Branson end of the year

So we have been in Branson since Saturday afternoon.   It was pretty nice when we arrived.   There were also lots of people out running around.   I bet it would have been the perfect day to go to Silver Dollar City.   Of course, we were ready to unload our suitcases, unpack and rest a while.   Instead we stopped at Bob Evans to have a bite to eat.   Then on to the hotel.   The hotel has a perpetual Christmas tree that they decorate for each season.   During Easter they had bunnies on it and it was so cute!   Now they have all their Christmas trees up and they are beautiful.   They look professionally decorated which are gorgeous, but I like trees like ours too that are decorated in ornaments that have been hand picked and some hand made by my girls.   It makes it home spun and beautiful in their own way.  I had to take some photos of the girls by the trees and then by the baby grand player piano that was decorated with nutcrackers!

Sunday was Daddy's 60th birthday!   It was a blustery cold day.   We slept in late and then went to IHop to eat breakfast along with half of Branson!   At least the line moved along pretty quickly.   We decided because it was so cold, we would skip SDC and go do some shopping at Best Buy.   Daddy had to buy himself a new Nook because his conveniently died on the way down!!   After we stopped there we decided to drive around town and see what else we miss when we don't just take our time to look.   We found a new shopping area that we have never been in before and we found the Cinema II which was playing "Frozen".   We parked and they said that the next show was in 10 minutes.  Great timing!!   And it was in 3D!   What a cute show!!!   We ALL liked it!!   What's better than kind of falling into being somewhere at the right time and having it all come out great!

Then it was time for Dad's birthday dinner choice.   He wanted to eat at Joe's Crab Shack.  Made all the rest of us happy too!   What wasn't so great was the cold frigid weather.  We managed to brave the cold weather anyway and Yummo was it good!   Jordis and I both had the steam pots..mmmmmmgood!   We were all happy with Dad's choice.

Monday was much warmer.   We slept in again...okay, I should say some of us slept in, others were bouncing out of bed and eating breakfast every morning.   My room was the slackers!  Rae, Zora and I missed breakfast each day, opting to sleep in till noon!   We hit the Tanger Outlet center where Zora, Tessa and I scored some new shoes.   Then we filled up our vehicle with gas and discovered Billy Bob's Hamburger place.   We had shakes, but we will definitely be back to eat there in the future!!

By then it was Dixie Stampede time!!   We found a front door parking spot and the girls posed with one of the greeters.   We then went in and watched the pre-show.  It was a different juggler act than we had seen last time.   This guy was really good and we enjoyed watching him.

Then time for the show!   We were rooting for the North.  Unfortunately the North lost but we had a great time and good food.   The girls were thrilled with the holiday show.   We were out of the show by 7pm and remarkably 76 Blvd was empty.   We were headed back to the hotel and we started talking about going to SDC to see the Christmas lights.   Traffic was so light that we were at SDC before 7:30pm.   Mark decided to sit in the car while the girls and I went in.   It was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!
We watched the light show at the large Christmas tree and then we headed down to the candy shop.  Had to stand in line for EVER for peanut brittle but walked out just as the parade was coming by.  The girls and I really enjoyed the parade and then we were ready to go back to the hotel.    Great day!

Ho Ho has left the house!

And what a mess is left behind!   The Chinese tornadoes ripped through their packages early Christmas morning.   Okay...Mom insisted on a little semblance of order.   We started opening one present at a time starting with the youngest and working our way to the oldest.   I caught a lot of smiles as the girls opened their gifts.   Ah, that always makes Mom happy because it must mean I made the right purchases!   The "sticks"  are Jahng Bong or a staff.   Weapons for self defense in Taekwondo.

After all the present were open the girls cleaned up all the wrapping paper and they sit down to work on projects they had received or play with some of the games they got.   Time for Mom to head off for a little winter's nap!   I had every intention of baking a turkey for Christmas.   Of course, when we went looking for a fresh turkey all we could find were frozen ones.   Well, I know you can thaw a turkey out quickly, but we compromised and bought a turkey breast from Honey Baked Ham & Turkey instead.   Not nearly as good as my turkey but we managed to eat it all up!

I would like to wish a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to the readers of my blog!!
And Yes that is a pink gun in some photos.   The girls received a 22 that they will be learning to shoot soon.

RaeAnne is 14!

I can't believe that my baby is growing up!!   December 21st she turned fourteen years old!   Her BFF Hollie was here from Lindsborg for the occasion.   We couldn't start the Winter Solstice without snow and our Kansas weather didn't disappoint.   They were predicting anywhere from 2 to 10 inches of snow with wind.   The girls went to Taekwondo practice that morning and then we were going to go to RaeAnne's choice of restaurant for dinner but the snow scared us off.   We did eat at IHop for lunch and that satisfied the girls for the afternoon.   They had to eat tuna casserole for supper but that was a hit too.

