Thanksgiving {2014}

We have so much to be thankful for and many days we take it for granted!  We shouldn't need a day like Thanksgiving to make us all sit down and recite what we're thankful for - but that's what we usually do...because life happens and we get busy and we rush and we just go with the motions.  I am hoping to slow down in the new year and really relish in the things that mean the most to me...my boys (all 3 of them)!

We had a low key, yet delicious Thanksgiving.  Our tradition is to head to Josh's parents house for an early dinner - leave the boys there for a couple days and get some shopping done!  Mission accomplished once again!  I love when someone else does the cooking...I just miss having left overs - but I don't miss the dishes or clean-up!

The boys helped me make dessert the night before by helping peel and core the apples for the apple crisp!  This is the coolest kitchen gadget ever by the way!  Somehow I ended up with two of them and I think I've used them twice...I always forget about them.

I am so happy these two boys are mine!!

Landon tried his first ever piece of gum on the way to Grandma and Papa's house...he did well.  The 2nd piece he had a few days later "accidentally went into my tummy" - direct quote from the Landon-man himself!

We love visiting our kitty Max when over there!!

The boys are sure thankful for their grandparents!

The fun fruit turkey my mother-in-law made!

My father-in-law carving the delicious bird!

After dinner nap :)

Tooth Extraction

Zane had been complaining off and on of some tooth pain over the last month the minute I'd go to call the dentist, he'd tell me it didn't hurt anymore.  I kind of figured he may have had something stuck between two teeth or something and brushed it out and pain was gone.  I should've known better...nothing is that straightforward with this kiddo.

Last Thursday right before bed he just broke down saying his mouth hurt so bad.  He was inconsolable.  I looked all over in his mouth, I flossed for him, I couldn't see anything that was bothering him.  I gave him Ibuprofen and promised to call the dentist first thing in the morning.  He finally went to bed - only to wake up at midnight inconsolable again.  He just kept saying it hurt worse and was just crying and crying.  My heart broke - I didn't know what was wrong and I didn't know what to do for him.  I got him an ice pack and brought him into our bed, he just kept moving around - he was so tired, but in so much pain, poor thing.  He finally got back to sleep.

I called the dentist 5 mins before they opened on Friday and thankfully they answered.  I told them I needed an urgent appointment for my child that day and wouldn't take no for an answer (yes, I said that)!  She put me on hold, came back and said they could see him at 8:30 - sold!  Josh took him to his appointment while I waited anxiously at work for news.  An abscess.  Apparently baby teeth have a lot of holes in them and it's not totally uncommon (although, I've never heard of it, haha) that bacteria can seep into a tooth and cause a nasty infection.  The extreme pain he felt Thursday night was the abscess actually rupturing, ugh.  He had no pain Friday morning - the dentist wasn't surprised - he said that once it ruptured the pressure was released.  But the tooth had to come out.  Because it was a top tooth in the back, his dentist felt more comfortable with us going to an oral surgeon.

The extraction was today.  When I called to make the appointment they said they prefer to do an IV sedation on kids - it makes them more comfortable and is less traumatic.  WHAT?  An IV is less traumatic??  I beg to differ.  I was so anxious about this all weekend.  We went in this morning and I spoke to the nurse and asked if we could try laughing gas and a local anesthetic instead - she didn't bat an eye and said no problem.  Ugh, why was the stupid appointing person trying to get a needle jabbed in my kid's arm?!!!  The dentist was totally on board as well.  And it went perfectly!  Zane didn't flinch at anything!  Josh and I were back for the entire procedure...I was amazed at how fast it all happened.  Seriously, he had 4 shots of Novocaine, they waited about 5 mins for him to get good and numb and 1 yank and that sucker was out!  I would've been livid had they done an IV knowing now that the yanking of the tooth took all of 1 minute!  Any way - as usual he is a trooper, didn't flinch and was good to go moments later.  As soon as we got home today, he started playing catch in the house, running through the house like usual and was restless all day.  He could've gone to school, but the dentist didn't want him to break lose the blood clot that was acting as a scab!  He'll go back tomorrow!  I guess the Tooth Fairy will have to come again - ah darn :)

Signs, Signs, Everywhere there's Signs...

Thanks to Pinterest and a wild hair, I decided to DIY a couple new signs for the house!  One for our new picture wall when I find the time to tackle that and the other for Christmas decoration!  I'm SO happy with how they turned out!  I thought I'd post a little step by step in case anyone was interested! And if not...then just scroll down to the bottom for the final result!  Oh and don't bother telling me if you hate it!

First I bought some wood at Home Depot (1x3's) and had them cut it into the sizes I wanted for each sign.  Then I used some wood glue to glue the wood strips together.

I then took some strong(er) left over upholstery fabric I had and stapled strips on to the back of each sign to help make them a little sturdier.  You could do this with thin wood strips too, but I didn't have any.

