Omaha Gymnastics Meet

Brittney did well at the Omaha Gymnastics Meet. I was warned ahead of time by other parents that the judges typically give lower scores at this meet. The coach had also let our team members know. Unfortunately, I forgot to mention it to Steve, who about fell off the bleachers when Brit's scores were consistantly low. He eventually figured it out. ******************************* Didn't place on Floor with a 7.450 4th Place on Bars with a 8.350 3rd Place on Beam with a 7.900 3rd Place on Vault with a 8.400 3rd Place in All Around with a 32.100 ******************************* Steve had fun visiting an old college friend from SDSU, Tim Ratliff. It's great to have friends to stay with in Omaha.

Latisha

Latisha, the little girl who's staying with us this weekend, loves to play at our house. She and Taylor are enjoying some girl time this morning. Last night went well until bedtime. No one wanted to lay down. You're shocked, I know! We all got PJ's on and settled in with blankets and pillows to watch a movie. But then I couldn't get the DVD player to work. That's usually when I call for Steve but of course, he isn't home. So we moved to plan B. I tucked the boys in bed and had the girls crawl into my bed with me to watch TV. By now, it was 9pm and there wasn't really anything great for them to watch. We tried watching America's Funniest Home Videos since it's child-friendly but it only wound the kids up instead of helping them wind down. So I moved to plan C. I turned off the TV and just snuggled with them. Poor Latisha just kept getting up to go to the bathroom, get a drink, get her chapstick, kick off the blankets because she was hot, etc. You get the picture. I just kept hoping she would settle down so Taylor could get to sleep. Finally it occured to me to pray over her. I just held her and asked God to help settle her little body down so she could rest peacefully. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as I finished that prayer, Latisha asked in her cute little voice,"Tricia, could you play with my hair?" I did and she was asleep almost instantly.

VBS Workshop Day

I'm looking forward to today since it's our annual VBS Workshop day. For anyone unfamiliar, VBS stands for Vacation Bible School and our church puts it on for a week every summer. I'm really excited about our team this year and we always have fun during our planning time. We're driving to Sioux Falls in our church "limo" (a big white van), we'll have lunch together and then attend the workshop in the afternoon. It's a great time with some great people who have a real heart for reaching kids for Christ. Passion is contageous!

Brit's Upcoming Gymnastics Schedule

Here is the upcoming gymnastics schedule for the rest of this season: . Premier Invite - Omaha - Jan 30th Mitchell Invite - Mitchell - Feb 13th Rushmore Invite - Rapid City - Feb 28th Beach Party - Sioux Falls - March 13-14th STATE MEET - Brookings - March 19-20th ************************************************** Someone once asked me how we can afford to keep Brittney in gymnastics since it's so expensive and there are so many trips. There are three major reasons: 1) The booster club offers fundraisers every year. The first year, Brit raised half of her booster club money and the past two years she was able to sell enough butterbraids to pay for each year. Just this year she raised $657.00. 2) The gym lets parents have a used leo sale every year so gymnasts who grow out of a leo can purchase a bigger one without spending so much money. We also try to honor requests for gymnastics stuff for Christmas or birthday gifts. 3) Quite a few of the out-of-town meets aren't too far away so we try to avoid staying overnight. When we do have an overnight trip, we stay with friends or family instead of a hotel. I also usually pack food for a least one of the meals. We've also been just taking one parent and kid instead of the whole family so we don't have to pay for everyone to get into the meet. . We've always said that we'll try to support each kid in one activity. Brittney has chosen gymnastics and seems to be pretty good at it so we'll try our best to keep supporting her. It's worked out well so far! She'd love to have people cheering her on at the state meet in Brookings this year. It's fun to watch so come on over!

