Dashing through the Snow

Look! Snow real live snow! Here in Houston. There are still Christmas miracles.

The kids went to Awana tonight and on the way there we were all oohing and ahhing over the snow and Kaylee said "this is the best day of my life"

Our little guy

Ty's personality is really shining full force now. He's such a funny little guy. We are AMAZED at how much he understands. Even with his speech problems he usually can get his point across. He's learned to say "Why?" and "Why Mommy?"

Ty and Mia were playing with a Christmas advent calendar that makes a manger scene once it's all put together. I told them they could get the first two ornaments out and hang them up. So they pulled out Mary and a sheep. We've been trying to explain everything about Christmas to him in basic terms. I told him this lady's name is Mary and she was Jesus's mother.

A little later everyone was doing something else but Ty was still playing with the calendar. And I heard him saying something over and over. I went to see what it was and he had hung the sheep next Mary and he was saying "Mary had a little lamb, Mary had a little lamb"

It was so sweet and I was so proud he had put that together. He knows the song because it's the first song Zane learned on his trombone this year. We sing it often around here.

When Mia came in Ty told her too, "Mary had a little lamb" She was so upset and said, "NO Mommy No" I said yes Mia look he hung the sheep by Mary get it? She said "No Mommy, Mary didn't have a little lamb, she had a little Jesus"

My Boy scout the Pancake Chef

Last weekend Zane went camping with his Boy scout group. When he came back he told us that on Saturday morning he and another 6th grader had made breakfast. Breakfast was pancakes and bacon. So when it was time to fix something for dinner Zane quickly volunteered to make pancakes. At which I quickly said OK!

He did a great job! The griddle I have is designed to make 4 at a time. (I use to have a bigger one that makes 8 but a I accidentally left a spatula on it and the plastic melted, Now Bed Bath and Beyond doesn't carry the big one anymore....but this is about Zane...)

So, when he started making his pancakes he was only pouring 2 at a time. I said Zane go ahead and make all 4, or we might be here all night. Remember there are 7 people to feed?
At which he replies, "MOM, I'm not multi-talented"

First Fruits

We've had this Satsuma tree for two years now. We planted it one January and then had to move it the next January to the new house. So, it's had a lot of re-adjusting to do.
But this season we got two good Satsumas off it. The boys picked one and the girls picked one.

It's hard to figure out how to divide things into 5 equal pieces. Especially since there are only 2 things to divide. I had decided we would peel them and then separate the pieces. But when we started asking who wanted some, only Kaylee and Zane did. Maybe next year we'll have more.

I LOVE my new photo program

Last month at my annual scrapbooking crop, I was complaining about how to keep my digital photos organized. Mechiel, who shall now be known by me as the Explainer of all things photo, shared with me about Picasa. Picasa is a free program that allows you to edit, share, organize and do worlds of other things to your digital photos.

Mechiel walked me step by step through her pictures and showed me all types of tricks. The ease of this program is just phenomenal. I will say it again, because it needs repeating, Phenomenal.

So for the last month I have been playing with my new found Picasa. Basking in it's organization when today I discovered something even more magical about Picasa.

This:


One click did this. All I have to do is have it printed out.
Six 2x3 pictures ready to be cut apart and placed on a page.

And this..... No more photoshop, no more lining it up, no more stretch, skew and crop.


Now to many non-scrapbookers out there you probably don't get it. And that's OK. But to the scrapbookers I can feel your jaws hitting the ground. One click people, one click.

I will be available later for tutorials, and Picasa is free to pay me all royalties. (except that it's free to download and they don't make anything off the program) Oh well, as long as they gave it to me.......... it's worth thousands in my eyes.

It's a small world after all...

It's a small world after all.... It's a small world...everybody sing!
OK, Seriously, A few weeks ago I ran into Mia's Pre-K3 Teacher, from last year, Mrs. Paula. Paula stopped me in the hall to tell me that she had recently been up north visiting friends. While she was visiting on Sunday morning she went to the church she had attended like 10 years ago.

While at the church she ran into some old friends who once worked in the nursery that she formerly coordinated. They began to catch up with what had been going on in their lives and they introduced Paula to their new daughter, from China. Paula talked to her and commented that she had a little girl in her class last year from China, Mia. And that Mia's parents have 4 children and had just returned from China adopting a little brother. And the mom said, "Is Mia's brother named Ty?"

So from there it was just unbelief as Paula told me the family she knows so well is Mark & Molly Cotter from Oregon.
The same Cotters that we drug around Guangzhou with us. The same Cotters that looked at me(more than once) with half trusting eyes as I put them in a cab and sent them on their way ahead of us to where ever our destination was for the day. The same Cotters that we spent 6 days in China with. The Same Cotters that we borrowed the game boy charger from more than once. And the same Cotters who adopted precious little Leah that shares the same special need as Ty does.

The world just seems to get smaller and smaller, even when you meet in China.

Happy Halloween

Bike Ridin' Fun

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Here's a little video that we shot earlier this summer.

Sophie in Boston, Mia says, "Hi" and she hopes you have a fun Halloween!

