Update for the past week (Part 1)

Well, I'm even gonna back up a bit more...The weekend of Brent's birthday we went to the circus. It was okay....kinda fun for the kids...the 'clowns' weren't really clowns...just really well-dressed people. But they were funny. There were a couple things that I didn't like cuz I thought they weren't appropriate for children, and let's face it...it IS a children's show. But other than that, it was very entertaining. I personally did NOT like the up-in-the-air trapeze stuff or the things that made you think they were falling, but the kids loved that part! Here are some shots. They are a little blurry at times, but you can still see what they are. The boys took a couple shots of me and Terry too! :)

The following week (May 8th) was Terry's surgery. You have seen the first update from that....I will provide another. On Sunday of last week (the 11th..Mother's Day!) he woke me up in the middle of the night saying he was bleeding. So, I got up and checked him and he continued to bleed all day long. I called the dr and left them a message for them to call us on Monday so they could tell us what was okay and what wasn't. They finally called back on Monday afternoon and suggested that he come up and be seen on Wednesday. So on Wednesday afternoon, we drove back to St Louis where the surgeon found another fistula going in a different direction! She went ahead and opened it there in the office and let it drain. She said the draining would slowly stop over the next week, but that we had to watch it for infection.

So far so good. No infection so far, but we're still watching it closely. Terry goes back to work tomorrow (he's already cleared to go back) and he's on restricted duty (lifting) for a month. My concern is that he will wear himself out in the first few days, but I know he needs to go back to work...for his sake and mine! LOL

This past week, while Terry was healing and while we figured out what was going on with the bleeding, mom stayed and helped me out... Well, literally she did most everything for me, cuz my brain was SO not with it! But we took some time to do some crafty things with the boys and I got the idea to do something we used to do at Six Flags: make sand people! :) So I went to Dollar General and found some jars with necks on them and came up with these:

On Thursday, we had a field trip to the Electric company...they explained to the kids how electric works, ways to save on electricity, and ways to be safe with electricity. Then at the end they gave each of the kids a new tree-sapling. :) The boys are VERY excited about that part....and have been looking all over town for those 'green boxes' where the underground cables are. :)

On Friday, Mom and I took the boys to the park to let them ride their bikes....it was really fun to watch them be able to just GO. At our house all they have is the driveway and with Brent's new bike, he needs more space to ride. Anyway, here are a couple of pics and a video of them playing.

Part 2 coming soon....

Terry's latest

Well, Terry had his 4th surgery today for his 'butt' issue. :) They put a plug in and the goal for it is to adhere to the tissue around it and then dissolve...hence closing the fistula. That's the goal anyway. He's more uncomfortable than sore at this point, but he's also very heavily medicated! LOL He's been given instructions to not 'scoot or sit' for a good long while. Perhaps up to a month...which could be interesting to say the least. He can only lay and stand at this point. So we'll see how long it lasts and how well he handles it all.

The boys stayed home with mom while Terry and I went to St Louis. They helped clean house and were so excited when we got home. They met us in the driveway and hardly let Terry out of the van! Mom will most likely stay here through Sunday, when dad will come get her. But that is all dependent on how Terry seems to be doing.

That's all for now....time for bed! What a long day! :)

More Birthday

Well, life is fun when you can truly surprise your kids! :) We, of course, got Brent a new bike for his birthday. So we blindfolded him on the front porch while Terry brought it up from the basement. This is his reaction when he saw it:

Here are more shots of him just waiting for Daddy and Grandpa to finish the adjusting process.


Here are a couple videos of him riding this bike for the first time (and for those who've never seen our house, you get a pretty good shot of it in the background and can even see our little bitty garden at the side of the house at the end of the second video):



After we came in from the bike time, Mom had a couple gifts for the boys that she made: Blankets! :) Brent's is Star Wars themed:

Clayton's was Cars themed and he went a bit nuts when he saw it. LOL I tried to get a shot of his facial reaction, and this is what I got:

But then we got him calmed down a bit and I was able to take these:



But then Mom turned the blanket over and before I could get a shot, he flopped himself down on it! LOL

Obviously he liked it ALOT! :) Brent liked his too...they both also got pillows of the same material and of course they slept with them. Then this morning, when they got up, they both came out of their room carrying their new pillows and dragging their new blankets. It was really cool.

