Christmas Celebrations

We're not having the best luck with our internet connection when it comes to blogspot apparently, but I refuse to give up. Mom just got internet on her computer at work, so I'll take the time to do this...(love ya Mom!) (Dad, you too!) :) We had three Christmas celebrations this year, as usual. We had Christmas Eve with my Dad's side of the family at my brother and sister-in-laws house this year. It was so awesome to have EVERYONE there this year!!! I wish we could have gotten a whole family shot, but with 8 grandkids (7 being 3 and under) the night was a little full and hectic and no one thought of it at the time, bummer! This is my precious Grandpa and Grandma who I am so incredibly thankful they were both here to celebrate another Christmas. (My Grandpa had 5 bypass surgery in Nov. 2006 and we nearly lost him, so every holiday is a gift with him)My Aunt Ronda had two girls, and now both of her girls have two girls (Abby doesn't like posing for pictures right now. She's not in the pic) At least Lilly will have some girls to play with on this side of the family :) Hanging out before dinner... After we ate, "Santa" made a guest appearance. It was so much fun seeing more of the grandkids get in on the action this year. Ben, of course, greeted Santa at the door. This was the look on Braden's face when he saw Santa. He wasn't too sure what to think. As soon as he found me he clung onto me for dear life, cried for a few seconds and then just watched cautiously for a few minutes. Ben was SOOOOOOO excited to see Santa this year and talked about it for weeks beforehand. He's been Santa's helper since he was old enough to walk. After "Santa" gave Braden a "choo-choo" work belt (which he wore proudly for much of the evening) he warmed up to him.When Lilly saw Santa was handing out gifts, she warmed up to him too and even sat right beside him. ;)Ben's an old pro at sitting on Santa's lap. It was so funny at the end of the night, he was talking to my Uncle Mike and told him that his voice sounds just like "Santa's" voice. Uncle Mike said, "Oh, really? You think so, huh??" Then I chimed in, "Maybe Uncle Mike is related to Santa somehow." We all laughed and changed the subject real quick. I think Ben knows, but he doesn't really want to admit it to himself. He likes believing in him as much as we like watching him believe in him. It's fun. I think he'll have almost as much fun with it though when he does know but keeps it a secret from the younger ones b/c he loves knowing things that other people don't know. Braden with his "choo-choo" belt.

While we were opening gifts, Braden found the dessert table and kept disappearing into the other room when I wasn't looking and coming out with something new to snack on...can you tell?

Andy didn't get there until midway through dinner. We had a candlelight service at our church, and he went to help out with that.

Braden is very ANTI-picture taking this year. He does NOT want to pose! We just took what we could get. Luckily Ben is actually doing very well with photo taking right now so at least we get one smiling.

CHRISTMAS DAY

Again, not liking the photo taking--if it's not Braden's idea, it's not happening without a fight.

This was Christmas Day at our house. We usually spend Christmas Day with Andy's extended side of the family, but since his Uncle Ray's death, it's been a little hard on the family. We originally thought they weren't going to do anything for Christmas, but at the last minute called and invited us. Well, Andy had already invited his Mom, Dad, Sister and brother-in-law over to spend lunch with us, so we kept that plan. We felt bad, but everyone agreed that it was already planned so we just did it this way for this year. We had sandwiches and the kids had fun catching up and playing together. We so rarely get to see Sammie and Sarah, so they always have a lot of catching up to do with Ben and Braden. All the grandkids. Our little picture hater, yea! He'll laugh at this someday. Ah ha!!! Caught him off guard when he was coming out of Ben's room. There's that cute smile! Here he is with my niece, Sammie. We had to trick Braden into this one. He was playing with his "new" train set and we had the other three kids go sit around him and we snapped a few pics real quick. It was like a circus! After we ate and opened presents, it was such a gorgeous day that we went outside and played. Andy, Dave, Sammie, Ben and Sarah played catch with a football for a while, then shot some hoops in Ben's basketball goal. Braden got a little nap while we were outside. CHRISTMAS NIGHT As soon as Maggie, Dave and the girls left, we headed over to my parents house for our final celebration of the year. Jeremy, Sheila, Lilly and Isaiah. Isaiah wasn't into posing for pics either. It must be an age thing since Braden and Isaiah are only 2 weeks apart. Our little Princess Lillian did great though! My Mom and the two youngest.

