Floors are finished!!

All of Jackson's hard work paid off! Our new floors look amazing. He did not install them, but he did all of the removal which was far more difficult. He's such a handy guy- I just love him!

Office

Entryway looking sweet!

Easter with Emmie

We were able to sneak up to Upland for Easter dinner with the family and Ms. Emmie. It was great!

An comparison

I'll nap here, thanks!

MacKenzie gets jealous easily!

Emmie, mid-step

TOO MUCH CUTE!

MacKenzie showing her how to play ball

She's not a quick learner ;)

Engaging with Addie

Recovering after a day with a puppy!

Boyz II Men

I made the quick drive to Carmel for a Boyz II Men show at the Palladium with my dear friend Jenny. If you ever want to see a show in an amazing venue check this place out. We had incredible seats and the acoustics were simply amazing. The show was fantastic!! 

End of the Road

Get it!

Showing off their skills!

Easter eggs with SL

We took an early Easter basket and a "you just had a baby!" dinner over to the Mauck's place. Jackson insisted on playing with the new chalk we got for Sir Liam. SL was uninterested and headed for the golf course. Too funny! :)

There goes Sir Liam...

"Let's putt, Uncle Jack!"

Things are very busy around there these days with Case still adjusting to his family (ha!) and SL being a very active youngster. Kort must be exhausted but she wears it well!

Bogey (dog) trying to visit Case and Jason while Jackson speaks to
Sir Liam Mauck-- a lot going on!!

Easter eggs are pretty awesome!

Sir Liam stuck an entire, unwrapped Hersey kiss in his mouth which lead to the funniest digging adventure ever for Kort. He was entirely unpleased to give up that chocolate. We love this family and are so glad to hang out (then return to our quiet home). :)

Layin' low

Things have been pretty quiet around here since the accident. I went to work on Monday (the 7th) afternoon and immediately knew it was going to be a long 4 hours. People all want the gore of an accident. I learned something from this whole ordeal: people do not want to rehash a traumatic event purely to satiate your curiosity.  I worked all day on Tuesday and then came home and went to bed at 7 p.m. in so much pain. I made it in Wednesday morning, but forgot my pain medicine. I broke down in tears at the thought of making it through a whole workday without medicine. I ended up talking to my boss and deciding that taking some medical time off was the best solution to allow me to focus on healing. I took the rest of the week off to go to medical appointments, get an MRI and the such. Monday morning I started my new schedule of working each morning for 4 hours from my kitchen table. I'm beyond grateful to my boss for allowing me the time to be home healing and going to therapy instead of commuting to my office an hour away. I've been able to get plenty of sleep and not have to worry about taking my medicine that makes me unable to drive. What a relief!

You're home? Wanna play ball?!

Oh, we are stretching?! OK!

Jackson, being uninjured, has not gotten out of his big home improvement project which is removing the tile and carpet on the first floor and replacing it with the same wood flooring as our second story.

Picking up the new wood and glue!

Removing tile and thinset mortar is NO fun according to Jackson

MacKenzie hates the sound of mortar being removed! I am not a huge fan, either. Jackson's poor back doesn't love this project. We are having professionals do the actual installation of the wood floors, but Jackson saved us about $1,000 by being willing to do the tearing out himself. He's a man's man!!

Little bunny baskets!

I've been home a lot more than normal so I actually had time to get ready for this year's early Easter. I made little baskets for my two little loves that just became the elder sibling: Sir Liam Mauck and Miss Josslyn Bates.

Cameron Bates- 10 days old!

We got to swing by the Bates place to see baby Cam and deliver Joss' Easter basket. It was nice to get out of the house for a bit and talk to real people. I LOVE working remotely but I am a bit more lonely than usual.

Prepared for the big game

The timing of being home for the NCAA tournament is really the only silver-lining of this whole ordeal. Jackson is pretty amped about Indiana making the tournament and we had our friend Derrik and his new girlfriend over to watch the game on Thursday evening. Derrik likes to make fun of MacKenzie for being the size of a cat instead of a dog, but she is a forgiving little dog and still sat with him. Heinz's girlfriend brought her 4-month old golden doodle puppy. MacKenzie played and played with that dog. She was exhausted when they went home after the big IU win.

Friends forever!

I got a massage on Thursday afternoon hoping to ease some of the lingering soreness from the wreck. It did not work. Boo. But an unsuccessful massage is better than no massage at all. I went for a pedicure on Friday evening because I keep having people looking at my knee/leg and my feet were in terrible shape. I feel much better about medical professionals messing with me now that my toes are freshly painted a cute shade of purple to celebrate Spring- ha!

My Mom and Guy picked up their new giant schnauzer puppy, Emmie, this morning. They brought her by on their way home and MacKenzie was not as smitten with the pup as I was. I LOVE puppies!

MacK meeting Emmie

Getting a little bit of water

ADORABLE!

We enjoyed a little bit of time with the pup before she went to her new home in Upland for the first time. We watched a very exciting Indiana vs. Kentucky game in which our HOOSIERS were victorious! Hooray! Sweet Sixteen! I'm fairly certain our neighbors heard us yelling at the tv throughout that game. Jackson is elated and I've agreed to let the IU flag stay out on our balcony for the evening in celebration. It has to come down until the next game, though, or our HOA may be angry.

That's all that is happening around here. Pretty quiet and just trying to get back to normal. We know we were fortunate that the accident was not any worse but it has still been a real pain! 

