Thomas' Birthday Wish List

So we have a fun tradition where we go to the toy store a week or so before Thomas' birthday, and he makes a picture wish list!

I thought you would get a kick out of looking through our pictures! I also have about 5 things Grace just had to have a picture with, but I'll save those for later.

It was really fun. We got to Toys-R-Us and told them it was his birthday, (which the birthday card they send you tells you to do- they also give you a $3 gift cert. by the way) and they gave him a birthday crown, a balloon, which Grace happily held onto for him, and asked his name and age.

Then after we had had time to walk down the first isle, they came over the loud speaker and got everyone's attention and said, "We have a special guest in the house today! Thomas is celebrating his 4th birthday! Happy Birthday Thomas!" His eyes got so big, and he said, "That's Me!" He was so excited.

Then every time we passed a salesperson, they would stop and say, "Hi! Are you Thomas? Happy Birthday!" or "Hi Thomas!" He would always say, "Happy Birthday! Thank You!"

So, here are our pictures! Everything I took a picture of, he either told me to, or If I said, "Do you want me to take a picture of this?" Sometimes he would say, "No." Or, if he really liked it, he would want to pose with the toy!

Thomas's Birthday Wish List 2009, Age 4

This HUGE 2-Headed-Dragon (one head is biting Thomas and the other getting Grace here) is on sale in the very back of the store! ($14 I think.)
I tried to give her a girly unicorn, and she held it politely and asked for the dragon! Thomas thought he was pretty scary too. I have a feeling I'd end up sleeping with this guy to protect everyone else in the house...things look different awfully in the dark! Maybe he'd make a good piece for right inside the doorway...

This Color Surge was in the back in the coloring/painting stuff. It's some new painting system or something. Anyway, he only wants it, I think, because it's Star Wars.

Star Wars Evolutions, 3 little Star Wars guys.

Thomas and Tyler both almost got this Spider-Man Suit last year. It's a swim suit! It contains floaters! He wanted to know where the mask was!

Thomas found this Star Wars Monopoly Game. It was the last one on the shelf. I tried to mention the age issue...but he'd have none of it and posed for the picture.

This is soooo cool. It's a soda shop! This side is the kitchen, and the other side actually looks like a restaurant booth! It's on clearance I think. They had 2 or 3 sitting there. (Hmm, maybe for Christmas...)

What can I say, he has great taste.....

Ummmmmm.....

Grace actually jumped up, ran over to this awful thing and climbed on by herself, and started saying, "It's a motorcycle!" Thomas couldn't resist, so he jumped on too. I took a picture, then made it clear, "Mommy Says No. We are not getting an ATV." They still loved it.

Grace is explaining here that we would like this set of LEGOS since it is only Blocks! You always run out of the plain blocks.

This is Thomas holding the Indiana Jones LEGO Video Game. He loves playing the LEGO Star Wars XBOX 360 and not as much (since it's not star wars) the LEGO Batman Video Game- also XBOX 360. We have both the Wii and the XBOX 360 -I don't like XBOX and so Sam got me a Wii! - But I think we should probably shoot for getting him this game on XBOX, just since the other two he has are XBOX.... {may need to wait for Christmas- I think it's really expensive!}

This guy is a little silver knight that goes with his castle set. They are in the back by the legos, although other than this size he is holding, most of these are a bit high priced. I think this size is $5.99.

This is a light-saber that pops out and lights up! He wants BLUE! He wanted that to be very clear.... :-)

Fat Head toys...beats me. He liked Darth Vader, and wanted Luke or Anakin.

They need an extra little chair (or 2 if you're out yard sale-ing...) for the mini-dining room table they use. They have 2, but anytime someone else is over, like Tyler or Samantha, or soon hopefully Ian....they need an extra! We were voting here for gender-neutral, as he wanted Handy Manny and she wanted either Tinker Bell or Princesses!

I have no idea why we need this. He saw it (they both love Caillou, although it makes me crazy!) and said, "Get a picture of the Caillou goes to space movie!"

This is a new thing by Crayola! It's kids' paint markers! It's called 3-in-1 Paint.

This is an easy reader Pokemon Book Thomas found. He has recently gotten the 1st episode of Pokemon on VHS (I collected like nearly all of them in college) and so having watched the video twice already in a week, he thought it was terrific to find Pokemon in the store.

This is a little Pikachu Toy. This is the main character's best friend, so of course Thomas' favorite one too!

This Poke-Ball contains a little guy that actually pops out!

