Our Prima Ballerina

Ariana's dance recital is tonight and they are doing Peter Pan. Ariana's ballet class plays the part of tropical fish.....do you remember tropical fish in Peter Pan? Oh well, she makes a stunning tropical fish. She is so excited about it, especially after the rehearsal and she got to get on stage! I thought I'd post how beautiful she looks all done up!

No news is

good news so far! Rick has been laying low this past week and we can't hardly believe that his accident happened 2 weeks ago tomorrow. His pain has decreased immensely, though it is probably just as painful for him to have to sit relatively still and watch everyone else tend to "his chores", ie mowing, working, bathing the kids, etc. He got his cast on Tuesday and goes back the week of the 13th to have a new cast placed. He cannot put any weight on the left leg for 6-8 weeks (now 5-7 weeks!!!), and then they will place a boot cast on it and then in 12 weeks he will have the screw holding the tibia and fibula together backed out.....The only bummer is that this is when we have our annual trip to the beach which it looks like we will have to reschedule. I do have to say that Rick has been a trooper through this whole ordeal and an ideal patient (except for telling the nurses after surgery that he'd show them his vasectomy scar for 5 bucks! No takers either!). He's adjusting to life with the cast and is getting around quite well on his Roll a Bout. Now if I can just keep him for "altering" that thing, I overheard him telling someone about a nitrous jet engine????!!!! He is a changed man after this near death experience and is promising me that he will hire people to do some of the stuff that he always is doing, Praise God! I've enjoyed having him around the house these last 2 weeks and will be sad when he goes back to work next week.

The great stuff this last week....

We did have some wonderful times during this week of chaos. First was Ariana's 7th birthday on the 19th. It's so cliche, but I cannot believe how fast time has flown by, wow. She celebrated with a surprise lunch at Cafe 501 with mommy and a consolation dinner at Pei Wei with promises of Musashi's when daddy feels better. We then came home to cake, ice cream and lots of great presents....her tastes are definitely getting expensive! She was quite the royal princess for the day! Then on Saturday we had her party for her friends at the OKC Zoo Treehouse. It was one of the best birthday parties I've ever been too. The children were so well behaved, it was very organized and informative. We met PattyWhack the American Alligator, toured Aquaticus, had cake and ice cream and opened some fabulous new stuff! During Ariana's party on Saturday, Evan attended the Cowboy Chuck Wagon Cook-off with Gangan at the Oklahoma Cowboy Hall of Fame. Evan had an absolute blast. He wore his cowboy hat (which looks more like a Jed Clampett hat!), colored a kerchief, ate hot dogs, rode a pony, and rode in a stagecoach. It was hot outside, but I hear he was a true cowboy and rode on! So amidst the accident, surgery and recovery, we have had some highlights and feel so blessed to be able to spend that time with our precious babies.

Rick's Status

Rick was discharged and back at home yesterday, Friday 23rd. He was feeling strong and comfortable at the hospital, but we have had a challenge on getting his pain under control. They discharged him with a very low grade pain med.Finally I just picked up a stronger pain med that will hopefully help him get a handle on the excruciating pain he is suffering. Please pray that this will help and that he can now get some sleep. With some exciting news, we are now the proud owners of a brown leather La-z-boy. Those that know me well know how this killed my soul to pay good money for one of these jewels. But I'd do anything for this crazy husband of mine! He has an appointment with the surgeon's office on Tuesday to check the wounds and place a cast on it. Again, thank you to everyone that has called, stopped by, sent flowers, etc and well wishes....we truly feel blessed to be surrounded by the outpouring of love and support....asking for help is a new thing for us!

Bionic Man Update....

Surgery went really well today. It lasted right at 3 hours and boy is there allot of metal in that man's leg....2 plates, some pins and several what appear to be long sheet rock screws! The doc said that it was pretty bad and was quite tricky. Rick goes back in 12 weeks to remove one of the screws that goes through both the tibia and fibula, aiding in tendon/ligament repair. He is quite drugged up and was sleeping better than he has in at least a week when I left the hospital a little bit ago. He should be at home tomorrow afternoon, then the battle begins. The doc said no weight bearing on that leg for at least 6 weeks and would like for him not to go back to work until he sees him the end of the first week of June....you do the math....I will either have to drug him constantly, beat him over the head with an extremely heavy frying pan or move out all together! I do have to say that he has been an amazing patient and if only I'd had a camera or recorder after he was out of surgery. The man on serious drugs is quite hilarious, this is a first time for him! Thank you to Bebe, GanGan and Nana for caring for our beautiful babies, what a blessing you each are to us. Thank you also to all our wonderful friends that have called, stopped by (Rick loved the cane Brian!), prayed, offered their help and services. We are truly blessed with the BEST family and friends a person could ask for.....

