November 2020

November was yet another crazy month of 2020. Not only were we dealing with the pandemic, but the political scene came on in full effect with the presidential election dragging out for multiple days and then having people question the validity of it all. Can 2020 please hurry up and end? Well, in the mean time we are just enjoying life as much as we can here in Lexington. 

I ask a lot of questions and one day I started asking to see if anybody in my clinic would shave their head for our patient population. To my surprise quite a few people said they would do it. We turned it into a fundraiser for the DanceBlue Marathon to see if they could raise 15,000 dollars during the month of November. If they were successful then 15 people would shave all or part of their head. Since I have been shaving my head for years they asked if I would grow my hair out to make it better for the cutting video at the end of the month.

After Halloween I took the kids candy and hid it so that they wouldn't eat it excessively while I was at work. Not more than a couple days into the month of November and I came home to find that the kids had ate at least 30 pieces of candy while I was at work. They had found where I had hid it. So, since they couldn't follow the rules I took all of their remaining candy to work and sat it out for all of my co-workers to enjoy. Hope they learn their lesson or I will do it again next year.

Landon loves math. He asks me all the time to give him some problems to do. Well, his sister was learning about multiplication and division in 3rd grade so I just went ahead and taught him too. Not too bad for his first try. Makes me really happy to see him love math because I do too.

The kids were interested in writing their names in "fancy" aka cursive. I think both of the kids did a nice job with their names. Both of those are Brinley's attempts. Landon's attempt is the top one. 

Our annual pediatric cancer survivor picnic had to be cancelled due to covid, but we really wanted to do something special for all of our awesome patients. We packaged some goodie bags and sent them to all the kids that had requested them. The picnic committee is so hopeful that we will be able to have something next year for all of our survivors!

Included in the care packages to our survivors were astronaut ice cream. We had a couple left over so I took one home for the kids to try. It was a freeze dried ice cream sandwich. The kids thought it was awesome, I didn't really find it satisfying. I had my hopes up for ice cream and I feel that it was more like styrofoam. 

With a lot of extra time on my hands I started baking all kinds of treats. I made cream horns, cinnamon rolls, cannoli, and with a bad batch of cinnamon rolls we turned it into a bread pudding. They tasted great, but not good for our health. 

Brinley was not happy when her rabbit Biscuit got put out into the garage. Brinley wasn't taking care of cleaning up after her bunny. I was finding bunny droppings all over the house. So, it got moved into the garage for a couple days so that Brinley could get her act together and learn to take responsibility of her pet. 

I had seen some people going out and picking their family Christmas trees. I had always wanted to go out and cut down our own tree so we went out to Nieman's Tree Farm. We looked at tons of trees over the whole farm. The kids enjoyed measuring all the trees with the big stick. The both really wanted to get a little baby tree. After about an hour of searching we found the perfect tree. When we went to get it tagged the owner said that the tree we picked out was on an area that wasn't for sale currently. 

I noticed that there were a couple of other families purchasing from another worker next to where we found our tree, that was apparently off limits. However, I was bound and determined to get the tree. I approached this man and inquired about getting the tree. He was happy to sell it to me. I wrote him a check and told him that we would be back in a few weeks to pick it up. I informed them that when we came back that I wanted to personally cut down the tree. Sometimes you just need to talk to the right sales person.

The kids wanted to play hide and go seek. They found some pretty awesome hiding spots. Brinley was hiding under her bathroom sink and Landon was able to squeeze into his dresser cabinet.

There is a new area of the sub division that is being developed. The kids and I have taken advantage of getting out and seeing all the big equipment and exploring. We have all enjoyed it and are going to be sad when they finish all the construction.

I knew that the kids needed to get out of the house and do something. So, I signed them up for the Grassroots Run Club. It is a group of school aged kids who train for cross country and track meets. They had practice 3-4 times a week at different locations around town. Every Sunday they have a fun run at the coach's house. Parents are welcome to come and run with the kids. Since Brinley has never ran I went with her for her first practice. She was not happy about me making her run, but I was so proud of her effort on the first attempt. I kept jogging beside her and telling her all kinds of motivational advice. Landon ran ahead with another group of kids and the coach's wife. When they got back the coach's wife said she had a new nickname for Landon - the Energizer Bunny because he just kept going and going. 

