Party Girls

Savannah clearly had a great time with her BFF's at Hannah's birthday party. Around 10:00 pm our front door flung open and a bunch of giggling crazies stumbled in. Savannah was the first in the door and poor Addy was completely taken off guard when she saw this scary looking girl run inside. It didn't even look like Savannah so Addy let out a scream and that sent me running from the office to the foyer to investigate. Looks like they were all having a blast. Their next stop was the store for more goodies to keep their sugar highs going. I was glad that I wasn't the mom being dragged through the Wal-mart with this noisy bunch of crazies! It does bring back fond memories of those carefree preteen years! Happy Birthday Hannah, We Love You.

Bowling Buddies

On Sunday we all enjoyed some time to unwind from a very hectic week. We joined some friends for an afternoon of pizza and bowling (and just in time since Hudson has had a 105* temp for 2 days now.) We decided to make this game girls against boys and we girls were positive that it would be a drop in the bucket...However, I don't know quite how it happened but the boys smashed us! Robert got several 'random lucky strikes' and even Hudson got 2 strikes. Now it should be noted that both teams had the bumper side panels up. This ensured that there would be no gutter balls. I didn't know we had such talent on the boys side. Perhaps we weren't looking hard enough on the girls side. We girls actually managed to throw the ball down the lane never landing in the gutter, yet we knocked down ZERO pins! Beat that boys! Anyone can knock them down, but try leaving them up. And a special thanks to Kim for making the game even more exciting with her dodge ball bowling skills. It takes a lot of talent to throw the ball backwards while facing the pins! Either way we had a great fellowship with some good friends.

WARNING. GRAPHIC PICS BELOW. No joke

Oh the joys of Home Schooling. Savannah and Hannah really took an interest in the dissection of this fish. Of course they didn't really use that huge knife, but they tried! The fish would NOT die. We waited.... and waited some more for him to peacefully pass away, but he was a stubborn fish. Savannah kept yelling, "Hit em' in the Head. Hit em' in the head!" I tried to explain that there would be nothing left to dissect, but she wanted a quick and somewhat less painful death for the fish. Honestly, how do you kill a fish without damaging it? We tried bathing him in some household cleaners and freezing him, but he wouldn't die. Alive or dead this fish was going to be sacrificed in the name of education. So the girls studied the diagram and began their work. I was shocked at how well they found each part. There was the eyes, brain (yes goldfish have brains), swim bladder, heart, intestines, liver and stomach. I'm so glad to be done with this lesson. Way to go Girls! Girl Power:)

If Mom thinks I'm sleeping I won't have to Eat!

BUSTED.

All I did was make mention that I guess daddy would have to eat his ice-cream dessert because Hudson was already asleep. Suddenly he was wide awake and full of guilty giggles.

Can You Believe it?

April Fool's!

Hudson's Big Boy Bed

Although he looks a little less then thrilled, he was very Excited. And who wouldn't be? The thought of waking up each morning and sliding out of bed would be a hoot! (I want one of these on my bed.) For the past week I've enjoyed hearing Hudson yell, "Wee Wee" when he wakes up every morning and slides down his slide:)

BEAUTY and the BEAST

Thanks to Taylor's girlfriend, Shannon, we get to take more pics of him. When she's not around we practically have to chase him down just to snap a quick picture!

The MOST Beautiful girl in the World

Addy attended our churches banquet dinner with her girlfriends this year. They all looked so pretty. This was Addy's first time attending such a glamorous event. The banquet was held at the Redlion and over 500 teens attended. The event was centered around the boys basketball tournament for the school. There were hundreds of boys attending the banquet from many states. What more could a girl ask for? Good food, Good friends, Fancy dresses & BOYS!

Amazing we still have this RAT.

Wall-e Oscar (AKA: Icky Picky, Dig-dug, Kick-me-dog, Darn dog, lil baby Joey Roo, Rat dog)

Christmas morning

Fall fest party

I'm finally just getting around to posting pics from October!

A VISIT to "Uncle Gary's petting farm!"

