The Crazyness Continues...

So mom got her last IV antibiotic treatment on Wednesday, January 20th. She went back on Thursday to get the final OK on the staff infection. She also mentioned to him that her hip is still bothering her from when she hurt it last September. (She stepped out of a grain truck really hard.) She had gone to the doctor then, but they just said that it wasn't out of place and to see if it would go away. Well, the doctor ordered a bone scan to be done in Kirksville on Tuesday, January 26th. They got the results later that day and it showed up as bone cancer in her pelvis. We all got really worried because she had just at a PET scan exactly 1 month before and everything showed up as clear. Now all of a sudden this pain that she'd had for 4 months was cancer. Well, they also sent the results to her oncologist and after looking them over he said that it wasn't cancer. He felt it was arthritis that she had aggravated back in September. He recommends that she go ahead and have radiation anyway because it could help with her mobility and pain. She has another appointment on February 3rd for her 12 week post brain surgery MRI scan. Hopefully the same spots from her 6 week scan. The woman needs a break!!

Oh the home front, we have all had the flu this weekend and week. Lydia started on Saturday, I started on Sunday evening, and Gail started early Monday morning. It took about 3 days for each of us to completely get over it. Lydia is growing like a weed. She now knows the alphabet song and will sing the entire thing with only a little help. We are all ready for warmer weather (I won't say spring, but just something about 35).

Until next time...

Crazy Beginnings...

The beginning of my New Year has been pretty rough:

To start things off, my grandfather passed away on January 2. It was his 93rd birthday. His name was Paul Franklin. He lived an amazingly full life. He loved to fish, hunt, spend time with his family, and tease or joke with anyone who would listen. He'd been fighting congestive heart failure for a couple of years. I consider myself blessed to of had him in my life. I also consider myself blessed to be almost 30 (did I really just type that) and to still have a grandparent around. My Grandpa Mohr died in 1994, Grandma Mohr is 1997, Grandpa Franklin in 2010, and I still have Grandma Franklin. My husband only had 1 grandparent alive when he was born, but he doesn't remember them at all. Lydia still prays for Grandpa Franklin every night. It is sweet and brings a smile to my face each time.

A week after Grandpa died, my mother ended up in the emergency room. Her arm was bright red and she was in terrible pain. It turned out to be a sever case of staff infection in her arm that was spreading to her torso. It only took a couple of hours to get that bad. He was in the hospital for 5 days, and then had to continue to go back for IV antibiotics. She's is such a strong person. It seems like once something gets under control another thing pops up.

This past weekend went by with anything major happening. I was relieved. Hopefully the rest of 2010 will remain calm.

Until next time...

Vacation...

I have absolutely LOVED this vacation. We've visited family and friends, played, watched movies, made special treats, cleaned, and had a great time as a family. The only think we haven't done that I'd like to is play in the snow and build a snowman. The days we were home were too cold to be outside and the days we were gone were beautiful. Maybe tomorrow will be the day. I'll post pics later from out Christmases. What have you enjoyed doing over the vacation?

School Christmas Gifts...

At Christmas time each year it is customary to make a gift for parents. In the past we've made ornaments and picture frames. The items that I've used to make the ornaments you can no longer from from Oriental Trading. I know, I know... I thought you could get anything from that place also, but no. The frames that we've made in the past are kind of cheesy. So this year, my partner teacher and I found these really neat frames that are black. When students scratched away a design on them the background is all different colors. I thought this was a lot cooler than the other frames, but no. They are even cheesier. (Is that even a word?) So right before Christmas we were scrounging around trying to find something to do that was easy enough for students to make, cheap enough because I'm not made of money, and something that would not drive me CRAZY in the making process. I decided - candy! What is better at Christmas time than some homemade candy and snacks. We divided our classes into smaller groups. We've got pretzel dipper groups, pretzel wrapper groups, ribbon cutter groups, puppy chow making groups, puppy chow bagging groups, and pass out candy groups. I tried to think of a group for everything so I didn't have 12 people trying to make each thing. The kids are excited. The pretzels turned out great. I only burnt the chocolate in the microwave twice - smelly!! Today we are going to wrap them and make the puppy chow. Wish us luck. I've already taken extra headache meds to get me through.

Christmas is a Coming...

I feel like I way behind for this Holiday Season. I've had the decorations and trees up since right before Thanksgiving, I wrapped all the gifts right after Thanksgiving, but I still feel lost. I have made Christmas cookies, but no icing yet. I've addressed all the cards, but don't have stamps to mail them. We haven't written out letter to Santa yet either. This week is busier than I even imagined at work and we have to make our parent gifts. So much to do, so little time.

Awana Program Funny...

Sunday night my niece and nephew (Hayden and Claudia) were in the Awana program at the Lancaster Christian Church. Lydia was really excited to see Claudia on stage. Hayden was a tree and she didn't recognize him. She also was excited to see Aunt DeeDee playing the piano and kept calling out her name. The two funniest moments were when she realized there was a Christmas tree with lights on it. She yelled that there was a tree and wanted to go tough the lights. A little later she saw Dram-a and Papa sitting in a pew across the church and hollered that out to me. A few people down from them was a lady and a baby. Lydia goes, "Look mommy! Baby Jesus and her mommy!". It was so cute!!

Lydia's Little Funnies...

I know one day I'll forget all of the cute things that Lydia says so I figured I'd write them in a place where I'll (hopefully) always have them and share them with you.

• She called her pacifier her "firefire".
• When you ask her if she wants something that she doesn't want, she says "NO, don't want it".
• She always have to sleep with her "bankit".
• When they dogs are barking she yells at them to stop.
• If they are excited and barking at Gail, she yells that them that that is her daddy.
• She'd eat applesauce for every meal if I'd let her.
• Her names for people: Darla - DeeDee, Claudia - Claudiaudia, Grandma Jerri - Dama, Grandpa Stanley - Papa, Grandma Mary - Mimmy. There are many others.
• She loves to talk on the phone to people and will just walk off with the phone talking away.
• She loves to go check the cows with daddy and seeing the baby camel (Thunder - Funder).
• When she wants to you carry her around she'll stand with her arms up and say "Hold you, hold you".
• She likes to be in the bathroom with you while you are taking a shower or going to the bathroom. Now that she can open the doors it's a little awkward.

I'll have to add more to the list later because it's a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy.