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.

First Aggie Game

All ready to go in our Maroon and White!


Loving that our cousins Blake and Sydni are
going with us!


Nana, Oaxie and Bin waiting for game time

Gig'em Aggies

Oaxie is out like a light and I think

Daddy is about to be!

I have been meaning to post this for a while since this was a big day for the Wells/Binford families! Bin and Oaxie went to their first ever Aggie game. We have been wondering when it was going to be the right time to let them start joining us for games. Four or more hours is a long time for little ones to sit for an entire game and not completely go crazy or annoy the people sitting beside them. Well, October 9th was the big day/game! A&M played Arkansas in the Dallas Cowboy stadium and we all went. The kids did GREAT! Bin sat in his seat the entire game and had his first game day nachos that he gobbled down. Oaxie's favorite part was watching the Aggie Band at half time. However, after that she slept the rest of the game. I don't blame her I guess since the Aggies lost, but we had a great time and I have a feeling they will be enjoying many more to come!:) Afterwards, we went to eat at Uno's in downtown Ft Worth and that was a lot of fun too. We love walking around downtown and pizza from Uno's is one of our most favorite places to eat.

Day of Prayer

Today, at 12:00 PM, was Spina Bifida Kids Worldwide day of prayer. That's a mouth full to say and write. So, where was I at this moment in time? In the shower! Our water bill may be a little more this month because of it!:) I am not sure how this all came about but I am thinking some moms of children with Spina Bifida who love Jesus got together and decided to declaire today as "SBKWDoP". However it happened, I like it. So... I have decided my first post back in a while I was going to let you in on private time with my Lord! So this is what He and I discussed in the shower.

I prayed to God:

For Mom's and Dad's who have just been told the baby they are carrying has spina bifida that He wraps his loving arms around them and gives them comfort and a peace to know that this baby is so very special and he/she will bring them a joy to their life that they can not even begin to imagine.

I prayed to God:

For the Doctors who are giving news to parents for the first time today that their baby will be

born with Spina Bifida to express this life changing news with knowledge, GRACE and compassion.

I prayed to God:

To Families who are raising children with Spina Bifida that he bestow love, patience, kindness, forgiveness, hope and understanding to all.

I prayed to God:

For our BinBoo that every one of his days are filled with laughter. As I am writing this I can hear Bin cracking himself up while playing with his sister. His laugh is contagious and his smile is a heart stopper for sure! All that Bin has gone through in the past and all that he will face in the future, I pray for him to find strength and have as little pain as possible. I pray for God to give Bin a passion in his heart to help educating others when they have questions regarding challenges he has to face daily and to know what makes him different are actually his strengths! Mostly I pray for a life full of happiness. That he will always be happy like he is every morning when he gets up until he finally passes out at night...with that beautiful smile on his face. Oh how I love my precious baby boy!

I prayed to God:

To give Jon and I kindness, forgiveness and understanding to others who see Bin as "different" and unaware of the physical issues Bin has NO control over. For patience when at the end of the day we are literally exhausted but still have to sit with Bin for 30 minutes to do potty time. Trying to be energetic and come up with different activities to keep him on the potty is mentally taxing at times, for him as well!:) For the age appropriate answers to give Oaxie as she has began to ask questions regarding Bin's uniqueness. (Why does he have to use a cath to potty, why can't he potty like all the other kids at school, why does he walk funny, why can't he stand like a big boy in the shower instead of sitting on the shower floor...) Lastly, I pray for Jon and I to remain strong in our love for each other. That even though the majority of our thoughts are filled with children, work, hunting :), and all that our lives have to bring that at the end of the day we have each other to lean on and love when our lives can seem so overwhelming!

Finally I had to give the Lord many thanks:

For allowing us to be parents to Bin and Oaxie

That Bin and Oaxie know who He is. When you ask them where God lives they say "in my heart." At Bin's last check-up he asked the doctor if she could hear God in there when she was listening to his heart!!

For the wonderful Doctors and nurses who have taken care of Bin

For our family who have dropped every thing in almost a moments notice and driven hours to be here for doctors appointments, surgeries, and just difficult times

Mostly for Bin's loving heart and his "overuse" of the words, I LOVE YOU!

Walk-N-Roll 2010

Go Bin Go!

Ethan, Bin & Gracie

Today was finally the day of the Walk-N-Roll for Spina Bifida! Every morning Bin would go to the calendar and count down the days until he would get to wear his new running shoes for the Walk-A-Thon! We are very excited to say that with all of our family and friends support we raised over $2000.00!!!! WOWZA!! We are so incredibly appreciative of how generous you all have been and you will never know how much that means to Jon and I. Thank you so much.