After we ate we got all the candles on Rae's cake.   She couldn't quite get them all blown out in one breath, it took her two.   Then we gave her present to her.   She was thrilled.   All she had been asking for her birthday and Christmas has been tickets to see 1 Direction in concert.   Dad and I looked into that and the closest they will be to us in 2014 is St. Louis, Missouri in August.   That would be after school had started.   The concert is on a Wednesday night so she would have to miss at least one day of school.   Dad suggested that I could drive her down and she could take one or two of her friends.  Well we found out that the tickets alone for four people would be $800.!!   So we had to break her heart and we gave her the next thing that she wanted which is a video camera.   This will be great to have a videographer in the family!!

Hollie and RaeAnne have been besties since Kindergarden.

Happy Bithday RaeAnne!   We love you to the moon and back!!

The next day we took RaeAnne and the crew to eat at HuHot.   That is a family favorite, well except for Mom, but I will put up with it for my girl!!

Tessa's red cast is off!

I am playing catch up.   December 17th I had my last dose of radiation!!!!   I am so glad that treatment is over!   Now let me catch up on Tessa.

December 18th we were in Overland Park at Children's Mercy South to have Tessa's cast taken off.

 We were anxious to see what her new hand looked like and so was Tessa.   The office was very full and it was obvious that they were busy.   After a long wait we were called back and Tessa was taken first to the cast removing room.   The nurse explained to Tessa what she was going to do.   The nurse told Tessa that the saw was very loud but it would not cut or hurt her in any way.   The nurse then put earplugs in her ears and started up the saw.   Tessa immediately asked if she could have some earplugs!   The nurse gave her some and got right down to work.   In no time the red cast was cut in half and removed.   Tessa made some very funny faces during that time!

After the cast was off, there was still the cotton wrap to remove from her arm and thumb.  Tessa watched the nurse very closely.  We finally got to see the thumb.   It had a pin in it just like the Doctor had told us it would.   Tessa was not very impressed with the thumb.   She said it looked funny and she really didn't like looking at the pin.   The thumb is still swollen but looks great to Dad and I.   Tessa then went to x-ray and we were put in an exam room.

Dr. Cheng came in and asked Tessa how it looked.   Tessa didn't lie, she told her she didn't like it!  The Dr. told her the same thing that we had, that once the swelling is gone it will look great.   Dr. Cheng removed the pin said that she would like to put a waterproof cast on it for a couple more weeks just to make the thumb more stable as it was still kind of "floppy."   So we headed into another room with another nurse who put on her waterproof cast.   She can actually go swimming in this cast, take showers or baths without having to wrap it in plastic and try and keep it dry.   She will get this cast off on December 27th.   She picked green for this cast in keeping with the Christmas colors.

I noticed that the return visit cards said that she will be having a cast "change" on the 27th but the Dr. had told us that she would be getting her cast off that day.   I will have to call and confirm exactly what will happen.   Right now she has been doing great with this lighter weight cast.   The hardest part is remembering to get the cast wet at least once a day.   They told us if we didn't that it could very easily stick to her skin when it is taken off.  Here she is with the green cast at home for RaeAnne's birthday...that is another post!!

Christmas is in the air.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!   At least in our little corner of the house.    I put the Christmas tree up the Monday after Thanksgiving and tonight the girls decorated it.   That was after Mom fell UP the stairs trying to get the big box of ornaments up to the living room.   Fortunately I didn't break anything and only took a little skin off my arm on the wall!

My helpers hung all the ornaments and they laughed a little over some ornaments that they had made over the years.   I had to give the oldest two the "As long as you are living in MY house you will follow MY rules speech to get them to wear a Santa hat and pose in front of the tree for me.   If you look close you will see a little look of unhappy with Mom glaze in their eyes!

It always makes me think of my Mom when we put up the tree as she made me so many ornaments in her last few years that I absolutely LOVE.   I miss you Mom!   I am sure that she is watching from above and is enjoying our Christmas too.

And our Christmas season would not be complete without Dasher here!   Our elf arrived Friday night and right in our undecorated tree.  Maybe he was trying to tell us something?!

Happy Holidays!!

Surgery done!

We had a very cold start to our day.   The one thing we did not have was snow.  Yeah!!  We were up early and on our way to the hospital by 7:15a.m.

 After we arrived at the hospital we were told that the Doctor was running behind on her first surgery.   They got Tessa's height and weight and we were put in a room to wait.   Tessa was given the choice of playing with an I-pad, DS or to watch a movie, she chose the I-pad.   We visited with anesthesia and met the nurse who would be taking care of Tessa during the surgery.   Then we sat in the room for a long time.   I was falling asleep several times.  Soon they came in and said that the doctor would be in very shortly to see us before the surgery.

Then it was time for Tessa to go to surgery.   I walked with her part way and then they sent me to the waiting room.   There I could have all the hot chocolate or coffee that I wanted!   I was told if I left the room to let them know so they could give me a phone so they could call me if they needed me.   As it was I stayed in the waiting room the whole time.

Finally the doctor came and told me that the surgery had gone well.   She took off the outside thumb and the inside joint was fine.   The outside joint was "floppy" and she had fused it with a pin that she will remove in December when Tessa has her follow up appointment.   She has a red cast and she is to keep it elevated as much as she can for the first few days.  

We were home before 5pm!  Tessa was a real trooper!