A Big surprise!

Zachary's school is really big on parent/family involvement. They encourage and welcome parents to come and eat with your child(ren). I love this! I wanted to go eat with Z the first week of school but I was hesitant because I didn't want him to rely on me coming to eat with him and I didn't want to be that hovering mom that prevents him from making friends so I waited 2 LONG weeks to go eat lunch with him. I invited my parents to come along and of course they were just as excited as I was. I did not tell Zachary that I was coming. In fact I sent his lunch box in his backpack and put a note inside that said, "SURPRISE!". When his class came down the hallway for lunch Grams, Pops, Will, and I were waiting with Wendy's. Zachary spotted us and turned bright red. He waved and you could tell he was SO EXCITED! The P.E. teacher was on lunch duty and she set us up at the end of the table so we could have a nice lunch.

The kids meal had Where's. Waldo? glasses in them.  Pops and Zachary LOVED this.  All the kids in Z's class thought my dad was the best grandpa ever....oh wait he is!

 Group picture!

 Pops...Aka Jerry Potter

 Zachary was in Heaven!

Even though we were only with Zachary 25 minutes it was a great time to love on him, encourage him, and eat lunch with him. It was the highlight of his day, week, or probably year.  Thanks Grams & Pops for coming out to lunch with Z.  Zachary has informed me that he would love another "surprise lunch" whenever we want to come back. 

Friday Night Lights!

This summer Zachary and our nephew, Elliott played coach pitch baseball on Friday nights.  They were on the same team, with the same boys as they were on last year.  It was a great experience to watch all of the boys mature and start to LOVE the game.  Of course our family (my parents, Kevin's parents, my sister & brother-in-law, and his parents) filled the stands to cheer on these kids.  We even got teams shirts and had them personalized.  I can't even think what we will be like if the boys chose to play sports in high school or college.  We are NUTS!

 

Here's Pops shirt!

 And of course Grams shirt!

 And mine.....Z always picks the wierdest number. Last year he was 66.

 Zachary's favorite position is catcher.  To be honest he LOVEs all the garb that goes with being a catcher. 

 Here's the boys on Team Picture night. Elliott is on the far left 2nd row. Zachary is 2 down from Elliott on the 2nd row. Matt is on the coaches row far Left, Then Kevin, Then our good friend Bryan who was the HEAD coach. 

 Here's Z showing off his smile. 

I was really proud of both boys and the team. They really learned a lot and had a lot of fun!

My College Roomate and Ladies Lunch

My sweet college freshman roomate, Anne informed me via FB that her family was coming down for a weekend vacation.  She wondered if we could meet up for a visit.  It had been 10+ years since we had seen each other. Shame on us!  The day that Anne came to town my "grandma" Ruey had already made arrangements for a Ladies Lunch to celebrate Jacinda going back to college.  I asked Anne if she wanted to join us.  We met my family at a local tea room for some good eats and shopping.  Anne & I were the "Odd Couple" of our Baker University freshman class.  I'm not sure what they were thinking when they paired us together because on paper we are complete opposites. Anne was very athletic, very tall, and super duper smart. I was super duper short, on Student Council, sang in the choir, and 100% not athletic. As soon as our parents left us in our dorm room Irwin Hall #8 we knew that we would be life long friends. Out of all the roomates in "Club I" I think we were the most compatable. We looked after each other, helped each other study Anne helped me study, and we both joined the same sorority.  With us both being Alpha Chi's it meant that we would be roomates/housemates for the rest of our undergraduate years.  I love Anne. I love her family. I am thrilled that she let me know she was going to be in the area.

 

We laughed when we realized we had the exact same purse.

 Jacinda, Ruey, and Aunt Kelli

 Rachel, Jerrytt, Aunt Steph, and Mom

 Anne, Me, Will, and Jacinda

Will getting soaking in a lot of time with Jacinda before her sophmore year of college

 Jerrytt needed a little love from Anne too!

 

It was a great day! 

My Baby started KINDERGARTEN!

It's been a LONG time but I am re-focused and ready to get back to blogging.  I am going to be bummed I did not blog a lot this past year but I am going to try my hardest to play catch up. 

The biggest thing that has happened in our world is that Zachary started Kindergarten.  He has been begging to go to Kindergarten for the past year...ever since his cousin Elliott started the fall of 2011.  Fortunately the boys are not in the same grade or school district because they are SO competitive with one another.  They are more like brothers than cousins. 

On September 14th, Zachary took the big leap into the real world. I was so excited for him. So excited that I hardly had time to realize what was going on with my baby boy. We started off the morning with a Going to School Breakfast.  Z was super surprised!  After breakfast we went outside for pictures. 

 Our entry way table. My hope is to have the boys school pictures displayed on this table every year. But since Zachary didn't have school pictures yet I posted some of Kevin and I.

 I made a HUGE breakfast and Z hardly touched it.  He was so excited!

