The big operation

Tuesday was the day that Evie went in to get her elbow set at the hospital. They really cater to kids there and did a great job. Her surgery was set for 7 am so we had to be there at 6 am. They called her back to change her and check her vitals. Then she got to choose which scented mask that she would wear when she fell asleep (bubble gum). The next question was how she wanted to get to the OR. She could ride in her bed, walk or drive.....

A pink mustang convertible! She was so into driving than she didn't even look back to say goodbye as they left us. And she only ran into the walls twice.

Before we could even get settled into the family lounge and really tackle our coffee, it was all over. By 7:40 we were talking to the dr about her outcome and by 8 am she was in recovery. Talk about fast!

When she started to feel better, they made us dress her and kicked us out of there at 9 am! We had time to go and get pastries for breakfast!

Of course, we had to milk the PBS kids show until the end.

My favorite thing about hospitals is the canned chocolate pudding. The closest thing I can find on the outside world is Kozy Shack chocolate pudding. Since all Evie ate at the hospital was 2 graham crackers, we bought a tub when filling her heavy duty prescriptions.

Ok, these next few pictures are not for the weak stomaches out there. These are the X rays of the pins. I tried to scan them, but it looks like we have to put a new printer on the shopping list as we think ours is dying.

Not the greatest pictures, but it gives you an idea of what is going on under that green cast. The cast and pins will remain in for at least 4 weeks. The worst part is that because those pins are in there, we can't get the cast wet so there will be a stinky arm around here. Does Fabreeze work on casts, Aunt Becky?

Birthday presents and breakfast

We all got up early on Annalise's birthday to get ready for the big Tour de Carmel, but the weather had other plans for us. After a big fancy breakfast of cereal, we let Annalise open her presents from Mommy, Daddy and Evie. We just don't have the Taller patience, I guess.

Check out these sparkly pink shoes. It's going to be tough to get her to wear her official school shoes after seeing these pretty things. But they are big enough to wear for a while.

The Seiberts came down for the weekend so there were a lot of little hands willing to help Annalise open her presents.

Books about Cows!

The ONLY thing she asked for her birthday was a stuffed cow. Between our lambs, goats, and cows, we almost have a complete farm.

When it was decided that the tour was a no go, Uncle Jim decided to indulge everyone in birthday donuts.

Even broken arm kids love donuts

All Seibert kids love donuts.

Natalie eats the frosting part off first.

Tessa eats each sprinkle one by one.

Uncle Mike and Aunt Denise, we thought you would like to see how your package arrived. Seriously, this is how we found it on the doorstep. No damage to the present inside, but it looks like it fell off the truck, train, stagecoach and plane in transit.

Birthday trip to the zoo

On Saturday morning, we planned to do the Tour de Carmel bike ride. Uncle Kevin even loaded up all the bikes on top of his van for the 3 hour ride south. Because of his efforts, we had the first rain in 6 weeks. It was a pretty worthless rain because all it really did was succeed in stopping us from doing the bike ride and made us move Annalise's birthday party inside. The grass is still dead.

So we decided to load up the crew for a trip down to the zoo. We figured there was enough inside stuff to do and see to keep 5 kids busy and burn off some energy. Plus we have a family pass with 4 kids and 2 guests so it would be free for everyone. Don't ask me how Tessa made it in.

Because of the cool weather, the animals were very active. We watched the ringtailed lemurs leap from branch to branch.

Everyone also had an opportunity to feed a baby giraffe.

Oliver feeds the giraffe

Natalie feeds the giraffe. I like how Evie is leaning back in all of these pictures.

Even Tessa fed the giraffe.

Ok, these pictures are out of order because we were working from 2 cameras. (we hijacked Uncle Kevin's pictures before he left.) 5 goofballs waiting for the Elephant bath show to to start.

We had the chance to pet the Elephant as we left the show, but Tessa didn't want to pet it.

There is a new exhibit about Cheetas. It was neat to see them, but as you can see, Shlee wasn't impressed.

Whoops, this is the start of the Elephant show

Here we are back at the Cheetahs where Tony Stewart challenged us to run faster than a cheetah. Mom tried to distract Tony and Oliver was embarrassed by his Aunt Jenni

Jim and Sweet Baby Tessa wait for the show to start.

And our pretty little birthday girl having a great day.

Annalise's 4th birthday party

Annalise had her first ever "Friends" birthday party on Saturday. She flipped flopped between a farm theme and a fairy theme. She eventually settled on Farm 4 days before the party. It was also at this time I discovered all the different kinds of fairy cakes and party favors available but absolutely no farm stuff. We did ok and it seemed that everyone had a great time.

When everyone arrived, we had craf time which consisted of painting bird houses that looked like barns. Of course, with all the little girls in attendance, we had a lot of pink barns.

They all worked very hard and everyone managed to stay pretty clean and not get paint on their party dresses. Yes, this part of the party took place in the furnace room. The party was supposed to be outside, but the wet morning pushed it inside. Of course, the weather cleared as soon as we had everything set up inside.

The birthday girl blows out her 4 candles! What a big girl. Can't believe how fast this has gone.

Everyone enjoys cupcakes and a scoop of ice cream.

We didn't have enough chairs, so everyone stood around.

Oliver decided that there were too many girls at that party for his taste and ate in the dinning room.

Here's a close up of the cupcakes we decorated to look like cows. We also made sheep cupcakes, but it mostly looked like a pile of marshmallows with eyes.

There were lots of fun presents to open including Hungry Hungry Hippos. The loudest game ever made. Everyone wanted to play.

Thanks to all of our guest who made this a great birthday party!

Not again!

On Thursday, we were doing the rounds in the neighborhood. After we helped out feeding some kitties and picking vegetables for our friends, we walked home. The girls were eager, as always to play with the neighbor girls who they love. The neighbor girls also have a trampoline, which I don't love but reluctantly allowed Evie to play on.

Until now.

After playing for about 15 minutes while I was making dinner, Evie showed up at the door with the neighbor girls' babysitter. She said that Evie had fallen, but didn't think Evie's arm was broken. The way Evie was carrying herself indicated immediately to me that her arm was indeed broken. So I set her up on the couch with an ice pack and finished making dinner because Jim wasn't home yet and there was no way I was taking 2 kids to the ER if I didn't have to. Evie continued to cry and complain about how much her arm hurt, so I stuffed her with some leftover pasta, turned off dinner and left Annalise with the neighbor while we went to the ER.

We were seen right away and Xrays confirmed the break of her humerus bone at the elbow. Then we were given another stern talking to about trampoline use. Evie went to the orthopedic DR on Friday and he said the break was bad enough that she will have to have surgery to have pins inserted so it will heal properly.

On Tuesday morning, she will be at Peyton Manning Children's hospital to get her pins. No word on if #18 will be scrubbing in. The surgery will be outpatient and she will only have to stay if there are complications, but the dr. doesn't foresee any. Any and all prayers, good karma, and happy thoughts would be appreciated this week, especially on Tuesday.

KEEP YOUR KIDS OFF TRAMPOLINES!!!!