April Fool's day anniversary......

Wishing my hubby a happy anniversary. Although it is not our wedding anniversary or the anniversary of our first date,it is just as important. 8 years ago he was diagnosed with cancer. When a loved one is told they have cancer it is as if time stops for a few minutes and when the clock resumes your life is never the same. We decided early on that no matter what the outcome was cancer was not going to win. It would not steal our faith or who we were. I have always believed things happen for a reason and there is a lesson to be learned. We learned to put our trust in doctors and our faith in God. We found nurses who became like family to us. We watched as our good friends became our great friends. We learned to accept help when needed and not try to do it all ourselves. We learned that every day is a gift and tomorrows are not promised. We learned that if we keep putting off our dreams they may never come true. We grew stronger as a family and Tim McGraw's song "Live like you were dying" became our motto. We always talked about having a 4th child but kept putting it off. After 6 months of chemo and two years of a chemo like drug we welcomed our son into our crazy lives. We slowed down and truly enjoyed life. Here's to you Honey and many more cancer free anniversaries!

Thankful Thursday......

I thought I would give some updates about this guy and my Hubby today. Our springer made it out of surgery fine. The doctor still isn't sure if it was a tumor or a cist. We all agreed it was big,ugly,nasty and it had to go. They would like him to wear the cone for 10 days. I really don't see that happening. The poor thing can't walk from point A to point B without smacking,knocking over, and killing the back of your legs. The last two days I have been hand feeding him since he can't find his bowl. HA! Poor thing. I have to tell you the funny story the Vet was telling us when we picked him up. When we took Springer in they gave him a shot to calm him before surgery. I even joked with the Vet about giving him an other shot. The vet knows how he gets with seperation anxiety. They asked that we sit with him until he calmed down. Tornado,Bubby,and I sat with him for 30 minutes and he still wasn't calm. We were getting into our car and Tornado says"I hear him" Sure enough there was a dog in there carrying on. I assumed it was ours because thats how he gets. The vet confermined it was him. They had to give him another shot. Apparently that one didn't work. He got another one. When that didn't work they had to give him 100% gas during his whole surgery. After surgery he didn't stop barking once. I'm surprised he could still bark after that. That's how anxious he gets when I'm not around. Finally someone else understands what its like to be his owner. HA! I think they were counting the seconds until we picked him up. :)

Hubby met with the oncogolist on Tuesday to discuss the results of his CAT scan. He could not see anymore lumps on the scan nor did he feel anymore on Hubby. He doesn't want to do a PET scan and subject him to anymore radation. I agree! Hubby will see him again in 3 months. I'm not sure if he will be back to having 3 month visits again but at least they are keeping an eye on him. I'm thankful!

My nieces Firefly and Lady Bug are flying in from Minnosota today and are spending 2 weeks with my In laws. I get excited when they come in. We only get to see them once a year. My half sister and her family are also up from Virginia visiting this week. I haven't seen her yet because of our schedules. I'm hoping to see her and the kids before they go back. If you don't see any new blog posts its because I will be busy enjoying family visits.

Have a happy Thursday.............

Today is the day....

It's going to be a running on Faith nail biting kind of day. This afternoon Hubby goes into the oncologist to find out his CAT scan results. Today could possibly be the day we found out once and for all if the cancer is back. To say I'm nervous is an understatement.  I have to admit it might be better to finally have an answer instead of this wondering. We haven't been able to make any future plans because of the not knowing if its back. We have been tossing the idea around to buy a vacation/rental house. We've been told treatments have gotten better since the last time he's had cancer. I just hate the thought of him going thru all of this again.

This morning I am taking our dog to the Vet. They might do his surgery at lunch time. If not then they will do it on Thursday. I'm praying everything goes well with that. I can't stand the thought of losing him too.

Have a happy Tuesday........

two weeks of updates.....

I know I have been promising to give updates and explain why I haven't been on as much. A few weeks ago Hubby found another lump. This time in his neck. It took a few days to get into the doctors office for an appointment. While he was the there the doctor discovered another one in his neck. Not as big but still another one. Due to my Hubby's cancer history,the Doc ordered a P.E.T scan to see if it was cancer and to check for other hot spots. After a week of waiting the Doc's office called back to say that the insurance company denied the request. They wanted Hubs to call his oncologist to get them to request the test. They thought maybe they would have better luck getting the insurance company to agree to it. After an other week of waiting,Oncology office said the insurance company denied it AGAIN. WTHeck??? Hubs Oncolist office issued a C.A.T scan instead. If that shows anything then they will get insurance to issue a P.E.T scan. Hubby had the CAT scan done this past Friday. Today we could learn the test results. To say I'm on pins and needles is an understatement. While all of this stuff was going on we have been keeping busy with life stuff.

Two weeks ago....
My mother in law went to the Er because of stomach pains. The hospital did an ultra sound and discovered she had Kidney stones. She was sent home with medicine to help pass them and to follow up with her Doctor in a few days. When she went to the doctors they realized she didn't pass the large stone yet. They scheduled surgery for the following week. The Doctor was unable to remove the stone and put a stint in her. She had to wait for another week to have surgery to remove them.

Hubby came home from work on Tuesday and said he had MLB tickets for Thursday. Bubby attended his first baseball game in the city. He loved it.

