Tramatic Saturday

Do you ever have a day, that you could just ask for a "do-over"? Saturday was that day for our family.

For the past 5 days, my life has consisted of:

If I hear the theme song one more time, I may go crazy.

Immune to this stuff now

sweats are comfy, and my jeans are a little tight

SLEEP! That's all I need right now

As many of you facebook followers know, Ashlee broke her arm on Saturday. Here's the full story:

Saturday morning we were having a garage sale. Ashlee and her friends wanted to jump on the trampoline. The trampoline net had ripped and we were planning on replacing it once we moved. Rande sewed it back together Saturday before the kids started to jump.

About 15 minutes later Ashlee's friend came and told us she fell off the trampoline, and broke her arm. We figured he was exaggerating, but Rande went to check on her, while I finished up with a shopper. After the lady left I went to go see if she was OK, and I saw Rande come around the corner carrying Ashlee and the look on his face said everything wasn't. We immediately threw the items from the garage sale inside the garage, gathered the necessities (purse, shoes, IDs, etc) and headed to the ER.

Once we arrived at the ER, Rande took Ashlee inside, while Christian and I parked the car. There was a line of people waiting to sign into the ER. The lady (rude, inconsiderate, heartless) at the front desk said we had to sign in before they would see our screaming child. We had every one's attention by this time. A nice gentlemen let me cut in front of him after he saw the panic, concern, and frustration in our faces. They did see us immediately and we were put into a room. The gave her morphine and we waited for x-rays. Rande went with Ashlee into the x-ray room. They didn't want to take a chance that I may be pregnant, so Rande was allowed in there. It was horrible for both of us to hear and see her in so much pain. Rande had to help them take the x-rays while I waited outside hearing her scream my name and cry for what seemed like an hour or more.

Once the x rays were done we found out the severity of the break. She fractured her Ulna (one of two bones in your lower arm) and broke off the head of her Radius (the other bone in your lower arm). The Radial head helps you extend and rotate your arm. The doctor told us he was going to sedate her and try to manually manipulate the piece back into place. If that didn't work we would have to do surgery. Rande once again stayed in the room, while I took Christian out. I don't think I could have been in the room anyways. Rande wanted to punch the doctor in the face. Ashlee was still kicking her legs and reacting to the pain after sedation, that's how bad it was. Unfortunately the torture didn't do a thing but make her loopy from the sedation. Side note; Ashlee doesn't react to pain medicine well.

They admitted us into the hospital for the night with plans for surgery the next day. I stayed with her over night while Rande took Christian home. It was a LONG night to say the least. A mix of morphine and oxicodone helped a little. But my poor baby girl was in so much pain and I just couldn't help her.

The next morning, she has surgery and they fixed the elbow. We spent most of the afternoon Sunday in recovery (like I said she doesn't handle sedation or pain medication well). We were discharged later that evening and have been home ever since.

Sunday night was long, Monday day was long, but yesterday there was hope. She actually wanted to step outside and see her friends for a little while. We are hoping to go to school for at least an hour tomorrow, and maybe full day on Friday (2 1/2 hours is all).

We still have a long road to recovery. There is one final concern, and that is the blood vessels reestablishing blood flow to the radial head. If it doesn't, the bone will die, which means more surgery. We are praying it heals well and fast, the doctor said 4-6 weeks. Ashlee is already tired of the cast and wants it off, the itching, and healing process has begun. It's uncomfortable and very annoying as she puts it. Please continue to pray for her. But her spirits are better the past couple of days. I was worried, she seemed pretty depressed about it all.

She tried to color with her left hand and did a great job, I am so proud of her! She is one tough little girl.

Bad Blogger

Sorry I've been horrible blogging lately. Things became a little crazy the end of January/beginning of February.

My Grandpa passed away Feb. 1st, and we spent a week in Montana. It was a week on an emotional roller coaster. Sad that he passed away, happy he wasn't suffering any more. It was great to see all the family again (minus a couple people).


We then came home, and had a week of "catch up" before Rande returned Thursday evening (17th). So far we've had a short, but fun time together. He already had to work all day and night yesterday. It's so weird to think he's been gone since we returned home from Montana after Christmas.

Not much to blog about right now. Hopefully I'll have something good this week.

What is fog?

That is the question that was asked this morning on our way to school. As we are walking my two little munchkins were having another deep conversation about the fog. Here's what fog is according to Chrsitian.

Ashlee: "boy there sure is a lot of fog this morning"

Christian: "yeah, and you know what fog is Ashlee?"

Ashlee: "what?"

Christian: "it's clouds that died".

Well, there you have it!

Where to live?

