Keeping It Going....

Byron's Grandfather passed away in January.  He was 96 years old.  The changes that man experienced in his life are things I can't even begin to imagine.  We had the funeral and entombment and after the services the entire family went back to his house; the house he and his wife built 54 years ago by themselves, to eat and to share in each others company.  There were stories about Grandpa and Granny (who passed away in January 2002) and how they owned a hardware store, how Grandpa was a private eye for the federal government, about his life flying in WWII and what he must have seen and done then.  We began looking around the house at all of their collectables and how their house has never changed, how the figurines are in the same spot they have been in all their (the children and grandchildren's) lives....

Then I looked over at the Grandfather Clock.  I have been to Granny and Grandpa's house numerous times in the 12 years that Byron and I have been together and the constant in that home whenever I was there was the Westminster Abby chime on that Grandfather Clock.  Let me give you a little background on the clock.   That clock was dedicated by the 3 kids (Jack, Mimi and Bob) to honor Granny and Grandpa on their 40th wedding anniversary.  Granny and Grandpa were married on December 25, 1940.  The clock was dedicated to them on December 25, 1980, 9 months to the day that Byron was born.

I made a comment about how the clock was stopped and on the wrong time.  Byron's dad made a comment about how we should get it going again.  There were several family members sitting in the living room and nobody said a word, so I told Byron's dad "show me how to get it running Dad".  He explained in an edited version how the clock worked, how the phases of the moon part worked, and how to correctly wind the clock to get it working.  So he and I stood there and wound the clock so that it was chiming on the correct time.

As morbid as it is, the list came around a few weeks later of things in Granny and Grandpa's house that we would want.  I immediately signed up for the Grandfather Clock.  I am happy to say that the family agreed that the clock should stay with the Pletcher name, so we got the clock.  Byron brought the clock home, cleaned it, tuned it up, leveled it and set it.  The clock has been chiming the Westminster Abby Chime for the last month in our house, and will continue to chime for the rest of our lives and hopefully beyond.  I walk by the clock everyday and it makes me so happy to have it in our home.  To know that Carter is going to carry on the Pletcher namesake and to have the clock here, it represents Granny and Grandpa, and all of their hard work and love.  Every Saturday the family gathers around the clock and we wind it for the week.

You can't read the plaque all that well, but it says,
40th Wedding Anniversary
December 25, 1940-1980
John and Millicent Pletcher

So Over It....UPDATE

Now I am REALLY over it!  Yesterday my son refused to eat or drink anything and I mean ANYTHING.  I tried the Popsicle, I tried the ice cream, I tried small amounts of fluid in a syringe, nothing worked.  By 3pm he hadn't had a wet diaper and was miserable.  So I called the Dr, and they said they should probably see him.  The appt was at 5, and I couldn't stand to be in the house with both of them any longer, so I loaded them in the car and took off driving in hopes that it would put them to sleep - 40 minutes later I was pulling into the driveway with them both awake and annoyed that they had been in the car for so long.  Carter seemed to have perked up, but was still coughing and refusing to drink.  We went to the Dr and he checked out C's ears - they didn't look all that bad, his concern; C has phenomena in both lungs.  I almost burst into tears.  I was just at Children's 24 hours before and they said his lungs were clear!  Thankfully, he is on the amoxicillan and that is what they would have given him for the phenomena anyway.  We just need to be extra vigilant in watching his breathing, and to get as much liquid in him as possible.

So last night I was freaking out about not being able to hear him breathe...I slept with his baby monitor turned all the way up against my ear, needless to say I didn't get much sleep last night!  Thankfully Byron was able to take today off with me so I don't have both kids alone again today....

I am so over cold and flu season!

So Over It.....

I am soooo over cold and flu season....it seems like from December to April our kids rotate on who is sick and what funky illness they get....I realize that this is what every parent goes through and that once you put your kids in day care or preschool it is building their immune system, blah blah blah....I'M OVER IT!  My house looks like a tornado came through it, the kids don't sleep at night, therefore we don't sleep at night, B and I hardly see each  other because we each have our own "sicky" to deal with...and by the time we see each other at night, we assume the other has the coodies from their sicky so there is NO WAY we are kissing or hugging at night!

