Just a quick word on JB and his arm.
On Monday I took him to my chiropractor. After feeling around a bit, he thought it was a shoulder injury if anything. He taped him up and we were on our way. Tuesday was my regular "Chiro" day, so he looked at JB again. He still did not feel anything but said if we went to his other office on Wednesday, he would x-ray again. Also on Tuesday while at speech therapy, the therapist had a PT person come look at him and they said the wrist. Then at pre-school, they had another PT person come in and they said elbow.

All the while he is not using his arm - at all. It just hangs limp.

On Wednesday we x-rayed the elbow and nothing. He felt all up and down the arm again. He said the pain response from JB was decreased and swelling down, as opposed to Monday. He taped him up and encouraged me to get him using it. We are thinking soft tissue injury, which takes 7-10 days to heal. The plan now is if he is not using it considerably by Monday, will probably call and schedule an MRI.

I am able to move his hand/arm around without him screaming, but he still holds his shoulder weird and will not put it out to protect him. He has voluntarily used it a little bit, small movements, but I will take it.

I have been staying away from the computer lately. Just is a big black hole with me..the less I am on it, the more productive I tend to be.

I've been contemplative lately. Just thankful for where we are at right now. A very steady, secure job, healthy kids and freedoms a lot of others in the world don't have. We had a great Thanksgiving. Went to some friend's house and had two deep fried turkeys and two grilled chickens plus all the trimmings. Even got a few hands of cards in.

Made a trip to Urgent Care today. Joseph threw something at one of his brothers and the (unnamed) brother got mad. He grabbed Joseph by the wrist and flung him off the couch. Immediate tears and favoring the other arm. I watched him over the next couple of hours and he was not using the arm. He even took a short nap and woke up crying his arm hurt. Decided an x-ray was in order. (Our first 'accident' trip ever - not bad with 3 boys).

The doctor did not see anything on the x-ray and assumed it was nursemade (?) elbow. He tried manipulating and pulling traction. He did not get the response from the arm he anticipated. We decided best to watch him the next 24 hours and if he does not have full range of motion in it after 24 hours, we are to go back. He is still favoring the arm and not using it much. Will see how things are in the morning/afternoon.

Been trying to finish up a few projects so I can put up Christmas stuff and get to work on my Christmas puzzle - one of my most favorite things to do. See if I can get a few more things done before bedtime!

Just random stuff....
B is really intrigued by the Titanic and that whole story. He has checked out lots of books on it. Today he was asking me when it sank. I could not remember and then he asked me if I was alive when it sank :-)
I love his individuality. The other day he came home from school with his sweatpants tucked inside his wool socks. This past weekend he went to church with his jeans tucked inside his boots. I always chuckle and he asks me why....I tell him I just love the way he is not concerned with what others think.
He has gotten a big part in the 3rd grade Christmas play/musical at school. Seems he has landed the part of Santa. We are working on memorizing lines, but fortunately it is set up so that the kids have the written script if lines are forgotten. As I recall, in previous years the kids walk up to a podium and speak the lines so takes some of the pressure off. He was very excited!

Jbird...Recently I was talking with another mom who had helped with picture retakes at school. She was talking with J as they walked for retakes. He told her that he needed to get his picture retaken because 'his curls did not lay right.' Then I was going up to his class and taking snack....chocolate chip banana bread. Before I got there, they were talking in class about snack and the teacher mentioned I was bringing banana bread. The kids got excited and then J stood up and raised his arms up and said, 'not just any banana bread, but chocolate chip banana bread - all the kids oohed and aahed.

JR got an small bull elk this past weekend. Anyone want to know what the smell of death smells like...just come visit our garage. But hey, meat in the freezer.

B's Cub Scout Den leader has suddenly quit. Our co-leader was his wife, so we are left high and dry. I have come along, for the moment and am picking up the pieces. So, one more hat I am trying my hand at. Hopefully a replacement would be found quickly. At least the program is so structured and laid out, it is easy to jump in and carry on.

That is all that is in my little head...off to do a few more things before hitting the gym.

It was a beautiful day today.....We have collected quite an assortment of sleds, so took them out for a spin.

JB was getting all the snow in the face....(I love the hair flying).  This was the shot that I literally had to jump out of the way right after I took it - straight for me!

Just happened to catch all of them in this shot...notice B's peace sign...

This was by far the favorite sled of JB's...

We tried all coming down together. Yes, I have on a short sleeve shirt and no gloves!  It was that nice.

We all had a good time. JB got plowed over by a sled and then one trip down some dogs that were playing on the hill ran over him. Not to mention all the times he would tumble off of his sled. He did amazing. He would get back up and tuck that sled under his arm and hike back up the hill.

Some where along the way JB has found his whine...seems like it is almost constant right now. When I remind him that he is whining, he changes his voice to a deep voice. It is funny how he can't seem to whine with his 'deep' voice.

His therapist retested him recently. His expressive language is now at 2 years and 8 months (he is 3 years 3 months). So, he is doing really well with vocabulary, now we need to work more on intelligibility. He did drop considerably in his receptive language though. The therapist said that the test she used has a lot harder content for the 3 year old (versus 1 or 2 year old). Things like you have three words - long, longer and longest. Then you are suppose to point to the girl with the longer hair. If the child points to the girl with the longest hair, they get it wrong. She is not too worried about it, but will keep an eye on it and retest him at some point. Just good to see the long term improvement.

