Thanksgiving, Part 2

Here are some more pictures from our Thanksgiving feast with Seth, Dixie and Zayli, and Seth's mom and step-dad. Our spread. This year everything turned out perfectly. Wonderfully moist turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, CHEESY green bean casserole (it is a superior version of the traditional casserole), stuffing, rolls, sweet potato and apple casserole, autumn salad and cranberry jelly. Mmm-Mmm!
Seth's mom set us a beautiful table for dinner.
Maggie and Zayli had a great time that night. Lots of running around, playing, screeching at pitches only dogs can hear, the works. Here they were dancing to imaginary Christmas music.And, finally, the funny picture. Maggie has been asking for weeks and weeks about punkinpie (she runs both words together - too cute!). She barely ate dinner wanting to have pie right away... so when it was finally time to have pie, the girls went in the kitchen, and we heard "we tasted it" from where we sat in the living room. And sure enough, they had, as evidenced by the poke holes in my once lovely pie!!!

Whoop There It Is!!!

We went out to our new house today to see the progress. It was quite a shock to realize that new house I was seeing in the distance as we drove down our future street was ours!!! We had no idea it was getting put up already.

This picture shows the crane lifting the last set of trusses on the front of the house. right as we drove up.
Here's the front. It will have some more character when it is all finished, and won't look so boxy. Unless you look at it from the sides or the back, then it is still boxy. But it will be our happy little boxy home. With an awesome forest to the right of our lot.
Tyler let Maggie play in the crawlspace. She loved it.
Here I am at the curb. No way I was going to try and navigate the uneven ground leading up to the house or the debris inside.
The view from the upstairs windows. When the leaves were still on the trees, those hills in the distance were quite the sight.
Our neighbors around the corner said they get wild turkeys and deer in their back yard all the time (theirs is kitty-corner to ours). He even let Maggie keep a turkey feather she found in the yard. Was she was excited about that!!!

I am continually thankful for our new house - I won't believe it is mine until all our stuff has been moved in, papers are finalized.

Thanksgiving Morning

Thanksgiving morning we have some traditions. First, instead of sleeping in, or getting up at our regular time, we get up early for the Turkey Bowl - a football tournament our church puts together every year. It stayed in the upper 30's all morning, with a little bit of wind, so after about 30 minutes I hobbled off the sidelines with Maggie and we camped out in the car to stay warm.
Then, off to church for the Thanksgiving service. We sing some hymns, read Scripture, and then people get a chance to share things they are thankful for. Maggie was thankful for Mama letting her crawl on the floor for part of the service...
Tyler did sound that morning, but got control of the mic anyway and shared what he/we were thankful for. It was very sweet.
Pictures from our annual dinner with Seth & Dixie forthcoming, I've got to get them off Seth's camera first.

So pretty much this picture represents my life

Here is the couch where I have to sit about 13 hours a day. And the brace that is the bane of my existence which I have to wear 24 hours a day except for a shower. And the paperwork from physical therapy today which contains many instructions for self-torture.
I went to the doctor again yesterday to confirm the MRI findings: torn ACL and a nondisplaced tibial fracture (I have a hairline crack on the exterior knob of my tibia). ACL surgery will probably happen next Friday. Until then, physical therapy every day to get back as much mobility in my knee as possible so I have better outcome post-surgery.

As for the crutches, I'll still be on them for 4-6 more weeks because of the fracture. Now, that sounds like a lot, but initially the doctor wanted me to be on crutches for 4-6 weeks for the fracture to heal, and THEN go in for ACL surgery and be on crutches several more weeks after that. Anyone else see a problem with that? There is just no way I can possibly be an invalid for 10 weeks or more.

I have been so humbled by not being able to do anything, especially with everything else that has gone on this year, and by how many people from church have volunteered to help us out in our time of need. An especially big thank-you to Barb Hudson (I've got to get a picture of her with Maggie) for grocery-shopping, rides to church and physical therapy and watching Maggie. Amazing.

And I'd like to make a public apology to everyone who has had to endure me crying on the phone. Or in person. Or both.

Footers are in!