Palate diagram

So many of you wanted to know exactly how you close a cleft palate. There are many ways. But the particular way Ty had his done was similar to this. It's called a Push Back Palatoplasty. Hope this diagram helps.

So you had a bad day....

Yesterday was Ty's post-op appointment at TX Children's Hospital. For those of you fortunate enough never to have HAD to go there, there is a whole tower full of offices for " The Specialists" So that they can see regular patients but get over to the hospital quickly and easily to see their hospitalized patients.


So Ty and I went down by ourselves. It's a pretty easy drive and all we were doing was "a look see" I (in my knieve mind) didn't think there would be any problem. Boy was I WRONG!!!!

As soon as we got into the building Ty got very sullen. He stayed in my lap and wouldn't go see the fish tank or play with the toys. I didn't mind the cuddling and STILL did not see it coming.

After about 25 minutes we were called into the small exam room. We waited there while the student doctor came in and looked in his mouth. Then the fellow doctor came in and took a look. And then I spotted it.....The look.... The look of a meltdown!!


And here it came, full force!! Crying, wailing, knashing of teeth.....And we still had not seen the actual surgeon. Thankfully it only took him a few more minutes to arrive, he took a quick peek and said everything is holding tight. He was extremley happy with the results. We tried to talk a short bit and he said he would see us again in Dec. Great News!!

Then we went out to schedule the next appointment and talk with the medical assistant over the loud hysterics of my screaming boy. I decided to try to get him a drink and something to eat in the hospital, We went down the elevators (crying) Through the line (crying) Sitting at a table to drink (crying) I finally gave up. I put all our food in a bag and headed for home. In the process I left my credit card on the plastic tray and threw it into the trash. I didn't realize it until later and determined it was not worth retrieving...remember crying!!


We went down one set of elevators (crying) to the parking garage elevators(crying) paying for parking (crying) into the car (crying) Through downtown(crying) and finally somewhere around Minute Maid park it stopped! I took a deep breath looked behind me and he had fallen completely asleep!


Once we got home his outlook on life had greatly improved! He was a new boy! Thank goodness, my eardrum was about spent on the left side. We ate some lunch and played a little bit then.

I decided to make a mad dash to the Grocery store to pick up, well everything. I had to hurry in order to be able to pick Mia up from Preschool. Everything clicked along like clockwork and I had just a few minutes to spare. I was rolling the huge buggy out of the store and I was walking in front of it, kind of pulling it. When the buggy got away from me and slammed into my foot and leg. It was all I could do to not scream! I haven't been in that much pain since childbirth.


I hobbled to the car, loaded it as fast as I could (remember no time to spare) and then started driving away. Hurting really badly and beginning to feel sorry for myself, I had a good ugly cry! You know what an ugly cry is....sometimes it's the only thing that can make you feel better. (This post is so long you might be about to break into an ugly cry yourself)



But then......







I looked in the back seat and I saw this






















It's probably not half as funny to you as it was to me, But boy did I need something to laugh at. (That's an LSU sunvisior by the way.)

Here are a couple of before shots. Have I said how much I love TX Children's Hospital. They know their clients and do such a fabulous job. I never once encountered an unfriendly person. You can really tell everyone there loves kids. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful facility "in my own backyard."

This picture is with Ty's 2 new favorite things. A garfield toy and a Frankenstein Trick or treat bag. They were sent to him with balloons from our Sunday School class. He held on to them the first night he was sleeping. He need both of them tucked in his arms along with the Batmobile in the first picture.

As reported earlier the surgery is over. We are now at home. We came home yesterday about 2:30. Ty is doing much better. He is willing to drink a little bit and has had some clear broth and ice cream. The other kids have all registered their protests with the fact that Ty has had ice cream for dinner and breakfast. I told them all as nicely as I could, "When you have 80 stitches in the roof of your mouth then you can have ice cream for breakfast as well."

I decided that might be a somewhat unattainable goal so I told them there were two other conditions that would give the same priviledge. Going to the hospital for any reason or making straight A's on their report card.

keep 'em crossed

Today went very well. No big surprises. Ty couldn't have anything to eat after midnight and only clear liquids until 8 a.m So when he got up this morning we fed him apple juice and a big hot bowl of chicken broth. The sweet boy sat at the breakfast table and ate his whole bowl of broth without even asking any questions. I wonder if he thought that would be a new breakfast food. We are really lucky that he does enjoy soup.

The hospital called and said that the plastic surgeon had a cancellation and we could come an hour early. So the surgery was then set for noon. We arrived, got checked in and changed into some cute yellow jammies. The surgery waiting area is set up so cute for kids. We had lots of toys to play with. Then when it was time Ty got to pick out which little tykes car he wanted to ride. Then he rode it right into the O.R. while David and I had to watch him ride off without us. He was only awake another 2 minutes after leaving us.

