Cancer

That is what has been on my mind lately. My grandpa has lung cancer. They tried to take the tumor out on Monday and found that it had grown and is now attached to his heart. They weren't able to do anything. It was such a let down. They are in the process of trying to figure out where to go from here. Today I had an OB/GYN appointment as a new patient. I had to fill out a sheet all about cancer and if people in my family have it. I haven't heard of anyone having cancer so I answered them all as none. Then I talked to my parents and found out that I was wrong. Both of my great grandmas had cancer one skin and the other uterine. Though they both lived a verily long time seeing as I was born when they died. It was such a shock to my world. Then I learned my dad's aunt died at a young age of cancer but I have no idea what kind or how old she was exactly. I know three people isn't a ton of people but it is still unnerving when I have thought no one has had it. You might be wondering why I'm not including my grandpa. Two reasons lung cancer wasn't on the sheet and two he technically my step grandpa but the only grandpa I ever knew on my mom's side. He and my grandma got married right before I was born and came to visit me as a new born on their honeymoon. I love my grandpa and I just want him to be better again. I do fear it isn't going to happen in this life though :( I also wanted to get on here and update that the doctor's office called me today about the cat scan I had done last week. Everything looked fine. So that is great news but I still haven't been feeling the greatest. I had the OB appointment scheduled for about 3 weeks now and when I told her about the pain she said it has nothing to do with OB. She actually told me that I have a wonderfully healthy uterus and eggs and that I should have more kids. And, yes, she knew I had four kids already! I think she was a bit on the crazy side!!! The next step would be going to the G.I. doc and I think I am done with doctors for a bit. In talking with my friend Andrea and my chiropractor I think the reason for the extra abdominal pain is that my body is finally healing! The chiropractor had a word for it that I can't remember but basically your body goes through all the pain and stress while it is getting it's self healthy again. I can deal with the little bit of discomfort if I am finally on the right path. Because we are suppose to cast our cares onto Jesus I am going to end this post with giving God all my worry over my grandpa's cancer and my pain. Wow I feel like a HUGE burden has been lifted. God is in control of both situations.

Ideas...

I am in the midst of planning a (hopefully) fun spring break for the kids but I'm wanting some ideas! I am hoping that it will be much warmer than it is right now at 35 degrees. Jeff has to work that week so things we could do during the day would be great. I have gotten the idea of making each day a theme day like un-birthday day, backwards day and so forth. I don't want to have to stick to the house the whole week though I might do one or two days like that. I am hoping that we get a nice day and can do the zoo. I was thinking of going to the library and seeing what free things are available through them too. They have Saturday through the following Monday off so 10 days but Easter is one of those days. Hit me with some ideas :)

ABC's Of ME :)

A fun little blog game I got from my friend Amber :)

1. Age: 32
2. Bed size: Queen
   
3. Chore you hate: dishes or laundry is a toss up because they are never ending
4. Dogs: none but have started thinking about getting one
   
5. Essential start to your day: Hugs from my family and a kiss from the hubs
   
6. Favorite color: Green
7. Gold or silver: I am a silver girl
8. Height: 5’ 4"
   
9. Instruments that you can play: none
10. Job title: Mom
    
11. Kids: GG 10, Monkey 8, Red 5, Peanut 3
    
12. Live: in a house
    
13. Mom’s name: Kathy
    
14. Nicknames: Mama Tona
    
15. Overnight hospital stays: 5 birth of my four kids and knee surgery when I was 10
    
16. Pet peeve: rule breakers
17. Quote from a movie: I'm so bad at quotes
18. Righty or lefty: Righty
19. Sibling: 9 Brothers and 2 sisters and that is not any of the in-laws!
    
20. Time you wake up: 7am on week days and 8/9am on weekends, yes I have my kids trained well ;)
21. Underwear: bikini
22. Vegetables you dislike: corn is pretty much it I LOVE my veggies!
    
