Happy Monday! We had a nice weekend. On Saturday, the kids and I went along with Biz and my mom to my grandad's 86th Birthday. Happy Birthday Grandad! Then yesterday after church, Biz, mom and I made a trip down to Vanderbilt to see my uncle Ted. Last week, my uncle was in a very bad accident while loading a bull onto a trailer. He has several broken ribs, a broken jaw, a broken vertebrae in the top of his spine and LOTS of scrapes and bruises. He has been in the Trauma Unit at Vandy but was finally moved to a room on Friday evening. I have to say he was looking much better than I expected based on the reports I have gotten all week. Although, I think almost a week of healing can do miracles! He is finally having a better time with pain management. The tentative plan is that he will get to go home today around noon. Once he gets home, he still has a long road ahead of him. My uncle will be 70(I am pretty sure this is right!) next year. But even typing that AMAZES me because you would really never know it. He is one of those guys who never stops and is always, always helping other people. I told him yesterday that he is going to have to find some patience to let himself heal. Then I added that patience was not a quality that God was generous with in the Pemberton family! Ted agreed. It is going to be very difficult for him to rest and let his body heals the way it needs to. Everyone is already worried about him having to wear the collar for 12 weeks to heal his neck. Keeping him still is going to be quite a chore. So pray for his patience and Nadine's ability to keep him resting as long as possible!
In house news: our builder, Shawn is meeting with the excavator today or tomorrow to give him the plan and then hopefully Doug (excavator) will be able to start ASAP! Our contract says it will be completed 7 months from when we "break ground" so I am still holding out hope for Ellie's birthday, July 13th. But honestly, I am just so happy we are finally getting started! Happy week everyone!

SNOW DAY!

Why does it always happen that we get snow days on days we have out of school anyway??? I guess in reality, this snow would not have been enough to keep us home so it's good that we didn't have to get out. We got (maybe) 1/2 inch. It was coming down pretty good this morning. But the sun is out now and it is starting to melt. I took the kids outside for a little while and let them play. Mason has never been in snow. He was really more concerned with trying to climb up his snow covered slide that even noticing the snow. Oh well.

Everyone is napping and I am enjoying some quiet time....Scratch that! Mason must have heard the news that Ellie went to sleep because he is now awake. AYE! Enjoy the pictures!

We've had a pretty normal week. Brandon was in Iowa a few days and enjoyed the lovely -22 degree temps. Things were unseasonably cold here as well but we only got down to the single digits. The kids are holding steady, healthwise. I had a little mishap this week and thought I had broken my elbow (for the third time). But luckily, it must have only been sprained. Xrays showed no break and the pain is getting better every day.
Now you're asking "What happened??" Ok, I'll share: I was walking across the office at work. Bebopping along, as my Aunt Ann would say. My ankle twisted and down I went. I caught myself with my arm, elbow straight out, palm down and there was immediate severe pain. I was actually glad no one else was in the office. It was one of those really embarrassing falls.
In house news: The house is staked out! The basement walls have been ordered. We are using something called Superior Wall systems for the basement. The walls are actually created in a factory to our exact specs and then brought in. They are an insulated concrete. Being pre-fab ensures that the basement walls are square. The walls have been ordered, out builder is waiting on the specs from the company to approve them so they can start making the walls. Once the walls come (hopefully in 2-3 weeks) we will start digging! HALLELUJAH! Once we break ground, our contract says it will be ready in 7 months. I had really really hoped for Ellie's birthday, but that may be pushing it. We shall see. Perhaps while everyone is here for Ellie's birthday, they can help us move!
Me and the kids are out tomorrow in honor of MLK, jr. day. So we have a nice long weekend. I hope everyone has a great week!

