When it Rains it Pours!

Lately it seems like we have had more than our share of challenges lately.  It's just little things piling up on top of each other. 

-We had the usual my birthday/Christmas/New Years/anniversary that all fall within a couple weeks of each other.  In the middle of that Cannon broke his arm.  The orthopedic specialist is in Austin, so we have been driving out there often for x-rays and new casts.  Because of the doctor's schedule, Cannon has to miss school for the appointments each time we go.  Luckily gas prices have been lower than usual, but we are anticipating the hospital and doctor's bills soon!

-Amongst all the hullabaloo, poor Ryan got left in the shadows.  But you have to know the back story first.  On Christmas day a boy came to our house searching for his lost cat.  We had actually seen it that previous night, but she was still no where to be seen.  One night Ryan saw the cat and he was able to pick it up, but he didn't know which house it belonged to.  He couldn't get into our house to ask me because his keys were in our car with Blue (it was a cold night) and I was asleep (I didn't hear him knocking on the door).  So he took his best guess.  The first house said it wasn't their cat, but they showed him which house it was.  He went to that house and said he found their cat.  They said how thoughtful it was of Ryan, but that they had actually found their cat already!  The cat he was holding belonged to the other neighbor and was also accustomed to being outside.  They had a big laugh and let the cat go.  Unfortunately for Ryan, he somehow caught poison ivy from holding the cat.  His guess is that it had been walking through the forest right before he picked it up.  Ryan is really allergic to poison ivy.  After three days it just kept spreading and getting worse.  We finally sent him to the ER!  He came home with steroids and creams and it still took weeks for it to all heal.  I felt so bad for him!  It really looked awful. 

-When we got home from Austin one of the times, Ryan went to get something out of the fridge and the whole door just fell off!  At that point the only thing we could do was just laugh!  Then we quickly searched Craigslist for a cheap fridge. 

-Then we discovered that both cars needed servicing.  Cosmo needed new tires and the Honda has a transmission fluid leak. 

-We have my usual doctor's visits and all the emotions and frustration that go along with that. 

-Then a couple of weeks ago we had to give up Daisy.  On Christmas Eve Blue attacked her and bit her.  They were having a hard time getting along, but that was so much worse and we knew that we had to give her away.  Ryan got Daisy for me because he thought it would help me feel better about not being able to have more kids.  And for a while it was working.  We loved Daisy so much, even despite her naughtiness, and she brought so much joy into our family.  It hurt me so much to see her hurt and the idea of giving her away was painful to think about, but mostly I just wanted her to be safe and be in a family that would love her.  I finally asked one of my friends from church.  They had agreed to watch her overnight when I took Cannon to Austin to get his new cast.  When we went to pick up her she asked if they could keep her one more night as kind of a trial.  Well they fell in love with her and decided that she was the perfect dog for them.  On the one hand I was so happy that Daisy could finally have a permanent, safe, and loving home.  But then I also felt sadness and grief.  It was really hard to tell Cannon that we were giving her away and he was really upset about it.  He is so resilient and he has coped with it much better than I had anticipated.  And the best news is that we can see her whenever we want.  The latest update about Daisy is that they love her so much, she has bonded with them, and is a happy dog. 



She would go from clean and poufy to a mud ball!

-Lastly, Blue got hit by a truck a little over a week ago.  She was so so lucky because we think she was just clipped.  Really a split second difference could have led to a much worse outcome.  Ryan was outside with her when it happened and after she got hit she rolled along the gutter.  At the time we didn't know how bad her injuries were because she couldn't walk and she was really traumatized, although we didn't see any blood or open wounds on her.  It happened just 10 minutes before Ryan had to leave to work at Yogurtland and we debated on taking her to the vet.  We decided to wait it out and see how she was feeling in the morning.  Ryan found some dog aspirin for her and that seemed to help with her pain and we were able to take care of her injuries at home.  Each day she began to improve a little and then she was able to walk again.  Ryan was so upset about this and it made him so sad to think that we came that close to losing our little Blue girl. 



Cannon's Broken Arm

On the day after Christmas Rick drove all the way out to College Station to pick up Cannon to stay with them for the weekend.  Ryan and I were really excited to have some time to ourselves and to work on some things around the house. 

