Darren's surgery

Darren had surgery on the 23rd of April and the surgery went well - ok so it depends on how you look at it. We thought that his right shoulder would be better off then his left shoulder was... we were wrong, it was worse! so while the surgery went well and was a success, the findings we not so good. They did a full rotator cuff repair, took off some of his bone to eliminate the rubbing, subcronial decompression, and best of all he ripped his biceps tendon clean off so the had to screw that one back in to the bone... 5 hours later we were on our way home! He is doing much better this time after surgery, they gave him a nerve block so the pain wasn't too bad the first 24 hours. However the nurse told me not to start the pain meds till the block wore off... pain hit and it was huge and hard! I called the doctor as the meds weren't touching the pain and he said we should have started the meds as soon as we got home. So basically we are a full day behind schedule... it took us 2 days to get it under control and he was in so much pain those 2 days. I felt so helpless just having to watch him hurt like that.
Now it is a 6 week recovery in a sling, and 16 weeks of therapy. He will go once a week and cannot start to strength train until the end of June... that is killing him. He is a lousey patient - I have told him that - he doesn't keep his arm in the sling, and does far more then he should. But it's his pain and his road back so I back off.
It took me a week but he finally allowed pictures :)


About the happiest he looked in the first week

Front view, the one closest to his arm pit is about 1-1/2" long where they went in to screw teh tendon back on

The fun briusing

All his openings - it's amazing what they can do orthoscopically.

Tongue Thrust

Bryson has a tongue thrust and we have decided to put in a device that 'should' re-teach his tongue where to go. Hopefully this works! We already know that he will need braces, that isn't a shocker. But we want to correct the issue before those come along. He does go to speech in school and that helps, but now we are working on things at home that we were not before. The school cannot work with or recommend this device so we must do it at home. He should have it on for at least a year and then we will determine after that if we should go another 6 months.
He didn't like getting it one and it actually fell off the first weekend, so we had to get that put back on. But in the end he was a trooper and likes it for the most part.

Preston's First Baseball Game!

We started Preston in baseball this year, he has a natural sports ability that we aren't used to! So we put him in machine pitch and he does so great at it. Still has a hard time in the out field with his focus, but he is only 5 so what should I expect? The games are just a teaching experience, so no score. But good game Preston!

First at bat for Preston

Playing second base!

Running home! - he was teh last hitter up so he got to run all the bases, which he called a Home Run. He was so excited that his first hit was a Home Run!

Bryson is Student of the Month!

Bryson was selected for the 2nd Grade Student of the Month for April - he was so very very excited. The character trait he was selected on was Honesty. I can see this in my Bry so much, while he is sadly starting to find out what little fibs are, he love the minute details of life and tells them as they are. He loves to please people and to make people happy, he gets hurt easily from others and is hurt when others are sad. Bry loves school and loves to learn. He is such an intelligent boy and is eager to take in more and more each day.

Thanks for being such a great example in our home Bryson and for showing your little brothers how to act at school. You are amazing! Good job on student of the month!

The poster that he and I made together, he loves the color red!

His poster with the rest of the schools/grades

Standing up front with Mrs Huff - his Principal - while she talked about him

Hugging and getting his backpack full of fun stuff!

After the awards were given they had the "fun" part of the assembly where exotic animals were shown, we stayed for two of them.

This bird was pretty cool - Preston really liked this one.

Video of Bryson getting his award

That night we took Bryson to Wingers where he could use his Free kids meal for being student of the month. He was so excited to give his certificate in and say he was student of the month. It was a great day for him and for us!

Play Ball

Baseball season has officially started! It was a really cold night to be playing ball at 7:30 but we dressed warm and made the best of it! We change leagues this year and have been so happy with that decision! however we have baseball 9if it ever stops raining) at least 4 days a week, so that is a bit hard to fit everything else in. But we make due. Bryson's first game was Thursday the 8th and it was a big win! Good Job Bry!