23. What makes you run late: Getting side tracked by the computer *grin*
    
24. X-rays: I'm sure I've had some but drawing a blank other than dental ones, ha!
    
25. Yummy food you make: I like all the food I make but my fave...chipotle
26. Zoo favorite animal: monkeys or polar bears
    

Double Edge Sword

I woke up this morning sore and in pain. So I made a doctor's appointment for myself. Peanut doesn't have school so she came with me. I feel bad because we weren't suppose to go to the Children's Museum but her friends weren't feeling good and I wasn't feeling good so we are rescheduling. Before my doctor appointment I got a call from Peanut's with the test results of her c4a levels they went from 7281 in Dec of 2009 to 17200 taken a few weeks ago. I was in shock and scared. While I was at my doctor I figured I would ask if he had gotten my back too. Good news!!! Mine went from 22,804 to 14,583, do remember that the normal range is 0-2830, so I've got a ways to go but am finally making progress!!! I was so excited for me but not sure where to go for Peanut. I still need to get the other three kids in to get there levels rechecked. The doctor wants to do a cat scan on my abdomen because it was really tender. Jeff thinks it is because I have been working out but this pain has come and gone for awhile now. I just don't like feeling blah all the time. I am hoping this will reveal some answers but not holding my breath. I have to wake up at 6am to drink this bottle of stuff and then drink half a bottle at 9am and I can't eat anything. Should be interesting, I hope to update you when I get those results back.

Ugh

I didn't get much sleep last night as Peanut woke up in the middle of the night about the same time Jeff got home to use the bathroom. Yes I am very thankful that she got up and went in the potty but then she started yelling, "Daddy can you come wipe me?" He didn't move. So she yelled again. Still nothing so up I went to wipe her little bottom. He worked until 3something am and was dead to the world. I would be too! Then Murphy's law went into affect and the kids woke up before they ever do when it is an actually school day. They didn't get to bed last night until 11pm because of JAM. What is wrong with them? UGH. So I was tired and they got up super early and proceeded to yell and scream and fight with each other until I dragged myself out of bed around 8:30am. Why can I never sleep in? Tomorrow we are going to need to be up and out the door by a certain time and these kids will sleep in and we will be rushing to leave on time. Anyway, I had forgotten that Jeff had to work this morning so it was just me and these hoodlums until about 1pm today. SO thankful it was nice outside and they were able to play outside for a good length of time. I hated the way I was feeling especially towards the kids because really all they were doing was being *ahem* KIDS. Jeff got home and he started putting the kids to work cleaning the house. I decided it was as good a time as any to start our seeds for the garden! Some of the seeds need to be started inside and some can go just into the ground. I am hopeful to get someone out here to till the garden in the next week or so and then I will be able to plant the other seeds. Other than that I really need a new food processor. I have had my eye on a blendtec for quite some time but now I am hearing about the vitamix. I need help which would you buy? The blendtec or the vitamix??? Ok tell me what you think! please :)

Bank Drama and a Recipe!

Nice title huh? Well last night as Jeff and I were making dinner we got a phone call from our second mortgage bank. They called to tell us that they LOST our check. They knew the number of the check and how much it was for they just didn't have it to process. I have never had this happen before, so strange. Jeff gave me the phone since I do the bills. I was a little freaked out by the whole situation and I asked the guy if I could call him back tomorrow. I wanted to check our bank account and make sure that it hadn't gotten cashed and go to our bank and get the check canceled. About 10 minutes after I left my bank this morning our second mortgage bank called. I was at school and was planning on calling them after I gave the kids lunch. Well the guy again was asking for my checking account number. I told him I didn't feel comfortable giving that to him and asked if I could use credit card. Fast forward a couple of hours. I have two voicemails on my cell phone. The first is from my bank's freud department. The second is from the second mortgage bank needing me to call them back. My heart sank. I thought it was a scam and I'm so glad I didn't give them my checking account! After a few calls I found out it wasn't a scam and that they had just entered the wrong numbers so it didn't go through. All is right in the world now, phew!

This morning I noticed on the kids crispy rice cereal there was a recipe for a no bake rice crispy snack. After further investigation I realized that I could make it just substituting a few ingredients. Here is the recipe I used...it is in the freezer now getting firm :)

1 cup honey
1/2 to 3/4 cups shredded coconut flakes
mix them together
1 cup almond butter mixed well and then add to the other ingredients
7 cups of rice crispy and mix well.
Grease 9 x 13 and spread out mixture and freeze for an hour or refrigerate for several hours.

