So I Already Posted Today But...

I just thought of some funny things that have happened recently.

Peanut taught Jo Jo the song "Bingo" and they haven't stopped singing it much to the dismay of Bubba. And they sing it loud because he yells at them to stop. Jo Jo can even sing the spelling part-B-I-N-G-O. He also sings all the words to the bedtime songs I sing to them. I know I mentioned the alphabet and "Twinkle Twinkle", but can't remember if I mentioned that he knows all the words to "I Am a Child of God" now as well. He and Peanut are also learning the words to "When Jesus Christ Was Baptized" and "I Love to See the Temple."

Jo Jo says his own prayers now. He started last week when B was putting them to bed. Butch said he just about cried. He'll say, "Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for my blessings. Thank you Braden could go to scouts amorrow(our non-member neighbor that went with JP last week). Thank you for my famwee. Bless Uncle Todd on his mission a find people to cheech. Thank you for my church. Bless me for my school (he's obsessed with going to school now that everyone but him is going). Bless Bubba a go to practice amorrow. Name a Jejus Christ, Amen." He changes it up a little each time, but you get the idea. It's pretty sweet.

This and That

Not much going on other than football lately. JP's team won their first game Sat. We had two 8:30 am (Yikes) games so B watched the first half of Bubba's and I watched JP's first half and then we swapped so I missed the win. Bubba's team won. They had their first loss the Sat. before. They were undefeated last year and had won every game up until then so it was really hard for some of the boys. It was a SUPER intense game! It was so exciting. We ended up losing by 2 points in the last 15 sec. of the game. Bubba had two GREAT tackles! One was even by himself. After the game he told us that the reason he grabbed the kid by the shirt instead of fully tackling him (it was right on the sideline) was because there was a little girl sitting right there on the ground. I was amazed that he could see that and also get a tackle at the same time! He was one of the kids that took the loss pretty hard. He's VERY competitive and sometimes very sensitive.

I had to give JP his first shot Sat. That did NOT go well. He's terrified of needles. Even though he knew all week that it was coming B had to practically sit on him. I had to clean the area three times before I finally just reached in under B's arm and get him before he knew what was happening. The nurse said they're not painful shots (you know how some medicines hurt going in). We have a friend from our old ward that has a son with JRA (juvenile rheumatoid arthritis) and I emailed her for advice and to update her on his condition. She was so helpful and even asked her son to give JP advice. He said RELAXING is key. She also told me about a sticker chart they created when he was first starting shots. He got one for every time he took 10 min. to do one and two stickers for every time he could do it 5 min. So JP is very excited about this idea. When our friend's boy earned however many stickers he got a prize-he chose an MP3 player. So we'll have to get started on this next Sat. We're sad because there's an event at our science center from
1-3 pm next Sat., but we have football at 1:30 and won't be done until about 2:30 and then JP has his end of season party. He was really looking forward to it. Hopefully there will be more events. I checked out the website and they will have an awareness walk some time next June. It's amazing how many kids this affects and yet I had never heard of it until he was diagnosed.

Well time to get them from school. Busy last week of football. I'm sad the games will be over, but not sad that practices every night will be!

JP Update

So we found a new doctor for JP. We thought it was weird that the doctor didn't want to follow up with us or anything and his ankle and knee have stayed swollen, so we wanted to make sure everything was okay. I looked up doctors online and found a practice that specializes in arthritis, sports injuries, etc. Oh, let me back up. This past Mon. night during football practice he popped his knee several times, so this made me want to act now to find a doctor. We were trying to find the doctor that Jo Jo had gone to when he broke his arm because we really liked the doctor and the office. So that's the practice I happened to find right away. I called to schedule and we got in right away on Wed. and it was even with the same doctor we'd had and I didn't even request him. He was great! He was so knowledgeable and nice. They took x-rays and there isn't anything wrong with the bones. The doctor was really concerned by how big the swelling was. He has the ankle, knee, his right ring finger, and some of his toes on his right foot that are all swollen. They also have a doctor that is the only pediatric rheumatologist in the area. So the doctor decided to call him for a consultation. Well, it was worse than we thought I guess because he got us an appt. right away for today (Fri.) Apparently there's a 6-7 mth. waiting list for this doctor so we were happy but a little worried because clearly it's bad enough that we needed to see him.

