Not since '93...

...have I been a part of a snow like this. I mean, sure, when I went to Montana I saw some serious snow, but not in the SOUTH! Whoa...what's all that about. Our little city got about 6 inches...how about you?

It was a Sunday, and just about the time church let out it started coming down. The sidewalks had already iced over, but the roads had yet to be covered. We thought it would stop there and all would be well. We were wrong. As you can tell from the picture below it just kept coming, and in sheets!

This is a tree across the street. The "blur" yous see is the snow falling.

Here's a picture of my favorite tree in the back yard. You can tell the "sheets" of snow are really thick in this one. As for the tree, it's always like that. I'm sure I've blogged about it before, but if you don't know, this tree grows like this. I suppose at some point it fell over, but it's beautiful when it blooms in the spring. The only part of it that doesn' still sprout leaves is the bottom limbs.

About six o'clock that evening, the power went out. It might've been a little earlier, but it was out just before dark. My mom was at my house helping me as I was recovering from my car accident **will have more on that later** and she and Helen had fun making paper snowflakes! They are still hanging on the fridge. Helen couldn't get enough of looking at the snow. Like most kids, she wanted to be out in it. Of course it was too late and too cold to get her out in it. We promised her that we'd go out the next morning.

We played Yatzee with Helen that night. She loved it. We let her shake the dice in the little cup. Oh she was so happy--you would have thought we'd just let her run wild on a shopping spree through ToysRus!

Just about 9:25 (we let her stay up late b/c she had a REALLY late nap) I told Brian we should bring the futon matress into the family room, by the fire, and we'd all have a campout. So we got the futon matress for me (brian was a party pooper), Grammie slept on the sofa, and Helen's matress we put next to mine. Here we are laying together watching the fire. It was 9:35 when the power came on....**hmph**



Helen didn't sleep there. She HAD to lay in "Helen's bed" so we moved all her stuff back into her crib and she went right to sleep. I guess it's a good thing the power came back on...or else it would have been a long fight.

The next morning, after a good breakfast, we bundled Helen and Grammie in all the warmest clothes and sent them to venture out into the icy tundra...hehe.

Isn't she cute?

Off they go to the top of the yard, by the street. It's a perfect slope for a nice smooth drop towards the house. Katie, our 3yr old neighbor and her mom were outside. We invited them over to play in our yard. I think they liked our slope better.
Since Brian was having a hard time getting down the road, even in his rent-A-F150, he came back home and played in the show with Helen and Katie. That little red inflattable thing Helen is on is actually Katie's SLIP-N-SLIDE "board."
She fell over a couple of times, but as with most toddlers, she just laughed, got up, and kept going! She's such a trooper!
Here is Katie, in full SCREAM, as Brian gives her a little push. As soon as she put her booty on the card board she started screaming! Girls...

I have to mention Katie and her being a super fashionista even in the snow. Please notice that not only does she have great taste in her pink faux-leopard skin coat with fleece lining, but she's got two different boots and two different gloves. Gotta love it. I am CERTAIN that it was not that she couldn't find the matches but because she absolutely wanted it that way. She's a DIVA!

Here's the two sweeties holding hands and they walk back up the "hill." Ohwe!

I also need to mention how Helen has socks on her hands. They are the waterproof socks Brian wore in Montana...she had fun! Anyway, after 30 minutes or so of play time, helen didn't want to come back in. This is just before she got VERY upset when she found out she was finished. Notice the snot dripping...nuf said.

It was a fun snow day. The next day the road were clear, for the most part. The day after that nearly all the snow was gone, and by Thursday, it was like 70 degrees outside! What's up with that!?

I end this blog with a couple of super cute pics for the g-parents. This is Tomboy Helen in her Mickey hat. She put it on this way and wore it for a while. She put it on to take Jannie (her Cabbage Patch Doll) in her stroller, to the "store." Of course, she never left the house, but circled the family room several times before ditching Jannie for her computer.