Can't wait for the kids to get home to try it. It was so easy!!!

Girlfriends

They are the best medicine for winter time. On Thursday, three friends and I packed up and headed to a moms conference called Hearts at Home. Thursday we settled into our hotel room and then met my brother for dinner at Flat Top. I had never eaten there before and it was SO yummy! Very happy with the choice of dinner Thursday night. We had to be at the conference Friday morning between 7:30 and 8:15am. This would of been fine if we hadn't received a 4:30am WAKE up call that night. Two of the girls weren't able to fall back asleep, I felt bad for them. After attending my first workshop on Friday morning I knew this was going to be a great few days. I absolutely LOVED the first speaker. She did two sessions one called Getting R.E.A.L. in your marriage and the other Getting R.E.A.L. in your parenting. Loved her! I got to go to both of her workshops, score! I learned so many wonderful tools and ideas on how to raise great kids and be the best mom and wife I can be. It was just such a time of rejuvenating myself. There was only one session that I wasn't all that flipped out about but still learned some good tricks, so it wasn't a complete waste. When we weren't at the conference we were in our room laughing so hard sometimes we cried! Let's just say I can't wait to go back next year. Though I am thinking of maybe just doing one day and getting to shop and relax the second?! We'll see but I am for sure going to go back. Oh yeah so the first day of the conference after the main opening session I turn around and behind me sat a girl I went to H.S. and youth group with, crazy. The second day after the sessions my friends and I were figuring out what we should do next. I see a girl that I was positive I knew. After 5 minutes I finally walked up to her and she greeted me with TONYA! She was from college, which is where I thought I knew her. I also got to see my friend Amber who I knew was working this conference. I highly recommend this conference to any stay at home mom or working mom!!! All moms need to GO :) I will leave you with a picture from our girl time in the hotel. This was the ONLY approved picture that was taken...
Just want to let you know that you should NOT laugh while wearing a mask it will deepen your wrinkles! This is from experience. Though it was really hard not to laugh when we all sounded like robots talking to each other.

Hello Blog it's been awhile!

Sometimes life seems so crazy and busy and then it stops and you look back and think, what in the world have I been doing lately? Yeah well that is how I feel. Let's see what are the highlights or low lights since the last time I updated...
* organized the family room closet and now the kids toys have a place to go and be concealed, love that!
*we got our taxes done and have received the refund.
*we can now start the bath remodel with said funds.
*GlamorGirl got a new dresser and Peanut is now using her old one minus the top broken drawer. It will have to do until we can afford to get her a new one too. Red doesn't even have a dresser he has the elfa drawers in the closet. It works for now.
*picked the kids teachers for next year. Monkey doesn't have any of his best buds in his class but I think he will still have a wonderful year. He will have a male teacher. GG has her best friend in her class next year. Red has one of my favorite teachers so I'm really excited about that.
*Red made the Sparks-A-Rama team for the Awana Games, he is super excited about that as am I.
*the diamond in my wedding ring fell out. We can't find it and it isn't insured. UGH!
*took Peanut and myself to get a blood draw a recheck on the c4a levels. Poor girl had to get stuck twice because the first vein burst. So sad.
*Monkey had a friend over after school to play. I am really enjoying having play dates because I get to know his friends better.
*my tummy didn't feel the greatest at dinner and I decided not to go to JAM just in case.
*my dad came to watch the kids and they scratched his head, with a purpose, of donating their earnings (yes he pays them to scratch his head) to help pay for a clean water well in Africa.

Our church is doing a fund raiser and there are three levels. I was going to try and type this all out but I think this video would do a better job explaining the levels and how you can contribute even if you don't attend our church or know me in person.

This LINK should take you right to the giving page for Bethel or you can type in The Water Project in google, once you get to the page click the fundraiser tab, click find a friend then type in Bethel Community Church. All donations are tax deductible and you receive an email immediately after donating. I would love to see us reach our goal and then surpass it immeasurably. There are also other video clips on the fund raising page and the guy talking in this video is our youth pastor at our church, my kids love him!