thanksgiving 2011

we headed to arkansas to spend thanksgiving with jay’s mom and step dad.  i love going to arkansas…when i’m there i completely and totally relaxed.  i don’t worry about meal prep, cleaning, laundry and even the weight of trivial worries like work seem to fade away.  it’s kind of like heaven on earth.

it’s a long drive for us, well long drive with 2 boys, 1 who doesn’t like to sit still for extended periods of time.

we got a little entertainment for the road.

  

on our way down we stopped in fayetteville.  we have stopped before but we spent just a little more time than we have in the past.  their football stadium is incredible.  it’s fun to root for them and i kind of feel like we have a connection since we have family there. 

   

the arkansas razorbacks lost a young football player on the sunday before our visit.  yet again a reminder that life is fragile. 

 

lunch. (hammontrees)  one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches….ever

and after eating a little shopping at the bookstore to get some new Arkansas gear.

once we made it to clarksville we settled in for a long weekend.  we spent time by camp fires

played games

 

did chores

drank lots and lots of coffee :)

watched lots of football…are you shocked?

ate great food (note:  healthy green beans is kind of a joke.  these suckers were loaded with butter and bacon and probably bacon grease :)) i didn’t even get pictures of the desserts

and finally…spending time counting our blessings.

thankful

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I’m looking forward to

rest and relaxation

good food

great company

walks in the woods

cups of coffee with cream

new memories

just being

This year I’m thankful for;

health

that my dad is here to celebrate

my boys…all 3 of them

for God’s grace

school lunch

nothing really big here but just a couple notes i wanted to capture.  i love going to the boys school and seeing what their school environment is like…how they interact with other kids, the choices they make, etc.

today i had the honor of enjoying a little lunch with Mr. Char.  After the kids get their main dish from the lunch ladies, there is a two sided buffet where the kids help themselves to the sides available.  i nearly fell on the floor today when charlie helped himself to mashed potatoes, gravy and peaches.  Seriously…the boy who will eat none of these chose these things on his own…and then actually ate them. 

the 6th graders at mac’s school have jobs to help out around the school and mac currently helps with recess.  So, long story short i also go to see mac while i was at school as well.  he played kickball and basketball with the kindergartners and he swung the rope so that some kindergarten girls could play jump rope.  i’m thinking that might be the only time he has ever played jump rope.  made me even happier that he gave me a hug and said goodbye when he had to head into school.

so it begins…

ER

a week ago we were at mac’s basketball game.  during the game, charlie and a friend were playing football in the hallway.  during this game of catch, charlie had a run in with the wall…actually the corner of the wall…a wall made of cinder block.

there was lots of blood…um lots.  luckily there were 3 doctors that came to our rescue,  calmed charlie down and advised that we would indeed need stitches.  we hurried to childrens mercy.  charlie got 5 stitches in his forehead.  the staff did an amazing job working with him.

this picture is before.  they put a numbing medication over the area surrounding and on the wound and let that set for 30 minutes.  charlie is not a fan of doctors and even though it was magic thread (wink, wink) we opted to give him the happy juice to help him relax.

and after

 

all better and feeling good.

4 days later we headed back to get the stitches removed.  he did phenomenal and no happy medicine required. 

update: Dad

Dad had his 3 month followup CT scan last week and visit with his Dr. on Monday.  The CT showed great news, nothing new and the original mass continues to shrink. 

Dad is taking Tarceva, which is a daily chemo drug that he takes via a pill. At this point, the Tarceva is a maintenance drug and he will be taking it indefinitely.  Dad has had some issues/side affects with this medicine…severe dry skin, skin breakouts and rashes, tiredness (is that a word?) and decreased appetite.  Yet he seems to be adjusting to the med and the side affects are becoming less and less.

He did have a consult with a surgeon about a month and 1/2 ago.  He strongly recommended not doing any surgery.  Dad is doing so well with his current protocol and the surgery that would be required is somewhat experimental with not enough data to show any value of doing in regards to my Dad’s case.

So, he continues with the same protocol and will have another scan in 3 months. 

Halloween 2011

happy halloween…may the force be with you

the boys with my niece and nephew (dean and kenna.)  mac literally threw his costume together in 5 minutes.  he had bought the mullet wig several weeks ago but had abandoned the costume idea of 80’s rocker until it was time to go trick or treating.  this pic makes me laugh out loud.

ode to neewollah

oh neewollah, you never disappoint

a parade that hasn’t changed too much in the 15 years i’ve been attending

a confident young man who beat the rigged basketball game in only 3 tries

carnival rides …that one family member has advised they will never ride again

failed attempts at self portraits

building memories with cousins

            

weekend in words

 

can you say gorgeous weather?  seriously, today might have been the perfect day…i can’t believe it’s october 23.

thursday charlie was honored during the school assembly.  the optimist club works with each school in the district to select a student each month from each grade that exhibits the selected character.  charlie was selected for september in which the character was ‘welcoming ambassador.’

report card time and i am one proud mama.