What to do when the zoo is 4 hrs away??? Visit uncle Gary's Petting farm. Just to name a few benefits:

1. No 4 hr drive with a carload of curious, sugar loaded, CRAZIES who all missed naptime.

2. No "Are we there yet?" every 2.5 minutes.

3. No potty stops at filthy rest areas.

4. ***No vomit, spilled pop, Oops I dropped my gum, Oops I had an accident!***

5. ***FREE ADMISSION***

oN THE DOWNSIDE...

One slobbering doggy that insisted on being in every picture!

***Special thanks to Uncle Gary's petting farm located off HWY 395 in Pasco!

Awesome cellphone pics!

Yes! These are pictures that I took on my cellphone. I never thought they would turn out so awesome. I took them late at night as Hudson was laying on my bed watching TV. The room was pitch black, but the glow from the TV lite up his face. He was about one foot from the screen (it's a very tiny TV) and it was just the right amount of light. I am definitely going to try this again with my other children. I'll post the pics if they come out as well as these ones did.

Meet Fireman Taylor

Taylor has been doing excellent in his Fire Science classes. Its both mentally and physically challenging. We are so grateful for the Running Start program. (FYI: It's a program for junior and senior high school kids where they are allowed to take college courses FREE of charge until they graduate from high school. This allows them to receive their AA degrees and their High school diplomas by age 18. Its available to all juniors and seniors as long as they can pass the prerequisites tests. I think it's a great program.) Anyhow my only worry is that he could become burnt out too soon. Although he seems to know exactly which direction he wants to go and his goals are pretty straight forward. He found out that he needs to take an English course at the college (English is his worst enemy) because it's a requirement for an associates degree. This could prove to be a HUGE challenge for him. His cousin, Kylie, is also in the running start program and she is just so very talented in English (hint hint Ky) and perhaps maybe we can call on her for difficult homework assignments. She is taking an English course that is very very advanced. Perhaps they can trade off on some services. Ky could help Taylor on his English and Taylor could rescue any of Ky's cats or birds that fly up into a tree! (you think about it ky!). One thing is for sure, I am so proud of both of them for taking their education so seriously (that includes my sister too. She is less then a year away from becoming a nurse.)

Keep up the good work, Taylor! We love you.

Meet the Newest Karate Kid!

I know these are a little blurry. I am still to lazy to drag out the real camera so my cell phone will have to do. Hudson is so excited to be a "Ka-tee boy". He likes to demonstrate his "Ka-tee movies" (karate moves). He seems to think that the uniform alone gives him some type of special powers. I'll be preoccupied with something and I'll see this white streak out of the corner of my eye and I'll turn just in time to see Hudson run full force into the wall. He calls that his "Ka-tee movie" and asks, "Did you see me mom? Did you?" Then he rubs his head a few times and takes off towards another wall while yelling, "Yea, I-ma Ka-tee boy!" I asked him where he learned his special moves and he states he saw Peter Pan doing it on TV. Now I am a little curious about what TV show has Peter Pan running into walls. I tell Hudson to show me this Ka-tee Peter Pan the next time he sees him on the TV. Hudson runs out of the room and quickly returns carrying a movie. He points out Peter Pan on the front of the box and gives me that 'See I told-you-so smile' and I just agree with him because Peter Pan and Jackie Chan are truly one in the same!

Just when I started feeling better....

