Thankful

My hands were shaking so quickly that I could barely keep up with the text messages flying between me and my dad on the last blustery Sunday afternoon. I had escaped to my bathroom with a "Just gotta change, I'll be back" to the kids who remained downstairs. I knew that the use of the phone would not be a valid idea, as I was trying to hold it together as best as I could, and one word to my dad and I would have lost it. 

When my husband left for the hospital to "check-in" with his parents earlier that morning; we thought it was going to be just that; a chance to see them, say hello, talk with the medical staff, evaluate what was going one, in other words; simple. They had been in the hospital for 24-hours and all test results were coming back negative. Although things were a little puzzling, it wasn't anything to worry about. But that did not stay the case. 

When the kids and I called my husband, as we were driving home from Church, we realized that things had suddenly changed with Grandpa. The conversation through the phone became personal text messages to me. The kids were being filtered. 

My parent's arrived to stay with the kids as we knew the transport of Grandpa to the world renown Trauma Hospital that is (thankfully) in the our big city was not going to be a quick situation. Although my two are Teens, it was important they have their other set of Grandparent's close by, and that they remained as worry-free as possible. 

My father-in-law suffered from a Thoracic Aortic Dissection (Aneurysm). Anyone want to Google that will find that it is a life-threatening situation that many do not make. I am thankful to tell you quickly that my father-in-law is a miracle as he is one of the lucky ones that made it through. 

Ever been in a pinch-me-horror-movie moment? We were in one as we sat in the stale, colorless, artless, windowless room that read "Quiet Room" on the heavy door; florescent lights, a couch, three chairs, and an end table were our only company while we waited for his life-saving surgery to be complete. 

The room was extremely warm. We propped open the door. The hallway just outside was eerily quiet except for the occasional slamming of a door out of sight, and the footsteps of a medical staff worker. We were in the basement. The basement of a very old hospital building that had quick access to the ambulance and helicopter that were the transports to this Urgent Trauma Center. Nothing about the hallways that meandered our way to this location spelled Happy, Welcome, Relax. 

Check this off the Life List. Been here, done that, we are done. Never again, please. 

The doctor appeared shortly after our group family prayer. I immediately heard "He is stable" and could focus on what the next 20-minutes brought in the form of positives and negatives for my father-in-laws condition. He was alive, but it was not going to be a skippy-quick recovery. The road ahead was deemed long, strenuous, with a bunch of unknowns. 

But as she talked, I had peace. I knew that she had never met my father-in-law. What she said was valid, but she had never met the man she was talking about. Because if she had, she would have included in the end of her speech ... "But, your husband, your dad, your kids' Grandpa is not an ordinary man. He is a believer, a fighter and a highly positive individual, and this will get him through."   

About seventeen hours post-op the ventilator was removed and my father-in-law did not miss a beat in providing good humor and laughter in his ICU room. The nurses and doctors were smiling, the family on a bit of euphoria that he was back!! While his body has been through an enormous upheaval, his mind is sharp and he is more than ready to fight back to recovery. 

The road ahead will not be the easiest thing he has ever done, but I am thankful that he has what it takes to make the journey. 

"Overcomer" by Mandisa and the theme song to "Rocky" ... that's for you, R!! Love you!!

Birthday with friends

So maybe the birthday just never ended for my girl, or she just planned a really great weekend!! Her dad and brother agreed to take the RV alone on Friday evening to set up camp and spend the night, so that their daughter and sister could celebrate her 15th with friends at the Mall. It made me happy that it was not a hard sell for the boys to understand the importance of squeezing in this plan the day after her birthday, and not waiting for the next available weekend.

My girl invited two friends, one that she has known since third grade but attends a different school. They are best friends and are so much fun together. The other was a best friend from my daughter's school whom she met last year for the first time and became one of those friends that you feel you have known all your life. My girl knew that although the two friends had never met, she was sure that they would get along, after all, her two best friends were almost identical in personality.

She was right - the two hit it off quickly and by late into the evening one said to the other, "You are so much fun to hang out with. Where have you been?!" It was sweet and made my girl feel good that the two really did enjoy their night.

The mall is my girl's favorite mall which isn't the closest mall to us, but it is worth driving to. The girls shopped for a good while; purchasing clothes for school, and having fun trying on Homecoming Dresses, while I thoroughly enjoyed being on my own doing my own shopping before we met for a dinner break.

Since I was paying for dinner, I didn't really know how to handle the dinner-part. Originally I had hoped that my Bestie could join me at another table, leaving the girls at their table, but she had another commitment. So, my girl insisted that it would be fine if I just sat with them and then it would be easy and less awkward to pay the correct amount, and not worry if I had given my girl enough cash.

