Random Facts and Pops Update

I first want to start this random entry off with some good news-I think. The doctor FINALLY called my parents late tonight and the results show that the big nodule that was taken off was benign!! But, there are some smaller places that came back as Papillary Carcinoma. This is the most frequent type of thyroid cancer, but Dad's are small. He will now go visit with his endocrinologist to determine if it would be appropriate to do the radioactive iodine (radiation). The control freak daughter in me says yes, because this type of cancer can spread. I will keep you posted:)

Dear blog friends and family, you have no idea how thankful we all are as a family for the love and concern that has been showered on sweet Pops. He is healing nicely and we are all so appreciative of your prayers. Mom and Dad remained peacefully optimistic the entire time because they relied on their faith in the Great Physician and His plan for Pops.

Here are some random pictures that we have taken since we have been homebound with sweet, sickly Hope.

Here is David's official game face for the big bowl tomorrow night. He tattooed both of us earlier this morning and thankfully I took mine off before heading out to Walmart:)

Hope was finally well enough to try out her new Princess ride on that she got for Christmas. She looks and feels so much better:) David insisted to "spot" her!

We broke out her high chair this week and Kyle even fed her some little puffs. she hated them:)

Here is a picture of little princess in her new to her high chair:)

David is so good with Hope:)

Mike and I are off to a New Year's Eve party tomorrow night. Mom and Dad are coming to watch all 3 kiddos, so thankfully the party is just 5 minutes from our house. We have never left Hope at night. It should be interesting-we might be home at halftime of the game!

The party is a dressy event, which is fun to think about dressing up. Tonight I went to Walmart with sweet potatoes all over my yoga pants, so tomorrow night should be a welcome relief:) To keep it real here on my blog, my outfit for tomorrow night was $5. Yep, I bought a new silvery top thing from Old Navy and I am pairing it with dressy black pants or a skirt that I already have with my high heel boots. I am so tempted to play high school and call a girlfriend over to check it out, but I will resist and feel confident that it is okay:)

One of my resolutions for 2010 is to try to be more real and authentic in my relationships-blog included. How can we encourage each other if we are pretending that we all have it together all the time? No one is Super Mom, Super Wife, Super Soccer Mom, etc.. so lets give it up and just be real and authentic. Raising David has taught me this lesson first hand and I am so thankful:)

Okay, I warned you this post would be random, but thanks for loving on my sweet Dad, and caring enough about my family to read this long and random post:) Happy New Year sweet blog friends and family. May the Lord shower his blessings upon you this upcoming year.

Gunk

Poor Hope-she is pretty sick and fighting terrible gunk. She is now on an antibiotic and round the clock breathing treatments to treat this latest gunky infection. Bless her heart...this was her best shot of the day-she has gone downhill considerably since I even took these pictures:( Her sweet big brothers keep sharing their germs with her and it is hitting her pretty hard. If she is not better in a few hours when the doctor opens, then I will be taking her back. Her cough is terrible, she has a runny and congested nose, and this nasty green stuff keeps coming out of her eyes. After she wakes up, we have to take a warm cloth to her eyes so she can even open them. Pitiful.




Life sometimes throws things right at our gut, often taking the wind out of us. We have heard some sad news tonight and as I am up with Hope tonight I just keep lifting these people up in my prayers. We are still waiting on my Dad's pathology results, and a friend of ours just recently had some serious and shocking health news that has worried us. We have also had some news in our extended family that has worried and broken our hearts. It does seem that bad news comes in waves and my prayer list tonight as I rock sweet Hope Madeline is very long. I would certainly rather be asleep than be up with a super sick baby, but I have had some quiet prayer time with the King of Kings.

I love this time of year, and hearing and seeing the word Emmanuel-God is with us. On nights like tonight when the prayer list is long and heavy it is so comforting to remember that we have an Emmanuel-God is still with us today. He hears my prayers for my Dad, our friends, our family, and our little Hope. He knows the burdens of my heart and his promises are still true today. That is such comfort to me as I humbly approach His throne with a sick baby and a long prayer list tonight.

Christmas 2009 Highlights

Christmas 2009 has so far been wild, but fun around our house:) Here are some highlights in no particular order:)

Watching Mike play Xbox Rock Band with the boys on Christmas Eve. We started Christmas Eve out at my parents' house for a yummy lunch that Mom made. We also played games there with good prizes!

Hearing the boys squeal when they opened Mario Kart for Wii.

Seeing my Dad healing nicely enough that he could enjoy the festivities:) (He will get the pathology results back sometime next week hopefully).

