It was pretty much a given I was not expecting or wanting to be in this position again.....



Yes, stitches again!  Except this time, it's Reese's turn.



We stopped by my parent's house just briefly after picking Reese up from school.  We were all in the living room, and Reese was playing in the corner behind two glass coffee tables (they were pushed up against each other because my mom is redecorating.  And I think Reese was pretending to be a caged in puppy.).  Anyways, I left the room to help Everlee go potty, and my mom was in the kitchen, and all of a sudden we hear a horrible crash....



Reese was climbing over one table and hit the center sweet spot and it bottomed out causing her to fall through.  I grabbed Everlee yelling, "Oh my gosh!  Oh my gosh!  Oh my gosh!!!"  Reese came running from the table screaming and grabbing her arms, and my mom just grabbed her and hugged her.  At that time, I saw no scrapes, but when my mom let go of her, blood was all over my mom's arm and coming from Reese's arm.  And as soon as I saw the gash, I knew....


































stitches were in her future :(  It looked exactly like Cru's chin.  Reese had herself completely worked up; she was terrified to get stitches.  While my mom was consoling her, I called my dad, who had just finished mowing our lawn.  Then, I called Chet (no, I did not call him second because of what happened with Cru :) He was in Chicago....missed out on the excitement, yet again.).

For some reason, I had it in my head it was later in the evening, like after 5:00, but when I hung up with Chet, I saw on my phone that it was 4:11, which meant there was a good chance my friend, Melisa, was still at the doctor's office.  So, I quickly texted her, and thankfully, she replied and told us to get there ASAP.



20 minutes, two stitches, and one tough little girl later, she was good as new!  And she was off to a birthday party....and also said she wanted stitches all over her body.  WTH???





I'm still shaking my head as to how Reese escaped with just that cut???  She was barefoot and landed on glass!  Thanking God for keeping her safe.  Huge thank you to Melisa for taking care of us again!  And to my parents....I don't know what I'd do without you two!



































































Two kids and four stitches in less than a month....everyone has been telling me to wrap Evee in bubble wrap.  Well, I should have listened....no not stitches, but she did have a scary accident today.  The whole family was headed out the door to take family pictures, she was walking right in front of me and literally flipped and fell head of heels down our garage steps seconds before the photographer arrived.  I scooped her up and was scared to death.  Again yelling, "Oh my gosh!  Oh my gosh!!!!!"  Chet ran outside and grabbed her, then I discovered blood all over my cream shirt and in my hair.  And then the photographer arrived....

I'll finish the story once I have pictures to show you ;)
  

Sneak Peek

Charlee Mae turns 3!

It literally seems like yesterday when our sweet niece/cousin, Charlee Mae, was born.

Now she's 3!!!  And going to be a big sister!!!!!!



Her actual birthday was on a Monday, and our kids were out of school that day, so I thought it would be fun to take a road trip to El Dorado and spend some time with Charlee on her actual birthday.

Our original plan was to meet Ty and Charlee at the baseball field and let the kids play for a while before meeting Audrey for lunch.  But it ended up being pretty rainy that day, so we met Ty at the indoor practice facility.  Ty and Cru played baseball, while the girls ran around hitting each other with football pads.  They had a blast!


































































Before leaving, Ty took the kids to his office, the basketball court, and to see the grizzly bear (Butler's mascot costume, which was just lying on the counter, but the kids were deathly afraid :))  And when we said it was finally time to go eat lunch, Cru whispered to me that he wanted to skip lunch and just stay with Ty.  He loves doing all things boy, so spending that time with Ty was extra special to him.  Hope they can do it again!



Lunch was yummy!  And the kids all behaved so well.  But then it was time to say good bye.



Charlee went back to the sitters and I took my kids to Wichita to birthday shop for Charlee, who was having her party that weekend.  I think they were all happy knowing they would see each other again that weekend.

Charlee's party was an adorable pink Batman theme.  The kids enjoyed a bounce house, giant bubbles, cake, and presents!
























































































Everlee LOVES her Aunt Audrey, but that day, I think she loved Charlee's ponies just a smidge more :)



































The day before Charlee's party, we went to a craft fair, and I got these handmade bow and arrows for my kids, and I decided to get one for Charlee as well....



All the kids seemed to really enjoy playing with it.  And I told my brother, if the new baby ends up being another girl, maybe one of his girls will want to hunt with him :)  And then later that evening, my sister-in-law sent me this pic....

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!

We love you so much, Charlee Mae!







Hope your day was as special as you are!  You are beautiful and going to be an amazing big sister ♥

While Cru spends his afternoons getting stitches, Reese spends hers getting awards!

