HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Happy 2012 everyone! I can't believe another year has come and gone! Wow! Now if we can just remember to write it on our checks! Lol! We have been watching re-runs of the 1960's Batman television show tonight. Jono loves Batman so we had to let him see it. There was a Batman marathon. Forgot how silly those things were. I thought Julie was going to die laughing! Hahaha! Pretty funny! Well, I'm trying not to stay up until the actual bewitching hour so I'd better hurry and get in bed. I'm the only one still awake in the house. Night all and Happy, Happy New Year! BOFF! POW! WHACK! WHAM! KAPOW! Goodnight Batman! Goodnight Robin! LOL!

JONO BROKE THE CHICKEN BREAST

Jono broke one of the kid movie dvd's this morning. He's been getting ahold of a lot of them lately and opening them and trying to take them out of the cases. They are pretty easy to break if you don't know the secret to removing them - and most two year olds don't. So, Julie came running in really upset and showed me the dvd case and said, "Look, Jono broke it!" I wasn't nearly as upset as she was when I found out it was the "Chicken Run" dvd. I'm not as into the kid/cartoon movies as everyone else in the house is. (Shame on me.) Maybe it's because I have to watch all of them 72 times a day when they first come out. Call me crazy. Anyway, Grandma and Grandpa went out for awhile. Grandpa went to PT and Grandma to run some errands. When they came back, almost before I could say hello, Carly rushed out to greet them. She had something important to tell them. I didn't even know anything was weighing on her mind but apparently it was. As Grandma walked in the door, she yelled, "Grandma, Jono broke Chicken Breast!" Grandma got the oddest look on her face and looked at me for clarification. I was laughing and shaking my head "No". I said, "No, he didn't." That only made Carly more insistent. "Yes, he did Mom, he broke the Chicken Breast movie!" Oh, out of the mouth of babes! Finally, I explained to Grandma but it was a pretty funny moment! I didn't really like that movie all that much anyway. Lol!

OH POOP!

I can't believe I forgot to tell you the biggest news of yesterday! Jono insisted on getting on the toilet and he actually went! Yep! He did it all by himself! He was so proud of himself. Mommy was pretty proud of him, too! I couldn't believe he did it. Just out of no where he wanted to go and sit--so, I let him and he did it! Now, if I can just motivate him to keep it up! Gee, what would a world be like with no more diapers?! Heaven, I think! I have an appointment in the morning to see the gastrointerologist who did my EGD a month or so ago. This was the first appointment day they could fit me in. Anyway, all they found was that my throat was swollen so hopefully they can fill me in on some more details or ideas of what is causing it to do that. We have such a family history of it that I would really like to find a cause and cure. The idea of having my throat stretched till I am ninety is not at all attractive to me. Hopefully, they have some new ideas on the subject. Grandma is doing alright but is still feeling pretty tired. Grandpa's physical therapy is wearing him out so if he wasn't tired already he is getting that way during his workout. Other than that, we are all doing pretty well. It got up around 50 degrees here today. I went to the store and didn't even need my coat. Pretty unbelievable for the end of December. Hopefully, we won't have too much freezing weather here this Winter. Well, better sign off now and get some sleep. Have a wonderful tomorrow. :)

MY DAY TODAY

We took Dad back to the Spine doctor today and surprise--he still has one! Lol! Seriously though, between Dad and the Doc they decided he should stay on the course of physical therapy he is on. Dad feels like it is doing some good. The doc wants him to continue another 3-4 weeks and then check back in. Unless he starts to have more pain this is a safer/healthier course of action than having a cortizone shot which might not work at all and if it did would be a fairly short term help. Julie is going to her high school Cotillion on the 7th. I took her to get some things to go with her dress today. She is really excited. She has been to a Sadie Hawkins before but this is the first time she has been asked to a dance. Carly and I made candy tonight. She was so funny. She told me she wanted a treat. I told her I was going to make some toffee later and if she was good she could have some. She looked at me and got really stern and said, "MOM, I DON'T WANT ANY COFFEE! I just about busted a gut! I then had to explain to her that I wasn't talking about the stuff Grandma and Grandpa drink every morning but about some really good candy I make. She liked that idea much better. Lol!

