out what I am going to get the kids for Christmas.  I stopped just short of planning world peace, because I ran out of time.

I was finally released and went on my merry way home.  My sister offered to drive me but I was all warrior like and said I should be fine.  I got about ten miles down the road on the interstate before I realized I should have let her drive, luckily she was nice enough not to do the whole "I told you so" thing.  We all made it back in one piece and I spent the rest of the week hobbling around after the anesthetic wore off and the real pain began.  I must have been pretty bruised from the needle they used, but it got better after about five days and went back to being the same kind of sore it has been for the past three years.

I went to see my hip specialist, Dr. Fitch, at Vanderbilt the following week for the results of the MRI.  He is probably the sweetest man I have ever met.  He also has four children and spent a few minutes telling me that he once met a man who told him that he and his wife could have given their children no greater gift than the gift of siblings.  We talked about how much they learn from each other and how they each have a unique role within the family.  It is so refreshing to see a doctor who doesn't act like I have two heads when I tell him how many children I have...and I really never considered that four is that many!

Anyway.  When we got down to business he told me that I do have a tear in the labrum of my right hip.  The labrum is kind of like a rubber band that surrounds your hip joint.  The tear basically causes a little flap to get caught when I move my hip in certain ways.  I also have what is called an os acetabulim, or impingement, which I guess I was born with.  It is a kind of like an extra bit of bone that rubs against my hip joint when I move and causes inflammation.  I found out later that I also have one in my left hip, but it doesn't bother me at this point so there is no reason to fix it.  

We discussed possible treatments now that we know for sure what the problem is.  We both arrived at the conclusion that it was time for me to see a surgeon since I have already done physical therapy and a steroid injection.  The steroid has helped a little, but the pain is definitely still there.  There are only two surgeons in the Nashville area who perform hip arthroscopy, so Dr. Fitch set me up with the one he knows who happens to work for Vanderbilt Bone and Joint.

The next morning I dropped Kade off for his first full day of kindergarten(!) and hightailed it over to Franklin to meet Dr. Looney.  I secretly thought it would have been very ironic if he'd become a psychiatrist instead of an orthopedic surgeon, but most people probably wouldn't find that as funny as I do.

Dr. Looney sent me in for what he called a "young hip x-ray series" where I was once again required to don a hospital gown and pose in different ways so they could take a bunch of x-rays of my hip.  They wheeled Sophie over to the nurses station while they did this and they all kept her entertained and happy.  They liked her so much I almost offered to leave her there while I went shopping...but they probably would have wanted me to come back just as soon as she didn't get her way and screamed the place down, so I wouldn't have gotten far.

Once I got back to the exam room, Dr. Looney (I just have too much fun saying his name!) examined the mobility of my hip by moving it in pretty much every imaginable position except behind my head (which I was glad for).  He compared the mobility of my right hip joint to my left hip joint and even I was shocked by how different the numbers were for each leg.  Then he sat me down and drew a nice little picture of a hip joint and what it should look like as opposed to what mine looks like.  If orthopedic surgery doesn't work out for the man he certainly could have a future in drawing little diagrams for textbooks!  He further explained that he thinks surgery is a viable option to help me, though I may always have a bit of an ache when it is cold outside.  

The recovery for the surgery, and the surgery itself, is not fun.  I'd be on crutches for at least four weeks if he didn't end up having to do something more complicated (I can't remember the word...it was pretty long) once he got in there to see the problem.  The surgery takes four to five hours, so I am super glad I would be asleep for it!  

We discussed the fact that I am having a hysterectomy (Surprise! I never told you about that one, did I?) on September 11th, and he told me that he will not do the surgery until four months after that.  He said that even if my OB/GYN is ok with doing it six weeks later, he won't do it until four months later.  In my mind I freaked out a bit considering that we have met our out of pocket max for the year and I would prefer to get this taken care of before the new year, but I chose to keep that to myself until I had a chance to talk it over with Chad.  I left feeling like there is actually hope for me and a little apprehensive for what is to come.  Chad and I discussed it and decided that unless we could get him to do it in December before we move to Chattanooga, I would in fact have to wait and possibly never have it done since the longer we wait, the bigger chance that arthritis will set in and then they can't do anything to help it. 