We had a great date night that Friday.  On Saturday morning Bev called me saying that she thought Cannon broke his arm.  Rick and Robert had taken the 6 kids to a bounce house.  It was hard to tell what happened exactly, but from Cannon's words he said he was running on the trampoline and his socks made him slip.  He landed on the padding that covers the metal, but he hit in just the right spot to snap his arm.  He said he stood up and couldn't feel his arm.  He walked over to JT to tell him and JT carried him over to Robert.  At this point he wasn't crying.  Robert felt his shoulder first and as he made his way lower that's when it started to hurt Cannon and he was really crying hard.  They rounded up the kids and headed for the children's hospital. 

They said that Cannon was pretty emotional at this point, but was mostly concerned about having to get a shot.  He kept saying things like, "I hate Austin.  I'm never coming back to Austin.  Austin is bad luck.  I miss my parents; they are so special.  My mom is so beautiful and she is so special.  No cousins talk!  Only uncles can talk!"  It upset Cole to hear Cannon talk like that and he would say back to him, "You don't mean it!  Tell me you don't mean it!"

At the time, Bev was with Mom and Kristina.  Everyone met at the hospital and they all got there at the same time.  Rick and Kristina took all the other kids back home.  Rob, Bev, Grandma and Papa stayed with Cannon.  Bev kept me in the loop with everything as I scrambled to get myself ready and packed to meet them at the hospital.  Robert stayed by Cannon's side the whole time and was really there for him.  Cannon really felt better to have his Uncle Robert with him.  Robert was so calm with him and he even sang to him to help him relax and go to sleep.  It killed me to not be there with Cannon, but I felt so comforted knowing that he had so many people there to take care of him. 

They had to cut his shirt off of him.

 

He kept closing his eyes because he didn't want to look at his arm.

He had x-rays and then an IV.  The x-rays showed that he broke both his radius and ulna.  He didn't need surgery, but they gave him anesthesia so he would be asleep while they set the bones.  By the time I got there he was being discharged. 

 

He had a temporary cast on for almost 2 weeks.  Then he got his more permanent cast and he picked orange.  He wore that for about 3 weeks and got another cast.  This time he picked blue.  He will have the cast on for a total of 9 weeks.  We have a little over a week to go!

He had to keep his arm elevated for awhile. 

Just home from the hospital.

The kids were trying really hard to cheer him up. 

Getting his new cast

Orange!

We got some lunch afterwards

Lots of people signed his cast!

Cast off for more x-rays

Blue!

One good thing about going to Austin a lot is that we got more time to see Aunt Shae and Dave!  We finally took them to Lick ice cream!

 

Despite everything Cannon has been a real trooper!  He hardly complains of his arm itching and it certainly hasn't stopped him from playing and doing things for himself.  He's still doing flips on the trampoline!  This experience has gone more smoothly than I anticipated.  It will be so nice to have it off so that he can have a proper bath and so we can start riding bikes again!

 

 

Christmas Break

Christmas break was pretty big this year.  Everyone came to town and we had a lot going on, especially driving back and forth from College Station to Austin several times.  Cannon broke his arm two days after Christmas, so that added a new dimension to things!

A few days before Christmas, Bev and the kids stayed at our house on their way to Austin.  It was so much fun to have them here and to have them all to myself for a couple days. 

Some time in December we went to see the lights at the park in College Station.  Lynn and Barbara and their family were there at the same time.  Cannon ended up playing chase with Travis and Jacob and some random kid that was there. 


 We had Christmas morning at our house with just the three of us.  Cannon got a new trampoline!

 

 

We were able to get everyone together at Yogurtland after family pictures. 



 

 

We crammed everyone into one house...8 adults, 7 kids, and 2 dogs!  Here's what a typical morning looked like: Robert doing his radio show from the living room, the little girls wanting to cuddle on the couch with the dogs, Cole and Cannon playing with Kate.  

 

 

Ryan and I took the four little kids to the children's museum in Austin called the Thinkery.  We split up and I took the girls and he took the boys. 

 

 

Grandma and Papa have a really cool park near their house.  There is a huge field, dirt mounds, a little forest, and lots of big rocks.  Cannon can spend hours there!  For the most part, the weather had been cold and rainy.  Once we finally got a warm day so I took the Cole and Cannon to go play.  They pretended that the dirt mounds were different planets in a solar system.  