The kids asked to have a bonfire and s'mores. I was happy to get a fire going in the back yard. The kids were happy to roast some marshmallows.

Pushed the limits of the kids one day and took them out on a bike ride. We ended up going a little over 7 miles and neither of the kids complained at all. It was awesome to have a peaceful fun ride with the kids. 

Both of the kids have become interested in learning to draw videos on you tube. One night we sat down as a family and everyone drew a panda with some bamboo. It was fun to see how everyone's turned out differently while we were watching the same video.

We even tried our hand at drawing a penguin too!

Landon had decided that he wanted to go on another bike ride. We made it five miles and it was getting dark when Landon decided we should take a short cut through the construction area. Well, it was just a little bit muddy. We were covered in mud by the time we got home. I had to hose down the bikes. I still occasionally find a little bit of dirt on our bikes. Maybe not the best decision. 

 After our cross country first practice the coach contacted me and asked if Landon would be interested in running with the team in an upcoming meet. Landon was excited to try it out. The race was in Paris, KY on an early Saturday morning. We had no idea what we were getting into that morning, but we ended up having fun. Landon actually was the 23rd fastest 7 year old at the meet. Pretty impressive in my opinion since we had only been with the team for a little over 2 weeks. The race was 1.2 miles and Landon finished in 9:23. The 7-8 year old boys team was in the middle left picture. The bottom left picture of the 3 boys are all sons of former Georgetown Football players, which was pretty interesting.

After Landon's race we headed north to Columbus. My sister bought her first house and asked if we could come up and help move them into their new house. It was a quick visit, but the kids enjoyed playing while the adults packed things out to the new house. I even mounted a TV for my first time at their new house.

Jennifer and I were both off one day so I told the kids to get in the car after school and we headed out to the gorge. It was such a beautiful day I know that we needed to get outside and enjoy some nature. After a quick drive to Natural Bridge we made the quick hike up to the top and then made our way over to lover's leap. 

At lover's leap the kids found a large boulder that they were having a blast climbing up and sliding down. They did it probably 20 times. The sun was setting and I knew that we needed to get down soon, but the kids said that they didn't want to leave. They were having so much fun. I love when they enjoy things that Jennifer and I like doing. It is always more fun when everyone is in a good mood and nobody is complaining! 

This is a picture of that boulder that the kids kept climbing up and sliding down. Never in a million years would I have thought that a rock could have caused so much joy. It was something that we all needed. You can even see Natural Bridge in the background of the photo.

There are some people at this house that love our bunny, Biscuit! Brinley plays with him all the time but will share with her brother and mommy. I really have nothing to do with the little guy. 

Uncle McKinley had to work Thanksgiving so he came up the weekend before and we celebrated together. We played games and enjoyed the traditional turkey and fixings. We were only missing the Maitland's from Ohio. Grandma even held Biscuit for the first time.

On Thanksgiving our run club got together for a Turkey Trot. All of us participated and afterwards the team had a flag football game. The kids were excited to play, but there were so many kids playing that not everyone got a chance to catch the ball. So when we got home we played catch in the front yard. Also both kids tried their hand at climbing a tree. Our neighborhood is fairly young and there aren't really any good trees for climbing, but they both made it up into one.

For Thanksgiving I only made a few treats because everyone has been trying to cut back and eat healthier. Chex Mix is one of my all time favorite snacks during the holidays and cream horns are my new obsession.

We went back the day after Thanksgiving to pick up our Christmas tree. Mimi came along to do a little photo shoot. We got some good pictures and we had a blast cutting down our tree. The kids helped saw it down. I am just glad that nobody got hurt during the whole process. After we were done the kids said they never wanted to do that again. As much fun as we had I am kind of thinking the same thing. We strapped the tree to the roof of our car and drove home feeling like the Griswold's.

Every night before bedtime the kids want their mother to read to them. They have read so many books together. I love seeing them enjoy something that has brought so much joy to Jennifer. 

One night while Jennifer was at work the kids and I decided to try and get more of the Christmas trees up in the house. I had never really let the kids help but I figured that they were finally old enough to help. They had a blast.

Our family Christmas ornaments came in and we love them. The kids both got rabbit ornaments and I got an Avenger themed ornament and we were all the characters that we had dressed up for Halloween just weeks before. Jennifer's unfortunately didn't come in, but I will show it later. 

