Elementary Band parents

Last night I went to my first ever Elementary School Band Concert. I never was in band in elementary school and my perspective would have been different anyway.

Well, what an experience!!!! I was in band in Jr. High and High School and I never ever heard that kind of enthusiasm in the audience! As soon as the students came walking onto the stage, there were 30 parents up there, front and center, snapping pictures of their child with their instrument. And I knew how they felt (I made Rick go up and take a picture of Caleb sitting there with his French Horn).

The 5th Grade Beginning Band started out the program and when they finished their first song, the applause was deafening. And, when they had finished their 5th and final song (Jingle Bells), and stood up, there was whistling, cheering, and so much applause, you would have thought you were at a Taylor Swift concert.

I get it, though. You see, I am an Elementary Band Parent. In the fullest degree. :) After listening to the practicing (reminding that practice does not mean going around the house and blowing noises in the mouthpiece in people's ears) and going to the music store for several books and helping to remember which days to bring the French Horn to school, going back home on the days we forgot to get the French Horn, I am so proud of Caleb and all he has accomplished. I don't want him to quit. So I will clap and cheer with everyone else. Seeing Caleb's smile (trying not to smile like it is any big deal when I know it is to him), was a happy feeling.

I was happy to hear him after the concert. "Mom, did you hear the 6th Graders? I can't wait to play those songs!"

Really, I think anyone would have been impressed. You could even tell what every song was.

Christmas Letter

I have Googled "Christmas letters", "Creative Christmas letters", "Cute Christmas letters", and have been sitting at my computer for 2 hours just trying to get something written. Here is my dilemma:

1. In all our craziness last fall, I never sent out Christmas cards. So, the people who only hear from me once a year through cards don't know about my struggle with cancer (because I refused to put it in any of the previous years' cards since it sounds so depressing), losing my leg, us moving, all of our life's happenings, etc.

2. The people who are close to me, vicinity-wise and emotionally, already know what is going on, so putting it in a card this year is just redundant for them. Blah, blah, blah. And I don't believe in sending out different cards for different people. They are all the same, they go in the envelope and they get addressed and go.......

3. We have moved, so if I don't send cards, I won't get any. ;) And I really, really like getting them. Our mail forwarding from our old address has now expired and I would like to see how my old friends are doing.

So if I decide to be redundant, I am sorry to all of you out there. If I am not redundant, well, I guess, the people who don't hear from me won't know. And, if I can't decide, well, maybe Christmas letters will be a tradition I discontinue (but I am so old-fashioned, I can't see that happening for too many years).

I feel like I have been so blessed, I should take every opportunity to share that with others-maybe especially those who only hear from me once each year. At the same time, I am trying so hard to not make myself crazy this year. Usually, by Christmas Day, I am worn out from all I am trying to accomplish. I wanted this year to be more relaxing (maybe because I am realistic about how I feel after doing chemo). I wanted to just snuggle with my kids, make cookies with them, read the stories, sing the songs, and speak of the Savior and why He is the Greatest Gift of all.

Whatever happens,
Merry Christmas!

There's No Place Like Home

I want to be in love with the place I live. Everywhere we have lived I have tried to find something about that place that makes it the best at that moment. Yet, doing that in this move to Arizona has been tough for me. I told myself over and over in the summer "You can be happy anywhere" and, while I knew that is true, it seemed like I was also hearing "blah blah blah" behind that thought. I was happy, I am happy, I just wanted to feel like this is home - a place I could happily stay as we don't want to keep moving, especially as our kids get older.

I will always miss the Hill Country of Texas. I will always think a little longingly of the beauty of the place and the people I miss and just the "Texas"-ness of it all. It is an amazing place and one that will always hold a piece of my heart.

I don't know exactly what changed (or when) in my heart, but I have come to know that I have found a place to "put my home." I think, for me, home has become a state of being more than a location on a map. As long as I am seeing my kids grow and thrive, as long as I can serve, as long as I am around people I love, I can be "home." My kids are happy and thriving, there are always opportunities to serve and we can find love where ever we choose. So here I am. And, truly there is no place like home.

