The official cast

Abby wanted to make sure a picture of her with her sling made it on the blog. On Tuesday we went to the orthopedic specialist to get her "official" cast. They didn't have red with pink hearts, so she settled for hot pink. Of course that was after I told her she couldn't have the fluorescent lime green. I know...I know...I should let her get whatever she wants, but seriously lime green doesn't match anything she owns. She did excellent while getting her cast on. I could tell it hurt pretty bad when the doctor was squeezing her pliable cast to set the bone back in place, but she was a trooper!! When she got to school of course her whole class had to sign her cast. Unfortunatley, they didn't sign it with a permenant marker so most of their signatures have either rubbed away or been replaced by those of us smart enough to sign with a sharpie. I think that is the official marker of cast signing.
Even though she is loving all the attention having a cast brings, she is finding that there are some not so great things about having a cast. She can't ride her bike, it's harder to write, she can't play in the sand box or dig for worms, most of her shirts won't fit over the cast (this is more me complaining than her)& you can't take a bath & splash around in the water. Today she counted & there are only 34 more days until she gets her cast off. That's right, the poor little girl is already counting down!!

Abby vs. the Swing

Abby & her friend were swinging on Saturday evening, her friend told a funny joke & when Abby went to cover her mouth while she was laughing...BOOM she flew off the back of the swing & landed on her back & slammed her head on the ground. Derek was outside working & I was outside chatting with a friend when we heard her crying. We all went running over to her & she was freaking out, writhing in pain. We got her inside & I still couldn't get her to calm down. I tried all the usual thing to get her to stop crying. I tried being nice & rubbing her head, Lindsey tried rubbing her head "because that's nice to do when someone gets hurt", I tried the mommy voice, "Abby you NEED to calm down, it is only making your head hurt worse", I put her in the tub (her favorite place to find her CHI)to try & get her to relax...that didn't really work either because now I just have a hysterical child wet in the bathtub. Finally I asked Derek to come in & help me & about 40 minutes later we got her to calm down. She said her back, head, wrist & legs hurt. Well, what do you do when everything is hurting? You eat a bowl of cereal, take some Tylenol & watch cartoons. This seemed to help immensely. Sunday, Abby woke up & said her back & wrist still hurt, but mainly it hurt to move her wrist, so we decided to put an Ace bandage on it. WOW when you are 6 everything feels better with an Ace bandage. She was pretty excited to get to wear that to church. Later that night Derek asked her to color & write, & she seemed to be doing okay. This morning when she woke up she said her wrist still hurt, so we figured we should probably take her to the E.R. to get her wrist checked out. Lindsey had gymnastics this morning, so Der said he was able to take Abby in to see the doctor. (Derek being able to take her to the E.R. is a miracle in it's self. He has had the craziest schedule since we have moved to Illinois.) Well around 9:45 I got a text...BROKEN WRIST!!! Now I ask you what kind of parents let their poor daughter go 2 days with an ace bandage around a broken wrist? Yep us that's right Derek & Heather do!! On the bright side, Derek said Abby was beaming when the doctor said her wrist was broken & that she was going to need a cast. She has already decided she wants a red cast with pink hearts. So tomorrow morning I'll take Abby to the Orthopedic Specialist for her cast. What do you think the chances are that they make a red cast with pink hearts? Here's hoping.
One of her x-rays.

What to do?

Last week the kiddos had the whole week off for spring break & as you can see there was not a lot of playing outside at the park, flying kites, sidewalk chalk or any other "spring" activity. Today they have the day off for Good Friday & even though it is a lot nicer day, I still wanted to come up with some kind of little activity for my kids to do. Then I remembered a website I saw on my friends Jamie's blog & it hit me...we would make little Pickachu's out of peeps!! Grayson is a total Pokemon addict so I knew he would love it & they girls like any activity. So we ran to Micheals to track down some edible markers...sucess, Yeah!!! Then it was off to Target to find yellow, bunny Peeps. No such luck, they had orange, pink, blue, green, even red, but no yellow bunnies. I was bummed & not very excited about dragging all my kids to another store, but I thought I could handle just one more. Luckily Jewel (the midwestern version of Albertson's) is very close to Target so we gave it one last shot. Yeah, we were in luck, Yellow peeps. We got crafting as soon as we got home. Here is the blog I found from Jamie's blog (thanks Jamie for the new fun blog site). http://www.bakerella.blogspot.com/ This lady is amazing & has such cute ideas. I totally want to try some of the Easter pops, maybe next year....

Lindsey

Cute little Lindsey had her fourth birthday on Tuesday. I cannot believe that my baby is 4 I am kindof freaking out. When she heads off to kindergarten I am going to be an absolute wreck!! Anyway, she had a fabulous day starting with opening her presents at 7:00 a.m. (we didn't have the heart to make her wait until everyone got home from school & work.) You will notice that this is the absolute first thing we did in the morning! Who wants to do their hair & get dressed when there are presents on the table. For dinner it was off to Steak & Shake. This decision made Derek & I very happy, because for days she had been saying she wanted Chuck E. Cheese's for dinner. I don't know about you, but Chuck E Cheese's was one of the last places I wanted to be, so with a little persuading we were able to change her mind. After dinner it was time for cake, Delicious! THANK YOU to all of our friends & family who remembered Lindsey on her birthday & sent cards, packages & made phone calls. We love you!!

Honey Nut Cream Cheese

Yesterday, I was telling my friends that the kids & I made our own honey nut cream cheese. Our family loves cream cheese & bagels & the other day we had bagels but no honey nut cream cheese. Well what is a mother to do in this crisis, but try & make her own. Grayson was skeptical that we could pull this off, but I am pleased to say that we did & it was DELICIOUS. Not only was it delicious, but it was CHEAP. Who doesn't love that? I thought I would share our recipe for any honey nut cream cheese lovers out there.
Honey Nut Cream Cheese
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 T honey
1/2 t vanilla
2 T brown sugar
pinch of cinnamon
chopped nuts (I used pecans because that is what we had.)

Put all ingredients in a bowl & mix it. TA-DA you have honey nut cream cheese!!!

Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

For a couple of years I have been telling Derek that whenever we go on another trip, it needs to be to somewhere warm where I can just lay on the beach. We like to travel & be able to see & experience new things, and it came to my attention that wherever we go most of the time we are walking through museums, walking around the city, walking from one place to the next, walking...walking...walking. Don't get me wrong I like to walk around & see things, but I was pretty sure that I would also like sitting in the sun on a beach chair drinking a pina colada. Lucky for me I have a husband that listens & likes to plan BIG surprises. So for our anniversary he planned a trip just for the 2 of us to Mexico. Five glorious days of spending time together, eating anything & everything, a little walking (we did want to shop & experience life outside of our resort),massages on the beach, snorkeling & laying in the sun!! It was absolutely fantastic & it was so great to be able to spend time together. I am already looking forward to next time. We are forever grateful to Grandma for flying out & watching the kiddos so we could spend time ALONE!!!
My first time snorkeling, I was a bit nervous!!
Mayan Ruins
Our resort was amazing
Couples massage on the beach. We could have done this all day long!!