If you haven't figured out by now, they are different....



so very, very different!



And I wouldn't change it for the world!

October 18, 2013

I started my morning with this view......



working the kids' school pumpkin patch.  It was freezing, so I hibernated in my van and enjoyed every second of peace and quiet until my shift was over (kids were in school, Evee was at Grandma's).

The kids got out early from school that day.  Chet was in KC, and I texted him this picture....



The first snow!  Are you kidding me???

I never realized how much I dislike the cold until I had kids - we rely a lot on being able to spend time outside, and the fact that it's mid-October and we've already had our first snow scares me!  What's in store for us this winter :///

After lunch, we had to work the pumpkin patch again.  The kids had been looking forward to this for weeks....darn snow!




 But the kids loved it!





And showed this mama how to make the best of what God gives us!  They're good at that.


Now stay away, snow!  You can only come back on Christmas morning!  Then, you have to leave again and not come back until next Christmas!

It was bound to happen.  Quite frankly, I'm kind of surprised it took this long.  I am, however, not surprised it happened to Cru.

Stitches.

We had our first trip to the ER when Reese put a piece of plastic wrap up her nose.  And now, we've had our first bat with stitches.

Here's how it all went down....

The kids (Cru and Everlee) and I had just arrived back home from running a quick errand after lunch, and I told them that I was going to switch out the end table upstairs with the one downstairs, so they ran downstairs to wait for me as I cleaned off the one upstairs.  It wasn't minutes later I heard this horrible scream come from Cru.  You know, The Scream.  I went flying down the stairs, and he was holding his throat saying he had hit it.  I moved his hands and saw blood and a gash on his chin.  I quickly grabbed a wet towel and cleaned it off, then called Chet.

No answer.

Called my dad and said something like how do you know if a cut needs stitches?  His response, "I'll be right there."

Called Chet again.

No answer.

Then, I texted my dear friend, Melisa (who is PA) this picture.....



































Poor thing, she always gets my medical questions.  And graciously always helps me.

She said that he'd need stitches, then asked if I wanted her to do it or take him to the ER.  When I asked Cru, he said he wanted Melisa at the little hospital (aka doctor's office) not the big hospital.  Don't blame you, buddy!

I text Chet the same picture and said we were headed to the doctor.

No reply.

Melisa met us in the front lobby and took us back to one of the "sterile" rooms.  After examining it, she confirmed the best solution was stitches.

I should note, every time anyone said the "s" word (stitches), Cru would sob and beg for just a big bandaid. 

Oh yeah, I called Chet again.....

You guessed it, no answer.  At this point, I knew it was my job to get Cru through this, but I was just frustrated that I couldn't even get ahold of him to tell him what was going on.

While Melisa finished up with her other patients, Nurse Evee entertained us.....



 And Cru would not let go of my hand....



When it was time to get started, Cru freaked!  No words would calm him down.  He even tried escaping.  We tried to distract him with Ninja Turtles....



 not happenin'!

We needed back up....grandpa held his head, I practically laid on his chest to hold his arms down, and a nurse held his legs.  Pretty sure we all went deaf during this time.  My dad just kept talking to him trying to calm him down, but he continued to scream and cry.  At one point, while making that horrible slurping noise you make when you are continually crying hard for a long period time and can't catch your breath, he said, "You're hurting me, Melisa."  That's all I could take; my heart broke for him, my heart broke for Melisa.  I just closed my eyes, tuned him out, and prayed it would be over soon.

And then....



 It was like he was in a trance.  I've never seen him lay so still.  I asked if he wanted to try to watch Ninja Turtles again, and he told me he just wanted to close his eyes.



 Two stitches....and sleeping??


































No, he wasn't sleeping, but he sure was relaxed.  And exhausted, so I thought it would be a fairly quiet evening at home.

Not so much!

He literally went running and skipping out of the office.  And was wound for sound the whole rest of the night!  And the kids at church thought it was the coolest thing ever!

A big thank you to Grandma Cheryl for answering her phone during her hair appointment and picking Reese up from school!

Once we were home, I asked Cru to walk me through what happened.  As he was running to the bathroom downstairs, he ran into our wet bar counter and actually hit right under his throat.....



which then made him fall and hit his chin on the counter, then fall to the ground.  The spot where he first hit seems to be the sorest.

I'm am just so thankful he's ok!  And so thankful for those that were available to help me when I needed it.

Oh, and thankful school pictures were in the morning :)



And as far as how he was doing the next day....



 ornery as ever, like nothing had happened!