Bowling for cousin Beck's #2 Birthday

"The shear agony of not enough sleep!"

Piper is a third child who gets hauled around everywhere with no consideration of her needs as in sleep, food, attention, etc. And then at night she lets us know her frustration!! Sometimes I wish to be 1 1/2 years old again and able to let people know how I feel!!
You can see in the picture that Piper is a child you LOVES shoes. She sleeps with her shoes on and would even like to bathe with them on if I let her. She loves her popsicles and hates anything in her hair (i.e.-ponytails). She also is beginning to "fight back". We will have to post Alizah's war wounds, which look identical to the scratches that Hanna had on her face from Alizah's tiger nails only a few months ago. So I guess what goes around, comes around, Right?? The cat fights that we have at our house are pretty comical. Oh Brandon and I can't wait until we have three teenage daughters!! Oh Joy for us! WE LOVE OUR GIRLS!!

Well our life can continue this week. The first annual "Flip Flop Hop" hosted by our A.I.M. Gymanstics is finally over!! The pictures are of Hanna and her scorecard, her team, and the dramatic pose with her rose from a teammates' mom. Hanna had fun, got a ribbon, and most importantly to her -got to pass out the goodie bags to the other teams. Mom was afraid she would be sad she didn't earn a medal. What was I thinking???? The past two weeks, we've been working at least 70 hours/week at the gym trying to get ready and also trying to keep daily life going. I didn't realize the equipment that had to be moved, the build out upstairs to hold concessions, the computer work that had to be done, awards to ordered and most importantly cleaning that had to be done. We had about 80 gymnasts and their fans squeezed into our almost too small building. The weather postponed us for an hour for the out of town gyms to get there and the blown electrical circuits almost stopped us from having concessions and music, but we pushed through and we are done until next year! YEAH!! This has been a week too, Monday my car broke down and at 10:00 at night I had to carry two of the girls to the nearest house to call Brandon for a ride, because my cell phone had been left at home. The Bakers (the neighbors) were actually kind enough to borrow us their suburban for the next few days so we didn't slow down too much! And on Friday, the water pump on our well broke and we didn't have water to clean-up Piper's throw up all over her and the car on the way to take Hanna to school. So off we went to a friends to get clean! Whew!! The week is over and I don't have to work tommorrow so our goal is to find a floor to our house, clean clothes, and clean dishes. My past week seemed so terrible at the time, but I have been humbled tonight by a phone call from a sister who's family lost their 16 year old nephew, and another sister who is on bedrest to prevent another pre-mature baby, so I guess I am humbled to think of the many blessings that I have, three beautiful girls who's kisses and hugs touch me to the core, a business that brings so much happiness to so many children, and a house and things to allow me to live comfortably. I am grateful to be healthly and able to enjoy so many things! I will be thinking this week of those who need extra comforting and peace in their lives.........

And after three stinky-no bath- weeks the cast comes off!! The x-ray shows a pretty straight leg, still not straight enough to not make mom feel bad, but straight enough to try without a cast and we'll go back in two weeks! Piper didn't like the sound of the saw and her leg itches pretty bad, but she LOVED her two baths the next day!! I added a picture of her waiting to get her x-rays and listening to her sister's i-pod! She loves the music and now can shake it again once her limp is gone....Yes, she does walk with a limp. They say this is normal until she gets used to her muscles again. And, yes the limp still pulls at my heartstrings and makes me feel bad! I think we are going to hang her cast above the bars with a warning of BE Carefull!~ No one will be able to accuse our gym of "Failure to Warn" Right??? I know with our three active kids and a life growing up in a gymnastic gym this won't be our last injury in the family, but after our Christmas visits to the clinic (broken leg, back spasms, sinus infections, ect) to the SAME doctor-I'm pretty much left with embarrasment. And to top it off the doctor that saw us so many times in 1 1/2 weeks was the grandpa of one of my gymnasts! Well what's the saying there is no such thing as bad advertisement???

Mom and her favorite gymnast, then the rest of the team!! Just kidding....we do pretty well at being excited for everyone. We had a few first places and we as a team took first on vault and on beam!

Hanna and her tongue at her FIRST GYMNASTICS MEET! We took Hanna to her first meet where she actually did really good for her first time. Her tongue never stayed in her mouth and mom's favorite part was when she was up on the beam we all could see her mouthing the words of her routine so she wouldn't forget it! Her best score was a 8.55 on vault. She did her backhandspring on floor which she learned only two days before! Mom was so proud and excited that I will be able to share these special moments with her.

Piper's Broken Leg

Piper got her pink cast today. We had new x-rays and Dr. Kortni couldn't see the break anymore, but since my degree is in motherhood and not broken bones we went with Dr. Hende's opinion of 3 weeks in a cast. 3 weeks is definately better than 8 weeks! Since her leg is already healing, they padded her cast extra and said she could walk on it after 24 hours! YEAH!! She is such a trooper. She does seem 100% better after the cast. She was so irritable with the splint, it must have been too tight. We havent' slept much the past week, so hopefully she will sleep better tonight, because mom has to go back to work tomorrow! I have enjoyed my time at home. I think the kids have too, except they do love the 10,000sq. feet of open padded area of our gym to play in and the freedom to roam and play with all the school toys. They ask everyday if they can go. We've stayed away to get a break, but they get to go back tomorrow too. I forgot to write about Alizah's theme song this week. It has been "Go me, Go me, It's my birthday, It's my birthday." It has been pretty cute. We all wish everyday was Alizah's birthday...she has been an angel!! I think being the middle child, she just needs the individual attention. I think mom and dad need to try harder to focus on her sometimes too. Well, we go back to the work tomorrow and hope our school/gym has run in our absence. Maybe if it has, we can stay away more! We can hope right???