End of November happenings

 We stayed home for Thanksgiving this year due to Tony's surgery and Kaitlyn's fever (I had picked her up from school on Tues, and she still had fever on Thurs). My parents did come over to eat with us. Someone from our church was so kind and brought us a Thanksgiving meal!! Yum!

 We watched the parade! The girls were excited about it this year.

After Thanksgiving, we got out all the Christmas decorations and put up the tree.  The girls could not wait a moment longer!

Jillian found the elf hat and promptly put it on while she decorated.

 Kaitlyn, bursting with excitement!

 My little trio decorating the tree. They were sooo fast! It was decorated in no time!

 Kennedy stopping to pose for me

 No luck getting a good photo..... they were in such silly moods!

 Here they are modeling their Christmas outfits! Again...I took so many pictures, but never got "the one".  (Can I tell you how fun it is to dress 3 little girls??)

Meanwhile........

Kaitlyn had never gotten rid of her fever!! 

Ugh! On Monday (day 7) of her low grade fever, we took her to the Dr.

 She said it was just a fever virus and would have to run it's course...but to come back after 10 days.

I kept her out of school for the first 3 days of the week, but on Thurs and Fri I sent her and the nurse gave her medicine when she needed it.  (It was such a low fever, it was ok for her to go.)

 Backing up a bit...On Tues evening I came down with a fever and chills. I thought for sure I had caught the dreaded fever virus. Wed I still had a little fever and was losing my voice.

Thursday was my birthday and I had completely lost my voice by this point.  I didn't have fever, so we did decide to go to a little Mexican Restaurant nearby to celebrate.

 Family picture!

 They did a great job embarrassing me by putting this hat on my head and singing to me!

 My girls

At the restaurant, Tony tells me that he doesn't feel good. Oh boy! We head back home and he lays down. He never got sick (I'm sooooo glad) and we think he may have just over-done it that day.( He went back to work this week after the Dr. checked him out.  He is allowed to take his brace off now for some things, but he wears it at school.)

On Friday, I feel horrible and Kaitlyn STILL has fever!! (Day 11) I made it through school (barely) and took her to the Dr. at 4pm. 

I didn't come out with any new info. She says it's such a low fever (99.1-99.6) that she isn't worried at all and still feels that it is a virus.  I was a little frustrated that I spent more money to be told the same thing and it has lasted sooo long.  I just want her to feel better.  We will just keep watching her.

While at the Dr. to keep her entertained, we take silly pictures and send them to daddy...then he sends a silly one back!  :)  This is one of her more mild silly pictures. :)

I'm quite thankful this week is over and I sure hope this coming one is a healthier one!! 

The girls are very excited that it's the 1st of Dec. Now they can start their countdown!!

Park pics and lunch with my girls

 Every year we try to meet up with family from Austin for an early Thanksgiving. We usually try to find a park about half way between Houston and Austin.  It's always a fun time to catch up, eat and let the kids play.

 My girls were thrilled with the swings!

 Kennedy relaxing in her chair

 Kaitlyn doing the same

 Pa is getting the sand out of Jilly's shoes. 

The boys were there too..I was just bad about taking pictures of them. Cooper, Cale and Jarrett played lots of ball and had a blast. My girls were either swinging or watching the boys play.

 Lunch time! Picnic style! (Jillian and Kaitlyn)

 Here's a quick shot of the group (minus most of the kids) We had a nice meal together and lots of yummy snacks and desserts. And the weather was PERFECT!! What a beautiful day!

 Uncle Chris joined Kaitlyn and Jilly for lunch on the blanket.

 Then later, he tossed the ball to each kid so they could hit a few rounds.  Here he is with Jillian trying to show her how to stand.

 I think she got it! :)

We had a great time and after awhile, we packed up and headed back home. We were sad Tony couldn't come, but he isn't allowed in a car for another week.

My school got out for Thanksgiving all week, so on Tuesday I dropped by the girl's school to have lunch with them.

 They don't usually sit together at lunch since they are in different classes, so this was fun for them!

 Jillian came with me. I think she enjoyed watching all the kids.

 I let Kennedy snap a picture of Kaitlyn and me.

 And Kaitlyn got to take one of Kennedy, Jillian and me.

 Oh! And Kennedy got chosen to be Student of the Month!! I was so proud of her! Here she is proudly showing off her ribbon.

After lunch Jillian and I ran some errands and then stopped in the nail salon so I could use my gift card and get a relaxing pedicure. I let Jillian get a color change on her fingernails too. Of course she chose purple with sparkles.

 Happy little girl

About halfway into my pedicure, I get a call from the school nurse.  Kaitlyn has fever. So, I leave the nail salon (no color on my toes!) and go pick her up. She came home and rested. Poor girl. She was sick last Thanksgiving. (All 3 of them were sick last Thanksgiving) 

 We are just praying that Tony doesn't catch anything. He is still recovering and has had a slight set back. The nerve pain in his shoulder has gotten worse so he is taking some more steroids. Hopefully that will do the trick to reduce the inflammation.

While Kaitlyn and Tony were resting and Jillian was playing, I grabbed Kennedy to make sure I got a picture of her for Student of the Month.  She got a certificate, a ribbon, pencil and her name on the announcements!! Proud of you Kennedy!!

Since Tony can't get in a car, we will be having a quiet Thanksgiving this year at home. :) 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Surgery and more

Last week and this week were very eventful!...starting with 50's day at school! Since it was the 50th day of school, the kindergartners got to dress up and have a '50's sock hop!

