OOOOOOWWWWWWIIIIIIIIEEEEE!

It was a normal Sunday of rushing around and getting everyone ready. Boys were clean, clothed and shooed (similar to shoeing a horse). Ryan was dressed and just about done making the perfect cup of coffee and snatching up a breakfast bar from the pantry. I am in our bedroom finishing up getting ready. Just as I was doing one of the easiest of my tasks, it happened! I had one heel on and as I hovered over the other one, like a flamingo, my shooed foot gave out and I came down with one solid bang followed by screams and dying cow noises. I had nearly knocked the breath out of myself and my back felt like it was compressed 5 inches shorter. The worst though was the throbbing pain from my left ankle. I thought for sure I broke something. My great husband rushed in as soon as he could but not as soon as he would have liked. All I could do is scream and yell and moan...OOOOOWWWWW....OOOOHHHHH.....OOOOOWWWWW! It was the most horrible pain I have ever felt and out of my dozen or so ankle giveouts, this was by far the worst! I laid there until my back pain subsided to make sure nothing broke and then I hobbled up to the bed to tend to my ankle. The pain stabilized somewhat through the day, but we decided to get it checked out early this morning. NO BREAKS!!! Praise God!!! Just a horribly bad sprain and if I keep it up I will more than likely face physical therapy. My ankles are like toothpicks in comparison to my upper body, so they just giveout at any given time, I MEAN, ANY GIVEN TIME!!! We unfortunately missed church again, but worshipped in Mommy and Daddy's bed :) The brace the Dr. suggested has helped greatly and almost makes my ankle feel normal. He reminded me however, that it takes a sprain 6 weeks to heel no matter how good it starts to feel.

Finally posting about Christmas!

I was going through the pictures on my computer and trying to figure out what I can and can't delete and why all my pictures dates are so off. I guess my camera went insane with the new year and decided it was again 2007...huh? Anywho, I ran across some great pics of Ryan's family and mine who I rarely have pictures of and thought I'd share in our crazy weekend end that started off will illnesses and ended that way too!

Christmas Eve with the Hixson's (Megan's Family)


At first glance, one's impression of this picture is that we were playing cherades and mom was up, but nope...she's just enthusiatically talking with her hands!


My brother's daughter, Riley checks out what Joseph got.


Mom and Dad opening the gift that their three children pulled off. We got together all 8 grandchildren and had their picture made and framed it for our parents. I did not expect my mom to cry, but then again it's mom.

Christmas Morning at our house!

This was our first year of doing stockings. We don't celebrate Santa, but liked the concept of getting little nick-naks and candy. In years past I used gift bags and cans, but we decided that stockings would be just fine for us. I found some great ones from Pottery barn on Ebay and got iron-on embroidered name tags.
They were a hit! I should tell you though, that the name tags didn't come till after Christmas so for the mean time we were Quinn, Kathy and some other name :)


We got the boys a nice easel that I found on craigslist really cheap. The picture wouldn't stay turned for me so please don't hurt your necks :) The boys really like it and it is saving my walls. Now I have to get these walls painted, hopefully come tax return season.


Ryan liked his new P.J. pants, but felt a large was too big so exchanged them for a medium only to find out he needed the large for length.


The boys received an overly generous amount of gift money from grandparents and great-grandparents and they got a jungle among many other things.


Ryan was thrilled with his Tractor Supply water bottle and enjoyed it for a few weeks until it fell and cracked :(


Joseph enjoying searching through his stocking of goodies!


Done with the craziness I start the clean-up to prepare for my parent's coming over in a couple of hours. See the names on the stockings...hehehehe!


And the boys enjoy all their new toys!


Mom and Dad arrived and so did more presents! Wow, are we spoiled! A suprise for me was a neat Hawkeye memorabilia book that my parents gave me. This book was newly released and was written by my aunt's long time boyfriend, Mike, who had asked my Dad for feedback and input throughout he whole book. He even mentioned my Dad in the book as part of the History of Iowa Football. NEAT!


More fun with Mamu and Papu, they are affectionately called.

The Day After Christmas with the Reed's!

We finally got to meet the new addition to the family. Savannah, Ryan's great-niece! Yes we are officially great aunt and uncle :) Ryan's nephew is serving in Afghanistan, and Cindy decided to make the long trip from TX to GA for Christmas. We enjoyed seeing them and holding Savannah for the first time.


Dad and five kiddos that range in age from 19 to 42! Wowzer! From Left to Right and in order of age: John, Kerry, Ryan, Stephanie & Jennifer


Those crazy Reed girls can't hold still for one picture!

Um...I think this qualifies as snow!?

Well we finally got a "real" snow that stuck and almost covered everything. [Enter laughs from all our family in Iowa and New York]. One would think that living this close to the mountains we would have more snow than this, but we are practically in a hole and the only places that get a good snow is the plateau to our west and the mountains to our east. This was Thomas first sight and feel of snow at nearly three years old. We had to rush out early and play fast, as the snow was melting fast! The highlight was throwing snowballs at Daddy, who was staked out inside and kept peeking out the window :) It was just enough to get a taste; sure hope we get some more before the end of winter.

A Gift from a Daughter and a Father to a Mother and a Daughter

My mom's father past away about a month before our wedding. He suffered a stroke and died just over a week later. I was given many of his old clothes for any crafts or projects. As he was an Iowa Hawkeye fan, he had many Iowa sweatshirts. My parent's are still Iowa fans even after 25 years of living in TN. I have wanted for several years to make a quilt with all those sweatshirts and finally got the nerve up to give it a try. It is far from perfect and just maybe the last quilt I EVER make. I found some really cute Iowa argyle fleece for the backing. After many months of work I finished just days before christmas. The tag read: To a Mother and a Daughter, From a Daughter and a Father. Even though she had no clue of my project, she was in tears before she even opened it. She was very confused by the tag and kept thinking she was reading it wrong without her glasses on. Here is the outcome:




This was special to make this for my mom. Grandpa's smell was still in the sweatshirts and it was neat to remember him as I made it. There are still coffee stains and collar stains from his oily skin. I am so glad to give something to my mom that brings good memories of her father after having bad memories of watching him in the hospital.