Surgery, Spring Break, and Burnetts

Russ had a hernia surgery scheduled for Thursday, March 17th. He picked that date specifically so he could be home recovering during the NCAA Basketball Tournament. That week happened to also be Spring Break for the girls. So, without telling the girls, we planned for Russ's Dad to come out for a visit so he could watch the girls while I took Russ in for the surgery, help care for them and for Russ during his early recovery days, and also enjoy some father/son bonding time over basketball games. A week before the surgery Russ's younger brother Doug found out he'd be in Austin for a conference and asked if he could drop in and visit for a few days. The same days Russ's Dad would be here! Again, we kept this fun news a secret from the girls.

Around 9:00 PM Tuesday night there was a knock on our front door. For some reason, we asked Kaylee to answer it. ;) She opened the door cautiously, then exclaimed, "Doug!" It was pretty fun. 

Doug brought the girls lots of free goodies he picked up at his conference. 

March is one of the most beautiful months in this part of Texas because all the wildflowers are in bloom. Our favorites are the Blue Bonnets, which can only be found in parts of central and southern Texas. Anyway, Doug has a really nice camera and enjoys photography, so Wednesday morning we decided to head out for a little mini photo session with the girls and the flowers.

It worked out that our photo session was ending right about the time we needed to head to the College Station airport to pick up Papa (Russ's Dad). I told the girls I needed to pick something up on our way home. They were pretty clueless, even when we parked in front of the airport. I kept telling them things like, "Someone will bring it out to me" and "It had to be sent on a plane". When Papa came into view there was much rejoicing!

Russ and I went to the hospital early Thursday morning. Everything went well, and we were on our way home around lunchtime.

Russ's legs were wrapped in some compression . . . things? for a while and he found it very relaxing.

It turned out to be a very fortunate thing that Doug happened to visit during those days, because the babysitter we hired (Papa) was sick. Very sick. As in he spent lots and lots of time in his bed. I texted Doug at like 11:30 when I was with Russ in the recovery room and asked him how his Dad was. He said he didn't know because his Dad hadn't woken up yet. Yikes! Without Doug the girls could have had a pretty interesting morning without any adult supervision.

Friday morning Doug and the girls made us some yummy and in some cases unique french toast roll-ups.

Russ got something from Doug's bag of swag too: a superhero sleep mask!

We were so thankful to have Doug and Papa here, and thankful that Russ's surgery and recovery went well.