This past weekend was no exception with our children catching the next round of illness.  Saturday was BEAUTIFUL - the high was 81!  I had visions of us going to the zoo, having a picnic, playing outside after nap time....not one of those things happened....Carter woke up in a mood and could not be consoled, no matter what we did...Haylee was mopey all day...so we ended up deciding to go for a bike ride to the park by our house.  That is another disastrous story that may or may not be told.  Anyway, Saturday did not turn out how I had envisioned.  We put the kids to bed early and when they woke up on Sunday, Haylee had a fever of 102 along with rashy splotches all over her body.  Carter woke up with the same crankiness and a fever.  I took H to Children's where they diagnosed her with Strep (WHA?!  Serious - where did she get that from?!)  I made it home, fed the kids, put them down for nap.  When they woke, Carter had a fever of 102, and was inconsolable.  Back to Children's I went!  This time I was leaving with a prescription for Amoxicillin for an ear infection!  Again - where did he get that from?!

So, to keep the children calm and to infect as little as possible, we decided to do crafts both yesterday and today...enjoy the pics of the sickies!

They don't look all that sick - but man, the nasties have invaded their little bodies...they are being troopers though.  I am hoping to take a walk with them today to get them out of the house and get a little fresh air - waiting for the snow to melt though!  Trying to keep them away from each other and not share their illnesses is not the easiest thing to do!  Did I mention how over cold and flu season I am?!

Runnin' O' the Green

My very good friend Erin asked me a few months ago if I would be interested in doing the Runnin' O' The Green - a St. Patty's Day 7K (4.3 miles) race that is held downtown.  It is a great race where they pass out corn beef sandwiches and beer once you cross the finish line.  It is partly Erin's fault for me wanting to do more races this year and have fun...so, after the success of the Climb for Air, I talked my dad and sister into doing this race with me.

It was a blast!  There were so many people dressed up in their finest Irish green, and so ready to have fun!  The race happened two days after Ryan's car accident and neither my dad nor myself had gotten much sleep in the previous few days, and it was also daylight savings time; which Erin's phone - or so she claims - didn't switch the times, so she called me when she was supposed to be downtown and asked what time it was and threw on some clothes and hopped the lightrail,  so needless to say, the three of us didn't dress up for the race.   We still had a great time!

A look at the crowd at the starting line

These guys were HILARIOUS!

A look as we were running up 20th St

Us at the finish line!  We did it!

Dad beat us - yea, that's right, Dad beat us.  My sister Erin had to stop and take off her pants (keep it clean folks...she had her shorts on underneath) so he passed us then and we were never able to catch up to him.  He did great and I am sooo proud of him.  He finished the race in just over 45 minutes.  I believe his exact time was 45:04.  I finished in 46:09, Erin Denning finished in 47:59, and Erin Ellis finished in 48:31.  So, for now, Dad has bragging rights in being a 54 year old beating his two daughters in the race.  All I have to say dad is - bring it.  The Sean May Memorial Race is in May...you will hand over the bragging rights then!

We're Moving.....

....back into our bathroom!  The master bathroom is finally finished!  I can't believe how long it took to finish the bathroom, but am soooo happy with how it has turned out.  It truly is and I'm sure in the years to come, will be my sanctuary.  It is so calm, clean and peaceful.  I love how all of the colors, the tile, the accessories; how it all came together!

There are still a few things that the bathroom is lacking.  We are looking for a shelf with hooks attached to it to hang next to the bathtub on the wall, and I need to get something to put on the cabinet in the water closet, other than that, we have done well in accessorizing the bathroom.  I wanted to wait until we got our blinds installed before I made this post, and we didn't get them installed until this past weekend. Take a look at the final product!  I couldn't be happier, and more proud of all the work that Byron did in there!  It looks AMAZING!

I'll begin taking reservations now for those who would like to use the bathroom!  I highly encourage it!  I have taken a few baths, and LOVE the fact the bubbles are so gentle, and don't itch my skin like the old jacuzzi tub did - totally worth the cost of the tub!  I am a very lucky woman to have her husband work so hard and give her her dream bathroom!  Thank you my love..you are the best!

Thankful....

There are times that my siblings and family drive me nuts.  They drive me nuts, I drive them nuts...it's family....that's what happens; its what we do.  Despite the ups and downs that I have had with family, I love each and everyone of them, down to my core; and I would do ANYTHING (well, anything legal) for them, and I know they would do the same for me.

This past Friday the good Lord above tested our family...and he tested us to our core.  On Friday night, Ryan was in a pretty bad car accident.  Before I go further, he is FINE.   I was home, about 9:30pm, enjoying a movie with my husband when I got a phone call from Erin.  All she could tell me is that she heard from one of Ryan's friends that Ryan is in a car accident and that he had to be cut from the car.  I immediately jumped up and raced out of the house, headed to Greeley.  I made it to Greeley and walked in to see my little brother with cuts all over his face from the glass, blood that had soaked the entire back of his shirt, and blood all over the room.  I deal with seeing blood and guts for a living...it doesn't bother me; but when it is your little brother that you see in that hospital room, everything changes.

