thanks and giving and shopping and santa

Thanksgiving this year was simply wonderful. Our first stop was Grandma Patty's, where we were given Bears clothes for our little ones to grow into by Casey and Carter. They are my Aunt Darcy's boys who are about the same number of months apart as mine, only 13 years older! They are also a pair of Bears fanatics. :)

Looking a little rabid in these pics, poor Unlce Colt was the rear of a few jokes this Thanksgiving. The day before he was bitten by a racoon! He was coon hunting with my cousin Austin and Austin shot one in the foot (you are suppose to shoot them in the head to preserve the fur, to be sold later). The racoon was ticked and bit Colt in the knee. When I asked Colt why he just didn't shoot it, he replied, "I didn't want to waste the fur." :) Oh brother.

As of Thanksgiving Day the brain of the racoon had been sent to a nearby university to be tested for rabies.  We joked that we had a loaded gun in case he started to foam at the mouth.

The results did not come in soon enough, so Colt got the series of rabies shots, just to be safe. :)

Dixon went into a turkey induced coma and slept through much of Grandma Gayle's thanksgiving. The food was awesome and we even got to see Grandpa Louie and Grandma Nancy at their dinner.

We rounded off the day at Grandma Wendy's where we ate yummy hamballs and cheesey potatoes. Aunties Tasha and Madi were waiting there to create our game plan for the Annual Black Friday Extravaganza.

The boys went back to Grandma Gayle and Grandpa Dan's where they had a slumber party with Uncle Nate and Aunt Natalie.

And at 11 pm the three shopateers headed to the big city for a little rough and tumble Black Friday fun...

After sleeping for much of the day on Friday, that night was the lighting of the courthouse in our little town. They had a Santa at the courthouse and you better believe we were the second in line. ;)

Ok...shwooo...now that I have the Thanksgiving post off my back I can get ready for CHRISTMAS! I have lots of cute random pics to post as we curl up at home and wait for this guy to come! 

top ten.

1.     Tttt ( trigger thumb take two) was a success. Adam was in training, so my dad, Dixon and I headed to the big city at 5:30 in the morning for the big surgery. Dixon did very well until they called our name to go back. Then he knew just were he was and what was about to happen. Needless to say Dixon was very upset, but it was nothing a “valium like medication” could not take care of. ;) This time they also gave him an IV (after he was put out) to take care of the nausea post op. They were also able to put medication in the IV for pain. With these medications and still having the use of his left hand, the recovery has been much more manageable than last time.

2.     Mr. Breckin, who is about to turn ONE!, had a mean bout with the flu. I will not go into many details other than to say it was the first time I have had throw up in my mouth that was not mine. He was sick for about 6 days and for 6 days after that was suffering from mom diagnosed RAD (reactive attachment disorder). Now that I can set him down, I am back to chasing him around the house!

3.     Adam has been working days for the past two weeks and we have ALL enjoyed spending our nights at home with him. Just last night we met at the mall so Dixon could ride the train 3 times and I could do a little shopping.

4.     Christmas is 3 days. I feel nowhere near being ready. I still have much shopping to do and presents to wrap. Up until Christmas Eve night when all the stores are closed I will always feel the need to get just one more thing…

5.     Wisdom teeth. They need to come out ASAP. I have been in so much pain and taking super prescription pain meds all day and night! Last night at 4 am if I could have located the pliers, I would have performed my own dirty dental surgery, right in my bathroom. The magic day is December 27^th. This will be an awesome way to spend my Christmas break and my money from Santa. ;)

6.     I have yet to blog about our awesome Thanksgiving and sweet Santa visit at the courthouse.

7.     Christmas cards. Ugg. They will be the death of me (if my wisdom teeth aren’t). However, last night I discovered that they technically say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” so I have decided they just need to go out before New Years.

8.     I think we are the only school in the entire state world that has to go to school tomorrow. I will be a glad when summer roll around, but I am dying to snuggle up with my little elves.

9.     We had the first of 5 Christmas celebrations last weekend; it was an awesome way to start off our Christmas season.

10.   Promise there will be a post with actual pictures tomorrow. My computer has been at school while my personal technician a very computer savvy student has been working on it.

Dear Aunt Darcy,

Don't worry...we are all alive and well...

And I am working on a post about trigger thumbs, thanksgiving, turning one and much more...

:)

trigger thumb, take two.

Yes. You heard me right. 

I think I knew from the moment, right before surgery, when I asked the doctor if this would make him all better. 

Dr. L just smiled and told me that he has had 100% success with trigger thumbs, "but there always has to be a first."

Boy, those words stuck with me. 

About a month ago I noticed that only one of Dixon's thumbs was bending as it should. I quickly made an appointment to see Dr. L, who was in disbelief. The took one look at Dixon's thumb and said, "You made a liar out of me." :)

I ensured him that it was not his fault, Dixon just has his mother's luck. ;)

He determined that Dixon had too much scar tissue built up on his thumb for it to work properly. He told us that we could massage the scar tissue to break it up, but he would most likely need additional surgery. Dixon screamed his bloody brains out each time we even looked at his thumb did not tolerate the massage well. I have still been working with the massage, but I have heard that it needs to be a deep massage to really be effective. So it looks like we will be going in for our scheduled surgery next Friday the 10th. 

This surgery will be better in that they will only be operating on one thumb. However the surgery is more invasive than the first time, so his arm will be in a splint and recovery time will be longer. 

We wish that we did not have to put Dixon through this again, but we are VERY thankful our biggest health concerns are Trigger Thumbs. Still we would love your prayers and positive thoughts next Friday as we head back to the big city for trigger thumb, take two.

llap

Before I blog about our FIVE fantastic Thanksgiving dinners I thought I better blog about our Halloween.

You see...

I think I may have attempted to block it all out...

Everyone involved had the best of intentions.

Dixon just did not want to wear a costume. He was not having it. Period. Against our better judgement, we loaded up Buzz and the alien and headed to a trick or treat at our local zoo, the weekend before Halloween. 

Laid back Breckie was pleased as pie, that is, as long as he was not wearing his head piece. Even though minus the head piece he looked like a Star Trek member, we were picking our battles.

Thankfully Dixon was able to pull it together for about 15 minutes at the zoo. After that however, it was all downhill. We were thankful for those few peaceful minutes and few photo ops. I mean there were many Buzzes, but ours was by far the best, especially with his alien trekie side kick.

live long and prosper.

wordless wednesday.

because

sometimes 

in life

but especially in parenthood

there are 

no words...

just giggles.