A "Pop Party" at "Grandma's Work"

One day that Ben was off school, we went over to visit Mom at her work. Ben has been complaining that he never gets to go to "Grandma's Work" like he used to do all the time. One thing he used to do almost every time we'd go was have a "Pop party" with Grandma, so they introduced Braden to the concept.

I think, no, actually, I KNOW Braden liked it too. :)

Yummy!

Yes, that is Braden on top of the desk. Yes, my boys are a little on the spoiled side. Ha-ha! They were watching a video on the little t.v. in the offices upstairs. Must be pretty fascinating.

My littlest cutie...

What a ham!

Ditto

Aw, he's filling Mommy's shoes already...uh oh!

These "shoes" are a little more his speed. He loves the froggy boots Ben passed down to him.

A Sleep Over

One night when Ben had a day off school, his good friend Zach came over to spend the night with him. I suggested they make a "fort" to sleep in. They thought it was a great idea!

The 6 year olds still had to have their little stuffed animals to sleep with...go figure!

The next day, they decided they wanted to make a fort downstairs too.

Underneath they set up a little office and art center. They played in it for a lot of the day. Pretty creative if I do say so myself!

Valentine's Day Celebration

For Valentine's Day this year, we skipped the celebration on the 14th (long story involving a lost key that I won't go into on here) and celebrated on Friday, the 15th.

I made one of everyone's favorite dishes, and we hung out at the house to celebrate.

Yes, show us how much you love it Braden...open a little wider...mmmmm, yum!

Silly Ben.

Valentine's Day cont...

Cute little grin!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ben creating the "trail of kisses" for Daddy

What a ham!

Valentine's Day cont...

We continued our tradition of a "trail of kisses" again this year.

At the end were some stuff Ben had picked out for Daddy.

This year, Ben wanted me to make a "trail of kisses" for him too, so after Daddy got done with his trail, I made one for Ben.

He had lots of fun looking for his treats.

Ben's Valentine's class party

Planting a flower for Mommy.

Making a Valentine's Box

Having a treat!

Putting the finishing touches on Valentine's box

Outdoor Fun, Indoors

This winter will NEVER end......we have had such a wild and eventful winter and it seems to be lasting 3 seasons to me. I finally broke down this day and brought in a slide from outside. Braden is going a little stir crazy not being able to get out that often, so I thought I'd try something new. And yes, it is in my kitchen. My Mother-in-law probably thinks I've lost my marbles. Oh well, it doesn't bother me and Braden has found all sorts of ways to entertain himself on it (ie. running cars, trains, monster trucks down it; sliding in every possible position, etc.)

Wheeeee!

A Long Overdue Playdate

Three days after our McDonalds trip, Ben actually did have the day off school and so did Trey and Avery, so we met up with them at Burger King and got to finally spend some time with them. I think it's been about 18 months since we've seen them so it was wonderful to get to spend a couple hours with them!

Ben and Avery

Trey and Ben were having fun playing "Robots" (I think that's what they were doing?)

Avery, Ethan, Trey, Ben and Braden What a fun playdate. While the kids played, Elisa and I got a chance to catch up on some of the year's events in more detail (we keep up with one another's lives through the blog---soooooo nice!) Hopefully it won't be another 18 months before we get together again.

Skipping School to See Friends

In January, some of Ben's best buddies were out of school, so I took him out of school early (bad, bad Mommy--ok, slap my wrist and get it over with) and we went out to McDonalds with them for the afternoon.

Braden and a kid we didn't know

The boys fighting over the computer games.

Paula and Abigail

Abigail--sooooooooo cute!!!

Melissa and Abigail

Melissa and Braden

All day, I was trying to get a picture of Ben and Kylie together and they thought it was such a fun game to run from me and try not to let me get a picture of them together. (They are a little "fond" of one another and we give them grief about it.)

I snuck up and took this one of them when they weren't paying attention. So cute!

Then, I finally talked them into letting me take ONE and promised them I would leave them alone. They are just so cute together!