(Another Pokemon Toy: Meowth Hot-Air Balloon - On sale for $6.99!)

These 2 Godzilla Toys are huge and ugly. He thinks they are great. I think Tyler has this one already, maybe that's why we suddenly need it.... There is another one just like it that's silver, but I'll spare you the picture.

This is a giant Star War Sticker Book! I could tell I was about to have a "not today" discussion with him, when Grace tuned up about a "Super Why" sticker book. Luckily, she hadn't picked out a toy yet to take home, so we let her have that, and Thomas put this book down!

Well, I hope you enjoyed your trip through the Toys-R-Them as Dave Ramsey says. I did actually. He had a ball! They were sooo tired when we left, Thomas with a new Star Wars coloring Book (with a light-saber pen) and tiny Anakin toy, and Grace with a "Super Why" Coloring Book, that they came home, barely got through lunch, and fell asleep for about 2 hours!

Pictures and More Pictures

Here are some February Stories and Pictures!

These are all 3 from Valentine's Day!

Just some updates first:

~Thomas' MRI was NORMAL!!! Then they sent him to a Physical Therapist to be sure about his muscles being so tight, and to see if it would help with the night pains. So, we went to the Physical Therapist yesterday, and she gave him some stretches to do, but otherwise thinks he's fine! Yes, his muscles are tight, but it's not a big deal she said. So, we'll stretch and move on!

~Sarah had surgery on Tuesday again, and they said everything is looking much better! She goes back for a follow up tomorrow. The last tiny bit of Kidney Stone got blasted away during the surgery! So that all looks good too!

~Grace is under the weather right now. She has a bug that causes a high fever, but the doctor said she should be ok in a day or two. Bad news is, I'm pretty sure I'm fighting it now too. (Plus of course we didn't get any sleep last night, so I'm exhausted!)

~Thomas will be 4 years old on March 9th! He is having a Star Wars party at our house on March 7th at 2pm. (Assuming the Power Stays on and the Creek Doesn't Rise...)

~Our friends Don and Derema Bledsoe are being induced this Tuesday Morning March 3rd! Baby Lucas will be here in no time! (Thomas told Derema he "hopes it doesn't hurt when the doctor helps the baby come out." She smiled and said thank you.)
Here are the pictures!

~Grace went to her 1st Tea Party Last Saturday! (2/21/09) Emily and her Mom invited 3 of the granddaughters, Samantha, and Grace over for a fancy tea party at 2pm. They were sooo cute.
They got all dressed up for the party, then when they got there, Emily had 2 tables full of princess dress up clothes to add to their outfits. After this, they all went down to the end of the hall and then one at a time marched down and into the room for a fashion show!
Later, she had these plastic tea cups there with princess foam stickers for them to decorate. Last, the girls sat down to a fancy lunch of tiny sandwiches (PB&J or Bologna and Cheese) and cookies.

Grace and Emily's niece, Eva who is 4, asked for "Banas Please," so they also shared a banana. She even had a fancy rose for each one with a giant diamond ring. Grace threw her ring and flower in her dress-up box for later!

Ready for the Fashion Show!

Emily Taught them how to hold their pinky out.

Grace found this purple shawl and white feather boa in the dress up stuff!

She's telling me here how fuzzy that boa is!

Decorating Tea Cups.

Grace's 1st Earrings!

These are pictures from the kids' school!

This is Ava, Thomas' favorite friend.

This was from when Tyler spent the night with Thomas during Sarah's hospital stay.

Thomas showed Grace how to do flips a couple of days ago.

Here is a picture from dinner last night of Derema and Don. They are pretty excited, baby will be here Tuesday!

Sarah's Kidney Stone Surgery was a Success

Sarah and Bill are at home tonight!

They took her back to prepare for surgery at 8:30am this morning, and by 11am she was out.

I don't have a lot of details, but I do know that it was a lot worse than they thought before they went in, and felt like the kidney stone had been there for possibly as long as since she first had Ian. (Who will be 10 months on the 25th!)

They were able to place the stint, which they will have to put her back under again in a couple of weeks to remove.

The great news is, now she'll begin healing. And they are home now.

We have Tyler again tonight, and Ian is at Mom's again, since we thought Bill and Sarah needed the quiet.

Thanks for the prayers! Keep them coming!

MJ

Sarah has a Kidney Stone

Sarah is spending the night in the hospital!

She has a kidney stone that they are going to remove tomorrow.

