Church Directory Picture

Our family photo for the church directory.

 The company also took additional pictures of us and gave us the option to buy them.

 It worked.

Show Me the Mommy!

Where I spend a lot of my time.

 Me and Kaitlynn taken by our 4 year old photographer Kendall.

The news.

Kaitlynn's Osgood-Schlatter's is severe. Part of the knee has started peeling back. First thing the doctor said is "she has a good reason to complain." He said the arrow pointing to the lower area is Osgood-Schlatter's Disease. The second arrow is severe Osgood-Schlatter's disease and he has found that that is an indicator in other patients that the pain will not go away when she stops growing. So over the last two years when she was told that the pain would go away when she stopped growing may not be the case now. She may be facing a surgery around age 14 that will require a 9 month rehab. Not what we wanted to hear... The doctors did say that the likelihood of any more damage occuring at this point is rare so she will be able to play soccer but will be self-limited. He told Kaitlynn she will have to decide what is worth the pain. Some patients choose to limit activity because they want as little pain as possible. I can already tell you where Kaitlynn will be Monday night. She has no problem playing through the pain, especially when it comes to soccer. I do expect to see her sitting out during some drills and exercises though.

Not so good...

Got a call from Kaitlynn's doctor this afternoon. She has been referred to an orthopedic and has to be in Knoxville at 8:40 in the morning. Apparently the x-ray results weren't good. She isn't happy about missing school but she doesn't have really have a choice. We should know more tomorrow.

Osgood-Schlatter Disease Update

Kaitlynn went to the doctor today because even after taking two months off from soccer she is still having lots of knee pain. Soccer practice for the spring season starts next Monday. Before we let her back out on the field I wanted to get the okay from the doctor. She was sent for an x-ray today and hopefully we will get the results tomorrow. If the x-ray comes back good then she will be ready to start practicing Monday. Here's a little info on the disease that I copied from the Wikipedia.

Osgood–Schlatter disease or syndrome (also known as tibial tubercle apophyseal traction injury) is a rupture of the growth plate at the tibial tuberosity.


The condition occurs in active boys and girls aged 9–16 coinciding with periods of growth spurts. It occurs more frequently in boys than in girls, with reports of a male-to-female ratio ranging from 3:1 to as high as 7:1. It has been suggested the difference is related to a greater participation by boys in sports and risk activities than by girls.


The condition is usually self-limiting and is caused by stress on the patellar tendon that attaches the quadriceps muscle at the front of the thigh to the tibial tuberosity. Following an adolescent growth spurt, repeated stress from contraction of the quadriceps is transmitted through the patellar tendon to the immature tibial tuberosity. This can cause multiple subacute avulsion fractures along with inflammation of the tendon, leading to excess bone growth in the tuberosity and producing a visible lump which can be extremely painful when hit.

The syndrome may develop without trauma or other apparent cause; however, some studies report up to 50% of patients relate a history of precipitating trauma.


In a retrospective study of adolescents, young athletes actively participating in sports showed a frequency of 21% reporting the syndrome compared with only 4.5% of age-matched nonathletic controls.[3] Very intense knee pain is usually the presenting symptom that occurs during activities such as running, jumping, squatting, and especially ascending or descending stairs and during kneeling. The pain is worse with acute knee impact. The pain can be reproduced by extending the knee against resistance, stressing the quadriceps, or striking the knee. Pain is mild and intermittent initially. In the acute phase the pain is severe and continuous in nature. Impact of the affected area can be very painful. Bilateral symptoms are observed in 20–30% of patients.


The symptoms usually resolve with treatment but may recur for 12–24 months before complete resolution at skeletal maturity, when the tibial epiphysis fuses. In some cases the symptoms do not resolve until the patient is fully grown. In approximately 10% of patients the symptoms continue unabated into adulthood, despite all conservative measures

Upward

Kendall cheered for her third game of the season Saturday morning. She loves it! This is the first year that this church has particpated in the Upward program and they are doing a wonderful job.

Pony Rides!

Once we got to Pigeon Forge last night we had a little time to kill before dinner. We took the girls to ride ponies. They loved it!

 Kendall on Brownie

Kylee on Pokey

Dixie Stampede

Last night we drove to Pigeon Forge to have dinner at the Dixie Stampede.

 Here are the pictures that they took of us before the show.

I love this picture of the girls. All 3 are smiling and looking at the camera.

 The five of us!

 The group shot. I wasn't too confident that we would get one with everybody facing the camera and smiling, but we did.

Loved the show and of course the food was great!

Show Me the Mommy!

Say CHEESE!!

RIF

Kaitlynn's school is having RIF today. The theme is a sockhop. Kaitlynn has had a major growth spurt since the last time she wore her poodle skirt. We are very lucky and thankful to have some friends that let her borrow this cute little outfit.

2 Little Ballerinas

Kybolicious tried ballet for the first time tonight. She did really well. Her big sister has done a great job teaching her.

 Kendall was excited about having her in her class. I heard her tell a few girls "that's my sister!"

This will change soon... The class has grown so much that their teacher is splitting it. Kendall will be in a class and Kybolicious will be in a class that starts immediately after Kendall's. Another change that I was surprised by was the recital costumes. Kendall was sized for her recital costume two weeks ago and saw a picture of what it would look like. Kybolicious was excited about getting sized for her costume tonight. She thought she would also be getting the same one as Kendall. Well, since the class is being split Kybolicious' class will be wearing a different costume. That bit of information can be very hard on a two (almost three) year old little girl. She didn't take too well to the news, but I think with time she will come around.

Kybolicious

I don't think I have blogged about this before... A couple of months ago I was getting Kylee out of her car seat when I said "Are you ready Freddy?" Her response "I'm not Freddy, I'm Kybolicious!" Who knows how, when, or why she came up with this. Ever since then she has referred to herself as Kybolicious and will tell people that her name is in fact Kybolicious. Last Friday night we had pictures made for our church directory. When the photographer asked Kylee what her name was of course she answered Kybolicious. There was a lot of commotion in the room and Trey and I both quickly said her name is Kylee. I don't think the photographer heard her. How do I explain this to people? Ummm, she has created her own nickname and it is a mouthful. Just go with it, that's what we do? :)

Softer than a pom-pom.

Kendall had cheerleading practice last night. She also had preschool for the first time in over a week, so a long day for her. During cheerleading practice she stops and says her neck hurts. Her coach called me down from the bleachers to check on her. Of course, I already figured it was nothing. Kendall is quite the drama queen. I suppose though when a child says her neck hurts that could cause some alarm. Well, I talked to Kendall and I asked her why her neck hurt and she said she scratched it. I looked and did not see any scratches at all, not even a red spot. I then asked her what she scratched her neck with and she said her pom-pom!! "You're fine Kendall, get back out there and practice."

2nd Ballgame of the Season

Kendall cheered for the second basketball game of the season today.

 Because of the snow we have had this week, they were unable to practice. The girls were asked to come 30 minutes before the game today to practice.

 They learned a few new cheers, one even included a little dancing.

 Kendall loved it!

 These pictures below were taken after the game.

Show Me the Mommy!

Baby it's cold outside!

It's so cold outside today. I'm not letting the girls play out in the snow this morning, maybe this afternoon. Instead I pulled out Kylee's dry erase princess table and let the girls draw. For a while now Kendall has had me stressed out... She refuses to learn. I'm not kidding. I can ask Kylee to say her alphabet, count to 20, spell her name out loud and she will do it all. I can ask Kendall the same thing and she will either say, "no" or  "that makes me tired." Trey has told me she knows me than she lets on, but it still worries me. Really, should your 2 year know more than your 4 year old? Well, I said to Kendall "Hey, you should write your name on that table." About 10 seconds later, voila! She did it! I guess Trey was right on this one. 

Looks like it is here to stay.

Today was Day 4 of playing in the snow. Here's a picture of Kendall and the boogie board. She likes to sit on it and let me pull her while walking. Not running, just walking. She's always been the cautious one.

 A picture of all three girls "shivering." The temperature has really dropped this week. Each day has been colder than the one before. The amount of time we spend outside has also decreased with each day.

My prediction was right. Kaitlynn ended up with a snow week. This city just doesn't handle snow and ice well. I suppose it is because this kind of snow doesn't happen very often. Really, 1993 was a long time ago!

Well, it happened...

We aren't getting snow days we just got a snow week!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Some pictures from yesterday.

Here's a picture of Kylee with our snowman or our snowwoman. I suppose we should call her a snowwoman. She looks so tall beside Kylee. Kylee isn't a short one either, she measures about 41'' tall. I tried to measure the snowwoman yesterday. It was tough trying to use the tape measure by myself. I stood on my tippy toes and stretched as far as I could. She's at least 7 feet tall if not more! 

 Kaitlynn pulling Kylee while Kendall watched on. Of course Kylee had to sled some more. She loves it! Such a little daredevil. She even flipped over the board once. Oops, mommy must have been going too fast. She got up laughing. :)

 Kendall with our snowwoman. The sun shined most of the day yesterday, but sunshine alone isn't enough to melt our snowwoman.

 Kendall and Kylee building a snow castle. Hmmm, I'm starting to think we may all be missing the beach a little.

Since school is out again today we will be venturing out to play again soon. It's snowing hard right now, so we are waiting on that to stop first. Will there be school tomorrow? Will Kaitlynn get a whole week out of school for this? I'm beginning to think this will be a snow week.

Interesting facts.

1. This is the most snow we have had since the Blizzard of 1993.
2. This past Christmas was the first White Christmas that our city has had since 1969!

Make that 4 days!

Just got the call, no school again tomorrow! Church services for tonight have also been cancelled.

Things I have learned...

after getting 9-10 inches of snow.

1. Lots of snow produces lots of laundry.
2. This is how much snow it takes to get 3 snow days in a row from school.
3. I actually cook more when I am stuck in the house with no where to go.
4. When you keep 3 girls and 3 dogs in your house for an extended length of time each day gets louder than the last.
5. You can build a huge snowman with this much snow! :)

Our Snowman!

I told you all today would be snowman day! This is by far the biggest snowman that I have ever built. Remember that Trey is 6'3.

The girls with their tropical snowman. I think we may go back out this afternoon and add some more accessories. ;)

Last picture post of the day.

My favorite picture! All of the girls are in it and are smiling! Oh, and this is another picture taken in the middle of the street. We've packed the snow down so well that the street is now perfect for sledding (or boogie boarding)!

Woody came out with us this evening to play. He wasn't feeling too well this morning so we left him in.

 He seemed fine this evening though.

 He loves the snow!

 It was so cute watching him run through the snow.

Plans are to make a snowman tomorrow. The snow was too powdery today.

More Snow Pictures!

These pictures were taken this afternoon.

 Kendall was in a better mood after a little lunch.

 9 1/2 inches of snow on top of Trey's car.

Trey brushing the snow off of the car.

 Me and Kendall.

 Kaitlynn making a snow angel.

Hmmm... What happens when you lay down to make a snow angel around your two little sisters?

You get hit in the face with a snowball!

Kylee doesn't want to miss out on the fun.

 You'd think she would learn.

 Me pulling Kylee down the street on a boogie board. Maybe we should invest in some sleds.

 Kaitlynn pulling Kendall.

 Oh no!

 Wipe out!

 Me pulling Kaitlynn.

 Kylee's turn again.

 Trey trying to push Kendall and Kylee.

 Didn't work too well.

 Kylee chilling on the boogie board in the middle of the street.

 Trey pulling Kaitlynn.

 Kylee loved it!

 Look at that face!

 Almost a foot of snow on our fence.

 The backyard.

 The table on our deck.

We are about to go back out in the snow now. The girls are loving it!