10 More Days ....

We saw the doctor this week.  Spencer has ten more days and he can take his sling off.  That means as I am writing this, he has a week left!  Yahoo!  He will see the doctor then the following Monday for final x-rays and we will set up a plan for therapy and see how much mobility he has.  I know he is so over having to wear this.  Tomorrow, we are having a church-wide bbq at our house with I think about 70-80 people.  It will be outside since we have the room and using the big field nearby to play games and also have a bounce house.  It will be a lot of fun but he said at dinner tonight, "I sure wish I had my sling off for the party tomorrow."  I felt so bad for him .... what a bummer.  

Charlotte's Web

Erica is in her third performance since moving to NC.  This spring, she will be performing in Charlotte's Web and she is going to be Charlotte!  Can you believe it?  Finally, those long skinny arms and legs are going to be used for a spider!!  LOL!  We have had so much fun making her costume, sewing long stuffed arms and attaching them to her shirt and making a sparkly hood to cover her head.  She has memorized a ton of lines and I have worked with another lady on creating the set!  Scott and I sawed and cut and nailed some walls together for a barn effect and my partner has made fences and all sorts of things to pull this off!  I can't wait to post more pictures.  This week are the final rehearsals and performances are next weekend!  I think by the time our week ends, we will have spent at least 25+ hours but I know it will be worth it!  She thrives in this environment and is so great at it!  Pray for her this week so she doesn't tense up and forget any lines!  Tomorrow some of the cast will be performing mini monologues to sell tickets within the community as part of advertising.  She is getting lots of experience .... I'll post more pictures as the week goes on!!

Umstead Park Hiking

One evening, we decided to get out and go hiking at Umstead State Park.  We have never been there.  It was beautiful and we can't believe we didn't go during the leaves changing!!  The kids had fun goofing off on the trail and hopping rocks, etc.  We walked over to where they have a campground as well.  It was nice up until I realized there is no electricity and the boys saw the showers didn't have doors or curtains.  Strange that they noticed that, huh?  I thought that was quite humorous ........  I was just thankful Erica cleared the water on her long jump!   Also, please note Jack's hiking attire.  Why he refused wearing the tennis shoes is still mind-boggling to me ..... flip flops a hike.  Really??

A Tiny Bird Watcher

This is my friend's daughter, affectionately known as "Teeny."  They came over to take a peek at the baby birds .... is this not the sweetest picture of her looking in on them?  Just so cute .....

Baby Birds.......

There is this very old bird house that was left in our yard.  This spring, we have the privilege of watching the birds hatch.  The eggs were so tiny and solid blue in color.  We have had so much fun each day opening the lid to the house and peaking down on them.  Now that they are more alert, when you shake the house, all of them open their mouths thinking food has arrived!  It is so sweet to watch and see creation in it's smallest form.  God truly is amazingly creative and beautiful.  Love it ....

It is Snowing Again!

No, not the wet stuff.  But the dry yellow stuff!  The pollen this year is worse than last year for sure.  Everything has been covered and I think Moses thinks he could roll around on the front porch and take a dry powder bath in it.  UGH!  But since it rained, that helped greatly!  And all the trees coming out and the leaves are so beautiful ..... along with all the flowers ....

Scott's Ailments ....

If you look closely or click on the picture of my man's sexy leg, you can see the 89 bites on just one of his legs!  Almost everyone came home looking like this.  Poor Dana had to explain to Carly's teacher at school that she did not have the measles or mumps!  And the itching of it all ... oh my word!  And the back of Scott's head?  Well, this was compliments of Erica who is keeping track of how thin the top of his head is getting.  I think this might be for a future science project or something!!  LOL!! 

Fishing and Fun

Spencer may not have had much fun doing everything but he did catch a fish out of the lake!  Our camper was on the lake and not far from the dock.  He spent quite a bit of time doing that since the other things were a little difficult for him and his arm.  Quite honestly, it became a joke that every time he got in the pool with everyone, it turned into a fight.  He may not like me saying this but he was absolutely the grouchiest kid alive.  Dana had to remind me of something that week.  She reminded me of this right before my head started to spin and smoke.   She said, "Marsha, think about it.  He is a routine kid.  He has been out of his routine for three weeks and better part of two weeks of that in pain."  It was a great reminder.  I love the picture of Dana and Brantley.  They look like they are deep in thought as they are staring in the water.  I wonder what they were thinking .....