So I picked up a prescription for a mild sedative for him to take this morning before seeing the doctor because they wanted to give him two cortizone shots-one in the ankle and one in the knee. For lack of a better term, it makes them drunk. He was falling over and at one point I went to help him and he went forward to the point that he fell on the tile right on his face and ended up with a goose egg in the center of his forehead. I learned my lesson and decided to have him lean on me to get to the car and into the doctor's office. He also said the most random things. He even started humming the Star Wars theme. The doctor was great! We LOVED him! He was so friendly and very concerned about JP. We told him that the first doctor told us he would most likely grow out of it and that we shouldn't worry and just to give him ibuprofen. Dr. Knibbe couldn't believe it. He was really annoyed. It's not something that will go away unfortunately. He wants to be very aggressive with treatment. So he decided that he needs to be on a certain medication with a long name that I can't remember. Unfortunately for poor JP it's a weekly injection. So he got the two cortizone shots and then a shot today of the new medication. It's something that I'll do at home each week and it has nausea as a side effect so we'll do it on the weekends. Then...he also had to get blood drawn. That was the last straw for him. So to back up juvenile arthritis can cause major eye problems so after his original diagnosis they sent us to a pediatric opthamologist for an eye exam. Everything looked great so we wouldn't need to go back for a year. Dr. Shea (the one we saw Wed.) told us that it could even cause blindness if it's not treated and checked often. That almost made me cry. Well...I guess when they did the original blood work in the ER back in Feb. they didn't do what they needed to determine how often he'll need to see the eye doctor, so that's why he had to have blood drawn today. Was that long enough?

So he got to go to Walmart and pick out some "prizes" for being so brave today. He HATES needles (but who doesn't?). He picked out two packs of silly bands-which if you don't know what those are you either don't have kids old enough or you've been living under a rock. They're the new rage-pretty much jelly bracelets like we used to wear in the 80s, but in shapes. He also chose a really small Lego car (the $5 ones) that you can build. He missed almost the whole day of school so he liked that part, but had to come home and ice it and rest. We'll see the doctor again in 4 weeks. We all liked him very much, including JP. There's going to be a juvenile arthritis celebration at the science center here in a couple of weeks with food and exhibits and our doctor will be there, so we'll try to go after football. He's still going to go to his game tomorrow in his uniform and sit on the sidelines to support his team.

Bubba has a big game tomorrow against the other undefeated team so it's a HUGE deal. The whole league has been watching us and we're supposed to have as many people wearing green tomorrow that we can get there. I think our boys are ready and will come out with the win!

Ready, Ready, Ready...Set, Go

This is what they yell when they snap the ball. I love it! It's so cute to hear these little 10 year olds yelling in their little men voices.


When he saw this picture he said, "I was having popcorn!"





I haven't been very good about taking pictures of the kids lately, but here are the couple that I have. We got lots of good video of Bubba's game yesterday, but only a couple of pictures and three of the four were on the same play. His team toasted the other guys 46-0. We've had lots of other coaches there watching our games writing our plays down and yesterday there were supposed to be 10 officials and 15 or so other coaches. I think it's ridiculous. They're ten years old for Pete's sake. Yes, we totally rock, but really? Bubba has been an animal this year. He did great at their scrimmage this past week. He made his catch and had some great tackles. He missed his catch in the game yesterday, but the quarterback under threw it-again, they're 10. He made some great tackles, though and gets to be on offense and the kicking team. The pictures above are from the kickoff team. He's the one next to the kicker who gets to put his arms up and then yell, "Ready!" He has the cutest little man voice when he yells it. I love watching him! We had a conflict yesterday so B took JP to his game (which was not at our usual field) while I finished watching Bubba and then took him to his best friend's birthday party where they played video games out of a truck! It was one of those lunch truck looking things. They also played laser tag in the backyard.

