Celebrity Status

In my little small neck of the woods, I am almost a celebrity.

I was asked to be the featured cook of the week in our local newspaper. REALLY!! I WAS!!

LIL 'OL ME??!!??

I honestly almost laughed when they asked me, but I really can cook when I decide to so I decided to participate. I do not have any original recipes but really who does? I used a couple of Ree's from The Pioneer Woman (www.thepioneerwoman.com) and everybody I have seen in town since then raved about The Marlboro Man Sandwich. It tastes so good. I also gave them a recipe from my church's cookbook.

I went to vote last night and the older lady who was volunteering took my driver's license, saw my name and said, "ooooh, I saw you in the newspaper. It's nice to meet you". I was cracking up!!

Besides being the celebrity around here, we have been doing a lot of camping still. We have been two separate weekends. Fall Break we went to Calhoun KOA Campground and had a great time. Last weekend we went to our local state park, Fort Yargo. Both trips my niece and nephew went with us. This weekend we are going to the mountains to another state park and then hopefully the weekend before Thanksgiving we are going yet again to a different park. That will probably be the last of it for the winter. It is finally feeling like November in Georgia just this week. The weekend in the mountains the low will be in the 20's so hopefully we won't freeze our hiney's off. We love to camp so we are game anyways. Hopefully, next time I can post pics of our adventures. You can read all about me in the Barrow Journal newspaper if you want to google it :-)

Tootles,
Wendy

Marriage Retreat

My dear hubby and I spent a weekend away last weekend camping ALONE!!

As in, no kids.

Just us.

It was wonderful. We went up to Victoria Bryant State Park about an hour-and-a-half from our home with our camper and enjoyed a weekend away. We had not been able to do this since getting our new camper back 3 months ago. Lots of trips with Tori-bug and we love going with friends and family, but we soooo needed some time away to renew our relationship.
Victoria Bryant State Park is a beautiful park in North Georgia. Since we don't have a TV in the camper, the weekend was filled with relaxing, hiking a nature trail, reading, cooking out, and listening to the radio. I loved having this time to spend with just Kevin.

This weekend, we were able to attend a Love and Laughter marriage retreat with Dr. Gary Smalley and Ted Cunningham at a local church. Friday night and Sat. morning until lunch we learned how to put the laughter back in our marriage. Boy, oh boy did we laugh and laugh. The seminar was awesome. Kevin and I have been together for 19 years and married for 12 years. Like so many other couples life gets in the way and we are busy raising children that we sometimes forget about each other. We didn't know it at the time, but several other couples from our church attended the same seminar. We sat on the front row with two of the other couples and got "called" out a few times b/c we were laughing and agreeing with what the speakers were saying. One of the couples ended up getting a free book b/c Dr. Smalley was "picking" on them! It was hysterical. We love sitting up front where all the action is. Plus, with my OCD and Kevin's ADD, we have a hard time paying attention sitting in the back. Ha! It was neat getting to spend alone time with my hubby last weekend and learning at the marriage retreat the following weekend. Great week indeed! We bought a few of the books and some of the books on CD and even a study book so hopefully we can keep up the laughter for months and years to come.

The rest of the home front is going good too! Tori-bug is in full-swing of gymnastics practice and 5th. grade. She has a really good teacher this year so we are happy about that. Business is good for Kevin right now since it is still mid-90's in the middle of Sept. in Georgia! Pretty unusual for us in Georgia, although you just never know. A few years ago, it was so cold on Labor Day in GA that we nearly froze. When you own a heating and air company you are thankful for the extreme temps. whether it is too hot or too cold. We will take what we can get. I am still working 32 hrs. a week. I changed my schedule a little to a half day on Wed. and a half day on Thursdays so now I am able to co-lead a middle school girls small group bible study on Wed. nights. I was not able to do this in a long period of time (mostly b/c of my severe back pain) so it makes me feel great that I can get back involved. Since I only work a half a day, I am able to come home and rest before going to church on Wednesdays if I need to.

