Happy Birthday Grandpa Charley

Friday December 14th was Grandpa Charley's Birthday so we went to the Assisted Living home to wish him a Happy Birthday! He had visitors in and out all day and we know he greatly appreciated it. We took him a piece of cake from the Cheesecake factory which he devoured. We sang Happy Birthday and had a nice visit with him. Happy Birthday Chuck! We love you.

Ty update!

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for my little guy. I can now say with confidence that he has turned a corner and is definitely doing better! Praise the Lord! He didn't have a fever today for the first time in 12 days, he wanted down off my lap and wanted to play cars, blocks, puzzles & basketball. And he asked for food with out me trying to offer it to him! Yippeeee! Even though he is feeling better he still has a way to go. His poor body has been through so much the last two weeks. He doesn't like to walk very far on his own because his now scrawny little legs (he's lost weight) shake when he tries to walk very far. But at least he is trying to get up and move around. He looks pretty pale but he had a huge smile on his face today...it made me cry with happiness like 3 times today! We'll probably just spend the next few days taking it easy so he can regain his full strength and not over do it (even though I still have a little more Christmas shopping to do!). So, again, thanks for the prayers and words of encouragement. They were all greatly appreciated!

Please Pray for my Baby...

It has been 11 days of Tyson having a high fever, pneumonia, stomach cramping & diarrhea and he doesn't seem to be that much better. Again tonight he had a fever and we just feel at a loss for what is really going on. We went to the Dr. yesterday and they took him off of his oral antibiotic because they felt that was the reason for the stomach problems. They gave him a shot and told us that would be the end of the antibiotics unless he didn't feel better today. The Dr. felt that he was over the pneumonia based on listening to his lungs but I'm not so sure. Well, he was "better" today until about an hour ago. He has another fever and is cramping still. Ive been giving him homeopathic medicines for the cramping because it does help him. Please pray for him and our family. Its been a long 11 days and we are all feeling stir crazy and frustrated. I know the Lord is in control so we will trust that he will help us minute by minute. If he isn't better by Monday we will take him in and request they take another x-ray to see if the the pneumonia is really gone, to do a blood test to make sure it isn't viral pneumonia and to make sure it isn't something other than pneumonia. Of course, as the mommy, I try not to let my self wonder to much about what could be wrong..."think on what is true, think on what is true". So, pray for me in this way. I will keep you update.

Kara Avery Phillips

We'd like to welcome Kara Avery Phillips to the family! She was born December 5th @ 9:55pm. She weighed 9lbs 15oz and was 21 1/2 inches long...yes you read it right! Way to go Heather...there should be some kind of award for that kind of effort! You Rock!

Kara,
We pray that you would come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord & Savior. You've been blessed to have such wonderful parents and such a sweet brother and sister. We love you already and cant wait to meet you in just a few weeks! Kiss Kiss!
Love,
Uncle Jay, Auntie Heather, Jax, Kenna (who is very excited to share the same middle name) Huddy & Ty.

Pneumonia

As a lot of you know, Ty was in the hospital this weekend with Pneumonia. He is home now and doing better. He is still exhausted and bothered but is very happy to be home, in his own bed, playing with his own toys. Thanks to all of you who prayed for us. Living in a hospital room for 2 days straight was enough for me to know I never want to do it again. Here are some pictures from those 2 days.

This was just hours after he was admitted. Poor Little guy was SO exhausted.

This machine became my companion when Jay wasn't there and Ty was sleeping. It showed me were his oxygen levels were at. If the top number dipped below 91 things started beeping and nurses were coming in to check things out. He was on oxygen the first day but was able to get off of it on day 2. He pulled the tubes out 3 different times so they taped them to his face. I hated it!

Jay took this picture Sunday morning. He had just spent the night on a squeaky vinyl couch.

If Ty wasn't laying in the jail like crib he was sitting on our laps. He had IVs attached to him so he could get far. And they wouldn't let us out of the room for fear that he would contract something else from all the other sick kids in the hospital.
This looks fun, right? Who wouldn't want a red light bulb toe? Especially around Christmas time. "Tyson, the red toed toddler, had a very shiney toe..." sing it with me! Well Ty didn't! this dumb light caused him more grief. It didn't hurt he was just HIGHLY annoyed by it.
He didn't like the IV either. I had to kiss it about every 10 minutes in order for him to stop complaining about it.
Monday morning we got him to eat & drink.
He was even feeling good enough to play cars! We also watched the CARS movie 3 times during our visit.
YEAH! Its time to go home. No more IVs, no more temperatures taken, no more stethoscopes & no more getting woken up from a nap!

As much as it sounds as though we despised our visit, we really are thankful to the Lord for watching over Ty and giving us a Dr. who was thorough and for allowing him to come home quickly.

Let's get some fresh air!

The weather has been beautiful (crisp, but beautiful!) so we headed outside for some fall clean up and to get the Christmas lights up. With all these boys around I barely lifted a finger (not really, but I was trying to explain to Jaxon why he should offer to take the heavy things for me. Him being a boy, me being a woman...you know! Yeah-he didn't get it either! Truthfully, Jaxon has become a huge help around the house. Its neat to see him grow up to be so helpful. Ty and Huddy wanted to help too...and they did! So cute! Poor Kenna wanted to be out there helping too. She's been asking her daddy to put the lights up for weeks and she really wanted to help, but with a fever and bad cough she didn't feel up for it. She actually tried to fake not being sick any more but none of us fell for it. We let her come out with us for a little while but after a short time she was in tears and ready to sit by the fire. Poor little girl!