It was fun this year seeing all the kids getting into the spirit of opening presents (the little ones didn't do much last year.) It was so funny to see Braden and Isaiah fighting over the nerf balls that they got. Braden's new word, "MINE," was used quite frequently throughout the night! We had to separate them a few times. They'll learn... I guess Braden decided that if he sat on his ball, Isaiah couldn't get to it. :) ...so funny! And it looks like Isaiah is protecting his too. Little stinkers! Ben got a ton of fun stuff for Christmas including this Army radio and some walkie talkies that he has used a LOT since Christmas already! "Princess Lillian" got a new Dora table and chairs set which she was very proud of! Braden was very excited about his new "Choo-choo busssssss" that Grandpa is helping him open in this photo.

Ahhh, Braden and Isaiah finally found something they could play together without fighting--how nice. Ironically enough though, this was taken after they opened all their gifts and this wasn't even a Christmas present of either of theirs. Go figure! Why do we even bother at this age. HA! My cute little nephew, Isaiah.

We have quite the story to tell about this Christmas and Isaiah this year. On Christmas Eve he began a fit of coughing and throwing up towards the end of the night and after about 30 minutes of it, Jer and Sheila took him to Children's Mercy Hospital. He apparently had had an allergic reaction to a tiny bite of something that had peanut butter in it. His sister, Lilly, is allergic to peanuts, but they didn't know if he was yet or not......well, apparently worse than Lilly. The three of them spent Christmas Eve night in the hospital because the epi-shot, and breathing treatments didn't clear him up immediately, so they kept him and did more breathing treatments and intravenous shots of steroid antibiotics and benadryl (I think I got that right?) Anyway, we were all pretty worried about him for a while, but he was just as chipper as could be Christmas night after a whirlwind 20 hours. Needless to say, there will be no peanuts within reaching distance of those two in any of our houses for a very long time! Poor little guy!Just as we were all getting ready to go home, Braden and Lilly found Grandma's "bear bench" and decided to take a load off. I happened to come downstairs just in the nick of time to catch these adorable pics of them together. That'll be a classic, i'm sure. And this one too. Braden and Isaiah gaze out into the night. I wonder what they're thinking....

:)

Our Trip To Branson

At the beginning of December, the boys and I went to Branson with my parents, brother, sister-in-law and niece and nephew. Andy didn't go because of his back. The boys and I left on Sunday afternoon around nap time and got down and unloaded while Mom and Dad were at Silver Dollar City. After we unpacked a little, the boys and I went up to the condo pool to swim. We nearly froze our butts off even though it was indoor and heated. Braden mostly ran around the outside of the pool tossing toys in as the other kids would toss them out. On Monday I realized that the new camera I had just gotten only took 5 pictures with the memory card it came with so off to Walmart we all went. By the time we got done shopping, we called to see if Jer and Sheila had made it down to Branson and then went to their condo to see them.

Braden, Lilly and Isaiah share a moment with Grandma coloring together there, then we took Lilly and Isaiah back to our condo to hang out with us for awhile. Back at our place, the kids colored, played with playdoh, amongst other things. Braden and Isaiah get reaquainted. Ha-ha! This was such a cute moment. Isaiah had been dancing in the kitchen then he just grabbed Braden and hugged him. What a Kodak moment! :) Our first couple days of our vacation we spent hanging out in the room...isn't that the point of a vacation?! It was great to relax!!! On Wednesday (I think it was) we went to the new "Branson Landing" (i.e. shopping!!!) It was really neat! When we got there though, Sheila decided to go into Bed Bath and Beyond while we went in another store. Well, Jer thought Sheila had her cell phone with her and tried calling her for at least half an hour after we left and couldn't get her....the cell phone was in the bottom of the stroller we were pushing. Sheila had been walking up and down the "mall" looking for us for quite some time. We were all a little flustered when we finally found her. I was completely amazed that above all the shops they have condominiums that people own. If ever there was a time I was envious, it was when I saw those!!! I told my Mom and Dad I was just going to buy one of those and move in for good. To live on TOP of an outdoor Mall----WOW!!! Wouldn't that be COOL?! Another lovey moment between cousins Braden and Ben. You would never guess that they fight over everything they played with in the condo would you? They're at that age. My brother, Jer, playing peek-a-boo with Braden at the playground at "The Branson Landing" My Dad sharing a cute moment with Braden at the play area. He and Braden are buds! I think Ben is going to always be a "Grandma's boy," but I think Braden will be a "Grandpa's boy."

Jer and my boys--being a kid again himself--what a good Daddy and uncle he is! Ben captured Grandma alone and they made some sugar cookies one afternoon while the other kids were napping. Mom and Dad went to one of the shows in town on Wednesday night, so Jer, Sheila and I took the kids up to the condo's indoor pool. I spared the adults the swimsuit shots on the blog, but the kids had a little fun playing in the lockers in the dressing rooms beforehand. After we swam one thing Ben had been talking about doing even before we went to Branson was working out in the "workout room." So after we swam, I let him play around in there for a little bit. Jer supervised quite closely for me while I snapped photos. Braden wanted to be just like his big brother and "work out" too.

