Doctor's Visits, Hand-Me-downs and Snowballs!

Friday was a very busy day! We started off with Cameron's first visit to see the Orthopedist at MUSC.  Our first hurdle, although rather cute (says mom!) was that Cameron was embarrassed to take his pants off and replace them with these dark blue "paper" shorts so that the Doc could examine his legs as well as his feet.

So, Mom left the room so he could get changed. :-)

Now, our newest addition is a true fidgeter!  He cannot sit and wait without touching EVERYTHING.  So, each little drawer and tray and "scope" was touched and moved. Of course, there was the ever famous rolling round stool that was twirled around a billion times while we waited. LOL

This was the "whoa is me" we got when we told him to leave the implements alone. LOL

What's this do?

The verdict? Well, while he is not experiencing any pain, he does still have a good bit of correction that is needed in the left foot, so we will start with a brace for a few months and see how that helps. The doctor did not recommend surgery yet because his bones were still growing and he preferred to wait. So, we will wait and see.

After we left, we went to see a friend who had inherited a ton of really great boys clothes and wanted to share the wealth with us!  
And boy did we hit the jackpot. 
We received a huge box of really nice clothes that were the perfect sizes for Tommy and Cameron. 


Dress shirts, barely worn, some with the tags. still. on!

Long sleeved shirts, great for the cooler months! 

 Pants!  
Barely worn.
No rips.
Great looking pants. 
That fit! 
Praise the Lord!

And sweaters, and coats...

and perhaps best of all?
 Shoes!!!
I don't think these were worn more than once or twice. They weren't even dirty!
We have, or rather, we will have real issues getting good fitting shoes for Cameron as his feet are not the same length, but these are self-adjusted shoes and they fit!
Just another in a long line of examples that God is IN THE DETAILS and He cares about the little things in our lives!

And the cutest long sleeved shirts for Tommy who is really into comfort clothes lately.

more long sleeved Ts!

No, we're not done yet!
These beautiful shorts were in there too!

Once we got home and sorted through them all, it allowed me to purge through their closets and pull out all the things that Tommy had outgrown. Thank you Cindy!!


Now, after all that, it was time for me to get the family ready for our first ever 
PAJAMA PARTY!


Now, try to imagine for a moment the look on Colin's face when I told him we were going to a party in. our. pajamas!

It was one of those Priceless moments!


That's right!  Our good friends invited us to their 4th Annual "Winter Pajama Jam!" 

Here we are ready to throw the kids in the back of the pickup truck (we had a horrible flat on the white truck!)

So off we went in Tom's S-10 with kids in tow to the Winter Fest of the Year! 

Here is my "cool" friend Ali. She is always so much fun and this party did not disappoint!

When we arrived, Ali had placed a small plastic plate on the entry table with blue water-based paint. There was a sign with instructions for each guest to "sign in" by making a "finger snowman" (Winter theme, remember?) and writing their names underneath. This was done on a canvas that I know will make a nice keepsake for their family. 

So, after the 5 of us made our snowmen and wrote our names out, Colin wrote them all in Chinese. Kind of cool!  But, what struck me most was when Colin asked me, 
"Mama, what's your name?"  
Huh?  It had never occurred to me that my own son would not know my name.  But, he only calls me mama, so...

Tom immediately got into the spirit of things and found a comfy spot on the sofa!


Now, we had a ton of yummy foods and lots of great company, but, for the children, the best part of the entire night was...


The Snowball FIGHT!
Yes, I know, we do live in Charleston, SC where it only flurries once every 15 years or so....


But our Ali would never let a little thing like the climate stand in her way of throwing the best winter jam ever!


No Snow? No Problem!

Tommy "hiding" in the playhouse bunker!

Sweet Rachel and her beautiful "almost 12" year old daughter Emma!

Colin being chased by all the younger kids so that he could
swing the bouncy ball around and try to "get them"!

Tommy's friend, Alex (former neighbor)
attacking him amidst the chaos! :-)

Ali had managed to load a large number of what looked like cheesecloth sacks full of flour and laid them all in a line in the middle of the yard. On her count, the kids ran in to get their "snowballs" and go at it. And did they ever!

Yes, that is my filthy dirty oldest son!

Cameron dipping into the flour bag to refill his snowballs

As I said, this was just a part of the fun.


There was food...

fellowship....

and Fun!

It was so much fun and there we were, all of us, stomping around someone else's home in our PJs!
The kids were so entertained that we had the chance to sit and visit with old friends and catch up with one another without worrying about a thing.  I especially loved catching up with my sweet gal pals Rachel & Leah!  


As the evening dwindled, the fun pressed on... Ali's husband got the fire pit going and supervised the creation of what I am sure were some 
DE-lic-ious Smores!

Colin enjoyed lighting each tea light--
(what teenage boy doesn't like an approved excuse to play with fire?)

Unfortunately, it was now time for the Rylands' clan to depart....you see, we had another "secret mission" to tend to....
More on that at another time. Stay tuned!


Today's plans?
1. First post-placement visit with our wonderful social worker, Matina.
2. Fix the TIRE!

Cameron helped Dad fill the tire with air so that he could get it across town and get it fixed.


Pray that all will go well and that it won't cost us an arm and a leg. We already replaced two tires last week...


All in all, our weekend got off to an amazing start and we can't wait to see what else is in store. If there is one thing that I am absolutely sure of it is this...


Life with three boys? Never boring!
God Bless!
Angie