Friday, February 28, 2014

S Object, Bye Daddy, Dentist, & Fun

 S=
Spiderman

Star

Ship

Salt.... and the reaction of being cold when I opened the door haha!

Soccer Ball
 Tuesday after school we rode our bikes to see the "famous snakes".... for our small town.  The annual Rattlesnake Rodeo is just around the corner, so they bring the snakes out for all to see.  Since Heidi has learned to ride her bike, we are able to start back on our family bike rides.  Before she could ride, we would have to have a 3rd adult to go to ride a child on the back.  But now Kyle and I ride one of the babies and Heidi Leigh is a pro at riding all through town.

Sorry for the dirty mirror :/..... But it was my "love letter" from Kyle when he left.
 Goodbyes really are the hardest.... or see ya laters rather....


 He was my rock this hitch home, so I told him it was going to be much harder with him gone this go round.  He did manage to tell me I was his Hero..... and that I was like the Caramel in a Milk-Dud (haha).... the part that holds it all together.  Geez! What a helpless romantic! HA!

Cool Sophie
 I forgot to share these with you the other day....  Last Friday when Hank was home we gave the kiddos a fun "hay ride MINUS the hay" around the block.

 ...... and Tuesday night we grilled and had My Dad, Yana, and Grandmama over.  It really was just a peaceful, relaxing afternoon/evening.  The weather was "calming" so to speak.  So we sat outside for hours... just watching the kids play.

Soph playing yesterday morning while I got ready.

Such a handsome rascal... with a huge heart.
 We took Grandmama her medicine yesterday after pre-school and the babies had to play before we left :)!! 

Charlie (Tylers dog) got cut out of the picture, but they were "walking" him all through the yard.
 Yesterday afternoon I took the kiddos for their 6 month teeth cleaning.  They love the dentist, so I knew they would do great.

 Sophie & Karter were so sweet while Heidi got hers cleaned.



 When Karter went, Sophie started to get a little ancy. 

 As usual she talked Ms. Beverly's ears off.... and did you notice she had her boots on in the picture above, but convinced us there was something in them so she took them off in the second picture?
 Sophie had 2 sugar bugs (of course).... and she told Ms. Beverly, "I tried to brush that off".... LOL!  She also made her stop cleaning and said, "Come here Mommy... smell my breaf"... and then she convinced Ms. Beverly that she needed some water in a cup....
 .... and she got Kman to drink some too.... haha!
 When we left the dentist, we headed to get ice cream cones and then hung out at Babees and had supper. 

Babee has been missing her babies.  She still can't pick them up or carry them.... makes it hard for her to not do that.
..... haha and the one and only silly papa!!!  When we got home he facetimed us.  Kiddos love his silly self.
Gonna end you with a good quote..... have a great weekend.


Thursday, February 27, 2014

Gods Guidelines for Growing Your Kids

Danny Akin Study

Eph 6

* Why are families falling apart? 
-40% of all the children in America live without their biological dad.
- Sometimes their dad is physically there, but not mentally.

*Most all parents LOVE their children, but do the children feel the love?  

I know for me I try really hard to make sure all three of my kids feel the same equal amount of love from me.  I tell them so many times a day that I love them it is ridiculous & give them hugs and kisses until they get tired of it.  I dreamed of having them my entire life, so why wouldn't I make sure they knew they were all a dream come true?

A couple ways to make sure our kids feel loved:
(1) We love our kids by educating them about obedience.
Eph 6:1-2  Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do.  Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise.
  - Don't just tell them what to do.  Show them.  Be the example that they follow.  Whether we realize it or not, our children are constantly watching and copying what we do.

(2) We love our kids by encouraging them.
Eph 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them.  Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.
- Fathers, don't provide unsettling situations.  You don't want your children to be afraid of you and worry if you are going to yell or not about any circumstance.  That pushes the child away.
- Your kids care about what you think.
- A survey shows kids say their #1 role model is their parents.
- Whether they act like it or not, they actually listen to what we say.

Some things we can do to let them know we love them and care:

* Get on their level.
-- He gave an example about having a turtle funeral for his son.  Most of you know that we have buried every animal that we have had that has passed on.  We have little funerals (except for 1 fish out of 6 got the trash, but the others were all buried) for them all and usually the kids create a type of cross.  We have a little pet cemetery in the back yard.

*By loving your mate.
-- They need security in knowing mom & dad love each other.

