Waffle House

Cole came home with this paper today...which has made Mommy and Daddy crack UP!!! To truly understand this, you'll need some background.

When Cole was about 3 years old, he begged us to take him to the Waffle House. And, we said no. And, for DAYS...all we heard about was eating at Waffle House.

Truthfully, Mommy and Daddy have only eaten at the Waffle House once. And, it wasn't a good experience. It was late Thanksgiving night, in Joplin, and after eating a very early dinner at a hotel buffet, we got hungry. The ONLY restaurant open that night was a very greasy, dirty Waffle House across the street from our hotel. So, we went. I ordered a waffle and was told they were "out". Excuse me?!? I asked the waitress, "Isn't this the Waffle House? How do you run out of waffles???" Apparently, on Thanksgiving, there had been a massive demand for waffles. Go figure.

I believe I ended up with a small plate of hashbrowns. And, I don't remember what Chris ate...but I do remember him barely getting it down. If we hadn't been so hungry, and if there had been any other restaurant in town open, I'm quite certain we would not have been sitting in that place, eating what I can only describe has something that resembled food.

So, when Cole begged us to take him to Waffle House for breakfast (because what kid doesn't think that a big pile of sugary syrup would make a great meal?!?), without hesitation we said "NO!"! And, we said it repeatedly because the begging just wouldn't stop.

Finally, Daddy told Cole that he wouldn't like Waffle House because it was sticky. STICKY!!! Genius! After all, this is the kid who eats donuts with a fork because he doesn't like to get his hands messy. He totally bought it! Sticky?!?! No way...he wasn't about to eat THERE!!!

Nearly 4 years later, he comes home with this paper from school. Apparently, Daddy left a lasting impression.




And, as for salad.... He just doesn't like that! He had to put it on the paper twice! Hey...he got a perfect score though! :)

Happy Easter!

Last night, even as sick as Chase was, he spent some time coloring Easter eggs! They weren't fancy at all, but we got those eggs all ready for the Easter Bunny! He wasn't going to let a virus and a bum leg stop him! (Cole colored eggs with Aunt Robyn...who did a much better job than we did!)

My sick boy working hard!




Pretty eggs.



That Easter Bunny must have fixed Chase's leg while he was here late last night, because he got up and started walking today! It was just as if nothing had ever been wrong! Go figure! Not only that, his fever broke during the night as well. And, here is one happy little guy finding eggs!




The Easter Bunny also left a basket for each of the boys. And, Chase really enjoyed the new sunglasses and harmonica he found inside his! Oh...and he enjoyed the candy too!



Around lunchtime, Mommy, Daddy, and Chase headed over to NaNa's and PaPa's house. Cole re-hid his Easter eggs so that Chase could go on another egg hunt there. And, lo and behold, the Easter bunny had been there too and left baskets for the boys! Afer finding eggs, we all went to Summit Hickory Pit for lunch and to visit with Aunt Robyn.

Thanks, Aunt Robyn, for helping with Easter this year!

Back to the ER...and Round 2

I picked Chase up from school yesterday and he was happily waiting for me by his cubby! We gathered his things, said goodbye to his teacher, and started down the hallway. We didn't make it 3 steps from the door when he asked me to carry him because his leg hurt. I figured this was just a ploy to get Mommy to carry him all the way to the car. But, I went ahead and carried him when he persisted with the begging.

We drove home and, once there, I carried Chase into the house and set him down. He immediately dropped to the ground and started crawling. And, he spent the next 3 hours crawling wherever he wanted to go. He could not bear to stand on his right leg. Clearly, something was wrong! He finally told me that, while running in the gym with his class, 3 kids ran into each other. He said Addie had a big bump on her head and Korbin's glasses cut his face and he was bleeding. However, in the chaos, no one noticed that Chase had gotten hurt since he continued to play afterward. And, he never told anyone at school that he leg hurt.

Hopefully Chase will feel better soon and can enjoy Easter!

We took Chase to the ER (where they almost know us by name anymore) to have his leg examined. They took 3 x-rays of his leg which revealed nothing. The doctor stated that he likely had a buckle fracture that was so small it wasn't showing on the x-ray. (Apparently, it us not uncommon for breaks in small kids to not show up on x-rays.) We were sent home with instructions to see a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon if his leg did not improve or got worse over the next few days.

The next morning, he woke up and crawled downstairs for breakfast. I gave him some Ibuprofin for the leg pain and he ate and seemed pretty good. Not more than an hour later, he told me he didn't feel good. I took his temperate and it was nearly 103 degrees WITH Iburprofin!!! And, that's when Mommy and Daddy got a little freaked out!!!

A really high fever, coupled with some unusual leg pain which may or may not have been related to falling at school?? After all, he didn't complain to anyone about his leg hurting while he spent several hours there after the fall. This all seemed so strange. So, back to the ER we went. Only this time, we went to Children's Mercy South...just to be on the safe side.

Cole was supposed to see Dr. V today (and we had made this appointment months ago!) to check his meds. But, how could I take Cole to Dr. V's office, and also take Chase to the ER? And, I didn't want Cole in the ER with us to be exposed to "who knows what" kind of germs! So, Daddy met us in the parking lot of the hospital, took Cole to lunch and his doctor's appointment, and I took Chase to the ER.

Chase was a mess...in pain, lethargic, and clearly didn't feel good at all. The nurse performed a strep test almost immediately, which came back negative. So, we were sent to an exam room to wait. We waited over an hour there, and Chase slept in my arms. And, when the doctor finally came in, she found that Chase had blisters in the back of his throat. He had hand-foot-and-mouth virus! And, we were told, it was HIGHLY contageous among children. (Awesome...wasn't Cole just sitting 2 feet from Chase in the car?!?!?)