Well, that's about it for the Whiddon's. Happy Birthday to my daddy on Sept. 20th! I love you daddy!!

Note to hubby:: Let's balance the budget this week! I love you!!

The Lambs Book of Life

Today my Tori-bug's name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life. What a glorious day!! Her daddy and I couldn't wait for this day. The day we have prayed about since the day we found out we were pregnant. If feels so good knowing that she will meet us in Eternity one day.

Pictures and Such

I totally forgot about Tori-bug's birthday on June 14th. She turned 10. Double digits now!! Woohoo! We kept it very mild this year and only did a small family party since her "real" gift from us was GymDog Camp. Here she is with her favorite GymDog--- Hillary Mauro! Tori-bug had such a fabulous fun time during the entire week. But, true to Tori-bug fashion she did break her pinky on the first day!! Poor girl, she didn't even want to tell me for fear that I wouldn't let her go back the rest of the week. I guess she didn't realize how much we had spent on that week of camp so "Oh, she was going back every day!!" She barely let it slow her down at all. She just couldn't do a couple of the bar routines. The mat slid out from under the beam on dismount is how she broke the finger. She's good now.

This is my gorgeous niece Leah! She is now 15 months old and has a brand new baby sister. She spent a little time at my house this day and we got her an Tori-bug in a little baby pool on our back deck. She had so much fun. I sure do love that little sweet thing.

Speaking of brand new---- here she is, Kylee Kristina. She is so adorable. She was born on June 10, 2010. My very young, 20 year-old sister now has two precious baby girls under age 15 months. She is a great mom though, just has her hands full. My other sister and myself try to help out as much as we can.

Pictures of my sister, Monica's burned up house. The house caught fire on July 10th. at 7:00pm. My husband and I had been camping for the weekend so I had invited my sister and my disabled mom to come visit me at the campground for the day. They did and we had a great day and ended it with a cook-out. My sister, her husband, 3 kids, our disabled mom, and my sister's inlaws all lived in the same house. The in-laws and the children had went to Florida for the week. A 12-year-old neighbor called my niece (not knowing she was in Florida) to say her house was on fire, the roof was gone, and the firemen were there. She didn't know if anybody was home. I got the call at 8:30 about 45 minutes after my sister left the campground to go home. The inlaws didn't know Monica and the dog had been with me all day so thankfully nobody was home at the time. By the time my sister arrived at her house, the whole thing was in flames. We decided to stay put at the campground so the rest of the family could go to my house to sleep EVENTUALLY. About 80% of the house is burned. The basement where the mother-in-law suite was and my niece's rooms was not fire damaged, just under a foot of water. Everything down there was soaked. My family was devastated! All night I cried out to Jesus asking what are we gonna do. My house is not that big, but we have the new camper and such so we would make it work. With my mom being disabled with only 18% of total lung function she was the one we were most concerned about. My sister and the rest of the family functioned during the day out of my house and at night were sleeping in a hotel. People in our community really opened their hearts and brought homecooked meals, food, clothes, school supplies, etc. We are really blessed.

The biggest praise out of all of it was this: All night while I was crying out to God, my sister's best friend (unbeknownst to me) were both asking God to save my sister's pictures. Everything else is replaceable, but we couldn't replace pictures. On Sunday, after the firemen released the house to us we discovered that only a portion or about half of my sister's bed was burned for some unknown reason (*well, I know the reason, but anyway*). The side that wasn't burned had three storage totes under it. Guess what was in those totes? My sister's wedding scrapbooks, birth photos, and baby pictures!! We both fell out praising God for that miracle. My God is a big God. What ever is over my head, is under His feet. They still haven't determined the cause of the fire. They are supposed to go in the morning for them to release the investigation report. Doesn't really matter at this point. They had insurance and they have been amazing thus far. They got moved into a rental home yesterday which the insurance provided for them. It is far more than we could have asked for too. My sister had quite a large house, 3600 sq. ft. as you can imagine with 8 people living there, but the new rental house is 6-bedrooms and 6,000 sq.ft!!! God proved himself big in that situation too!!

