Coming Home...... New Year....

 Words cannot express how thankful I am for my best friend and mother in law.  Most of the time our hospital stays fall to where people have to take off work to keep the kids, or usually Amanda gets them from school & then takes them to Cindy when she gets off.  We have a system that seems to work, but I still feel so guilty with being away from them and hearing them tell me how much they miss me or want me home.  It makes it hard.  BUT the way it fell this time, Cindy only took off 1/2 a day (they closed at lunch on Thursday) & she was off Friday.  She told me to take enough clothes to stay until Sunday that the kids would be fine.  She kept pictures coming and I felt so relaxed knowing that they were having fun and well taken care of.  Amanda went over almost everyday to see them & to help.  

Thursday night they had a really fun time having their cousins over to spend the night.  I really think that did them good & got their mind off of where I was for a bit.  MeMe let them play and have a good time and then when it was time to clean up, it was time to clean up. 

Here is the NYE video she sent me...... it was a wonderful video to wake up to on Jan 1.

New Year's Day they had breakfast, played, and then had a "fun" cleaning up game they played.

 She sent me before and after pictures of all the rooms.  I loved how they all worked together.

 On Saturday they loaded up and did a little shopping and then went to Chuck-E-Cheese.

 On Sunday they were so excited about us coming home.  I think the day drug by for them. 

 Amanda and Cindy took them to see the horses, they went to the school to finish a sign, went to Moms to hang it, got balloons, cleaned the house (like even scrubbed the bathrooms), had soup in the crock pot when we got home, etc.....

 It was so nice to come home and kind of go "ahhhhh".... and not see everything that I needed to do.  You know how when you leave for a vacation you clean the house before you leave so that when you come home you can relax and not have a mess to come home to?  That's what it felt like.  They truly are wonderful!  Last Christmas the two of them even decorated our house for Christmas. 

Thought I would share this picture of Mom...... I know she is in a hospital gown, but so what.  My cousin, Abby, had texted me checking on her and then she said.... "Here.... take a picture and send to Abby & Jamie"..... I thought it was beautiful......

 This was her on her way to get her PEG tube.  She was really nervous......

This is how we all spent January 1, 2016.

 And then Sunday we got the great news that we could leave.  We were all exhausted by this point. 

 This silly group sent this to us while they were running around getting Babee's surprise ready....

 Babee showing them the tube.....

Amanda's snap :)! 

 I LOVEDDDD that they had pictures of them making Moms "surprise" sign.....

 ..... AND...... TA......DA......

How sweet is that?  Soooo thoughtful.  Amanda and Cindy are completely selfless people.  Always putting others first.  They had 3 sets of balloons with three balloons in each bundle of our favorite colors.  

Tyler recorded this video of Mom to send to us when she saw the sign....

And usually we don't all 4 sleep in my bed, but I really wanted my little ducklings under my wing. 

You would think we would all be used to hospital stays.  I really can't count how many we had in 2015.  But each time it is so upsetting because we are there because Mom is in so much pain from this stinking cancer.  In less than a month it will be 2 years that we started this journey.  

No one has given up yet!