I spent the weekend depressed that I would have to live with this pain after all if I couldn't convince Dr. Looney to do the surgery in December instead of January.  I counted up the number of weeks and realized that mid-December will be thirteen weeks after my hysterectomy.  I said a very desperate prayer and called Dr. Looney's office on Tuesday morning and left a message.  Thursday morning I got a call from Dr. Looney's assistant, Jake, and asked if they would be willing to do the surgery in mid-December.  He said he didn't see that as being a problem and promptly scheduled it for December 13th.  I was all ready to have to beg and plead and give him all the reasons why I need it done then (Chad will be able to take time off around Christmas, I have a bunch of family here to help with the kids and won't have that after we move, we're moving, etc. etc.) but Jake didn't need much convincing. 

I got off the phone almost in tears that everything could work out for me after all.  Yes, Christmas on crutches will be rough, but the benefits of this surgery should outweigh the negatives in the long run.  I can't wait to be able to hike with my kids next summer and even just walk from my car into a grocery store without hurting!  

So there you have it. 

 I felt like I had gotten an early Christmas present that day and even though I am apprehensive about the whole recovery of it, it really is a blessing.  

Sorry this turned into such a novel, and to be honest it took me three days to type it up!  But I feel like this experience needed to be journaled so my family and I can look back on it and remember how present the Lord is in our lives even if we feel sometimes that our trials are unbearable.  The Lord has perfect timing and I am so grateful for His guidance and blessings.  

School Days

This morning I dropped Kade off for his first full day of kindergarten! 

 It was a bittersweet experience, probably more than when I dropped Blake and Trevor off for their first days since Kade is a little bit younger than they were when they started kindergarten and he's always been my sweet little buddy while they were at school.  I almost teared up when I saw him standing in line with other kindergartners who were all three or four inches taller than him! 

I figured it was time to post all of the first day photos since the big boys started school a few weeks ago.

Blake age 10 (5th Grade)

Trevor age 8 (4th Grade)

Kade age 5 (Kindergarten)

This was his "happy thoughts" face.  He insisted that the sun was in his eyes, even though it was behind him!


Three cheers for the first day of school!
If I hadn't had to drive to Franklin to meet with a surgeon (more on that later) right after I dropped the boys off, my sisters and mom and I would have done our annual 1st Day of School Luncheon.
 We postponed it to Monday if anyone wants to join us!

Older and Wiser...Ok, Mostly Just Older.

I am going in for another MRI tomorrow. 

 That makes three for this year; plus two CT scans, two chest x-rays, an ultrasound, a hysteroscopy, a spinal tap and a partridge in a pear tree. I am pretty sure that whomever handles our account at Blue Cross Blue Shield cries whenever they see my name pop up.  Up until the past few weeks (when I discovered that we have hit our out of pocket max for me for the year) whenever I saw any mail come through with my name on it, I wanted to cry too!

I never really posted about what we discovered is wrong with my right hip, and since I know you are all on the edge of your seats to find out, and since I am basking in the near silence of naptime, I will put you all out of your misery and talk about me for a while.  

You may recall that I was whining several months ago about a pain that I'd had in my right side for a few years.  Long story short, two months, two doctors, two MRIs, six sessions of physical therapy and lots of pain meds later and I was diagnosed as having an impingement and a labral tear in the cartilage of my hip joint.  At least, that is what he *thinks* it is.  My first MRI was done without contrast so it doesn't show the tear very well.  Tomorrow I will go in and they will shoot contrast into my hip joint with a needle and next week I will go back to see my orthopedist to see if that is what it really is.  

An impingement is basically a deformity in my hip joint that means it is shaped like an oval instead of being round like most people.  I was probably born with it.  There are many ways I could have gotten the tear, I think it was probably from disc golf, but we aren't sure since it took so long to diagnose it.  

When I first got diagnosed I was very angry.  I was told that they usually don't see injuries like this in 30 year old women, but rather much older people or professional athletes.  When I looked it up I came across several message boards of people who have it and their ages are almost always over 60.

 I was also told that this can lead to very bad arthritis and hip replacement down the road. 

 "Why me?" I thought.  

I spent many hours in self pity as I thought about all of the things that I can't do anymore.  I can no longer get out and run around with my kids in the yard, I can't take them on hikes at the nature trail without pain, I can't sit on the floor with them and build things out of blocks, and it hurts to dance, which is something I love to do.  My hip is very stiff and sore, and sometimes it gets a "hitch" in it that keeps me from being able to move it until I can work out the kinks. 

 I could feel bitterness creeping into my soul as I made mental lists of things that I can no longer do without pain.