Sarah started having some pain day before yesterday and last night it got worse and worse. Bill was rubbing her lower back and there was a big lump where her kidneys should be. Since she was continuing to complain of the pain, he agreed that she should call the doctor. When she came back in the room, she said that Dad was on the way to pick her up to take her to the ER. Then Mom came to stay with the kids so Bill could join them.

They had already given her an IV and morphine by the time Bill got over there. They had realized right away it was likely a kidney stone from the amount of pain she was in. She said that before they had even finished giving her the injection of morphine she felt much much better and sleepier.

An hour or two after Bill got there they did a CT Scan to be sure it was a kidney stone, which they verified.

They are doing a surgery in the morning at 9am.

She is at Baptist Hospital East.

The procedure will include going in and breaking up the stone some, removing it, and placing a stint that will help the kidneys drain, as there is some infection already enacted.

We have Tyler here and Ian is at Mom's house.

As for Valentine's Day, Bill took her something, then later, Sam and I went by with a card for her, as well as a really cute get well card that Thomas had made for her, plus a cookie for each of them from the Great American Cookie Company. And we stuck around for awhile and talked.

They are sharing a room with a lady who is older, and who we think must have had a pretty good fall, because they said she was very banged up and bruised when they saw her.

So, prayers are in order all around I guess. And praise that it was found so quickly and diagnosed so quickly!

Thanks!

MJ

Thomas' MRI is Normal! Praise God!

I just heard from the doctor's office!

They have given us the unofficial word that Thomas' MRI was normal.

The nurse practitioner got a chance to look at it, which I am assuming means she read over the Radiologist's notes as well, and she says they are normal. She will still want to talk to the head orthopaedic doctor on Monday, so then we'll get an official word, but they didn't want me worrying all weekend. So that's great news! :-)

There may still be something causing his leg to hurt off and on, like growing pains, which can apparently be fairly painful sometimes, but it's not life threatening obviously, so that's all we care about! :-)

Thanks for your love, support, and prayers!

Mary, Sam, Thomas, and Grace

PS- Thomas did really really well with taking his sleepy medicine, then once he was really drowsy getting his IV.

Then he was totally asleep for the MRI. So, no worries!

Thomas' MRI is today!

Thomas had his MRI Today: Feb. 11th, 2009
Kosair Children's Hospital

Here are pictures from Thomas' big day getting his MRI.

He has to have both legs and both ankles scanned. The radiologist thought he saw an abnormality between the right and left leg during the bone scan, and decided to have an MRI done to rule out any soft tissue damage.

The first time we were scheduled to go was the Tuesday of the big Ice Storm, so we got cancelled.

So, we were re-scheduled for February 11th, 2009.

He brought his Star Wars characters and got all set up in his cartoon room. This first picture shows him watching Nickelodeon, waiting for the lady to bring in his sleepy medicine to drink.

They didn't do his IV until after he was very "Drunk" as she called it. He was very very giggly and then basically asleep with his eyes open.

He then slept through the entire MRI, which lasted about an hour and 15 min. He was allowed to sleep an additional hour and ten minutes after he was brought back to our room, but we had to wake him to leave for home, due to the wind storm! They thought there was a tornado heading our way. It ended up splitting down the middle and going north and south of us; all we got was rain!

Snow Finally Melted...Tons of Pictures!

First some news.....

You probably know my Sister-In-Law Leslie Conver Brocklesby is pregnant with their first little one, but we found out recently,

IT'S A BOY!

Here is a recent photo and of course she's in Blue!

His name will be David Robert Brocklesby. Congrats Leslie and Bob! They are due in June!


Secondly, my Aunt Esther Himbaugh got engaged over Christmas!!! Eivaen Treadway gave it to her before she came home. I found out early because she updated her facebook page without realizing we'd all see it! I'd have said something before, but I didn't want to spoil any surprises so I waited. Here is the ring.... She will be Esther F Treadway or maybe Esther H Treadway...or honestly with her work in tv, she may decide to just be Esther F Himbaugh married to Eivaen Treadway! :-) We like him a lot. At Christmas, Thomas kept calling him Uncle Eivaen. For once, we didn't correct him!

Next, Thomas had to have a bone scan done of his right leg, in January. He was having some pain still after he broke it last February, which as you can imagine, is a little unusual. Here he is dozing on the meds.... They said the bone scan showed a "abnormality between the right and left leg" so they are now doing an MRI on Wednesday. No idea what that implies, although the radiologist did say, "It could just be picking up on the fact that he broke that right one once." gee...thanks. Anyway, he has to have an IV and be under light sedation for 3 hours + so prayers are welcome, for my nerves as well as his!
Getting a Bone Scan...