 Back at our house, the kids got to enjoy some backyard play too!  Lyla wanted me to take lots of pictures of her.  She always makes me smile!

 

 

Just hanging out.  Lyla and I played Connect 4 and some other games.  Kate was content to be on the floor near everyone.  

 

 

Cole and Cannon spent the majority of their time building pod racers out of Legos and then racing them in the back yard.  

 

 

Back in Austin we celebrated our anniversary with Rick and Kristina.  Their anniversary is January 5th and ours is on the 7th.  It was their 10 year and our 9 year.  Rick surprised us with a limo complete with non-alcoholic champagne.  We ate dinner at Truluck's and then saw a movie at the iPic theatre.  I really needed to have a nice night out and this really filled my cup.  

Thanksgiving

Ryan's parents ditched us for Thanksgiving this year, but it wasn't a big deal.  We had fun at Lynn and Barbara's house.  Barbara had even made a wooden nativity craft for the girls to do.  Ryan had to work the day after Thanksgiving, so Cannon and I went back to their house so I could finish my craft and take pictures of Derek and Sarah's new baby Isaac.  We ended up going back over there on Saturday too just to hang out for most of the day.  Cannon played with Dyson and the boys were kind enough to play with him too.  Meanwhile, I got lots of time with other adults and I got to cuddle Isaac!  We didn't have any family living near us in Florida and this weekend made me realize how much I love having family close.

Cannon took this picture

I took a lot of pictures of Isaac, but here are a couple of my favorites:

 
 

October and November

I haven't used my good camera in a while, but I pulled it out to take pictures of our friends and their baby when we met up with them in Houston.  I forgot how much I enjoy photography!  So here's what we've been up to lately.

The big news is that we got another dog!  Ryan was randomly searching Craigslist one day and found a full blood Bichon Frise in Georgetown.  After much conversation that day I gave the okay and he went to pick her up!  Her name is Daisy and she is 4 (almost 5) years old.  She is super sporty and playful and loves to cuddle!  We love her so much and are so happy she is in our family.  That is except for Blue.  We've had some jealously issues going on and I think that will take some time for her. 

Cannon was beyond excited to get another dog!

She loves to cuddle and sleep in pillows

 

Mid-month we went to Smoky the Bear's birthday party.  It was hot, so we didn't stay for too long. 

 

Cannon did a relay race and got to shoot water out of the hose!

 

Towards the end of October we met up with some friends.  Chelsea and Jeremy live in Houston now and this was the first time we got to meet baby Carson!  Cannon's not really into babies, but he really liked Carson and has been talking about him a lot since we've been home.  They are also expecting another boy in a few months!  I'm happy that we're living semi-close again and hopefully we'll be able to see each other more often!

We met at a pumpkin patch first and later went to take family pictures.  And it was ridiculously hot! 

Ryan rode with Chelsea and the kids

We tried to get a cute little family photo, but somehow Cannon managed to make each picture worse until the very last one.

Add caption

He found just the right one

He loved this rope swing!  It was the inspiration for the one I just installed in our backyard.



I love this picture of them!

The weather finally started to cool down a little and we were able to enjoy being outside!

 

We found this cool dragonfly! 

 

Then before we knew it, it was Halloween! 

 

For his school party he went as a knight.  He sewed his own mask with the sewing machine.

This is how we like to "carve" our pumpkins. 

A scary face, Cannon says.

This is our family costume for our church trunk-or-treat! Princess Leia, Darth Vador, and Luke Skywalker.

For actual Halloween Cannon went as Obi-Wan.

The very next morning after Halloween, Cannon and I got haircuts!

 

Before

After!

Cuddling dogs!

 

Typical Cannon: eating something and in costume.

 

 

The weather was gorgeous for several days and we spent as much time outside as possible!  Then it got very cold.  And then it started acting like fall weather. 

 

I made him a climbing rope and a skateboard swing. Both are huge hits and get used multiple times daily!

 

 Today it rained, but everyone still wanted to play outside.  Daisy could never be a show dog because she loves to play in the dirt, mud, and rain!