A Bump in the Road....

This past week there have been issues with the insurance company regarding Chloe's surgery. I won't go into detail, but the gist of it is, we are having to fight to get her bilateral implants. Because of this, her surgery has been delayed until December 12. Her case will go before the board on December 1. Please pray for a decision in our favor.

Gone Fishin'

Chris and I took the kids fishing this afternoon. They had a great time. They love riding in the boat and catching fish. All together they caught 8 fish. I caught 2 because I was too busy taking pictures. (I also caught about 18 tree limbs.) Poor Chris was too busy baiting lines and taking fish off of hooks, so he didn't catch any fish. Oh well, that's what Daddy's are for, because this Mama is sure not going to touch anything gross, i.e. fish bait or an actual fish!
First fish of the day
Waiting patiently

Still waiting
Yes, he's kissing his fish.... thanks to his Daddy!

Picture of the Day

My Little Ballerina

So, this year the competition team is required to take ballet for technique and strengthening. After all, ballet is the foundation for every dance, so I've heard anyway... Kaylyn LOVES it. I can't believe it. When she started taking dance at 3 years old, ballet and tap were the only dances offered to her age group. She HATED ballet with a passion. Every week she would beg to just go to her tap class and skip ballet. Seriously, it was like pulling teeth to get the child to class. So, when we found out she would be required to take ballet for competition dance this year, I was a little nervous to say the least. I had flashbacks of dragging my child to ballet classes every week for 2 years and the celebration dance we did when she was invited to the competition team, which meant no more ballet. Needless to say, I was shocked when she was so excited about her ballet class this year, and I think she likes it more than her tap and jazz classes! Talk about a turn of events!
Here she is showing off some of the moves she's learned.

I have NO idea what she's doing here!

I Have A Dilemma.....

So I found out yesterday that both of my children have field trips ON THE SAME DAY. Can you say PROBLEMMMM!!! Luke has a trip scheduled to see Disney on Ice and he can't go by himself. Even though he's in pre-school at the "big" school, a parent is still required to go on all field trips, not that I would even feel comfortable sending my 4 year old off to a large crowd of other children without me. Don't get me wrong, his teachers are excellent and take great care of him, but you all understand..... Kaylyn has a trip scheduled to go to the museum in Anniston. Parents are only allowed to go on one field trip, because as much as you would think parents would help in these situations, they really don't. There are too many people trying to get into one place and the kids seem to run wild when the parents are around, in other words, total chaos! So do you see my problem? Luke can't go alone and Kaylyn really wants me to go with her. I think I may have the problem solved, Chris is going to see about getting off and will go with one of them. If he can't get off work (this may be a problem since he JUST went back from having surgery) my mom should be able to go with Luke, if there are no mandatory reading coach meetings scheduled for this day. Oh the joys of having 2 children in school.....

P.C. 2008

Oooohhhh, the stories I have to tell.... This weekend was our annual ER beach trip to P.C. This trip was by far the best trip we've every had. We had sooooo much fun. I've never laughed so hard in my life!!! This trip involved an illegal animal at the condo, dance team lessons on the beach, and to top it off....a cannon-ball into a hot tub full of people we didn't know! Okay, let me explain...It started Thursday night when Sara's dog-sitter backed out on her. Her dog Snickers is a 2lb yorkie, who is totally her baby. He can't stay with just anyone and is too small to be boarded. Sara wasn't going to go because she didn't have a sitter for the dog, but we convinced her to just bring him with her. Our condo has a "no pet" policy, but it's a 2lb dog, on a hurricane weekend in September, we knew there wouldn't be anyone there to tell. Snickers behaved perfectly. He got so much attention, I'm sure he's spoiled rotten now. When we left the condo, he stayed on the balcony in his playpen, which BTW is a REAL pack-n-play, for a real baby. So we ALL got to go on the trip. Next came the dance team lessons. Staci and Miranda had fun reminiscing about all their glory days as a cheerleader/dance team in high school. They were showing off some of their moves. They've still got it too!!! Staci can get some real air! I've been sworn to never post those pics on the blog, so there will be no pics of their dance moves. But, for a small fee.....(just kidding) Okay, I know everyone wants to know about the cannon-ball in the hot tub. Here goes....We went to the hot tub last night, but it was full of people. After about an hour, those people still hadn't moved, the wind was blowing and it was kind of cool. We were about to go back to the room, when someone jokingly said, "Hey Joy, I dare you to do a cannon-ball in the middle of the hot tub!" The next thing I know, there goes Joy, running as fast as she can, yelling "Cannon-Ballllll!!!!!" and yes, she does and actual cannon-ball in the middle of the hot tub, soaking all the people sitting around it. We all just sat there in amazement. Lesson learned....Don't "dare" Joy to do anything, because she will do it, no matter how stupid the dare is. Joy definitely gets the "Miss P.C. 2008" title this year. She kept us fully entertained all weekend. She's such a nut! You just gotta love her! Oh well, the weekend is over and tomorrow it's back to work.

