Saturday, June 30, 2012

Anna's Follow Up Appointment

Here is Anna's cast she has had for the last two weeks. Her friends and family have done a lovely job decorating it.....

 But now it is time for it to go. Bye, bye cast. Anna was not too sure of the saw they used to cut off the cast as was quite certain that at several times during this procedure they were dangerously close to cutting off her leg.
 Cast is off, the nurse did a greaqt job taking it off and wrapping up Anna's leg. She still refuses to see what it looks like. Crazy girl. She went off for x-rays after this. They looked great, the bones are healing up nicely.
 This appoint was for her to get her stitches taken out. She was understandably nervous. Luckily she had a Garfield comic book and a sucker to keep her occupied. I love the expression on her face in some of these shots. Ben took so many and it was hard for me to chose which ones to share. I need to print them off and put them in a book. They make me laugh.
 No more stitches!! Hooray.
 For this cast Anna choose a lime green color. It is very fresh looking and goes great with summertime.
 She did not mind watching this part.
 All set up with a fresh cast and ready to go. She will go back in to weeks to the hospital do have the pins removed. For this they will put her under sedation. Whew.
So, two more weeks left in the wheelchair. Then she get to use crutches. Her elbow is great and she does not have to have the sling on anymore. :)

Friday, June 29, 2012

Isaac's cooking endeavors

Isaac has gotten into cooking, or to be more accurate, baking lately. He has made brownies, cinnamon crumb cake, cookies, and dabbled in a few dinner. Well while going through on of his favorite books he found a recipe for Logan Bread and thought it would be a lot of fun to bring on his next camp out which just happened to be in a few days. So we gatherered his ingredients. We had to get some wheat germ, because I have never, ever had that in my house. The recipe also called for wheat flour. Well, I did not have wheat flour but I did have whole wheat and a grinder, so he ground it himself. I hope his troop appreciates his efforts.
 This is a very dense bread. No leavening agents in it. It is sweetened with brown sugar, honey and molasses as well as raisens.  Then it is not so much baked as it is dried out in the oven. 275 for 2 hours.
 Ben found this book in a clearance rack a while ago. Ike loves it.
 His trusty recipe.
The finished product. This recipe made two loaves. We froze one so that way he can grab a quick snack to put in his pouch as he heads out fishing or hiking.

Fleece Poncho

Summer comes last in these area of our great United States. Poor Anna was cold in her wheel chair because her sling on her left arm keeps her from being able to where just a regular coat. She really does not like her elbow being messed with. So....the PONCHO!! ta da! Just two layers of fleece sewn together with a pretty clasp in the front. We made it reversable first for warmth and because if she spills something we can just flip it over.  We made it long in the front to cover her legs and especially her cast. She was very self conscience about it when she first hurt herself. Now she is much more comfortable about it.

 Maria needed a poncho as well. Hello Kitty of course. Put on a nifty clasp for her as well. This one is tied together. I like the look of the sewn together and loose tassles.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

First year of college done.

There are no cool pictures or videos to go along with this post. Those who are easily bored without such clever inserts better just pass on reading this post.

Today I have finished my finals for spring quarter. This means I have offically made it through my first year of college. Sure, I have classes I am taking this summer, but I see those as going towards my second year. This year flew by so fast, it gives me hope for the next four years.

I am super happy, and actually find myself wondering what to do with myself this afternoon. So, I did something I have not done in a very long time. I watched tv. It was fantastic! I even made sure I watched a chick flick.

In between classes this summer we do have our usual family adventures planned, albeit altered a bit to accomodate for Anna. She informed Maria and Jake that is was a, "bummer they cannot go to the pool this summer." I asked her why they could not go and she said it was because she could not get in the water. Uh, I am pretty sure that Jakey and Maria can get in the water though and they will get to go to the pool. I am sure we can find something for her to do while they are there.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

A boy and his whip

Isaac got into  whipping about the time Indian Jones and the Crystal Skull came out. Wait, let me rephrase that, Isaac got into whipping exactly when Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull came out. First he had just 4 ft prop whip. Then he got a more sturdy 6 foot whip. Over the years the whips have gotten more expensive and longer. He does not hit himself as much anymore. Just last week his new whip arrived. It is a eight plate 10 foot beast. Just the sound of it whirling through the air is enough to make me afraid of it. The "pop" it has is quite impressive. He loves his whip and hopes to be able to continue to upgrade. I don't know if he will ever get longer than a 10 foot. That is a lot of leather to control at such high speeds.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Anna's two week followup

Anna went to the orthopedic surgons office. She finally got to get that stinky bandage off. She was not happy with having anyone touch her leg or her arm. They did x rays of the elbow to see how it was healing. It is doing great! Since they do not cast elbows she just has to wear a sling and be careful not to put any weight on it at all.
 I had to read to Anna the whole time. She did not want to look at what was going on and needed a distraction so Ben took the pictures for us. Anna still refuses to even look at the pictures.
 Finally her foot is able to breath. I wish I could have washed it before it ended up in another wrap for two weeks.
 Where the stitches are is where one of her bones broke through the skin. She will get those out on her next appointment.
 She has four pins, as you can see, holding the bones in place while they heal. Those should come out in a month. Man, it is amazing how fast kids bones heal.
Yes, I did polish her toes. :)

Anna now has on a hot pink cast and it is almost completely full of signatures from well wishers. I will post pics of that later. Ben also made her a custom cushion for her leg to rest on in the wheel chair as well as a special board for her foot when she is in the car to hold it still and still be able to be in her booster seat buckled up.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Anna's Adventures

It all started out well and good. An afternoon family bike ride on Memorial Day.
 It ended with this.
 Anna wrecked her bike. She did a lovely compound fracture on her right leg, breaking her tibia and fibia as well as breaking her elbow on the left arm. They did surgery the following day and they put her leg back together with four pins and she is wheelchair bound for 8 weeks.
 The boys had some fun with the board for the nurses to write mesages to eachother.
 Somewhere in these blankets is a sleeping Anna. Can you find her?
 Anna got pass from schoolfor the rest of the year. She went back to school and said goodbye to her friends and got to let the last butterfly go that the class has raised.
Maria gave her hand.

She had a check up this week and got to get into a cast finally. We had to wait two weeks for swelling to go down. She chose hot pink, of course. She will go back in two weeks to have a new cast put on, the stitches removed from where the bone popped through the leg. Yes, of course we have pictures. :)