MORE IMAGES OF CHRISTMAS

COUPLE PICS OF THE LITTLE ONES

Here are a couple of pictures of Carly and Jono on Christmas morning. I took pictures of Megan and Julie who were both here too but I didn't get them downloaded tonight. Hopefully, I will get more done tomorrow. I love these pictures. Aren't they cute?! Enjoy!

MERRY, MERRY DAY!

Wow! How is it when we are cutting down we still have an embarrassment of riches? We are so blessed. My kids had a good day. The parents and grandparents are worn out. Pictures tomorrow~or soon. So, so tired. Santa must be in a coma by now. Lol!

GRANDMA'S BIRTHDAY

Why is it I am always here at 2:30 in the morning lately. Must be Christmas time. We just put out the presents and filled the stockings, er, I mean we just watched a little fat man in red do it. Lol! Wow. I'm exhausted! Who new it took so much energy to play St. Nick. Oh, you guys did. Why didn't you say something?! We had a really great day celebrating Mom's birthday. My sister's and their family's came and we all went to lunch and then came back to the house and had cake and ice cream and opened gifts. Then we just hung out and enjoyed each other's cocmpany for a few hours ~ something we almost never get to do. We have a very nice family. Tonight before we went to bed we got to hear my Dad read "Twas the Night Before Christmas." This year my parents gave each of us the Hallmark recordable books with Dad reading it. Such a great gift. I played it for my kids and I sobbed all the way through it. I wasn't expecting to. I was just so grateful to have him reading to me. Last year he didn't feel up to reading and it was the first year in our lives he couldn't read to us. The other thing that struck me was how much he sounded like his Dad, my Grandpa. I'd never noticed it before. Combine those two things and I was a puddle of tears. Thanks Dad, thanks Mom. I love you. Well, I gotta get some sleep before I have two munchkins jumpin' all over me because Santa Claus showed up! I just know they are going to have to peel my eyes open in the morning because I am going to be so sound asleep. Hope you are getting more sleep than I have lately. Merry Christmas to all ~ And to all a good night!

WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS NEWS! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

You may have heard by now but we did get a call from Mom's doctor today. They did get the biopsy back and it was the type of cancer he thought it was. That means it was very superficial. It also did not involve her muscle or her anything else and they were able to get it all out. This was such positive news! What a terrific birthday present for her and Christmas miracle for all of us. We are very, very happy! Well, since it's 2:30 in the morning on the 24th let me be the first to wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I LOVE YOU SO, SO MUCH! I'm so glad you are my mom! Have a terrific day!

QUICK UPDATE

Just a few quick things. Mom is still doing well. She even felt up to having her hair done today. It did wear her out but it was great that she felt good enough to leave the house for a short bit. We are crossing our fingers that we hear back from the doctor tomorrow (Friday). He thought it was possible that the pathology report could be done on Friday. If it isn't it will be a week or two until we know anything since he is going on vacation. So, cross your fingers and say a prayer or two with us. Dad did another round of physical therapy today and he is plum tuckered out. He is pretty sore too. Luckily, he has a break until next Wednesday. That is a professional break, he won't take a personal one, I'm sure. He will be working out at home probably twice as hard knowing him. Now, on to last minute Christmas shopping! Got lots left to do. Good thing the stores are open late! Take care.

A LITTLE BIT MORE

Mom is still doing really well. She's feeling even better today. She is still in bed but is fairly perky. She is not in a lot of pain and has been able to ease off the pain meds. The doc still has her on some other meds to assist with things but at least she can be done with those. Sarah stayed and helped out until late afternoon and Susan came around 6:00 tonight to help. My sister's have been terrific to be here and do what they can. Susan is staying until tomorrow and then Julie and I will take over. We are hoping by Saturday Grandma will feel good enough to celebrate her birthday. Grandpa went to see the Physical Therapist again today. She roughed him up pretty good (lol) but he signed up to go back for more tomorrow. He's always been a glutton for punishment! He is hanging in there. His muscles feel a bit weak this week. Hopefully, they will start to strengthen back up soon. We are supposed to get snow in here in the next little bit. That would be great. Then Santa can have something to glide those reindeer in on, eh? Lol! Well, hope you are all ready for Christmas. We sure aren't! Better run and wrap some presents! Lol! Night all.