Knowing that I am not at the kids table anymore:)

Seeing David use Hope as his audience for his budding musical career:)

Watching all the little guys perform We Will Rock You on Christmas Eve. At my Great Uncle's house, all my extended relatives on that side gather for dinner, a family worship/devotion, dirty bingo, and then gifts. It is a fun night and usually the kids have a chance to perform. After our solemn devotion on Jesus being the reason for the season, my kids with Clayton sang their hearts out to We Will Rock You! It was hilarious.

Watching Hope generally love on her new Bitty Baby. She has not felt very well this Christmas break but she did perk up for her Bitty Baby.

Watching Hope inspect the contents of her little purse.

David's new red guitar! Ashley gave it to David two days before Christmas and he slept with it the first night he got it and used it Christmas eve to entertain us all!

Hope modeling this adorable hat from Uncle Daniel and Aunt Pam.

Clayton loving on Baby Hope:) I have never seen this before, butI think these two favor each other. Maybe it is the blue eyes or the darker hair...huh! I love when pictures sometimes highlight things that we do not pay attention to in real life!:)

There are so many more sweet and funny memories, but those are the highlights thus far:) I also received a very special gift from my friend Tracy that I will share later when I get a good picture. I also got a revised homemade recipe book that I will also share about later when I get a good picture. Merry Christmas blog friends and family and may God bless you this coming year!

Just Because

Here are some cute pictures that I have taken today and wanted to share just because:)

Random Facts

As I am enjoying the sweet bliss of having all of my chickadees snowed in under one roof, my mind has been swirling with some random facts that I just felt I needed to share:

#1 As I am sure you have already heard, we have been hit by a big snowstorm. Being a lifelong Virginian I can attest to the fact that these big snow falls don't come 'round often. It is beautiful, heavy, wet, and utter joy. I did not think so yesterday afternoon when several school buses took hours to get back safely from taking kiddies home. Now that I know everyone is safe, it is awesome. Here is a picture of Mike cleaning off our deck. He did not clean it so we could have a cookout out there, but because the snow is so heavy that it is dangerous for the deck to hold all that snow:)



#2 Kyle is morphing into an amazing helper with Hope. He will entertain her, carry her around, and will read and talk to her. He is awesome!


#3 Hope is mobile on her belly, and she is now starting to get up on all fours and rock! (Pardon the clean Spongebob undies in the picture-it has been a little wild around here this week).


#4 David loves to pretend to be Mrs. P (his teacher) and often makes Hope be his "class!"


#5 David's class had a Christmas party on Friday and he was so excited with his gift he got to open. He also looked so darn cute in his painted snowman shirt that his class painted:)


#6 David has a very creative and sweet kindergarten teacher. She is also a UT fan, so we had to talk a little smack about the VT-UT bowl game as we told her goodbye and Merry Christmas after the party!

#7 David has some sweet friends in kindergarten this year:)

Cheesecake:)

This is my dessert that I take everywhere! My Mother-in-law shared this with me this summer and it is great as a dessert or as a danish in the morning:)

Sopapilla Cheesecake

two packages of crescent rolls
three blocks of cream cheese
two cups of sugar
Sugar/cinnamon mixture
1 Stick of butter

Grease a 9 x 13 pyrex. Unroll one package of crescent rolls and lay in the bottom of the dish. Next with a mixer mix the three packages of cream cheese and sugar until well blended. Spread on top of the crescent rolls. Then unroll another package of crescent rolls on top of the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle liberally with sugar/cinnamon. Melt one stick of butter in the microwave and pour on top of the whole dessert. Bake for approximately 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Yummy fresh out of the oven:)

Pops

I am asking you for prayer for my Dad. Tomorrow (Thursday) he has surgery at Montgomery Regional Hospital to remove his thyroid. One side of his thyroid is super enlarged and the doctor is suspicious that it is indeed a malignant tumor. Since it is suspicious and the doctor feels that it is cancerous, then the other side will be removed as well. He will be in the hospital overnight and will come home Friday with a drainage tube.

He will then start thyroid medicine to regulate his thyroid. Until the medicine totally replaces the thyroid that will be taken out, he will feel pretty yucky according to his doctor. The doctor feels that this is not related to his leukemia, which seems very strange to me. I am trying so hard to remain faithful and hopeful, but it worries me that he could possibly have two different types of cancer in his body? We also do not know if he will need additional treatments post surgery.

We truly appreciate your prayers and thoughts. Mom and Dad just got off of a cruise for five days and they had a great time together. Needless to say, we would rather not be dealing with this right now at Christmastime, but we know that God will be with us-He is always so faithful:)

Chad and I (and Hope) will be going to sit with Mom during the surgery. We will update as we can. We covet and appreciate your prayers so much. Each morning I have prayer time with my kids, and it seems that our list of people that are fighting cancer is getting longer and it makes me sad that my Dad is on that list.