Three hours later! we got up from dinner. I know, don't flatter myself that my girl invited me to join them - it was convenient, and that we stayed for three hours, but I will say between me and you, Reader, that it felt great and was a whole lot of fun to be included at my girl's 15th Birthday Party Dinner. Shhhh.

I can't remember all that we chatted about, but it was nonstop with a lot of laughs. After dinner, the girls went back to run a few more shopping purchases and asked me to just come along. We eventually left the mall and headed to her friend's house to drop her off, and spent some more time gabbing with her parents (her mom is the Bestie I referred to earlier, obviously it was a fun way to end the evening) and introducing her to my girl's friend.

My daughter and I came home late and had to pack for our camping the next day, so we didn't get to bed until almost the next morning. But the sacrifice of tired was well worth it, my girl and her friends (and me) enjoyed a fun Friday Night at the Mall.

Another Happy Birthday!

Birthday Camp Out!

Every year our family joins our creative minds to come up with a fun activity to do with our extended family in honor of birthdays ~ my daughter born on September 12th and my son on October 6th. When they were little, we had two family-parties within a month time-span, but as they have aged they "understand sharing" and enjoy celebrating together.

This past weekend was packed full of fun, but some will be saved for individual postings. The idea was that we were going to cross our fingers for great weather and reserve a campsite 30-minutes away. We would spend the night on Friday as a family of four and get organized, and then the rest of the family would join us Saturday night for dinner, beach combing, and bonfire enjoyment. The rest of the family as in a combined total of Seventeen. 

It was a large party at our "sight unseen" campsite but it worked well. Typically, we choose our campsites based on a photo or two on the State Park website for each campground, but this particular campground had zero pictures, just a fill-in-the-blank description and a drawn map of the entire grounds. Luckily, upon arrival, we were pleased with the result given, as we didn't have much to choose from in the way of campgrounds within a short drive from most of our homes.  

Our beach combing was done after an adventurous walk to the beach from the campground. Nobody had driven the route to see distance and terrain, we all just saw the same arrow pointing West when we all drove into the campground. The terrain of the walk was all cement, but the distance was long and all downhill. We all knew that going back would be climb, and guess what ... only my hubby, myself, and the dog went back via foot! How did that happen? Oh yeah, we had to get dinner started and left them on the beach.

The grandparents were the smart ones and drove their cars to the beach, which worked great to get the crew back. But in all honesty, the climb back up was much shorter than what I had anticipated ... something about going someplace the first time always seems longer than the return trip. It was no big deal and everyone could have done the same; but I'm glad they had a lift so the Grandparents could enjoy the beach too. 

A traditional barbecue dinner followed by gifts and cake around the campfire rounded out the evening. The adults, minus my hubby and me, took off for their comfy beds at their homes while we hosted the Teens to a camp-out. We know that our mix of boys and girls could handle sleeping in tight quarters together, since they are all awesome kids and all related ... but because our RV does not sleep nine, we had to split up the party to sleep. 

The two boys and my husband slept in the Tent and the word from the boys was that it was really fun. But I guess what happens in the Tent stays in the Tent because no boy was talking the next morning. It took awhile for the girls to rotate through the bedtime routine sharing one sink in one bathroom, but it was a lot of fun hearing their chatter as they were getting ready for bed. Eventually, all five were done and figured out their sleeping arrangements.

My bed was now clear of all their blankets, pillows, and "stuff" so I shut my bedroom door and crawled into bed. I had anticipated that the girls were going to talk all night about school and boys and that I would secretively hear (because the door isn't that heavy and you can still hear everything - after all, we are close quarters in an RV), but to my disappointment (wink) they turned on a movie and either actually watched it, or fell asleep because the next thing I know - I woke up to my alarm clock going off.

The morning brought fog and mist and the day started charming. My husband made a nice roaring fire, the boys came in to ambush the girls with an early wake-up call, and it all began perfectly. My hubby and I started making breakfast of eggs, pancakes, and bacon with an assortment of drink options, but by the time the meal making was complete the weather had dramatically changed to Thunderstorms and a downpour of rain. We quickly grabbed all the picnic attire, the dishes, the chairs, the tent items, etc etc etc and threw what was absolutely necessary to keep dry into the RV - and tossed all the bedding that was still out, onto our queen bed in the back, and squeezed seven Teens into the small RV kitchen table. That was breakfast. 

Gone was the nice morning walk, the fireside chatter, the tossing of football or the kicking of the soccer ball in the open field in the middle of the campground. But the memory remained positive and all the kids enjoyed their time before it was ready to breakdown camp and head back home. 