Last week, 11/15, we stopped by our lot to see how the building is coming. The footers have been poured, the blocks for the rest of the foundation and the framing has been delivered.

The front of our house will face South, so here is looking East. See those woods? They go on for quite a while! Maggie and Daddy can play in there to their hearts content. I'm sure I'll post pictures of the fort they build in the future! Oh, and here you can see some of the footers.
More footers, and the blocks delivered for the foundation. and more glorious woods!
This is a view from the front of the property. The gravel is right about where the driveway will be. There is a small section of woods that will jut out past the boundary of our backyard, but we'll still see our neighbors.

I Love Those Little Surprises

"Mommy! Look it! I made a two!!!" And sure enough, she did. No prompting from me. Maybe she learned it at Mother's Day Out, but I've never seen any papers come home with a 2 on them, but here it is. I'm glad I took a photo, because I think after I took this picture she colored over it.

And on the Injured list: Melissa Spaid. Again.

Pictures first, then read the story.

Picture 1
Picture 2
Thursday I walked with Maggie and Zayli to the park by our apartments. I thought, "Oh, what a beautifully sunny Southern fall day. Let's go play!" We played with the other children at the park, we picked up acorns and threw them in the stream, and then, it happened.

We were chasing each other. I caught up to Zayli and picked her up, football style, and was running around the playground area to catch up to Maggie to pick her up, too. Well, I caught up to Maggie, we ran into each other, stumbled, and I got off balance. I knew I would crush Zayli if we fell together, so I let her go. She went flying out the side and did a belly flop on the ground, and I fell. SPECTACULARLY. Like someone should've been videotaping me I'd win the $10,000 prize on America's Funniest Home Videos spectacular fall.

In the process, my left knee bent quite oddly and in bad directions and popped a whole bunch and when I landed, I knew it as bad. I tried to get up, and my leg buckled from under me. I was totally discombobulated and it took me a couple of minutes to find my phone (I was sitting on it!) to call Tyler.

I had to have someone interrupt the Director's meeting to get him, and he had to come down to the park with a coworker to get me in the car. He even had to drive his car through the grass to the playground to get me. (see picture 1)

After much agony and crying, I was in the car with everyone. I called Dixie to explain that I nearly crushed her child & scratched her glasses, blew out my knee and we had to go to the hospital. We brought the girls to Tyler's work (they munched on ice cream sandwiches and hot chocolate while they waited for Dixie to pick them up - "Grandma Annette" is sure gracious with the snacks and ensured that those girls will love her forever!).

I never thought I would be in the ER two times in one year for my own injuries!!! I have one or several torn ligaments and get to visit an orthorpedic surgeon next week. In the meantime, I have a knee stabilizer (see picture 2) I have to wear all the time, can't walk and have to be on crutches, again. I HATE CRUTCHES! Oh boy!!!

Video: Maggie documenting how to get ready for bed

The other nigt Maggie started counting out the things we do to get ready for bed on her fingers. It was so cute, and I asked her to do it for the camera - it was not as spontaneous as the first time, but still cute! Enjoy.

Annual Gatlinburg Trip

Last weekend we went to Gatlinburg with a bunch of friends - no children! Maggie stayed at Dixie's and had a wonderful time. Mommy and Daddy stayed in a 6 bedroom (all with attached bathrooms) "cabin" in the "woods".
So it was really more like a cedar mansion. The entire house was spectacular.
Our gaggle at dinner. The Brooks, Dunns, Haskins, Us, McCauleys, Talleys and Parks all made the trip this year.
This was not my steak, but a representation of the CRAZY amount and awesome quality of food that always makes its way to Gatlinburg. We go home with almost as much food as we brought. So much good food with good friends!
We played games, took a trip to the outlet mall, and had a wonderful time.

Apartment Living

Junk Mail

We went to Gatlinburg this weekend, but I just wanted to let you all know that I've been getting junk comments on my blog... how bizarre! That means two things: 1) my blog is read by enough people that spammers have found us. 2) I may have to tighten up security with the comments. We'll see how it goes. If I get a lot more spam, I'll have to switch commenting to only those with Google ID's.