Just recently my family, with Mom and Dad went to see Mercy Me and this is one of my favorite songs they sing. Just a month ago we got to see them sing this song live and it means so much to me-Bring the Rain.

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings you glory

And I know there will be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that is what it takes
To praise you,
Jesus Bring The Rain

Our family just prays that during this rainy season in our lives that He will get the glory. Often when times are tough is when we turn to him for strength. I posted the video from that song below-enjoy and thanks for your prayers:)

Hope 6 Months!

Even with the busy Christmas season in full swing around here, I had to stop and focus on my 6 month old daughter. Really, she is half a year old already? Really? What a sweet joy she is:) What are you up to these days sweet girl?

She is mobile!! She is really not officially crawling, but amazingly she can move and get into anything now! Gone are the days I can put her on her blanket and expect her to stay there. The boys are so proud of her!

She can sit up now, but much prefers to be on her belly.

She is eating cereal and organic apples for now. The pediatrician wants me to wait until her latest cold/snotty nose clears up before starting anymore food. She LOVES her cereal and just grins while I feed it to her.

She loves storytime at the library and is mesmerized by our sweet librarians voice.

She is still on the tiny side. Amazingly in the last four month pictures she has worn the same onesie. She still wears 3-6 month clothes, but I have broken out her 6-12 month wardrobe. Last week at the doctor she was 14 pounds, which put her in the 20% for weight and 50% for height. Despite how tall Mike and I are, the pediatrician thinks she will be petite?!

She adores her brothers and Davey can get the big laughs out of her.

She is a fair sleeper. We admit that most nights she ends up in our bed:)

Her hair is getting lighter each day. She does not mind hair bands or clippies in her hair!

The six month pictures were a bear to get this month because she is way too interested to find something to chew on. This was the best I could do:) She wanted no part of sitting and smiling for me.







She is really starting to be a Daddy's girl. The other night all three kids were asleep in bed when Mike got home from his board meeting. Hope was asleep, ummm sort of in our bed, and Mike reached down to kiss her goodnight. He whispered good night precious and she woke up and smiled at him and then went right back to sleep. Rotten, I know. The idea that Daddy is just as fun as Mommy is a new development and we are ALL enjoying it! Happy 6 month birthday sweet girl:)

I love weekends in December when our calendars are full of fun Christmas activities. This weekend was crazy and started out with a phone call to our insurance adjuster to help with our brand new playground that got destroyed in the high wind last week:( So sad, but hopefully we can work something out?! Here is our weekend through pictures:)

So sad...but here is the really nice and new playground after the terrible storm last week:( We are so sad...

Cute picture of the boys in their Christmas shirts just because they are so darn cute:)

Here is Kyle and his friend Grace as elves during Reader's Theater last week at school. I love going to the classroom for these events.

At the mall in Kingsport we literally ran into our good friends, The Campbell's. They were at the mall to listen to Cade play the guitar and we were there shopping. It was amazing to visit with them for a little bit and we got this cute group picture. We have been trying to plan a visit down there for weeks, and just to run into them was awesome.

This picture is really funny. Mike maybe does not see the humor in it YET, but he will one day:) At a local mall, we waited in this long line to see Santa. I had the kids all dressed in red, David really wanted to see Santa and we were almost there. Hope started fussing in line and by the time we got close to the front of the line, she was hysterical to nurse. So, I had to get out of line to nurse her hoping we would be done by the time the boys got up to the front. No such luck. Hope totally missed Santa. So, my sweet hubbie stopped at another mall on the way home and we finally got this picture! Hope was enamored with his beard:)

Kyle, David and I did a little craft project this weekend and made these cute ornaments for some friends and for gifts. They are super easy and turned out pretty well. We also made one for each of them for our tree:)

One of the highlights of the weekend was our Down Syndrome Christmas Karaoke Party today! It was a total blast and here are some fun pictures from the day. Here are Kyle and Angie Mountain! Kyle LOVES Angie (well everybody loves Angie) and he talks about her constantly. He wants to have her over for dinner one night!

Mike and Hope watching the boys rock out to We Will Rock You!

David belting out we will rock you! He hammed it up and sang it loud!

Here is David watching his friends sing.
The Burketts and Robinsons singing Jingle Bells!

I love this picture of Kyle and Caroline singing.

David providing guitar for the ladies singing Rocky Top!

Sweet Hope slept through the wild party:)

Caroline singing:)

David crashed on the way home from the karaoke Christmas party. He had sung and played his heart out!

One of my Mom's friends, Shirley bought this little santa dress for Hope last year before we even knew she would be a girl!! It was fun to dress her for the party in her little dress and hat!

David and Hope under the Christmas tree. She adores her big brothers and David is usually the one that can get the big laughs from her:)

I love busy weekends like this one, but this week looks to be busy as well as the boys finish up school this Friday until the New Year.