Thanks Uncle AJ and Aunt Alicia for taking the boys Fri. night. We went to a movie while they had the boys at their apartment and then we picked up Jo Jo while the other boys spent the night. They even got up early to take them to the football field! Thanks again, you guys are the best! We love you!

Choose the Right

Yesterday my awesome 10 yr. old volunteered his lunch recess and extra recess time to work in the library. They had received a large book donation and needed to go through them to decide what to keep. Apparently someone must have donated their entire romance novel collection because he said they filled two boxes, a trash can, and a large trash bag with "inappropriate" books. He told B that he didn't read them or anything, but that he was able to tell they were "inappropriate" because they had a woman and man on the front. I was so incredibly proud of him. He not only gave up recess for service, but also made good choices about what is not right.

Cute Jo Jo sayings-
-Whenever he hears a train he likes to tell it to "bonk" the horn
-Papa had to go to the hospital over the weekend and he kept asking where he was going and we told him the hospital and he called it the "hostible"
-I asked him the other day if he wanted to lie down in my bed for a nap and he said, "Sure!"
-When Bubba and B go out to mow he asks, "Is daddy whoa-ing the mawn?"
There's lots of other cute things that I should've been writing down along the way because right now my mind is a blank. It's been a long day.

My visiting teacher brought me a watermelon the other day and we finally got around to cutting it last night for our FHE treat. B went to finish cutting the rest and couldn't find it. We all turned around and saw this. He was giggling like he'd done the funniest thing ever, which really he had. After I took his picture Jo Jo said, "Take my picture. Cheese."

He can now sing all the words to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and the alphabet. He requests them each night for bedtime along with "Child" (I Am a Child of God). After a couple of nights he sang all the words to "Twinkle" as he calls it. And two nights ago I realized he could sing the whole alphabet. One of these nights I'm going to videotape him and hopefully with B's help I'll figure out how to post it. Oh, he also counts to 11. He gets the sweetest little soft voice when he sings or talks on the phone. It's the cutest thing.

Bubba's team won again Sat. 46-8 I was actually hoping the other team would score at the end because I felt so bad for them. At some point the other team's parents stop cheering and our parents kinda do too since we're so far ahead there's not really a need to get excited anymore. I always feel bad for the other team though because their parents should cheer through the whole thing even if there's no way for them to win. JP's team lost again, but at least this time it was 8-6. They're improving at least.

B's dad is staying with us for awhile while he does chemo. He's had lymphoma for two years now and has decided to come home to Idaho (instead of back East where he was) to finish up treatments. His step-mom left yesterday but will be back before his treatment on Fri. We made him a bedroom in the dining room so he has his own little room-oh except for the fact that he has no privacy whatsoever. Poor guy.

Busy week ahead with two parties for JP, scouts, RS meeting. Same old same old.

Camping

First tooth lost.


Goofing around the campfire.


Playing in the creek. I promise we feed JP. I think it's the way he's standing.


All the arrows Bubba shot right in a cluster. B said he just fired one right after the other like nothing.


Snuggling in sleeping bags.


Ready for the hike.

B took Peanut, Bubba, and JP camping this past weekend. They almost froze to death, but they toughed it out the whole weekend. Jo Jo and I hung out and had a chick flick film festival. I literally did almost nothing. (I did do one load of laundry and the dishes). It was really fun except for the part where he jumped on me on the couch the entire time. He missed daddy so much when it was time for bed. It was hard to get him down without his kiss from daddy.
They had a great time, caught 10 fish but only kept two to eat, went on a 7 mile hike up a mountain, shot bb guns and arrows, played in the creek, and got into town to get more hot dogs and stuff for smores. Oh and Peanut lost his first tooth yesterday before they left. It's a good thing he didn't lose it any earlier because I'm not sure if the tooth fairy would've found them all the way in the wilderness. I made them get in the shower as soon as they walked in the door. Bubba commented to B one night that he knew it must be hard for him not being with me. He told him that he missed me, but he was sure dad missed me even more. I'm so happy that they know how much their parents love each other. I missed my sweet husband so much. He looked like Grizzly Adams when he got home and everyone smelled like campfire. I'm so glad they had such a great time.