Wells Christmas

They are all mesmerized by Star Wars on TaTa
and Mikes new big screen TV!! Sadie, the sweet
puppy w/ all the kiddos was just hit by a car the day
before. Fractured pelvis and broken tail but she
loves to be around the kids so the pain did not keep
her from them!:)


Leanne, aka TaTa (Jon's mom), and I pose for
the camera since there are not very many pictures
of us. We are the ones usually taking them!


Jon and our sweet nephew, Elliott.

Bin and his Batman Cave

Oaxie and her ZhuZhu pets...don't even get me

started on these things!!

Santa came to see us!

This is our Christmas finally finished around 2 AM!

Jon working on all of Oaxie's ZhuZhu stuff

And the mess begins!!

Bin has been asking for the Nerf blasters for

ever. I am still not for sure if this was a good idea!

This was one of the only things Oaxie asked for...

the dog on a leash.

Bin was totally excited over Criss Cross Crash.

This was what he asked for from Santa!

Jon in his Scooby attire

Wow, it has been a fast and crazy few weeks getting ready for Christmas and we still have one more next weekend! Christmas Eve we went to Jon's parents. Santa even stopped by for a few seconds, which was pretty nice of him considering he had lots of presents to deliver still! The kids were totally excited about Santa and of course our video camera was accidentally switched to pause for the entire thing. I'm not naming names of who could have done that though!!! My camera battery died right after he started passing out gifts so I was only able to get a few pics of the excitement!

Afterwards, we had to get home and get kids to bed so we could finish putting all of their gifts together for Christmas morning! We finally got to bed after 2. At 3 Bin came into our room screaming that Santa had left Criss Cross Crash. He was totally beside himself and out of control. Finally, we got him settled down and he went back to sleep. Then about an hour later, he woke up and got sick all over the bed!! He did not feel good the rest of the day. He didn't even open most of his presents until I finally made him before I had to go into work. Yep, I had to leave all the excitement and go to work for the afternoon shift. Thanks to my sweet friend, Mary, she worked the morning so I could be with Jon and kids for a little while.

When I got home from work that night the house was in complete shambles. We were all so exhausted that we left it that way until the next morning. None of us got up until after 10 the day after Christmas. It was sooooo nice.

Christmas Fun

Very proud of our new tree!


Christmas Crafts


Patiently waiting on the puppet show


Snazzy Hula Hooper

Before leaving for the party. This pic is

so sweet to me!

My cutie patooties!

This weekend was fun filled. We picked out our first ever live Christmas tree and also went to the annual Spina Bifida Christmas Party. I am not sure the real Christmas tree was a good idea. I did not realize they shed so badly. I am sweeping up needles every day. I am hoping there is a tree left by the time Christmas gets here! A friend at work said I need to add soda to it along with water. Does that sound right to you? I guess I am going to give it a try and see if it makes a difference. We put it up and did not decorate it for a few days to give it time for the limbs to fall. At least that's the reason I gave the kids anyway! Secretly, I was hoping that the tree would decorate itself! Why is that not a fun thing for me? By Monday the kids could not take it anymore so we decorated it when Jon came home that night. I will put those pictures up later.

The Spina Bifida Association Christmas Party was at the Flight Museum in Dallas. What a neat place to have it! The kids were amazed by all the planes and exhibits there. We will have to take Granddaddy back there someday. Bin and Oaxie enjoyed seeing all their friends that they had such a good time with at camp. I think this is also the first time they have ever had there picture taken with Santa. While standing in line Bin told the kids, " That's just a man wearing a Santa suit and not the real deal!" One of the boys asked if Santa was giving gifts and Bin said,"No he is just taking your list today." Where did this child come from? I told him to please just go along with the fun and not to ruin any of the other children's Santa experience. Jon and I are still laughing about that. We have not ever made a big deal about Santa. I don't know why really. So, I am not sure if Bin and Oaxie really think he is real.

Nana gave us The Elf on the Shelf so we read that to them a while back. They named there Elf Percy. Unfortunately, they have not been to concerned about where Jon and I take the time to move him every few days!!! If you haven't read the book it is really fun. An Elf comes with the book that your family names. He is supposed to be Santa's little helper to watch and see if the kids are being naughty or nice. When the kids go to sleep he flies off to the North Pole to give Santa an update. They were so over that after a day or two! Still a cute read though. :)

New Braces

Showing the new braces off!

Patiently waiting!

My little Goose!

Bin's lovely little footsies

Here are Bin's new camouflage braces. He was in need of some new ones very badly! His little toes were growing over the edge of the old ones. He has been falling a lot lately and we are hoping it is because he just needed a new set. I took pictures of his little legs too. They are so small and skinny. He kept trying to wiggle his toes while we were waiting. Unfortunately he cant but he put in a good effort. Oaxie finally grabbed his toes and wiggled them for him.:) While we were there we even enjoyed taking a tour of the brace making facility at Scottish Rite Hospital! It was sooooo amazing. We saw how they are made and even got to check out a new prosthetic leg that was just completed. Bin said, "Look Mommy, they make Super Hero Legs here!" How true that is!