"He's in my lane..."

Thursday morning started out really well. I woke up and snuggled with Jackson and MacKenzie. I even contemplated staying in bed and going to work later due to the snow. I looked outside and it did not look bad, though, so I got up, got dressed and headed to work. Jackson was also working in Muncie at Ball Memorial so he left the same time that I did in his car. He got off work at 3 so he would head home to let MacKenzie out and I'd be off work around 5.  My favorite podcast, SERIAL, just released a new episode so I was set. The drive was very normal on the interstate. I noticed Jackson behind me at the stoplight and waved to him. We turned onto SR 32 and headed for Yorktown and then on to Muncie. Or so I thought...

It started to snow a bit harder, but the roads were not bad yet. We were making decent time and I started thinking that I may be at work early. Then I noticed a car in the other lane starting to lose control and spin. I couldn't figure out why they were spinning when the roads were not that bad. I assumed they were just not paying attention. Then I realized his car was now in my lane. Uh oh. I did not have time to stop. I was going full speed in the 50 MPH zone. Time both slowed down and sped up. Here's is what I remember thinking:

He's in my lane.

HE IS IN MY LANE.

LORD, HE IS IN MY LANE.

I CANNOT STOP.

MY CAR WILL NOT STOP IN TIME.

JACKSON IS GOING TO WATCH ME DIE.

THIS IS GOING TO KILL ME. 

I CANNOT HIT THIS HARD AND NOT DIE.

OH MAN, THIS IS GOING TO HURT. 

I REALLY DID NOT PICTURE DYING IN RURAL INDIANA ON MY WAY TO WORK.

RELAX, RELAX, RELAX, LET GO AND RELAX

*BOOM*

I cannot remember anything after the initial hit which was just as hard as I expected it to be. The airbag went off and I hit a cement mailbox on my way off the road after hitting the other car. I came to rest in a slippery ditch. I woke up really confused and hysterical because I wanted to know if Jackson (remember he was RIGHT behind me) was hurt. I couldn't breathe until I knew if he was safe. When I heard his voice my sense of relief was so sudden that only then did I realize that I was hurt. I could not feel my legs and that made me hysterical all over again. I got so upset that I started throwing up. A sweet passerby happened to be a nurse at the hospital in Anderson on her way to work. She stopped and made her way down to me to hold my hand until the emergency crews arrived.  I will love her forever for that.

The emergency crews arrived and got me out of the car. I had to be in a neck brace and on a backboard until they knew if I had spinal damage. All of the workers were very kind to me and I just remember being very, very cold and scared. The ride to the hospital felt really long (and very bumpy), but we made it and met my new medical team. I had the best nurse, Tess, who took charge and made sure that I was as well-cared for as possible. I had to have CT scans, X-rays and an EKG. I was extremely fortunate that I broke no bones or spinal damage. All my feeling in my legs returned and my biggest issue was just having to pee!  

The aftermath 

More damage

A bit more damage

My airbag

I was sent home with some serious pain medicine and instructions to take it easy for a couple of days. That was not a problem as I felt like doing nothing at all.

MacK keeping me company on the couch

Family selfie

Taking her nursing job very seriously

It was not my favorite way to get two days off work without questions, but I'm just so fortunate that my car held up to such a high speed collision with flying colors. People have been very kind with the emails and texts. I truly appreciate all the well wishes.

An Edible Arrangement sent by one of my favorites,
Mrs. Susan Davis

I plan to try to return to work tomorrow morning. Let's hope this trip is more successful than the one on Thursday...

Lovin' Hello Fresh

The boxes for this week

Jackson surprised me and wanted to keep getting Hello Fresh even when it was not free anymore! We only get 3 boxes a week and some weeks we will not get any if we are busy. We really like the flexibility they've built into the program. You have plenty of time to look at a week's menu to select meals or decide they just are not for you. For instance, the meals for the week next week did not appeal to us so we skipped that week with no issue. This has certainly made us try new foods and new preparation styles. I'm even getting more comfortable in the kitchen because I am excellent at following directions and they make it pretty simple to make delicious meals.

Korean-Style Beef Stir Fry
with Broccolini, Brown Rice, and Sesame

The stir fry was really good. We thought it would have been a little better with steak instead of ground beef, but we still really enjoyed it.

Crispy Chicken Parmigiana Salad
with Potatoes and Spinach

This recipe was so simple that I put most of it together (Jackson chopped the potatoes). I love how their recipes never seem to want you to grill anything because the grill scares me. We both ate our entire portions of this salad and loved it. We will certainly make this one again! 

Remember use the code: FCJWYL for $40 off your first box from hellofresh.com! Try it! You will LOVE it!

Cameron Bates makes his debut

Cameron Matthew Bates came a couple of weeks early on the morning of March 5th weighing 5lbs. 15ozs. I'm happy to report that mommy and baby are doing well. We were fortunate enough to go visit him on the evening of his birth. We just love this family and he is a lucky little guy to get such awesome parents. He came a mere two days after big sis Josslyn's 2nd birthday and caused her party to be cancelled. He won't live that down when they're both old enough to remember! :) 

Shaya just one week before delivering at her baby shower

First photo

Tiny!

Cookies ready for delivery!

An arrival gift for Cameron, beer for Shaya (she asked for it!),
baked goods for Poppa Bates and a birthday present for big sis, Josslyn

Bonding

Snuggles!

Sleeping on Momma