The Newest Princess in the Kingdom of God

SUCH a special day for our little girl! October 10, 2009, Emma Catherine Davies was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was so nervous, partially because she didn't want to have to do it twice and partially because she really hates to have "everyone" looking at her. But she sailed through. Here she is in front of the font before the baptism. She was very cooperative of a Mom who couldn't get enough pictures.

The picture below shows a glimpse of the relationship between Emma and her Dad. I know people think I am stubborn, but I am NOTHING compared to these two. When they are at odds -- get out of the room. :)

Side note about the dresses. When Rick found out I was making TWO dresses (one to be baptized in with bloomers underneath) and one "pretty" one for after, he complained about it. I told him he was getting off easy. I already had the material for both, so it would actually save him money. Besides, I told him. I only got to have one girl, so if I had wanted her to have 5 dresses, it should be okay. I very very rarely go overboard on girly stuff. He was also worried it would be too much for me, as I was making them while I was in pain earlier this summer, but it actually kept me sitting down more and still made me feel like I was being productive.

The "pretty" dress holds special meaning for me. It is made from material left-over from my wedding dress. Her baby blessing dress is also made from this material. I asked Emma about it before sewing it and she was really excited. She chose it over pictures of other "floofy" dresses. After she had been to a baptism in September where 2 of her friends were baptized, both with "floofy" dresses, I was worried that she would want a different dress. Here is what she said, "My dress is even more special, because my Mom made it." Okay, if that didn't make me feel good......

The above picture is right after she was baptized and changed. She is still wet and freezing as the water was cold. We could not get her warmed up for several hours. Doesn't she look "perfect"? She is so happy here. I love the smiles of the newly baptized! It is my favorite part.

The picture below I just could not help including. She looks so elegant and regal. Emma is all girl in many ways, yet most of the time you will find her digging in the dirt, playing with rocks, hair flying every which way (even if it was only brushed 5 minutes before) and generally looking like no one loves her. I know that soon enough she will worry more about which lip gloss to use, but for now, I will take the little girl who climbs trees and isn't worried about what others think of her. I love her love for life and am grateful for her cooperation of all the pictures I wanted in her pretty dress and with her hair done (which she patiently allowed me to do - even though she hates hates hates hairspray).

In front of the Mesa Temple.

Caleb asked, "Why are you getting so many pictures of Emma?", but when I asked for some of him, we got very few that are presentable. He just won't cooperate, the little stinker. Here is one tolerable one. I tried to get some of him alone and some of him with Emma -- to no avail. Well, none that I will post, anyway. In this picture, we are joking that we are supposed to look like we are happy and loving each other, when in reality we were all done with each other by this point. :) The joy of family pictures.

All in all, it was a very special day (and the day after). Emma has very good memories and can't wait to wear her pretty dress again.

Alive and Kicking

So, okay, I have had several people mention that it has been a long time......... We are still here. To be honest, it has been an incredibly rough month for me. I have been sick, tired and sick of being sick and tired. But I am going down to 1 chemo treatment each week now, so, hopefully, I can get some energy back. The library and I have become good friends as it is right around the corner from my Dr.'s office. Also, I am sleeping better, so that helps, too. So, I have not been on the computer much at all, unless it is for something quick.

But life has not slowed down for us and here is a list of pictures -- highlights from the last month. This month we have:
learned new tricks. Dobby learned that after babies eat at Grandma's house there are nibbles to be found.

We swam - a lot! Thanks to Uncle Spencer and Aunt Karson for letting us come over - whenever!

Emma learned to sew with Grandma. She LOVED it! And her seams were straighter than mine were until I was in high school!

We played with cousins -- pretty much all day every day.

LOTS of playing with cousins.

Two girls named Anna. I happen to think the one in pink is pretty darn beautiful - inside and out!