I took Chase home (Cole stayed at Daddy's work for the rest of the afternoon) and he laid on the couch all afternoon/evening. When Cole and Daddy got home, we packed Cole's bag and sent him to MomMom's and Big Grandad's house for the night. Then, today, he moved on to NaNa and PaPa's house. (Thankfully Aunt Robyn is in town to entertain him and dye Easter eggs with Cole!)

Hopefully Chase will feel better soon and can enjoy Easter!

Tex

Bugz

The 1st grade put on quite the performance tonight when they performed "Bugz". Cole played the part of the praying mantis and had the biggest speaking part in the play...2 whole lines! :)

Here is Cole, showing off his artwork, which was on display in the lobby of the high school. (The cookies still needed to be dropped off for a snack after the performance!)



Can you find Cole? Front row, blue shirt, next to the girl in red. Ok, ok...so you can only see his shoes in this picture! :)



Close-up

Chase's friend

Chase has such an imagination! He can often be found taking ordinary objects from around the house and turning them into whatever suits his fancy at the time. His hockey stick is often a gun, the cherries from the Hi Ho Cherry-O game have become corn to fill the silo on his farm, and his collection of polished rocks can be found in any number of dump trucks or farm tractors!

But, lately he has discovered a new friend around the house. I believe Aunt Mary and Uncle Dave actually brought this puppet home from Mexico for Cole. But, Cole has always been a little leery of it. So, he has found a new home in Chase's room! And, of course, Chase named him! Meet....


Jackson Moo Smitty



















What could be cooler than a puppet? A puppet packing a GUN!

What a Day...

...It all started last night, when Daddy found a lump behind Chase's left knee. I had gone to karate with Cole and, upon returning, was told I needed to see Chase's knee. The lump was probably about the size of a very large marble! Slightly freaked out...I knew I would be taking Chase to the doctor first thing the next morning!

This morning, Cole got on the bus for school, Daddy left for work, and I took Chase to Urgent Care! Turns out...the lump behind is knee is something called a "Baker's Cyst" and is basically the fluid from his knee joint which has filled this cyst. The doctor assured us that it isn't cause for concern, but did say that she sees this so infrequently that she needed to consult her books just to make sure. Together, we read the entire page straight from her medical textbook. She did say that if the cyst continued to grow, or begins to hurt, we should consult a pediatric orthopaedist.

Next, I asked her about Chase's right eye, which has been watering for about a month now. She was completely stumped! It is not infected and it appears that there is nothing wrong with his eye. She prescribed an allergy eyedrop to try for a week or so. If that doesn't help, we are to find a pediatric opthamologist. (Sigh....my little walking medical mystery!)

After the doctor's office, I took Chase to Nonnie and then finally went to work. I arrived 3 hours late. Work was crazy busy, as usual. And, to my surprise, I found out that I had been volun-TOLD that I would be leading a team on a very high profile project. *sigh* Great, this day just keeps getting better. And, my head is swimming as I'm trying to figure out how to manage this big project, when I get an email from Cole's teacher saying that he hadn't been doing his work in class all week and she would be sending home a large packet of homework that needed to be completed. And, not 30 minutes later, I get a phone call from Nonnie saying that Cole threw up on the bus this afternoon!!!

I got home from to find a very angry Cole. Mad that he hadn't been allowed to eat the cookies he wanted for a snack! (Bear in mind that he had just thrown up not 30 min. earlier!) Nonnie told him to try crackers and water first, and that wasn't making him happy. So, to let us know how angry he was, he picked up the remote control for the TV and proceeded to throw it several times until it broke!!

Turns out...whatever made Cole sick was most likely something that he had eaten at school. He was physically fine all evening. But, he was a complete emotional trainwreck! And, the homework....took all evening. By the time he finally finished, there was no time left to play outside. So...Round 3 of our battle ensued...which ended with Cole in bed and very uspet about it!

While we have been having issues at home with Cole's behavior for the past several weeks, I was trying to ignore it the best I could because he was still doing OK at school. However, now that he has lost all focus and can't seem to complete his work at school, it is time to contact Dr. V and see about adjusting his medication. With only 6 weeks of school left, I thought we just might make it. But, I don't think so now.

Let's hope tomorrow is a better day!

Silly boys!

I have alway said that Cole is part cat. The boy has never liked his face to get wet! So, Mr. Ingenuity figured out how to take a shower and, at the same time, minimize the amount of water that might touch his face...especially his eyes. If you've ever been around out house at shower time, you've more than likely heard all the screaming and carrying on that comes from the bathroom when a drop of water gets in his eyes.
















Of course, Chase had to get in on the act too!

Helping Daddy

Daddy has been building a 1928 Model A truck for a short while now. And, the boys absolutely love to help! (And, by "help" I mean that they normally spend the better part of an hour yelling, fighting with each other, and riding their bikes/pedal cars way too fast and way too close to the other cars in the building....narrowly missing scraping the fenders as they scream by.) I'm not sure when Daddy gained these nerves of steel or so much patience, but Mommy certainly wouldn't have it!

Anyway...here are a few shots from today when they actually spent some time working on the truck rather than just playing next to it!

Cole and Chase!













Cheese!













The boys' job was to help build the bed of the truck!













Cole snapped this picture of Chris using his grinder.














Cole is hard at work!