Almost Made it

There were so many options for titles of the post...

"Living With A Meunier"
"Rick Got Beat Up By A Nine Year Old Girl"
"Softball 1 - Rick 0"
"Like Father Like Son"
"Rick's An Idiot"...oh wait, maybe not that one.

I went with "Almost Made It" because we almost made it all year without Rick going to the ER. But we didn't. We spent last night in not 1 but 2 ER's.

Millie and Rick were out in the batting cage. Rick was pitching a few balls to Millie to bat after she worked on her pitching. Now, we have a screen that you are supposed to pitch from behind so that the pitcher doesn't get hit by the ball. Rick apparently thought he didn't need to use this. Millie hit a hard fast one right at him and he didn't react fast enough and took it right in the face. Of course, I didn't know any of this was happening so all I heard was Rick coming in the house saying "let's go" and Millie was crying. He said "We need to go to the hospital!" I was actually relieved that Millie was ok but quickly realized we still needed to move quick. The kids quickly got in the car, I grabbed a roll of paper towels for Rick and called my mom to tell her to meet me at the end of her road because I was pitching the kids out the door for her.

We went to the hospital in New Albany. The waiting room was packed and looked like a homeless shelter. They said it would be at least 2 hours before anyone looked at him or even checked him in. I called my personal on call nurse, Cammie, and asked if we should stay at Floyd or go to Louisville. I knew she would say go to Louisville but I wasn't sure which one. Since she is Rick's boss's wife they have the same insurance as Rick so I was hoping that it would be in network, I guess we will find out. She gave me directions and we bailed on the homeless shelter/ER and headed across the river. Of course there was a wreck on 64 and we sat but fortunately it was only for about 15 minutes or so. When we got to Jewish East, they told us it would be a few minutes and they would check him in. After about 15 minutes they called him back, did triage and sent him to a room. Good call Cammie!

At the hospital

They did 3 X-rays and we discovered it was not broken, we were both shocked. We made it home around 11:30. Mom and dad had brought the kids over to take care of the animals and thankfully, Dad thought to fire up the stove. They took them back to their house to spend the night. Rick didn't sleep well but all in all, it's not too bad today. He's joking around and it took some convincing but Millie now understands it was not her fault. Mom said Millie was very upset all night and kept saying she didn't understand how it wasn't her fault. But she's ok now. Rick told her that she obviously is not hitting hard enough if she didn't even brake his nose.

Next Day

The shop is a bit of a mess and looks like someone was murdered. Hopefully it doesn't stain too bad.

Sitting in the hospital thinking of the date...December 30th. Dang Rick, you haven't even been to the doctor this year and you pick one of the last days of the year to run up a big bill, couldn't wait until after the first so it went on next year's deductible. So since he has a $6000 deductible, I guess we will be paying this whole bill. Ouch.

Oh My Dad

So when I was doing my Christmas post, I noticed blogger doing this automatically with some photos from my phone. It was way too funny to not put on here. I must figure out why it did this!

Quiet Christmas

Well after gifts had been opened, lunch prepared, eaten and cleaned up, I was laying on the couch reading. The kids had just come inside from trying out their roller blades (it was actually warmish enough for this) and Reed was playing with a game called Suspend. I noticed how quiet it was. There were no beeps or buzzes. No one was fighting. Christmas music was quietly playing in the background. The kids were enjoying their gifts. Gifts that included no batteries, plugs or chargers. What a nice experience. My kiddos made paper dragons and jets all morning from some books they got. Reed built a few Lego sets. Millie and I played a card game Millie got called Zeus on the Loose. The kids and I worked on a puzzle with my mom for a bit after lunch. The Game of Life still needs to be opened but I am sure that will happen shortly. A dragon battle happened for a while with the dragons Millie and Reed got. They LOVE dragons right now and are very much into the Greek and Roman Gods. Mostly Millie is but Reed loves what she loves so they both get excited about mythical creatures, dragons and Poseidon.

On Christmas Eve we enjoyed visiting Rick's Grandma and Grandpa Meunier. We couldn't stay long because Rick had to read at our 10pm Christmas service back home. I did get some nice snuggle time with little Evie, she is just so darn cute. Can't wait to see her again soon I hope.

We enjoy staying home on Christmas morning and this year we had yummy snowman creations for breakfast.