*By giving them discipline.
-- Give them a big playing field & not a little box.  When they disobey, you make their "box" smaller... and smaller and smaller.  But if you start out small, chances are they will wonder outside the "box" to the unknown so to speak and then you lose the connection with them because they feel the need to hide the situation.
-- Be consistent.
~ Our Sassy Sophie requires a different discipline than Karter or Heidi.  Heidi and Karter are both able to generally be disciplined by just telling them whatever was wrong.  Sassiness on the other hand is a totally different story.  So the "spray" works best for her.  The spray= 1/4 vinegar 3/4 water mixed in a spray bottle.  
-- "I love you too much to let you make a fool of yourself" 

Proverbs 29:15 To discipline a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child.

*By looking at them.
-- Your eyes can say a lot.  Let them know you are interested in what they are saying or doing.  When you aren't paying attention, they don't think you care.

* By coaching them.
-- You are their biggest fan.  Boys for instance need rough housing from Dad and tenderness from Mom.  

*By spending time with them.
-- In today's World, sadly most time together is spent in front of the T.V. 
Now our kiddos love their kindles, Disney, and the ipad.  BUT if it is pretty outside and not too cool, we are outside folks.  They know how to play outside, use their imagination, make mud pies, get skint legs from trying to ride something, get dirty..... they are 95% complete.... YARD YOUNGINS!  That's why winter is not for us.  If we have to be inside, I'll let them watch the ipad or kindles for so long.... and then they have to stop and play.  Karter loves to play with puzzles and his trains and crane.  The girls love to play Barbies and babies.  

~~~~LOVE=TIME

* By listening to them.
-- Put the phones, ipads, and any other distraction away.  Show them what they are saying is important.  Nothing on your phone can replace the minutes wasted by them in your child's life.

* By blessing them rather than cussing them.
-- YES with your words.
-- Calling them stupid, idiot, to shut up, etc.... is just flat out WRONG!  Be gentle with your use of words.  Those words DON'T BLESS ANYONE!  Power of words is HUGE!!!  Your children will NOT forget!  That also has a lot to do with their attitude and behavior to other people.  

* Introduce them to the perfect parent.
-- Perfect Heavenly Father

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Our 1st UAB Visit

Yesterday was our first visit with the Gynecological Oncologist at UAB that specializes with Ovarian Carcinoma.  We weren't sure what to expect and was just praying for a different experience than the one we had week before last.

Thankfully it was VERY easy to find AND they have Valet parking! Whoop Whoop! Which is free might I add (we will still tip of course) for chemo patients.  I think that is wonderful.

We got there about 40 minutes early and they were pretty much right on time with calling Mom back.  The visit was very thorough.  I went back with her initially because she had to have some additional exams.  Once that was all over the nurse got Kyle, Tyler, and my Uncle and brought them back.  They were incredibly nice.

Dr. Warner K. Huh was awesome.  He made sure we knew that he would not be sugar coating anything for us because that ends up hurting us and him.  He will always tell us like it is.

On a scale of 1-5 of fast growing cancer and 5 being the fastest, she has a 4-5 type.  That concerned him a lot because of her young age and it being so fast and so rare.  That only means that she has to be treated aggressively.  There are only 3 places in Alabama that offers the treatment that she needs and that is Birmingham, Mobile, and Huntsville.  So we will stick with Birmingham.

He made sure she understood that she will lose her hair.  It's not a you may or may not... with this treatment, you will.

She has to have an IP/IV which is Intraperitoneal Chemothereapy and will also receive chemo through an IV in her veins.  She will have to have a surgical procedure to have the IP/IV inserted.  Hopefully she won't have to have an additional port put in her chest (like a lot of chemo patients do) and will be able to receive the other through a regular I.V.  That is just precaution not to have to have 2 small procedures to insert ports.

She will have to go one day one week for an all day treatment.  Then will go one day the next week for half a day treatment and then will have the next week off.  Those two treatments and the week off equal one complete cycle.  So every 21 days you start over.  She will have 6 total cycles which is 12 treatments and comes to about 5 months.  Because of how aggressive this has to be handled, he said 25% of women do not finish it (due to the side effects).  Granted, most of those women are a good bit older than mom too.  Average age he said was 70.  But with her being so young, he feels certain she will be able to finish and handle the side effects.

Dr Huh has been practicing Intraperitoneal Chemothereapy for 6 years now.  It has been proven to lengthen the life of an Ovarian Cancer patient by 16 months verses those that chose to just have another form of treatment.