After we showed them their blankets, we ate supper (Brent's choice): lasagna! :) It was so yummy! I use real ricotta cheese (not cottage cheese) when I make lasagna...and halfway through the dinner, Terry gave me a really nice compliment. He said it tasted just like (or better) than Olive Garden's lasagna! Go me!

So all in all a good birthday so far for him, I think! :) We are planning on going to the circus on Saturday night as well. It's the first time either boy has ever been, and a first for me in 20 years! Can't wait!

Recent Art

Here are some recent art projects from our house! :) These first two are Brent's creation. He used the Color Wonder Finger Paints from Crayola and painted on one side then folded it and left it for several days. He opened it up a couple weeks ago and said, "Mom look! It's a volcano that's exploding!" I really liked it!


A couple weeks ago, we took a field trip with some other homeschoolers to Horizons screen-printing shop. We found a homeschooling logo that we liked and they came up with a screen for us. We told them we'd want to tie-dye the shirts afterwards and so they got these special shirts for us. Anyway, the kids got to actually screen-print their own shirts and watch them go through the dryer/oven thing. Well, we finally got around to tie-dying ours this week. They turned out SO cool! Here is the boys modeling theirs:


And of course, this is me! :) (Just for you Sunny!!!!)

Here are my niece and nephew's shirts that we did for them. I really like her shirt the best! :)

Birthday bash...

Well, we had B's 7th birthday party this past weekend. What fun! It was the first time that Baby Chase got to come home to Salem so we had a double party! Brent wanted a Spiderman cake, so this is what I came up with...he actually loved it! LOL


It was quite humorous...I forgot the candles at home that Brent wanted on his cake, but there just happened to be a "7" candle at Janice's. But we'd already sang "Happy Birthday" to him when we realized it all...SO, we lit the "7" and sang again! LOL

After pestering us to finish eating and doing the dishes, we finally let him open his presents. He got this really cool tether ball thing from Aunt Darlene. (Remember those??? I used to LOVE to play with the tether ball at recess!) But this one is a bit different than the ones I remember...this one uses a tennis ball and rackets. I can't wait to play with him! The second pic is the Moon Sand he got from H. I'm not so sure about Moon Sand...they played with it (and have been begging for it for weeks!) but it's more messy than the advertising leads you to believe. But isn't that always the case? Either way, they had fun playing with it this morning, so that makes it cool!



We are celebrating with Grandma and Grandpa tomorrow night and mom has a couple of really cool things for both boys! :) We are also giving him his birthday present from us too...a BIKE! (Shhh...it's a secret!)

Will post more pics when I get them done!

Time for the Weekend!

Brent is SOOOO excited about his birthday party this weekend. He's ready to see Chase and ready to have his Spiderman cake and all that goes with parties! (Read: PRESENTS! LOL)

I spent all of yesterday afternoon and evening (well, night actually) working on a baby blanket for Chase. I have just procrastinated (hard to believe about me, right? HA!) and waited till the last possible moment to make it. But, oh well. I truly enjoy making blankets for people, even though I'm not the greatest seamstress (I know NO fancy stitches) and can't sew a straight line to save my life! LOL But, nonetheless, I keep sewing! Chase's room is in the farm/barnyard theme, and I happened to have this material in the basement. (The closeup one is a more detailed look at the center panel.)

So I'm sewing along...haven't touched the computer all day in order to check email or anything...and we go to put the boys to bed and I holler in to Terry, "Don't turn the computer off!" at the same moment he's clicking "Turn Off Computer". Of course, he didn't know, so he says he'll turn it back on. No biggie. Well, I finish sewing the blanket, finish putting supper away (yes, the dishes are still sitting there!) and see he's still playing his computer game. Oh well...I'll get ready for bed. No biggie. I start to walk back down the hallway towards the schoolroom and Terry meets me halfway there and the hallway is dark. I said, "You didn't turn the computer off again did you?" He just hangs his head. He said, "I'm so sorry." I laughed and said, "Wasn't the whole purpose of you turning back on so I could use it??" LOL But by this time it was 11:30 and I was going to bed! I figured my computer time could wait till today!

Oh well...c'est la vie, right?

