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Friday, May 25, 2018

End of School 2018

We are SO glad school's out for the summer!! The kids had a great 2017-2018 school year but we are all ready for later evenings, sleeping in just a little bit and vacations! The end of this year was fairly uneventful.

Tommy had his last field trip--they went to Exploration Place. I wasn't able to go because we had too many people gone from work already. Nick wasn't able to go either because of work. So we asked grandma and were thankful she was able to fill in! I was sad because this was the first field trip I'd missed, but he had so much fun!



He even got to be an "assistant" for an experiment that they did in front of his class--of course that happened the one time I didn't go, but I at least got to watch a video and that was fun! He enjoyed it. If you would have told me 3 years ago that he would like being in front of the class, I would have never believed you. He was SO shy when he started school, but is completely different now. I'm so glad he came out of his shell!

They had a great last day. They had field day and got to play outside for most of it. So much fun!


Goodbye school....hello sweet summertime!

Thursday, May 17, 2018

My Birthday Celebration

My 34th birthday was amazing! I thought I would dread getting older, but honestly....I'm loving each year of life a little more!

This year, my birthday was on Mother's Day. My work friends celebrated withe me the Friday before my birthday. I walked in to some cute decorations and a beautiful cake!
 I had a short day at work and then headed to Spring Tea with this sweet girl.......
 After tea, I went home and packed for a quick little weekend get away with my mom and sister! I had decided I wanted to go to Ree Drummond's (The Pioneer Woman) restaurant and lodge in Pawhuska, OK. We left Friday after everyone was off work and drove down to Bartlesville. We couldn't find anything closer that was available AND cheap :) Bartlesville worked out perfectly! We stayed up late talking and woke up early to get to her restaurant before it was crazy busy. It opened at 7am and we got there around 7:30am. We were seated by about 8:15am, so it really wasn't too bad!



 We had a TOOOON of food. It worked out though because we all got to taste a little bit of everything. Biscuits and gravy, pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausage, potatoes....the list goes on and on. And ALL of it was delicious and fairly well priced too!

After we finished eating, we shopped in her store a bit and then went upstairs to the bakery. YUUUUM. I bought some cookies to take home to the kids and some pecan rolls for myself. 
 This was our attempt at getting a selfie with the sign....in our defense, it was VERY windy.
 They were doing free tours at her lodge, so we went there next. It's truly out in the middle of nowhere! And I almost died trying to park on the incline it's built on. But eventually, we made our way inside and it was BEAUTIFUL! And SO much bigger than it looks like on the show.
 Just call me Ree....

 I think my favorite thing to see was an entire ROOM labeled Ree's Props. It was FULL of beautiful things. Plates, tablecloths, vases, cups, MULTIPLE Kitchen Aid Mixers....everything you could imagine in the most beautiful prints and colors! They also have a prep kitchen in the back that was neat to see. There were several bedrooms and bathrooms with beautiful views of their ranch!

After we toured the lodge, we headed home. We stopped and shopped at a few places along the way. Brooke got a call that Michael was in a motorcycle accident (he was fine thank God, but his bike was totaled), so we tried to hurry home so she could be with him. He had one heck of a road rash. 

When we pulled in the driveway, I saw my Mother's Day present in the yard! Nick and the kids planted a new tree for me! I'm OBSESSED with the trees that bloom white flowers every year and I always mention every year that I want one in our yard. So this year, he got me one! I'm so excited for it to bloom next year.

Mom and Brooke went home for a bit and then all of my family came back that evening for a birthday bonfire/mother's day celebration. Nick decided to use his tractor to carry things....because we don't have hands....
 My sweet girl....
 I'm so glad that Nick's tractor makes him so happy--he seriously uses it every day for SOMETHING, whether it be to dig out a fire pit for my birthday bonfire, to carry chairs or to smooth the gravel in our driveway. He's literally on it EVERY. DAY.

We all relaxed while Nick got the fire going. I was picturing a small little fire to roast s'mores on. Instead, I got a 15 foot wide with a 15 foot flame fire--ha! It was CRAZY huge and hot and scary! Embers kept blowing into our pasture. Nick eventually had to get the four wheeler with the water tank on it to put it out before it got out of control. Maybe I'll build the fire next year ;)
 It was a fun night with my favorite people!

