*LUCKY* #13

Thirteen years ago today, Stephen and I were married!  I know we are a far cry from being together a long time, but in our generation, making it to double-digits is a pretty impressive feat!  This year has been the hardest, most difficult and challenging, most frustrating, saddening, and pretty much the worst year of all of them--possibly combined--but we are handling the challenges and adversity pretty well.

Lately, I've talked to a few friends who shared with me how difficult their first few years of marriage were.  In all the adjustments to married life, they often wondered if their marriages were going to survive the arguments, discussions, and disagreements.  Luckily, Stephen and I never had that.  We had a strong bond from the beginning and transitioned well to married life.  We had many years--SEVEN--without any children and continued to forge that flame and strengthen that bond. By the time the kids came along, we knew the "us" part was good, so there was never any questioning that relationship, even though there are always adjustments and challenges with new babies.  And ours always seemed to have even more added stress--both working in opposite schedules and rarely seeing each other, having the 2nd child while still in CRNA school, during the most busy semester with the hardest rotations, or having the surprise while we were not in our own home.  I'm convinced that we were being prepared to handle whatever was thrown our way.  How blessed we are to have found the perfect person for each of us and to have had the time to become an unstoppable force.  Without that strength, it would be even more difficult for each of us to be going through this cancer journey than it already is. 

A few days ago, we heard a crash and a bang outside and found this:

Stephen has always loved wind chimes.  They also have a significance to me.  Not only do I love the soothing sounds, but they always remind me of my Gramps, who had many and even made them.  When Stephen and I were dating, his love of wind chimes was just another little thing about him that made me love him even more.  I've always felt that same comfort you feel when you're "home" when we're together.

For a pre-wedding gift, I bought these wind chimes for Stephen.  They've been with us through the scorching heat of Cherry Hollow, the soothing creek-side porch of Cedar Creek Condos, the hurricane-force dust storms from West Texas winds, 2 actual Floridian tropical storms, and our very first home.  They've been through thick and thin, but couldn't hang on through 2013.  That's about right for this year.  I guess it's time to rebuild and get something new.  Maybe some deeper-sounding, stronger, larger wind chimes, which will be a great reflection of the way our love has changed over the last 13 years.  Unlike these old wind chimes, it won't be broken.      

Our lives are being put through strong adversity and heat and pressure, but we will continue making beautiful music together, even when our bodies might seem to be breaking.  There's no way I'd give up on us. 

Memorial Day Fun

 We had a wonderfully relaxing Memorial Day this year.  After a delicious lunch of ribs, brats, hot dogs, potato salad, beans, and grilled corn, we swam and swam. 

Ryan is having a bit of a water aversion at the beginning of the swimming season.  He would only get in at first if he had floaties AND the tube. 

 Kyle is a fish, as always. 

 McKinley has no fear, either. 

 Baby loved jumping right in, too!

 Clearly, there was quite a bit of jumping!

 Ryan eventually let the tube go.

 And, Evan stole it right up!

 Slide time!

Then, it was homemade ice cream time!  Talk about a practically perfect day!

Being able to relax and enjoy time off with my family makes me extra grateful for the service and sacrifice of those who have helped to provide and ensure our freedom. 

2012-2013 School Year

Kyle has had an AMAZING school year.  Putting him in the Bridge program at Wee Wuns was probably one of the best parenting decisions Stephen and I have made to date.  He has matured so much this year, and I feel totally confident that he's ready to start Kindergarten in the fall.  He's made some great friends, and had some awesome teachers.  Plus, I think his schooling would have really suffered during this chemo experience if he had gone ahead to Kinder already.  It helped him so much to be in a less-stressful, more relaxed, smaller-group setting.  Kyle's fine motor skills have really improved, as has his writing.  The craziest thing is his aversion to reading, though.  He LOVES books and ADORES being read to, but he balks like CRAZY whenever I try to work with him on reading to me.  Sight words?  Bucking Bronco.  Sounding out words to his favorite books?  Fists of Fury.  Repeating words and trying to read? Possessed-demon child.  Learning to spell new words? Acts like asked to cure cancer.  I guess I know what I'll be working on during the summer.  Oh, joy and rapture!   
There's only a few more days of school left for this year.  I am so proud of this Kyle Coop! 

Kyle's Spring Baseball Pictures

I'm just getting around to posting these, even though we got them at Kyle's last game.  He had a great spring season!