Rande and I had decided months ago that we would live on post at Ft. Benning. But the other night we were dreaming (over the phone mind you) and started to look at houses. The Nicole house caught my eye. It's so practical for our family. Not too big, but big enough for the kids, Rande and I with a spare room/bathroom for guest. Something I've always wanted. The housing area reminds me of what's offered on post; Community Center, basketball court, playground, swimming pool, etc. Isn't she a beauty?

Then the dreaming was interrupted with a responsibility check the next day. Realizing that we will only be at Ft. Benning for 3 years, and then move again, what would we do with the house? Yes we could try and sell it, and if that doesn't work rent it out. But what if we can't get a renter, how will we make the mortgage payment when our BAH is going towards our other home? How will we keep up on the house when we're thousands of miles away and have no family in Alabama to help us? These are the questions that filled my head, I'm definitely not a risk taker.

Granted we could stay at Ft. Benning for another 3 yrs. or so, Rande will have the freedom to choose where we go after this rotation (just a perk for being an RI). We would like to live somewhere else though. Joining the Army a little later in his career, we missed out on a few rotations to live in other places. This is one of the reason why we decided to fore go the National Guard and go active duty. We wanted to see and experience the US and/or World, and all the different cultures.

I have to say it was fun to look at the houses and see all our options. However, we have decided on post is best for us this time around. If the options on post weren't so lovely I think we would definitely look at renting off post, and perhaps take a risk in buying. Below are some of the types of houses we could possibly live in on post.

Click here, scroll down to the bottom of the page to Patton Village. You will see a link for "virtual tour - stand alone". There you can see another style, and what the inside is like. I really like this one. It has a breakfast area!

Michelle Jordan

She's pretty, she's sweet, but no one can stop that 3 point shot!

This year was Ashlee's first year playing basketball, and best part for her was daddy being the assistant coach. They were both fun to watch this year. I don't think I have the patience for 5 and 6 yr. olds, but my wonderful, loving hubby sure does.

Ashlee was A-DOR-ABLE! I was able to get some video of her last game (posted below). Before she would pass the ball, she had to turn the ball so the stripes were facing Left/Right...too cute! I'm looking forward to many more years of watching her grow and become better at the game. She is just too sweet to throw elbows yet, but I'm sure it will change.

The Blue Hawks. Look at the handsome Assistant coach

turning the ball around, I was dying laughing

post game party at the bowling alley

Solution for World Peace and Global Warming (by Christian)

We are on our way home from swimming lessons the other night, and here is the conversation that took place:

Christian: "mom, you know the bomb that ended World War II?"

Me: "yes"

Christian: "well, when I'm president, I'm going to make another one and end this war in Afghanistan, if it's still going on."

Me: "oh really? and what else are you going to do?"

Christian: "I'm going to make money, and so everyone will always GET money but not have to pay for anything."

Me: "So everything is free?"

Christian: "yes, and then I'm going to make houses that don't need electricity, but we use those panels that get energy from the sun. ________________(pause)_________ but our back up energy for those cloudy days will be our own pee and poop."

Ashlee: "I thought you were going to be a helicopter pilot?"

Christian: "I'm going to be a helicopter pilot and president Ashlee, I can do both."

Ashlee: (sigh) "Well I'm just going to be an artist."

Our bucket list - Washington

A few weeks ago, we talked to the kids about moving, hoping to make this a smooth transition for them. We discussed what Georgia is like; such as the weather, people, culture, etc. So far they seem pretty excited, but I'm sure they will miss it here. Washington is all Ashlee really knows. She was 2 when we moved here and doesn't remember much from Montana except through stories we've told her. To help make the next few months fun and exciting, we each chose one thing that we wanted to do before we left. Here is what everyone chose:

RANDE : Mt. Rainier (this will be our second visit) We had such a fun day when we visited back in May of 2007

ME: Olympic National Park - this will be a first. They have a rain forest. We'll be able to go to the beach one last time while there as well. (and for all you Twilight fans, it's near Forks, WA.)

ASHLEE: Great Wolf Lodge. When Rande was home on R&R in February we spent a couple days here. It has an indoor water park. Pretty fun for those rainy/gloomy days. I'm thinking this will be a Spring Break get-a-way

CHRISTIAN: A day in Seattle. Specifically riding the Ducks which we have never done and, the space needle (be there many times) But he LOVES it! This may be part of his birthday weekend.

We may even catch a Mariners game while in Seattle and ride the ferry one last time too.

Washington is such a fun and beautiful state. There is soooooo much to do, it's unreal! When we first moved here, we were out every weekend experiencing Washington (Mt. Rainier, the beach, Mount St. Helens, etc. ) I feel like it really made it feel more like home, and the transition from Montana a little bit easier. Leaving Ft. Lewis will be a sad day, it has been our home for 4 1/2 years (in June).