Charter Members of the ER Beach Club

Genelle and I have never missed a trip. We've been on every ER beach trip since 2003. Everyone else from the original group have either quit the ER or stopped going on the trips.

Friday Afternoon...

As soon at we got there Friday, we hit the beach! We had such a good time!

Look at those waves! Thanks to Ike the waves were HUGE and the beach was almost non-existant. On the plus side, we didn't have to walk very far on the beach! The water was so rough, double red flags, so no swiming in the ocean. Seriously, it would just about knock you down in calf-deep water. We actually saw these crazy people who had their children in the water. A wave came an knocked the little girl down and carried her about 20 feet.

Saturday On The Beach...

Eight hours of uninterrupted beach time! No husbands, no kids!!

Dinner At Pineapple Willy's

Saturday night we went to eat at Pineapple Willy's and watched the Alabama Game there. Roll Tide!!!! We had such a good time and ate lots of good food.

Bye-Bye Beach...

....until next September. Laura and Miranda had to leave early this morning, so they weren't in the farewell group pic.

1st Baseball Glove

Luke got his very first baseball glove yesterday. He is so proud of it. Since he will be starting T-ball in the Spring, which is actually February or March, we decided to go ahead and get him a glove. We didn't want the first time he put on a glove to be at his first T-ball practice. He had a "play" glove with velcro in it, but it didn't take him long to learn that it wasn't the real thing. He's been asking for a "big boy" baseball glove for a while and that he has it, he hasn't let it out of his sight!

November 14....

The date is set....Chloe will have her Cochlear implants done on November 14, assuming there are no hold-ups with the insurance. (They don't anticipate any problems.) Notice I said implant-S. Yes, she will have simultaneous bilateral CI's done. We are just glad to get the surgery over with in one trip to the OR. Originally we were told that they would implant one side and then 6 months later they would implant the other. This way she only goes under anesthesia one time and doing a simultaneous bilateral CI should speed up her speech development. We are also glad to get this surgery done before Christmas. This means there's a chance she could be hearing some things by Christmas time. They will turn her CI's up in stages, so she won't be shocked by sound, which she has basically never heard. She goes tomorrow for her head CT, then she will be all set, just waiting for November 14. This will be a long 2 months...

Remember This?

One more week until beach time!!!! Every year in September the ER girls take a little trip down to P.C. just to hang out and have fun. It's always a great trip and we get to spend some time together away from work, we have such a great time. I can't wait. We have 11 girls going this year. We're gonna have a blast!

An Eventful Evening For Me...

While I was outside yesterday playing ball with Luke I got stung by a yellowjacket. I was wearing flip-flops and must have kicked it up on my flip-flop because it stung me between my fourth toe and my pinky-toe. Youch! Anyway, when it stung me, I stepped on it and crushed it. First of all I've never had a bee sting hurt this badly. I'm talking major pain. With in minutes my entire leg was throbbing from my toes all the way up to my gluteous maximus. My foot was swollen with in minutes. I came in and took some benadryl. After a few minutes my throat started closing and I could hardly swallow. In a few more minutes I started having lip swelling and trouble breathing. I thought, ohmygoodness, I'm having an allergic reaction to this bee sting, which in all of my 30 years I've never had a reaction like this one. I think since I crushed it, it injected me with more of its lovely poison than usual, so it caused a bad reaction. Sooooo, off to the doctor I go. I got an albuterol neb, a shot of Epi, a shot of steroids, and some Zantac. Before long I was much better. I hope I never have this experience again. Pretty scary!