Student of the Week!

Well this past week at school, Tate was chosen to be Student of the Week!

It was a VERY big Deal for this 7 year old.

He was so exited, we spent hours making a poster all about him. Through out the week we got to share many of his favorite snacks (Brownies, donuts & Fun Dips - his teacher was hating me!) He also got to take some of his horse collections - key word, some, we could fill my car with his different horse collections!

As Student of the Week you are granted one special priledge. So at the end of the week, Wes & I surprised him and brought his horse to school for show and tell.

He got to show his class how to saddle a horse, put on a bridle and how to brush her and take care of her feet.

(That is Tye in the wheelchair - he has to be in a wheelchair at school.)

His Favorite Part was when he got to ride her around the school and teach the kids "how to drive a horse." He was so proud.

It was a Fun week for him, I love seeing my children so happy!

The Unexpected

Remember the last clip from the post below....The one clip to the quick care telling us Tye's leg was just a bad bruise. So much for quick care...I knew it was more! A mother's intuition is always right!!!!! After he spent 5 days crawling around I made an appt. with a specialist, and thank heaven I did. Tye broke his leg/ankle. His break is right on the growth plate between his leg and ankle. This past week we've had more x-rays, an MRI and visits with two specialists. Every few weeks we go in for more x-rays to see if growth will resume, if not there is a big decision to make. In order to not have two legs different sizes we can take the growth plate out of the other leg, or do some type of bones cell diffusion to promote growth. In either case for the next 3 months he will be in a cast, and then months of therapy. Please pray for us, I can't imagine this boy living with the limitations this could cause him.

I tired to have him smile, it didn't work.

Life takes unexpected turns. He had to give up his spot on his traveling Basketball team, he's no longer QB on his Spring Football league. The skiing trip we had planned in two weeks has been cancelled, and the doctors gave little hope for Spring Baseball. My calendar has been completely erased and I have a very broken hearted son!

Please tell me...

Please tell me that I am not the only one who finds Hannah Montana stickers on the most inconvenient places....(like my fireplace)

Please tell me that I am not the only one who has a son that hangs up his

pictures with chewed gum....

Please tell me that I am not the only one who uses her dining room table as a make shift laundry room because I hate putting clothes away....

Please tell me I'm no the only one who has a daughter that literally finds any and every occasion to make cupcakes, just so she can lick the bowl.....

Please tell me I'm not the only one who has a son that hides his favorite

shirt from me so that I can't wash it.....

and Please, Please tell me that I'm not the only one who keeps Quick Care is business with hurt toes and sprained ankles....and endless medical bills all from ONE son.



Please, tell me I'm not alone in all of this!

Return of the Fat Suit

OK, there are some perks to living in Wisconsin in the Winter Time. They are few and far between, don't let me fool you. Last year we spent all Winter indoors, I wasn't brave enough to face the cold, but this year I was bound and determined to not let it get the best of my adventurous nature. I have different winter activities planned throughout these next couple of months, and hopefully we'll get to do all of them. This last Saturday we hit a tubing park - with the Jenkins Family and it was great. The weather was actually beautiful, (Beautiful is 17 degrees, but no wind and the sun was actually shining - such a rare thing in this neck of the woods!) But I love tubing, and yes I screamed my first couple of runs down!

The only problem is "The Fat Suit" it is awful - ugly - and worst of all I seriously look and feel as if I'm pushing 380lbs....I honestly can't even get into it without Wes's help. I'm pathetic, hopeless, but so determined to stay warm and enjoy these outings. Wes told me that I'm one of those kids whose mom's put to much clothes on and can't move, the problem, he's right. I can barely move in the fat suit, but I'm warm. So for the next couple months as I continue to post pictures of me in this ridiculous fat suit just remember the following. 1. You can borrow it at any time, because I think I have room for two people inside. 2. I'm grateful it's not orange, that was my other color choice. 3. In the spring when you start seeing me without my fat suit you can all tell me that I look great and that I must have lost at least 82 lbs.

One Quick Video of Tye Getting Knocked out and a Slideshow of Fun Below!

Obsessive

I have son, who is borderline obsessive about Football. I'm happy that he has something in life that he loves. I wish it was reading or cleaning his room, but I'm happy he watches the NFL Network instead of Sponge Bob and I'm glad that he's always getting lots of exercise instead of playing video games. However I recently went down stairs opened up the closet underneath the stairs and this is what I found.

"A Football Fort"

All of the walls are covered in Football cards, organized by position, offense, defense etc, he has a special little Colts section with his gloves, hats and pads nailed to the wall. At first, I was like what is going on here, and then I stopped myself and realized how much time effort and thought he put into this. Last night he actually slept inside with one of his buddies.

