How We Celebrated Easter!

 I think if we ever get to have a holiday on the holiday, it just might throw us for a big loop.

Most the time, I would have already collected and put together the items needed for the occasions. Afterall, having a fireman and policeman's schedule, one had to be flexable. However this year, you all know we had a BIG distraction. I didn't know when I would have time to shop, none the less have the spirit. My mind was going a hundred miles an hour putting together all that had to be done from dog care to business arrangements over those 10 days we had. Easter baskets were put on the back burner for lawyers, doctors, and going over all those great  papers the hospital advises one to have in order. Those conversations and arrangements no parent should have to go through with their child, no matter how old they are.

For just one day, we did not think about it or at least tried not too. Our son brought his kids over the weekend before his surgery. He was suppose to have had them the weekend before when our other son flew in to be a family before his surgery, but his ex nixed it on him, (someday I hope these things stop) . No problem, we just shifted things around and had two weekends of celebrating before it instead of one. I see it as Blessings.

Our daughter gets those Bountiful Baskets through the church and that second weekend of family they had a natural egg dying kits with vegetables and sugar cookies with all the icings available. We bought both.

The "Grands" managed to create these memories for us...

First we decorated the cookies. They always have so much fun.

Our plan was to save one of each cookie that each Grand decorated to make a basket out of them for the nurses. Good plan, just Easter was still a week away. I could have frozen them but there still wouldn't be a way or place to keep them frozen or fresh. (I know we could have found a way) We would be in a hotel for a week so we let the kids eat them! Ok, so grandpa ate the first saved cookie on accident, so it was open game on the rest. He,he,he!

Then it was time to color them eggs...

Ok, so the natural way to dye eggs was not going to happen. I guess we should have checked into it more before boiling our eggs before hand hand. Seems you are suppose to boil the eggs in the vegatables to transfer the color. Maybe we'll try it another time. Thank God we had purchased one of those simple little kits. They had a great time. Monkey Man, well, he sure does like the color green and the girls, it was a toss up between yellow and pink.

While they swam, we hid the eggs. When they came in they didn't see the eggs and they all decided the bunny had come and hid them. I wished we had done a special note like we did at Christmas but the kids figured out on their own that bunnies might not know how to write, LOL. Since it was not a planned, ok, I did try to pull it off with many idea's and preparations but my plate just couldn't hold anymore so we all made due with what I was able to get done. They all had a great time even without all my little additions. Check it out, with nothing more then their shirts and dresses to hold the eggs...they were off!

I only got one picture of them hunting...they run so fast that most of them were blurry.Guess next year I will remember to use the action mode. I can't keep up with them but it might!

Our golden Abby found one of Peanuts eggs. She was so upset and just didn't understand why daddy couldn't fix it.

To make her happy we let her carry all the eggs into the house.

Though it wasn't really, then again it wasn't a normal Easter at all this year, we still made some memories though! And as always had a great time doing it.

The Road We Are On...

...Has been winding around and going up and down at the same time.

For the last week I have been here...

It began with our final consult and questions at his pre-admit. What a surprise when we walked out and these guys were there to support our son...

The next day, bright and early we were back waiting for the Our Journey to begin.

I think the waiting is the hardest part. Fortunately this hospital has a paging system where a nurse sends out messages from the OR updating how the surgery is going. At one point, we hadn't had an update in 5 hours and hubby called the number available and got to talk to the nurse IN the OR. So cool! Soon after the doctor came out and talked to us on how it was going. He was in surgery for 11  hours. WHAT A LONG DAY!

The great news is, He made it off the table, but went through all 10 pints of blood and a lot of other blood products during it. Never did his vitals cause any alarms. He also came out with his leg! Though the tumor had grown from the last MRI it did not grow into the hip or the femur. He did lose about 1/6th of his pelvic bone, about the size of a banana. They were able to remove the tumor intact. Meaning no cancer cells escaped.

He was in ICU until Saturday afternoon and had to have another 4 pints of blood before leaving. When they moved him to a regular room it caused a setback. I can just imagine the pain such a move made, having to be transferred from one bed to another. Thankfully his doctor and the nurses are on top of it, as are his friends who are there rallying around him for added support. He has had many visitors but today;s visitirs, his kids, will be what really lifts his spirits. He has only been able to talk to them on the phone...

But to see them and hug them and kiss them...that is just what this man needs.

I really hate that we had to come home, but I know he is in good hands. Praise God! We'll head back over later this week. I hope to see him in a chair or really close to it getting in one. He will be in a chair for at least a month until he has built up strength in his left leg and arms to support him so he doesn't put any weight on the right leg. Right now it is all about pain management so he can move forward toward these goals. With any plan, there are changes and lessons, and we have already had our share of them and expect there will be more to come as we move through this. All we can do is move through thisjourney, one stepat a time.