We are so thankful that our extended family is adventurous and ready for spending time together. We have fun as a big group, ready to laugh and joke, and have serious conversations too. I am most grateful that my kiddos have Aunts and Uncles to help guide them in their life, and cousins to relate to, and Grandparents to spoil and love on them so deeply. We are thankful. 

Happy Birthday, Children!! Your constant smiles and laughter were proof that this was a great weekend! xoxo  Thank you, Family!!

Happy Birthday Daughter!

Her birthday cake is in the oven, a request of Red Velvet with Cream Cheese frosting like "my Aunt" makes. I, of course, cheated and bought the cake in the box to mix and add to the oven. She knows this and she knows this is what her mother is capable of doing. The love is there - I will be decorating it myself.

My girl turns 15 today. I am not sure how exactly we got to this day, at the edge of distant memories and just like it were yesterday moments. My girl who genuinely smiled at a rapid days-old has never forgotten her catchy smile and sweet personality throughout the years. She is one that fights for what she believes in, to the point where we sometimes have to talk her down to breathe and look at all sides. I never want her passion stomped out, I want her passion to grow and mold her into the person that she will continue to grow to be.

15.

I am not sure if Driver's Ed will happen as quickly as my girl anticipates. That will yet to be determined as neither her dad nor I are anxiously waiting to be the first in line to register her for class. My girl behind the wheel. Do I really want to take that giant leap of faith just yet?! I prefer her on the Right Side of the car, safely buckled in without a worry of her being in control of anything mechanical. She is capable, but I am not sure her parents are emotionally ready. I hear it is the biggest step of faith in parenthood. I believe it.

We ceased the Themed Birthday Parties awhile ago. Looking through our photo books, and this Blog, it was always so much fun to spend the time and creativity of pulling off a Theme she had picked. It was never a surprise, she was always in on the planning, and that made it very fun. She would sparkle when it was time to plan her parties.

Tomorrow two friends will be joining her for a night of shopping at her favorite mall. It brings back memories of my youth - it seemed like I was always at the Mall with my best friend, and if it wasn't my best friend, it was spent with my mom. Genuine good memories. I am glad that my girl can start making some of those similar memories of her own.

15.

I love you, Daughter,

I am so proud of every ounce of your character. No one is perfect, and I am so glad that all of your imperfect sides are just ways to grow and change into the young adult you are quickly headed toward being. Your spunk for life, your humor, your charm, the sparkle in your eye when you tell a really good story are all qualities that make me smile and fill my day with so much joy. I look forward to our car-time-chats, you never seem to hold back on story after story, and even though there are times when I "don't get it" I am so grateful that you keep sharing anyway. I am learning as we go. Thank you for being a serious student, for having future goals in life, for being picky, and for being honest. You are an amazing and inspiring person, and your dad and I are very joyful that God gave us YOU!! 

Happy Happy 15th Birthday, Chicka!!

~Mom

No longer toys

I can not tell you specifically where I have been today, but I will tell you it was not in the Toy Department. Gone are the days birthday gifts were purchased on toy store aisles, debating with myself if my daughter would rather have the Fisher Price Doll House Bathroom, or Living Room set. I have exchanged picking up toys strewn across my family room floor, to young women and men's sizes 7.5 and 8 shoes. No longer staying home for Quiet Time at 1:00p, I am still busy running errands with only our toddler puppy in tow.

I used to remember calling my husband towards the end of the day, secretly crossing my fingers that he would say, Yes, I am on my way home, so that the last bit of stay-at-home-mommy-role-with-toddlers was doable. There were days that I needed an instant break as soon as he walked in, and then other days when life just seemed to work and I could manage a good dinner, bath time, and bedtime, while he enjoyed a turn of relaxing from a hard day outside of the house.

Now those end of the day phone calls are made to double check that we are in the right place at the right time whether that is practice, lessons, or classes ... some one in our family has something going on most nights of the week, and sometimes that means tag-teaming. But the check-in are not to say "Help me escape" it is "Let's do this together" while we enjoy the conversation of our Teens.

While I would not replace any part of my children's growing up years: the terrible threes, the whining fives, the giggling sevens, or the attitude tweens ... I will admit that it would be fun to travel back in time and visit their voice, their laughter, heck ~ even their misbehavior for a chance to keep them where they are right. now.

Growing up fast is an understatement. I was reminded of this over the weekend when my oldest Niece drove her mom and herself over in my Niece's new car. Not a Tricycle, but a four-wheel-steering-wheeled-engined-car. And then for my Niece to follow-up in conversation, "Ohh - I can't wait for next year when my cousin will be at my school!!!" Her cousin is my girl. The first and only time the two will be on the same campus pre-College is when my Niece is a SENIOR.

