In early November, we bought our first tent camper. It is so nice to not have to set up and sleep in a tent anymore! We love it and are enjoying camping much more!
Veteran's Day
Brock's 4th Grade class performed a Veteran's Day program. Brock was excited to wear his daddy's Marine Corp fatigues for the program.
Steve put on his dress blues and Brock wore his fatigues. Love this picture!!
Brock was chosen to portray one of the men raising the flag on Iwo Jima. He was so proud to be in this reenactment.
Near the end of the program, they asked all veterans to come to the front. They then played each military branch's song.
Ryan's First Major Injury
On Nov. 8, Ryan was jumping on the trampoline with Daddy and landed wrong. He said he heard a pop and was in a lot of pain. The next morning, we got a better look at his knee....it was huge!! We took him to urgent care (Nov. 9) and they saw something unusual in his x-rays. They put a soft cast on his leg until he could see an orthopedic surgeon.
He was in a lot of pain that weekend, but a little Bahama Buck's always makes things better!
We saw an orthopedic doctor on Monday, Nov.11, and he put a full cast on Ryan until we could get an appointment with a more experienced surgeon. He chose the very brightest color of cast they had, of course!
Two days later (Nov. 13), he saw the surgeon. After more x-rays, the doctor found that Ryan had ripped the ACL from his tibia (shin) bone...and tore a little piece of bone off with it. An adult would've torn the ACL in two, but since he's not fully developed, it broke away from the bone. They removed the cast, put a brace on his leg, we nicknamed him Robo Ryan, and scheduled surgery for the following day.
Ryan had surgery to repair his cartilage on Thurs. Nov. 14. He was in pretty good spirits...
...until they got him prepped for surgery. Then the fear settled in.
:-(
He got home that afternoon and rested in bed with a good book.
About a week later, we got to take off his bandages and this is what his knee looked like.
Thanksgiving in Amarillo
For Thanksgiving, we headed to the Brockman's in Amarillo. We timed it perfectly......we left a day early because we had heard they were supposed to get snow. About an hour out of Amarillo, it started sleeting and snowing. We woke up the next morning to snow!! We wrapped up Robo Ryan's leg brace and it didn't slow him down a bit. He had a blast playing in the snow!
Brock and their cousin, Jake, had a great snowball fight...this one was point-blank range!
Steve enjoyed the colder weather and was happy he wasn't sweating in College Station!
Brock had a blast in the snow...snowball fights, cleaning off cars (apparently fun for kids) and making snow angels.
Jake looks so cold!!!
Ryan with a huge snowball.
Jody shoveled the sidewalks. She's so cool in her mohawk stocking cap!
I liked this Thanksgiving picture.
Steve and Paul working hard (or hardly working?).
Brock and Ryan lovin' the snow...
...and icicles!
Jake looking VERY wet and cold...brrrrrrrrr!
The next day was nice enough and the snow had melted just enough to make it stick together. So, Steve and Ryan built a snowman...
...and found some very big icicles!
Yummmmmm! (Blah!!)
Michelle and Jody
Ryan and his Great-Aunt Vi
Michelle and Kenzie
Jackie and Carmen
Ryan, Garrett, Connor, and Brock
Ryan and Brock with Great-Aunt Vi
Some of the kids chillin', watching a movie: Jake, Ryan, Brock, Kenzie, and Maggie
Kenzie and Maggie
Jake, Ryan, and Brock
The Hulk (Jake) and Ironman (Ryan) showing us their guns.
Ryan and Uncle Paul
Paul and Jake
Jackie and Walter
Brock and Uncle Don playing table basketball.
Jo-Jo always gets lots of love from Kenzie.
Connor and Garrett
Connor, Garrett, and Ryan
Ben and Jake
Maggie giving Aspen some love.
Carmen and Lee
Carmen with Maggie and Kenzie
Carmen, Michelle, and Jody
Brock and Jo-Jo
We took a different route home and went through Lubbock. I got to show my alma mater to my kiddoes and take a few pictures. It was really nice to be back at Texas Tech again. There are a lot of great memories from that place!!
We had to get a picture by Roy!
And this picture is just for our Aggie friends!