The first ornament destroyed of the season was a personalized ornament that Landon made in school with Landon's handprint on it. His fingers had been turned into snowmen. Jennifer is the one that accidently broke it. I tried to fix it with some super glue, but really wasn't successful. It stinks, but life happens and you just have to keep moving.

The students of Dance Blue rose to the occasion of our challenge. They were asked to raise $15,000 dollars and they blew that out of the water! The students were able to raise over 27,000 dollars! As a group we were happy to fulfill our end of the deal. The last night of the month we stayed after work and cut our hair. Of course with everything now a days, the person that was going to cut our hair was placed in quarantine so we had to improvise. We brought a couple of clippers in and did it ourselves. Not everyone could be there that night, but this was the crew that cut it off then. I was super impressed with three of our ladies who cut all of their hair off! Much bigger commitment than me because I barely have any hair to begin with. I was just happy that I could finally cut my hair. 

November proved to be another fun filled month. I know that many people in November spend a lot of time talking about the things that they are thankful for. This year has been so difficult for so many people, but I have tried to reflect and find some of the happiness from the past year. I am thankful for God, who loves me even when I don't deserve it and by his grace I am saved. My family is the biggest blessing in my life. Jennifer, Brinley and Landon are my world. I love them all so much. My parents, sister, and brother helped mold me into the man that I am today. I have a job that I love going to everyday where I get to help children who have cancer. I have my health, a roof over my head, dinner on the table, and love in my heart. I hope that you are able to find some joy in this year even when it seems like everything is going wrong. Thanks for reading and God bless!

October 2020

Well, we are getting pretty used to the new way of life in the pandemic. You just have to wash your hands, wear your mask and do your virtual school. It is by no means the way we want to live, but it is better to be safe and healthy than to risk getting sick. We have tried to do as many things as possible so that the kids can have somewhat of a childhood. These are such vital and important years for them and they are stuck in the house all day looking at a computer screen. They have adapted well, but it is a struggle some days to even get them to do the small amount of work that is required of them. Nobody in our house is a fan of virtual school. We are ready for them to go back so they can see their friends and learn like they are supposed to, even if they have to wear a mask.

I have been volunteering at church since they opened back up, but Jennifer and the kids had not returned back to church yet. Well, they finally came back to church with me one Sunday. They stayed in the church service instead of going to the children's ministry area. It was nice to worship together with my family at church instead of watching the online service at home.

Well, I have been trying to stay as active as possible between running and biking. Well, I should maybe read the forecast before heading out because I got caught in a downpour one afternoon. I stopped in a neighborhood gazebo to catch a little relief from the rain.

The kids have done so well in coach pitch this fall. Landon got another home run and the game ball. I can't believe how hard these two have been working. 

Another game day and another Heflin game ball. This one went to Brinley. She sat out last season because she said she hated baseball. I didn't want to push her too far and she hate sports the rest of her life. I am so glad that she found it again and has been successful.

Brinley taking care of her bunny. She loves Biscuit so much. She even gets in the cage on occasion to help clean up all the mess. 

Well, I was at work on a Thursday morning when I had this spontaneous excruciating back pain. It was awful and I couldn't find anything to take the pain away. I tried to walk it off, lay down, sit, or stand but nothing made the pain better. A couple of the doctors and nurse practitioner in my clinic assessed the situation and thought that I should go to the Emergency Room. One of my docs from the clinic pushed me down to the ER where I quickly got an IV and some pain medicine which helped relieve the pain. I also got a CT scan quickly that showed I had a 5-6 mm kidney stone. This was my first (and hopefully last) one ever! They said I could go home and try to pass it at home which is what I chose to do. It was a restless night with not much sleep, but I woke up at 6 am the next morning and passed it. I felt so relieved and happy. I couldn't believe that this small little thing could cause so much pain. I even went back to work because I felt so good. 

I feel like we are constantly going to practices or games throughout the week. Saturdays are our soccer game days and these kids have been working hard. Brinley's team is full of inexperienced players and they haven't won all season while Landon's team is undefeated. They are both working so hard at getting better. Both of them get so frustrated with me because I just them to be the best version of themselves, but I constantly am giving them advice on how to get better and they don't seem to listen or care. I haven't figured out which one yet. This was Landon's first time playing goalie. The other team never even got close to him so he didn't get to make any saves.