No longer toys.

They do grow-up.

Winner Pickin' Dinner

My husband has been involved in a Fantasy Football League for the past 20-years. That is well before children. The league has changed from time to time, and his involvement went from looking at the Sunday PAPER to get his scores, to online "everything done for you". But he has always enjoyed it.

This year, to my shock and surprise, he decided that he would take a break. I am not sure if the entire league decided this, or just my hubby.

Or so we thought.

It hadn't even been a week of his announcement to me when our son picks up a Fantasy Football instruction page from our Orthodontist. My son filled it out the best he could, got his dad to help him fill in the rest, and we turned it in.

Three days after that, while we were camping over Labor Day Weekend, my kids randomly state that they should start a Fantasy Football League within the family. So, the three sat down and started organizing their teams, and my husband got out our Tablet and started getting the website info all set up for the electronic version of Fantasy to track everything.

(it is obvious I know very little about how this work, even twenty years later).

The next thing I know, they are picking team names, and user names to go online, and somehow they need another team to make it 4 in the League and now I am signed up too.

Today was the opener of the NFL Season. And while our family all supports the same NFL Team (our own city team), there was an added level of interest over players on other "real" teams. Eventually it was mentioned that someone in our family was beating someone else in our family and the good natured teasing began and someone said, "Too bad we don't have any money on the table for the winner of the season!"

So then it was quickly decided ... "Winner Pickin' Dinner" ... the winner gets to choose the dinner, eating out or eating in, so long as it is under $100. Done.

As my son was quickly headed out the door to hang outside he said, "I'll be choosing Top Ramen and keeping the other $99 for myself!!!"

Too smart. So we quickly added the rule that that was not allowed.

So far, my hubby is winning ... but I have no idea how.

First day of school

As the kids continue to get older, there is no longer the over excitement of going school supply shopping, finding out their schedules, and thinking about the first day of school. While they like to see their friends, they know the academic load and expectations are more the focus of what "starting school" is all about.

My daughter started her Freshman Year - but she is not on the High School Campus. That will happen next year for her. Instead, our district has a 2-year Junior High school, and her class is now the top-peeps on campus.

She is taking Advanced Math Algebra II, and got the teacher she was hoping for. I think she will find this class to be challenging, but enjoyable because the teacher seems like he is fair and easy to understand (finally).  She is also taking Pre-AP Lit and her reading/writing assignment during the summer was a good fresh start. I am confident she will thrive in this class; this has always been an interest of hers. The other classes are standard core classes of Science, State History, Health, Aerobics, and a class called Choices for Life. Stayed tuned about that one.

My son started his 7th grade year, and our District has a 2-year Middle School, so he too is a top-peep at his campus. Our Middle School does a Team Approach to dividing up the students per grade level. The theory is that there is a Team of teachers that teach the same Team of kids and everyone will learn better as the Teachers can collaborate their classes to fit into each other in scheduling tests/assignments/curriculum, and they can discuss each student. Each Team has approximately 120 students that rotate through the same Teachers during the day (but not at the same time; one student may have the English teacher first, while their friend may have that same English teacher third).

During the summer I had hoped that my son would not be on the Team with just 2-core teachers, compared to the standard 4-core teachers (gym and electives are not part of any Team, they end up teaching everyone in the building). I thought it would be limiting and feel more like Elementary School. Not only that, he would also only have 60-peers on his Team, and what if they were not good influences (I wasn't worried about him making new friends if his friends did not get on the same Team).

Guess what? My son got on the 2-core teacher Team. It was only about a two minute delay from disappointment to happy when the volume of his close peers came up to him at orientation to say that they too were on the same Team. And then, during Open House this week (I know!! So early, but yet so smart!! Start the year off quickly with the knowledge from the Teachers. I LOVE our fairly new Principal - he has done so many positive and smart changes), we heard from the 2-core teachers and this will be a fantastic year. Stay tuned about that ...

Although the first day of school was cloudy and rainy, and my pictures look like they were taken before the sun rose (they were), and my students were forcing their smiles and dragging themselves to the car to head to their respective school buildings - they honestly had a great first day, and their following days have continued to get better and better.

This is going to be a great school year!

Go with the flow

My daughter finally got the springs that were put on here out of her mouth at the end of August. What was going to be a marvelous day and celebration, turned out to be a shock. She was not happy and through frustration on the ride home, asked to turn around and get the Spring put back in; a true sign she was disappointed.