They had not received the CT scan results from the one we had a week ago yesterday.  So unfortunately we were not able to go over those results.  He does want to do another CT scan of all of her abdomen for two reasons.  One is because he did not perform her surgery so he needs a scan to basically familiarize himself with "what's in there".... so to speak.  The second reason is he was concerned because her surgery was from the belly button down.  He is concerned about what might be in the upper part of her abdomen.  The only thing with CT Scans is they can be very harmful to your kidneys.  Since she had one last week, we have to wait until next week to have the one he wants so that her kidney will not risk being harmed.

The compassion that the entire staff showed is unbelievable.  We got a tour of the facility and got to see and speak to patients that were receiving chemo.  One lady was actually having her first IP/IV treatment for Ovarian Cancer.  They explained to us that they will make it as comfortable as possible for Mom.  They keep any snacks she may want on hand, drinks, she can have outside food.  Anything at all.  They have TVs for them to watch, wifi, warm blankets, pillows, and one lady was even knitting.

I will admit that I teared up several times, but got my composure together quickly.  I try so hard not to cry in front of Mom.  While Mom was talking to the lady receiving the treatment, Kyle and my Uncle Sonny told us they would be back.   I was not emotionally prepared to see them at the desk buying bracelets and car magnets.... AND my emotions got the best of me.  I started crying and just had to walk away.  I walked to the hall and Kyle followed me.... just hugging and comforting me.  I really didn't mean to lose it.  Just A LOT to take in.  I saw a nurse walk by me, but I didn't think she noticed me.... but she came back with a hand full of tissues and a hug.  And then another lady gave me a hug and before we left another nurse said, "I love hugs..." and gave me one.  Mom said, "I wonder if they thought you were the patient"? I know they knew Mom was the patient, I just think they saw a daughter that was overwhelmed by her moms life in their hands and were being compassionate.

When we left we had a fabulous late lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. 


I am sorry Olive Garden, but this is the BEST Chicken Alfredo.... EVER!

Kyle's pizza and salad :)

Tyler's pick... forget what it was

.... and that would be a red velvet white chocolate cheesecake, snickers cheesecake, macadamia nut cheesecake, smores cheesecake, & I forget the name of the other one but it tasted like a german chocolate to me.

The absolute BEST strawberry lemonade!
**We were very pleased with our meeting and we are so ready to get things started.  Please continue to pray for Mom to have the strength she needs to beat this. She is in very good spirits and can absolutely do this.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Wonderful Weekend

 We had a fabulous weekend!  BUT... before I get to that, gonna share some pics from the end of last week.
 Letter G=
Grass

Glasses

Gun

Game
 Soph has gotten to wear she will just randomly start singing... "Hey Mickey you're so fine.... "

 Thursday night I went to dinner with my sweet friend, Meredith.  We had a wonderful moms night... or hour haha.  I was gone for exactly 1 hour 15 minutes.... left KC and kiddos home.  When I got home I was hugging all of them and glanced over at the fridge to find SLIME streaming down..... Babee took the kiddos to the dollar store and Sophie picked out slime for her treat of all things.... and how on earth Kyle was with them for 1  hour 15 minutes and managed to miss slime on the fridge, floor, etc.... I have no clue.  We couldn't help but laugh about it....

Heidi's sweet note she left for me :)!! She leaves things like this all the time.  So thankful she is mine.

Sophie hung out with Kyle Friday morning while I made copies.  They worked on the air conditioner :)))!

Kman had a field trip Friday to the bank.  So fun!

A moment in Daddy's shoes :)!
 Hank came home with us Friday from school and we had a wonderful time.  Lots of scooter ridings, and bike rides. 




 Heidi had a total of 4 wrecks :((!!! The 4th one really did it.....
 Friday night we went to the Tisdales for supper.  They live out in the country, so when we were almost at their house we let Kman help drive :)!

 Sweet Mollie Mae.....

 Heidi didn't feel good after her banged up legs and arms, so she wanted to chill at Babee's while we went.  Mom sent me this picture not long after Heidi was there.... she was a tired baby girl. 

Baby girl stood all she could stand after all our Phase 10 fun :)!
 Since Babee still can't pick the kids up (physically) we picked Heidi up on our way home. 

Saturday morning we met Mom at Rock Star Nails and had us a WONDERFUL pedicure.  They reserved it for us so it was only the 4 of us in there.... so nice.




It was her first one and she absolutely loved it.

Soph drying her toes
 I can honestly say it was a much needed relaxing morning.
 While we had pedicures, the boys hung out with Tad & Brayden and they attempted to kill anything they could find.  HA!
 After lunch with Babee & KyKy we headed to MeMe's house.  Babies crashed on the way of course....
 We took our bikes and had such a nice bike ride around MeMe's. 

....... and some Dodge-ball fun!
MeMe's pretty Mardi Gras table.
 While Kyle grilled, we hung out on her back porch.  It was so nice.
He was writing his name with the stick and water from the pool cover.



All of MeMe's grands.....
 We had a wonderful day at church today and spent the afternoon at Papa & Nana's.

Heidi's battle wounds look much better today....

Sophie hanging out with her BFF Grandmama.
 .... and last but not least, Heidi and I did our homemade face mask tonight.  Pinterest inspired of course.  2 egg whites and 1 tsp lemon juice.