It's Already Friday

It's already Friday!!! I'm trying to post something everyday, even if it's just a picture but as you can see, I didn't even get that done yesterday. Today is just a lot of driving kids from one spot to another. Let's see if you can follow my schedule today. There's a quiz at the end :) . Brittney's at school at 7:30am and then I'll pick her up at 12:30pm so she can get ready to leave for the gymnastics meet in Omaha, NE. . Riley, Zeke and Taylor are at school around 8:10am on cold days. On warmer days when they can play outside before school, we get there earlier. . Anthony had preschool from 8:30-11am. I'll be leaving to pick him up in a few minutes. . I'll be picking Brit up at 12:30 and then picking Zeke up at 2:30pm. In between, I need to stop at the bank and pick up some cash for Steve and turn in the spring soccer registrations for Riley and Taylor. . Steve should be home around 2:30pm and then Sandy, Steve, Brittney and Zeke will leave for Omaha. . From that point on, my weekend gets a bit less hectic. Taylor's going home with a friend after school and Riley wants to go to Boys & Girls club. . Later this evening, a cute little girl is coming to spend the weekend with us. . What a fun life! * Oh! I almost forgot the quiz question! Who has the most fun getting her kids where they need to go? I guess that would be me :)

Brittney's Snack

It's Brittney's night to bring snack for Planet 56, the 5th and 6th grade Wednesday night class at church. She wanted to make ice cream cupcakes so last night Steve got the necessary stuff and baked the cake mix in the cones. Then this afternoon, I filled both cupcakes and cone cupcakes with a creme filling. Now Brit and her best friend Tia are frosting and decorating. They decided no two should look alike so it's kept them busy for quite a while.

Anthony's Preschool Snack

It's Anthony's turn to bring snack for preschool tomorrow so we made a football out of chocolate cupcakes. I snuck some chocolate chips into the batter, too!

More Bad Weather

Very short blog entry today because the kids got out of school at 1:30pm. Tomorrow is already scheduled to be a two hour late start due to the blizzard conditions. Welcome to South Dakota! I really do want to write, I just need a few minutes to think while I do it. And that's not going to happen while lots of kids are home. Maybe I'll get a chance tomorrow since we aren't leaving early for school. Hopefully I'll get some pictures of Brittney's room painting project,too.

Vikings :(

Football season is officially over for me :( It was a fun game to watch but not such a great finish. I'm suprised I didn't wake any of the kids with my enthusiasm.

Lots of Ice = Changing Schedules

Brittney was supposed to have a gymnastics meet this morning in Sioux Falls. She was disapointed that it was cancelled but I was relieved. Steve is working all weekend at the Swiftel Center so I was taking all the kids by myself on the icy roads just to make them sit through the competition for hours. It's hard to concentrate on gymnastics while trying to entertain four young kids for four hours. . Taylor was supposed to attend a Cheerleading Clinic this morning but it was postponed until later in February. . A few weeks ago, I tried to sign Riley and Taylor up for an SDSU basketball clinic. At the time it was full and they were so far down on the waiting list (registration was during the time I was out of town) that I didn't think there was any way they would be able to participate. But because of all the ice, lots of kids cancelled. I received an email yesterday informing me that there was space for them. So I took them over to the college this morning to play basketball and work on skills. The kids like learning from the college players but their favorite part every year is having all the players sign the shirts they receive. It's pretty big stuff when you're eight! . Since Brittney's gymnastics meet in Sioux Falls was cancelled, the coach decided to have an inter-squad meet here in town. So I took Taylor to my sister's, Riley and Zeke went to Boy's & Girls Club, and Anthony and I went downtown to watch Brittney and her teammates perform. Afterward, we picked all the kids up and I took them out to eat at Culvers. I love watching them order on their own and having fun kid conversation. Now we're just about finished with baths and I think we might have a movie night. Seve won't be home until later and I'm too tired for game night!

New Era of Life

I found my first official grey hair this past week. I think Steve thought I might be upset but I found it rather funny. I made it a point to show everyone in my family but they had trouble seeing it. I kind of see it as a badge of honor. I survived my childhood and young adult years. I guess I'm officially moving into a new era of life. It's only fair, seeing as how I'm married to a middle aged bald man :)

Thursday Mornings

A friend and I decided to have a moms' chat time last Thursday morning. Sometimes a mom needs a place she can visit with friends in a child-friendly environment. So I provided the house and the coffee and Jen provided the cookies. We ended up with seven moms and lots of kids. I enjoyed visiting with some friends that I don't get to see very often, and when I do see them, it's usually hard to talk for very long. So Thursday morning, the bigger kids played together and had a snack while the moms hung out downstairs and let the little ones play by us. It went so well that we're going to do it every Thursday morning. So if you have time on Thursday mornings from 9-11am, come on over! It's definitely casual and open to anyone who doesn't mind being interupted by kids. We had a great time!