This time, Braden captured Grandma. He wanted to read a book, so they shared some quality time reading a book together. Braden, like most children, loves to be naked. We compromised this time. :)

SILVER DOLLAR CITY--HERE WE COME!!!

On Thursday, we got to go to one of my favorite places: Silver Dollar City! It is so beautiful at Christmas time! If you've never been there at Christmas, I highly recommend it! The day we went it was frrreeeeeeezzziiinnnggg but we bundled up and had fun anyway. It rained right up until the time we got on the trolly to ride into the park, but then it stopped for the rest of the night--what a blessing! We were there from around 2:00 until around 7:00 ( I think?) Braden stayed in the stroller most of the time we were there. The other stroller hauled all our "stuff." That is the giant tree that has all the lights that "dance" to the music. It is absolutely amazing at night! This is the "blown glass" shop where they make really neat decorations out of glass right there for you to watch. Ben thought that was really cool! This is the Christmas tree shop where you can buy hundreds of different ornaments off the display trees.

Well, Ben's favorite spot in Silver Dollar City is still the "Ball Pit" as he calls it. I finally found out this year what the actual name is: "The Foam Fort" which actually sounds a lot cooler than the "ball pit," but it's been that for 5 years now, so we'll just stick with that for now. Since the weather was so bad, they only had the bottom level open but Ben got creative and decided his mission was to fill up the entire "elevator" with balls all the way to the top. So Mom and I helped load the balls onto the conveyor belt while ben turned the wheel. We managed to pick up every ball on the floor on that end of the "Fort." It definately got our blood flowing! :)

Ben was very proud when it was all done!

After ourt adventures in the "Ball Pit," we went up to see what they had set up at "Kringles Krossing" this year. There wasn't much in there, but Braden managed to spot the "choo-choo" on the stage where Santa had been sitting. He went up there and I snuck a picture real quick while the manager was coming and telling me to please get him off the stage. Hee-hee! After a few other stops and eating some dinner (peanut butter sandwiches I brought in) at the Saloon show, we went and watched the "Electric Lights Parade" and called it a night. We would have stayed longer if it weren't so cold, but at least we could say we went and had a good time. Braden was surprisingly good for as much as he was in the stroller.

A "Slumber Party"

Ok, so I haven't been blogging very much at all this month....partly because I've been CRAZY busy and partly because I have been having a lot of trouble with my blogspot working properly. It seems to be working a little faster today, so I'm going to try to get some stuff on here. If I begin to have trouble, this may be the only post for the day. I have been posting a lot of stuff on my MYSPACE page which is www.myspace.com/jen10672 if you want to check out my recent slideshows. It is set to only be viewed by "my friends" though, so you will have to set up a myspace page to view it--sorry.

Anyway, the above photo was taken about a month ago. Ben decided that he wanted to sleep in Braden's room with him, so he made himself a little "bed" in the floor and had a little "slumber party" with Braden. Braden didn't know quite what to think about it and whined at first b/c he wanted to get down in the floor with him, but I left them alone and heard giggling and talking for a while before they both fell asleep. It was pretty cute. The boys found a couple of Daddy's hats and were playing around with them later the next day and I happened to snap this pic. My two little gangsters--:)

Ben Started Basketball

Much to his Daddy's delight, Ben was very interested in playing basketball this fall....so here we are...and guess who his coach it--yep, Daddy. Practicing dribbling (warming up) "The Huddle!" :) Ben is the second shortest one on his team (#7), believe it or not. His "division" includes Kindergarten through 2nd graders. It's so cute how the "play" at this age. They have practice drills before the game and stop the game and give instructions and let the kids practice certain strategies. It's a great learning experience! After the 1st game

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Here's some pics of the boys in November...

Confused...

Well, our hopes have had a damper put on them. We applied for the loan for the money for the Laser Surgery Institute (that they require up front), and did not qualify, so we are now contemplating other avenues for relief for Andy's back. I really don't have the time or energy to to go into anymore details today, but wanted to give everyone an update. I will post more later...