Andy's Physical Therapy

Well, I FINALLY have some really great news to report about Andy’s back: Andy started seeing a physical therapist for his back 6 days ago and had his second treatment today. I am very excited and thrilled to say that he has been PAIN FREE now for 6 days!!!!! I have explained the whole story to many of you, but want to write it down for my own sake here so I won’t forget it! When we found out that we did not get approved for the loan for the laser surgery that he was going to go to Laser Spine Institute in Florida for, we were so discouraged. Andy had been dealing with intense pain in his back off and on for nearly 2 years. The chiropractor was able to help him tremendously with his upper back, neck and migraine headaches, but would not work on his lower back because of the amount of pain Andy was in down there. After we sent out our Christmas letter, a friend of Andy’s (Shawn) called him and told him about the physical therapist that got him back into shape after he had had back surgery. Andy went to see him, and found out that his “SI” joint, the sacroiliac, needed to be adjusted and it lies below the pelvis and is hard for a chiropractor to get to (or so we were told.) Anyway, after hearing that the insurance wouldn’t cover the cost of the therapy, we were debating what to do since we are in the worst time of year to have extra expenses coming our way. I had been trying to avoid asking my cousin Stephanie (the PT in our family) about the issue because she was on leave from doing physical therapy, has two girls under the age of two that she is at home taking care of and has been trying to get settled from a move here from Arizona, But, I finally broke down and e-mailed her because I was at the end of my frazzled and very fraying rope. I asked her advice of whether she agreed with this other physical therapist that this might, in fact, give relief to Andy. After talking with her over Christmas and the days following, we were very encouraged to hear that there was a big light of hope at the end of our very long and dark tunnel we had been looking through for so many months. She actually just started working in a physical therapy office filled with phenomenal therapists and referred Andy to the best she knew. Last Thursday he had his first session where she tested all his movement and reflexes and talked about what kind of pain he had been experiencing. She then put his “SI” joint back into place and showed him three different exercises she wants him to do twice a day. It was amazing because when he did the preliminary movement of turning from side to side from the waist, he couldn’t hardly move to the left and after the therapy, he got up and turned to the left as much as he had to the right! It was phenomenal!!! He and I were both in complete shock! He also bent over and touched his toes and came back up with no effort. He also did many other motions that I won’t go into, but you get the point—HE IS BETTER!!! I told the physical therapist that she was an angel!!!!! After the therapy session was over, Andy was on cloud 10 1/2 (yes, he soared way above cloud 9!!!!!) He said, “I don’t know what to do with myself. I don’t want to walk, sit down, get in my car, lay down…..I just want to stand right here, because I have absolutely no pain and I haven’t felt like this in as long as I can remember!!!” The whole rest of the night was the same way. He was just in la-la land because he just couldn’t believe that all the pain he had suffered for 2 years was gone in just a matter of minutes. It was simply amazing! Granted, the exercises he is doing are making his unused muscles very very sore, but he says he’ll gladly take that soreness over the stabbing pain any day of the year. He is going to go back in for at least 6 more sessions of physical therapy to learn different things and how to protect this from every happening again and to make sure he is working the muscles the way he should be to support his back. Today’s session was primarily to unlock the muscles that had been completely locked up on him. Two therapists worked his muscles over real good and said they had probably been like that for many years. He has been talking about the relief all day long! It is so nice to see him up moving around and coherent again!!! He feels like his life has been given back to him and says he has learned so much from the whole experience. The possibility of having laser surgery is not completely out of the realm of possibility for the future simply for the bone spurs and scar tissue, but for right now, he has what he has needed for a very long time--to be PAIN FREE!!!!!! I don’t know who all reads this blog, but I want to say a few very special thank yous first to my aunt Pat for introducing the thought process that there could be something other than laser surgery that might help Andy; to Shawn for introducing the concept of the sacralliac joint to us and telling us about his physical therapist; to Stephanie and for all the therapy she’s done free of charge for us along the way, for ALL her advice, and for getting us hooked up with Elite Physical Therapy and Judy; to Mike G. for his GENEROUS offer and for caring enough to even offer; all our family and friends who have prayed so faithfully for us throughout the past 2 years. We truly feel like our prayers have been answered. We don’t understand why it has taken so long, but believe that everything happens for a reason. Hopefully what we’ve been through can help someone else who needs the same advice we’ve been given. So I am going to say this, if you or someone you know has pain anywhere in your back, head, neck, knees, joints, etc. don’t feel like you need to take medicine for the rest of your life or live with the pain, either get in touch with a good physical therapist (call us if you want the number of Andy’s) or see a good chiropractor who does X-rays, massage and gentle manipulation. If you aren’t getting results with the chiropractor, you need physical therapy. $300-500 is a very, very, very small price to pay to live pain free and get your life back!!!!! And it is spread out over the course of treatment. Be proactive and stop living with pain. Life is too short!!!!! There, I’ve said my peace! Love you all! Thank you for your prayers, and keep them coming for complete recovery.