It will take them about 6-9 months to rebuild and they are thinking of adding another level when they do. They will level the house down to the foundation and start over. The ins. company even rented all new furniture to go in the rental house. They even rented pictures to go on the walls to make it look "home-y".

Thanks for checking in on us! Sorry this was such a long post, but I had to share some of our experiences over the past few weeks. It has been a busy month indeed!!

Hopefully the next month will be a little more relaxed. School starts for us on Monday, so we shall see :-)

Wendy

What a mess!!

Lots of stuff has happened since my last post. Most recently, as in on Sat. night, my sister's house burned down. My sister, her husband, 3 kids, my disabled mother, and her in-laws lost everything in the fire. My family is totally devastated. We are a super close knit family and have endured a lot of stuff but never a fire. No injuries or lives were lost and we were able to salvage some pictures, thank God for that!!! They think it might have been an electrical fire, but it is still under investigation. The pictures (which I haven't downloaded yet) are horrendous. My family is staying with me for now. Well, between here and they are sleeping in a hotel at night. Mom is with me. It will take 6-9 months to rebuild so we are praying and ask all of our friends to pray that they can find a handicap accessible rental house big enough for 8 people that is in our area.

On a lighter note, my Tori-bug was able to go to GymDog gymnastics camp a couple of weeks ago. She had the most fun and learned a lot. I'll try to post pictures of her experience soon. She says she is going to be a future gymdog. I surely hope so b/c she needs a scholarship to go to college :-)

I have a brand new niece, Kylee. She looks just like Leah, her sister. She is gorgeous, but I'm a little biased I guess. I need to post pics of her too I guess.
I just wanted to ask everyone to pray for my family as we go through these trials. I will try to post again soon and put the pictures up.

Summer is here!!!

I love this picture of my Tori-bug. It was taken at a hotel in Concord, N.C. when we were there for the Regionals Gymnastics Competition. She swims like a fish! We do a lot of swimming in the summer. My dad has a pool so it is convenient. When Tori-bug was 4 she took her first swimming lesson class. By the end of the 6 weeks she was the only one in her group that was diving to the bottom of the pool.

Tori-bug and her daddy stopped to pose for a picture. I am so blessed for them to be a part of my life. I am thankful that I have a husband that still takes my breath away. He is so loving and is a man of God. We are ready for summer to begin. School got out last Friday. Tori-bug will be going into 5th. grade. We have lots of plans to swim at the pool and go to the lake with our friends. We are also going on our annual family camping trip. About 30 family members on my dad's side all go to the lake to camp-out every year. We ski, boat, kneeboard, ride the tube, and swim all day long for the whole weekend. Tori-bug also gets to go to GymDog gymnastics camp this year. It is a week long daycamp. Gymnastics 8 hrs. a day!!! Fun, fun, fun!!! We have VBS that same week in the evenings so she will probably be exhausted, NO DOUBT!

I hope you all enjoy your summer! Thanks for checking in on us!

Wendy

Our Daughter, The Graduate- Class of 2010

We couldn't be prouder of Lyndsey. She made it through high school. I told Kevin yesterday that some days it seems like she was just born and other days it seems like it has been a lifetime ago. I was 17 and a senior in high school when she was born. Kevin was just out of high school and was 19. We had a very tough time some days just because we were so young and her mom and Kevin were never married. Thankfully, Kevin and Michelle both found a way to make it work. Michelle married Jonathan and Kevin married me. We all live in the same town and for the most part get along very well. I wouldn't say it was a piece of cake, but we made it to this day..... Lyndsey's (OUR daughter) GRADUATION DAY!!

Kevin, Lyndsey, and Michelle

Lyndsey--- we are so proud of you!!!

