Keep Us in Your Prayers...

I've mentioned before that Tim has been having pain in his left arm (No, it's not his heart) for quite some time now. About six weeks to be more specific. He had this same problem back in the fall, but our chiropractor worked it out after awhile and all was well. This time, after seeing our chiropractor for a few weeks, it wasn't helping, so he moved on to traditional medicine. He had an MRI done, which confirmed the pinched nerve. It's one nerve that's pinched in three places, one pretty severely. He was referred to a neurosurgeon who diagnosed him with a ruptured disk in his neck. It's pressing on his nerve and he said he would not get better without surgery.

He cannot lie down flat without his arm hurting. I guess that exacerbates the pressure on the nerve. Therefore, he has not slept in our bed in over two weeks now. He sleeps sitting up on the couch in our family room. Don't feel sorry for him; he's got quite the cushy setup in there. He's got the comfy denim couch complete with ottoman for his feet. He's got the end table which holds his drink and alarm clock. There's a chair nearby where the ever-present laptop is stored. The world is at his fingertips. See for yourself.

The only surgery Tim has ever had has been having his wisdom teeth removed when he was 17. He has no vision problems and has never had anything major wrong with him. So....he's a little nervous about the whole surgery thing. He won't be able to work at all for two weeks and then go back half-days for another two weeks. Now, some people might think, "Vacation!" but Tim's a teacher and they most definitely do NOT think that way. It wasn't seeming like much of a vacation to him today when he spent seven hours at school on a Sunday writing lesson plans and prepping to be gone for most of a month.

His surgery is at noon tomorrow and if all goes well, he should be home tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned for further pictures of Tim in a drug-induced stupor....

There's another teenager in the house!

My little girl turned 13 today.

(sigh)

I got to see her for about 10 minutes this morning as I drove her to school. Then she had choir practice after school for UIL contest this coming week. After practice, the choir went to Austin Park & Pizza for food, fun and games. She called from there to ask me if she could spend the night at a friend's house. At 10:30 this evening, she arrived home under the promise of birthday presents and graced us with her presence for about another 15 minutes.



This is the remainder of her birthday "cake" after she walked in the door and ate about four strawberries in as many minutes.



Happy Birthday, Maren! It was nice to see you for awhile.

Spring Has Arrived in Texas!

Love those bluebonnets!

He didn't hear that word at home. Really.

I think I've mentioned before that Reed & I sometimes play a rhyming game on the way to school in the mornings. I'll pick a word and he'll say something that rhymes with it and vice-versa. On Monday, I took Maren to school as well, so she was in the car, too. I should probably mention that the word Reed picks to rhyme with whatever word I started with ALWAYS rhymes, but is not always a real word. Sometimes he'll just pick any old consonant sound to go in front of the ending sound. With that in mind, this was Monday's game in the car:

Reed: Let's do rhyming. Mommy, you go first and then Maren, you go next.

Me: Okay. What rhymes with stone?

Reed: Phone. Maren, you go next.

Maren: Reed, what rhymes with truck?

Reed: (instantly) F**k.

Maren & I cracked up. Reed was perfectly silent -- he was waiting for the next word. I said, "Reed, that's not a real word." (I know, I know, but geez, what was I supposed to say?)

Family Fun in San Antonio

I took off from work on Friday and we all headed to San Antonio for the day. We had purchased season passes for Six Flags and were going there, but found out it didn't open until 4:00 pm on Friday. So we went early anyway and also went to the zoo, the Japanese Tea Gardens and had a picnic.

We left Friday morning about 8:30 am, stopped and got gas ($3.13/gallon!!!!) and were on our way. I drove because Tim has been rendered virtually useless from the pain he's having in his arm. We got to the zoo and spent about three hours there. Everybody had a great time!

Then we drove down the street to the Japanese Tea Gardens and had a picnic right outside. The gardens were lovely, but nothing was really in bloom yet. Tim said he remembers it being much better when he went there as a child.

We headed on to Fiesta Texas. We usually go once a year in September for Lane's birthday, but hadn't ever taken Reed since there's not a whole lot a little guy can do there. But after learning at Disneyworld that he's a rollercoaster lover, we decided he was ready! He still wasn't tall enough to ride a lot of the scary things, but he still found plenty to do and ride.

The park closed at 10:00 pm and since we had played right through dinner, hit the local Whataburger, then drove home. We collapsed in bed at 1:30 am, but it was a fun day for everyone.

7 Random Things

We've been tagged by Brooke! She actually tagged Tim, but hey, we function as one blogger unit, so today, she gets me instead.

The rules: Link to your tagger and post these 3 rules on your blog. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. Lane is driving real cars now. All alone. This is a very scary thing for me. Yesterday, I needed to get the oil changed in my car. We usually have it done at Walmart and it takes them FOREVER so I just leave the car. I drove our van and Lane followed me in my car. Later, when I picked up the car, I drove the van and continued to the grocery store and Lane drove the car home by himself. Right now he is at our church's youth group. He drove himself and Maren there. Will I ever quit worrying while he's gone?

2. Tim currently has a pinched nerve (we think) and hasn't slept in our bed for five days. He sleeps on the couch sitting up. More bed for me, but poor guy. He goes to have an MRI tomorrow morning.

(Some of these aren't really random things about ME, are they?)

3. I can't stand the clicking sound that comes from someone picking at their fingernails. Like nails on a chalkboard.

4. I gave up meat (except seafood) and chocolate for Lent and have been thinking recently that steak and chocolate cake sounds like a really good Easter lunch.

5. I haven't blogged in a month because our lives are crazy and in the downtime we do have, blogging isn't our highest priority.

6. I just can't get into most old movies and it annoys me to have one on TV in the same room as me. Unfortunately, Tim is an old movie buff and Rear Window is on right now.

7. Our nickname for Maren is Moneysucker. She lives up to the name is all I can say. She doesn't take offense; on the contrary, she's quite proud of her moneysucking nature. Girls are just way more expensive in my experience than boys. She's involved in many more activities which all require money. She has an allowance, but the money that's being sucked out of us is usually for school-related things like athletics uniforms, field trips, yearbooks, etc. I managed to spend $110 on her in one day two weeks ago.

I tag Michael and Leigh.

EXPLORE UT!

Every year, our alma mater, The University of Texas at Austin, holds EXPLORE UT. This is a one-day open house aimed at exposing students of all ages to college and what a campus looks like. There are hundreds of programs - things like the making of ice cream instantly with liquid nitrogen, arts and craft projects and a mock trial of Goldilocks put on in an actual courtroom at the UT School of Law and presided over by a federal judge.

I have taken Lane and Maren a couple of years in the past while Tim stayed home with Reed. This year, we all went. Reed thoroughly enjoyed himself and it was fun for Tim to see the campus we graduated from again. While he goes back several times a year, to the Blanton Museum or for student-teaching activities, those are always on the outskirts of campus. This is the first time he's actually walked through the whole campus in 20 years.

The University of Texas tower has been closed to visitors since 1966 when Charles Whitman went up to the observation deck and gunned down dozens of people. It has reopened for tours in the last few years, but Tim & I had never been up there. Tours were free during EXPLORE UT, so we got tickets and all of us went up to the top. What a view!

Our day ended by going to the Ransom Center to have our caricatures drawn and then attending a magic show outside. Reed was picked out of the audience to be an assistant during a rope trick.

We'll go back again next year -- it was a very successful day!