Happy Birthday Ryan!

Ryan turned 8 this week (the 24th). Hard to believe my little baby Rhino is getting so big! Happy Birthday Ryan! Love you lots!

It just so happened that Ryan was also "Star of the Week" at school this past week. Basically that meant this week has been all about Ryan. As I know it is hard on him being "the healthy one" and having to sacrifice so much attention to his brothers and sister, this was a really good thing for Ryan. I went to the school and ate lunch with him on Monday, he got to take in pictures of himself to show the class, he got to take in a collection of something special to him on Tuesday (he took his wrestling medals, ALL OF THEM!!!, LOL), and finally I got to write a letter to the class explaining what is so wonderful about the Rhino. I must have done alright with my letter because he came home beaming. Great to see!

In the above picture, Braylon waits to eat some birthday cake.

Above, Ryan and Emily give hugs to Mamaw's dog Dante.

And in this picture, Ashton and Ryan were having a little fun in the snow.

Otherwise, the past few weeks have been fairly uneventful. Well, in the comparison to what we are used to anyway. I've always said that if it weren't for bad luck, we wouldn't have any. My truck broke down a few weeks ago, and it still isn't up and running. Rear trailing arms (upper and lower) broke right in two on both sides, so basically the Expedition is ready to fall right apart. Felt like all the wheels were turning as I parked it, and steering was impossible. Thankfully, this happened as I was pulling out of my mom's driveway, and not on the way to the wrestling meet 2.5 hours from home that we were getting ready to leave for. Just so happens that Denny is buying me his mom's old car, and we thought it would be cheaper to put it in the shop to get the brakes done, then I'd have wheels. No such luck. It's in the shop alright, but the job turned bigger than ever, so it's going to be at least another week before we can afford to get it out. Meanwhile Denny was driving us up the hill to mom's house to have a good look at the expedition when his explorer blew up. So yup, just like that, we are down all 3 cars, and I've had to resort to bumming rides to work. Story of my life, but this too shall pass.

There has been a nasty bug going around at work, and I managed to get it a few weeks back and spent 4 days in bed with high fevers. I'm all better now except a little cough and head congestion, but now (of course) Braylon and Emily seem to be coming down with something. They've both been wheezy, pale, and moody for a few days, and Emily has been using her oxygen more often than normal, but otherwise, they seem okay. Emily did have one day of throwing up, which unfortunately began on the bus to school and gave her teacher quite a fright when Emily "turned funny colors and started gasping like she couldn't get her breath." She's over the vomiting now though, just the chest cold stuff. Fingers crossed that this is an easy bug for them to get over.

Emily had a parent teacher conference at house Friday morning, and that went well. Emily continues to progress with her pre-reading skills, and she is right on the verge of putting it all together. The teacher feels she will be reading before she starts Kindergarten in the fall, so that will be good. :)