Then one day I had an "aha" moment.  

"Why NOT me?" I thought to myself. 

Everyone has a cross to bear.

I can't think of one person who is not weighed down by some kind of "impingement".  That is why we were put here on Earth for crying out loud!  It is what we choose to do and who we choose to be despite these roadblocks that help us to develop and get back to our Heavenly Father in (hopefully) one piece.  

When I chose to look at the bright side of the trials that I was dealt, I started to find the blessings in my life. 

I have four beautiful children who are smart and funny and who still give me hugs in public!  I have a husband who works hard to provide for us and who has been so good to me when I can't drag myself in to make dinner.  We have been waiting on this job transfer to Chattanooga for over a year, but if we had moved a year ago I would not have had so much family around to help me when I needed it.  

The Lord has perfect timing!  

I have started to look for as many opportunities to serve others as I can find.  I have found that my own problems are so small in comparison to what others are dealing with.  It felt good to test my physical limitations when I got out and laid landscaping cloth at the church and when I lead 14 cub scouts around Barfield Park for a week during Day Camp!  

I love this passage in Matthew, chapter 11:

28 ¶^aCome unto me, all ye that ^blabour and are heavy laden, and I will give you ^crest.

 29 Take my ^ayoke upon you, and ^blearn of me; for I am ^cmeek and^dlowly in ^eheart: and ye shall find ^frest unto your souls.

 30 For my yoke is ^aeasy, and my burden is light.

So tomorrow I will go in for another MRI.  

I am scared to death of having a shot put directly into my hip...but I will grin and bear it because 

1) I won't have to pay a dime for it since we've hit our out of pocket max and 2) See #1.  

Someone asked me a while back if I could just go to a chiropractor to take care of this. When I asked my doctor if this injury is something that will eventually heal on its own he told me that no, it won't, because there is no blood supply to the hip joint.  Blood is necessary for the body to heal itself.  A chiropractor may be able to adjust the hip joint, but he wouldn't be able to help it to heal.  I have already been adjusted at physical therapy and while it has helped, it hasn't gotten rid of the problem. 

My doctor told me a few months ago that there is a surgery that they can do to shave the tear and repair it, but it will put me off my feet for at least six weeks.  Six weeks of chasing Sophie around while on crutches does not sound fun at all...but if it means that I can actually chase her around eventually then it may just be worth it!

There are only two surgeons in the area who do the surgery, and both of them are in Nashville.  

Yet another reason that I am grateful TVA has kept us waiting for this transfer!  The ball has started rolling on that front as well.  Chad is on his way to Chattanooga for his interview tomorrow, and we will hopefully have a better idea of a time frame for the move after that.  He may have to stay over there several nights a week until we can find a place and move the whole family, or we may just rent a place and build a house on Signal Mountain...we are still trying to figure it all out.  

So fingers (and toes and eyes) crossed for tomorrow!  I'll let you know how it goes...

Happy (Late) Birthday Kade!

Ooops!  

This summer has been a "bit" crazy for me, and I realized this morning that I haven't posted since Fathers Day...which means I completely missed posting about Kade's 5th birthday!  It was July 15th, so I'm less than a month late posting about it.  Yay me!

I was a little worried that I might have forgotten to take pictures of him that day too...but then I went looking and found these:

Mr. Cool all ready to head to Church on his birthday.

The simple yet complicated cake that I slaved over....that didn't taste too great since I forgot to buy a mix and went with "the best vanilla cake recipe ever" NOT!  Pinterest, my faith in you was shaken that day to be sure.


Since Kade shares a birthday with my super cute niece, Ashleigh, we did a combined birthday dinner at my sister's house.  It was great fun.

Kade is such an important part of our family.  He is sweet and mellow (usually) and extremely funny (sometimes without meaning to be).  Of all of my kids he stayed a baby the longest, and still loves to climb on my lap to be cuddled.  Usually this doesn't last too long since Sophie comes and pushes him off, but it is nice while it lasts!   I went into Primary to hear him give the prayer a few weeks ago and had to stop myself from laughing out loud when he prayed that "Daddy won't fall off the roof again, and Mommy will feel better".  This has been the recurring theme of his prayers since Chad fell off the roof in June and I have been sick most of the summer (those two things deserve posts of their own!).  So far, I am feeling better and Chad hasn't fallen off the roof again, so I am grateful for the faith and dedication of my little five year old!  

He is starting kindergarten in a few weeks, we go in for his screening tomorrow.  He told the eye doctor a few weeks ago that he can read...but really he just recognizes most of his letters.  He can read and write his name and also recognizes the names of everyone in the family, as well as write "mom" and "dad".  

We have the option of putting him in Pre K but Chad and I have talked about it a lot and feel that he is ready to be in kindergarten this year.  He is far ahead of where Trevor was going into kindergarten (and he was a lot older) and he seems to be ready emotionally.  

He is so small for his age though it seems like this came too fast!  

He was 33 pounds and 39 inches tall at his 5 year old check-up.  He still wears a 4T in most clothes and size 9 shoe.  He is definitely smaller than the other boys were at this age.  He got a bike for his birthday and it only took him a few times riding it to get the hang of the pedals...we need to work with him a little bit and we'll be able to take the training wheels off.

Happy Birthday Kade!  

Our family wouldn't be the same without you!



I promise to be around more...I have so many posts to catch up on!



  

Happy Fathers Day!

The other day I took the kids to the park and we did a little Fathers Day photo shoot. 

 It was supposed to be a surprise for Chad, but as soon as he got home that night Blake told him about it!

  

It was hot and sticky and Sophie was coming down with something so we ended up having to bribe her with fruit snacks, but a few of them turned out pretty well.

June 2012

Just to put things in perspective, here is last year's Fathers Day picture:

June 2011

Our family is blessed to have some great fathers in our life. 

I couldn't ask for a better dad for my kids than Chad, and Chad and I have pretty great dads too.

Happy Fathers Day!

Oh Whoa Whoa Whoa...

"Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting..."

That song has been in my head for a few days now.  I couldn't remember why until earlier today when I remembered that I had yet to post about Trevor's tae kwon do tournament that I took him to in Memphis last Saturday.  I know some smart aleck is going to say that kung fu is not tae kwon do...but when Chad was putting the tournament video together we were trying to come up with a song that would go with it and that is the one that came to mind first...but then we couldn't find it in my itunes library so we went with some other songs instead.  

Still with me?  Good, 'cause I don't know if I am with me at this point!

Before I tell you about the tournament I am going to hijack this post and talk about me for a while because, heck, this is my blog after all!

Ever had one of "those" days when everything seems to be going wrong?

Saturday actually started out pretty good.  My hair was behaving (take THAT Tennessee humidity), my clothes were clean (and ironed), I got up on time and had enough time to spare before picking my sister up to make myself a peanut butter sandwich and put it in a baggy for the road.  I was looking forward to a day away from the noise of Chad pounding on the roof and the little ones were hanging out with my folks, so I didn't have to chase them in a crowded high school gymnasium or listen to them whine during the three hour car ride to and from Memphis.

 After Trevor and I picked up Karen we decided to stop at McDonalds for a drink.  We waited in the drive thru for what seemed like forever for a couple of diet sodas and were mildly surprised when we got them that they gave us at least five napkins...which is amazing considering they very rarely give more than one when you order a meal for six people!  Karen inspected the drinks and noticed that one of the lids looked a little funky, but we were already on the road and figured that it would probably be fine.

I bet you know where this is going now, don't you?

After we got on the interstate I pulled out my pb sandwich and enjoyed it greatly since it was my first time tasting the homemade jam I made a few days before.  By the time we were on the outskirts of Smryna (about fifteen miles up the road) I realized that I needed a drink due to the peanut butter.  I picked up my drink and it took exactly one second for the lid (which was defective, part of one of the sides was missing) to pop off and my finger to go inside the drink and (I can't tell you exactly what happened next because I was being responsible and keeping my eyes on the road) the next thing I knew half of the large
Diet Dr. Pepper and ice was in my lap.  

This is pretty much how I felt about the whole thing.

 I proceeded to the nearest exit while asking Karen for napkins...turns out five napkins really aren't all that absorbant after all.  To make matters worse (or better, depending on how you look at it) we were in Chad's Infinity, which has leather seats, so the soda was just sitting there, not absorbing into the upholstery...

and it was very, very cold.

We made it to a gas station and Trevor took off across the parking lot in search of paper towels.  Karen found a little fleece beanie in the trunk and proceeded to wipe up the mess inside the car while I grabbed some window wiping towels and tried to dry myself off a little.  Soaked to the skin I was, and it was not a pleasant feeling. We were trying to figure out where I could go and get some new pants at 7:00 in the morning and came to the very depressing conclusion that Walmart was too far away and Target wouldn't be open for another hour.  