Stupid door

There's always some point in our lives as parents when we do things to our children that hurt them and we beat ourselves up for it. Some let their infants roll off the bed, some look away for a second and that toddler puts his little hand on the hot oven door, maybe we even watch in slow motion as they fall down bust their lip open on a toy you should have picked up an hour ago. When Helen was a baby I looked away for a second and she rolled off the couch, and I felt HORRBILE about that, but I found away to get over it.

Today, however, I did another Mommy Booboo and closed Helen's fingers in the door. I didn't realize she was holding onto the threshold near the henge and the door shut all the way before she let out a scream. Bless her heart. She cried....but you knew that. I cried...you probably knew that too. She told me in her pitiful little sobbing cry, "I hold MOMMY! Mommy my fingers! Kiss it mommy! I want my bandaid! I want my Lambie! Mommy, fingers in the door it hurts!"

My heart ached. I did my initial exam and put a bandaid and ointment on the fingernail of her right ring finger. I squished it pretty good....

Knowing Helen and how she normally reacts to pain, she seemed to be in more pain than just a squished finger. I didn't think it could be broken, but it did seem like something else was wrong.

I took her to her doctor and our sweet Dr. Huff said she needed to do Xrays because if the growth plates were damaged, we needed to get her seen by a specialist. The first Xray went GREAT because they didn't have to manipulate the fingers at all. Just put them flat on the film. The second however took me and another nurse to hold her down to get a good shot. They had to see the side angle of the finger.

We waited as they developed and sure enough....the tip of her finger was broken. Thank the Lord God in Heaven that I didn't damage the growth plates. Dr. Huff said she'd be fine in a few weeks, but until then we had to keep them taped up and a bandaid over the finger nail until it heals.

I told Helen as she screamed during the second Xray that if she would hold still, I would buy her some ice cream. So I lived up to my end of the deal and took her to Sonic and bought her a strawberry smoothie. When we went to the drug store to get some tape I got her a new cup too! She had to put her smoothie in it too!

All in all, here's our little patient with her sticker from the doctor, her new cup, and her war wounds.

Trike and Jannie

I know Christmas is all kinda gone, but I wanted to take a moment to note a few things just so I'll have it archieved.

This year we spent Christmas at home, without traveling, but the weekend before, we went to visit the Pendley side of Brian's family. We had Christmas twice that weekend. Once at Eric and Haley's house and once at Deedee's house. The "everybody" get-together was at Deedee's. The more personal, immediate family christmas was at Eric's.

Brian's parents and siblings met early that morning to exchange gifts together and to let the kids open all of their loot. It was really fun because we had a YUMMY brunch and then had presents. Helen got her very first Cabbage Patch doll, according to the birth certificate the doll's name is Bobye Jannie. I thought it was the dumbest name. It just doesn't FLOW at all plus it just really sounds completely back-hills redneck to me. (And I'm from those back hills so I can say that. hehe.)

Here's Jannie. Her aunt Leslie bought it for her and I was thrilled. I loved cabbage patch dolls as a child and I am so glad Helen got one. This was the best shot I could get with her and the doll. She was ALL over the place and wouldn't open one more gift until that doll was out of the box. So Dad got to work on that....

The next gift was a few outfits, both of which she wore that weekend because they were SO cute. Then came the trike. Mimi and PawPaw bought her a Radio Flyer tricycle. It came pre-assembled so she was ready to ride immediately.

I loved this shot. She and Brian were trying it outide on the concrete. She didn't quite understand how to make her feet work to make the pedals go. She's still working on that actually. When it gets warmer, we'll be all over the street working on it. So in this picture, she's just got her feet on the pedals as they rotate....sort of.

Little American Girl

This is Helen's new coat I told you about in the previous posts, thanks Grandmom!

A visit to Grandmom's and four band-aids later.

