Our Gimpy Little Lady...

You know how it is when your dog is limping, but you can't figure out what he did or whats hurting him? You ask him, but he doesn't talk to you, so you just guess....thats what it was like with Parker for the last week! Like the comparison? LOL! She talks her little head off, but everytime we would ask her if her foot hurt, she wouldn't say a thing!
It started with jumping on the trampoline at Mawmaw and Pawpaw's house, but Jason says she didn't fall or no one landed on her? He just called me that night and told me that she was limping. The next day we called the Dr. and the nurse told us to use ice and ibuprophen and call on monday if she was still limping. Have you ever tried to put ice on a 22 month old child?? Right! Plus, we couldn't even figure out if it was her foot, ankle, knee, or hip?? We thought it looked a little better on Monday, but Tuesday I noticed and so did my mom, so I called on Wed and they told us to come in to the pediatrician. I was thinking, "what the hell is he gonna do?" He's only gonna send me for an x-ray right? Wrong! He asked if she had had a cold recently or fever and then asked about a few bruises she had and if she bruises easily? I think she does, but really I think its only becuase she is so darn fair! So he sent us for a blood test STAT. STAT??? Why? I didn't ask many questions, but he said it would tell us if there were an infection in her body. What he was really trying to say is that he was testing her for Leukemia!!! Good Lord, I'm glad I didn't ask that day or I would have been a total wreck the whole day! By the way, have you ever heard of a baby not crying when they get their blood taken??? She screamed bloody murder when the doctor even looked at her, but when we got to the lab place and the guy tied a band around her arm and stuck a needle in her arm she only made a small peep! Jeez...I was almost crying just watching it. I cannot give blood what so ever and have an anxiety attack every time and she just sat there and watched! She's much stronger than I will ever be!
Well, thank goodness her test was normal and the dr. told me why he was testing her for cancer etc. I never thought a limp was a sign of that! I guess it was just that she wasn't showing signs of a break and wasn't complaining much about her foot or leg.
Long story short a few days later we were sent for x-rays and back to the pediatrician. The xrays were normal and we paid another $25 co-pay to walk into the dr. office and have him tell us that its probably just a sprain! There could be a chance its a tiny fracture that won't show on an x-ray, but we wouldn't want to cast her for no reason, it would just heal on its own.
So....poor little girl had to go through all that for a little of nothing that her parents were more concerned about than she was. But...I know I will always get every little thing checked out from now on because you never know the things it could be. Just the thought of my child having leukemia freaked me out and made me love her and appreicate her so much more!! I don't know how parents can go through something like that watching their child in pain and confused. Its got to be heartbreaking!
So all is well with our little lady for now! The limping is almost gone and she's a happy, healthy and crazy little girl! :)

A future Rockstar!

I don't know...I'm starting to believe her that she will be the next Taylor Swift! She makes up these songs that just go on and on! She's even got the moves down...lol!

Our Indy Tradition!

The tradition has lived on and the Rowberry's went to the Indy 500 again. This time we all had a very special reason to go. We took Pawpaw's ashes to the track! He wanted part of him to be left there, and for good reason....that place was a special part of his life! So, 20 of us caravaned down to Indy on the Saturday of Memorial Day. We searched for a good place to spread the ashes and in my opinion we didn't find the perfect spot, but we did get some of him on the track. The rest of the weekend Cindy carried him in her purse. We toasted to him at the hotel with shots and put his ashes next to a bud light! I'm sure he was happy to see us all there having a great time and carrying on the tradition. All of his children together and a lot of his grandchildren too.

Sunday was race day and an early morning. The open ceremonies are always very important to dad. We all had tears as they played the taps and the national anthem and cerimonial "Back home in Indiana" by Jim Neighbors. These are the only few times I ever see my dad cry. He sat in Pawpaw's spot with Julie by his side. It truly is an awesome thing to see at the beginning of the race. I get chills over and over. The engines start and then as the green flag is thrown your whole body vibrates as the cars fly by!!! Its something to see once in your life and its even better when you are with your entire family.
As always, we laughed all weekend and there are always the same Indy stories told year after year that make us all pee our pants every time no matter how many times we hear them! I look forward to it every year! After the race Jason and I had a long 12 hour drive to Gulf Shores, but it was kind of nice that we could do it alone!

All the Brothers and Sisters...

 cousins...

 the outlaws!

 the whole Row gang!

 LOL...Steve came out of the bathroom with toilet paper hanging out of his pants!! Omg was that awesome!

 Here is where they spread the ashes....

 Pawpaw by his beer :)

Ahhh Vacation!