Things are coming together

I admire people who have it all together (or at least seem to). I do not. And I am pretty sure anyone who has seen me come into school in the mornings can attest to that. I always try to carry too much. Think: three bags, c cup of coffee, a one year old on my hip and a three year old's hand, possible a coat or a hat that should be on someone's head. Sometimes (although I will not say always so that Nana will not scold me) said three year old is running behind me crying/ screaming/ yelling. At home, I have not felt much better. I feel like there are always too many dishes and too much laundry. EVERYONE is always on me about my messy car. But seriously, you drive 30-45 minutes home in the evening, arrive after dark in the cold, get the kids in and ALL THAT ARTWORK! (really I love their artwork. Mostly) But I am making some changes. They are happening everywhere I turn and I just hope Brandon will come along for the ride!
As I posted before, my house is NEAT. I am still excited. My puzzle has remained in tact and the few pieces that have come out have been placed right back where they belong. When Brandon arrived home Monday, I did notice that adding one more person to the mix started to create some issues but I feel confident we will be able to handle it. My AWESOME sister insisted that we CLEAN my truck on Sunday night. We got all the junk out. We wiped down all surfaces and vacuumed it out. We even vacuumed carseats! In the mornings, all bags are packed and we just grabbed our things and get out the door. I am starting to feel some peace! I am committing to keeping this up. The small effort it takes to keep things together is so worth not feeling totally scattered on a daily basis!
The kids are much better. We did make one more run to the Ped yesterday for a little weekly visit. Actually, Ellie complained to her teacher that her ears hurt so I took her for good measure. The dr said because of the scare tissue in her ear, he could not be sure if there was fluid so he gave her an antibiotic just in case.
So 2009 is the YEAR OF JENNIFER! If you see me coming in to school and you do a double take at that totally together girl who looks like she should be gracing the front of Parent's Magazine, IT'S ME. Ok who am I kidding. I will always have too many bags and be 5 minutes late! But 5 minutes is better than an hour! Happy New Year!

Thank GOD and my mom for a clean house!

Well we are hanging in there. I don't even remember my last post so I may repeat myself...Mason is still sick and now Ellie has it. We made ANOTHER trip to the dr on Friday to find that it is, in fact, RSV. So this makes 5 times total that my kids have had it. (This is Ellie's third time and Mason's second.) I knew what it was without the test. But Thursday, Mason got much much worse and his eyes started getting really bad. On Friday morning, his eyes were glued shut with goop and we had to bathe them with a warm rag when he woke up. Ellie's were also starting to look bad and she was sniffing and coughing. The dr tested for RSV and flu,but only RSV was positive. He did switch Mason's antibiotic I think mostly because of his eyes and his ears not being completely clear. But RSV is viral so it will just have to run its course. My experience has been that RSV usually leads to secondary infections so I hop we do not end up with another trip because of a sinus or ear infection for Ellie. Pray! I also called the eye specialist at Vanderbilt to see if he thinks we need to do another surgery on Mason's tear duct. He said continue to watch it and if it does not clear with the eye drops and antibiotic to let him know.

Mason seems to be doing better. Ellie is getting worse. She has a rather "fresh" cold as my mam-maw would say. Runny eyes, runny nose and just all around icky. Mason is still congested but it is clearing and we are still doing breathing treatments. Whew! But we will make it.

Brandon is in Alabama with Tim until Monday. He killed an 8 point buck his first day. It's a nice little mini Alabama version of the one he has on the wall. He is having a really good time and I am sooo glad he has the chance to go. He says that hunting with dogs is completely different than the hunting he does, but it's a lot of fun nonetheless.

My mom and sister saved my life and sanity today by helping me get my house in order. I decided the best analogy for my living situation is that I live in a puzzle. In order to get ANYTHING out I have to take the puzzle apart and if I don't have time to put the puzzle back together I just end up with all the pieces laying around. After a while I have several puzzles laying around and the pieces get all mixed up and it takes a LOT of work to get it back together. So Biz took Mason and my mom, Ellie and I got to work. I had mountains of laundry to get put away and my whole house just needed re-organizing and straightening. With the chaos of Christmas things were messy and bringing in all the stuff we got for Christmas just added to it and it was OUT OF CONTROL!

My mom is THE BEST at being able to tell me little things that will help organize my stuff and make things easier. Plus she thinks like I do so she knows where things go. It took us a couple of hours but we got it all done and I am sitting here typing in a VERY neat living room. My kitchen is straight. There are no dishes in the sink. Counters are wiped down. I will not trip on any toys when/if? I make my way to the kids' room tonight to get whomever decides not to sleep all night. What a relief. And I have already issued the ultimatum to Brandon that he MUST help me keep things in order. I think my mom also said something about grounding him if he doesn't help and I end up as stressed as I was when we started today. I almost had a panic attack when we got started because I didn't even know WHERE to start. And that is soo not like me. But I can breath easy now!