Update on the Dixon's Backs

I haven't blogged for quite a while. And I have a lot of information I want to put on here so that I don't forget any of it down the road. So here goes... I will start with the new developments in my back. About two weeks ago I finally decided to go see Andy's chiropractor because my back had been hurting constantly for about 10 days. I was having shooting pains, tingling and numbness down both legs, and was getting very concerned. I had been planning on going to Dr. Brennan for quite a while, but thought i'd wait until we could more financially afford it, but the situation called for a more drastic timetable than I had originally planned. So I went. Dr. Brennan did x-rays and found a miriad of things that we are addressing with my back. Apparently I have had an injury to my neck when I was younger. That is what has caused my constant, neck pain for as long as I can remember. My bottom two vertebrae are twisted to the left and cocked up towards my right hip, and the upper part of my back is off in all sorts of directions. So, I am going in twice a week right now to try to get everything back in correct working order. It is WONDERFUL, I must say. Sure I am sore a lot right now, but that is to be expected, afterall, all the muscles and bones are trying to be retrained to be in a place they've not been used to for a very long time. I have to tell you, for anyone who does not know it, every vertebrae in your back directly affects a different part of your body. For instance, when Andy told Dr. Brennan about my acid reflux problem I have been having in my stomach, he told Andy that I needed to have my back adjusted because my "T6" was most likely out because that is the vertebrae that affects things to do with the stomach. Well, I have been completely sold on chiropractic treatment ever since Andy started going to Dr. Brennan, afterall, he has not had a migraine headache in over a month since he got Andy's neck back into alignment through his chiropractic therapy. Before that he was having those headaches constantly and they would put him into bed all evening sometimes. Anyway, back to the subject...I began my treatments and after the very first treatment, he told me that I may not have complete relief in my stomach right away, but by the end of the treatment I will definately notice a difference. He did tell me however that I would probably sleep better that night than I had slept in a very long time. Well, the next morning I woke up on cloud 9! I cannot tell you when the last time I slept like that was. It was amazing! I also noticed that I did not have the same knawing sour feeling in my stomach that I have had every morning for the past 6 months either. I have only had a couple days out of the past two weeks that I have had a semi-sour stomach and I'm only in week two of treatments. That, to me, is AMAZING. And those are only two of the many many benefits that I'm experiencing. If you think I'm trying to sell you on chiropractors--especially Dr. Brennan--I AM! I am a believer! I cannot remember the last time I've slept as well as I am sleeping now. If you have been to a chiropractor and not gotten results like this, you need to go see mine! Anyway, I am enjoying all kinds of relief, but am looking forward to having no pain or soreness in a few weeks. Meanwhile, poor little Braden is having to be a big boy now and do everything on his own since Mommy has been restricted to not lifting just like Daddy. I have trained him on how to climb in and out of his own highchair, crib (by putting a ottoman next to his crib and lowering the side of his crib), carseat, and he has to walk everywhere we go because I cannot carry him. He does not like it too well either. He has thrown himself on the floor many times and tried to refuse to walk, but I've been persistant, because I do not want to jeopardize my progress by lifting anything that would prolong my progress of healing. Well, I'll let you know how it all ends up..... Meanwhile, Andy is still in agonizing pain with his back. He has been on all three medications: Percocet, Oxicontin, and Flexoril, everyday for the past month. He works as much as he can on good days, and comes home and crashes into bed for the evening every afternoon. He is in constant pain and only gets temporary relief when he has all three drugs in him and he is laying in a good position in bed. The research he did on the internet about the Laser Spine Institute (LSI) in Tampa FL has been his main focus for the past few weeks. He contacted them, talked about everything, asked about a million questions. Then, he sent a copy of his MRI's and Dr.'s reports to them for them to look at to see if this was something they thought would help his back. They told him that he was a PRIME candidate for the type of surgery they do. They told him they could get rid of all the bone spurs, most all the scar tissue, take care of the degenerative disc that he has, and even correct the bulging discs. They assured him that they absolutely do NOT recommend this surgery to people they don't believe it will help. The next question was where is the money going to come from. The surgery costs $30,000 minimum and up to $80,000 depending on how many procedures they need to do on you. Also, they require $30,000 up front and depending on if your insurance will cover it, they bill the insurance and you get reimbursed the money after the insurance pays them. well, seeing as how Andy has what has been termed the "worst health insurance on the market" we have been very sceptical that they would cover any of it. Well, I put this situation in the Lord's hands a few weeks back as you may remember and I have been trusting in Him that he will take care of this situation one way or another. We have continued to pray ernestly that somehow, someway, Andy would be able to get this surgery. That maybe there is a slim possibility that the insurance might cover it since Andy has a PPO, but where will the money come from up front. Also, how will we get down there, airfare, accommodations, food expenses, what to do with the kids while we are there........ all these things are swirling through our heads. Well.................we got a phone call today from the very helpful Dawn Bader from the Laser Spine Institute. She contacted Andy's health insurance company and found out that they will COVER Andy's surgery! We have to pay our deductible and come up with the money they require up front though so we'll see how it all pans out