Here's that new smile I was telling you about. Cheese ball!

Not Jay's favorite place to be.

Jaxon's not to big on heights either so the two of them were a pair! I was down on the ground putting Christmas lights on the bushes and I snickered the whole time listening to these two! "whoo!" "you OK?" "yeah, I'm good"....a few minutes later... "whoo" "you OK?" "yeah, I'm good" and so on! It was too funny!

Huddy's into posing for the camera with funny faces these days! This is his favorite...the tear your lips till they bleed pose! Yikes!

This is the technique that Jay learned from Adam Renstrom a few years ago...it's amazing! You put the bag behind you and put your heals inside the bag, bend over and shovel the leaves in with your hands! He really made great time!

Ty & Huddy getting there 3 leaves in the bag!

More help from the peanuts!

Jaxon was in charge of raking the leaves to his dad so Jay could keep shoveling!

What a good helper you are Ty Ty!

Thanksgiving

Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever! 1 Chronicles 16:34

This was the first Thanksgiving that we have had in our home since we moved in 4 years ago. It was very pleasant. I always love the preparation for gatherings like this but this one was more mellow than usual. We didn't have any family coming in from out of town until Thanksgiving day so the day before was quiet. After the kids went to bed on Thanksgiving Eve I finished the last minute things and set the table for the next day and then Jay and I talked about the things we are thankful for. The list is long because our God is so gracious! All that we have, this world we live in, the people in our lives and especially our salvation is all from HIM! And for that we are eternally THANKFUL!

Thanksgiving morning we ate breakfast together and then sped up the pace to get the food ready by noon. Chad, Bridgette, Emme & Levi came and spent the day with us, which was fun. Bridgette & I even got some time to work on "projects", so that was nice. Kasey arrived mid afternoon and came over when Jay picked up his dad. It was great to have Charley over this Thanksgiving. A year ago, the day before Thanksgiving, was the day that Charley had his stroke, so we weren't sure how he would be feeling. But, he was in pretty good spirits. He enjoyed his time being in our home, watching the kids play, visiting with the adults, looking at past pictures & most of all eating pie! He had a slice of every kind we had & then some! Some of us played games while others watched football, but just being in the same vicinity as one another is nice. We ended the night by watching the news about the riots that were going on around the Mall, where the crazy people were waiting in line to get in at the 1:00am shopping time! I don't get it and don't care to!

These were our little name tags...aren't those turkey's cute!

Kase, Charley & Jax
As Jay always says " I have a one to one ratio of pie and cool whip". See for yourselves! =)

I stole this picture from my brothers blog. I loved how we all look so into dishing up our plates! I love Thanksgiving dinner (or lunch in our case).
This is Ty's new smile.

My boys!
Family Photo! Poor Kenna has been sick for days, running a pretty high temp. She was so miserable she couldn't even turn around for the family picture. So, there she is all cuddled up on her daddy...the place she wanted to be most of the day.

Celebrating my birthday 80's style!

So, for my 33rd birthday, my friend April threw me a birthday party 80's style! It was HILARIOUS! I think we laughed all night long...at each other. My cheeks were hurting by the end of the night because I couldn't stop laughing. We were entertained all night! The Matt's sang (or yelled) Dead or Alive, Megan reenacted the footloose dance, Stephanie tried to show us a Michael Jackson routine she did in the 80's and the rest of us made fools of ourselves in other ways. The Moffatt's made taco's and we listened to 80's music all night. Jay bought the Guitar Hero game and we dueled it out through out the night. And then of course we tried to reenact how we danced in the 80's...of course I wasn't really allowed to go to dances until 1989, so what do I know. I went as a Solid Gold Dancer (without wearing a leotard) and Jay...well...I'll let you decide. Lets just say its a good thing we met in the 90's!

I was the reigning champion in the women's division, until Jami came along!

Matt & John's duet of some Journey song, it was very touching.

This is Ruthie (April's mom) and the reason she is in this picture is because the outfit I am wearing was hers! She actually wore this thing! Thanks for letting me borrow your sweet strapless jumpsuit, Ruthie!

Like I said....Its a good thing we met in the 90's

The girls (look at Stephanie's Madonna pose...awesome!)

Hmmm...I think the guys were more disturbing looking than anything.

Megan & Matt gettin down!

April, rockin out!

They were "Wanted(wanted)....Dead or ALIVE!" sing it with me now!

Jami killed us all....Stephanie was horrible, but she entertained us the most!

Me & April playing "Hit me with your best shot"

I even beat Jay! Only once though...I think his mullet threw him off.

Thanks for the great night, my friends! You always make my birthday full of fun...What could be next?

Let's Go to the Movies!

We took the kids to see "The Bee" movie last week and these are just a few fun pictures from the night. This was Ty's first time to the movie's when he actually sat and watched. OK-he didn't really watch, but he was quiet and sat with each of us at one point or another, gladly finishing off any food or candy that was available! Huddy LOVED going to the movies...he's been talking about it ever since then. "That was fun going to the movies, huh?" he says.

He can hardly wait to get his candy open so he's chewing on the box!

Tyson was the overseer of the popcorn that night.

Let the movie begin!

Happy Birthday Ella Bella!

Happy 3rd Birthday Ella Marie! Your Uncle Jay, Aunt Heather, cousins, Jax, Kenna, Huddy & Ty all Love you so much! We cant wait to see you for Christmas! Hugs & Kisses!