Kirsten's very BAD day!!

September 16th was a typical day. I had a very bad head cold and was counting down the hours until I could put myself to bed. Kirsten had her very first tumbling class here in Dallas since our move. It was actually a trial class. It was a late class from 7:30 to 8:30pm. She is a level 4 tumbler (she is working on a layout and a full). So, I was there watching her and I had a feeling that something wasn't right. Kirsten had been tumbling on the hard ground in our yard for the past few weeks. I noticed that on the bouncy tumbling floor that she was catching a lot of air. Her back tucks were high off the ground. She also forgot to wear her tumbling shoes and was in her bare feet. There were only like 20 minutes left of her class when she fell in the middle of a tumbling pass. She did a round off back handspring back handspring and was about to go into a back tuck, when she decided she wasn't ready for the tuck. She fell back pretty hard on her right elbow. I saw it happen and I was worried but I sat still thinking she would just get back up. She went to get up when her coach told her to lay back down. That was when I got worried. I thought that she hurt her back. Then they called for me to come out there. Oh GREAT!!!!!

Kirsten was definitely in shock. Her coach pulled me aside and told me that he thought her elbow was out of place and that we should not move her but call an ambulance. I don't know how but I stayed calm. I was freaking out in my head but trying to keep Kirsten as calm as I could. Kirsten didn't even cry initially.

Once we got on the ambulance she started getting pretty upset. That ambulance ride was very bumpy and I thought we both might get sick. Not fun.

By the time we got to the hospital, Kirsten was in intense pain! They gave her an IV w/ morphine. She was scared to death about the IV. She has never been hurt like this before. Lots of new scary experiences. Brian met us at the hospital. Still at this point we thought she had a dislocated elbow. We thought this will be no big deal. Pop it back in place and we will be on our way. Not so. She got her x-ray (which caused her tons more pain). The Dr. pulled us out of the room to look at the x-ray. (I wish I had a copy of it). It was broken very bad at the elbow. He said that she needed surgery tonight to put two pins in place. (By this time it was already like 11pm). The surgeon came in and comforted us all. He said that there were 2 other surgeries in front of us. By the time she went into surgery it was 2am. Brian and I were zombies. We were so worried about her. We have never had any surgeries in our little family. Kirsten was also very very distraught. She seriously thought she was going to die. It was so sad.

She made it through the surgery just fine. They actually admitted us to the hospital that night because she was so young. We did get to go home the next morning about 11am.

I actually thought that she would be in a cast for like 8-10 weeks. She was in a very FAT soft cast for 5 days. To allow for swelling. Then they put a hard cast on. She got her cast off and pins out only three weeks after surgery. Now, she is just working on getting her arm to function again. Because it is at the joint, it will take months for her to have full use and rotation of her arm. She still can't touch her hand to her shoulder.

This has been very hard for her because she is so active. She is having a difficult time dealing with the fact that she can't tumble for a while. I am pretty sure that she will tumble again but she is very discouraged. She thinks that she won't remember how to do it. She is a silly girl . Sorry about the long detailed story. Enjoy the pictures.......

Yucky ambulance ride.

Deformed elbow.

My poor little girl trying to wake up from surgery. (3am)

Smiling a few days after surgery. We had to cut her shirts just to get her dressed.

If you have a weak stomach... look away!!

Kirsten's very FAT soft cast.

Kirsten was feeling very uncomfortable here. I actually thought that she might pass out. It had only been 5 days since she had surgery. She was still in a lot of pain and very swollen. They were about to put on her hard cast.

Look at the difference of both elbows. YUCK!!!!

Warning...... nasty pins sticking out of her arm. She had to look away, it was making her sick too.

New Beginnings

For those of you who don't know, we have moved back to Texas!! While we truly loved our time in Atlanta, we are thrilled to be back in the Lone Star state. It is wonderful to be back near family and friends. We will truly miss our wonderful Georgia friends. We hope you all will continue to keep in touch.

Brian has been so blessed to have a new job working with outstanding people. He tells me everyday how much he loves it.

I am so sad that I forgot to take pictures of the girls on their first day of school. We were in the middle of our move and had a lot going on. So, here are their school pictures. They messed up on Lindsey's background. We just did not feel like doing retakes.

Lindsey age 11 (6th grade)

Kirsten age 9 (4th grade)

Caroline age 7 (1st grade)

Lauren age 4 (Pre-K)

What have we been up to........

Here is a brief summary of what we have been doing over the last few weeks.....

Lindsey

Lindsey has had a very busy and exciting month of May. She is graduating from 5th grade on Friday. She has had tons of parties and fun things going on. Here she is with some of her best friends. I think there are about 3 boys that we missing in this picture. But a great group of friends. They ate dinner with all the mothers and then had a fun pool party. It was fun for me to be able to be with her at this cute time of her life.
Dinner.
The cute moms.
Pool time.
One of three cakes.

Lauren

This is Lauren. She is all finished with preschool for the school year. She had such a great class and teachers. We have just loved this preschool. She had her end of the year party at this park last week. She had so much fun on the monkey bars with her friend Anna.

Caroline

Here is Caroline. Her grade performed some really cute songs for the moms for Mother's Day. So cute!

Kirsten

Kirsten had to do a project on Helen Keller. They did a living museum day where the parents come in and walk around and view all the different live characters. Kirsten had so much fun being Helen Keller and learning all about her remarkable life.

Half Marathon-Nashville,TN

Well, I am proud to say that I finished the Nashville half marathon! It was hard work running those 13.1 miles but I did it and reached my goal of running it in under 2 hours. My time was 1 hour 54 min. That is in the 8 min per mile range. My friend Tiffany and I trained for 12 weeks together. It was a lot of fun. And I really do not like this picture. I am a tired mess.

Our cute bird family

Look at what a beautiful bird nest we have under our deck! So beautifully crafted. A few days later we saw some cute birdies popping their heads out waiting for food from their mommy. We have been watching them everyday since.

I think when the birds grow up and leave their nest that I might have to steal it for decoration purposes. Is that bad, its just so pretty.

Easter dresses

I went with blue and yellow this year. Pink is starting to take over in our house. Seriously how how did our girls grow up so fast? They are so cute, they make me smile:)

Lauren's 4th Birthday (March 9th)

Is my youngest really four? I just can't believe that I have no more babies! Lauren is the sweetest little girl. Mommy and Daddy love you! I think three other little girls love you too!


Thanks for my present Lindsey.
I love this picture of Caroline. We had our ward Easter egg hunt on Saturday. This is the only picture that turned out cute.

Lauren opening her birthday presents

Playing Catch up (Christmas in Dallas)

We went to Dallas for Christmas this year. We got to see both sides of cute families and visit with our good friends the Perkes!This is Lindsey's very best friend Kendall. They love each other so much. This is how we found them when it was time for us to head back to Atlanta. They found every scarf in the house and tied themselves together. They are so cute.
Lindsey and Kendall always find something in their wardrobe that is exactly the same:)(their mothers just have great taste).
Caroline and her friend Colby.

Cousins

Lauren and Kailey watching a movie together.

Allison, Kirsten, Kailey, and Lauren

Christmas in Dallas with my family.
Wesley, Caroline and my parents.
Lacey, Allison, Kirsten, and Lauren
Lindsey got to see her cute friend Natalie. They have known each other since Kindergarten.