UPDATE ON MOM

Mom is home and resting as comfortably as a person can with a catheter. She has some pain but is doing pretty well. Between Sarah and I we are trying to wait on her hand and foot so she doesn't have to move a muscle since she told us it only hurts when she moves. Dad has been really good about taking care of himself today, too. Mom usually does a ton for him and he has been really self-sustaining today. He went with Mom and I to the hospital and I think it tired him out pretty good. It was interesting because even the kids were really polite and good tonight in Grandma and Grandpa's bedroom. They seemed to know something was different. They didn't try to climb on their bed or on them. The played really nicely and were "almost" quiet. I did say "ALMOST." Lol! Well, that's about it for today. I will keep you posted on the recovery here. Night all.

AND SHE'S OUT . . .

Mom is out of surgery now. She did really well. Dad and I are sitting here talking to her as she is waking up. The doctor told us he got the tumor out and that it did appear to be the superficial type he suspected it to be. He said it did not appear to be in the muscle of the bladder but they will have to wait for the biopsy to come back to know for sure. We are hoping to have the biopsy back by Friday. If not by then it will be another week or so because of the holidays. We will keep you posted as we hear more! Thanks for all the love and prayers.

TODAY IS THE DAY

Mom's surgery is scheduled for 7:20 a.m. Mountain time. I have to have her there at 6:00 a.m. She is the first one on the schedule. I think they think they are doing us a favor by putting us first (and maybe they are because they are fresh) but it is awfully early! They did that to us with Dad's surgeries too. He was always first. I guess they like us. I will post as soon as Mom comes out of surgery and we know something. I had a ton to do today and planned to go shopping with the kids in tow this morning. Before Rob left I asked him to give them a stern lecture about behaving. I haven't been able to take them anywhere without them throwing major tantrums lately. If it's not one, it's the other. Jonathon has been worse but they both do it. So, Rob gave them the "What for!" You know--the basics, i.e., no unbuckling yourself in the cart, no getting out of the cart, no hitting each other, no screaming, no yelling, no crying, no asking for things, no hitting mom, no going through her purse, no throwing things out of the cart, no undressing, etc., etc., etc. All the while he was talking to them one or the other of us would ask them, "Do you understand?" They would both shake their heads yes or answer "Yes." We did this several times to make sure they understood if they wanted to go "Bye-bye" they had to mind and follow the rules. They at least acted like they were getting it. About ten minutes after this discussion, Carly and I were out in the living room and she turned to me and said, "Mommy, did Daddy say we were going to Chucky Cheese?" Um,yah. Why do we waste our breath? I dunno. Lol! :) p.s. I didn't take the kids shopping. Carly decided to store her new black star crayon her Sunday School teacher gave her in the toe of her footie pajamas. She didn't bother to tell me that until I was freaking out about the huge black stains all over the clothes coming out of the dryer and all over the dryer drum. And Jonathon decided to get ahold of the Tilex bottle from my bathroom and spray it all over the back of my couch. So yah, I waited until big sister came home from school and they were napping cuz my patience was already gone. Wouldn't have been prudent. Gah! :/

FEELING A BIT MORE UPBEAT

Thanks to everyone who has called to talk with and check on my mom today. She is doing well and is in pretty good spirits. We are all feeling pretty hopeful about this at the moment. We feel like she has some really great doctors who are paying very close attention to her and who seem to know what they are doing. THEY SEEMED HOPEFUL which helps a lot. It is still pretty hard to hear that you have cancer in your body but for having that kind of news it feels like maybe this is best case scenario. We are going to go with that assumption. We won't know until late tomorrow afternoon what time she will have the surgery on Tuesday but I will put all of that information on here as well as updates as soon as I have them after she comes out. We sure love all of you and are grateful for your friendship. Again, please keep her in your prayers. Thanks. Night all.

DEVASTATING NEWS

We got some pretty bad news yesterday and I really haven't known how to share it. Mom has been having a few tests lately, mostly precautionary but it turned out something was wrong. She was diagnosed with bladder cancer. She has a tumor right at the edge of her bladder and ureter. There is a ray of hope in that the doctor told us that if you had to have bladder cancer this was the type you wanted to get. (He told us he is 70% sure he is correct on what type it is. He has to have a biopsy of it to be 100% certain.)He said with this type what they do is go in and surgically remove it and then just keep a close eye on the patient. They don't do chemo or radiation. They don't feel it is necessary. However, this is a type of cancer that tends to come back. He said they look at it like mowing a lawn. They just have to be diligent in keeping up with it. I believe they will want to check her about every three months. This next Tuesday (Dec. 20) she will have surgery to remove the tumor. It will be outpatient surgery unless there are any complications but the doctor told us it will still take her 3-4 days to recover from the surgery. Hopefully, she will feel like being up and around by her birthday on the 24th. We are all really sad. We love our Mom so much and hate for her to have to go through this. We would love to have your prayers for her--and the prayers of any friends or family you can drum up. We are grateful for your love, friendship and support. Please remember my Mom and our family in prayer~~especially on Tuesday if you can. Thanks!

COUPLE THINGS

I had my neighbor's kids this morning along with mine so I've been a bit behind all day long. Not that I've accomplished all that much as it is. My two-year old is on a constant rampage these days. My almost four year old is actually starting to settle down a bit and seem more like a little girl than a toddler. It's kind of strange to think she's not a baby anymore. She has such a grown up vocabulary. I was able to make an appointment for Dad to start physical therapy on his hip area for Monday. The Dr. is hoping the PT will help him with the pain and wants to try that before trying a cortizone shot. Hopefully it will do some good. It would be really nice if he could lower his pain level. We have been trying to get things ready for Christmas. The tree is up. The train train track and train are set up around it and the train is filled with candy. (Keeping Jonathon out of it is a real trick--even with a fence around it. Lol!) The kids get to have two pieces of candy a night before bed but he thinks he should have a handful whenever he feels like it. Now if we can just manage to find the time to buy some gifts! Yikes! P.S. Carly has been wanting a little play kitchen. I told her to ask Santa for one. She told me she couldn't because he wouldn't have room for it. I said, "Of course, he will! What makes you say that?" She said, "All he has are those little bags." Pretty funny. I set her straight and told her he had a great big sleigh he could bring it on. Crazy kid!

HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS . . .

I took Jono and Carly to see Santa Claus today. I wasn't sure how Jono was going to act but he did really well. He went right up and sat on his lap and posed for a picture. He even sat there and let Santa chat with him and Carly for a few minutes. They took a few pictures but here is the one I decided on. They caught him between his "Cheese" smile where he scrunches up his entire face and closes his eyes. I couldn't get him to just plain old smile. Oh well, his funny smiles will make for funny stories when he grows up!

THERE'S SNOW PLACE LIKE HOME

We woke up to falling snow this morning. It was kind of a surprise since I hadn't heard it in the forecast. It came down pretty light at first but it did finally start sticking. I don't think we have more than an inch or two on the ground but there is a pretty blanket of white across it now. I got a tiny bit of shopping done today but that was about it. Julie felt well enough to go back to school. She had a ton of homework to catch up on. It's surprising what missing one day will do to you when you are a Senior. I do love that she has a cooking class. Part of her homework was an assignment to make dinner. I just LOVE that! She made spaghetti for us and it was delicious! I think it tastes so much better when you don't have to make it yourself! Yum!

JUST ANOTHER DAY

Grandma and Grandpa had a doctor appointment early this morning. They were just having a check-up I think. Grandpa already wasn't feeling very well so getting out kind of wiped him out for the day. Mom said his hip has really been bothering him lately so she made an appointment with the doctor they were referred to who is a non-surgical specialist. They will see him mid-January. Hopefully, he will be able to do something to alleviate the pain Dad's having. I had Julie home sick today with flu-like symptoms. That's been going around. Rob had it a few days ago. Sure hope we are done with it now. Not much else going on here. It's been pretty quiet--other than the toddlers. Lol. They are never quiet! Here are some cute pictures of them with their big sister Megan.

JUST A FEW THINGS

Rob and his brother Steve cut wood this morning left over from the storm we had last week. We had a lot of logs from the trees that were downed that needed to be cut up. Now we have a great stock of wood for our summer campfires. Rob and I went double dated tonight with Steve and his girlfriend. We went out to eat and then played miniature golf and lazer tag. We had a really good time. I think I mentioned that Carly got her hair braided the other night. I've included a picture of the girls who braided it. Dibabe(Dee-bobby) the one on the right did most of the braiding and then her sister Chaltu(Shall-too)helped put in the extensions. They are both in high school and were adopted from Ethiopia. They are really cute girls and are amazingly fast at braiding.

Well, nothing else exciting going on here. I will write more tomorrow. Night all.

A BOY WHAT??

Had a migraine most of the day so didn't get a lot done. However, the real news of the day is that Julie has a boyfriend! Yikes! She met him at work and we met him tonight. He came over and helped decorate the Christmas tree after dinner. He was kind of shy around us. I'm not sure if he is really shy or if he was a little intimidated by her 6'5" father. Lol! Anyway, he seems like a really nice kid. Wow! Not sure I'm ready for this either but guess I'm lucky it took this long--so I'll be good. :) Night all.

JUST QUICKLY

It's late so I will just give a quick report of our day. I babysat for a friend this morning and then hurried and got Carly ready to go and have her hair braided. We drove about an hour from here and didn't get back until after 8 tonight. I will post pictures tomorrow. When I got home Rob and I went shopping and got us a LIVE Christmas tree! Our house smells glorious! I'm so happy! We are going to decorate it tomorrow. Julie is excited. It's her first live tree. The little kids are excited too--just to have a Christmas tree. They were sad not to decorate it tonight but it was late by the time we got it in and up. Well, not too much else to tell for the day. I will do better tomorrow. Night all.

TODAY'S FUN

Rob and I looked for a Christmas tree tonight for a few minutes after a quick meeting we had. Yay! We didn't find one we liked but we, like I said only looked for a couple of minutes. Grandma had the kids and we didn't want to be too long. I'm excited to get one though! Then later Rob's brother Steve dropped by with his new girlfriend, Sarah. We really like her ALOT! The kids LOVED HER! Here's a picture of all of them. They had a lot of fun together. We are so glad he has met someone he really likes and hope it works out for both of them! :)

O' CHRISTMAS TREE, O' CHRISTMAS TREE

Rob's got home tonight. He'd been gone for a couple of days doing an install. I am always so happy when he gets home safe. He does so much driving that I worry. He's a good driver but there are a lot of idiots on the road. Wow, does it feel like December is speeding by you? It does me? We don't even have a tree up yet. I'm trying to talk Rob into getting a fresh tree. They have always done fake ones. We have always done fresh ones. So, since we've been married I have gone along with the fake tree thing because they had a couple of them and had quite a bit invested in them. However, when I first worked at the university I worked for the floral shop and we were responsible for decorating the nearly 400,000 square foot building we were housed in. We used tons of fake trees. TONS of them! We had to put lights and decorations on all of them. I can't even begin to tell you how sick I got of FAKE Christmas trees! The putting them up and taking them down is so awful. Spreading out the branches and hooking them into the right holes. Then flattening them back up enough to go back into the box. I HATE, HATE, HATE THEM!!! Hmmm, don't know if I realized my feelings were quite this strong. It's been awhile since I thought about it. So anyway, I don't want a fake tree this year. Get the point? Lol!

CALM WIND, HAPPY DAY

When I got up today the wind was at 14 mph and you could hardly tell it was moving. I didn't hear of any damage at all anywhere near us. I think we were really blessed to have the storm calmed. Thank goodness. The elements can sure be frightening at times and you don't realize how little control you have over them until they hit you. I'm very thankful for a peaceful day and no damage. Had a fun evening with the kids. I was making cookies with them tonight. We made butter cookies and cut them out into Christmas shapes. Then we iced them and put sprinkles on them. Jonathon was all about eating them. Carly was into decorating them. I turned around at one point to see Jonathon throwing up in the living room. He'd been in the kitchen at the counter just seconds before wolfing down his third wreath shaped cookie with green icing. I thought, "Oh this is going to be fun. I hope he hasn't stained the carpet." I could see that he was fine so I grabbed a wash cloth and went over to clean him and the floor up. Although, I couldn't find much mess on the floor. I got him all cleaned up and started back to the kitchen when I turned and found one of Carly's little shoes. It was full of green icing vomit. How he managed to target her shoe I will never know but I managed to get it cleaned out without her seeing it. That would have been a real disaster! Grandma is trying a new teaching game with Carly. The first couple of days she told her if she could go the whole day without throwing a tantrum she would give her a quarter. Both days she lost the quarter within the first half hour. I suggested she break it down a little and lower the value of the change. So, now she is offering her a nickel if she can go an hour without throwing a tantrum. Grandma picks the hours and sets a timer. Carly earned two nickels today. It wasn't easy for her. She came close a couple of times to not getting them but she hung on by the hair of her chinny-chin-chin! It's so hard to be three and a half! She is SO proud of her two nickels, though! My kids love to play in empty boxes and the bigger, the better. Grandma is always teasing them that she is going to get them a box for Christmas or their birthday. The funny thing is Carly took it seriously and thinks it is a great idea. She has been telling me for three days that Grandma is going to get her a new box for Christmas! She tells me in her little girl excited voice like it is a prize! I think it is SO funny. Then I wonder why we are spending money on toys or clothes or ANYTHING for that matter. Why don't we just go get them a bunch of empty boxes to build a clubhouse with. I bet they would think that was pretty cool! Hey, maybe . . . Lol!

NOT THE BEST WAY TO GET OUT OF TEACHING

We went to Church today. I was supposed to teach Sunday School. Just as Sacrament meeting ended the Bishopric made an announcement that they were canceling the rest of the church meetings due to the bad wind storm that was coming in. All the men were asked to report back to the church in work clothes so they could help make preparations in the area where needed. This storm isn't supposed to be as strong as the last one--with winds coming at only 40 to 58 mph this time. The main problem this time is that there is downed debris from the last storm, i.e. trees, limbs, fences and all kinds of things that were torn up and torn off of homes and buildings. This loose debris could be really dangerous flying around in this wind if not cleaned up. So, they closed churches all over this area and formed clean up crews to take care of much of the debris. Hopefully, that will help keep people and property safe. We are really praying this windstorm will either pass us by or be really mild. There was so much damage in this area with the last storm that people are still trying to recover. Our storm warning is in effect until 11:00 a.m. Say a few prayers for all of us out here. We need them! :/

WHAT A SPLASH!

My little boy was funny today. Well, I should say that it's funny now at the end of today. It wasn't really funny at the time. I gave him and Carly a bath this morning and he was the first one that wanted out. I got him out, lotioned him and got him dressed. Actually, by dressed I mean I put him in a new pair of pajamas. Since he's had a bit of a cold we try to keep his feet covered and if I put socks and shoes on him he usually takes them off. So, we have lots of pairs of footy pajamas and most days just keep him in those since he can't go much of anywhere anyway. Well, I got him in his pajamas and turned my back for twenty seconds to grab Carly's clothes and I heard a splash. I really didn't think much of it since Carly was still in the tub, until Carly yelled for me to come quick. When I did, I found my fully clothed boy back in the tub playing with his sister. Gah!

Later, when it was nap time, I kept hearing him chatter on the monitor and then he would get quiet and I would think he had gone to sleep. Then the chatter would start again. Finally, I decided I needed to go in and tell him to "Go to sleep!" I opened his bedroom door only to find a totally naked baby boy in his crib. He had taken off his pajamas, his onesie and his wet diaper and was just laying there happily chatting to himself in all his nakedness. Silly boy! Now the backward pajamas begin. . . Lol!

HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY JULIE!!

Yes, it finally happened! Julie turned 18. Turns out I lived through it. Yay! Here are just a few pictures of the exciting event! Lol!