Gender Reveal

 My neighbors are having their first baby!  {I take partial credit for inspiring this conception, since I passed along my "12 Lays of Christmas" idea.  Apparently, a little Christmas Spirit was all they needed to get the ball rolling!}

Anyway, a few weeks ago, another neighbor, Becky emailed me on Monday, asking if I would help put together a Gender Reveal dinner party for Bobby and Glory.  On Friday.  SURE!  {We were leaving for our cruise the next day, but who couldn't throw together a party in a few days?!?}

 The theme started off being football--as in, a head-to-head competition, guests picking which team they were rooting for and coming dressed in the team color of either pink or blue.  I made some little pom-poms for people to grab to help in cheering on their team during the big reveal. 

 We had a score board for casting votes, and the banner says, "Cheerleader or Quarterback." 

We had some snacky food, like for the big game.  Chicken nuggets {Ta-Tas}, sausages in a blanket {weinies under a blanket}, 2 types of pasta--one with bowties for boys and one with corkscrews/curls for a girl.

We also had a pink and a blue punch.

Here's the mother-to-be, Glory.

 Before the reveal, everyone had to hook up electronically.  This was quite the international affair.  Both of Glory's sets of parents are in Canada and were skyping.  Glory's brother was face-timing from Mexico, and there were a few other family members on phones. 

 They opened a box to reveal.........






.....PINK balloons!!!

 It's a Girl! 

So much for Bobby's hopes for a little boy.

 The pink team had the highest number of votes and was the correct choice!

I'm so excited to meet little Ella Rebecca!

Spring Cleaning

 Even though this half of chemo is much rougher up-front, I'm amazed at the freedom and time the 3-week interval gives me.  Instead of going for chemo, a shot, and bloodwork each week, I'm able to have a 2-week break from the cycle to actually accomplish things around my house!

I'm a little late on spring cleaning, but the top of my list was to get some of my closets in order.

First up: the pantry.  It was somewhat organized in January.  Then, I was diagnosed with cancer, and the half-way turned into piles upon piles.  Each week, there were just layers and more layers of stuff since I could barely keep up with anything, let alone trying to keep my groceries organized.  Then, my sister came and helped with the canned goods, but I didn't have enough organizers to complete the project.  Finally, enough was enough.  I pulled everything out--except the organized cans--and got to work.

And, here's the after.  I love having an organized pantry! 

Next, was the hall closet.  This was also halfway organized when my sister was here, but I didn't have enough containers for everything.  I sacrificed some of the pink baskets I had in here for the pantry and decided that 1 completed project was much better than 2 partly completed ones.  Sadly, I now had a complete mess on my hands:

Another trip to the store for some baskets, a little organizing and labeling, and another closet was done!

Kyle's bathroom is also our guest bathroom.  I had such high hopes of always having soaps and lotions out for my guests with their towels.  These days, clean sheets are about all you can hope for.  And, the closet had turned into a big mess.

 This one was easy:

 Finally, Ryan's bathroom has never been organized.  In fact, it's pretty much our left overs, and there is really only beach towels and baby stuff in there. 

 At least it's all organized now!

It feels SO great to get some of those nagging cleaning projects crossed off the list!  Better late than never for some spring cleaning. 

Mother's Day Tea

Kyle's class had a Mother's Day Tea Party on the Thursday before the holiday.  Each mom had a place set just for her, complete with a handprint poem, a personalized picture tile, and a cookie--Kyle decorated mine pink! 

It was so nice to be able to enjoy a little party with my oldest boy, and I'm glad I didn't talk myself out of going.  I was SOOOO tired, after being up late the night before for the Killers concert and then getting up at 3:00 a.m. with a sick little Po, who stayed up the rest of the night.  I nearly blew off going, but nothing perks a momma up like seeing her son's face light up to see her. 

 

Kyle has wonderful teachers, and I'm so grateful for all they do! 

Sunset Ride

The weather in the evenings has been so pleasant for the last few weeks.  The boys and I decided to take advantage of the beauty, so we all set off on a ride. 

Stephen is amused at Evan scooting around on this little thing.  He does it all over the house, too. 

The sunset was beautiful.  My phone's camera doesn't do it justice. 

I've afraid these pleasant evenings will soon fade into the heat of summer, so it's nice to hold on to them as long as possible. 

The Killers

A few weeks ago, we got to go to see The Killers in concert.  It seems that 2013 is the year of concerts for us, but all the bands we love are touring.  We've even chosen to NOT go to some concerts we would've loved to have seen but just couldn't because of chemo and scheduling.

This concert was in a much smaller arena than we've been in for awhile, so we felt much closer to the action.  And, it was SO HOT!!!!  But, the band put on a great show, and I'm really glad I felt well enough to go.

