Sunday, January 25, 2009

And the beat goes on.....



And the beat goes on is the phrase printed on the back of Caden's new "heart surgery survivor" tshirt. Caden and Channing both had their checkups with the cardiologist this past week and we received nothing but GREAT news!!! Channing's heart has healed all by itself which means he has been completely released from the cardiologist!!!!! My heart is FULL!! I am so thankful that he doesn't have to endure heart surgery! Our other good news is that Caden doesn't have to go back to see the cardiologist for TWO, yes, TWO years!!! How blessed we are to be at this point in our lives! Caden still has other health/communication issues that we deal with, but the heart is good! Look how far we've come! The pictures above were taken when Caden was just two days old! What a miracle!!!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Basketball Fever...


WOW!! Basketball season has kicked in and things are gettin crazy!!
Casey plays high school basketball and the boy scored 30 points at the game the other night! Talk about exciting!! I don't know where he gets his moves, but the boy knows some moves and loves the game!
Em is playing her second year of basketball and she's pretty darn good too! She can handle that ball and plays some mean defense!! Oh, and then there's Cam! This is her first year to play and she scored the first goal of the first game! She too can handle the ball like a pro!
Where do my children get this ability?? They were all born knowing how to play ball. I just don't get it. Whether or not I get it, doesn't matter, it's so awesome to sit back as a parent and watch them play and hear myself cheer them on! (especially when they have the ball) I think, yeah, that's MY kid!

The love of the game.

The cheer of the crowd.

The look on their face when they know they've done their best.

Basketball...
It doesn't get better than this!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

TIME, where does it go?

Time flies too fast! I thought I would be able to update everyday, but there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to get everything done. It is getting hard to schedule some ME time, so , not everyone is happy! Let's see, it's wake up, wake everyone else up, fix breakfast, iron clothes(I keep running out of time to do this at night!), walk back and forth, room to room making sure that all are still awake and eating, remind everyone go brush their teeth when they are done eating, who's first to go, who's last, who's ready for their hair, fix hair, look through backpacks, decide who is eating lunch at school and who is bringing lunch from home, pack lunches, find money, stop to change a diaper or wipe a runny nose, stop to give medicine/inhalers, find socks, find shoes, sign papers, make sure everyone has a coat, go crank the van, come back in, finish hair, finish putting coats on, look for a pacifier/blankie, put socks BACK on the baby, watch the clock, put everyone in the van, make sure that everyone is still in the van when we are backing up, drive to school, drop everyone off, look for paci that got chunked into the bushes as we walked back outside, watch the buses, get in the van, drive back home, coats off, hungry baby, feed baby, lay baby down for nap, fall on the coach and take a breather, eat breakfast, clean morning mess, look at the dishes in the sink(they can wait), start a load of laundry but have to decide what to wash first, start laundry, make sure oldest is up and off to school(college), clean up trains that are all over the floor, pick up pj's that are everywhere, wipe up toothpaste mess, find me some clothes for the day, take a bath, get ready, baby is stirring around, got to hurry with MY hair, don't know why I am even worrying about fixing MY hair cause there's no where to go and nothing to do(outside the home), baby wakes up, change diaper, baby is hungry again, fix snack, baby does NOT want mommy on the computer, but sitting next to him watching Elmo or Super Why, watch tv until it is safe to sneak out of the room, clean up snack mess, find clothes for baby, give baby a bath, clean up mess, play with baby, try to get on computer again, successful!, oh no, here comes baby!, got to check email fast, get off computer, baby is fussy, don't know why, teething?, possible, who knows, maybe it is his ear, cant find baby's giraffe, here it is, happy baby again, clean up the soggy cereal bowl that got left on the table, notice some crumbs that didn't get swept up, sweep, again, sippy cup found on floor leaking, clean it up, baby wants more drink, get NEW sippy cup, baby happy, oh dear, it's already time for lunch, find something for lunch, fix lunch, feed baby, feed ME, clean up lunch mess, time to lay baby down for nap, switch laundry, start a new load, answer phone, talk to husband, check on future doctor appointments, check calendar, look at the dishes again(later), sort laundry into colors, straighten girls room, get on computer, check blogs, websites, email, talk on phone, try to decide what to cook for dinner, make arrangements to take one child to the orthodontist, wake baby early, change diaper, time to pick kids up from school, give baby a snack, sit in van and visit with friend while I wait for kids to get off the bus, say hi to Nana, get kids, drive to next school, get next kid, drive home, get home, listen to kids fuss, kids are tired and hungry, get kids a snack, move shoes/backpacks out of the middle of the floor, put on a movie for the little guys, tell girls to start picking out clothes for next day, clean up snack mess, oh no!, I look at the dishes again(later), switch laundry, fold clothes, put clothes in rooms, change a diaper, answer the phone, move baby away from trains, clean up trains that baby knocked off the table, put baby's socks back on, see if anyone has ball practice, go to ball practice, fight little ones, come home, exhausted, cook dinner, listen to everyone gripe about not liking it, clean up dinner, oh yeah, those dishes, husband gets aggravated, does the dishes himself, sorry, oops, I'll try better, get baths going, homework going, TRY to iron clothes at night, change baby into pj's, get all in bed, ready to start a new day.... WHERE DOES THE TIME GO???

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Out with the old, in with the new...

What a better way for ME to spend the very last day of the year but by shopping and eating good food! We decided to take off out of town for the day since we only had the "little boys" with us. Caden has been wanting to go to Target and Wendy's during the entire Christmas break, so we went just for him so he could pick out a new Thomas the train to add to his collection! Of course, we couldn't have gone just to Target & Wendy's, so we also headed to the mall and you can't stop at the mall and not buy candy from the candy shop! So we loaded down with candy and cookies and everyone was happy. We also stopped and ate at the Kracker Barrel and everyone (me) was happy. The drive home was spent thinking to myself, what a wonderful day! 2008 was a pretty good year for us. It had it's moments, but overall, it was good. 2008 brought new milestones and deep thought with it. My oldest son graduated from high school and started college, and my baby boy took his first steps! Where does the time go? Now, as we focus on 2009, we will be preparing to send our oldest son off on a mission for two years. We are also hoping for answers to our unanswered questions regarding Caden and his abnormal chest xrays. It's been a whole year now with no answers to what and why. We will also be taking the two "little boys" for check ups with the cardiologist. We are hoping the baby has a "healed heart" and that Caden will continue to always receive good reports. I am looking forward to 2009 as I will try to face it with a positive attitude. I will try to be "better" at who I am and who I want to be. So long 2008, hello to 2009! We welcome you with open arms....