Here he is coming home - I tried to get a good shot of him touching the base, but instead got a picture of Darren's cute butt... oh well!

This is Bryson from the first base line, he played right field his first night. You can tell how cold he is, not really wanting to be playing ball...

Bryson's good swing! He is doing so well learning the game.

Easter Festivities

We had a wonderful Easter / Conference weekend! The boys and I stayed home Saturday Evening to make our traditional "Daddy is at Priesthood sugar cookie" it was fun that this year we could make Easter ones! Darren got home right as we were about to begin decorating, Of course he wanted to be in on the action with his boys. They had so much fun decorating and eating so much frosting. Weston simply go put in a bath to wash it all off!

Daddy and his boys - just starting to decorate

Preston with his first (and only cookie) he finished it really fast and then went to play. His attention span is really small

Bryson and his cookies - he stuck with it till the end and really liked it

This is Weston's master piece - it looks a bit deadly to the mouth...

Bryson's cookie

Preston's cookie

Weston decorated a cookie and then his hand and then a cookie and then his face - he had a great time with the whole thing

All the final masterpieces - what a fun night with my boys.

Easter morning came pretty quick after that - and YES the Easter Bunny did come visit our home. Bryson and Preston both got new baseball mitts and baseball cleats. Weston got a sock Monkey and they all got flip flops and a new summer shirt. Since Sunday was also conference we didn't get Easter outfits this year. The boys don't know the difference, and let's face it - shopping for a pastel dress shirt is not really that fun. But the boys had a great morning and it was really nice to spend the whole day home.

Eggs hidden from that silly bunny

More eggs - they seemed to be everywhere

This is Bryson's basket hidden on the wall

Weston's basket hidden behind the blanket basket

The search is on for the candy!

Weston was still pretty confused

More egg hunt

Preston's basket was on the top loft in the front room

Preston reaching for eggs

The Easter Bunny brought the big boys these Nerf Nintendo DS covers which the LOVED! Here is Preston showing his off...

And Bryson simply ecstatic about his!

Checking out the final Easter findings

Their baskets of fun candy!

Conference weekend was amazing as always - there is so much focus on Motherhood and Families this year - I have really started to reflect on what I need to improve on, the list gets longer and longer each day. Oh I love the atonement! Conference was and always is a great reminder for me that I am slacking off, that I need to do more and be better. I love listening to these wonderful Men who lead our Church, their testimonies brought an extra special Spirit into our Easter Sunday home. I am so grateful to be part of this faith and to be a mother of such wonderful boys and wife to my best friend!

Preston Lost his FIRST tooth!

Preston has had a wiggling tooth for about a month now, he has been waiting and waiting for it to fall out. On Thursday Bryson lost another one of his, so I think that spurred Preston into getting his to fall out.
I was at a bridal shower when it fell out, so I called Preston on the way home... he was so super excited. He showed me right when I got home, Darren said he pulled it out himself, which sounds about right! I set it on the counter after pictures and then went about the night. Darren and I went on a quick last minute date - our sitter was gone all day and called at 7 saying she was home and free to still babysit - so off we went to play Easter Bunny.

I told him to show me his missing tooth, this is the mouth I got - Hilarious

His little tooth there in his hand

Preston and his tooth - he is growing up too quick

When we got home and got the boys settled, Preston wanted to have his tooth under the pillow - his tooth I thought, oh boy I hope it is still on the counter... it wasn't. We searched the floor and the kitchen counter and could not find it. Knowing that I had Bryson's in my bedroom I told my distraught Preston that he must have taken it into the bathroom and that I would go get it. I came back with Bryson's in my hand and he was happy again. The tooth fairy did in fact come and give him his reward! Later on Saturday I was vacuuming using the hose and noticed that I just sucked up his tooth... off went the vacuum and in I went after the tooth! I GOT IT! I was so happy. It always seems that I loss things like this on Preston and only Preston. So glad this all turned out okay in the end. Good job Preston!