I Shouldn't Be Surprised!

But I am! But then again I'm not. After all our sons ex has not made life pleasant for a long time. We did hope that our sons battle with the Big "C" would cool her jets, but it hasn't.

On Friday night of the weekend before his surgery, our son got in, gosh I can't even be sure of the exact time, must have been around 7:30-8:00 probably. He'd been here a while when he received a rather strange call. A few jester's as to what's up?, were being exchanged between us. Then heard, "officer, you don't understand!"....and knew his ex was again up to something.

Grandpa and the kids were watching a movie when the call came. I am so proud of our son, he made sure they did not hear him as at one point the officer was treating him like a criminal, only becaue his ex always tries to paint a picture that is beyond reality, and he couldn't find anything on him. Why, because he's not a criminal. The officer begins to share his opinion of parenting. Be it the meds they have him on, or just the frustration that these type of things have not stoped, but the last I heard before going out was "let's go to court. I've done nothing wrong and we were just in front of a judge 2 weeks ago for similar stuff."

After his call, he came out to talk to us.Why did she call the police...are you ready...you will probably laugh like we did...because the kids had called her and she didn't like the song my son was singing in the back ground. It really wasn't a bad song. He was not singing it to them, nor with them. It was just on and he sang a long.



She tried to convince the officer that there was a restraining order against him and there is not. She has tried 3 times over the last couple months but no judge, and she has seen 3 different ones, will order one. Why, because there is no reason for one!

This was just plain silly. When we think back on it we still just shake our heads.

First, the kids called their mom from their phone, that he has set up just for them to talk her so she doesn't have to call his or him hers when the kids want to talk to other parent. They are never told they can't call and they can call whenever they too. Whenever the kids talk to their mom when they are with their dad, they do so without being eavesdropped on. He gives them the space to talk freely with her. When my son talks to the kids when she has them she has it on speaker phone the majority of the time, listening in.

I guess the two youngest were arguing, or more like whining, over wanting to talk just as they hit town.One of them dropped the phone out of reach for the other when told to give it to the other. There it laid until the call from the police came. When our son went out to check the phone after his call, it was still on and had been on for 87 minutes. YES! She never hung up her end deliberately wanting to listen in on conversations or in this case the singing. 

Well, I guess from her out, we will have to make sure the kids hang up the phone. Life is always full of lessons and we continue to learn how to navigate through this one. Praise God for all His help. 

Today we are heading to our sons check in appointment and discuss all the options and treatment plan. Last weeks MRI showed it had just about doubled in size. Not a good sign but she still believes she can save his leg. Please pray that it is so. Our son can handle just about all of this, even his ex, but losing a leg could set him back a bit. Prayers, prayers, prayers...I believe in miracles and have faith in God's plan for our son.

Moving along in Our Journey Through LIFE!

Distraction!

Besides having this  little girl visiting (uploaded them pictures)…

who can really distract just about anyone with her beaming smile and bubbly personality, I also distracted myself by trying to figure out Easter ahead of time. Since my son will be spending Easter in the hospital I thought…..oh this is dangerous!
If you were a nurse, would you love it if the family of a patient brought in a bouquet of these…

Check them out at The Tomcat Studio for a tutorial by Marian from Sweetopia on how to create them. I love these ladies…they are so creative. If only mine came out as perfect as theirs.
I thought I could expand on my creativity and try some other flowers as well so it is a mixed bouquet. Kind a like these…
 
The one one the left is from Cookies in Bloom. I love the one on the left too from Gourmet Cookie Bouquet.  I could buy them but I CAN also make it andit be more personal for a lot less. How ever it comes out, it will be something to show our appreciation for the care of our son.
Then I found this cute little guy at The Party Animal…

I thought I could make buy two premade cupcakes, wipe off their icing and leave them behind for the Grand’s here since we’ll be with him. Right now, the plan is to leave their baskets, a few special eggs and goodies, with a note (something like we did for Christmas) stating why the eggs weren’t hidden.
My daughter has never had the Easter bunny come to her house, it has always been here. We all head to church and last year we added the sunrise service to our tradition. Since she works within the Children’s Ministry she is there till lunch and it gives us a chance to go home and do the bunny thing.

I just need to figure how to fit our tradition around our son. Something I had to do almost 20 years ago when he was in the Shriner's Hospital and had the ilizorav put on. His brother and sister had an egg hunt at the rocky beach we RV'ed at until a space opened up at the hospital for us. Seems like De Ja Vue.
 
Thanks blogger world for the distraction.

Can I Just…

 

…pretend nothing is happening!

Just for one day, how about an hour, but lately I’m lucky if it is minutes.

Our family is really rallying together and coordinating all the logistics is amazing. Thank God for all the people he has put in our lives for they have stepped up and relieved us of many burdens. Praise God!

