The word of the day is "pink"

At least it wasn't broken is all I kept saying to myself. Maddie fell down the stairs last night and apparently landed on her face....little did I know that she used her left hand to brace her fall...(but yeah for gross motor reaction)...OK, back to the story...so I ran up the stairs grabbed her up and held her...looked her over...moved all of her limbs and found a huge goose egg on her forehead...so we did the ol' Uncle Tony move....and iced with peas for a count of 10 on and a count of 10 off....then at about 2am this morning Maddie is moaning....and I say hush, go back to sleep u r ok...(don't I feel like the bad mommy)....so I get her up at 6am...for school, dress her and hear a scream with her shirt going over her head and arms....and mommy antennae is alerted...so I carry her down the stairs but her on the couch, turn on the TV (not the usual am routine) and run around to get ready...she is crying and moaning...and I think how unusual is this....so I run up the stairs grab my phone/shoes and start around the hallway corner to see Maddie trying to climb the stairs using her left hand and fall....(Mommy Antennae on full alert now...call the bus driver to not come to our house and we are off to spend 7, yes I said 7 wonderful hours at two separate hospitals...LONG LONG story...but we ended up at Miami Valley (great facility) where she is diagnosed with a "buckle fracture" and picks out her pink cast...needless to say I am exhausted and going to bed!
Good news though -- her pediatrician scored her ages and stages questionnaire for 42 and 48 months and she is no longer in the "developmentally delayed" category...border line normal but needs extra help....so I am joyous but cautious because I know how little of time it takes to slip...we have a long list of goals and things to work on but she is making progress...Thank You, Lord!

Some first moments

Zachary's 2nd basketball game and he makes his first basket....he was so excited....I missed all of the high 5's though!

Maddie is finally getting both feet off of the ground....yeah, Maddie.

Kids get haircuts finally!

Ok, it was time to venture out for haircuts. I always love to go because I end up sweating by the time we leave....but this time wasn't too bad...Maddie started off sitting in her car and watching Barney...by the time it was over I had a pink sucker stuck to my chin but her hair was cut! Then it was Zach's turn to climb onto the motorcycle and watch Pokemon while getting his locks cut...tell me what you think??

Before

After

Before Cut (picture taken in Nov -- forgot to get the camera out!)

After

Maddie's letter P!

Holiday Artwork

Maddie's Self Portrait
Zach's festival of lights

Zach's Christmas Tree

Mike's deployment pictures...

Ok, we are one month down...Mike has made it safely to the UAE. These are pictures of him on the day that he had to fly out of the country for a few mere hours to take care of visa issues. Check out the blog that his boss does on a daily basis... http://379aew.dodlive.mil

Snow, Snow, Snow

Ok, so in a matter of 2 days I have shoveled the snow 4 times. I do love to play in the snow but shoveling and playing can be a bit tough, as you can see from me pulling Maddie and shoveling the driveway at the same time. We have had a few sprinkles of snow here and there but last two days we have gotten slammed with the white wintery stuff.

Funny story to share regarding Madison. I put everyone in their winter gear to include me with 3 pairs of pants and two coats plus a sweat shirt (why don't we live in Florida???). We set our sights for the outdoors. So I proceded to set Maddie down in pile of the white stuff and turned around to pick up the shovel...turned back around and she was face first in the snow. Apparently, she purposefully fell over and started to lick it....not realizing how cold it would be...it was hilarious and unfortuantely, I did not have my camera. She kept telling me over and over how cold it was....and I could agree with her more.