Mid-week Slump

Well, there isn't much to tell. We had a fun/busy weekend, but nothing out of the ordinary. On Friday night I went to work on my scrapbook stuff at the church building...I got several pages done on C's book, but am still only at month 2 of his life! LOL Oh well...a little progress is better than NO progress! :)

Then on Saturday, we had a very laid back day until it was time to go to Guess Who's Coming for Dinner at church. We ended up at the Watson's with some other people and not only did we have FUN but we had VERY good smoke ribs! Go Scott!

On Sunday, we had normal life through the morning and then in the afternoon, the boys and I went to a baby shower for some friends of ours. He is precious!!! Brent got to hold a newborn baby girl while there and was completely enamored with her! I made the comment that perhaps if they had a new baby around the house, they would quit asking for a dog! LOL Some of the other moms there looked at me like I was crazy... They said, "You can't give a baby away when they get tired of it...a dog you can!" I simply told them that in our house that isn't true...once we get a dog, we'll have it till it dies, cuz with our kids there is no giving away anything! LOL So we'll see what happens!

Monday, we got to go see how screen-printed T-shirts are made at Horizons. VERY COOL! I remember when I was a kid and my dad did screen-printing for some extra money, that they had a max operation of 4 colors and it was all manual. Well, now, they have a 12-color machine..and it's automated! I was in awe! Then the boys (and the other kids that were there) got to screen-print their own t-shirts with a cool homeschooling logo on them. Next, we're gonna tie-dye the shirts so we can all wear them when we're out at homeschooling functions! So excited!! :)

Yesterday, mom came down and helped me do more spring-cleaning/organizing. We worked on the boys' room primarily...rearranging it and giving them more 'play' room so that hopefully they will actually play in their room more! :) But while Brent and I were organizing the toys and weeding some of them out, mom and Clayton cleaned up the kitchen... Clayton actually swept and mopped my whole kitchen! WOW! Now that I know they can do it, guess who will be mopping from now on?? haha!

Anyway, today has been spent doing school and working on my Bible class for tonight. This weekend we are going to Salem to celebrate Brent's birthday (he'll be 7 next week!!!) with the rest of the family. Plus, baby Chase will be there for the first time, so I can't wait! :)

Tae Kwon Do Pictures (Finally! From January...)

Well, I'm finally getting all my pictures uploaded from the camera and figured I would go ahead and take the time to put them here as well. These are from the boys' Tae Kwon Do tournament in January (and apparently I didn't post about how they did!!!! Sorry....)

Brent got 2nd Place in Form and 3rd Place in Sparring. Clayton got 3rd place in Form and 4th Place in Sparring (hence, the medal not the trophy). They both had alot of fun, although Clayton and another boy had meltdowns during the sparring time. They were from the same school (thankfully) so there were no hard feelings...they were mostly just VERY tired and VERY hungry and had just about had their fill of the day. :)

These two pictures below are just really goofy pictures. Mom and Dad were trying to help us get some good shots of the boys with their trophies and they were just punchy....they started acting weird. (What's new about that huh? LOL) Anyway, the first one here, I intentionally didn't remove the red-eye, cuz with their tongues hanging out and weird looks on their faces, I thought the red eyes make it look cool! LOL The second one, was just Clayton being Clayton and trying to be goofy when the camera clicked. (His timing is so impeccable sometimes!)



We don't have another tourney until August, so hopefully by then my life will be more organized (yeah right!) and it won't take me 3 months to get pictures on here! :) Till then....

Thursday School Graduation

Clayton has finally graduated from Thursday School! (My baby!!!) :) The graduation was last Thursday night and he was SOOOOO excited! :) Of course, he did well....he's Clayton! :)


Miss Faye is the Bible Class teacher (the Blue Class) at Thursday School. She and Clayton had formed a very special bond this year and have both expressed how much they will miss each other next year. We love Miss Faye! :)

Nearly a month..

has gone by since my last post. I'm so exhausted and have so much to tell...I don't know if I have time to type it all in. I'll do my best and add more later if needed.

