update on Ann

Ann had a bad week last week. She has been in severe pain the last couple of weeks and they've been doing a lot of switching with her pain meds.  She is on morphine now.  She had a CT scan and PET scan to see what's going on and it confirmed what the doctor's suspected - the chemo that had been working, is not working now.  The extreme pain she has been suffering from is because the cancerous spots on her hip are growing and there are now spots on her breast bone/sternum. 

Her current chemo schedule is suspended and she will start radiation on Monday.  Most people react fast to the radiation so that will hopefully work to eliminate or reduce the pain she is in.  The hospital she goes to is a University hospital and the oncology team is meeting to decide about a new chemo.  They say there are still lots of options. 

Thank you for your continued prayers for her!  Each prayer is needed and appreciated greatly! 


And a little 'throw back Thursday' photo...

The back of this photo said 1988 so it must have been the first day of school, fall of 1988.  That would have been Ann's senior year, Brian's freshman year, Karen was in 6th grade and I was in 2nd.  I bet my mom was glad to have us back in school and out of the house! 

I have so many {funny} things I could say about this photo.  But I think I will leave it as simply saying that I'm glad the 80s are over...

 

Tea Party

 

Hannah loves a good tea party.  She got a tea set from Gramma Connie and Grampa Steve for Christmas.  It came in this cute pink wicker basket - complete with gingham napkins, plates, saucer, cups, tea pot and tray. 

 

Brent, Lucas and I have consumed gallons of imaginary tea at our house since Christmas. 

eMbaRRassEd

I'm human. 

 

I'm willing to admit my mistakes.

 

Even the ones that eliminate me from the fictitious "Mom of the Year" award.

 

Every resident at our house has play tennis shoes and good tennis shoes.  The play ones are for messing in the yard, wearing to daycare and just "getting dirty" play.  The good ones are for being in public :) 

 

A few weeks ago Lucas and Hannah were at daycare in the morning before Lucas went to preschool in the afternoon.  On these days, Lucas wears his play shoes because daycare play can be messy (which I love, but don't want to ruin shoes.  Am I a little over the top about this?).  I sent his snow pants and boots that day, too, because the weather had been warm enough to play outside in the snow (not like the recent single digit degree days).  When I picked him up to shuttle him to preschool this was our conversation:

 

Mom: Did you play outside today?

Lucas: Yes, it was nice outside.

Mom: Did you wear your snow pants and boots or just regular clothes?

Lucas:  Just regular clothes.  My feet got cold, though.

Mom: I'm sorry your feet got cold.

Lucas: They were okay until my socks got wet.

Mom: How did your socks get wet?

Lucas:  I have a hole in my shoe.

Mom (dumbfounded):  You have a hole in your shoe?

Lucas: Yeah, sometimes I stick my finger in it.

Mom: You stick your finger in the hole in your shoe?

Lucas: Yeah.

 

We were driving in between daycare and preschool so I couldn't look at his shoes.  When we pulled up to preschool and I unbuckled his car seat and looked at his shoes.

 

I.ABOUT.FELL.OVER.FROM.EMBARRASSMENT.

 

 

 

This wasn't a pin hole.  It was HUGE.  No wonder the kid's socks and feet got wet and cold.  Geesh, mom!  I hated to even send Lucas into preschool with these falling-apart shoes, but we were already there and getting out of the van...  I told Lucas that if he gets holes in his shoes or clothes, if he gets too big for his shoes or clothes or something doesn't feel good to wear, he has to tell mom. 

 

I was quite embarrassed.

 

I was also quite humored by it because it was so nonchalant for him.  He didn't care that he had a fist size hole in his shoe. 

 

Needless to say, I very quickly bought him a new pair of play shoes, took a picture of the old shoes so I could share this funny story and them threw them in the trash. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. Lucas loves to get new shoes.  Are you aware of this equation?

 

New shoes = super fast shoes.

 

Lucas tests the quality of his shoes by how fast he can run (in the store, in the driveway, in the hallway).  I think this is a pretty normal boy thing.  Hannah cares about how colorful her shoes are... oh, and the quantity of pairs she has.  Also a pretty normal girl thing.

 

one more birthday celebration - H

We celebrated Claire and Hannah's birthday with my family a week ago.

 

Birthday girls.

Claire picked the birthday cake theme - horses and hearts. My sis made the cake.

Seven hearts for Claire and two hearts for Hannah.

 

Always fun to be together and celebrate.  The cousins always just disappear into the house and play so well together.  We had to go looking for them to open presents :)

Push up, up, up!

Brent does this thing with the kids... They call them push ups. It's nothing like a traditional push up!

It started with Lucas putting his feet in the palm of Brent's hands, then Brent lifting him up. It only took a few times before Hannah wanted to try it, too! I'm amazed at the balance both kids have! They can each stay "up" for a long time.

They got into some carnival-like antics (as if this wasn't enough) by having both kids go at once.

 

P.S. I tried it once - Brent lifted me up but my legs weren't ready for the balance game. I'll leave this to the kids!