Of course opening gifts happened after the kitchen was cleaned up and I had lunch cooking. The kids were very patient. I remember my mom making us wait when we were little until the dishes were all done. It always drove me nuts but I can totally understand why she did it now that I am older.

Roller Blades, her old ones were WAY too small

My mom and dad usually stop by for a bit after church and have lunch with us. We baked a birthday cake for Jesus which was a yummy treat. Dad asked what was for desert and we said birthday cake. He says "Who's birthday?" Goodness dad...

Mom helped the kids and I work on a puzzle. The kids left to play and mom and I finished it. Dad napped in the chair.

Millie played some beautiful Christmas music for us on the piano and some not so Christmas music but it was nice as well.

I am sure before the day is finished they will find their way to the batting cage and do some batting and pitching. My plan is to do some closet cleaning out later but that may just wait until tomorrow.

Christmas Classic Champions

Millie's Highlander travel basketball team had their first games this weekend. They are a 4th grade team that was just created a few weeks ago. The idea of this team is that it will filter into middle school next year (Millie will be in middle school next year, yikes!). So these girls are all in 4th grade and go to 3 different elementary schools but will all go to Highland Hills next year.

They played 5 games over the weekend at Highland Hills against teams from Paoli, Pekin and Anderson. They won every game and Millie did great. In 1 game alone she had over 15 steals, we stopped counting. She scored around 10-15 points most games. Her whole team did well though. Every girl was scoring and they have a very strong defensive team. That was a good thing this weekend because the last game looked more like football than basketball, it was crazy!

This weekend was just an exhibition of sorts so there weren't winners or a trophy but these girls would have had it in the bag if there would have been, they did great. They have a lot to work on but they looked really good for their first time playing together.

Mini League Champs

Reed's team went undefeated in Highlander Mini League this year. It's the first year we have done mini league, we usually just play rec at St. Mary of the Knobs. We decided to give him a little more experience and sign him up for this as well. He did well but had trouble paying attention some days. SMK will start soon so I am excited to see him play and improve more.

Reed's cheering section for his championship game

The winning team

Halloween Havoc Champions!

Back in October, yes October, Millie's Fusion team won their tourney in Santa Claus, IN. It was the teams second tourney win but Millie's first. The girls had a blast and even though it was a late night, it was worth it. We all felt it then next morning getting ready for school!

This is such a great group of girls and parents. Millie and I are very blessed to have them in our lives and softball family.

Mammy's Mysterious Minivan

Like I said earlier, my mom is amazing and took the kids and I and my sister to Florida on fall break. It was a total surprise for the kids! Rick was able to join us for a few days as well. It was a great week...

First night reveal game. Reed was so excited about the Knight Dinner Show that he fell down and died.

Reed died of happiness

Next Day at the show. Our Knight was the Red Knight and he threw Millie a flower into the stands. I wish I had videoed Reed watching this show. He was hypnotized and flinched and grimaced every time the swords hit and lances broke. He was truly completely enthralled by this show.

Hanging with the King after the show

Reveal number 2 - Seeing Winter and Hope at Clearwater Marine Aquarium. This would be a bit of a drive since we were in Orlando but totally worth it, the kids love Winter and Hope and we were all going to Clearwater Beach to play afterward.

Winter

Winter

At the beach!

Revel time again...it was Millie's turn to flip out at the surprise that we were going to Universal Studios to experience HARRY POTTER WORLD!!

Eyes closed waiting for instruction

Told to open eyes

Millie just figured it out

Happiest girl on the planet

Yes, that is an Evansville Quidditch shirt we found at an outlet mall in Indiana, SCORE!

Millie became a roller coaster FOOL while we were there. She now wants to ride every coaster in the world. The second day in the park we even met up with her best friend who was down there too and she had no idea about this either.

Hogwarts of course

Beware of Kreacher at 12 Grimmauld Place

Butter Beer

Heading to the Ministry of Magic

With Kate, happy happy girls

Beetlejuice

Optimus Prime

Rip Ride Rocket

The Hulk

Reveal time...a scenic boat tour. It was very nice and relaxing. I love seeing the beautiful homes surrounding the lake. So pretty.

And of course a few days of just some fun at the pool

There are truly no words for how much fun this trip was. I know the kids will remember it forever!