I can't believe how behind I am on getting our vacation recorded! What a great 5 days at the beach! I do have to say how much I love Gulf Shores beach. The sand is so white, the water was perfect and there are some great places to stay. They also have a great Tanger Outlet mall minutes from the beach!
The girls loved the beach just as I knew they would! Parker was in heaven in a giant sandbox. Taylor became a little fish swimming with her floaties on with her cousins Myla and Jack.
The sun was pretty strong. I thought the 90 spf I bought would be sufficient for my pale children and my husband, but that proved wrong after day 1! I headed out to Target (a Target with palm trees) to get them swim shirts and an spf 110. I know it really doesn't matter after 50 anyway, but I thought well it has to be somewhat stronger? My only beef with the whole thing is that even when they have sunscreen on the sun just wipes them out and they were tired girls! They both napped twice a day almost and slept a full night too! Mommy really wanted her beach and sun time, but it was only for a couple hours at a time. Daddy did his golfing the first two days, so by the third day I had to get out to the pool with my kindle alone! Taking kids on a beach vacation is pretty hard work....lugging beach bags, towels, floats, umbrellas, coolers...and all for two hours! Ugh... Its a good thing we had grandparents with us...lol! It was nice to have the extra set of hands, not to mention we had a peaceful 12 hour drive alone on the way there because they rode down with Mawmaw and Pawpaw! It was also so much fun to go with another family. Jason's aunt, uncle, cousins and kids went and stayed in the condo next door. It was so nice to have a full kitchen, laundry, 3 bathrooms etc. We made dinners and all ate toghether right there, Italian night, Mexican night, and BBQ night. We only left the resort once to eat out and do some driving. Its really the way to go!
I can't say how nice it is to spend a whole week together and have so much fun with the kids, but I can say how depressing it is to come home and go back to reality! It really makes you think about what you do every day and think about how much time you spend with your kids. Time goes by so fast and if you don't enjoy what you do you can look back years later and feel like its all been wasted! I know I take alot of pictures, but one of the reasons I take so many is that I feel like there are so many moments that I want to capture and remember forever and if you don't have a picture, you may forget! I took over 400 pictures and I plan to look back on all of them and remember our great vacation!
Here are some of my fav pics. There was no way I could post them all!

A great mother's day!

Wow, I couldn't have had a better day I don't think! We took my mom to breakfast at First Watch, one of our favorite breakfast places. They even gave all the mothers a box of Russel Stover chocolates. We thought that was pretty nice. Then we had noon pedicure appointments...just Taylor, Mawmaw Jan, and myself. Much needed and relaxing for all of us! My kids and lovely husband got me a kindle as my gift, which was totally a surprise! I've already read a whole book since sunday which is crazy and so unlike me. Then we barbequed at our house for Jason's parents. It was a great dinner of turkey tenderloin, chicken kabobs, pork steaks, fresh broccoli, and sweet potatoes...yum! The day was topped off by me winning $100 on a scratch off from my in-laws! Wow...I never win a thing! It was my special day I guess!

Too bad we didn't get Taylor in any of these pics :(

 The whole weekend was fun filled. Friday night we went to the baseball game with my dad (who was in town for the weekend), aunt Cindy, and Julie (who got the tickets for us). We were in the Bank of America suite which was all free food and beer! Nice, except for it was almost the fastest game in history! The game was over by 9:15pm, so we met Janece over at Kilroys for a few more drinks.

Saturday we met Jason's parents at Fairmount Park for Derby Day! I've never gone to the track on the day of the derby, but it was pretty fun. I wish I would have worn my hat now! I told Jason that everyone would be wearing their derby hats, but I don't think he believed me. You should have even seen the girls wearing fancy dresses and gloves?? I don't think they were really anyone. I think they just did it for the fun of it.

We did win some money on some of the races, but nothing on the derby :( We were over at my gpa's by the time the derby started for another BBQ with my dad's whole side of the family. Those are always good times. Its still so weird without pawpaw there, but I know everyone loves still gathering there...its comforting I guess?

Happy Mother's Day!

I shared this last year, but I love it that much! Its a good reminder of how important moms are and to think just what they have created! Amazing!

A Mother’s Prayer


The Most Important Person on earth is a mother.

She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral.

She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any Cathedral--a dwelling for

an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby's body.

The angels have not been blessed with such a grace.

They cannot share in God's creative miracle to bring new saints to heaven.

Only a human mother can.

Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other human creature.

God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation...what on God's earth is

more glorious than this:

TO BE A MOTHER

We've got a little cowgirl!

Last year she was all about the whales...orca's everywhere! This year its horses! We can't have enough of them, horse stuffed animals, small play ones, horse movies, we play Flika around the house. I swear this girl will be a vet or an animal trainer. I know it!

Finally after much anticipation, today was her first riding lesson! The only start the small ones with half hour lessons which we thought would be plenty, but I think she could have rode all day! She can't wait to go back. Looks like we will start doing weekly lessons and we'll sign her up for their summer camp "Little Britches" where they will learn to take care of them and ride them for a whole week!

It was really adorable to see her ride. Her eyes and smile said it all!

Some videos....