I stuck these in because right now Thomas has a bug... this is him at the pediatrician being brave. He has a blue band-aid on his left finger where they stuck him already there... :-(

But good news was, it wasn't strep, which is going around like crazy, and so is the flu, which it also was not. They tested for both. :-) So, he'll probably be puny for a few days... but nothing terrible.

You can see how pink his cheeks are here from the fever.... makes me a sad Mommy....

Now, on to the regular Blog.....Catch up for a Month, Watch Out!

Our Power was out from Wednesday morning at 5:30ish (that's when we woke up and figured it out) till Sunday night at about 8:00pm. The first night we stayed at Bill and Sarah's Thank You!!! and then over to Linda and Leigh's, where we were one of 13 people in the house, but had our own room. (Thank You Linda and Leigh!!!- Oh, and Grandma!!)

This Picture is of Sam trying to pull the kids on the sled over to Bill and Sarah's last Wednesday around 1pm.

This worked from our house (although Gracie fussed all the way) until the bottom of Fleming. It was just too slushy at the corner of Dundee and we made them get off. I carried Grace for a bit, then we put them back on the sled. About 1/4 a block down Dundee the sled finally turned over, as it had been threatening to do, and this really upset Grace, although she was so bundled up, I don't think any snow got on her skin much at all. At any rate, we ended up dragging an empty sled, and carrying Grace, while Thomas enjoyed trudging his way there.

Luckily Bill ran down his hill and met us, running first Thomas, then all our stuff back to his house. What a cold rotten way to travel. Thank God for Cars. And Power.

This is the tree at the bottom of Gannie's Driveway, with Leigh's tail-lights shining on the icicles.

Grace and Thomas slept in the back room at Grammy and Pop's house, where Gigi does her computer work. Here she is getting ready to read a ballerina princess book at bedtime.

On Feb. 1st, 2009, Grace Turned 2 Years Old!

These pictures were taken on Grace's 2nd Birthday in the afternoon. That was the day it got up to 50 degrees. We took the kids to the park near Linda and Leigh's house where we'd been snowed in. It was a wonderful, fun way to spend her birthday with her, and the kids loved yelling in their "outside voices" since we'd been stuck inside for so long. (I loved some time alone with my family!!!)

I love that one!

When we got home, Grace got changed and ready for her party!

Bruce and Vera Plymale, and Sam Plymale were all able to attend, despite the snow! Also, although not in this photo, Robin, Samantha and Wesley came out. I told everyone else to please stay home and stay warm though. We still didn't have power at our house!

Here is a long shot of the table while Leslie and Bob, Bill and Tyler enjoy some cake and ice cream! In the background you can see James Conver eating some cake with Pop and Grandaddy walking through looking for the Super Bowl Game!

These are from this past Friday night at Linda's. Sarah went out with some of the ladies from school she teaches with, and Tyler got to come over to Grammy's with us! Then Bill brought Ian over for a few minutes to pick Tyler up. They all had a good time fighting over toys.

In this picture, Grace had jumped up in the front seat and started turning the wheel back and forth yelling, "I'm drivin! I'm drivin!" When Sam opened that door (you can see him there in the background) she got soooo mad and as he was putting her in her seat she was still shouting, "No, I want to be drivin!" Guess we'll have to start saving up for her car fund....

This shows Thomas and Grace playing on the Word World website. There is a letter matching game that Thomas is playing. If you spell out the names of the instruments, they turn into that instrument, and the character starts playing it. It's all part of a longer cartoon you are watching. Very clever and well done. Grace is pointing at where the U should go in DRUM saying, "Right There!" and Thomas, who already knew that, is telling her, "Don't help me."

Thomas is putting together (with help from the instruction sheet, which he was much amazed by, and of course Mommy) a Legos Bulldozer here. He and Tyler each got a set of these for Grace's Birthday!

This is in the front window at Doo Wop!

Grace thought this outfit was very fashionable, so I'm sharing it with you too.

Grace put this train track together all by herself! She's the one wearing all of Thomas' clothes and sailor hat in this picture!

Eventually, Thomas couldn't stand it anymore and joined in the fun!

This is Sarah Herzog, she babysits for us on Wednesday nights at church. I took these when it was time to pick the kids up, before they saw me....She looks glad to see me don't you think? She's really good with the kids if you ever need someone, I have her number!

That's all! Hope you enjoyed!