BUMMER! 

What was left of my "refreshing" drink.

I resolved to sit in this for the next two hours till we could find a Walmart.

A nice butt shot of my ruined shorts.

They felt a lot worse than they looked...

You may be able to see that those shorts didn't start out khaki.
They were white in their previous life (their pre-Diet Dr. Pepper life).

I was able to get the cover off of a booster seat that was in the car so I could sit on that instead of the leather seat for the next two hours and I was never so happy to make it to Jackson and see a Walmart in my life...and probably never will be again!  Of course, it was the one Walmart in Tennessee that didn't have much selection in the clothing section, so I wandered around for twenty minutes until I found some capri pants that would work and we were once again on our way to Memphis.

When we arrived we got Trevor checked in and dropped off to where he needed to be and found ourselves a spot to sit.  I got that little feeling of panic when I realized that I hadn't reminded Trevor to bring his "cup" but brushed it off thinking that it probably wasn't mandatory.

Just after I took that picture one of the judges (the bald dude in the video that you will see later) called me over to tell me that Trevor wouldn't be able to spar without a cup, but that I could buy one out where the registration tables were and that I had some time to get out there and get one.  I walked out there as fast as my gimpy hip and a crowded gymnasium would allow, hoping the entire time that I had enough cash or that they took cards.  

Of course they didn't take any kind of cards, just cash or check!  The cup was $10.  I managed to pull out $9 in cash and lucked out that Sophie hadn't been through my change lately so I could dig up 4 quarters.  I gimp walked back across the gym just in time for Trevor to hightail it over to the dressing room to put the cup on and get back out to compete.

I could tell right away while he was doing his pattern (the series of moves that he learns for each belt color) that he wasn't doing very well.  He has only been a red belt for three weeks and he was competing against three girls and a boy who have been red belts far longer.  At that point I was hoping he would at least place third somewhere in the tournament to make all the drama of the day worthwhile!

When it came time for sparring he was up against the other boy first. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time while his opponent racked up three points right off away.  Suddenly Trevor woke up or figured out the other guy's strategy and went for it.  He won that match by the skin of his teeth with a double kick to the guy's chest.

The second time he sparred he was up against a scrappy little girl with a blonde pony tail hanging out of her helmet.  Right off the bat she got four points and my blood pressure went thru the roof!  Then, all of a sudden, she let her guard down and started lunging at him without blocking herself and he kicked her in the gut, again and again she did that until he was tied with her at four points.

We were down to the wire and I almost couldn't watch, but he somehow managed to pull off another point to take first place in sparring for his age group/belt level!  It was a great relief, not that we would have been upset if he'd lost, it just really helped me feel better about everything we'd been through that morning!  

Trevor and the little girl that he sparred with at the end of their match.  I love how they hold up the victor's hand first and say, "Winner this time," and then the opponent's hand and say "Next time."
 I think it gives the kids hope for the next time they spar.

Here's a little video from his first sparring match and when he got his trophy.
 Chad had a lot of fun putting it together, so hopefully it is viewable!

It was a crazy day to say the least! 

But there was more fun to be had.

 When we finally made it back to Murfreesboro despite Mother Nature's best efforts at killing us with a wicked storm complete with lightening and rain drops the size of my fist, Chad called me to tell me to meet him and the other kids at Toots (cause we are cheap and kids eat free when they order the hot dog meal).  When I sat down Chad said, "I have some bad news about the house."

Great.

I almost started laughing hysterically but managed to keep it together enough to ask what he meant. 

Apparently the same lightening/rain storm that tried to drown us on the road had tried to fry him while he was up on the roof.  He had been putting tar paper up all day and was ONE ROW from finishing at the peak of the roof when the lightening and rain hit and chased him to the ground.  He was fine and all, but when he got inside he realized that we had leaks in almost every room of the house.  The bedrooms got it the worst because they are directly under the part of the roof that wasn't protected, so we have some repairs to do to the ceilings in those rooms.  Our new tempurpedic bed was wet (on MY side, of course) and the carpet around it as well.  

Sheesh. 

 The ceilings were due for new paint anyway, and we didn't lose anything important so it could have been much worse.

Needless to say, I was exhausted when I crawled into bed that night...I didn't even notice that I had to sleep sideways along the foot of the bed to avoid the wet spots! 