Taylor's Show & Tell

Thurday is Show & Tell in Taylor's class. Ever since I returned from Tennessee, she's been asking Jen to take Kassy to her class. So this week we went to 1st grade. And Taylor's teacher, Mrs. Brenden got to hold Kassy, too!

From the Back of the Van

This conversation came from the back of our van during one of our recent trips:

Anthony: MOM!!! Taylor's kicking my seat!
Taylor: No I'm not.
Anthony: Yes you are!!!
Taylor: No I'm not.
Anthony: Yes you are!!!
Taylor: No I'm not. This would be kicking. (As we hear a thump, thump, thump) I was pushing.

There is a long pause, followed by Anthony: "MOM!!! Taylor's pushing my seat.

Just Another Day

Yesterday was another busy day since the kids were out of school for MLK Day. Kind of looks like it was milk day, doesn't it? Anyway, last night we took all the kids to the high school basketball game because Brittney's gymnastics team was performing at half time. It's fun to watch but they don't really do anything special because they only have 10 minutes and a few floor mats.
So now everyone's been delivered to school and I stopped at home to make my coffee before bible study at 9am. The main floor of the house is back in order and I guess I'll be tackling the downstairs this afternoon. Or I might just sit back and enjoy the quiet house for a few minutes. :)

Great Sunday!

Started with a thought-provoking sermon by our new pastor followed by inquisitive kids in our first grade Sunday School class. We taught about Jesus healing the blind man, played a few fun games and had some great kid thoughts about Haiti. Also, it just so happened that out of the seven kids and two adults in the class, four of us were adopted. That also made for some interesting discussion. After church, we went out for lunch with Grandpa Larry and Grandma Connie. We watched the game while we were eating and then came home to watch the second half on the big screen. Anthony's foster parents, Gary and Betty, came for a visit yesterday and took Anthony out for lunch at Burger King and then to Dairy Queen for ice cream. They brought his birthday presents and made him a happy little boy! Brittney made sure to wear her Romo jersey all day yesterday, even when she was bugging the dog by making him ride around in her bag. After he came back from lunch, Anthony entertained himself on the mini trampoline and Riley watched the game with us. Once Brittney realized the Cowboys were losing badly, she entertained herself by dressing up our poor dog, Will, in a leo.

Anthony Says

Anthony was discussing marriage. He let me know that he wanted to be married when he grew up so I asked him who he would marry. He responded, "When I get bigger and all my friends get married, I'll marry whoever is left."

Zeke Says

While on our hospital trip in St Paul, we ate at a Perkins. When the waitress delivered Zeke's plate, he casually smiled and said, "Thanks honey."

GO VIKINGS!!!

Should be interesting at our house around 1pm. I'm a huge Vikings fan and Brittney is a huge Cowboys fan. . GO VIKINGS!

I'm Married to Super Woman

As you can tell by the title of this blog, this is not written by Tricia. It is now 1:15 am sunday morning and I'm trying to wind down from a long night doing concessions (and the Mt Dew I'm sure did not help) When I got home, everyone was sound asleep, and as I walked through the house to the bedroom, I could tell my Awesome wife had been busy again today. I don't know how, but with 5 kids at home, she washed the sheets on the bed, cleaned the kitchen front room. Little does she know that me coming home to a clean house really put me in a better mood to deal with the family. THANKS SUPER WOMAN FOR ALL YOU DO!! LOVE YOU.