I found out from his two friends that were up there the gist of what happened.  Ryan was driving westbound and a girl was going to make a left hand turn from the eastbound lane.  She obviously didn't see him, and hit him in the middle of his back driver side door.  Ryan was going 45 mph, and we still don't know yet how fast she was going.  The way she hit him caused him to go sideways and pushed his car about 30 feet until his car went sideways into the street light pole-literally wrapping his car around the pole.  There were apparently a dozen or so people who saw the whole thing happen and stopped to help Ryan.  Although I see ugly everyday, I do still believe, and this confirms that there are still good people out there willing to help out someone they don't know.   They called 911 and called as many people as they could to track us down.

Because mom and dad were at dinner, we couldn't immediately get in touch with them.  We finally got in touch with them and they made their way up to Greeley to see Ryan and bring him home.  Ryan had a CT scan and everything came back as normal, and ok.  No broken bones, no trauma to the brain, no strains to his neck or back...the only injury, aside from the glass cuts is a 6-7 inch gash on the back of his head.  The gash was so deep that it went to the bone...yes - you could see his skull if you peeled back his head.  He received 15 staples in his head to heal that.  Ryan's nurse was guessing that it was the rear view mirror that caused the injury, but Ryan's friends and I didn't think that it could have been possible.  We left the hospital in the wee hours of the morning and made our way home.

Because Ryan's apartments keys were on his key ring, we knew we needed to get up there and get the keys, along with anything else he wanted out of the car.  And because none of us could really wrap our minds around what exactly happened, we decided to go up and look at the car.  I had been thankful for Ryan's health up to this point, and prayed thanks in him walking away from this accident with only the head wound, but after seeing Ryan's car, I am so truly thankful and believe that the Lord was looking out for him and his friends that night.  If Ryan had a passenger in his car that night, his passenger would have died instantly.  The force of the impact of his car against the light pole literally caused Ryan's passenger seat to be folded in half like a taco.  Ryan's car hit the light pole where the front passenger door meets the back passenger door.  It pushed the car so far inward it is truly shocking.  It also caused the roof of his car to buckle upward and inward, and you guessed it...it was the roof that caused the gash to the back to Ryan's head.  Ryan had papers from his student teaching job in the back of his car that we tried to get out, but couldn't get them out because they were pinned in there so badly.  If the driver of the other car had been a second earlier, it would have hit Ryan directly in his door and who knows what would have happened.

After looking at the car, we headed out to the scene to see what we could see.  There was a significant amount of glass still all over the roadway, and the tow truck driver told us it took over an hour to clean up the scene it was that bad.  After seeing the car and the scene it is pretty clear as to what happened, and where it happened.  While we were out there, we found Ryan's gas cap cover (yeah from the car!) sitting in the grass...we figured it would be a good souvenir as to his poor Saturn and what she went through for him.  While we were out there, Ryan also found one of his figurine toys laying in the street.  We took that as well.

To the girl who hit him, I know that it was an accident, and I am positive that she will learn from this experience.  I know that the court case will come and go, and that this accident will stay with all those involved for life.   I have said it a lot - I am so thankful that God was looking out for Ryan....that we as his family know that he still has work to do on this planet.

WARNING  

BELOW ARE THE PICTURES FROM THE HOSPITAL, CAR AND SCENE - DO NOT GO FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.....

This is how he looked when I got to the hospital.

The backboard he was on for an hour and a half.

Ryan with his head wrapped right before he was discharged.

This is from the rear of his car looking in - to show how far the car went around pole.

The black line towards the top of the picture is what he cut his head on.  You can see that his head hit the roof of the car a second time too.

Ryan holding his souvenirs from the scene

The Many Faces of Byron

In the middle of October, my lovely wonderful husband decided that he didn't want to shave anymore and that he was going to give growing a beard a shot.  I didn't mind that he was growing the beard and figured it would last a few weeks before he would tire of it and shave.....here we are at the end of February and he finally shaved it.  We decided to have fun with him shaving it off, and took some pictures of the beard!  Enjoy.

Here is the Before Picture

This is the Chin Strap look

 Can we say 1970?! LOVE the sideburns!

 The Goatee

 Perhaps Byron's favorite - the Fu Manchu (I think it looks creepy)

 The Moustache (and Byron's 2nd favorite!)

The Charlie Chaplin look 

The After - and my FAVORITE!  He looks so handsome!

 Although he looked great with the beard, I think the beard added years to his look, and I am so happy to have him back to the way he was!