We got to spend time kissing babies -- though not nearly enough.

We camped in the mountains -- so nice to be cold at night! Rick and Polly and Ken did all the work. I just sat there and was lazy!

First day of school -- August 12th -- way too early for me. The kids are happy, though, and love their school. Caleb is learning the French Horn (his tone is pretty darn good for the first week). I will post more on this later.

We are ALMOST to our Webelos and Arrow of light. He has 3 more weeks. Not cutting it close or anything.

We celebrated Rick's birthday. Below is the RAW cheesecake he requested for his "cake". Yes, it is not a typo -- it is a raw cheesecake, and very very delicious! Rick tasted the little piece of one I got from Whole Foods and requested it. It was a hit. The kids loved it, too. Just goes to show that raw does not always mean green. :)

I am also going to start a new blog or two on something other than our family. This month our family is working on going gluten-free (well, mostly Caleb, since I already am and Rick hasn't quite been able to "commit" and Emma doesn't care about bread much anyway - other than pasta) and dairy-free. It is such a challenge! Like I don't have enough on my plate. But we desperately need to figure out a few things, so here we go...... I will share some of what I am learning on another blog. I will link to it when I get it up. Cooking gluten-free is such an adventure. An adventure I should have documented with pictures last week when I tried a new bread recipe that looked soooooo beautiful out of the oven, I almost cried. Then I did cry when 10 minutes later it was literally flat as a pancake. My Mom and I were laughing so hard, I was crying. If it hadn't been so funny, I would have been so sad. Caleb is already feeling better without wheat, though, after eating a little wheat over the weekend, his stomach has been a wreck for the last few days. *sigh*

Anyway, we have much to be grateful for and are looking for ways to learn to love living in Mesa. It will come, I am sure. Being close to the temple and to family top all of our lists right now. What a treat to leave at 2:55 and make it to the 3:30 session or to take the kids to the Visitors Center for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir exhibit and to the grounds for FHE. Emma loves seeing brides there and got brave enough to go talk to one. The bride was so sweet and emphasized to Emma how happy she was that she got married in the temple. Best lesson for FHE of all. :) We love playing with cousins and Grandma and having family take care of us. I am grateful for sisters and sisters-in-law and a mom who look out for me.

Another PET scan

Okay, so the good news first: I had a PET scan on Monday of last week and got the results on Thursday. GOOD news! Everything is shrinking. At a pretty quick rate. If this keeps up, there will be NO need for surgery! Hurrah!!!!

And I said, good news first, like there was bad news. There is no bad news, so that is good news, too! I have continued to ride the roller coaster of good days, bad days but I guess that is to be expected. It is frustrating not to be able to plan anything ahead of time because we aren't sure how I am going to be feeling, so we are grateful to see good results and know that this is all working and accomplishing what we want.

Overall, it has been a good month for our family. The kids have had lots of fun with cousins as the pictures below show. And, this weekend, to celebrate my good results and because Rick starts work on Monday morning, we drove over to San Diego spur of the moment to spend a day at the beach. Thanks to Jon and Megan for letting us just come jump on their weekend. We had a great day at the beach! I hope to get some pictures up from the beach at some point. But, it was a glorious, beautiful day. The kids and Rick played on the beach and in the water all afternoon while I got sun-burned on the sand, watching them and reading -- just relaxing!

Rick, Caleb and Emma ready to watch the Sharks 3D movie at the Science Center.

Abby and Emma at the Science Center.

A group of cousins with us at the Science Center.

Jacob, Caleb and McKay doing Rock Band 2. It was noisy and fun.

The Grass is Always Greener

Why is it that we want something other than what we have?

When we lived in Texas, we missed Trader Joes, but now that we are in Arizona, we want HEB back (okay we DID know we would miss it but, darn them for being so great!). When my sister sees dead deer on the side of the road, she says, “Why did you have to think the grass was greener on the other side? Why couldn’t you have just stayed where you are?” I say there are never enough hours in the day to get things done, but when I can’t sleep after a chemo treatment I get discouraged about not sleeping instead of using that time to be productive. My daughter has the body I always wanted (those LONG beautiful legs), but I stress about finding clothes that fit and are modest and cute for her ultra-thin body.

You get the idea.

Today, this cute cute body (in the above picture) that I love so much put on an apron and wanted to make herb rolls with me for dinner. I was thrilled. This little person is someone who pops over to visit several times a day from next door and I adore her! Today, she measured, stirred and mixed and then kneaded away until the dough was ready.

The ironic part: HER mom was making bread next door and she was not interested in helping her at all. MY kids were watching “Herbie: Fully Loaded” and weren’t interested in helping ME at all, but I am sure if they knew Aunt Karson was making bread next door, they would have thought it was fun to help her.

Regardless, fun, cute Gracie – I love her. I did NOT feel good after chemo today – this was a hard day. And she brought a little sunshine into my life.

Happy 4th of July!

Our Fourth of July celebration started waaaayyy too early. The ward had a breakfast/parade/flag ceremony that started at 7:00am. The kids got up at 6:00 to decorate their bikes, then off to the church to we went.

Here is a picture of Emma and her friend Maddy. It has been so nice for the kids to already know people here from last year. It has definitely made the transition a little easier.

Here is Caleb with two friends: Tyler and Josh.

Stopping in the "parade" long enough for me to get a picture.

Our patriotic puppy: mad because we wouldn't let him join the parade. He was thrilled with all the kids there!

Later in the day, we swam and had fun. Brady and Berta came over and Polly and Ken. The trampoline ring became a "sparring" ring. The funniest part about it was the audience on the side. The little girls lined up chairs to watch (just like fair maidens), then they were joined by the younger boys, as well.

Emma had a bit of a rough day, physically, though. Early in the day, I got to watch her racing down the street on a scooter (with Dobby attached to the handlebars by his leash) and do a flip in the middle of the road -- landing on her head and sliding on her knee. Ouch! Then, later, while swimming, she flipped off the diving board and hit her back. MORE ouch! Then, as soon as she recovered from that, she and Rick were playing and she bent her fingers back and couldn't use her hand the rest of the day. When it still hurt this morning and had some black and blue and swelling, we were worried that it was broken, so we took a quick trip to the urgent care. Thank goodness, it was okay. She got to see x-rays for the first time and was fascinated by the whole thing.

Overall, it was a fun day. And we are happy that it didn't end with a cast on a hand. Not swimming or playing the piano for 6 weeks were thoughts she couldn't bear.

Today Feels Like Friday, but I Know Sunday Will Come

Yesterday was a hard day and it went on a lot of the night. I learned yesterday afternoon that a friend from last summer had passed away yesterday morning. This man is one who came to be treated by Dr. Lodi also. I fell in love with Tom and Dana as a couple. They were my age, full of life and enthusiasm and spunk. You rarely see people as in love as these two! They loved each other, their kids and just being a family. It has been hard to think about Tom passing away. I had just recently learned that he wasn't doing well and I know he was in a dreadful amount of pain. There has been many tears and much introspection. I wish I could just fly up to Colorado and give Dana a big squeeze. I love Dana with all my heart.

I have been trying not to wonder why there has to be so much pain in life sometimes. I only know that through this all I have been so grateful for the One who can help us through it. I am grateful for the timeliness of this message that the Church put on their website only this week. I have watched it several times in the last 24 hours, including early morning hours when I should have been sleeping, but my heart was aching instead. The resurrection has become so much more real for me in the last year. I am grateful for the Savior, for His Gift. I know that someday I will have two legs to kneel at my Savior's feet to thank Him for all He has done. But I will not let that stop me from kneeling with one leg today. Today, I need to remember to be grateful to be with MY family and to be alive. I am truly grateful for the knowledge that if I can be worthy, I can be with my family forever.

"Let It Go!"

Okay, I will admit it. Some people say I am "a little" on the over-protective and structured side. I think some of it comes from only having 2 kids when I wanted 4 or 5 or 6...... Maybe it stems from my desire to always be "good," but, to be honest, I didn't think it was that bad until I found another patient here who I adored instantly and relate to a lot. She has a boy and a girl in the same order as me and are similar in personalities -- just a little older now. Other than the fact that she is about 85 lbs right now, we are a lot alike. And, today, she told me to learn to "let it go."

I guess this is a theme for me right now. Last week a dr I am starting to work with along with Dr. Lodi told me very much the same thing; he said that I need some mind work (am I psycho?) to figure why I think I have to be so busy trying to do stuff all the time to be a good mom. Rick told me that he doesn't care if I am a vegetable, he still wants me around. Caleb just wants me to play with him and Emma just wants snuggles and piano lessons. And I am trying to figure all that out.

A month ago when I started having pain, I found myself not fixing dinner (and not caring what my family ate for dinner) for the first time since I had kids. I found myself leaving whatever dishes didn't fit in the dishwasher in the sink for the first time in my entire life. The kids have watched tv at times when it wasn't Friday. I have not given in to the xbox on a day other than Friday, yet, but we'll see...... And you know what? The world did not end when I woke up to dishes. I always thought I would feel "behind" to begin the day with dirty dishes. You know what? Since I am a morning person, sometimes I have more energy at 6:30am to do dishes than at 6:00pm when a dirty pan may have put me in a puddle of tears with the energy it took to clean it when I was soooo very tired. I have also learned that if my kids and husband do the dishes, I no longer care how the silverware goes in. Caleb is learning to do his own laundry -- and the only thing I make him sort out is his white church shirt. When the kids fold their own clothes, I don't care how it is folded -- I am just happy that they are the ones doing it.

So, in my struggle to "let it go", how far do I go? Such a silly dilemma. But here is what my new friend pointed out to me today -- she asked me:

"Have you noticed the 'healthy' moms? They are the ones who just seem to us over-protective moms like they don't care. Their kids run around doing whatever, the houses aren't always clean, but everyone is always happy. The moms have their projects and don't seem run by a schedule. They fix dinner when they feel like it and don't worry about how healthy it is (okay I don't know if I can COMPLETELY let go of that one, though)."

Such a silly blog post, but this has really been a dilemma for me lately. I want to be around long-term and that means I need to learn to let a lot of things go....... Maybe I am afraid I will go the opposite extreme. And what is that?????????

I could use some advice and help on this one.

We Are a Happy Family

Yay! Back together as a family! I wish I had pictures of everything from the last week. A BIG thank you to all of our friends. We are amazed and in awe and feel overwhelmed with love.

I heard from several people that Steve Palmer is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to moving. And, we weren't sure it was all going to fit, but Steve did it. I bet he is good at puzzles, too!

Rick said we needed a camera Saturday morning. He said there was an army of women who showed up and swept through the house. There were even little kids helping, he said. Wow! I hope everyone gets richly blessed for all they have done for us!

Here is a picture of the truck loaded (courtesy Katharine Bolliger for the pictures)...and thanks for lending her husband over Father's Day weekend (and to Mark for giving up his Father's Day weekend) to help with the drive over.


Trying to get the truck to close after finding a few "randoms" after the truck was loaded. Don't you HATE the "randoms" when you move? Kristi, I feel that there is blog possibilities on that subject -- you would do it justice!


This is when they figured out that the brake lights weren't working. A trip to U-Haul (and a 2nd and 3rd time for various problems) -- thank goodness they didn't make him unload the truck for a new one.

Anyway, Rick and Mark made it safely and we are trying to get settled, figuring out what goes in storage and what we absolutely cannot live without for a month or two.

Thank you everyone for the loves. We love you all!

Well, you can see that our kitchen is cleaned out.....thanks to this lovely lady. There were several people who came to help us. I am so grateful: so many loves when I was emotionally not coping!!!!

I am feeling spunkier the last few days. I don't know if it is from finally just DOING what needed to be done or what, but I am feeling much more hope.

My first chemo treatment (well the first one AGAIN) was yesterday and went really well. I only had a little trouble balancing my blood sugar afterwards and then felt fine later. Just a little tired. Of course, I got almost no sleep from the steroids and am still feeling a bit "perked up" today and am hoping I can sleep tonight. Between the steroid shot and Dobby trying to get used to a new house, I ended up with about 3 1/2 hours of sleep. Dobby is sleeping in his crate in the shed tonight if he doesn't behave. ;)

I have another chemo treatment tomorrow and hope it goes well, too. After my Vitamin C treatment today, I felt fine, too, which is exciting since they made me so horribly horribly sick last year. I had forgotten how THIRSTY it makes me, though. I think I have 3 gallons of water in me. At least I won't get dehydrated.

Rick is busy packing the rest of our stuff and trying to get to us as soon as possible. At least we can see an end in sight this time -- of our family being separated.

There is NO WAY we could have done this without all the help of our wonderful friends and family! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! I believe in Angels!

Tonight I was reading in an old Friend magazine to Caleb and Emma and saw this quote, "As a result of the many miracles in our lives, we should be more humble and more grateful, more kind and more believing." -- President Howard W. Hunter

We have had more miracles than I can count -- a good reminder to me to be more what I should be. Thank you to all those people who are part of our miracles! We love you!

Regression

Regression is a theme in our house this week.

1. Dobby has had 3 accidents in 2 days -- after no accidents in 6 months!

2. We are packing again -- does that count? It feels like we are regressing as we go through old already-packed boxes and start packing all over again. (What does NOT feel like regression is the exhilarating feeling of 4 loaded-down-car trips to Goodwill, with more to come)

3. Sadly, I have regressed. This has been a tough, tough week for our family. A few weeks ago, I was in pain again. It came on suddenly and would get better and worse and then just worse. Yesterday we had it confirmed that the cancer is back with several new tumors in the abdomenal area (retriperitoneal (sp) and peritoneal cavities for anyone that gets that). We are looking for a good oncological surgeon who knows what he is doing in this arena and then I want to go back to my oncologist in AZ. We are figuring all of that out for now. The good news in all of this (if there can be any good news) is that none of the tumors are in organs. We are hoping they are all operable, although it will be an extremely invasive and painful surgery. I do not look forward to more of the drugs. I was NOT a good druggie last summer!

I am a fighter; not a quitter. And I know the Lord is ever-mindful of our family. I am so thankful for all the prayers, fasting, support, encouragment, blessings, watching of kids for appointments at the last minute, dinners, etc. We didn't want Rick to get laid off, but I am so grateful that he has been here the last few days. He has been a rock for me. We have cried together and talked about things that he has been scared to talk about before. We have been surrounded by angels on both sides of the veil the last few days.

So... one more way of regression: I guess I am back to posting about more than just normal life and mom-stuff. I hate blogging about cancer! *sigh*

here are some words to a song that has always resonated for me. I only know this song by this musician. It isn't her voice, or just the words, there is just "something" about it:
Des'ree

Listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try and keep your head up to the sky
Lovers, they may cause you tears
Go ahead release your fears
My oh my heh, hey, hey

You gotta be
You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold
You gotta be wiser, you gotta be hard
You gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm
You gotta stay together
All I know, all I know, love will save the day


And all I know is that love is saving my days. The love of my extended family, the love of friends, the love of my kids, the love of my husband, and the love of my Savior and Heavenly Father.

14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

Now, I do know that the Lord is strengthening me and my family, but I need to learn to be more cheerful about it AND more patient! Cheerfulness might save all the make-up I have gone through in the past 2 days. :)

Just Because I Love You!