I went to visit my grandmother in Birmingham his past Friday. I stayed with her and then had plans to go to my ONLY sister's first child's baby shower on Saturday. Friday was an enjoyable day with my grandmother and her husband, my mom and step-dad, my uncle, a friend, and, of course, Helen! We played and laughed with Helen for hours. We even went shopping for a new pair of shoes for Helen to wear to the shower. I was SOOOO excited, having planned to go for weeks.

Unfortunatley, after dinner on Friday night, I began to feel a little tightness in my tummy. I thought it was indigestion. I decided to go to bed and didn't sleep a wink. Tightness became ache, and ache became pressure, and pressure became pain. By midnight, I'd had enough. I called my mom and we decided it was best that we go to the ER.

At the ER, they took blood, but determined that everything was fine...except for my obvious pain. They wouldn't do an ultrasound due to that it was a Saturday and there was no immediate need or emergency. One would think a doctor would want to know for sure what was causing my pain, but not this one. So he gave me pain meds, saying it was "probably" my gall bladder, and sent me on my way. He told me to see my family doctor when I got back home. (How he thought I could physically drive home....I'll never know)

We got back to grandmom's about 6am to rest, but I couldn't, as the pain meds hadn't started working. Moma went home to rest. Little did I know that she would call an hour or so later, to tell me that she would be driving me back to GA. WOW. What a mom!!

She got Helen up, fed her some breakfast, and got her dressed. Then, she packed up and loaded all of mine and Helen's things into my van. Keeping in mind she's still had only a few hours of sleep, she gets all of us in the van and off we ride to GA....a four hour trip barring there are no stops. (Of course, with Helen potty training, we stopped several times)

The trip went well! The Lord kept us safe and without delays all the way home.

I was able to get an appointment with my doctor first thing Monday morning. By then, the pain had subsided (without pain meds), but as soon as the Doc pushed on my abdomen, she pretty much confirmed the ER's hypothesis that it was a gall bladder attack. She immediately called the lab and got me an appointment for an ultrasound. They confirmed that there was in fact a stone and infection (why the blood work in the ER didn't show infection, i don't know). So off to the surgeon's office for formality's sake.

Surgery to remove the gall bladder was scheduled for Wednesday (yesterday). It's long name is called laparoscopic "cholecystectomy" *co-lee-sist-ECK-toe-mee*. I don't remember anything after I left Brian, other than the nurse was nice and gave me a warm blanket...yeah...right out of the toaster! I woke up with cotton mouth, four band-aids on my tummy, and feeling as if I'd done 10,000 sit-ups while sleeping! Pretty good, huh? I felt way better than I did in the ER 4 days prior!

Gotta love American technological advancements! After they removed the organ, they found that the stone was actually blocking the exit to my pancreas and that the actual gall bladder was only filled with infection. I'm so thankful that I got rid of that thing before the stone made it's way into my pancreas. I think we all know what a detriment that could have been!

They say I'll feel better in 48-72 hours! And I believe it! Even without the narcotics I feel pretty good! Thank the good Lord for a successful surgery! Thank you to the seven wonderful people who came to visit me before they took me to surgery: Larry, Essie Mae, Harry, Mary Alice, Richard, Pat, and Tommy. It means so much that they came! Thank you also to my wonderful husband for being with me through this whole thing and for making me feel comfortable and cherished. Thanks to my mom too for the unending list of helps and for being at home taking care of my sweet Helen when I couldn't. (I'm sure it was hard work being with her grandbaby for days...lol)

Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts!

I can't leave you without a picture, so see it below. (second post for the day...see next) Have a great weekend everyone!

Two people I miss so much....Lori and Kim.

They always make me smile!

RAH RAH REE.....GOOOOOO TEALE!

Yall. Check out this new blog layout! That Teale has done it again! I asked her to make a layout suitable for that picture of Helen, and she got it perfectly! Wow. She's the best! If any of you need help with designing a fabulous blog layout.... see Teale. She'll work with you to make it perfect for your personality. It's awesome that she just "knows" what you want just by asking a few questions. Could she be design-psychic?

Nah...she's just GOOD! (And, she just had a beautiful baby girl!!)