So while the visiting baby…(yep our son’s twin, the policeman/lawyer came for a surprise visit before his brother has surgery. Unfortunately he has to leave Thursday due to work and school)

(Sorry for such a funky picture but I haven’t upload the ones off my camera and this came from my phone) 

…took her nap, I took the hour to browse around!

Look what I found…

Melissa and Kellie of Icing Designs show how to make them.

I just might have to whip up a batch for the nurses next week!

Blessings for having a blogging world to distract one. I’ll have a lot of time next week to catch up on a lot of reading, so I best get back to all the preparations still needing done.

Like shop for:

• Easter gifts for all the Grand’s
• Supplies for son’s hospital stay
• Extra dog food to have on hand

Then we need to get things done before we leave like:

• Clean house (daily chore with 3 big dogs. Can’t really blame the little one for all the hair but he does his share of lazy piddles the you know what me off!)
• Mow the lawn (been trying for 2 weeks, first it rained, then the mower had a flat, store was out of tires so we had to wait for them to come in..thank you John Deer!)
• Drain the pool (we were trying to get this done before now but LIFE got in the way, like the lawn since that is where we drain it).
• Refill the pool (Probably the east job to do).
• Finish the party storage shed so we can get everything put away so it’s not out while we’re gone.
• Put all the party stuff on the patio away in the new shed.
• Stay on top of laundry so it doesn’t back up but is ALL done before we leave.

I’m gonna stop there…it was beginning to freak me out. With all this we have company coming this weekend, but thankfully the guest house is ready to go. Just a quick dust and vacuum.

Is This Really Happening!

Our Journey Through LIFE's has brought us to a BIG mountain, kinda like Mount Everest...

Not to many can say they climbed it.

But we WILL!

We WILL climb through each stage, rest along the way, embrace those and that around us, share the journey at each point mile post, and SURVIVE this mountain, Big "C"! 

Our fireman son has been diagnosed with cancer. A couple months ago, what began like any other check, transformed into this rare cancer. Let's just say we are very, no VERY scared. He will have a lengthy, severely RISKY surgery on the 20th. Please, can I ask you all to keep him in your prayers. Right now it is in God's hands and of course the surgeon.

I must say the fire department and their whole organization has been wonderful. As parents, we couldn't be more at ease of the out of this world care, support, blessings, and most of all the love he is receiving. During our many talks and visits, making plans, dotting I's and crossing T's, all those who have stepped up to relieve of us of the many burdens, our appreciation and thanks seems to not be enough.

I will keep you all updated as often as possible. This is so hard on all of us, please understand.

Time Flies When You’re Having FUN!

Since our last outing with the grand's, we celebrated this little girls 7th Birthday!

She picked Red Lobster for her birthday dinner and was given the royal treatment with a private room for us, gifts and popcorn shrimp. As it seems to happen when you have a large party, food took a long time to come (though it was nice to be able to partake in some wonderful conversations while we waited, plus we let her open her gifts to pass the time). It is so hard for this grandma to be at a fish restaurant, smell and eye the lobster, crab, shrimp and not be able to eat it. The things we do for the ones we love! 

Come the weekend it was time to PARTY!

  

She wanted an OUT party. In other words, one not at the house. Since the Fun Factor closed, the new water park is not an option this time of year,and we couldn’t talk her into painting pottery, she was already dead set on Wild River’s 9thank you commercials) where they can bowl and play arcade games. I must admit, my daughter and I had our doubts (neither of us had ever been there) but once there we were so pleased and plan to go back. It looks nothing like a bowling alley.

   

    

They only have 12 lanes of bowling that are right outside the 4 private party rooms. Each set of lanes had sofas and a coffee table instead of the hard seats at a regular bowling alley. The staff was excellent and fulfilling any request we had and made sure our time was special and they went over and above and gold star rating.

As the kids played they kept the drinks filled and pizza available. we could also order other food and they would deliver it to us as well. We had a table set up for them to create their own goody bags.

  

Once the bellies were full, their arcade game cards finished, and played a couple games of bowling it was time for presents!

Then Thank You’s for coming…

  

The next week was Spring break for the grand’s in town so I had these two 3 days that week. I just love having them around. Both love to dust and Bug enjoys running the vacuum. Grandpa even stayed one morning and made them waffles. What a treat!

They spent afternoons in the hot tub (warm actually) and watched cartoons...

And of course they played with the new bubble gun. Bella has just as much fun,or is it they have fun blowing bubbles for her. Either way it is fun to watch but hard to capture. Bella always comes out blurred because she is jumping and running after them.

Over this last weekend when I was driving out to go to the store, I caught a glimpse of of these guys and just had to stop and take their picture.

I love our neighbors little farm. I get to enjoy all the pleasures but none of the work.