A Great Weekend!

We had a great weekend!  Friday night started with the tradition of "meet the couch"--this is a Fishgod specialty.  We are so tired by Friday night that we just park our cute little butts on the couch, eat dinner while mesmerized by the TV, and usually fall asleep somewhere in the middle of the first show.  Okay.  Maybe I'm the only one who actually falls asleep.  Whatever.

On Saturday morning, we got up and packed up for the jaunt to Abilene.  We stayed at one of the guest houses for families.  The house is great (but the beds are VERY uncomfortable)....alas, it is free!  The only downside is that we are not allowed to cook in the guest houses.  We can microwave, toast, or make coffee.  Evidently those don't count as cooking.  I decided that a crockpot is just another appliance and packed us up a roast with veggies and gravy.  It was heaven to sit down to a nice, warm meal after a long drive and cold weather.
 
Our visit with Steven was superior!  He was happy to see us, laughed alot, and was very interactive.  We took Christmas lights and window clings to the house for all the boys to help us put up.  It was a hoot.

Steven helping Mommy

Tyson and Abel BOTH have to be right.

Jason hanging window clings

We also have developed a routine of providing ice cream sandwiches for the boys and the staff each time we go down.  When we arrive now, the boys say, "Hi!  Ice cream?".  The more verbal boys ask every 5 minutes if the ice cream is ready.  One boy, who is non verbal, comes to me and uses sign language for ice cream.  It's too cute!

Abel the Manager of Light Hanging

We think the highlight of the weekend was seeing  Steven attempt to drive the car!  Yes, the kid can drive.  Who knew?

 

 

We were waiting for the Sonic girl to bring lunch and Steven was done waiting.  He just reached over, started the car, and attempted to put it in gear.  We were laughing so hard.  I even turned off the ignition and we waited to see if he would do it again.  He did!

Happy December

December is slated to be a very busy month for the Fishgods!  In addition to the holiday season activities, we also have two swim meets and two surgeries scheduled.

On Saturday, Megan will swim at a daylong swim meet.  We will attend, then head to Abilene to see Steven before he has surgery next week.  We will stay overnight and return Sunday late afternoon.

Steven will have his impacted wisdom teeth removed on 12/6.  He will have to be put under general anesthesia and will stay in the hospital at least one night.  We have met with all the professionals involved and relayed our previous experiences with general anesthesia so they will be on the lookout for respiratory distress post op.  I will be heading back down on Monday evening to be with Steven for surgery and a few days after.

 Grandma Jane is coming to Texas on 12/18.  She always said she would never come visit because of tornados!  Ha, we got her!  Troy is having spinal fusion on 12/22 and she is coming for that and for morale support afterwards!  We are so glad she is coming!

Troy's surgery will be on 12/22 and he will be in the hospital for 4-6 days.  Spinal surgery is obviously very involved so it will be a long recovery.  We are hopeful that this will alleviate some of his pain and 2012 will be a banner year!

We have decided to celebrate Christmas a little differently this year.  We will each open one gift at the hospital on Christmas day.  We will do our traditional Christmas dinner etc on 12/31.  Assuming Troy is doing wonderfully in the hospital, Jane and Megan will stay with him on Christmas Day and I will drive down for a quick trip to spend Christmas with Steven.  I may try to change that a little bit and have staff bring Steven up here for our family Christmas celebration on 12/31.  We just found out this is an option and will definitely take advantage of this while Troy is recovering!

So, that's life in a nutshell.  Yay December.