The latest

Thank you all for your prayers, concern and calls. We were referred by Dr. Carlan Yates to another ortho. surgeon at McBride, Dr. Kammerlocher. We met with him yesterday afternoon and our prayer of little swelling was met. The doctor said the swelling looked really good and scheduled surgery for this Thursday, 22nd. We then had a CT Scan done of his leg because Dr. Kammerlocher said that the bottom of the tibula looked like a bag of Rice Krispies and he wanted a clearer picture before he got in there so that he was sure that he could put Humpty Dumpty back together again. We just found out that he checks in at 9am but not sure what time the surgery will be yet. Not sure if he will have to stay the night or not....he's still in excruciating pain, but the new temporary cast has offered more support than the one at the ER.....We are thankful that the surgery will be this week, because we thought it would not be until next week....That much closer to the long road to recovery! Again, thank you to each of you that have called or stopped by, your thoughtfulness is truly appreciated and we feel blessed to have amazing friends and family.

Superman finally finds his Kryptonite....

that would also be known as Rick meets barn and barn wins. Rick was tearing down/trying to recycle an old 12x34 barn/outbuilding in the back of our property yesterday and it collapsed on him. He was inside it removing the last items when he heard the structure start to give way, whereas he tried to Marion Joyner out of the building (run like hell). He made it about 6-8 feet when the roof pancaked him into the ground. When he came to and realized what had happened and assessed his injuries, the only noticeable injury was his left leg, which the left foot was rotated backwards. At that point he felt no pulse or sensations in the left foot, so he lifted, rotated and set the foot back into place. He still had no pulse/sensation, so he then pulled the foot back forward and reset again. This restored pulse and sensation to the left foot. He then began to scream for help, mind you we all live on acreages and I was inside and had just gotten into the shower to get ready for a benefit with the Timberlakes. Thank the good Lord above, because after he pulled himself to the window in the barn, which used to set up about 12-14 feet above the ground, he busted out the window and began yelling for our neighbor Dennis Hubbard. The Hubbard's had just been over inspecting Rick's project not 5 minutes before this happened. Rick screamed for a few minutes, then Dana happened to be getting the mail and heard him then screaming for anybody to help him. They both ran over and Dennis began taking an axe to the old window frame to get Rick out of the building. They then came and got me out of the shower and called 9-1-1. EMSA wasn't sure how bad the injury was going to be so they had Medi-Flight coming too because we live so far out. After EMSA got here and assessed Rick, they called Medi-Flight off and transported him to Mercy ER. Lucky for us, the ER Dr. and one of the nurses knew Rick from his days in the Mercy ER and we instantly got a room (mind you the waiting room was overflowing with people waiting 3-4 hours to be seen and the ER itself was full we patients in the hallways). They xrayed his foot and he broke his tibia, fibula and ankle and perfect trifecta. They put a temporary cast on him foot, laughed at what a freak he was for setting his own fractured leg/ankle, loaded us up with Percocet and sent us home. Needless to say the pain is almost unbearable and we think he might of actually fractured his right ankle too. We are to call his orthopedic surgeon first thing in the morning (it's Ariana's 7th birthday too :() and they will then most likely schedule surgery. He knows how lucky he is that this is all that happened. The 20+ firefighters, paramedics, neighbors were all astonished that it didn't break his back, snap his neck or just outright kill him (the EMSA guys said they should stop on the way to the hospital and buy a lottery ticket b/c Rick was one lucky guy). Please say a prayer that they pain eases and that he can get some sleep, we haven't slept yet.

We truly have the best neighbors a person can ask for, thank you Dennis and Dana. You are amazing, wonderful friends.

Thank you Bebe and Gangan for taking the children. We could not do it without you guys.




The picture shows how far the roof went forward. It used to be about 12-14 feet high.

See the forementioned...

Tye Hill was in trouble, no you must be kidding, the other night and was told to go to his room. This is where we found him in his room.....

...Walks like a duck

must be trouble! I can only imagine these 2 in 15 years.

The annual pilgrimage

Finally, somewhere different besides the Zoo for our children's annual pilgrimage, aka the class field trip. This year Evan's class went to Orr Family Farm, located somewhere between Moore and Norman. It was quite a rouse, as Brian Timberlake firmly stated, and at least we can check it off the been there, done that list. It was nice to see a little different scenery, though they did herd us like we were flying Southwest Airlines!