Next I sanded and then stained the wood.  This was tough...picking out a color!  I grabbed two because I couldn't decide between them.  I then tested them on two scrap pieces and picked the one I liked best...dark walnut.

I didn't take a photo of this part but next I cut stencils out with the words I wanted on each sign. These were cut out using my Cricut. I couldn't live without this wonderful little machine (thank you JoAnn for that great gift almost 4 years ago)!


I then placed the stencils onto where I wanted them to go on the wood and prayed they were straight and actually where I wanted them.  Success!

 

Next, I painted them!  The vinyl didn't stick as well to the wood as I was hoping it would, so I had to be very careful to not have any paint seep under.  I was pretty successful.

I sanded them a little after the paint dried to give it a little more of a rustic flare!

Ta-da!!!

Turkey Trot {2014}

The boys ran in the 1K Turkey Trot yesterday - it was so nice having a run that we could walk to the starting line from our house!  It started at Zane's school.  After the run there was a free pancake breakfast for all of the participants - the boys loved that!  Great reward to a cold morning run!  Zane has asked to do the 5K for the next run that is here (which I think will be St. Patrick's Day dash) - here goes!  Guess I better get my buns in gear so I can run with him!  Wouldn't feel comfortable with him running a 5K without me close by.

Landon loved his shirt and has asked to where it again today -
I guess I better be quicker about doing laundry!

Best photo I could get of Zane coming to the finish line!

Right after the race - not even breathing heavy!  Granted it was only .5 miles, but still - he booked it!

Landon finishing up the race!

Photo Dump

While waiting for our neighbors to show up for their pictures yesterday, we walked around and I snapped a few photos...

Playing Photographer Again...

Our neighbors asked me to do their family pictures again this year (I did them last year too) - mainly for their Christmas cards.  But last year they liked them so much, they had one of the pictures of their girls blown up to a canvas...I'd be lying if I said I didn't kind of get excited when I learned that!  So off we went again this year - new location and hopefully some improved photography skills...

I love that Megan snapped this photo of me taking pictures of the girls!  Nice action shot!

X-Ray

The day we were driving back from Great Wolf Lodge we decided to make a pit stop and check out the new Bass Pro Shop in Tacoma.  It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt!  We were back looking at the big ol' fishing boats when Landon climbed up on one.  We knew he was on the boat and we were fine with it because we were checking out the boat ourselves (for fun, not for real)! What we didn't know (because we are such attentive parents!) is that Landon was climbing up onto one of the fishing seats on the bow of the boat - these seats are up probably 2 feet off the boat bow and at least 6 feet off the ground.  He fell off.  Splat.  It is a sound I will never forget - body meets concrete.  It was terrible.  He obviously started screaming (which was actually a good sign to me) - I raced over and scooped him up.  Employees from around the store came running over because it was heard all over the store.  They were wanting to call 911 - we said no.  Once it was determined that he hadn't hit his head, we did not feel 911 needed to be called.  I was able to calm him down and then we were on a mission to figure out where he was hurt.  I set him down to walk to me and his right leg just buckled, so I picked him back up.  When we asked him where it hurt, he would either point to his bottom, hip or leg depending on the time you asked him.  I carried him throughout the store and periodically tried to get him to walk to me, but the same thing would happen.  We decided to go home and wait it out a little bit before determining our next steps.  He was given some Tylenol and rested - he was then able to walk on his leg with a little bit of a limp - good, we knew it wasn't broken now!  The next morning he was walking almost completely normal - phew!  School let us know that he never mentioned his leg hurting, seemed fine aside from a little decrease of energy/activity.  This was how he stayed for the next couple weeks.  He rarely complained of it hurting anymore, was running and walking on it.  Then last Wednesday we were out for a walk (all 4 of us) when Josh and I were behind Landon running and realized he wasn't running right - he had a little gallop to his run and you could see he was favoring the left leg.  When he walked up stairs, he was now leading with his left leg instead of his right (he's right footed).  We decided it was time to see the doctor now.

Thursday afternoon, we took him to the doctor.  The doctor did all sorts of mobility tests on him and although Landon still never complained of anything hurting (this kid has an INSANE high pain tolerance) the doctor did determine his range of motion with his right hip was significantly less than his left hip.  Up for X-rays we went...

X-rays came back clear of any fracture - phew!  We (including the doctor) weren't too concerned of a fracture because of how much weight he was able to put on his leg and because of how active he's been - but better safe than sorry.  It is most likely a sprain or a strain, but the decrease in range of motion is still concerning.  We are supposed to watch it for another 1-2 weeks and he's still having the same issues, he'll be referred out to Ortho for them to check him out further and determine if he needs any physical therapy.  So now we wait...but in the mean time, he's happy, active and not letting it stop him from anything.  Tough guy!