Ty's surgery is now over and we are keeping our fingers crossed that it will all hold together well. The doctor said that the rear muscles were put together fine but the front is very tight. He told us that the only reason he did the entire palate was because of his age. Usually this big of a hole requires 2 separate surgeries. But because he is already 3 he needs his palate closed ASAP for language development. So there is a possiblity that holes may develop but we are not to view that as failure it will just be a great accomplishment if no holes develop. So keep your fingers crossed! Or a better thing to do PRAY!

Also please pray for his pain. It is intense and he only dozes about 15

Please pray for Ty

Please Pray for our Little Guy this week. Tuesday 10.21, Ty is scheduled to have his palate repaired. His cleft lip was repaired in China but we will now have the Doctors at Texas Children's Hospital repair his palate. His plastic surgeon is pretty confident he can repair his palate in one surgery. But we won't know for sure until he gets in there. Ty has a unilateral complete cleft you can look on the web-site to read more about it.

His surgery will be Tuesday morning and it is a pretty long surgery. He will have to stay in the hospital overnight so he can be observed for bleeding and breathing problems. Then once home he will be on a liquid diet for several weeks and then soft foods for several more.(baby food consistency)
We have several specific prayer requests :
*Pray for a successful surgery(steady the hand of the surgeon),
*that it can all be done in this one surgery
*For Ty not to be scared or stir up feelings of insecurity
*For Ty's pain levels to be managable
*For the stitches to heal and not develop any holes
*For Ty to be agreeable with his food choices

We know the Great Physician and we know that Ty is loved by God also. We are trusting in our Savior to pull him through all this. He has had such a rough road in his three short years and the next 6 months will be even rougher on him. After this surgery he will have another surgery in Dec for reconstruction of his right thumb and circumcsion. He also will have to be sedated and have 4 crowns and 2 fillings. But we are confident when these medical things get taken care of he will go on to live a very full and productive life.

We are so excited to be able to hear fully all that he tries to tell us. We can figure out about 75% of it but we can't wait for all the little things we've missed already.

We got some Boo'n to do

We got Boo'd early this Halloween season. If you've forgotten what Boo-ing is then remind yourself here. Or as I heard someone explain it. It's ding-dong ditching where you leave candy behind.

So the pressure was on to return the Boo-ing favor. Each of the kids chose a person they wanted to Boo and after dinner Tuesday night we hit the streets. Ty literally hit the street at one point. His little legs wouldn't carry him quite as fast as he wanted.

Despite all the James Bond and Indiana Jones we watch around here we aren't very secretive. But really how many families with 5 children under the age of 11 are quiet. We got caught 3 out of 7 times.

The kids had a blast and the laughter was hysterical. At one point David commented that this activity really is an emergency room visit waiting to happen. But we were careful enough to not let anyone get an appendage slammed in the door.

Wordless Wednesday

A Whole new reason to cheer for the Astros

Trent began his first season of T-Ball this fall. He plays for the Astros and loves all aspects of the game. From the uniform to the gum they get to chew in the dugout. Batting of course is his favorite part.(mine too) His second favorite part is sliding into home. It's so funny to watch because they ALL slide in EVERY time. I guess they have to use up that 6 year old energy somewhere.

Mia is a Busy Bee

Mia started her first day of Pre-K right after Labor Day. She was so excited to be in the Busy Bee class because Kaylee and Trent were also in the Busy Bees. The teachers have changed over the last few years but there's just something special about being a Busy Bee. Although her other options were equally as enticing: Eager Elephant, Cool Cat or Busy Bear.
It took several minutes to get this picture because they were all blurred because she literally was jumping up and down with excitement. We finally got her to stop jumping for just one quick picture.
Mia quickly found her name which was located right next to her best buddy Nikolette. They have been in the same class every year since they were both one year old.
Ty was fine with dropping Mia off. I wonder if he knew it meant a full day of grocery sthopping and housework with mom. I think he might quickly decide Pre-school might be much more entertaining.

This is soo cute...

I thought this cute little purse might be a sewing project that Kaylee and I could accomplish together. The pattern was super easy and went together very quickly. But as she and I worked through some of it I quickly realized she's still a little young to be actually sewing. So her expertise became "fabric selections" She went through my fabric stash and would frequently say "This is soooo cute"(said with a Valley Girl accent, yes I know I'm dating myself with that one) Then she would mix and match until she found just the right combinations.

So after 5 minutes of sewing Kaylee's bag, guess who was right there asking when I was going to make her bag. Mia picked out the hot pink material and left the coordinating pieces to Kaylee and I. She only cared about the PINK. I raced against the clock on Friday night trying to beat the power outage caused by the hurricane. I had one little 4" seam in the lining to go when the power went out. So in true pioneer fashion......the next day we plugged the sewing machine into the generator so I could present Mia with her completed bag, just like her big sister's.

The bags came in quite handy as the girls packed for leaving after the storm and I believe Kaylee's bag became a squirrel nest on the ride to Nana's.

(And speaking of the squirrel we have come to the realization that we are indeed NOT nature re-habers. We tried but unfortunately Skipper only lived another 8 days after the storm. We assured the kids that it was nothing they had done, it is highly likely he had internal injuries that we were not aware as a result of the fall from the nest. Sounds good doesn't it? Think they'll believe that about our fish?)