Tortillas Are Useful

for when you're at a restaurant and you want to muffle the sound of your toddler banging on the table.



Or when said toddler wants to wear a hat. Sarah thought he looked French. Hahaha!

Hook 'Em Horns

We have college shirt days at the elementary school quite often. With no allegiance to any of the Texas schools, it makes it hard to find something to wear (say from Drake or ASU?!?!) in any of the local shops. Luckily we have neighbors with growing boys that hand over sports shirts by the boat-load. I'm not sure Jacob is too thrilled about supporting the Longhorns though.

Chuck E. Birthday

Lucas' first real birthday invitation was for a party at Chuck E. Cheese's for his pal Brayden. He wanted nothing to do with Chuck E. or the pizza, but did enjoy Brayden's balloons and the games.

Silver Stars Dance Clinic

Sarah and several of her Pink Ladies Posse have been attending the Junior Silver Stars dance clinics. They have practiced twice and will perform at the Spurs game on March 5th. There are probably 250 girls, ages 5-9, in her group. They have been taught two dances - one to "I Gotta Feeling" from the Black Eyed Peas and the other is to "Hoedown Throwdown" from the Hannah Montana movie.

The problem is that the dances are so complex, with so many moves, that the girls can barely understand it, much less keep up once they play the music at full speed. For $60, they got a t-shirt, skort, ticket to the game and CD of the music. You can buy the practice DVD for an additional fee (of course), but our girlfriend that bought it said it's just as difficult. Wouldn't you think that if they went to the trouble to burn the music CDs, they could have just included a burn of the practice DVD?

These girls are 5-9, not 15-19, and they are trying but it's pretty hideous to watch. I'm sure Mark will take video next Friday and I'll try to post it here so you can all see Sarah and her friends standing like deer in headlights with 10,000 people watching them.

But now we know. No more Spurs dance clinics until they are teenagers!

A-B-C-elebration!

Jacob overcame some major test anxiety today and scored an 86 on his reading benchmark. Compared to last fall's 58, we are most impressed! He got to choose where we went out to dinner to celebrate. He chose Applebee's (Really? Of all the choices?) and wanted macaroni and cheese. Could have stayed home and made a box for $2 but hey, it was a celebration!

You can stop holding your breath...

The Nault's Valentine cards have been delivered. Hopefully I'll get them in the mail tomorrow and you'll all see one soon!

Happy Valentine's Day

July 28, 1994
Met him at his home in Des Moines. He was putting up the volleyball net and I asked if I could help.

October 23, 1999
Married in Minneapolis.

February 14, 2010
Still my Valentine.

Love you.

I'm so annoyed.

I ordered Valentine cards from CVS.com and they said it would ready in 3-5 days. Well, what they didn't say is that the cards get processed at a different location than the store I selected and it will take an extra 3-5 days to ship them here. Meaning you guys won't be seeing a Valentine from us until some time next week. Grrr.

Jennifer Massey Designs

Trying to get this widget on my blog that will allow you to see all the jewelry we've been working on at JMD. Right now you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page. Some gorgeous pieces! Let me know if you're interested in any of them!

If I put the widget in the left column, the column width isn't wide enough. Almost like I need to make the fan box "wrap text" if that makes any sense. Anyone know how to fix the width issue?

Hippy Chic, part IV

Sigh.

According to the arthroscopic surgeon, I have hip dysplasia and mild to moderate arthritis in my left hip.

My treatment plan includes:
1. Manage the pain with OTC pain relievers
2. Try glucosamine
3. Change to non-impact forms of exercise like biking and swimming (even walking around the neighborhood is not good!)
4. Lose weight
5. Come back in a year and be re-evaluated

Alternatives include:
1. Get an injection deep in the hip joint that could take away some of the swelling and pain and could last up several weeks, months or a year. Will have to have an x-ray simultaneously so they can get the needle to the exact location.
2. Perioacetabular osteotomy - where they cut my pelvis in two or three places, rearrange it and reattach the bones with plates and screws. Look up PAO online for more info.
3. Total hip replacement - in which case I'd probably have to have it done again later in life too since I'm so young.

You know what the worst part of all this is? It's that I am not supposed to play tennis anymore. I have cried many times since the appointment thinking about giving up the sport I love so much and just recently got back into playing regularly. It was my form of exercise, my stress reliever, my outlet. And to be told "I'm not telling you that you can't play but ...yada, yada" really sucks. Basically, if I want to keep playing, I'll have to have one of the alternative surgeries sooner rather than later. And the recovery time for these surgeries is extensive. Not a great situation for a mom of four young ones.

I'm still trying to sort it out. My goal is supposed to be avoiding a total hip replacement before I'm 50. But I'll likely need one eventually. Just like you, Dad. We'll be bionic together.

Happy Blogversary!

It's the one-year anniversary of the Nault Vault! My first post back in February of 2009 detailed Ethan's "Lasso your wiener" commentary with Cowboy Kevin during Rodeo Day at school. And this past Thursday, Rodeo Day was back! Ethan's an old pro but it was Lucas' first time. And it was pouring down rain so they'll get to do the pony rides this week.



Sweet brothers in matching shirts. Used to be Jacob in the big one and Ethan in the small!

Hippy Chic, part III

Met with my orthopedic doctor today to go over the MRI test results for my hip. Turns out I have slight dysplasia in my left hip. The socket portion of the ball and socket joint is not as "cupped" as it should be. Over time, the cartilage around the joint has weakened trying to keep the ball of the joint in place and now I have a labral tear of a muscle right above that joint. The tear and slight fluid build up is what causes my pain.

My next step is to meet with another orthopedic surgeon who specializes in arthroscopic hip surgery. Supposedly he's studied under the best doctor in the country for this type of surgery. We'll determine if I need to have it, when, or decide on another course of treatment. But according to my first orthopedist, if I want to live pain free, I need to do the surgery and lay off the tennis. I can tell you one of those things is not likely to happen although the rain this week has postponed our return to the courts. Coach is back from Thailand!

I was hoping this would be the last Hippy Chic entry but looks like there will be several more. To be continued...

100th Day of School

It was the 100th day of school today for Sarah and she was supposed to dress up like she was 100 years old. I couldn't find an appropriate shawl, but found some faux pearls, a brooch, glasses, a sweater dress. Not bad for throwing it together this morning!

Multicultural Night

I will have to wait for someone else's pictures to show you my display and outfit for Multicultural Night at the kids' school tonight. I made French onion soup from scratch and served it with Gruyere cheese and a crouton in little cups. Delish! And super easy crockpot recipe!

Since I don't have a picture of that, I'll share with you another multicultural event ... Connie's baby Layla received her paperwork for an American child born abroad recently. Super cute picture of her and dad, Mehdi, on her special day.

Doppelganger

I rarely participate in status update games on facebook and last week was no exception. It was doppelganger week (which someone posted meant "twin") and you were supposed to change your profile picture to someone famous that you have been told that you look like. I debated whether or not to play along since the only one I could think of was Shannen Doherty of 90210 and sex tape fame. Not exactly the cosmic connection I was looking for. However, a lovely neighbor took me out for a belated birthday lunch today and was convinced that Juliana was my twin. So here she is...what do you think?



Maybe after my delayed doppelganger week is over, I'll change my profile picture to this! Of course, it's completely inappropriate but it does make me laugh out loud!