Broken Heel

On April 23, I finally took Tyler to see a podiatrist and got quite a surprise!  Let's back up a few days to April 13.  We had just left church and Tyler told me his heel hurt really bad.  I asked what had happened, and he told me he jumped off a wall.  I should have asked what wall, but instead, I imagined a small retaining wall.  I just told him he had probably bruised it and lets wait a few days.  I thought nothing more about it until April 22.  Tyler told me again that his heel hurt and he couldn't put any weight on it.  Well that night, he had a belt test in Kyuki-Do, I was watching him closely, and sure enough he favored it the whole time.  Also at school they have been training for the Wellsville mile, and he had ran the mile 6 different times!!!  Oh my goodness, he must have a high pain tolerance.  His mile times were all really good as well.  One of them, he ran in under 7 minutes!!!

Back to the doctors visit now.  Upon examining Tyler's x-rays, Dr. Rigby says, "Let's get him in a cast and he can't put any weight on his foot for three weeks."  WHAT!?!?!?!  I was shocked to say the least.  I fully expected the doctor to tell me it was in fact a bruise and we would leave with a boot for Tyler to use until his heel felt better.  The little stinker had spider climbed up to the top of a building, decided it wasn't that high, let go and landed on cement.  That version of the incident was so much different than the one I had originally imagined.  Had I known that detail, we would have gone to the doctors on April 14.

As far as his injury goes, he broke his growth plate on his left heel.  Thankfully, his growth plate did not slip!  He is so lucky since I made his walk on it for close to 2 weeks.  YIKES!  I am not sure I will ever live this one down.  I will always be known as the mom who made her son walk on a broken heel for 12 days.  He will be in a cast for 3 weeks, and then downgrade to a boot for another 2-3 weeks.  He should be all healed up just in time for summer to begin!  Yay!!!

Home Makeover!

Shortly after coming back from spring break, our kids' caseworker called to let me know that their aunt was in the process of getting custody of them.  They moved in with their aunt on April 18.  It was a bittersweet. We love these kiddos and want what is best for them.  The girls were so excited to move in with their aunt how could we not be happy for them!  Tyler sure misses having an older brother figure and a constant video game buddy.  Maleina misses having a friend here all the time to play with.  Overall, we are getting back into a normal routine, until our next placement arrives anyway.

After going from 5 kiddos down to 2, I now have some time to tackle some home improvement projects.  I decided to start with the bathrooms.  here are a couple of before and after photos of them.  I have another project in the works, but it is not completed yet.  Hopefully, I will have it done in the next couple of days.

 After downstairs bathroom (I forgot to take a before shot, it was bing cherry red).

 Before upstairs guest bathroom.

After, upstairs guest bathroom.

Before-pantry door.

After-pantry door.

My sister-in-law, Shae, has been trying to get me to paint my pantry door for months now.  I finally decided to do it when I had the paint out for the upstairs bathroom.  I really like it, and I found a fun butterfly knob that matches the color of my accent wall in my kitchen.  It was also her idea to add the stripes in my bathrooms.  I love how they both turned out! 

Trip to visit Grandpa & Grandma

 

Over spring break, I took Tyler and Maleina to visit my parents in Fair Oaks, CA (a suburb of Sacramento). The kids are troopers on long drives like these.  To prepare, I make them their own Road Trip snack bag, and I make Road Trip landmarks.  You can find the links to these here and here.  These really help keep them entertained and stops the, "How much longer until we get there," questions!!  I had a heavy foot this time around, and the construction was quite minimal, so I made the trip in 10 1/2 hours!!

The weather was quite chilly while we were visiting them.  We saw the sun a few times, and rained the rest of the time.  We couldn't complain about it though, because they REALLY needed the moisture.  To occupy our time there a midst the rain, we went to see the movie, Mr. Peabody and Sherman.  We enjoyed the movie and spending time with Grandpa and Grandma.  Afterwards, we went to dinner at Island Burger.  If you ever have a chance to eat there, I highly recommend it!

One of the highlights of our trip was going to Palo Alto and San Francisco.  Maleina had been saving up her money for nine months to buy herself an American Girl Doll.  They have a store in Palo Alto, right across the street from Stanford.  Maleina had a blast choosing her doll.  There were so many choices.  She finally decided to get the doll of the year, Isabelle.  Isabelle looks just like Maleina, minus the freckles, and she loves her.  I have enjoyed making Isabelle a new wardrobe as well.

Tyler's dream car!

The weather was gorgeous in Palo Alto so we decided, with a lot of convincing, to head over to San Francisco and spend the remainder of the day there.  Since we had already driven/ran across the Golden Gate Bridge, we went down to pier this trip.

(Maleina photo bombed this picture of Tyler with Alcatraz in the background.)

Before getting wet up to their heads.

Tyler and Maleina wanted to play in the bay for awhile.  I was completely on board thinking they would get there toes wet and be done.  The sun was out, but it was still chilly.  They definitely got there toes wet, and all the way to their heads!  I need to learn my lesson-when going to the ocean, pack a spare set of clothes!  While they were playing in the bay, I went to souvenir shops to find them some dry clothes.

After playing in the bay, we climbed/hiked up the hills to walk down Lombard street, the most crooked street in the nation.  I tried several times to get a picture to show how crooked it is, unfortunately, I did not succeed. The greenery was beautiful on Lombard street and it was fun watching cars navigating the tight turns.

To finish our day in SF, we ate clam chowder in sour dough bread bowls for dinner.  The soup was delicious!

As with all vacations, they come to an end too quickly.  We had the opportunity to spend 8 full days with grandpa and grandma.  We had a blast!  Our time was spent sewing, Just Dance battles, movies, reading, playing games, and just enjoyed being together.  We cherish these moments and look forward to many more!