Single Parent

I'm a single parent for a few days again. Steve worked concessions for motorcross at the Swiftel Center last night after working a full day at Daktronics. This morning, he's off to a men's breakfast at the church and then back to the Swiftel Center by 10:30am until late tonight. . Brits going to the church to clean toys in the nursery this afternoon and Taylor has a birthday party. Later this afternoon, I think David and Kassy are coming over so their folks can go out to celebrate their anniversary. Our kids totally love them! . I'm guessing I won't have a lot of blogging time today but you never know!

Chicago Area

On the way back from Penn, we asked GPS Jane to take us to the University of Notre Dame. More from Notre Dame Notre Dame Again The kids had fun bowling with Josh, my cousin Kerry's son. They also played the elephant game on our Chicago pit stop. We're very thankful for family in the Chicago area! It made the Pennsylvania trip so much easier.

Doctors' Evaluations and Results

*All the testing showed that the surgery last fall on the nerves in Zeke's spine did exactly what it was supposed to. The tightness of his leg muscles isn't there anymore. *The tests that show how much energy he has to exert to walk have shown a significant decrease. That means it doesn't take nearly as much energy for Zeke to walk/run as it used to. *His range of motion is good. That means his muscles allow him to move into different positions much more easily than before. *Zeke will need to have surgery to correct some of the bone issues that continue to make it difficult for him to walk well. The more we can correct for him as a child, the fewer issues he will have as an adolescent and adult. ................ SURGERY Zeke will go back to St Paul in the fall of Aug 2010 for another gait analysis. This way they have 3 comparisons and can make sure they are correcting through surgery only what really needs to be corrected. . In Oct 2010, Zeke will have surgery in St Paul at Gillette Children’s Hospital. The surgeons will perform multiple surgeries at the same time. It sounds like his actual hospital stay should only be about 5 days this time but he’ll probably come home with a half-body cast for 6 weeks or so. What Will Be Done *Proximal Femoral Osteotomy – Surgery on the upper thighbone to correct it’s positioning and alignment. This will prevent his knees from rotating inward. *Tibial Derotational Osteotomy – Surgery just above the ankle. The tibia is cut and rotated to the proper alignment. This will correct an abnormal twist in the shinbone that is currently preventing his foot and knee from aligning properly. It should give him a better chance of maintaining an upright body position and the ability to push off with power when walking. *Calcaneal Lengthening - This helps to correct Zeke’s flat feet by cutting the heel bone and inserting a bone graft and lengthening the tendon to improve alignment. This will reduce or alleviate crouching and give Zeke more power when walking. *Medial Cuneiform Osteotomy – The surgeon cuts and realigns the bone in the arch of the foot. It corrects a forefoot deformity by uniformly distributing weight on the front of the foot. *Posterior Tibialis Lengthening – This surgery balances the muscles that control motion in the back and middle of the foot. The surgeon splits the tendon upward above the ankle, routes the detached half to a new position and secures it to the bone.

Burnsville Clinic Visit

The Burnsville Clinic is definitely kid friendly. The front desk was built like a boat. We waited in the lobby for about a half hour before they took us into a room. The kids had fun though. The first room was a bit small for the four of us. During the 45 minutes we were in that room we were visited by a nurse and an intern. They asked a few questions and then we sat some more. Eventually we were moved to a bigger room, where we waited another hour. The intern checked on us. Poor guy thought we were going to be really mad! Turned out the doctor had an emergency at another hospital. Zeke passed some of the time reading. The doctor eventually came and we were finally out of the clinic by 12:45pm. We treated ourselves to Old Country Buffet for lunch before heading back home.

God Is Cool, Even in St Paul

I took the kids down to breakfast this morning. At first, we were the only people in the breakfast area but eventually another couple came down. She sat at a table while he went out to start their car. After a few minutes, she queitly approached me and asked if they could pray for Zeke. She and her husband sat down at the table with us and placed their hands on Zeke and feverently prayed for him and his health. They thanked God for him and asked for his healing in Zeke's life. Later, she had some amazing stories to tell. She asked if I would be interested in a book about prayer that had changed her life. Ironically enough, my women's class on Sunday has recently been diving into our prayer lives with renewed fever. I use the word ironic but that's not correct. God knows what he's doing and who and what he places in our lives. But because he also gave us a free will, we choose how we react to people and circumstances. I'm so glad that Judy chose to listen to God's leading and pray for Zeke. It may not bring him healing but it definitely gave me peace of mind on a hectic day! * Interesting facts: .The couple's names were Gary & Judy (same names as my aunt and uncle) .We were the only two families in the breakfast room .The book was written by a women from Anderson, IN (where Steve's biblical author grandfather was from .My bible study has recently been studying the power of prayer and I was handed a book by a stranger on Prayer Strategy. * God is good where ever we are!