NYE 2012

Thirteen years ago Brent and I would have been found celebrating New Year's Eve with friends - dinner, drinks and dancing, the night never ended before 1AM. Fast forward to our move to our little town... now you can always find us ringing in the new year with friends, kids, still lots of food, games and maybe even some dancing (by the little ones). It is fun to have this tradition with our family, as well as dear friends who we count as family!

Warning: some of the pictures are very poor quality, but I still wanted to share.

Lucas and Jonah bowling.

 

Marshall and Lucas.

Sara, Kim, Maggie, Brandy holding Marshall, me, Loree, Sara's friend Amy.

 

Dave and Hannah. 

Dave loves Hannah.  Hannah loves Dave, especially when he has food.

 

 

Hannah and Greg watching the fireworks. 

Marc put on a great fireworks show but we all watched from inside... it was way too cold to venture out!

Watching the ball drop in New York City (11pm our time).  We had our festivities, the kids blew their horns and we all packed up and headed home.  Kids were asleep before getting home and Brent and I were in bed before midnight.  :) 

 

Happy 2013!

::sledding::

We had a big snowfall and blizzard just before Christmas.  School was cancelled two days in a row because of the blowing snow, bad roads and super cold temperatures.  This was the first major snowfall since Lucas has been old enough to enjoy it.  In fact, I'm not sure he wore his snow boots last year more than twice.  I'm glad I bought them a bigger size - they still fit this year. 

While we celebrated Christmas with the Perrys we also had the chance to go sledding!  The big kids loved it as much as the little ones.  Well, mostly just the biggest little one... Lucas loved it, Hannah liked it, Cameron wasn't so into it. 

All bundled up!

 

Brad and Cameron.

Brent and Cameron.

Ready, set, go!

 

 

 

 

Brad and Lucas.

Weeee!!!

Brian and Hannah.

Why not just relax and make a snow angel?

 

Hannah and Daddy.

Hannah loves ice.  I had a hard time keeping her gloves on and preventing her from eating the CLEAN, WHITE snow.

Telling Daddy it's cold!

 

 

After the girls headed inside, the boys wanted more adventure.  They headed to "Short's hill" which is an infamous sledding spot from when Brent, Brad and Brian were kids. 

Brent sent me this photo from his phone.  Thankfully the 4-wheeler helps with all of the walking back up the huge hill! 

 

Lucas loved this day!  Getting to be outside, playing in the snow with not just his dad, but BOTH uncles, plus sledding and 4-wheeling.  Could it get any better?  BOY FUN!

Hannah's party

Say cheese! Hannah loves to take pictures on my cell phone and tries to get ahold of my real camera. She loves her "cheese" and taking pictures of... feet, furniture, the TV...

She opened this gift and said "my bed" (with a happy shriek). I was stunned. How did she know this was big girl bedding? She immediately wanted to lay down and wrap up in it. Do you think it will be this easy to transition her to a big girl bed?!?!

She loves sweets. Like, she would live off of candy, yum-yums and chips. She isn't really into TV or princess, she just loves her babies. When trying to come up with an idea for her birthday I figured, why not what she loves? Lucas did suggest that I put little babies on the cake but I opted for lollipops... babies might have been a little creepy. :)

Poor girl was just getting over being very sick with a virus that had super high fever. She never faded for her party, but she was so pooped and her little eyes were so tired!

She's concentrating...

I wasn't kidding - she loves candy. Even the fondant marshmallow lollipops!

All cleaned up after cake and investigating the goodies in her new purse - sunglasses!

(And sitting in a box!)

A happy birthday for our lovable Hannah! We wish you many, many, many more!!!

Hannah = 2

Happy 2nd Birthday, sweet Hannah! 

 

Today is your birthday... it is hard to imagine life before you arrived.  You have brought so much fun and laughter to our lives!  You've also brought lots of pink, an enormous amount of baby dolls and blankets, hair pretties and shoes.

 

You have a cheesy grin that can make me change my whole mood.  That's a good thing because sometimes you are so full of energy, life and smarts that I need an attitude adjustment.  You are an adventurer and have lived up to every bit of "keeping up with your big brother."  About a month ago you dialed up Aunt Ann on the iPad while I was in the shower.  I was surprised, but not as surprised as Aunt Ann was (seven hours ahead of our time zone).

 

You've been very sick the last few days and while Daddy and I have enjoyed the cuddling that you are usually not very interested in (you are much to busy), we pray that you are on the mend and back to your busy self. 

 

We are thankful and so blessed to have you in our family. 

Happy Birthday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

accidental Santa visit

While I was in Belgium visiting Ann, Steve and Connie took the kids for a day.  They ran some errands and ate lunch at McDonald's.  They stopped by Earl May Garden Center and lo and behold who was there?  Santa!  Remember, this was November - BEFORE Thanksgiving.  Steve and Connie were just as surprised as the kids when they saw him. 

 

 

I can tell that Lucas had no problem warming up and talking to Santa.  He is intrigued by Santa and asks him a million questions any time he has the chance.  I imagine he's telling Santa about his FIFTH birthday.

 

This is closer and calmer than Hannah has ever been to Santa. 

 

And they all look pleasant - no tears from Hannah.

 

 

Unlike a few weeks later when she saw him at the Christmas program...