Yet again, another birthday! Jack turns 9!"

Jack celebrated his birthday while we camped.  We made his cake ahead of time and put in the freezer and kept the mocha icing he wanted cold.  YUM.  I love this cake.  Anyway, you might be wondering why 9 people are crammed into a pop-up.  And then again, you may not.  Either way, we had to eat all of our meals INSIDE.  The gnats and no see-ums where absolutely the worst thing EVER in the "Low Country."  Dana told me later her Mom said she remembered going to an island nearby 30+ years ago and they nicknamed it, "Gnat Island."  Well, we can assure you that much has NOT changed!  And they still bite.  But we had grilled hamburgers and hot dogs by Jack's request for dinner.  And it didn't take long for the cake to disappear that week!!   

Camping in Charleston, SC ... with 6 kids ....!

Anytime you start a title like this, well, it is bound to be full of stories!  It was to say the least.  Where do I even begin?  We had planned to meet my friend, Dana Sabat, and her three children to go camping over spring break.  Her kids have never been camping.  Scott and I decided we should go a day early to get everything set up and settled before they arrived on Tuesday.  It was a good thing we did.  The fittings in the camper where the water line met the faucet fittings had cracked over the winter.  Uh, yeah.  In the midst of setting up, we had no running water and any water that did run in also ran all over the camper!  UGH!  I will say this though.  Scott remained calm the whole time and just figured out what we needed to do.  Tuesday morning, he left early and went straight to the RV store in Charleston, returned and had everything fixed in a few minutes.  Way to go, honey!  He has learned to fix an array of things lately.  He said to add camper repair to his list of skilled trades!  LOL!  I was just glad that this was the only major issue we had on our trip.  That is, if you don't count the no see-ums!    We took the kids to ride go-carts and play games.  We didn't think that through though.  I don't know why we thought Spencer could drive a go-cart.  That was real smart thinking on our part ...... so he was a great sport and watched and laughed as Jack passed Erica when she was least expecting it.  And of course, he had his tongue hanging out of his mouth!

Spencer's Stitches REMOVED

Spencer got his stitches out last week, thank the Lord!  It was quite eventful.  The surgery tape was stuck to him like a fourth layer of skin.  It was awful for him as they kept pulling slowly.  If you can imagine the biggest stickiest band-aid ever and then ripping it as slow as possible, this is what it looked like.  I won't mention the pinkish purple mark that was there for 2 days after all across his back, chest and up over his shoulder and neck.  Ugh!  And then let's not talk about the butterfly tape across the incision that was stuck and the long thread they pulled out.  Needless to say, I left the room to dry heave in the bathroom and let Scott deal with the rest.  I am so glad the worst of that is over with.  

He has been really cooperative about staying still and not getting into too much trouble.  He does continue to feel better and for that we are thankful.  We did go camping this past week and that was a little difficult.  He was very bored and you can only fish with so many biting gnats for one week, not too mention swimming with one arm!  He tried to be a trooper but we sure did have some grumpy moments with him.  He is a lot like his dad.  You never have to wonder what emotion they are feeling.  Gotta love them!

Another Birthday in the House

Scott celebrated turning 38.  I am not sure exactly how he feels about turning 38 this year.  He is so busy reminding me that I turned 39 that he can't seem to focus on his own birthday.  And reminding me that I will turn 40 before him as well.   Erica made him a birthday cake and decorated it with leftover fondant we had from another cake.  She put this face on the top of it with these huge lips.  What started out to be a happy face ended up looking more monkey-like than a person.  It was pretty funny .. and we couldn't fit 38 candles on it but we did get at least 15 or more.  I wondered what that wax taste was ..... LOL!!  I just love how Jack is all tucked in under his arm watching him blow out the candles.