I GOT MUCH WORSE. I'm not even sure where to start. I am hoping I can finish this post before I start to feel all dizzy and have to lay down again. Well I developed a nifty little infection called Sepsis. It all started with a 6 mm. kidney stone that is stuck in my left ureter. I developed a simple UTI and it seemed to get better. I didn't know at the time about the kidney stone. I had horrible pain that would come and go. It was strange and not like any other kidney stone I've passed before. About a month later I began to feel really tired and sickly. This went on for several weeks. Then the pain began to get worse and worse til finally I was up all night long rocking back and forth on the bed while praying out loud. It was just after 5 am when Robert woke up early because he had several meetings to prepare for at work. He has seen me in this strange rocking back and forth kidney stone dance before and he knew he could do nothing for me. Just as he was about to walk out the door I told him that I needed to go to the ER. I knew that something was terribly wrong with me. So off we went to the first ER. They did some labs and an x-ray and reported that everything looked normal. I was screaming and crying like a crazy woman because I was feeling so sick and the pain was now a 10. Anyhow the ER staff rolled their eyes and pushed us out the door. We got home and the pain meds that they had given me at the ER were already wearing off. I was back on the bed rocking back and forth. I'm not sure what Robert was thinking because the ER doctor just told us both that NOTHING was wrong with me. I can't begin to explain how bad I was feeling. About 2 hours later I tell Robert that we have to go to another hospital. I no longer cared if the ER staff was going to roll their eyes at me and claim that I was there to seek drugs. Lucky for me when I arrived I was immediately taken back to a room. (perhaps it was because I was now screaming bloody murder and rolling around on the floor) The ER doc ordered some blood work ASAP and a catscan. An hour later we found out about the kidney stone (the one that the other hospital somehow missed) and we learned that my kidney was three times its normal size. I was admitted to the hospital and just 12 hours later that very next morning things became MUCH worse. I only remember parts of it. Apparently I developed a temp of 106* and a full code was called. That's when a dozen people run into your room and cut of any clothes that your wearing. Then they begin to pack you in ICE. It was horrible. Finally my temp dropped enough and I was taken to the OR where a tube was placed in the lower part of my back into my kidney so that it could be drained. The next day the labs came back and said that I had gone into septic shock. Later that night the infection began to win its battle and I became much sicker. I was given a blood transfusion and that seemed to help. They started me on 4 different types of antibiotics and lots of other meds that made me very loopy. About 7 days later I was doing much better and got to go home. However, I still have a tube hanging out of my back which drains my left kidney. I have my mediport in my chest which is used for all of the drugs I have to take, including IV antibiotics 3 times a day for the next several months. I also STILL have that 6 mm kidney stone. It's not safe to remove it yet because of the sepsis. If they try to take it out they could blast the infection all over my body and that wouldn't be good. However, I do have a little machine that delivers pain medication into my IV and that helps some, but if you have ever had a kidney stone then you know the only way to be pain free is to remove the stone. We are hoping to do that in a few weeks when the infection is a little more under control. Anyhow, so I was home for 3 days when I got out of bed and felt very dizzy and short of breath. So back to the ER where they found that I had a pulmonary embolism. After another 3 days in the hospital the tiny little clot was dissolved and I got too go home. Of course I also got another drug to add to the growing list and this one is taken with a small injection into the tummy. It's actually NOT bad at all. However the bruises that it causes are rather painful. So now I sit at home. The antibiotics are HORRIBLE. My tongue is smooth like a frogs skin and the tip of my tongue is covered in a million painful bumps (like when you bite a taste bud). I can't taste anything and everything that I try to eat burns my mouth. Bread is the worse. I think it's the yeast in it that causes the burning. The insides of my cheeks and lips are covered in tiny sores. I also feel really dizzy and it feels like I have a head cold. My balance is all screwed up. Has anyone ever had this side effect with antibiotics before? I'm taking Merrem also called Meropenem. I don't know how much longer I can handle this stuff. It feels like it's slowly killing me. WOW. I wrote this long post and now I finally begin to feel ill. I'm going to bed. Thanks for your prayers. For the first time ever I am actually asking people to pray for me. This is one of the tougher medical challenges I have faced. If this post makes no sense, blame the antibiotics.

Road Trip

Our youngest is just about the only child in our family willing to smile for the camera. Lucky for me the girls allowed me to snap ONE picture of them, but Taylor on the other hand hid behind a book every time he saw the camera. However, if I remember correctly it was Taylor's hand that controlled the dinosaur puppet that ate Robert's head (and bit his neck, clawed his ears, spilled his soda, poked his eye, pulled out several hairs, flung himself into his head, jumped into his bag of beef jerky which caused it to spill all over the floor, and finally... stretched his rubbery arm out and snapped it back like a rubber band hitting Robert in the face) and all of this while he drove the truck and RV. He's quite a guy! Oh and where is the dinosaur puppet now you ask? Try mile marker 165 on I-82.