Wells Thanksgiving

Bin, Hank, and Oliver with Ruby following




Aunt Penny brought Christmas crafts for all the
kids. They loved it and it was nice to have just

a bit of silence, even if did not last long!:)




Aunt Ginny and baby Elliott




Bin and Roxie playing in the fishing worms

Aunt Penny and Roxie

Roxie, Oaxie, Oliver, Hank, Bin, Elliott, Joe

I finally downloaded our Thanksgiving pictures. We spent Thanksgiving in Mineral Wells with Jon's family this year. We had a great time visiting with all of the cousins. They are all getting so big. We were finally able to meet our newest little cousin, Elliott. I held him most of the day. He is wonderful. I can't wait until Christmas so I can do that some more!!!

Spina Bifida Family Camp 2010

The Wells Gang


Bin and his buddy Atticus taking a stroll


Waiting to Fish. This is the first year the
weather has been perfect. It is usually cold/windy/
rainy! Not this time. Perfect for fishing!


Oaxie watching her bobber. Very
serious fishing going on. Her Daddy
was very proud!


Bin making his fish face.


So impossible to get a cute picture of the two
of them!!


Cooking class. This is astronaut food. Fun and
easy for kids to make. So yummy. We will be
making this at home too!


Spaghetti hot dogs. Fun to make.

Bin and Miss Grace! They have spent time w/

each other at the Walk-N-Roll.

Bin and Oaxie enjoyed spending

time w/her and big brother Jonathan.

Another year of Spina Bifida Family Camp has come and gone now. What a great weekend we had. When thinking about all the years past, I have to say this is the first year that all the kids actually enjoyed getting to know each other. They all played so well with one other and for the most part were totally fine playing on their own! Bin and Oaxie were asking some of the others to come to our house to play after camp was over. We are definitely going to try and make that happen!

Since the start of Pre K this year Bin and Oaxie(Oaxie mostly) have started to ask a lot of questions about Spina Bifida and some of the things that Bin has to do that are different than the other kids. Camp this year had them asking even more and on several occasions we over heard Bin making the comment to Oaxie, "and she/he has Spina Bifida just like me!" Bin saying that made going to camp even that more special to us. For Bin to play with other kids just like him is so very important for him. This school year has been the beginning of some emotional subjects, more for me than Bin right now, and I so appreciate some of the other moms listening to me and to know that we are all feeling the same things at this point is so reassuring!

Once we got home and unpacked, we were so tired. I don't remember being so literally exhausted during and after camp in all the years before. We decided not to cook and went out to eat pizza for early dinner at 3:30. We got home took showers and Bin and Oaxie were in bed by 6:30! Once they were in bed we could hear them talking in their room. Oaxie has a hard time pronouncing Bifida and so Bin was trying to sound it out for her,"bif-a-da". She finally got it right and he said, "YOU DID IT". Oh how I love my babies!!!

The New Oaxie

Oaxie posing for tonsil pictures...kinda scary!


They were the size of marbles!


So sick after:( She even came home from the
hospital w/ black eyes. Not sure how that
happened?!?


Day 5- she ate a bite of Chicken Express and
could not keep it down, she got sick right
after this picture:( I look at this picture and
she is so pitiful. She weighed 34lbs before
surgery and by the end of 2 weeks she was down to
29 lbs! Scared me to death!!!


Day 6- she ate this entire cookie and nothing
else but it made Mommy very happy!!!

My friend Michelle's son had his adenoids and tonsils removed yesterday and it reminded me of what all we went through when Oaxie had hers taken out in September. Man was that a hard recovery. I never realized it would be so hard on all of us but her especially. She did not eat for almost 7 days. It totally stressed me out. I did not think she could survive on a few sips of juice a day, but she did. I had her pose for pics of her tonsils the day before they came out so I thought I would share her gorgeous but now gone tonsils and adenoids! The doctor said she would be a changed child afterwards. I was not for sure exactly what that meant, but looking back now, he was totally right. Oaxie has been sick so much in the past 3 years. She had developed sleep apnea and snored as loud as her Granddaddy(and that is BAD)! Sorry Dad:) Anyways, she must have been totally sleep deprived as well because now she is this funny little girl who has literally come out of her shell ever since her surgery. She talks to every one, she smiles and is a silly willy. She has not missed one day of school this year so far...knock on wood. I can't remember the last time she had a major melt down or for that matter even cried! It has been a major transformation and I am sad we did not have it done sooner. Dr Palmer said they were some of the worst tonsils/adenoids he has seen. Our poor baby.

Boo at the Gardens

Daddy & Bin enjoying coloring at the festival


Getting spooky tattoos

Oh Daddy...

Grandpa Mike showing off all his candy!

Mommy, Bat Girl and Spiderman

The Wells Fam

We went to Clark Gardens for Halloween this year. Other than the heat it was a lot of fun. Spiderman and Bat Girl enjoyed themselves but Daddy, the Swamp Thang, as people called him, had just as good of a time! His costume frightened most of the kids...me too! That is actually his self-made hunting suit he wears out in the woods, while hiding from all the critters!:) It weighs soooo much and he was very hot! Grandpa Mike and TaTa were there passing out candy, so of course we had to make several stops by their table.