 I woke up to a much drier Sunday...I even managed not to spill any soda on myself!

Lest we forget the most important part about the whole ordeal, here is Trevor basking in the glory of his win:

Trevor and his Tae Kwon Do instructor, Master Stevens.

Trevor and his super resilient mom, aka, Me.

Chad looked up the tournaments for the rest of the year and it looks like we'll be back in Memphis in July. 

 I will make sure to bring a change of clothes, plenty of cash, and Trevor's cup with me...and just for good measure I will probably stick to drinking only water that day ;-)!

Mothers Day

I seem to remember posting something last year after Mothers Day about how I used to have ridiculously high expectations around Mothers Day.  I went around thinking that Chad would magically start to remember more than a day in advance and pull out all the stops for making me feel loved and appreciated...and then the day would come and I didn't get much notice other than the wilted flower that some kid at church handed out after Sacrament Meeting and I'd be all disappointed until the next year when it happened all over again.

Then Blake started school and I discovered that the homemade cards and poems he brought home for Mothers Day were way better than anything they had done for me in the past.  This year I almost changed my mind about that.  I know, I know.  I'm fickle.  Here's what happened...

Two weeks ago I got a notice from Blake's teacher that I needed to send in an 8x10" frame for a "special" project that they were working on.  "Oooh! I wonder what wonderful goody I will get back?" I thought to myself.  I took Blake to Hobby Lobby and we picked out a nice black frame (that was 50% off=SCORE) and I sent it with him the next day.

Friday afternoon he came home from school empty handed.  Trying to disguise my disappointment I asked him what the frame was for.  He looked at me slyly and said that it was a surprise that we would bring home from Curriculum Fair (the day after Mothers Day).  Bummed, I didn't think much else about it.

Trevor came home with a flower in a cup and this masterpiece:

It is no less than two feet long! I almost didn't have enough magnets to put it on the fridge.  Here's a close up so you can read what he wrote:

It may be a little hard to read, but it sure made me smile!  That kid sure knows how to get on my good side when he wants to.

The weekend was super busy.  We had the Fathers and Sons Campout on Friday night.  I took full advantage of the quiet around here and made myself a skirt...still on the fence about whether or not I like it...but I did it all by myself!  Saturday morning Sophie and I went strawberry picking with my sisters and by the time I got home Chad was back with the smelly dirty boys.  We had already decided to take a trip to Chattanooga to attend at least one ward there on Sunday, but both of the ones we wanted to go to started at 9 am (Eastern Standard Time-we are on Central) which meant we'd have to leave here by 6 am to get there in time.

Dreading this, I casually mentioned to Chad that it was too bad we couldn't use some of his hotel points to just stay the night over there.  I saw his eyes perk up a bit at the thought of being able to sleep a little longer on Sunday and the next thing I knew, we were bathing kids and throwing things into overnight bags and off we went, with a short stop at our old neighbor's house to give her diabetic cat an insulin shot since she is out of town.

Once we finally arrived in Chattanooga, we went to one of our new favorite restaurants, Taco Mamasita, for lunch/dinner and spent the rest of the afternoon trolling around looking at neighborhoods/houses that we are interested in.  We stopped at a Bi-Lo for a bathroom break where Chad took the boys in and came out with ice cream bars for all of us, which Sophie thought was wonderful.  The kids were really good in the car, and all I have to say is thank goodness for portable dvd players!  They spent the afternoon watching Pinky and the Brain and getting Sophie to say new words like Purple and Brain, which was pretty funny to listen to.

The next morning we attended a ward in Hixson, TN, where everyone was very friendly and we were shocked that it was actually a ward and not a branch because there were hardly any people in it!  Our ward is ginormous by comparison.  I took Sophie out of Sunday School when she started being loud and walked the halls with her until she discovered that she could reach the water fountain and spent the last twenty minutes playing with it.  Chad took her during Priesthood so I really got to enjoy the Relief Society lesson.  I haven't been able to sit through/enjoy that for a very long time!

We headed up to Signal Mountain after church and enjoyed the beautiful views up there and then headed home in time to give the diabetic cat his afternoon shot.  It was a pretty relaxing Mothers Day all in all.  I loved being able to be with my family and just enjoy the day.

Back to Blake's picture frame.

