Spring? Not yet!

The weather has been playing tricks on us the last 4-6 weeks. One day in the 50's, a day later 6 inches of snow. It melts in 2 days, more snow. We got rid of the last bout of snow, now Northern Minnesota will get up to 18 inches in the next couple days.

With some nicer weather, the kids are outside a lot. Kelsey loves to swing the bat and Dad held the "hit-n-stick" for her. Good form!

Birthday Parties!

It's was Birthday Row again as Kayleigh (2/19), Kari (2/20), Daniel (2/27) and Kelsey (3/15) all celebrated birthdays. For her 8th birthday, Kayleigh had a bowling party and had a select group of her friends venture with us on an overnight stay at the Holiday Inn in Owatonna, complete with a waterpark. That, as you might expect, was a big hit for all.

Kelsey was excited for her 6th birthday and treated her friends to a party at our house, games, and a trip to "Horton Hears a Who" on it's opening weekend at the local theatre. The kids had a blast and it went pretty smoothly with some help from Daniel's brother Dave and his wife Tina.

Kids

I need to add some information and pictures from this past weekend. Kayleigh and her friends had a blast at the waterpark on Friday night and then more friends went bowling on Saturday for her birthday party.

But, before I forget I wanted to write a little bit of Keaton humor.

Tonight after supper he was talking to me and I could smell licorice on his breath. I asked him if he had a piece of licorice. He pondered for a minute and moved his mouth around and then with the Keaton smirk responded "yes" and laughed and ran away.

Later the little guy came back with Kelsey's lunch box and he was so proud of himself. He said he had packed his lunch box. So I looked inside only to find a 6pk of raisins, a sleeve of unopened saltine crackers and a sucker (of course). He had to tell Auntie Connie about it and rattled on for about a minute on the phone. So adorable.

8 is Great!

2-19-08

Feb 07


Kayleigh is 8 today and so excited!! I can hardly believe it has already been eight years since Dan and I first became parents.

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!

Stationary and CD's

I have added a new caringbridge website to my list of sites. Please visit and pray for Aiden and Mason. They are an amazing family. Aiden's mom is making personalized stationary to help with the medical and every day costs. If you need anything along those lines, please visit the website and if the information isn't on the front page you can find it in the journal. I have followed Aiden and Mason's journey since a prayer request was made on Natalie's site.

Since I am at it, might as well put in a plug for Haley's music as well. Haley shares the same birthday as Keaton. :) Haley, Aiden and Natalie are all friends brought together through an awful illness. Natalie's mommy is a fellow banker and we have had the pleasure of meeting the family last summer. Haley passed away a few years ago, but she made some beautiful music and there is a CD available of that music. Her parents started the Haley Vincent Foundation and the CD's can be purchased on that website. We often play Haley's music on the computer, it is beautiful.

http://www.caringbridge.org/fl/aiden/
http://www.caringbridge.org/ga/haley/
http://hvf.wikidot.com/

I can't get the links to work :(

Give your kids a hug today!!

New Fashionable Cast

Today I had my first appointment since the surgery. Overall they thought it looked good. The plate may need to be removed because it does not appear that it is on evenly and therefore may rub against the skin due to the size of my ankles. If that is the case, they will wait at least 9 months after it is fully healed before they remove it. I am also still stationed to the recliner with my foot propped due to the possibility of blood clots. I am still not to put any weight on the foot and limit stairs along with carrying no weight. Very interesting. So needless to say, I am still stuck in the basement.

I had to have the stitches removed today. I told Dan and the nurse that it was worse than having my c-section stitches/staples removed. I have a constant pain in my ankle now where some of them were removed, not fun. I have also lost some feeling in the top of my foot. The doctor said the feeling may come back, but the nerves had to be moved around during surgery and sometimes this will happen. It feels like it is asleep and tingling all of the time.

The fun part of the day is picking a color for the cast. Lime green, bright yellow, hunter orange, royal blue, hot pink, purple, black or burgundy. We decided burgundy would probably be best. It sure is much smaller than the last cast. Also, I don't have to cover it for baths!! I had gotten the previous cast wet twice the past few days so I was excited about this feature.

Here is the new fashion accessory in the Walock house.

Another long day

Congrats to Dan who won 1st place in the circulation promotion category for MN newspapers. The Faribault Daily News also won the general excellence award for newspapers of similar size, which is the top award. Dan received his award/plaque at the MN newspaper convention yesterday.

Well, another long day at home. Thankfully I have the internet handing on the trusty laptop.

Update on the leg: I have been off the pain meds for a few days, for which my stomach thanks me. The swelling is down and so my toes don't look like the pillsbury dough boy any more. There is a lot of itching and the inability to scratch drives me batty from time to time. My next appointment is next Tuesday. Hopefully they will change the cast at that point so it is not so huge. I have not ventured to the top floor of the house yet, but have been able to go to the main level. Dan and the kids are doing a wonderful job taking care of Mom, for which I am grateful.

The girls are doing great in school. Kelsey told us today that she didn't want to ride the bus because she likes to be first in her classroom and the bus goes too slow and therefore she is not the first one there. Kayleigh has been reading to Kels and Keaton, which is so special. She is such a great big sis.

Keaton is quite the character. He is kind of hooked on wrestling. Dan took him to a meet in Fargo during Christmas and we watched some matches on TV the other night. Now he wants the girls to wrestle with him. He puts up his dukes and says 'wrestle with me'. Kelsey is his favorite target and she usually goes along with it. Once Keaton gets Kelsey on the floor he jumps up with his hands in the air and declares 'I am a winner'. When he isn't wrestling with his sisters, he is running down the hallway and sliding into home base. Such a boy. Last night he got out Dan's ear muffs and put them on his head. At first I didn't get it, but then when he asked Kelsey to wrestle it dawned on me. He had on his head gear and was ready to go. He was so proud. You will notice from the pictures below that Keaton is really into wearing Bob the Builder clothes. If anyone finds an outfit like the one in the picture, let me know. I got it at a garage sale this summer and since he is so tall the bibs don't fit the best, but he won't wear anything else right now. Not sure if I have mentioned this before, but Keaton is fully potty trained YEAH!!