Hendrix Bday

Today was Hendrix's 4th birthday party. His actual birthday was on Thursday and he celebrated by waking up to his presents from us(a digital camera, sponge bob square pants connect 4 game, a new sponge bob shirt, and a batman wrist shooter). I made cupcakes with edible sponge bob characters on them and he took them to school for snack time. My sister was here this week because she was on spring break from school so she was able to celebrate with us.

Today we had Hendrix's birthday party at a local kids play/bouncy house/putt putt golf and skating, sugar filled crazy place where he had a sponge bob themed party with 16 of his friends. He opened presents, blew out candles, and I didn't see him the rest of the day. He was busy boucing and playing golf and arcade games. He had a blast and thought it was really cool to see his school friends on the weekend. Now, about the cake......I am very proud of the cake because I made and decorated it from scratch. It had three characters from Sponge Bob on it and it took me about 6 hours to do it. A few pics are in the slide show below. Slade was great as usual. He just sat around a little, walked around a little, and slept in my mom's arms the rest of the time. It was nice to have my mom and brandons parents along with my sister and brandons brother there for the party. I felt bad last year that we really didn't do anything special for Hendrix's birthday since Slade had just arrived, so I was glad to have this for him this year. Here are some pics from the party!

It's been a long time since I have posted....not sure if anyone even reads this but I will still keep posting just in case. My life is really....I mean really crazy right now, so I don't get time to take pics of the kids as much, write about all the cute things they are doing (and believe me they do cute things), I don't even have time to shower every day....oops! too much info :). Slade and Hendrix are growing like little weeds. Hendrix finished basketball, and got his trophy-O...as he calls it. He is swimming now and will soon start Tee Ball (which Brandon, my husband, will coach) I don't know what to do when we have more kids who start sports and such....we can hardly keep up with Hendrix.

Slade turned 1 year old on 1/21 and is in to everything. He is a climber, which Hendrix was not, and Slade is still a better sleeper than Hendrix ever was, but despite this I have a feeling we will still have more problems with his attitude than Hendrix's when they get older. We keep thinking about possibly sending Hendrix to a private preschool, but so far I am still very resistant. He is in a "pre-K" class at his daycare with a lot of structured learning time in the mornings and lots of different arts and crafts. I am just so happy with where he and Slade are right now I just can't see moving them, but sometimes Brandon gets worried because he is not reading yet....what??? He is 3 years old. I say, have fun while you still can. I mean in our family.....lets get real.....there is no way he will be able to slack off in school without reallly getting it from his Nana.

I am just trying to learn to be a good Dentist, getting ready for next year when I will be practicing, yes it has come very fast. I knew this time would fly by, and it very much has, except for Oral Pathology, which we are finishing now and can I tell you how happy I am about that!!

Brandon has had a promotion at work, and despite the economy, things are going well for him. He is still playing his guitar in a band where we live, and we are looking foward to the nice weather of summer. As all previous summers, we will spend some time fixing our 6ft tall fenced in 1/2 acre back yard......AGAIN!

We have all had a pretty good week. The boys have really enjoyed getting back into the routine of school since being off for a week due to snow and ice. Slade has officially moved to the 1 year old room where they sleep on cots instead of a crib and eat regular food and drink out of a sippy cup. I ended my week of school with "Smile Kentucky", a program where dentists from the community donate their time, skills, and supplies to help many less fortunate children who badly need dental care. They come to the school on Friday which is set up to move these kids through, doing thousands of dollars worth of free dental care. We all participate, along with the private practice dentists. It is a great thing......and great that it is over....imagine hundreds of elementary school kids running crazy through the halls and rooms of our school. It was a success and I look forward to participating next year as a senior student. My heart is heavy these days as I have been reading friends of friends of friends blogs that are extremely sad. Example, a little two year old girl named Tuesday Fiona recently lost her battle with neuroblastoma. She was an adorable identical twin and she was only diagnosed last July or so. I feel for her family, her sister who will no doubt someday ask why she never got to grow up with her twin, and most of all I feel for her, as she suffered so through her last days with pain and confusion over what was happening to her. There are so many people every day who have life changing disasters happen while we struggle over relatively unimportant things. Little Tuesday who I never knew, may you rest in peace.
Hendrix had his first Bball game in two weeks thanks to the snow. Here is a clip of a rebound and shot he made during the game today.