The Springs had done the job of moving her jawline, but in order to keep it there she was assigned rubber bands. Now, she knew this going into the appointment, but she didn't realize how tight the rubber bands were going to be. They were worse than the Spring. She was certain that she could not open her mouth any wider to talk, or smile, and her life was ruined.

I never thought I would be thankful for the adult-use of being in braces until that moment when I could talk her through how the rubber bands worked. It was very fresh in my mind, and I knew from experience that her thoughts and ideas were going to be proven wrong. It helped that I had them recent enough (and she remembers) that she believed what I said, and it wasn't "But that was in the dark ages, it is different now.", or "You can't remember that far back when you had them as a Teen!". We had a good discussion on the way home, and figured out her plan for wearing them once school started. She didn't turn around to be overjoyed, but she was able to focus that this really wasn't going to be that bad.

By dinner time, she was laughing and having a great evening with her brother, who I credit of getting her out of her bad mood. I don't know what he had texted her, but the two were laughing in the family room together, not saying a word, but only looking at their respective phones, and then somehow it escalated into hiding around the house scaring each other.

Now, my girl does not like to be scared by her brother, but thank goodness my son had figured out a way to get her loosened up for a fantastic night of scare back and forth. It made her laugh and flex that mouth with rubber bands in ... which made her realize that rubber bands were really not the death to her social life.

Thanks, Little Bro!!

And speaking of, Little Bro got an Ortho appliance in his mouth in mid-August to hold his bottom teeth in line while he looses his last three baby teeth and the permanents grow in. Once they are in, the braces will be put on.

My kiddos are growing up and learning how to go with the flow of Orthodontics.

August Lakeside

We had the train tickets purchased, our schedules had been organized, our minds had been set on a warm, adventurous California vacation when suddenly we found ourselves lakeside just an hour across the mountain range from our house; train tickets cancelled, no California.

The trip that we had longed for, wished for, and hoped - to see our first Puppy in Training for Canine Companions for Independence Graduate - did not come true. Our puppy, Haddie, did not find a human-match as we had thought, so there was no need to travel to California for the August Graduation. However, she is still working hard in Advanced Training, and we are crossing fingers for a November trip.

Our Lakeside camping adventure was not a sunny ocean coastline, but it did provide the perfect relaxation after an emotional roller coaster. It was just what we needed.

The trip started after days of Thunder and Lightening storms had peaked our area. As we drove over the Mountains the dark clouds resumed, lightening in the distance, thunder above us. We continued forward, but by the time we reached the campsite, the storm was directly above us with horrendous rain that felt like someone had turned on a fire hose and pointed it right at us.

We waited a bit for it to stop before we set up our RV on level ground, and got hooked up with power, water, and sewer functions, but it was still raining heavily enough to make it laughable. A first for us, to set up in the rain. It proved to be a good learning experience and area of good communication for our family.

We also found that "for whatever reason" the skylight vent that is right above our bed leaked, and our bed was soaked. There was no way we were going to sleep in a wet bed, so I went to work in blow drying the sheets and comforter with my hair dryer. Thankfully, we have enough layers on the bed with a mattress pad and sheets, that it never went through to the final layer of the actual bed "mattress". Whew! The blow dryer worked, and thirty minutes later we had a dry, warm bed to jump into later that evening.

The sun finally came out to stay by dinner time and the days were warm and the nights lovely the rest of our mini vacation lakeside.

One of the things that I enjoy about our family is that we do like spending time with one another. We don't do "much" while camping, but we always seem to find some random thing to occupy our time. We are a creative gang.

My son - the one who can not sit and do nothing (he is not overactive, he just likes to be active) realized that this campsite had an over abundance of squirrels and chipmunks. So, with the creative help of his dad, the two went to work on building a trap to catch one.

I promise, absolutely no animals were harmed in this all-day-camping-adventure because the critters are too clever, too smart, and way too fast. A few times it looked as though one would be in the box, but every time it was lifted, there was no sweet critter inside - and we'd turn left or right and find it nibbling on what had been in the box, and starring at us with a smirk.

This was also the time when we had a gorgeous meteor shower, so we set our alarm clock for 2am and took advantage of the deep blue sky with the stars shinning everywhere. We saw shooting stars as a family for the first time and it was fantastic. My son was all-questions, the rest of us smirking and trying our best to answer them, when really we just wanted it quiet and serene. But I am so glad that we were all up for going outside in the pitch dark to witness this memorable event.

August Lakeside was just what we needed to kick start our emotions to a higher level after the let down of not being able to see Haddie. That day will come, and the memory we have at this campsite will always remain too.

Cousin Time

A photo journal

First Extended Family Camping Trip

July 2013