Easter and Anniversary

Me and the love of my life--- 12 wonderful years later

Me and my mini-me- Easter 2010

Tori-bug in her Easter dress 2010

Leah on her first Easter

Easter happened to fall this year on our 12th. year wedding anniversary. We were able to enjoy not only the day celebrating a risen Saviour, but also His blessings on our family and our relationship. I married the most wonderful man. He truly treats me like a queen. I couldn't have hand-chosen anyone better. We got up early and went to sunrise service at church. Came home and got dressed up in our new Sunday clothes and went back to the church for an Easter celebration. Tori-bug agreed to take our picture before heading out. After church we were able to have lunch with my husband's mother and really enjoyed being together. There is very few kids around now so the three of them (after they found eggs), re-hid them and made their daddy's go on an egg hunt. It was really cute. I hate that I didn't get pictures of the men running around the yard looking for eggs. Besides the fact that they were hunting empty eggs (the kids had already taken out the candy). Hahaha...... We did have a real egg hunt on Sat. at the church and my niece (who is about to turn 1) got to look for eggs too and have her picture made with the Easter bunny.

Wendy

State Meet

Well, let's start with the good news first.......


2nd. place on bars in the state!!!!


I was so happy for her. She deserved to get a great all-around score too, but she didn't. She took a risk on the beam routine, trying to do the back walkover, which I didn't want her to do, but she fell off the beam. She scored the lowest score she has ever made at state or any other meet with a 7.7. I was very disappointed at first and so was she. After I calmed down and really put myself back in check, I was proud that she took a risk (despite it not going in her favor). She can land the routine that she has practiced all season easily and probably would have gotten a point or so better on the score, but nobody gets far in life without taking risks....... at least that is what I have convinced myself now. She did great on vault and scored a 9.325, but didn't medal on it. She had a really good floor routine, but the judges were scoring a little hard so she didn't medal on it, nor get the big scores like she usually gets. It is supposed to be hard. It is the STATE meet. Not everyone gets the chance to go to state so I am trying to be easier on myself. Mama just wanted the best for her :-).

We are going to Regionals in a few weeks. That is in Concord, N.C. We talked about her doing the cartwheel on beam at that meet. It will be competing against 6 different states in our southern region. We plan to go get our first place medal at that meet. She can do it!!!

Go get 'em in North Carolina, Tori-bug!!!

Wendy

Slacker

Ooooohhhh, just call me a SLACKER!!!


I have been so terrible about updating my blog. I realized that I had not posted anything since Tori-bug's Panama City Meet over a month ago. Let's see..........

We went to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee at the end of February for a gymnastics meet. Tori-bug did really well there. REALLY WELL!!!

Here is how it broke down. There were 15 competitor's in her age group. She got her highest all-around score EVER. I can't imagine why I didn't get on here and brag, brag, brag on her, but I have been sooooo busy.

All-around score: 36.45 Third place
Vault: 9.350 Third place tie
Bars: 9.025 Sixth place
Beam: 8.775 Third place tie
Floor: 9.300 Third place

I was so very proud. Despite the beam score not being very, very high she still got a third place tie out of it.

On March 12, she had a gymnastics meet near our home town. Actually in Athens, Georgia (Home of our beloved UGA Gymdogs). She scored really great at that meet too. Second highest all-around score for her.

All-around score: 36.325 Second place (1st. place went to her teammate)
Vault: 8.85 Third place tie
Bars: 9.3 Third place
Beam: 8.775 Third place
Floor: 9.400 Second place tie (also with her teammate)

Two back-to-back meets that were rocking!! We have our State Meet coming up on Sunday. Her coach wants to change her beam routine for our big State Meet. She learned her back walkover on beam a few weeks ago, but it is still inconsistent. She is only "landing" it 3/4 of the time. She has a great cartwheel on beam, but the back walkover looks prettier for her to do. I am not the coach and I will go with whatever her coach (who is former Olympian-Hope Spivey) recommends, but I don't want her to fall off the beam at the State Meet and get a big deduction when she can land the cartwheel with very little risk of falling off. She is going to decide tomorrow night at practice and tell her which one she wants her to do. I think she is definitely capable of landing it, but I am kinda worried for her :-)

I have had pneumonia three times (well probably never got rid of it from the first time) since January. I had it, got better, relapsed three weeks later, got better, then got sick again. It was exhausting coughing so much and thus the reason I have also for not updating this blog. See, I am trying to find myself some good excuses Kathleen!! Haha.

