2 new nieces!

I'm about a week late announcing that I'll have two new nieces by August. Both Amanda and Kim found out last week that they are expecting girls! Maybe it's in the water? I guess that I'll have to enjoy my three nieces (including Elizabeth) and buy pink for them!

So far this week...

Joshua turned 6 yesterday! After the Easter party, we loaded up and headed to the Mall of Georgia. Every time we saw a construction vehicle, Caleb would yell "digger!" He is obsessed! Matt was on his way back from a training in Atlanta, so we met him at Chili's for lunch. He was traveling with another guy from work, so after lunch, Phil headed back towards Cornelia and Matt got to stay with us. Joshua had his "favorite food in the whole world" for lunch - steak. Then, they sang Happy Birthday to him and gave him a big bowl of ice cream. My plan had been to go to Toys R Us and get Joshua a new bike, then we were going to go across the street and let the boys play at Chuck E. Cheese for a while before heading home. It didn't work out...they didn't have the bike we wanted at TRUs in Buford, so we had to drive to Gwinnett. We got the bike, but we didn't have time for Chuck E. Cheese. They did get to ride the bulldozer in the store, and it was just as good as going to Chuck E. Cheese! Joshua wanted to get home and ride his new bike anyway.
We finished up school this morning, and the boys are outside playing in the dirt. Luke is sitting on the floor emptying the entire toy basket around him. The oven is in self-clean mode making the house smell, so I have the windows open, at least the temp is nice and a gentle breeze is blowing. I also have a load of towels in the laundry, but you'll have to read the story below about Caleb to know why. ;-) Luke has learned to pull up this week. :-) He also has learned to fall flat back in the crib and hit his head. :-( He needs to work on the sitting back down!
Joshua is amazing me at school work. He is reading! It is so neat to see him learning new things. This year, I used a standard textbook approach with books from a very reputable company used by many private Christian schools. I have decided to change next year and use a program called "Animals and Their Worlds" from WinterPromise. It is a year long study of animals across the world, and it comes with a literature package, language arts, and science. I'll buy a separate math program, and I think I know what I'm going to get, but I haven't bought it yet. Jean is still doing well, just tired. She has her 2nd dose of chemo next Wednesday in Gainesville. We are hoping that she will continue to do as well with this next round.

So, I'm sure you are all wondering about Caleb this week? I won't let you down. He clogged up the toilet with toilet paper when he was "wiping" his "bottom". I tried the plunger for a couple of days while Matt was out of town, and although the water would slowly go down, it wasn't unclogged. Last night, Matt tried his luck, and after overflowing the toilet, he finally got it unclogged. So, now you know why I am washing towels!

So, that's it for now. Joshua's Star Wars birthday party is Saturday, and I'll try to post pictures soon.

A true soccer mom!

I think it just hit me yesterday that I have become a true soccer mom! When we went to Joshua's soccer game Tuesday, and I saw a group of moms from another team that had shirts made to match, and on the back they said "soccer mom". I thought they were cute and went about my way. Then, yesterday when I went to Joshua and Caleb's Easter pary at mother's morning out, I realized that I am a stay at home, minivan driving, homeschooling, soccer mom of three boys. I actually smiled to myself when I thought about it. I truly enjoy what I do now. Sure, there are times when I get frustrated with the boys' behavior or the state of my house (I really thought that I'd be able to keep the house clean, ha!). But, overall, I feel truly blessed to be doing what I'm doing.

The week in review

Sometimes I think that I should have a blog just for Caleb, since he seems to be the topic of most entries. But, in order to keep my life as simple as possible, I'll just continue to include his stories here, and I'll try to give more "air time" to the other members of the family.

Joshua played in his second soccer game for the season. He is so cute running after the ball. He's not very aggressive though, so another little boy, Mason, gets away with the ball most of the time. I think Mason got 15 goals, but who's counting? They don't keep score at this age, thank goodness! At least Mason is on our team! Here is Mason and Joshua trying to get the ball from the other team, and another picture of Joshua coming through the "cheer line" after the game (Mason is in the front and Joshua's in the back).Luke had a great week too. I am amazed at what a good mood he is in when he wakes up from his naps. I had to take a picture of his sweet smile in bed.
I found the neatest thing at our local consignment sale this week. It is a mesh pouch attached to a handle. I have seen them before, but I've never tried one. I put a banana in it this morning, and Luke oohed and aahed his way through the whole thing!I had a busy week myself too. I volunteered at the consignment sale in order to get a ticket to shop the night before the sale. They had over 250 sellers this week selling all children's stuff. This happens twice a year, just in time to shop for spring/summer and fall/winter. It's also a great time to catch up with other moms and shop in peace (no kids are allowed at the presale!). I celebrated another birthday this week. Mom took us to lunch and made me a cake, I got a free car wash and vacuum from the local car wash, Matt brought me roses and a certificate for a manicure and pedicure. The boys climbed into bed with me a wished me Happy Birthday. Dad came by to visit on his way home from Brasstown Valley. Overall, it was a very nice day.


I can't write a whole blog entry without reference to my sweet Caleb. His teachers said that he was the best ever on Wednesday! Wow!

Lastly, I have to add a funny story...I left Caleb in the tub by himself for a few minutes while I took Luke to dress him for bed. Joshua was still out with Matt. I came back to find my big tub full of bubbles and just Caleb's head sticking out. I surveyed the room to see how many soap bottles I could find. one, two, three...yes, three bottles of bubbles, empty on the floor. Angered and about to burst out laughing, I tried calmly to ask Caleb which bottle he used, as I held up one, he said "yes", two "yes", and three "yes". He was so happy and excited about his bubbles. I had to let him enjoy the bubbles until Joshua got home and could share the fun. I couldn't waste them! Yet another reason not to leave Caleb unattended for any amount of time!