I still don't like animals, but in a year that has been so crazy and different this bunny has brought Brinley so much joy and happiness. I have never held the little guy, mostly because Brinley is constantly holding him. 

We kicked off the Halloween season by making some cookies. I think they turned out awesome. The kids had a lot of fun.

We had finally gotten around to taking the kids to their yearly check ups and both of them had a couple of issues that meant they needed to see a specialist. Brinley has apparently dropped on her growth chart so we had to get x-rays for a bone scan to see if her bones were growing appropriately for her age. They were fine so she then had to see an endocrinologist to see if there were any hormone abnormalities, which there were not. She was such a big girl and had to get labs done a couple of times. I was very proud of her. Landon had to see an ophthalmologist because of a weird twitch that we had noticed with his right eye. They said it was nothing concerning and that it should be something that he grows out of. It didn't cause him any discomfort so sounds good to me.

Landon has grown to love little Biscuit. He was so surprised when Biscuit jumped up into his lap one day while he was doing his school work.

Grandma and Grandpa were able to come up and see the kids play a game with their coach pitch team. Landon and Brinley played awesome and he was given the game ball. They were excited to have their grandparents watch them play. After the game we all drove up to Columbus so that we could be ready to celebrate with Olivia for her birthday.

The kids had a blast playing at the Columbus Zoo with Olivia. We fed the giraffes, rode the carousel and saw all of Olivia's favorite animals. It ended up being cost effective for us to just go ahead and become members of the zoo if we just came to visit at least one more time. I figure we will be up to visit more than that to get our moneys worth out of it. 

While they were getting Olivia ready for bed the kids and I snuck out for another trip to the zoo. They had a Halloween celebration called Boo at the Zoo. I forgot to bring costumes for the kids, but they didn't care because they just wanted the candy. It was set up really nice and we made it to all the candy stops very quickly. We also got to see all the carved pumpkins that they had out for decorations.

The kids love spending time with Olivia, but Olivia can't get enough of the kids. She wants to spend every second with them when she is around. Apparently I can't hang like I used to and I have to take a nap. Brinley helped make mini pizzas one night too. Both the kids also love reading books to Olivia. 

While they were decorating for the birthday party we took Olivia to a nearby park so that she could play. She enjoyed having Brinley and Landon push her on the swing and go down the slides with her. 

We were so happy to celebrate with Olivia for her Oh, Two dles birthday. She was so excited for everything going on that we had trouble getting her to sit still for a good picture. She was excited about the cookies that I made for her. I am glad that she liked them.

The rest of the birthday party crew. I watched the UK football game during the party on my phone. You can take the man out of the state, but you can't take the Kentucky out of the man. I bleed blue through and through. We all had a great time celebrating with Olivia. Landon even acted as a little horse and rode her around the living room.

Landon's soccer team decided to play a scrimmage against another local team. It was a very competitive game but we came up just a point short in this one. This was their first loss of the season. Landon got to play in goal again which he thought was awesome. He did give up one goal but he worked hard and saved a few shots on goal too! We had to rush from the soccer scrimmage to the ball field so that the kids could play baseball. Mimi came out to watch them play. They both did great but I could tell Landon was just a little tired because he wasn't moving as fast as normal. 

Jennifer and Brinley decided to find an outfit for the bunny. So, let me introduce you to Sheriff Biscuit. 

Just look at that smile. She is so happy when she has her bunny. 

Well, our little nephew, Rupp turned one. We made the decision for only Jennifer to travel down because of the pandemic and we didn't think we could get the kids to abide by social distancing rules and wearing their masks. I made some cookies for them to take down to the Dr. Seuss themed party. Making the cookies were very therapeutic and stressful at the same time. I thought they turned out pretty good.

The pandemic has given you plenty of time to try new things, do home improvements, and find things to buy on the internet that you never really needed. Well, I became obsessed with cream horns. They are a puff pastry filled with a sweet cream filling. Well, apparently everyone else became obsessed with them too. I couldn't find them at any of the grocery stores. Then I found some one night and told Jennifer I hit a gold mine. I decided that to keep that from ever happening again I would just get some of the molds and make them myself. A quick search on Amazon and in just a few days I will be able to make my own.