P.s. I have a new post below about the beach trip

Turbo...? Not so much

When I ordered this little beauty (Bissell Turbo Sweep) at walmart.com, I was impressed by the number of great reviews that it had. I wanted a quite little electric sweeper to pick up Cheerios and whatever else Helen drops so I didn't have to drag out the big vacuum. I got this for my office, actually. Well, it DOESN'T WORK. Contrary to the reviews, (of course there were some that do agree with me) it doesn't "suck" like it's supposed to. I tried to vacuums up some thyme I spilled in the floor (you know the herb that weighs NOTHING) and it took like forty passes to get it cleaned up. What kind of vacuum has so little suction that it won't pick up HERBS!

Ok, I'm done ranting.

The good thing is, that this little vacuum is the best thing for HELEN! I let her go around and play use it. She loves to push (and pull) it around and clean like mommy. Toy vacuums are fun, but this one beats them all. Even though this "real" one doesn't work very well, it is somewhat functional AND it's a kid pleaser! Who knew?

But here's the question, do I give it a good grade for being a good toy or a bad grade for being a rotten sweeper?

PS. I HAVE A NEW HELEN POST. SEE NEXT.

Thursday...seemed like a Monday all day long

I've been up since 5:45AM and we're pushing midnight by now. I'm sure by the end of this post, it'll be well into Friday morning. I hope you all are sleeping well.

I've prayed a lot today. I'm not saying that in a prideful way, but today my patience has been worn very thin and it was the only way I know to make it through these kind of days.

Not that there has been any horrible or tragic things going on today...just a day when one's body and mind is pushed harder than normal. God is good. I'm alive, my family is well and safe, and He continues to give me strength to make it until the next sunrise. I hope you all can say the same...

Here are some fun pics from tonight:


After her bath she wanted to play with my old jewelry box I put in her room for her treasures. She has bows and barettes in there for now. She is so excited about her box. She let me, or made me, put all the bows and clips in her hair. Then I showed her how to look at herself in the mirror of the lid on the jewery box.... what small things make a child smile! ISN'T SHE CUTE!












(She'd look in the mirror and say "BOO!" and then cackle up a storm!)




Last, but not least, and after I brushed her teeth....




DADDY GAVE HER AN OREO!

Help for mommy, new teeth, and.......Elvis?

We were supposed to go and visit my grandmother this weekend, but because I was sick (I found out it was a sinus infection and the beginning stages of bronchitus, by the way) we didn't go. My wonderful mother and step-father came to visit to watch Helen so I could rest and recover. They live 3 hours away, so that's saying something! Thursday night and Friday was restful. I missed my monthly Bunko night, but I think everyone there was glad I stayed home because I was contagious!

Thank the Lord for good parents...and antibiotics.

This picture proves how bad I felt. I'm smiling, but only on the outside.

Grammy kisses tickle....

Hey mommy, I'm doing OK. Go back to bed.

Papa Tom builds them, and I knock them down. I love this arrangement!

She's cutting both incisors. Those two little white specs are actually teeth cutting through, not the glare of the flash. She wouldn't let me take a picture, so we had to flip her upside down.

No, she's not trying to fill up her diaper. She is actually excited because she was finally able to get the top on that plastic bowl! She'd been working on it for a few minutes.

She was playing with her princess bag and put it over her head. I hope DFCS doesn't take her away from me. I only left it on her head long enough to get the picture (20 seconds, max). I know it's a suffocation hazard, but it was hilarious that she was peeking out of the clear part and walking around like that!

Here's Elvis! Until my parents arrived in Georgia, Elvis belonged to Papa Tom. You press his hand and he sings "I'm All Shook Up" and dances. Well, Helen fell in love with it so he now belongs to her. Spoiling at its best!

Daddy and Helen dancing to Elvis the bear.

Pure enjoyment....the joys of childhood. She still loves it and she's played that song at least 50 times. It's actually not annoying....

