Zipper scar

My step son Cody is a very tall boy....he stands 5'11" at age 13. Well this fast growth at such a young age caused a major problem for Cody. We noticed about a year ago that his chest had a huge dent in it. His Mom took him to the Dr. to get it checked out and it turned out his ribs on his left side were not growing toward his sternum and protecting his lung and heart the ribs were turning in towards his spin and moving his heart out of the way and starting to squeeze his lung. He started having shortness of breath a few times and the connective tissue in there was getting inflamed. Well the Dr. decided he need to have surgery to correct this problem before it got worse but insurance decided the surgery would not be covered because it "cosmetic" in there books. It had to be life threatening for regular insurance to cover it. We then reached out to The Shriners Hospital. That organization is AMAZING!!!!!! They agreed to do Cody's surgery.....for FREE!!!!!! It was a very expensive surgery and they did it for free. I was so amazed a felt like our families had been bless. Cody had his surgery on Monday. It was 4 hours long and it is a 6 month recovery process. They went in and cut 3" off 4 ribs on one side and 2" off 3 ribs on the other side. they then used "bone cement" to connect the ribs back to the sternum and they but in a metal rod to hold his ribs in place till they heal in about 6 months and then they will go in and take the rod back out in 6 months. He has a long road for recovery ahead of him but he is a strong kiddo and will do great!! He is going to come stay with us for about a week when he is able to ride in a car for 2 hours without to much pain. Cody will soon have a "zipper scar" to show off LOL and when his Great Grandpa on his Moms side gets out of the hospital after having heart surgery they are going to stand together and compare/show off their "zipper scars"

My First Buck!!!

Opening day of rifle season here in Missouri was such a great day for me!!! I went out hunting with my husband in HIS tree stand. We sat for a couple hours together enjoying the cold windy morning. I really wasn't expecting much to happen for me because Dougs brother and his son always seem to be the ones who get there deer first thing in the morning and it takes me a few days. Well not this year!!! A nine (use to be a 10 pointer) came out and I couldn't get my scope on him at first and I thought I wouldn't get him but then he stopped in just the right spot and I GOT HIM!!!! He was my first buck EVER!!! I was soooooo excited!!!! I also got a doe that morning about 5 minutes after I shot him. Here are a couple pics my husband took for me.

Christmas Music!!

Just wanted to pop in and let you know if you LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas music you can go to ksanta.com and listen to Christmas all day everyday I guess till Christmas!!! WOOHOO!!!!! I am one happy camper LOL. BTW I tried posting a video my mom took of Travis wrestling but it wouldn't work so I will have her post it for me so check out her blog in the next few days to see Travis woop some tooshy!!!!

Prayers Please!!

I know most of you are friends with my mom so you already know but I am going to ask anyways. If you all could keep my Mom and Dad in your prayers I would appreciate it. Mom is having trouble with her ear, you will have to look at her post to get the idea on her ear problem, and she is needing a little extra love and prayer right now. My Dad is in surgery as we speak for his shoulder, he will be fine I just know it but still a surgery is a surgery and I hate that he has to go through it. He is needing a little extra to today. Oh and I guess you could say one more for my Mom because she has to be at home caring for my Dad who is not known for staying in bed and doing as the Dr. tells him. She is going to have her hands full!!! LOL We are going out for youth season deer hunting this weekend with the oldest boys so keep your fingers, toes and whatever else you can crossed. I will post pics soon, that is if they are blessed enough to have deer walk out and give them a shot. Deer don't like to play by the rules, they are suppose to stand in the middle of the field broad side and not move but we have yet to convince them to do this LOL. Have a GREAT Halloween everyone!!!!

Hello Again!!!