 Baby Brother looking up to his big brother

After we walked Zachary to school, Kevin went to work and came back home.  Our school had a Boo Hoo/ YAHOO breakfast for all of the parents. I fully attended to attend the breakfast however after we walked him to his classroom I decided it was best if I walked home with Kevin.  After Kevin left for work, Will went down for a nap, and I felt so different.  I was happy, sad, excited, and tired all at the same time.  That first day of school seemed to take forever. I could wait to go back up there and pick him up. Fortunately, Z's teacher texted me 2 times about volunteering in the classroom and each text she told me that he was doing awesome.  Kevin and I were so proud of Zachary.  Basically I had a long To-Do list once Z started school and I didn't get one thing done that entire day. I was lonesome. I lost my shadow that has been by me for the past 6 years.  Thank God I still have Will to take care of. I can't imagine what I will be like when my "BABY" starts school.

Christmas Eve

One of my most favorite days of the entire year is Christmas Eve.  Ever since I was born we have spent Christmas Eve at Ruey & Freddy's house with the entire Lemons Family.  I can't imagine being anywhere else to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  We always go to Christmas Eve service at the UMC church that I grew up in.  However this year again because of Will's breathing issues I was not able to attend church. I was so sad!  However, Kevin took Zachary while I stayed at Ruey & Freddy's house to give W his treatments.  After everyone returned from Church, Santa Clause made his appearance. 

 One of Ruey & Freddy's gifts to Z was "Moon Shoes".  Gosh you would have thought he won the lottery. He loves these silly shoes.

 After gifts Ruey & Freddy took a picture with their children. Renee, Diedre, Keran & Kelley
I love this pic!

 Right before we left to drive home we took a picture with Jason & Jacinda. 

I can't write my emotions on how much the Lemons family means to Kevin and me.  Yes, they adopted our family 35 years ago but they also welcomed Kevin & his parents 10 years ago.  A tradition that does not have to end.

Happy 6th Birthday Elliott!

On this day 6 years ago our family was forever changed. Elliott Wood made his appearance at 10:55 pm.  I worked that day. It was so hard to concentrate on my patients.  After every patient I would call over to L&D to see how my sisters induction was going.  I remember one of my co-workers took my 4:00 cleaning so I could get over to my sister before Elliott arrived.  I was afraid I was going to miss it.  Little did I know that via C-section that night we would come. Oh how much I love this kid.  He has turned into the biggest sports enthusiast I know.  He knows more about football, basketball, the Steelers, Penn State Nittany Lions, and Nascar than any 6 year old I know.   He's such a great big brother and cousin.  We love you Elliott!

MaMaw & PaPaw's Birthday Celebrations

Our "Usual" Christmas/Mother-in-law birthday party includes going to Silver Dollar City to see the lights on the last Sunday before Christmas. My mom and I usually host a quiche, salad, and soup lunch for Karen's special day after church then head to the city. 

However due to Will's upper respiratory infection and several schedule conflicts we hosted her birthday and my father-in-laws very belated birthday on Tuesday Dec 20th.  I can't remember the reason know but my sister, brother-in-law, Elliott and Jerrytt were unable to come. This was sad for all of us because we were also going to make our annual gingerbread houses.  But like I tell Zachary all the time....plans change and we can't get upset. We have to go with the flow. 

Kevin's Aunt Judy (Karen's sister) sent Will this Santa Claus suit the week before Christmas.  Because he was so under the weather he really did not get to wear it very much so I made sure he had it on for MaMaw's birthday.

 Instead of a birthday cake I made Pumpkin Crunch Cake from my sweet friend Lori Naylor.  It was a hit! 

 Kevin with his Mama!  Can you tell he had just got home from work?

 Here's Z with his final creation.

I felt bad the night was thrown together and so last minute but at least we got to celebrate, make our houses, and have a night with our family. Happy Birthday Karen & Marvin!

Poor Baby!

On the 12th of Decemeber I took Will to a pediatric pulmonologist to have his neck looked at.  It's a very long story but since birth, Will, hyperextended his neck WAY back!  At first we just thought he was just used to being crammed inside of me but after about 4 weeks we started to be a little concerned about it.  When asking the pediatrician about it he recommended that we see a pediatric pulmonolgist because he thought the reason he was hyperextending was because he had a week trachea causing an airway issue.  They thought he had Trachea Malacia.  Google it.  I did and then I was worried for my little baby.  After a visit to the specialist they ordered several test and wanted us to come back January 25th.  About a week after this appointment Will started having major breathing issues. We took him to our pediatrician on a Saturday morning and he was diagnosed with brochiolitis.  He was weezing, having trouble breathing, and he was just plain miserable.  Poor Will!  We rented a nebulizer and had to do breathing treatments every 2-3 hours.  I have a new found respect for parents of chronically ill children.  The round of clock care was exhausting and so stressful.  You don't care about anything but your baby being well. 

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 Thankfully my mom (retired nurse and exceptional Grams) would come and help me give Will his treatments.  Poor Zachary cried the first couple times we did this to Will because he was so scared and worried for his brother.  We were thankful that Will is SUCH A GOOD baby because it really did not bother him.   He was so good even when he was SO sick. 