Brinley doing her school work with Biscuit. She literally takes the bunny every where and makes him do anything she does.

For a couple of years I have wanted to kill a deer. Well, I don't have any guns and most importantly I don't have any land on which to hunt. My neighbor Derrick said he wanted to go hunting and I said let's go. It wasn't gun season so we took his crossbow out and headed for the woods. They are trying to let the bucks grow bigger so the said we were only allowed to shoot doe. That was fine with me. I just wanted to experience it and see how to process it since I had never seen it before. Too bad we only saw button bucks and small spiked bucks. Hopefully sometime I will get one. 

Since I wasn't able to get a deer I figured the next best thing would be to donate blood. It is so easy to do and it is so helpful to the people that receive it. I know first hand because I give it to patients almost every day I am at work.

This year there was a huge election along with a pandemic. We opted for the mail in ballots so that we wouldn't have to stand in long lines at the polls. 

I was asked at work to participate in a fundraiser for the children's hospital. They were going to do a live zoom and stream it online of some different people playing games. They had a couple of professional gamers, the dean of UK education, a medical student, myself, and a former patient of mine. It was really cool. We played Jackbox Games which had a whole assortment of games. The first game we played was Drawful 2 and I won. I was so glad to participate in such a great cause. 

Jennifer and the kids made a spooky dinner one night. They had dyed the fettucine noodles purple and green and even served it with breadstick bones. Brinley also made a candy corn parfait for dessert. It was all delicious, just weird to eat purple and green noodles.

The Spartans had their last fall ball coach pitch game of the season. The kids worked really hard and had fun getting to play on the big kids field with the astroturf. Brinley got a couple of kids out and had some good hits too. She was awarded the game ball again! Landon had another home run to end the season. I am so proud of how these two have grown and developed into better players and teammates. I can't wait for baseball to start back in the spring.

We had a lot of fun carving our pumpkins this year. Brinley is the only one who chose to use a template from one of the books that we had left over from last year. Brinley picked out the devil cat. I helped Landon free hand a minecraft pumpkin. I did a Jack Skellington, and Jennifer did a Harry Potter double sided pumpkin. We even let Biscuit get in a pumpkin. 

It is so much fun to work in pediatrics. This year we had a theme in our clinic and we were all zoo animals. Some of my co-workers are hilarious. We had some pretty awesome costumes. I dressed up like a lion. 

Brinley's soccer season came to an end on Halloween. Her team was unlucky and had to play almost all their games at 8 am when it was freezing. The Cyber Rays had a lot of fun. Unfortunately they didn't win a single game, but I believe they did get better throughout the season.

In between soccer games we stopped off at Krispy Kreme for a Halloween donut. They gave you a free donut if you were dressed up. We all got one, because the kids were dressed as soccer players and I had on my hulk shirt. Later that night we went to Drakes for dinner before going out to trick or treat. The kids got to eat for free if they were in their costumes.

Landon's team lost their first game of the season to the only other undefeated team in the next to last game of the season. Turns out they had a rematch with that same team the next week in the season finale. The Scorpions fought hard but came up short again. It was really fun to watch these kids play. I got just a little too much into it. Most of these kids were 7 years old so they will mostly all be back next year to play again.

We once again did a family themed costume. We picked the Avengers because during the pandemic we watched the entire series in the order they were meant to be watched. The kids really got into them and like them all a lot. We let the kids have first pick at which characters they wanted to be. Brinley picked Captain Marvel because that is her favorite Avenger. Landon picked Thor, while Jennifer picked Iron Man and I was the Hulk. Biscuit even put on his Sheriff hat to come out for a picture. The kids were so excited to go out and trick or treat. It was one of the few things that didn't get cancelled this year.

October ended up being a pretty great month. We had a lot of fun playing both baseball and soccer. We still had to deal with virtual school, but we have started getting things done slightly earlier in the night that we had been. We did have an incident where Brinley was turning all of her paperwork in everyday on her own. We were so proud of her until we discovered that all of her turned in work was in fact blank. The virtual school has brought out the worst in both of them. Hopefully they got back sometime this year. Thanks for reading and God bless!