Boys will be boys!

We had rain on Thursday night, so it created quite a bit of mud at the bottom of our driveway. We share part of our driveway with the entrance to the pasture. Part of it is paved, but where it splits off to go to the pasture is not paved. That's where they found the mud. Joshua said it was slimy, but I say it was stinky. They were already barefoot in it and making mud pies when Luke and I decided to go for a walk to the mailbox. When they came home, I made them strip in the garage before I carried them to the bathtub. They smelled so bad, and the only thing that I kept thinking was that they had been playing in mud that was mixed with cow manure! Oh well, they had fun, and I don't think they ate any of it, although it was in Caleb's hair.


This morning Caleb climbed in bed with us and went back to sleep. A few minutes later, he mumbled something about a "skid steer man". Caleb has been saying lately that when he grows up, he wants to be a skid steer man (meanly he wants to drive large equipment). I guess he's also dreaming of his future! For those of you who don't know, a skid steer is a piece of equipment about the size of a tractor, but it looks sort of like a small bulldozer. The front can be changed out to hold a hay spear, fork lift, loader, scraper or other items. It really comes in handy around the farm, and Caleb cries anytime Daddy or Papa is riding without him (they buckle him into the seatbelt with them and are enclosed in a cage).

David and Jean are headed home!

Jean had her port inserted on Monday. She had an appointment with her Dr. moved up from Thursday to yesterday morning, and she had her first chemo treatment today. She finished it up, and they started home. Her Dr. has given her medicine to ease the potential nausea, and he told her that her hair will probably fall out in the next week. We will be looking for cute hats! They also told her that her white and red blood count will probably fall, so she has to be careful about being around anyone sick. She is planning to be back at school on Friday. She will have a chemo treatment every 3 weeks in Gainesville until June when she has another appointment in TX. Then, I think she will go to once a week for another 12 weeks. That's all I know until she gets home.

Luke crawls - video

Here is a short video of Luke learning to crawl. He is so proud of himself. Now he can start to get into trouble like his big brothers!


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Jean's own website

I set up Jean's own website, so I won't have to write everything second-hand and worry about getting it wrong. I don't think that she has posted anything more than her introduction, but hopefully, we will see more soon. Please check in with her site and sign the guestbook, I know that she would love to see that others are thinking of her. I also added her link to my list of "friends who blog".

Jean update

David and Jean have spent this week in Houston for more tests and dr appts. They found a spot on her spine and lung that is considered "precancerous." So, that will change the treatment approach, but we don't know how just yet. She has another MRI tonight, and she is scheduled to have her port installed Monday morning. She has an appt for the treatment plan on Thursday, but we are hoping that once her port is installed that they will go ahead have the treatment plan appt and get her first round of chemo going and send her home. She has been told that she can have her remaining chemo treatments locally. I don't think that has changed. The dr is still encouraging, so we are trusting them and praying for the treatment to be succesful.

Caleb...The Next Emeril?

Caleb has always been one to just "take matters into his own hands." It drives me crazy that he won't ask for permission or for help with some things. Anyway, yesterday (as I was paying the bill for his CT scan), he came to me holding a sandwich. He proudly told me that it was a jelly and cheese sandwich. I went into the kitchen and found the evidence on the floor. He had even tried to pull off the crust which is hard considering he used the end piece of the loaf of bread. So, I had to congratulate him on his creation and clean up the mess. He actually ate it all! Oh, I just realized that he is not wearing a shirt in this picture, I have no idea why! Joshua has started soccer again. His first game is next week, so I'll try to post a good soccer picture. He is growing up so fast! Luke is also growing quickly. He has started crawling, the army crawl, sort of dragging his legs behind him. I don't think it will be long before he will have his bottom up and be on his way. If I can figure out how to upload a video, I'll do it. Any advice from you veterans would be appreciated.

Another Caleb-ism

I teach Caleb's sunday school class, and I have a college aged girl who helps me. Yesterday, she was trying to get Caleb to say his name, and it went something like this...
Allyson: "Can you tell me your name?"
Caleb: "Tay-leb"
Allyson: "Can you tell me your full name?"
Caleb: "Taaay-leb"
Allyson: "No, tell me what your mama calls you when you are in trouble."
Caleb: "Tay-leb James, what have you done"
I just about fell out of my chair! Matt said later (with a big grin on his face), "He didn't get that from me!" I guess that I'll have to be more careful next time Caleb gets into something!

Update on Jean

I was about half way through a post on Jean when somehow my computer restarted itself.

Anyway, David, Jean, and Matt left out Monday evening for the drive to Houston. Matt decided to go with them to help with the driving and get them settled in. Jean had been told to plan to stay for at least a week. So, Matt was going to fly back today, but when they arrived, Jean had tests scheduled for Wed and Thur and nothing else until NEXT WED! So, they are driving back tonight and planning to go back next Tuesday and come home again next Thursday, crazy, huh?

So, they have checked her over and feel that she has caught this at the early stages; however, because this is an aggressive cancer, they are going to treat it aggressively. Right now, from what I understand, they plan to treat her with 24 weeks of chemo (I don't know the frequency), then surgery (one side only, I think), followed by a month of radiation, and more chemo. Whew!

I will post more when I get more info. We are encouraged by the initial information, but we realize that there is a huge hill to climb. Jean also had a full body scan today and will not get those results until next week. We are praying on the "all clear" from the rest of the body.