Just because I love you, I will allow you to do a science experiment on my kitchen counter that lasts for a month and makes people wonder at my housekeeping abilities.
Just because I love you, I will allow you to turn one of my favorite foods into a moldy, rotting, fly-fest. Just because I love you, I will help you document observations, help you take pictures, and actually care about how much mold and rot are growing on each different pepper. I will help you research and weed through scientific documents to help you understand what scientists are trying to say (although it may take an hour first to dissect it myself).

Then, because I love you so much, I will spend money, time and try to use lots of patience while YOU type up the research paper portion of the project (and add words to our computer dictionary instead of fixing the spelling) and make a tri-fold presentation display. I love you so much that when I look at your finished product, I hope the teacher sees that YOU are the one who did this. I hope they can see that I loved you enough to let it look like a fourth grader didn't want his mom doing it for him. That he was so excited about this and cared so much that he didn't want someone else doing it for him. I love you so much I can see every bit of effort you painstakingly put into this project. I am very glad the peppers are in the garbage and our kitchen is free of those little flies, but to tell you the truth -- I care very little about science projects. What I care about is seeing the smile on your face. I would do almost anything for that! I love that smile and those dimples and those freckles! I love it when you actually let me kiss them (when no one is looking). Your smile is worth a million bucks, but oh, you are worth so much more!

I LOVE YOU, Mr. C!!!!!!

And, thanks for the tribute on your science project that you worded yourself, "My mom helped me by buying the peppers, helping me with my research and by putting up with the flies." I'll put up with flies for that smile anyday!

Could I Start This Day Over, Please?

It all began at 1:30am. I had gone to bed with a sore throat and feeling achy (don't worry, no cough -- NO swine-ish-ness about me) to be woken up by the dogs next door howling. Anyone who has stayed with us knows what I am talking about. Then, because of the rottweiler and lab, our little dog thinks it MUST be morning and runs upstairs, ever-hopeful that we will get up with him. Rick took him out, put him back to bed and, I thought that would be it. For some reason, though, I was WIDE awake. Just as I was dozing off, around 2:30, the dogs next door start howling again. At that point I was wishing I had a gun.

To make a long story short, feeling sick and already in pain from a previous fall where I pulled a muscle under my arm, I was pretty off kilter for most of the day. This afternoon I did a doozy, though. Going down the stairs, I fell and landed right on my twisted foot. I hope it isn't broken. That would be a nightmare, but it hurts like bad words and I am once again reminded of what a whiney wimp I am.

Seriously, though, how do stay you off of a sprained foot if it is the only one you have?

To top it all off, I just realized I have been wearing my shirt backwards all day -- running errands, going to the chiropractor, teaching piano. How embarrassing! Maybe I will wake up tomorrow and this will have been a bad dream.

Okay, I am way off here, I know it was 2 months ago, but I want to get this for me.

Spring Break was a load of fun. I forgot my camera for a lot of activities, but we were busy every day!!! The kids and I had a blast -- it made us anxious for summer! We were sad that Rick couldn't join us for most of it, but he did get in on the last 2 days. We camped in our backyard (right up my alley with a close bathroom and running water) and went for a "hike" in San Gabriel Park in Georgetown. Okay, not much of a hike, but the trail was pretty and my wheelchair did well there. Caleb and Emma in San Gabriel Park.

Caleb being silly! At least he let me take his picture!

Emma and Caleb both did a lot with friends this week. But this is the only picture with a friend that I got.

Caleb spent time "manning the fort".

Forever our tomboy -- climbing trees, playing outside. This is also in San Gabriel park with friends.

Impromptu science project: bowl of water with pepper in it. Dab in soap -- watch the pepper jump away! Pretty cool.

Caleb's last basketball game. We won't mention the score.

All in all a very successful Spring Break for us. Lots of good memories. Less than a month until school is out. I can't wait to have my kids home all day and have NO homework that has to get done. The homeschooler in me hates those deadlines, the educator in me demands structure. Summer will be a great blend of both for me. I just fear it won't be long enough.