I started a new once a month Bible Study at church. It is a Beth Moore study and I love that we only have to show up once a month. They are calling it a busy woman's bible study and that is definitely me.

I didn't get to make it to Pyper's funeral and actually haven't had much contact with Ms. Mandy (Pyper's mom) since she went to be with Jesus, but I have thought of her almost every day. I know her parents are still having a very difficult sad time. I keep up with Ms. Mandy via FB and I think she is trying to find a job now that lil Pyper is not her full-time job. Oh, how that was a sweet girl. Please remember both of her parents in your prayers and that Mandy can find something to do that she will enjoy and also find a way to honor that sweet girl that she lost.

I won't promise to update on Sunday, but I will do my best to update next week about the State Meet (UNLESS of course, that she is the STATE CHAMPION and then you will probably hear me screaming about it).

Thanks for checking in on us,
Wendy

Panama City Meet

Good Morning Friends,

I didn't want to take away from letting you know of Pyper's passing so I didn't tell you about Tori-bug's gymnastics meet in Panama City Beach Florida last Saturday. I had hoped that I could post earlier in the week, but didn't get around to it. We had a great time in Panama City, despite it being brutally cold at the beach on Friday. It was sleeting and windy on Friday like I have never seen at the beach before. We had 4 inches of snow at home so it was bound to be cold. After all, it is February!!! haha




Tori-bug didn't compete until Saturday morning, but she had to be there at 7:30am and I found out Ms. Pyper had passed at 4 am that same morning. When I woke Tori-bug at 6am to start getting ready for the meet she said she was going to try to get first place in honor of Pyper. I was already emotional about her passing and thought that was so sweet. I teared up. We got out to the parking deck and Tori-bug fell on some ice and busted her knee. It wasn't bad and she was fine, but then she started crying. She got okay and we made it to the meet. She started out on vault and had a really good vault with a score of 8.825 (which is really good for her. She has never been strong on vault b/c she is so long, lean and lanky too :-)
She didn't medal on vault but it was still a good score for her.


She went to beam next. She has a really pretty beam routine, but she fell on her full turn (which is a level 6 skill anyway) and she is only technically a "level 4". They are not doing levels this year so she is on the silver optionals team. Do not think I am making excuses for her b/c I definitely am not. She has landed the bigger skills repeatedly and can definitely do it so there was no excuse for her falling off. She messed it up. I will go ahead and say that the other teams present at the meet were doing very basic skills and getting huge scores. Our coach won't accept that for our girls so we didn't get as high a score, but were blowing the other teams out of the water with our skills. Tori-bug scored an 8.6 and that was 7th. place. She didn't medal on it either. She went to bars then and had a beautiful routine. She isn't getting her underswing very high and is squatting on her dismount, but it looked great. She scored 8.750 and that was 7th. place as well. Still not a bad score, but the other teams were getting higher scores by doing a level 3 dismount and routine. This probably makes no sense to a lot of you with all this talk of "skills, scores, levels, etc" but a lot of you do know what I am saying.

Anyway, she went to floor. She has a great floor routine when she tries her best. She scored a 9.45 and tied for 2nd. place!! Not first for sweet Pyper, but still awesome!! I was so proud of the skills she was doing and her routine looked beautiful. Needless to say, I was so happy for her. She had an all-around score of 35.625. This has been the best all-around score thus far this season. We are headed to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee next weekend. It is about to break us this month with all these out of town meets, but we are having fun. Perhaps she will score high and get a first place win, but if she doesn't I will still be proud of her if she does her best. She is having fun and loving it still so we keep on.

We had a blast swimming in the indoor pool, some at the outdoor pool, and crazy Lindsey even swam in the freezing cold ocean!! I kept my coat and gloves on the whole time at the beach and the kids had on bathing suits!! Crazy, silly girls!! Sunday we had a beautiful day with highs in the low 60's. Our best day at the beach. The picture below is of Tori-bug acting like she was going to eat a shrimp off my plate at Dirty Dick's. She didn't eat it by the way, but thought it was hilarious looking. Now, on to Tennessee next week.........