(BTW, this is my second post for today. Check out the next one too)

It's been far too long.

This week has been a long week. I made a post on Tuesday and everything after that was just a blur until today. I started getting a little cold/allergy "thing" about that time so we'll blame my lack of post on that! :)

Helen is learning her body parts and is able to point to some of them now! She definately knows her eyes, nose, hair, ears, and belly button (which we refer to as a "boley holey.") I know it's a normal developmental process of a child to eventually learn body parts, but to see it in action makes me glad God knows what he's doing and allows little me to be a part of it.

She's also learned how to climb just about everything in our house. This week, I think it was Thursday, I got Helen up and got her ready so we could go to work. I put her down so she could go play in the living room while I was fixing her breakfast and getting our bags ready. Next thing I know, there's no noise in the house, except the noise I was making.......UH OH. Never a good sign. I come around the corner in the living room, and don't see Helen. (Ok...) I checked my bedroom, and she's not in there. Well, I come back into the living room foyer and what do I see....

Yep, a second attempt at the octopus painting. I put it up on top of the table in the dining room where she "couldn't reach or see it...." Well, we live and learn. I knew it wouldn't be long until she started getting up there. It was so cute seeing her standing up there just working all by herself. Just a big (little) girl. I hated to make her leave it, but we had to go to work.

I have decided that climbing and exploring are her two favorite things. She doesn't care for TV, she doesn't make a fuss for any toys, she likes to flip through books and look at all the pictures, but other than that, she'd rather be outside. I saw this in a One Step Ahead catalog this week and I'm hoping we can get one. I don't know if we'll really get it because it's a little pricey, but I really like it. It's for 1-3 year-olds. And two can be on it at the same time. She can climb and swing and I don't have to worry about her falling to her death. What do yall think?

Friday we came home and about the time I got home and was about to put dinner on, we got a call from Korey and Amanda asking us out to dinner!!! YEA!! It was a welcomed escape from the blah dinner I had planned. We went out to Sonia's Mexican Restaurant here in Winder and YUMMY! It hit the spot! I love that place. We came home, put Helen to bed, and then I went to bed. I know, in bed that early shouldn't be allowed, but I was beat.

Saturday Brian and I got to babysit Nathan our nephew. Here he is all vogue with his beautiful parents...

We decided to take he and Helen to Conyers to the 27th Cherry Blossom Festival. We had heard on the news that it was going to rain in the afternoon and be a little cool. So we dressed accordingly. (Stupid weather) It was warm and sunny and we didn't bring a drop of sunscreen! We started shedding clothes long before the first hour was passed. We had the kids in the strollers and they had a blast. Unfortuately I didn't bring my camera, I know, very stupid. I completely forgot it. But I got a few pics on my phone, so I hope I can get them off of it and post them for everyone to see a few shots.

They had a whole section set up just for kids. They had 10 BIG moon-walk jumping things. They were all in different shapes and sizes, some were slides and some were obstacle courses and some were just to jump. I thought Nathan would be all about those, but Helen liked them so much more. He only wanted to do one of them, and the rest of the time he just wanted to ride the little train. We couldn't stay very long because unless you are a bigger kid, jumping and sliding gets old after about the second or third one. And if you are a parent that goes in with the little kid, you get tired after the first! (I'm so getting old. I can't believe I just admitted to that)

The festival was mostly for grown ups, but the coordinators of the Cherry Blossom Festival really worked hard making it suitable for kids. Most of the stuff was just booths set up for shopping and food and knick-knacks. I could have bought up the entire place of funnel cakes, but I restrained. I didn't even eat one.

Lastly, before I close this post, I wanted to share with you a gross and yet, hilarous picture of my nutty daughter eating a slice of bread. She was enjoying it so much (or maybe just starving) that she started shoving huge pieces in her mouth. She didn't choke or anything, but she was hilarous. Kind of like Noah and his muffins, Jenny. Anyway, here you go. It's not very lady-like, but seeing the stuff in between her teeth is just funny....