Unfortunately the weeks before, during, and after Christmas were busy taking care of this sweet baby boy.  Not exactly the 1st Christmas we imagined but we were so thankful that we were not in the hospital.  On January 9th we stopped the treatments and the pediatrician said he was 100% better.  Back to the hyperextended neck issue.

See how Will held his head....It was always hyperextended back. Let me say that when he was born he was born SUNNY SIDE up.  He was stuck in the birth canal for over 3 hours with his neck bent back.  In hindsight he should have been a C-section baby but at the time he came out after a very hard labor. 

  Will saw the pediatric pulmonologist yesterday afternoon for a follow up of his hyperextended neck. Dr. Carlise reviewed all of the tests (Barium swallow, oxygen/sleep study, blood gases, and chest Xray) that we had done in December. Dr. Carlise and his nurse cannot explain Will's current condition but he is 100% healthy.
My mom and I really think that when Will saw Dr. Carlise in December that the doctor did some sort of manipulation or streching of his neck when he was doing his physical exam. Dr. Carlise said that what he did would not have "fixed" Will's condiiton. He said that he thinks there was "someone higher up" that fixed Will. Prayers have been answered! Both Dr. Carlise told us in a very candid conversation that when they first took a look at Will back in December they knew something serious was wrong with him. Today they saw no signs of that at all. So much so that we are released from his office and no further testing is required. This means NO trachea Malicia, NO cerebral palsy, NO torta collis!
The ONLY explaination was that God heard our prayers and healed Will. We are praising God for his full recovery!

Summer in December!

Summer is the BUSIEST months at my husbands work. Everyone works so hard at the office that we like to show our staff how much we appreciate them. Well this summer I was way to uncomfortable to plan anything. I felt terrible but it actually worked out quite nice. One day in November I snuck into the office and decorated the breakroom in Hawaii/Beach themed party decorations. I left a vague note about how on Thursday December 8th we would have a Summer in December staff appreciation afternoon. The staff thought it was the "Christmas Party" but it wasn't.

First we had a quick lunch because they wanted to get on with the games. Then we had a scavenger hunt. My sweet, clever sister came up with a 10 question scavenger hunt at the mall. Basically each team of 2 (one team was a group of 3) had to use a smart phone to send me their photo at each clue. The team that completed all 10 clues with the fastest time won bonus cash. At some clue locations there were gift cards for Target, Orange Leaf, etc. The moving clue which was my mom and the boys gave out office pull over jackets. Something our staff had been begging for for the past 3 months. After this game we did a shopping spree where they got cash. The only rules with the money was that they had to spend it on themselves! The person closest to the amount of money without going over got an additional cash purchase. It was a great afternoon.  I hope our staff realized how much they mean to us.  Thanks to my sister for making up some amazingly hard clues.  Funny thing is the same team that won the scavenger hunt won the shopping game.  Talk about LUCKY! 

Back tracking! 2 boys and 2 girls with 4 parents!

The first weekend in December we were elated to have our good friends Ryan & Becki come down for the weekend with their 2 adorable girls (ages 3 and 3 months). As soon as they arrived Ryan started unloading their car and carrying in several bags. All of them were BRIGHT PINK! I loved it. Our weekend plans were to have NO PLANS! It was the BEST weekend!

Here are the baby's sharing in conversation.  I think Will was envious of Elin's long beautiful hair.  He was making the moves on her.  Elin was born August 29th. Will Sept 12th.  I love Will laying on the leopard blanket with a pink border :)

 
On Friday night we had a Taco Bar and then just chilled in the basement. We let the kiddos stay up late.  The big question was whether or not Libby & Elin's elf "Buddy" was going to find them at our house. Low & Behold SHE DID!  We woke up that morning to Shorty (Z&W's elf) and Buddy (Libby & Elin's elf...she is female but has a male name) fishing with candy canes off our mantle.  Let's just say these elf's enjoyed each other that weekend! 

 On Saturday, the girls went shopping a bit, we made homemade individual pizzas, baked sugar cookies, iced Sugar cookies, the guys watched football, and we made clipboards.  I love Becki so much.  We have always had so much in common.  We joke that we are sisters....we really are because we were both Alpha Chis (just at different colleges). We love crafts, sewing, cooking, shopping, and all things girly.  Our husbands always make fun of us because whenever we are together we find something to make and we have to make a trip to Hob Lob or JoAnns. This time in was modge podge clip boards.  Unfortunately we were so sticky or covered in paint I have no pictures of this part of our weekend. I must add we were planning on going to SDC to see the lights but it was raining and very cold so we just stayed in all day.  It was perfect.  The kids had a blast too.  I think Z & Libby had a crush on each other. 

Making sugar cut out cookies

 Later that night when they were cool the kids iced them and decorated.  They were the most beautiful cookies I had ever seen!

 These two kids were so much fun!

 On Sunday we went to BPS to see the Christmas village and have breakfast. 

 Beck, Lib, Zach, and Elin in a tent.

 Hugging in the middle of the camping equipment. Immediately following this picture we caught them kissing in the aisle.  Crack me up!

 Group shot

We have decided that we have a locked in date on the calendar for the first weekend in December to have a weekend visit.  We all enjoyed each other so much.  We love you R, B, L, & E!