Wendy

Angel Wings

Sweet Princess Pyper gained her angel wings early Sat. morning. She fought a good fight and finished the race and now she is in the arms of Jesus. It makes me so sad to know that the world lost such a precious child. It also happens to give me much joy to know that I WILL see her again one day. You can too, if you know Jesus. This sweet 3-year-old was such an inspiration to me and I love her family beyond measure. They have not had it easy. They have given up a lot of material things, time, and energy to try to save their daughter. Her parents and siblings are devastated, but they too will see her again. Her funeral was today and I ask for you to continue to lift her family in your prayers. They need them today and in the days and months to come. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to get to know and love them.

Fly high Pyper!
Love always,
Wendy

Update

They tried to extubate Pyper today but she started vomiting so they had to put it back in!! Keep praying!

Princess Pyperetta

I am really sorry for the delay in updating this blog. My thoughts have been totally consumed with praying for my little friend Princess Pyperetta. You might remember that she is 3-years-old and was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 6 weeks old. I met this sweet baby through some other children and my friend from church (Lillie) who is a pediatric oncology nurse. I have been following along for SEVERAL years of a couple, okay about 10, children's blogs thru Caringbridge Websites. This a place for parents to go blog and keep friends and family updated about their children and the many longterm illnesses that they have. It isn't just for children either. Sorry, I am rambling. I have been following my friend, Madie who was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 4 years old. Thru her site I found and started following another child and then another child and so forth. Lillie told me to pray for and go check on her little friend, Pyper. I did and have been "checking" on her ever since. If you would like to check on her too, look up her page at www.caringbridge.org/visit/pyperaddisynsellers. She is a precious little girl. Anyhow, back in the Summer I believe her sister was able to give her a bone marrow transplant. I went to visit Pyper right before she had the transplant in Atlanta. Her family lives 4-1/2 hrs. from the hospital and she has 4 other siblings so pretty much the family had been "living apart", so one parent can be with her at the hospital and the other parent could be home so the other children could go to school, etc. Pyper was doing well until they discovered that she would indeed need another bone marrow transplant, which her sister was willing to give again. About a month ago she started having really bad bellyaches. It got so bad her parents took her to their local ER on Saturday and she was transported via ambulance to Atlanta with only her daddy coming with her. Like I said, they live 4-1/2 hrs. from the hospital. When she got to Atlanta she apparently had 2 very bad bacterias, septic shock, no blood pressure to speak of, and had very low platelets. She was admitted to PICU and put on a ventilator. I had not seen her since back in the Summer, but had been following along on her website and also getting updates via Facebook from her mom. She was admitted on Sunday morning in critical condition. Her mom has been at their home worried sick. Since I live only about an hour from Scottish Rite I told her that I would try to go visit and maybe I could take her daddy something to eat for dinner. When I saw her on Tuesday I just about lost it. That precious angel was laying there with lots of tubes in her and she was very swollen. I am a pediatric nurse and have seen a lot of "medical" stuff so I was prepared and not scared like that, but it is a whole different world in a Pediatric Children's Hospital. I was completely humbled. It made me think twice of holding my own Tori-bug extra close that night when I got home. It was only a small amount of effort and time on my part to go check on a dear friend and also hopefully give her mom a little comfort in knowing that another mommy was able to go "love on her baby girl". I am seeking and requesting all prayer warriors to go to the throne of God and ask HIM for his strength and guidance for Pyper and her family. They will have a long hard road just to make it out of this immediate risk, but then another one when she has to have the second bone marrow transplant. I went again today to see her and take her daddy some snacks and such and she did look better. She is still on the vent and sedated, but she is breathing on her own. All the infection is gone, although she still doesn't have any white cells (the cells that fight off infections). She has a lot of swelling and also has fluid on her lung which they might draw off. She is still really sick, but they are thinking they might try to wean her off the ventilator on Monday. I pray that they can. My GOD is a big GOD and I know He only wants what is good for her. I just ask that you please remember to say a prayer for her and for all the little sweet children fighting a really terrible disease called cancer. I will try to update on her again soon and hopefully I will have great and miraculous news to share.