Hey there everyone!!! I have been one busy lady and have not had anytime to blog but I am here today!! Well here is a little update on me and my family. My husband has been doing good, he was in an accident involving the BIG Fire truck and the brush truck a few weeks ago (thankfully he and his boss were both able to walk away fairly unscathed) and he is now just thankful to be alive and is enjoying life to it's fullest. He is spending as much time with the boys as possible and loving every minute of it!! Travis is doing amazingly good!! He is making all A's and B's and 1 C+ but that is going up to a B as we speak. He played an amazing football season to his team went undefeated the whole season on A team and B team until this last game, they played the other Middle school here in town who were also undefeated and lost the A game by 1 touchdown but B team went undefeated all season. It is amazing how much he has matured in the last year, I am sooooo proud of him!! Cody is also doing great!! He is making A's and B's and 1 C also lol and has had a great football season too. His team went undefeated all season also and they just won their Bowl game this weekend!! Both my older boys have some major talent when it comes to football. Now for Dakota......oh my Dakota lol..... he is in the third grade now (how did that happen?) He is really doing great in school he is making all A's and B's and seems to be absorbing all that is taught very well!! I am going to have to get my camera and take pictures of all of Dakotas art work and do a blog just on that one day soon. He is really turning out to be an amazing little artist!! He got that from Grandpa Haslag I guess because it wasn't me!! LOL I didn't inherit that talent.....thanks Dad you passed on allergies to me but no art talent lol. He is doing Cub Scouts again this year and we took him back to his old school for it this year( last year was no fun!!) He is happy to be back with his old friends even if he only gets to see them once a week. I will have to post Cub Scout pictures soon also. Now for the littlest boy, Austin, oh where to start.......Hmmmm....well he is in Kindergarten this yearand he absolutely LOVES IT!!! He has been coming home with new info everyday. He came home one day and put tape all over my house and told me those were his corners (i guess they do different stations at school called corners) He then goes to each corner and does an activity all night long. His teacher sent home a paper stating the expectations through the year, here is what it said. Kids are expected to be able to say and recognize and write their upper and lowercase alphabet, Count to, recognize and write to 110, know their home address, phone number and their birth date all by the end of the school year. Austin can recognize, say and write his alphabet both forwards and backwards, he can count to 110 and he stops there. We say can you count higher than that and he says "well yeah but my teacher said we only have to count to 110 so that is as high as I need to go" LOL. He also has started reading simple books with very little help from me I only help him on bigger words and even then he can sound out most of those word to. He can do simple math and he loves patterns. He knows more now than they require at the beginning of first grade!! Needless to say I am one proud Momma!! ALL my boys are doing great and life is good!! Oh and I am doing good to.....not much ever changes as far as me, I wake up, I babysit all day and then I enjoy my family in the evenings. So there is the update of all my men, hope everyone is doing great and is enjoying life!!!

AND THEY"RE OFF!!!!

Well three of my four boys are at school today... my step son Cody starts tomorrow. Travis is going into the 8th grade and his last year as a middle school kid. Next year he will officially be in high school!!! He also like to remind me that next year he will be able to get his permit to drive.......AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Cody is going into the 7th grade and as far as I can tell he is ready for it. He is a social kid so he like being able to go see his friends. Dakota is going into the third grade and he is pretty excited even though he doesn't like to say it lol. He is ready to see his friends again to and make new ones. He is very worried about learning multiplication this year so he is stressing....he was thinking they were going to throw him into it on the first day and expect him to know it lol. He will do great though. Now for my baby Austin......."sniff"...."tear".....he is officially in Kindergarten!!!! He was soo excited to get ready today once he woke up. He ate his cereal and i went downstairs to start some laundry.. I came upstairs and he had hi sock, shoes and backpack on and was waiting at the top of the steps ready to go!!!!! I am so proud of all my boys and I can't wait for them to get home to tell me about their days.....I will keep you posted!!

Happy Birthday Travis!!!

Travis is my oldest son and he turned 14 today!!!! Can it be possible?????? He is one of the BEST boys you could as for as a son. He is kind and considerate and yes onry as all get out lol. I am so proud of him and who he is growing up to be. I know he will grow up to do AMAZING things in life. He makes me and his Dad sooooooo proud!!!! I am sure he makes his Grandma (punkin) and Grandpa a little proud to LOL. they are definatly a HUGE part of their lives. Travis grew up living with me and them at their home for four years until me and my husband married in 2001. He still recalls all that he loved about living there. He still goes out there every chance he gets and wants to spend as much time as possible with them. They help him through the good times and the bad and have some of the best advice anyone could ever give him. We are so lucky to have you all in our lives like we do and I know Travis will take any advice you all give him in any situation in life and save it in his heart to help him through any problems he might have weather they be present or future problems. He will always have you all to turn to and for that I thank you. Did I mention I AM ONE PROUD MOMMA!!!!!!!!