The next morning was my birthday/Mother's Day. They woke me up with a yummy breakfast in bed! Then the kids accidentally told me one of my presents. It was so funny--Nick said he'd left one of my presents in his truck and was starting to panic because he couldn't find it. Tommy said, "Yeah, Mr. Razey gave us a present for you and dad left it in his truck!" I was like, "Who??" He said, "Mr. Razey. From school. He gave us a present for your birthday!" It took me a second to put together that Mr. Razey's WIFE is my Lipsense lady and we sometimes have him give me my Lipsense when she's not able to meet me! I about died laughing!! They were both just convinced that Mr. Razey was being super nice and bought me a present--so funny!


We went to church and then saw my mom and Granny for a bit and then had dinner with his family for Mother's Day! It was a really good day and I got everything I could've ever wanted for my birthday!





































Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Starting off May with a bang

Welp.....we started off May with a case of appendicitis. My poor little Brookie started having some serious pain in her abdomen (I think on Monday night). It got worse and worse through the night and the next day. She googled her symptoms and thought it might be appendicitis. They said not to eat or drink anything if you thought you had it until you got medical attention because that could cause it to burst. So on Wednesday morning, she FINALLY went to an urgent care clinic. They ordered a CT to be done but weren't able to get it done until late in the afternoon. My mom had driven her to her CT and after it was done, they just had to try to kill time until the radiologist read it to decide if she had appendicitis or not. About an hour later (5:30pm-ish), they called and told her she DID have appendicitis and needed to go to Wesley to be admitted.

Of course, right when they started heading to Wesley, there was a torrential downpour and driving was next to impossible. They were passing my house, so I had mom come by and pick me up so I could drive instead of her. Then we headed to Wesley (very slowly). Thank God, it stopped raining a few minutes before we got to the hospital. We dropped Brooke off at the ER door and then followed her in to admissions. They got all of her information and then she had to sit and wait for about 30 minutes for someone to come pick her up with a wheelchair (she was in pain, but could've walked to her room by then!). Bless her heart....she was being more patient than I was. I was about to carry her to her room myself!


Her ride finally showed up and took her up to her room.

The nurse came in to draw blood. It was quite the process. After telling us that she's "not one of those nurses that digs around for veins" and that we wouldn't have to call in someone else to do the lab draw......she stuck Brooke at least 4 or 5 times and we had to call someone else in. Nobody could find her little bitty veins (except for the phlebotomist that came in to recheck labs several hours later and got her blood drawn in about 30 seconds....). Once they eventually drew lab, she waited.....and waited....and waited. 
 Michael made it up there about 30 minutes after us. The nurse kept coming in and telling us they were waiting on the doctor, who was currently doing a surgery. Which we totally understand. But she was in so much pain and we felt so bad for her that they weren't giving her any meds to help with it. We got to the hospital and up to the room around 6:15pm. She didn't get any meds until almost 10:30pm. It was so sad :(

She was also starving because she hadn't eaten anything or drank much for about 2 1/2 days. My mom was talking to the nurse and came back in with the biggest smile and said, "Brooke!! Guess what! You can't have anything to eat but they have some lemon flavored swabs that they're going to give you!" We were all laughing because a lemon flavored swab is a poor substitute for Panera Mac and Cheese (which is what she really wanted). You can see how she really feels about the swabs.....

They had kind of indicated they would be doing the appendectomy that night, so mom and I hung around until almost midnight. The doctor finally came in and said they wouldn't be doing the surgery until the next day because they had to leave the OR open for emergencies, like gun shot victims. Sigh. We were frustrated but on the other hand, I get it. But thank GOD her appendix didn't rupture while she was just laying there in pain waiting for surgery!

Mom and I finally went home and Michael stayed with Brooke. She made it through surgery the next day just fine! We were all so thankful and she felt much better afterwards. She had to stay in the hospital for 3-4 days. Her incisions were pretty tender for awhile, but she was so glad to finally get her Panera mac and cheese!

Love you, Brookie! Glad you survived!