Seems Jbird is taking an interest in animal books of late. One of the most recent books he checked out from the library was a book on squids. Then he wanted to find videos online about squids (wonder if I could get him to try squid). He has checked out books on jungle animals and sharks. B is starting to discover more chapter books. We continue to slowly work our way through our Christian Heroes series. We are trying to finish up the book on Eric Lidell - the guy the movie Chariots of Fire was based on.

We have a very quiet weekend coming up. Nothing on the calendar but church. Hopefully we can try to get in some good sledding!

Winter arrived on Thursday. That night we got 10.5 inches at the house. Then 1.5 inches the next day. We have already hit zero! Would not mind some really good skiing this winter, but hope the cold, cold days are few! Jbird has always loved icicles. So when the sun came up today we went outside and there were plenty to find.

JR got a small buck last weekend. Went out again yesterday but did not get a clear shot on anything!

B has had his mouth appliance put back in. He is not really diggin it. I told him some day he would appreciate it though.

The other day as I picked the kids up from school, we were walking back to our van. There stood a police officer - waiting for me. I was parked alongside the street and seems the man parked in front of me had bumped my vehicle while backing up. It happened right as the police officer drove by, so he was obligated to stop and 'investigate'. I told him I was fine with everything, especially since I could not see any damage. My license checked out, so I was free to go. The other man got a talkin' to from the officer about something though!

On Halloween, we attended a fall festival at a local church. They had carnival type games you could play. The boys got in line for the one where you throw a dart at a balloon. They each got three tries and JB was 3 for 3. I am sure it was not intentional, but he has an arm. Then the other day when we went horse back riding, JB was throwing the ball with Mr. Joel. At one point Mr. Joel was not looking and JB hit him right in the forehead.

To show you the type of questions my child can generate...in science they were learning about the food chain and if things were producers and consumers. B asked the teacher about the Venus Fly Trap. She did not know. Right after school she googled it and then called B on my cell to tell him the answer.

Jbird can now retire his red sweats (that have been worn way too many days in a row.) I finally found some sweats that he likes! I also have a lot of other pairs that will be saved for JB because they are perfectly good
but he doesn't like them. (Choose your battles, right?)

It has always bothered me when I would see kids B's age with pants that were too short.  I don't like short pants and never understood why parents would continually put them on their child.  Well, now I get it.  B has finally hit the stage where all his clothes are sized 8-10, not 5 or 6 or 7.  All of the 8-10s are so long on him, so he is wearing 6-7s.  I keep telling him to pull his pants down a bit.  He balks.  I just hope as he gets older and it is the style to wear your pants really low on the hips that he will continue to balk.

I  was able to talk Jbird into redoing his school pictures. I even sent a note with him in his pocket to give the photographer. It read "Don't touch his hair". In the first shoot, the photographer had parted his bangs down the middle, showing his forehead. I was told after school today that the photographer did not even try to mess with his hair. You don't mess with my son's hair.

I am enjoying helping out in the classrooms. With B's class, I pull kids out individually to help them with flash cards, telling time or counting money. It is fun because I just go down the roster, so I get to hang with all the kids. It is at a terrible time of the day for me. I had considered telling the teacher I would do every other week, but being up there last time and seeing how much they enjoyed it, I will plug along. The kids in Jbird's class enjoy any adult. You can tell those that are starved for attention. I was on the playground today and one boy came up and gave me a hug as I walked away!

Getting our first major snowstorm....planning on several inches of snow in the morning.

This afternoon it was too nice to be inside. So we ventured out to a local fishing access and threw some rocks. I tried to get a good picture of the three of them....Fortunately I had Jbird who was trying to rally the troops for me.  Can you guess who had the attitude...

Good thing I still have a few more weeks to try to get them all looking and smiling at the camera at the same time for Christmas pictures.

B has decided he wants to let his hair grow out.  It is starting to curl on the temple.  I think his hair is too thick though.  Just so interesting to see God's handiwork in each of them...so different, yet they all came from the same DNA.  B has the thick, coarse hair, Jbird has the curly fine hair and JB's is straight and fine.

The boys for some reason have really gotten into wrestling...like all three of them going at it.  Almost too much noise and chaos for me - which is saying a lot. It usually ends with one of them crying, but in the end they all love it.

Parent teacher conferences are this Thursday!  Anticipating a breeze with one teacher and quite a discussion with the other.  B is finally seeing the orthodontist on Thursday, to see if the appliance could be repaired and then it will be put back in.  He has lost another tooth!  They are slowly coming out.

For school all three of the boys are suppose to read every day.  Needless to say we are doing way more reading than before.  It is hard to get in a combined total of 1 hour a day.  I have tried to get B to read out loud to his brothers but that is usually not successful.  So I read to the younger two and then have B read out loud at a different time.  I am amazed at what they retain from our reading.

Today was an early release from school and a beautiful November day. We headed out to some friends' house who recently got a 'kid' horse. The boys had a great time hanging out with Sheena.  They had to 'work' for their ride.

They each rode solo but when it came time for number 1 to get off, number 2 got on the back for a lap or two, then number 1 would get off and 2 would slide up.

I love his dimples.....

We were not real sure how JB would do on the back, but he hung on tight.

I love the scenery in this one....despite what it looks like, Jbird did not fall asleep on the back of the horse and JB looks so serious, but they both were having a blast.

The other half of the afternoon was spent on their hay bales.  I never realized how much fun hay bales could be.  Those pictures coming up on a future post!  Off to bed.