Here's the setlist:

1. Mr. Brightside
2. Spaceman
3. The Way it Was
4. Smile Like You Mean It
5. Bling {Confession of a King}
6. Miss Atomic Bomb!
7. Human
8. Somebody Told Me
9. Flesh and Bone
10. For Reasons Unknown
11. From Here on Out
12. A Dustland Fairytale
13. Houston {Means I'm One Day Closer to You} cover
14. Read My Mind
15. Runaways
16. All These Things That I've Done

Encore

1. Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
2. When You Were Young
3. Battle Born

Hangin' Tough

 You age yourself if you understand the title to this post.  Just sayin'.

The Baby is ALWAYS getting in to trouble.  He has figured out how to bypass our pantry "lock."  He climbs into his high chair.  He gets up on the table.  He pulls things out of drawers and cabinets.  He does everything but go up into the game room and play with his own toys!!!  Unless it's the Toy Story dominoes, which he loves--loves to put them in his mouth and strew them all over the house.

Evan's latest trick is hanging off anything he can reach--the counter, the table, the bathroom sink--he reaches up, grabs on to the edge, and dangles his feet, hanging there for as long as he possibly can, loving every second of it.

He came to the church with me to "help" set up for an activity on Wednesday night.  He found lots of sinks to hang on in the bathroom.    

Family 2013 Portraits

 Having a few weeks in between chemo treatments has really opened my eyes to how time-consuming the first 12 weeks truly were.  I've actually had time this week to feel "normal," to be rested and get projects done and be able to take the boys out and do things I would have considered easy before my body was being broken down to be built back up. 

I realized how far behind I got when I started thinking about getting caught up on photos for scrapbooking.  I hadn't uploaded any pictures from this year to be printed and realized there were pictures from our family portraits that I never blogged about. 

These feel like a lifetime ago.  Once I was diagnosed with cancer, I had so many amazing offers from friends to document me, our family, this moment in time and life before this thing took over for awhile.  How blessed I am to have these pictures and to see the love captured.

These people mean everything to me and are my most pressing reasons to be strong and keep on fighting. 

Actual Mother's Day

 I am very grateful to be a mom.  Mother's Day to small children isn't quite a day of relaxation, but it's nice to get the sweet hugs, kisses, and pictures from these little guys.

The morning was a bit stressful before church.  I needed to print something for a handout to the Young Women, but my printer wasn't working.  Thought about calling some people to print it for me, but decided that I didn't want to put any more stress on any other mothers on that day.  Stephen made a nice, easy breakfast, and we got everyone ready for church.  Evan had yucky, green snot, so the decision was made that Stephen would {again} come home with the baby.  In the midst of me trying to get ready and Stephen stepping away, Evan misplaced Stephen's watch and rings---not happy news.  The boys were fighting, Mom and Dad were sweating in the humidity and trying to get everything together so quickly, but we managed to get a few pictures to document the occasion.  {If you pasted Stephen's face over Ryan's I'm sure it would be very difficult to distinguish between the emotions.} 

Since we were taking 2 cars, Stephen packed the Tahoe and let me go ahead in the Prius.  I drove past the elementary school and noticed that there was only 1 bar of gas leftover from our adventures on Saturday.  I also noticed that I didn't have my wallet.  So, I pulled over and waited for Stephen to catch up, so I could have him follow me or just grab his card and go fill up.  As he passed, I put on the blinker for him to follow me, but he either didn't see me or didn't know what I was doing and passed on by.  I tried to call him, but his phone was already on silent.  So, I turned around and headed home.  {We were already going to be late for church by this time, so there was not rush.}  I guess Stephen had tried to call me back while I was inside getting my wallet, and turned around too.  He was in the driveway when I came back out.  I told him to go on ahead.  I filled the car and made it to church, already late, and Ryan decided to start throwing a fit because he hurt his hand trying to get out of the car.  Since the meeting had already started, I had to wait in the foyer with a crying 3 year old until that escapade calmed down.  We made it through the meeting, had some lovely and touching messages, Kyle sang with the primary children and did a wonderful job, and all the women enjoyed a Mom's Day celebration with cupcakes and mingling.  It was very enjoyable.

I got to rest in the afternoon, visit with some friends and family, and have a meal I requested: flatbread paninis with chicken, mozzarella, basil, and tomato.  YUM.  Too bad I threw it all up in the middle of the night.

Mother's Day 2013 was pretty typical for the year--filled with ups and downs that are surely trying to help us all learn patience and how to be grateful for the small things.