Thanks for reading and praying......
Wendy

First Gymnastics Meet of the Season- Pre-op Silver

Tori-bug had her first gymnastics meet of the season on Saturday. She was geared up and ready for a great meet- Pre-op Silver. She worked really hard the past 4 months and was really excited.
Monday, I had strep.
Tuesday she had strep.
Wednesday I had walking pneumonia.
Saturday at the meet she fell off the mat and pulled a ligament in her foot or her ankle.
I am not sure which. She did vault first. Our coach made a HUGE mistake and had them warming up on 5 mats instead of 4. Tori-bug couldn't even reach the 5th. mat. Three of our girls had already vaulted before the head coach realized that Tori-bug was struggling and realized that there was 5 mats instead of 4. She stopped everyone and fixed the mats, but three of our girls had already vaulted and got stinky scores. Well, one of the girls got a stinky score b/c she is the same size as Tori-bug. Tori-bug did vault on the right amount of mats, but it was still a semi-bad score. She has never been great on vault. No big deal. She got to bars and during warm-ups stepped off the mat and twisted her ankle. I didn't even realize anything was wrong. She mounted the bars fine and then fell right before she jumped to the high bar. She was trying to balance herself on the low bar with a hurt foot and couldn't balance, I guess. I still didn't know that she was hurt though. She got a stinky score on that too b/c she fell. She almost never falls on bars. She got to beam and started tearing up. THAT's when I realized something was wrong. She tried to motion to me that she couldn't do beam or floor b/c her foot was hurt. Her coach sent her over to the sports medicine people that happened to be on hand and they were acting like they were going to be keeping her/observing her for awhile. If you have never been to a gymnastics meet, you don't know that parents are not allowed on the floor. No matter if your child is hurt or not. She was being looked at on the far side of the gym. I am a nurse and her mother and it was driving me crazy. Her coach told them to tape her foot and ankle and send her back to him. The sports med. lady said, "no, I don't think she should finish". He said, "oh yes she is. I said wrap her up and send her back to me". I was able to run down to the side of the floor and give her a dose of Motrin (thanks Carmen) and my Tori-bug got right on that beam and did her full routine without ONE fall. She didn't get a great score b/c she couldn't jump high on the beam, but she did it. She ended up placing 4th!! She went to floor, but I didn't let her warm up so she could save it for when it counted. She did her routine, round-off double back handspring too, but only got a 8.4. I have always told her at these meets to do her best and have fun. She did the best she could do with it!! She put on her big girl panties and finished it. I am one proud mama today. I can't get my pictures to upload on here for some reason, but I will keep trying.

I am feeling a lot better. Not coughing my head off at least so much now. Just finished some strong antibiotics and hoping I will continue to get better. Thanks for checking in!
Wendy

Double the trouble

It is a sign.

I posted yesterday on having strep and walking pneumonia. Um yeah, DOUBLE the trouble.

After I left a comment on The Park Wife's blog AND added her to my Facebook she DOUBLED the chances of winning the PW T-shirt!!!

Pioneer Woman sent her another one and she is giving it away too......

Ooooh, I hope I win!! At least it would help me to feel better.

No, really, it would!!!

Just kidding. I am feeling a good bit better today. I at least was able to sleep last night and not hack my brains out. I think I am up to going to work tomorrow. I am definitely not 100%, but I don't believe I am contagious since I have taken two (that is DOUBLE) highly potent antibiotics. One yesterday and one today. Since it is so potent you only have to take it once a day and it is only for 5 days. Now, here's hoping to sleep again tonight.

Wendy

The Park Wife and Pioneer Woman

A couple of years ago I ran across a blog (which is why I wanted to start one myself). Then I found another blog, and another blog, and another blog. I started reading and following lots of blogs. I don't even realize how much time I used to have. I surely don't do great at keeping up with this blog. Besides the amount of time it takes, I love reading blogs. I feel like I know some of these people. I stumbled across PW at www.thepioneerwoman.com. She has the coolest site and has great contests. I even won a random contest a while back. It was a $100 gift certificate to Snapfish. Still haven't used all the money. Hmmmm...... reminds me that I need to print my pictures and make a photo album of Tori-bug's gymnastics meets last year. Anyway, Pioneer Woman or PW, or P-dub has a brand new cookbook out. It is the best cookbook ever. The recipes have ingredients that anyone could find in a local grocery store. PW lives in OK on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. Kinda like my little small town I guess.
From PW's blog, I found another blog, www.theparkwife.blogspot.com. She is married to a park ranger. I have been following along on her blog for a few months. PW was doing a Griswold Book Signing Tour. She was going to a bunch of different places signing the cookbooks. She did come to Atlanta about a month ago, but I live an hour from Atlanta and she came on a Monday. I couldn't get out to meet her, but I soooooo wanted to get to and have her sign my cookbook. Plus, she was giving away specially made "PW t-shirts". My blogger friend at The Park Wife received thus said T-shirt in the mail b/c she was able to meet PW when she came to her hometown, but didn't bring the shirts. She got it in the mail. I want that T-shirt. She is giving it away. I think the reason is b/c it doesn't fit her, but it WILL fit me!!! Anyway, her requirements for possibly winning the T-shirt was to blog about her website, add her as a friend on Facebook, and leave her a comment. I didn't even know she was on Facebook, but I will be adding her as soon as I finish this post. Everyone please visit these two blogs. I promise you won't be sorry. It is two of the three that I have listed as following on my blog. I visit these three blogs almost daily. Sometimes I visit Pioneer Woman's blog several times in a day b/c her blog is so big that I have to read in spurts. She has a cooking blog, homeschooling section, home and garden section, etc.

I am off to go add The Park Wife to my Facebook,
Wendy

P.S. The other blog is www.notquitewhatihadplanned.com

P.S.S. I was diagnosed with strep on Monday. Today I was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. Yeah me!! :-(

WOW, where did the time go?

Sorry folks for it being so long in updating. I didn't realize until a few days ago that I have not even been on this laptop for quite some time. No facebook, no reading others blogs, etc. I don't know what happened to the time. Christmas, New Years, etc. I guess. Needless to say, Joy got quite lazy the last few days before Christmas. She didn't do much in the way of making "Christmas Magic". Tori-bug didn't even complain. We were all just so busy. Christmas Eve when she placed her under the tree she told her sister that at least she didn't have to be good anymore b/c Joy was leaving. WHAT???? I tried to tell her that she has to be good all year, not just the month of December. We had a wonderful holiday. Lots of gifts, time with family, and all that jazz. Much more low-key for us this year and I loved it. The girls really enjoyed their gifts. I will try to post some pics soon.
We went to the GymDogs Meet and Greet last night. Lots of pictures and autographs from the gymnasts. Thanks Amy!! It was a blast. We are going to the season opener meet today at 4pm. If you live in Georgia and have never been to a GymDog meet it is definitely worth the time. So much fun. We bought season tickets this year for the first time ever. We didn't get great seats, but hopefully we will next year.
Tori-bug has her first meet next Sat. at Gwinnett Arena if anyone is interested in coming. It starts at 10:30am I believe. She should be ready. They had a little bit of time off for the holidays, but now are back in full practice mode. I hope she does well. No matter what I am proud of that little girl. I hope some day she is standing in Stegman Coliseum for her first GymDog start. If she doesn't, I will still be proud. She has a new GymDog favorite this year. She is a freshman named Christa. She told Tori-bug last night that she has a sister named Victoria that was also called Tori. We thought that was so cool. Of course, she still likes Hillary and Grace Taylor too. It should be a fun-filled day. First I have to drop the dog off at the groomer, take the cats to the vet for a well visit, get mom's prescriptions filled, and then come home to get ready.
Take care and enjoy your Saturday. We sure will!!!
Wendy