Wednesday Bubby had his well check for kindergarten. I forgot he would need shots. He was not happy. At.All. He now weighs 44 lbs and is 43 inches tall.

Friday our 18 year old graduated from high school. I was so proud of her. Our 16 year old decided to thru a tantrum and try to ruin the night for her sister. So mad! My mom and sister in law have never seen my daughter act like that and were appalled. Talk about embrassing. My daughter refused to have her picture taken with her sisters after the cemormy. Ugh. Most of my pictures I took during graduation didn't turn out due to the lighting in the gym. Double Ugh. I am on the hunt for a better camera. It was also the official last day of school.

Saturday was a surprise party for our neighbor and great friend's daughter. Coolest party. She rented a pavilion at the park. There was line dancing,volleyball,and playground equipment. Something for everyone. My friend made the cutest cake.

This past week.....
Tuesday the little guy and I did story time at the library. He loves it there. Its so hard for him to sit still the whole time. Mr. Antsy pants usually can only make it thru 2 stories before he starts talking to the other kids. HA! They are doing a summer reading program. The more you read the more tickets you earn. At the end of the summer your tickets go into a jar and they pull them out for prizes. Yep. He's super excited about that.

Wednesday we went out thrifting. I didn't find much. Sad. I know. I love looking for bargains. My mother in law went in for surgery. They were able to remove her kidney stone. She is now a happy camper.

Saturday we went to a country concert. We had two extra tickets in our group. Some people backed out at the last minute. Thank goodness. Due to my mother in law having surgery and my oldest daughter going away for the weekend we bought my 5 year old to the concert. I was so nervous about bringing him. He did awesome. He was some kind of chick magnet. Way too funny!

Sunday was Fathers day. Two of our girls were working and our oldest was still away for the weekend. Hubby,Bubby and I went out to lunch. Our 18 year old got him an outback steakhouse gift card. We have been wanting to eat there but every time we go there the wait is over an hour. We figured if we went for lunch maybe it wouldn't be that bad. I think we waited 10 minutes for a table. It wasn't as good as I thought it would be.

There you have it. The last two weeks in a nutshell. Hope you didn't fall asleep reading all of that. HA!
Off to finish some chores around the house. Hope everyone had a good Monday!

Updates....

We finally got a little of the white stuff yesterday and last night. It wasn't enough to make a snowman but it didn't cause any school cancellations or delays. My kind of snow. I just love snow on the ground. It just makes everything brighter. I can't stand the dark early thing at nighttime. Too depressing.

Hubby finally went to the doctor yesterday for the cough he had since last week. It turns out the poor guy has walking pneumonia. Ugh. It doesn't surprise me that much. The type of cancer he had effects his immune system. We always have to watch when he gets sick or gets an infection. If being sick wasn't bad enough, on Sunday he knocked a crown off one of his teeth while he was eating. (Ever since his chemo he has had nothing but problems with his teeth.) Monday when he went to the dentist they told him they have to extracted the whole tooth out. So tomorrow guess where he is going? It's really not his week. Poor guy!

We heard back from the insurance company. They will give us enough money to replace all of the kitchen cabinets. I wasn't expecting that. In between illnesses and teeth falling out we have been looking at kitchen cabinets. HA! I can't wait to get my kitchen back together. I kind of miss my dishwasher. OK. I really miss my dishwasher. HA! I've been waiting for the water and electric bill to come in the mail. I'm curious if we save a lot more money by not using the dishwasher. We'll see.

Happy Thursday.........

About me....

I figured if you were reading my blog that I would tell you a little about me. I started blogging 3 years ago. The one year anniversary of my brother in law's death was coming up and I wanted a place to write down some thoughts. Our whole family was still grieving his loss and I wanted to just vent. Big time.

I am a stay at home Mom to four kids and two really crazy dogs. I think I could start a blog just on those two dogs. I have one very understanding husband who has to deal with all of us. Poor guy. Some most days I don't know how he does it. Hubby is also a cancer survivor. He was diagnosed with non- Hodgkin's 7 years ago.

The daughters:
Cheerleader is 19. She started her second year in collage. Dating a really nice guy, Copper.
Tornado is 17. She is a senior in high school this year and dreams of being a nurse.
Foo Foo is 16. She is in her second year of high school and thinking of being in the peace corp.
Son:
Bubby is now 4. He is a spitfire most of the time and I wouldn't have it any other way. We also deal with his food issues and processing disorders.

We camp as much as time allows us. Weekend trips you find us local. Our week trip is spent traveling farther away. I think so far my favorite trip has been to Tennessee. When the girls were younger we went more often. We've learned the older they get, the less they want to go. All three of them work. I think this coming spring we might take a break from camping due to their schedules. I will really miss it but it too crazy with all the different work schedules.

In addition to camping and my crazy family my other loves are photography, Sewing, anything mac/apple and anything Vera bradley or coach.

I would really love to hear about everyone else so feel free to leave a comment about yourself too.
*The pumpkin photo is to remind me that it really is fall despite the white stuff on the ground.*

Prayers

I just learned that Little Tuesday lost her cancer battle yesterday. She was only two years old. Please keep this family in your prayers. They have three other children including Tuesday's twin sister. My heart goes out to them.