*i don’t remember if i shared that mac got glasses right before school started.  he usually wears contact, but doesn’t he look extra studious :)

this weekend we:

had cousins over on Friday and tried this dip. oh. my. goodness…you like chocolate chip cookie dough?  yeah, than you better run to the store and get this dip going, you don’t need any company to come to your house to enjoy it. 

spent saturday watching soccer,  ku football* and soccer again.

sunday was soccer, soccer, basketball, chiefs.  yeah, we were a little bored.  at least with all that soccer, charlie’s team won the tournament championship and they got a medal.  it’s all about the medals and/or trophies. Well worth it.

*i will always love my jayhawks, but seriously ku football is killing me.  i hate to say it but how many days till basketball starts?

this week’s insights

i did good marrying the man i did, not only because he is awesome, but so is his family.  they are lovely, inspiring, game changing people.  love them

i just learned that a grande pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks has 7 weight watcher points..holy scheisse…

this summer i went meatless for most of my meals…to the point that i was thinking of becoming a vegetarian.  however, with the cooler weather, i’m craving roast, pork chops, vegetable beef soup, hmmm…maybe i’ll just try to be meatless most of the time

in addition to craving roast, homemade mac and cheese.  you know the real healthy kind that is a bunch of elbow macaroni and hunk of melted velveeta….yum

it’s not good to want that healthy mac and cheese when i haven’t been exercising

i woke up today and want to listen to christmas music so bad.  trying to hold off untill after halloween.  come november 1st, i think i will have it on all the time

loss

we lost Grandpa Bud early monday morning. 

i met Bud 15 1/2 years ago when i took my first trip to independence to meet Jay’s family.  jay had mentioned his grandparents numerous times in our courtship, pete and bud.  you see neither one of them go by there real names, like jay and i.  :)  if i haven’t said it before my memory is really bad so what i remember is little in details.  but i do remember jay kept reminding me that grandma was pete and grandpa was bud and i remember when i left independence, i was in awe of these two people.  both pete and bud welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like i was family, not a visitor

bud and pete built an amazing life for their family of 4 boys and 1 girl.  he was a banker, a horseman, a passionate sports spectator, loved kState, a hero, a fantastic story teller and most importantly he loved his family.  as brooke said, our lives will be forever changed by his loss.

we love you Bud.  Godspeed!

oh fall

oh how i adore you

i will admit i did not want you to come this year.  i was enjoying summer so much. yet here you are and everywhere i go i am reminded why i love you.

color….

the entertainment a few fallen leaves bring

my favorite smells

even coffee tastes a little better in fall.

12 years ago

12 years ago today at 12:31 i became a mom.

to be honest being a mom to you is easy (at least so far) 

you are an old soul in a young man’s body

you are on the verge of another milestone.  in a year you will head to middle school, in a year you will be a teenager.  but those are all a year away and while you like to focus on what will happen next year, let’s first focus on this year.  :)

love you… to the moon and back (are you too old for me to say that?).  i hope and pray that 12 is awesome for you!

 

lady’s man

this story cracks me up

jay and mac are at sportsclips getting their hair cut.  they get to chatting with the stylist and we have a connection in that her niece is in mac’s grade and she has a daughter who is in charlie’s class.  she proceeds to tell jay that the other night she was giving her daughter a bath and while her daughter was playing she mentioned she was making dinner for her husband.  her mom asked, who’s your husband.  “Charlie’ she said. 

so we are concluding that she was speaking about our charlie of course.  really who could resist?

 

‘round here

so we are now down with 3 weeks of school.  we have settled into a pretty good routine.  i don’t really feel like there is much to say.  i downloaded my sd cards so i’ll let the pictures provide the updates.

charlie is playing soccer again this fall.  changes this year include a larger field and goalies.  charlie’s team is green and black which he likes and they chose bulldogs as their mascot.  i am loving this year of soccer so far.  charlie is aggressive and fast…it just feels like your really watching a game vs an itty bitty sport.

 

the boys have been playing a lot of football.  mac has mentioned playing next year which to be honest makes me nervous.  i suppose i will cross the bridge when a final decision needs to be made.

    

fall is coming.  my mums are getting ready to bloom.  all i want are big bowls of soup and warm, crusty buttery bread.

ku home opener.  man i love lawrence, i love being on the hill on game day.