Zeke

Both boys are still sleeping! I guess we finally wore them out. When we came back to the hotel last night, Steve took them swimming and then we ordered pizza and watched America's Funniest Home Videos. They were both asleep within minutes of laying down. . Yesterday Zeke did well with all the testing once Steve took Anthony to another room. The therapists took a lot of measurements concerning how the muscles in his legs and feet are working. He had to do a lot of stretching and pushing but the therapist made it into a game so he had fun. Children's hospitals are great! . Then he had to do a quite of bit of walking down a blue sidewalk in the room. They took lots of video of his feet and legs as he would walk and run. . After that, they put the little metal button things. Check out the pictures. For some reason the blog wouldn't let me add comments with the pictures I posted yesterday. It takes a while to get the "buttons" all in place and takes lots of precise measuring. Zeke thought it was great because they let him pick out what color tape he wanted. He picked purple and pink with hearts. He also convinced them to wrap some around his head! . They use the "little buttons" to take pictures of how Zeke is walking. In the bigger room, there are 12 high speed cameras positioned all around the room. As Zeke walks down the walkway, each camera takes something like 1400 pictures a second. The computer translates where the "buttons" show up on the computer to create a visual image of Zeke walking and running. It's also how they make the high tech video games. When they were done with that portion, they gave us a DVD that included both his previous test two years ago and the current one. It's pretty cool to watch. . They last part of the testing had to do with how much effort/oxygen it took Zeke to walk. They hooked him up with a mask and a computer. First he had to sit and relax for 10 minutes while they monitored his resting rate. That was his favorite part because they let him watch a movie. He wasn't very happy when the ten minutes were over and they made him walk the halls for six minutes to monitor the rate of his exertion. . The therapist doing the testing thought he was so cute with all his stuff on that she asked if she could take a picture of him and keep it on her desk just so she could smile when she looked at it every day! Of course we let her! He did look pretty amazing with the pink wrap around his head and a purple one around the bottom of his face. Like some kind of weird pirate! . The whole process took about 2 1/2 hours to complete. We'll discuss the results with the doctor later this morning.

At My Mom's

Pictures from Perkins

Gait Lab Results

Today we took Zeke to the Gait Lab at Gillette Children's hospital in St Paul, MN. It involved a lot of interesting testing but we won't really know any results until tomorrow when we'll be meeting with the orthopedic doctor tomorrow in Burnsville.

More From the Gait Lab

Gait Lab

Zeke : (

So Zeke had a complete meltdown at breakfast. I guess he's really tired. Steve had to carry him, screaming and kicking, out of the breakfast area and back to our room. This is not boding well for the appointment today.

Anthony : (

From 10-11 last night, Anthony cried and fussed, keeping Zeke awake. It wasn't a cute little cry either. He was basically mad and wanted the world to know it. I hope we didn't bother to many other hotel guests! And of course, he was awake at 6am this morning and had to wake up his brother, too. It's a good thing the Gait test is this morning and not this afternoon because otherwise I think Zeke would be to tired to participate. Our appointment is at 10am so we'll see what happens.

We Made It to St Paul!

We made it safely to our hotel just a few minutes ago. We got both boys in their PJ's and tucked into bed so I jumped on the computer for a few minutes. Steve is patiently waiting his turn so I'll leave any important posting for tomorrow. :) . PS: I'm still planning on writing about the manna that I hinted about last week!

On the Road Again

Being the travelers that we are, we're off again! This time we're heading to St. Paul, MN. Zeke has an appointment at Gillette Children's hospital on Tuesday morning for a gait analysis. Then on Wednesday morning, he'll be seen in at the Burnsville clinic by the orthopedic surgeon to determine if Zeke needs to have orthopedic surgery or not. We're leaving as soon as Steve gets off work this afternoon, hopefully around 4:30pm. Lots of people have asked us what the other kids are doing, so here you go: . Brittney is staying with her friend Corah. They go to the same school and are both in team gymnastics so their schedules are pretty much the same. . Riley is staying with the Lisa Minor family. They have boys around his age and go the same school so hopefully he'll fit in pretty well. . Taylor is staying with her best friend Emily, who lives down the street and is in Taylor's class at school. . Zeke is obviously going with us. . We thought about finding various spots for Anthony, but he's a bit more difficult to find a spot for. First of all, because he's the youngest and not in school, he needs to have someone to watch him for more time then any of the other kids. Also, he seems to have the most difficulty with separation from us. It's really hard to have him at Zeke's appointments because the two of them mess around when Zeke is supposed to be following the doctors' or nurses' instructions so that we can get the best evaluation possible for his muscles and his walking. But we would all pay for it if we left him home and he ended up having a meltdown. So he's going too.

I'm Back

I'm back and kicking Brittney off my blog for awhile! . The Penn trip went well - and I still intend to blog more about the trip back a bit later. . We had a phone call on the way back, around the Chicago area, that Steve's step-grandma in Indiana had passed away. She was married to his Dad's Dad, Chester, who died shortly after Steve Sr. And no, we're not going to the funeral. . After we made it home, I got sick. It started with a full day of a really extreme headache followed by a full day of being sick to my stomach. By that evening, I was throwing up. I didn't eat anything that day and even now the only things I've had are toast and soup. I felt much better by the next day but was still tired for the next few days. It probably didn't help that the kids only went to school on Tuesday, they got out at 12:30 on Wed and then they didn't have school at all on Thursday or Friday. And the temp was so far below zero that they couldn't even play outside! . Yesterday, I was really excited about getting out for a while. I had been with the 5kids in the van for 2 days to Penn, then 2 days back, then 3 days off from school. PRIDE training was scheduled all day so I got up and tried to drink a cup of coffee. I only sipped a bit and left the rest. Then I headed to the training. I was really suprised when I drove in the parking lot and found I had arrived before the other trainer. I looked around and saw that most of the area was still pretty dark. That's when I realized that I had shown up an hour early!

Blogging

this is brittney mom is still not feeling well and she has to always have something new on the blog I <3 THE DALLAS COWBOYS AND I WANT TO CHEER FOR THEM YAY GO COWBOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!! BrItTnEy AnNe MaRiE wIlKiNs

Blogging

Mom had a lot of kids because school is out because of snow today and tomorrow and my tongue was blue and we (me and my mom) have been playing Monopoly Deal (card game)! THIS HAS BEEN - BrItTnEy AnNe MaRiE wIlKiNs

SICK :(

Hey its Brittney Anne Marie Wilkins :} (a dude with a gotee) well my mom is not feeling well but she will post as soon as possiable My Thoughts On Why She Is Sick she might have been in the car for too long has 2 many crazy kids ( i ate icecream on a blizzarding day) Well Thats My THIS HAS BEEN BrItTnEy AnNe MaRiE wIlKinS

Thankful for the Manna

Incredibly insightful post coming soon!!!

(I hope : )

Revealing how and why I realized I needed to change my attitude.

I don't have enough battery left on my computer now.

Going Home

We're on our way back home. We spent the night with Kerry and her family in the Chicago area last night and will hopefully be home by tonight. There was lots of blowing snow in Pennsylvania but Ohio was sunny with clear roads. Then we got to Indiana and it was really icy. We saw lots of cars in the ditch. Jane (our GPS) took us by the Notre Dame Stadium so Steve could take a few pictures. Then we continued on to Illinois. . Riley told me that Luke and Kerry must be rich because they had lots of doors in their house. We all got a good laugh from that one!

Tonya and Her Horse