Looking more alike than ever in this picture! (Kaitlyn, Kennedy)

Over the weekend, Kennedy kept complaining that her eye hurt. I didn't think much of it at first, but then noticed it looking kinda "goopy". So...to the HEB redi clinic we went. Diagnosis: Pink eye  We got eye drops and her eye was clearing up fast, but on Monday her throat was killing her and her OTHER eye looked like it was infected too.

Because Tony's surgery was the next day, we didn't want to take any chances that she had strep, so we kept her home and went to the Dr again. (sigh) She confirmed that her pink eye had spread and that her sore throat was viral. No strep. :)

Waiting patiently at the Dr.

Luckily, no one else got pink eye (yea!) and Tony was able to have his surgery the next day

On Tues, we headed up to Sugar Land Methodist at 9:30am.

Tony was so happy he may finally get to be pain free. He had been dealing with herniated discs in his neck and a pinched nerve for a few months now. He had lost feeling in his shoulder and fingers on his right arm and the pain was almost unbearable. 

Around 1:45 the Dr. came in and talked to him and told him it was time!

Tony's parents came down to sit with me at the hospital and we waited until 4:30 when the Dr. came out! He told us everything went well. He cleaned out bone fragments, bone spurs and fused the discs together and installed a titanium plate to hold it together. 

They do the surgery by entering through the front of the neck to reach the back (apparently it's easier??), so he had an incision at the front of his neck and all the work done at the back. I'll spare you the graphic picture his put up on facebook. :)

We finally got to see him around 6pm. He was very loopy from the anesthesia and he was

 in a lot of pain!

I stayed until about 11pm and went home so I could get the girls off to school the next day. As soon as I dropped them off, I headed to the hospital and he was doing sooo much better.

Sitting up and talking!

Meanwhile, while I was at the hospital,  the twins were at school and Tony's parents were keeping Jillian at home. They spoiled her rotten. 

They took her to the park

And got her toes and nails done!!

Happy little spoiled girl! :)

When the twins got home from school she took them to the salon too!

Kennedy loved it!

But for some reason, Kaitlyn didn't want to do it. She still has random fears of things that she is unsure about....apparently the water soaking was a little too much. She was ok just watching.




We got released from the hospital around 3pm and headed home. He has to wear a bone stimulator over his neck brace! 

Finally coming home

On Thursday, we were all home and Tony's parents were still here....AND it happened to be a big day at school for Kennedy and Kaitlyn. It was their turkey parade day and Grandparents Day...AND the book fair! Yipee! I was so happy that Tony's parents got to come down for Grandparent's Day since they don't see them as often as my parents do.

We tried to get a cute picture of the girls with their turkey outfits on! They were being so silly! :)

Tami, Jillian and I stayed to watch the turkey parade, but we had a little time to kill before it started. We looked around the book fair and Jillian promptly sat down and started reading a book she found.


At 8:30 the parade started. All the Kindergartners came out and pulled their little turkey floats around the school. They were decorated potatoes on shoe box lids. :)  It was adorable.

Kaitlyn! 

She doesn't seem to get nearly as embarrassed as Kennedy does, which surprises me!

Kennedy

  They also made vests and hats and played a silly turkey song.

We went home, but Bobby and Tami went back at 10:15 to eat lunch with them for Grandparents Day. (Yes, they eat at 10:15!)

They got a sweet picture after lunch and then headed to the book fair.

Lucky girls got to pick out a book at the book fair thanks to Paw Paw and Ya Ya! Kennedy is holding her book and Kaitlyn is holding hers and Jillian's Biscuit book.

His parents drove back home later that day and Tony is settling in at home. He has to wear his neck brace for 2 weeks at all times. (Sleeping is a challenge!) Then we has to wear it whenever he is out  and could get bumped or jostled. It will be a long recovery, but it will be all worth it for him not to have pain all the time.  Next week is Thanksgiving break!!! I'm so happy! I'm off all week and the twins will be off starting on Wednesday.

Halloween 2012

This Halloween, Kennedy and Jillian got all dressed up to go trick or treating, but Kaitlyn decided to stay home with me. She was quite fearful this year (which surprised me because she went last year!)
Again, they got to wear whatever they wanted out of our dress up bin.

 Kennedy decided on Sleeping Beauty and Jillian a ballerina.

 Jillian said, "Let's make a scary face!" She isn't afraid of anything! :)

 Our cul de sac had dinner together and let the kids play before trick or treating. Kaitlyn decided she would go for this part (not dressed up), but it didn't last long and she ran back home in tears. Some of the boys had scary masks. At least she tried, poor thing.

 Cupcakes were a hit!

Here are all the kids on our cul de sac (minus Kaitlyn)
Ready to go!

 This picture is a little blurry, but Meagan was sweet and walked with Jillian. Tony went around with the girls this year. Last year he was working and missed it.

One fun thing that happened while Kaitlyn and I were inside was that she lost her 2nd tooth! She was sooo excited and it made up for all the tears.

Happy Kaitlyn modeling her 2nd lost tooth!

Kennedy, Jillian and Tony came home with loads of candy and Kennedy shared with Kaitlyn right away! Very sweet. 

Halloween is always a little stressful on my girls, but each year we make memories. I am thankful it's November though. There is nothing scary about Thanksgiving. :)