Monday night was crazy busy.  We had to give the cat his shot, the older boys' bus was twenty minutes late and then we hightailed it over to Curriculum Fair (which is where they have a bunch of their work from the year on display), then Kade had his team photo and a t-ball game, Trevor had Tae Kwon Do (which my dad generously took him to) and we had to get back to the school for Awards night for Blake.

When we finally got to Blake's class during Curriculum Fair I saw the frame we had sent propped up on his desk.

I am kind of wondering what it has to do with Mothers Day, and I am also wondering what he meant by a few lines in his poem, but here it is:

I am happy to see that he loves his family and I can tell him right now that he will NOT be seeing/reading The Hunger Games for at least another three years and I am slightly offended that he is worried about Sophie when he's not around...though at the same time I am touched that he thinks about her.

Oh well.  At least I got a new frame out of it ;-)!  Altogether I had a great Mothers Day and I am happy that I got to spend it with the ones who made me a mother...and that nobody threw up in the car (or anywhere else for that matter...I hate barf).

I hope your Mothers Day was nice and that nobody threw up in your car either!   

Going Crazy

How would you like to live on a mountain with a view like this?

Yeah.  

Me too.

This is the view from the top of Signal Mountain, TN.  

We "went crazy" yesterday looking at the area, trying to figure out where we want to move if Chad finally gets the transfer we have been waiting on for almost a year.  

You may recall that "Crazy" is where we tell our kids we're going if we have no specific destination in mind when we set out.  We don't get to do it very often anymore since our weeknights and weekends are filled with baseball practices and games, Tae Kwon Do, church meetings and service projects, scouts, etc.  And with gas prices being what they are, we may have to eat Top Ramen all week to make up for that little excursion yesterday, but it was totally worth it to have a day to just be with our kids.  

We happened to find ourselves with a day of no commitments since a couple of the kids were too sick to leave with a babysitter so we could attend the adult session of stake conference.

 They were all so well behaved and got along pretty well with each other (for the most part), of course, the cough medicine they were on may have had something to do with it!  

Signal Mountain is very high on our list with it's small town feel and good schools.  

Chad would have a 15 minute commute down the mountain into the heart of Chattanooga, as opposed to the hour he spends in the car each way now.  

We were driving through a neighborhood with several houses that we are interested in and came upon this lookout spot.

I made Chad pull over so we could take pictures.  

It was a very impressive view of Lookout Valley.

This move is something we have prayed and fasted about for a very long time.  

We found out last week that the position Chad was offered back in December got swallowed up by a massive re-organization that TVA is going through right now.  As depressing as that was, we also got word that there are other things afoot that may be better for us in the long run.  

The Lord works in mysterious ways...and He really thinks we need to learn to be patient

 because He loves to make us wait!  

We have had several people ask us why Chad is looking for other jobs and the simple answer is that things are not looking good for the department he is in. 

 If he doesn't find something else he may not have a job to commute an hour each way to much longer.  

Keep your fingers crossed for us!  

We'll keep ya posted...

Sophie Brielle at 16 Months

I have been meaning to take Sophie's one year photos for a while...four months to be exact.

After having actually lived through the one year photo session I remember why I put it off for so long!  It was very easy to postpone it due to weather/sickness/weather/laziness/sickness...are you seeing the trend?  I think I could have just sucked it up and gotten them done if I didn't already know how much fun it is(n't) to take portraits of a one year old...especially one with Miss Sophie's...er..."attitude".  

The funny part about it is that to look at the pictures you would have no idea what a horrible experience it was.  The only evidence will be the most likely higher number on my scale tomorrow from all the mini cadbury eggs I ate afterwards trying to forget the whole thing (and get my blood sugar up...I was shaking so bad)!

My mom found this little vintage dress and jacket set in an antique store several months ago and I have been reluctant to have Sophie wear it to church until I got her pictures done because it looks so delicate and my mom spent hours repairing different spots on it.  

It is truly a treasure and fits Sophie so well!  

Thanks Mom!

What's that?

Oh, you want me to stop talking and show you?  

Ok then.

Here you go!

I owe a huge shout out to my sister, Jennifer, as well for coming with me and running interference...and bribing Sophie with gummy bears in between takes!  We got some cute pictures of my niece while we were at it, but I will let Jennifer blog those when she's ready.  

I will let you in on all the cool and crazy things Miss Sophie is up to at 16 months another day.  I'm off to run the boys to Tae Kwon Do and Scouts.  

Gotta love $1.99 kids meal day at Sonic!