His room is also decorated with NFL memorabilia, he wanted some FatHeads for Christmas. (These giant wall hangings), once he found out how much each cost he went to the NLF website and made his own wall hangings, they are posted all over his room. He is no artist, literally he is no artist, but they are cute.

Everyday when I pick him up from school I'll ask the normal question - how was school. Not once, and I mean once have I ever heard about what he actually might have learned at school. What I do get is a 15 minute recap of every play at recess, who was on his team and what plays he called and why he called them. Tye has an incredible memory for things, well things that are important to him.

He loves it and as a parent all I can do is support him. I have a huge feeling I am going to spend many hours hauling him to practice and many more hours watching him play, but such are the joys on my life!

For how tough, indepent and strong willed this 9 years is, it's also amazing that on his christmas list was the Taylor Swift CD, which Santa so kindly brought. Now as he's downstairs hanging out in his "Football Fort" Keith Urban got benched and Taylor Swift is a roarin!

A week to Remember....

The week after Christmas was very eventful! We played the entire week, 7 Days - 4 different Hotels and by the end of the week a very tired Family! Here is a Re-cap!

The Tundra Lodge is a family favorite, and since Aunt Karry was in town, we couldn't resist! Taylor was the luckiest because Aunt Karry was actually brave enough to go into Splash Mountain, Mom usually just takes pictures.

Tate showed his stuff on the obstacle course, and even stopped and posed for pictures!

That's me, surrounded by my three kids at my domain "The lazy River". It's my favorite ride!

Our next outing was to Milwaukee

We are a NFL Family, but every once in a while we like to change things up a bit. This time we choose to go the the Milwaukee Bucks game. It's the first time we've been to a NBA Game, and it was pretty fun. We had great seats which always makes it more enjoyable.

The interesting part is that my kids were fascinated with this balloon thing that kept flying around dropping coupons and stuffed animals - it almost drove me borderline crazy, as usual the row ahead of us won the stuff....

Also as usual, Taylor fell asleep.....she never lasts.

My Mom came with us and she "rocked" the house. They had a live band, which were awesome! Literally they were great and my mom spent all night tapping her feet and moving her shoulders....Way to go Barb!!!

Our next fun adventure was at Hotel Sierra in downtown Green Bay. They had this New Years Eve Family party that was so much fun. We went with two other fun families and it was great. We usually don't celebrate New Years (I'm lucky if I'm awake past 10) But they had all kinds of fun activities to keep us busy. We split the kids up between the rooms and it was just as fun for the adults as it was for the kids!!!

Of course the kids had to swim - here is Tate with his buddies.

The hotel is connected to the convention center so in every room of the convention center they had different activities for the kids. Bounce houses, cookie decorating, a movie theater, a game room with wii and xbox competitions....Tye's favorite, although he was a good sport about taking Taylor in the "Jumpy Thinks" as she called them!

They also had a build a bear workshop....Taylor's personal favorite!

At the end of the night they had a balloon drop with New Years hats, necklaces, a bunch of junk, and they finished it off with a dance.... Even Wes "shaked" it up a bit with Tate.

I was a little tired the next morning, but we had a great breakfast and swam some more!

Our last adventure was to
Fond du Lack, Wisconsin

It was by Far the most exciting thing we have done in a long time.

Notice the temperature gage on my rear view window.....

At this point I started doubting myself, wondering what I was getting my family involved in. Then we met the dogs.......

Let the Dog Sled training begin. It was incredible!!!!!!

OK, Yes I realize I look like a 369 lb women, let me remind you of the temperature outside. I went to Fleet Farm and bought the Artic Grade Carharts and masks for all the family. I had so many layers on I could barely move!!! It was so worth it!

Wes had his own sled and Dog Team, his lead dog was Denali - very fitting for our Family!

The kids & I were pulled by a 16 Dog team, our lead Dog was Buck. The picture above is Tye learning how to guide the team. Tate, Taylor & I were just in the sled along for the ride.

The funnest part was in the Forrest, we would whip through the trees, hills and jumps and I seriously can not put into words how much I loved it. We almost tipped one time and Wes only had one biff on his sled. At the end, I did get a change to drive my own team, and I must admit it was a rush. Out of all the adventures we've taken, this will definitely be one we never forget!

The kids keep asking everyday to go back and we all fell in love with the Siberian Husky Dogs,

This was Amber, Taylor's favorite.

On the way home we were all so tired....look at all the drool coming out of Taylor's mouth and Tate's spilled Happy meal, he was to tired to eat!

This will always be a week worth remembering!

Here is a little Clip of Wes coming in after one of his "Runs" - he's an official Musher!!!

Meet the...

Meet the Newest Member of our Family......

The whole make up thing from Santa is causing some serious issues at our house...My sweet little girl is turning into a drama "clown" instead of queen!!!