Since that time, mom made a trip to OK to see J&J, and I took her to the airport and then picked her up again a week later. The boys really enjoyed that adventure....seeing the airplanes and such. Seeing their mother road-rage in St Louis. LOL

We made a couple trips to Salem to help care for J...she is doing remarkably better. Able to stand more on her own (with a walker, anyway), walking better, and showing improvement in her overall attitude. We're so pleased that she's doing better, even if we are shocked! :)

Chase is home and has since had his second surgery to remove the colostomy bag. We finally got to see (and hold) him this past weekend and I'm SOOOO happy! He's absolutely beautiful. I have to share this part: the two times that Terry held him, Chase would just fuss and cry...and as soon as Terry gave him back to me, he would quiet down. :-) I just thought that was cool. But, like I told Terry...I hope that doesn't continue...I don't want him to not be able to hold Chase. But it was cool for that one time. LOL

Clayton has graduated from Thursday School! (I will post pictures soon.) He was so proud to stand up on that stage and get his diploma and his new "Thursday School Bible". I got a couple good pictures...darn camera...and I know you will love them!

We spent this past weekend in St Louis at the St Louis Homeschool Expo. We learned so very much and plan on doing some changes to our school and our lives....more on that in the next couple of days.

Dad was installed as an elder at their congregation yesterday and we were able to be there for it. So touching and nice. But like I told him, I wasn't surprised in the least! :)

In the next couple of weeks, we have so much going on. We are continuing to work on the house to prepare it for the possibility of selling it sometime in the near future. Although, I just don't know how to get all of that done. Mom has been helping me for a couple weeks, and sometimes I still get depressed and feel like I'm spinning my wheels. :( But it will happen the way it's supposed to happen. We start T-Ball soon...the practices begin this week. On a Wednesday, no-less. I'm gonna have to call their coach and let him know that the boys won't be there on Wednesday nights. Hope he's okay with that! Terry has another surgery coming up; we don't have the date scheduled yet. They will be putting a plug in, and there is only a 60% chance that it will work. So we will see. It means 4-6 weeks of him not being able to do much of anything that requires lifting or exerting more than 10 lbs. So that means that all the garden and yard work is now left to me for the majority of the summer! Oh, dear! I'm not looking forward to that at all....I am an INSIDE person. LOL

Okay, I have to go...more housecleaning to do, things to pick up, clothes to fold...and dinner to prepare. The boys have TKD this evening as well. I'm hoping to get some pictures posted later this week.

Amendment to Rubik's Cube post...

Okay, since that posting, I have figured out (through Terry's tutelage) how to 'do' the Rubik's cube. And now I LOVE it! LOL I know, I'm eating crow now, but I'm doing it gladly. Terry likes to tease me with threatening to get a 4x4...and I just tell him to go ahead! :)

I despise the Rubik's Cube!!!

I just had an issue with the Rubik's cube! I HATE those things! We've been working on learning the process and Terry is the only one who can do it successfully. But he's been teaching me and Brent...of course, Brent is MUCh better than me! :( Anyway, Brent had it messed up and asked me to fix it. So I got the one side done (like you're supposed to do) and started the next step.....which messed it up all over again. I just got so frustrated. I told the boys that I was getting it back to the way I had it and then I was putting the stupid thing up till Daddy came home and could help me! (Yes, I said the S word! :( ) Well, they looked at me like my head was spinning, and Clayton said, "But mom you said a bad word." So I had to explain why I said what I did and that doing the R-Cube makes me feel stupid and that I don't like intentionally on purpose doing things that make me feel stupid! Anyway, I ended up crying cuz of how bad I was feeling about all of it (I knew I was acting like an idiot, but did that stop me? NO!). I assured them no one was in trouble and i wasn't mad, I was just stopping myself from getting grumpy and being in a bad mood all afternoon.

Oh gravy....what a bad mom I was!

On another note....

Brent was feeling very sick to his stomach last night...well all afternoon yesterday. He basically layed on the couch from about 3 on. He asked to sleep with his daddy last night and we decided it would be okay. So, then while I was reading (on the couch, getting ready to sleep) Terry came in and said, "Honey I need your help...." Yep, you guessed it....Brent had thrown up all over our bed. :( And he'd had Ramen Noodles for dinner cuz he wanted soup. Yuck! Puts a whole new perspective on Ramen Noodles! LOL Anyway, we got him cleaned up, stripped the bed (sheets, comforter, pillows, and mattress pad...all soaked!), put down a towel where the wet spot was and put on fresh sheets. I started a load of the sheets (yes, at 12:30 AM!) so it would make today go better, and everyone went back to bed. Then he woke up this morning runnin around and acting crazy! