X-Bar Mountain Bike Race

Last weekend we took a little trip to X-Bar Ranch for the last of this spring's mountain bike series. Jim raced, the kids participated in the Kids' Cup for the first time, and I just hung out (and watched kids, of course). We all had fun camping out and the best part was that seeing all the other kids racing inspired the boys to lose the training wheels. Troy had already taken his training wheels off, but now he looks like he's been doing it all his life. Trent asked Jim to take his off and away he went! Troy and Trent both just love riding their bikes. Paige has also improved on hers quite a bit and Reese is finally figuring out the pedaling motion. Once she decides to watch where she is going instead of looking at her feet she will do much better!

Here's Jim getting ready for his race.

Go, Troy, go!

When Trent is concentrating, he does something just like his mother - sticks his tongue out!

Aah - the joy of riding a bicycle. Paige is really getting the hang of this!

Reese likes to poke her head out the door of our camper. Here she is watching Jim get ready for his race.

Even though we own a bicycle store, lead group road rides, and ride the off-road trail by our house, we have never attended/competed in an event like this one before. It was a fun weekend and, hopefully, the first of many to come. Maybe one day some or all of our kids can join Jim in the race and we can truly make it a family affair.

Yellowbonnets

At the end of our street there is a large field which, currently, is filled with yellow flowers. I don't know what type of flower they are (they're probably weeds), but it is really a beautiful sight to see that sea of yellow. Earlier this year, we took some pictures in bluebonnets, but the foursome was not real cooperative that day so I didn't get any great pictures. We decided since our bluebonnet pictures didn't turn out we would try for some in the field of yellow flowers. The kids dubbed the flowers yellowbonnets. We had a good time getting the pictures, but I ended up with a few fire ant bites as a souvenir. I didn't follow my own advice! I warned the kids to watch where they stepped since there were lots of fire ant beds out there. I was in the midst of snapping pictures when I backed up to get a better angle. Oh - should I have ever looked first! I had taken one picture when all of a sudden I felt that familiar sting. Of course, I immediately jumped up and started brushing off my ankle. Unfortunately, several ants had already made their way up the leg of my jeans. I kept rolling my jean leg up and brushing the ants out all the while praying that I wouldn't have to take my jeans off right by such a busy street in order to get rid of all the ants. (This was a real concern, since I have had to get out of my pants in a friend's front yard before thanks to these vicious little ants, but that time I had on a maternity top that was quite long. It was quite a sight, and my dear friend was laughing hysterically. You'd think she would have felt bad for her very pregnant friend, especially since the culprits were in her yard! Instead, she laughed! OK - she did watch my kids and shake out my pants while I went inside to take care of some stragglers, so I guess that atones for the laughter. Come to think of it, I laughed, too. It was rather funny.) Thankfully, this time around the ants only made it up to my knee and I got off easy - only three bites. After that incident I was much more careful about where I put my feet! None of the pictures were amazing, but we did get some cute ones, so I thought I would share some of the better ones.

Reese was a little more interested in the flowers than in the camera.

It's Bath Time...Mud Bath, That Is

Yesterday started out as one of those days. You know the kind - everyone is cranky and grumpy, fuses are short, and everyone's buttons are getting pushed. After a couple of hours like this, I decided we would just scrap our plans for the morning and try something - anything - different. First, we all changed into our "work clothes." Then we went and put down all the topsoil and fertilizer that our vegetable garden needs. The kids all had their little trowels and helped me mix everything in really good. They really enjoyed getting their hands in the mud. By this point, we had been outside for a while and were starting to feel better. Rather than go back inside, we trooped down to the "cut-through" to the nearby park. It is really a type of drainage area between two houses. Thanks to all the wet weather lately, there was a good bit of water - muddy water - in it. I told the kids to have fun, and did they ever! After about 30 minutes of running around and splashing in the brown liquid, we trooped back home, hosed off in the yard, and then jumped in the bathtub. Everyone emerged much cleaner and, more importantly, in much better moods. Some days, a run through the mud is just what everyone needs. :)

Here's the fearsome foursome about halfway through the mud bath.

This is not a great picture, but it did manage to catch what 3 of the 4 loved doing. Oddly enough, Reese does not like to splash in the mud, but Paige loves it, as do the boys.

Reese didn't want to walk out into the "deep part" by herself, so big brother Troy lent a hand.

Trent and Paige were having a hay day!

Troy's taking a rest from all the excitement.

Trent loves anything that allows him to get wet and muddy.

My girly-girl, Paige, did a little dance of joy. She LOVES splashing in the mud! Boy, were they ever covered in it!

Reese, on the other hand, wasn't too excited about mud getting everywhere. In fact, she put her hands over her face every time someone went splashing by.

The kids really wanted to show how full of water their boots were after our mud bath was over.

Camping...Plan B

So - we decided to get away for Saturday night and Sunday and go camping out at the lovely local state park. Jim took off early from work and headed out to get our camper. I went to the store to get some groceries for dinner. About the time I got home, Jim called and informed me that the trip was off. Apparently, we have received so much rain lately that our camper was stuck in the mud. Needless to say, there were some disappointed people in our family - and we hadn't even told the kids the bad news yet! We could have gone ahead and camped at the state park. After all, we do have all the tents, backpacks, sleeping bags, etc. that we need. (It's just all packed away since we haven't done any backpacking in - oh - about 7 years.) However, the weather forecast was not totally promising. We decided that four small children in a tent in rainy, windy, possibly hailing weather was not exactly a relaxing get-away. So...along came Plan B.

We set up our largest tent in our play room and let the kids move into it with their pillows, quilts, and beloved objects. We then went about our evening and the next day as if we were at the state park. Well - almost. Reese did end up sleeping in her own bed since she wouldn't let her siblings get any sleep of their own. Jim and I also slept in our own bed since our largest tent (which used to seem quite spacious) all of a sudden looked really small and confining with four kids inside it.

Here are the kids and the tent inside the house.

The next morning we went for a hike at a park where the kids had never been. We got to see a very full creek thanks to the recent rains. After our "hike" we had a picnic lunch and then tried our hand at fishing. I don't know if the creek was just flowing too fast or if all the fish had gotten the memo that we were coming, but nothing was biting! Fortunately, the kids have done this enough to know that the fish don't bite every time you bait a hook.

Can you believe this creek is in our neck-of-the-woods? It made for a great sight on our "hike."

A little Daddy/Daughter fishing time

Afterwards, the girls needed their naps (in the tent, of course) and the boys went with Jim to try (again) to ride their bikes without training wheels. Troy got it! He did great and didn't even look wobbly. He tends to accomplish things of a physical nature this way. He won't try it until he's 95% sure that he can do it (which makes him a little older than other kids doing the same thing). Once he thinks he can do it he will give it a try and voila - he's got it. He has done it this way since the very beginning...rolling over, crawling, walking, you name it. Needless to say, he was excited. Trent doesn't have the hang of no training wheels yet, but is still happy to try it.

We ended our day with a "Daniel Dinner" and some nice reading time and then it was off to bed in the normal places since the tent had been packed up. It wasn't quite what we had planned for the weekend, but we all enjoyed it and the kids are already asking when they get to sleep in the tent inside the house again.

There's nothing like curling up with a good book!

The Results Are In...

Our pediatrician called us this afternoon with the news that Reese's kidneys and bladder look great. Yay! Thank you, Lord! That is really what we were hoping to hear. (Especially since she had that abormality on her kidney two years ago.) Apparently, she is just going to be prone to UTIs. (Yucky for her, but much easier to deal with.) There is one thing that we will have to watch for for the next few months. For lack of a better way to put this, she doesn't have a good stream when she goes to the bathroom. She just sort-of dribbles everywhere. (Sorry, Reese, if you read this in a few years!) We're hoping it is just a result of the UTI, but if it doesn't change in the next few months, we'll have to see a pediatric urologist to make sure her "tubing" is big enough. If it is not, that could be the reason for the UTIs.

Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts on Reese's behalf. I believe that her test results are the result of all the prayers. I hope everyone has a great weekend. I know we are planning on relaxing and enjoying it! :)

Testing Done, Waiting Begins

Well Reese's CT Scan is done. It has definitely been a LONG day. We arrived at the hospital at 10:30 am and finally left at 3:30 pm. That is a long time for a 2 year old, but she did great. Of course, she probably loved having mom and dad all to herself for that length of time. :)

Thankfully, even though I had been told that she could have clear liquids up until 10 am (and given a list of what those included), I only let her have a small drink of water when she woke up. That was a good thing since the nurse who checked her in this morning said there was no way she should have had anything since midnight and didn't know why we were told otherwise. Other than that, things were going as scheduled until we got over to the CAT Scan area to talk to the anaesthesiologist. He was very nice and so was his nurse. However, he did wonder why Reese was being put totally under. (Just like we had wondered.) He thought it was "overkill." I had asked several times at our pre-op appointment if it was really necessary to give Reese a general anaesthetic. Everyone kept saying that it would be ok (I think they thought I was just a nervous mommy), and that she would only be under for 30 minutes to an hour. Well - after speaking with the anaesthesiologist, we were approached by a nurse who said that he had just gotten the sheet with the orders from our pediatrician. On this sheet it said that Reese only needed an oral sedative. General anaesthesia was only to be used if necessary. So - that was nice to find out that she did not have to be put under. However, it did mean that we had to go pick up the sedative at our drugstore, bring it back, give it to Reese, and then wait 30 minutes for it to take effect. If they had had the orders when they should have, we would have known to stop by the drugstore before coming to the hospital and saved about an hour and a half or two in waiting time. Thankfully, my dad went and got the medicine for us and brought it to the hospital. After Reese took it, it was time for her IV. Poor Reese. The IV came out when they were taping it down the first two tries (they tried both hands). After that another nurse came down from the pediatric wing and got it on her first try. Reese was not too thrilled about the 3 pricks in her hands and was quite loud in her protests. That girl has got a good set of lungs! She was still wide awake so we gave her a second dose of the sedative. It didn't do much. They decided to just do the scan anyway. The cat scan itself went well. She was wide awake, but did lie still for us. After a few"pictures," they took out the IV and we got to leave! Reese had been requesting Sonic (I can't imagine why she was so hungry and thirsty after not having anything since 10 the previous night), so that is where we went!

I wrote all this in detail even though it really wasn't that bad of an experience because something dawned on me about halfway through all this. Even though the lack of communication between doctors and hospital and nurses was frustrating, Jim and I tried not to let our frustration out on those people. They were all very nice and doing their jobs and it wasn't their fault that the communication wasn't there. Just when I was about ready to get upset over some detail, our neighbor (a nurse at the hospital) walked in to help with the IV. I saw her and realized that she didn't need to see her "Christian neighbor" ranting at a nurse. Sometimes I forget that we never know who is watching us and seeing how we react to situations. It is so important that I always behave how God desires. I can make sure that my daughter is receiving the best possible care without being ugly or demanding about it. And almost always, others respond better to nice words rather than demanding ones. (I know I do!) After seeing our neighbor, I swallowed the things I wanted to say and acted appropriately. I am so glad that I did. It turns out that one of our other nurses had recently been a customer of Jim's in our store and one of the techs had graduated from high school with me. Several other people witnessed our behavior today as well and I hope that we represented Christ well. In spite of the miscommunication going on, Reese was well taken care of and definitely watched over by her nurses. I pray that if the people we came in contact with today don't know Christ, then perhaps from our behavior today and the behavior of other Christians yesterday or tomorrow, they will one day desire to know Him. May we always be living testimonies for God!

After all that, please continue to pray for Reese. We will hopefully hear results tomorrow, but it might not be until Monday or Tuesday.


Here is Reese at home tonight showing her and Piggie's matching bracelets and bandages. Piggie got to get a cat scan, too. :)

CT Scan Tomorrow

Please keep little Miss Reese in your prayers tomorrow. She goes in for a CT Scan at noon. She had a UTI a few weeks ago and because of her abnormal kidney sonogram at age 6 months she needs to have a CT scan of her kidneys done. Please pray that everything is normal and that she might just be prone to UTIs. Of course, as her mommy, all the bad possibilities that are out there go through my mind. It is probably nothing serious, but I suppose it is human nature to think about the worst. Please pray for peace of mind for Jim and me as our youngest will be put under anasthesia for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and have her kidneys closely examined.