Okay, well no pictures because I am getting worse and worse at thinking when to take pictures to capture moments but here is a quick update on our life: Ice Storm 2009........mean anything to anyone???? Well, if you are in central Kentucky it should. We, along with most everyone I know, have not had power OR WATER since Tuesday. Even my school and clinic have been closed along with Brandon's factory. These things Never close, mine because we are considered an emergency facility (you know, dental emergencies....) and we stay open no matter what, and for a factory to close down and lose all that money.....well, it has been bad. It really wouldn't have been that big of a deal had it been Brandon and I (I mean we love to camp right?) but having two young children (one of which has just been in the hospital and is supposed to have daily breathing treatments...electricity run breathing treatments, makes the whole situation a little less of an adventure and a little more nerve racking. Speaking of camping, thank goodness we are campers. We pretty much just pulled out all our camping gear and tricks and went with it....okay the gas fireplace helped, sure, but lets face it, we were roughing it. I sit here tonight with a much greater appreciation for electricity (having just boiled bottled water for a bath merely hours ago, but I also am painfully aware of how many fossil fuels we use every day....just our house alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!It really is ridiculous. We bought a generator, almost $1000, and it won't run our heat pump, our washer or dryer, or any other large appliances in the house. For example, our microwave uses approx 2500 watts, this thing we bought ( and haven't opened) can do a max of 5500 watts, so not very much is going to be run off of it, and you have to keep pouring gas into it constantly. I just can't believe how much it really takes to run our house.....not good for our environment at all, but I just can't live like the omish and still keep up with my career. I almost died without my internet these few days, and I could do without all this, but I have to get emails for school. My husband tells me I should start practicing what I preach and be a better environmentalist........yes he has become quite the "green machine" although he would never admit it. Anyway, we're plugged in again and wasting as usual. Right now I'm on the couch, heat turned to 70 degrees, had the gas as a second source of heat on most of the night, flat screen on even though I am not watching it (those use a lot of energy), bathroon light on upstairs for the boys....while they sleep, and I can see three lights on from where I am sitting, none of which I need. We basically suck as a species. Well, enough rambling, no pictures captured, just more of our life.....

New happenings.......I have started school back with a bang. After getting many patients "treatment planned" I am now doing a lot of Dentistry which is stressful and demanding, but also fun and interesting. I am finding it more difficult each day to commute an hour back and fourth every day with two kids at home and with Hendrix doing more activities, which is why I am glad things are starting to wind down with school and I will be finished next year, thankfully.

Hendrix had his first basketball game on Saturday which went way better than expected. Since he is playing with 5 and 6 year olds and since the goal is 7 1/2 feet, I didn't really expect Hendrix to shoot, and honestly, just hoped he would stay on the court during a game. He caught on much more than I thought and besides a size difference, you can't tell he is two years younger than everyone. He even made two baskets on Saturday!!! I wish I would have video taped that. I didn't even have my camera because...............this brings me to my next subject....

Slade started getting sick at the end of last week and I had a bag packed for the Hospital on Sat, however we did not end up going and I was able to rush to Hendrix's game at the last minute....BUT......Slade got worse and was hospitalized Monday morning with pneumonia, in respiratory distress and fever.....really sick baby! He was released today and although we have a lot of medicines, he is feeling much better and I will be back to school tomorrow. He however will stay out of daycare until Tues or Wed of next week. Thank goodness for Nana and Daddy who can take off and stay with him. Here is a picture of him yesturday. He caught right on to the whole I.V. thing, but it was awful putting it in. You really can't tell how sick he is in the picture because he is his usual happy self!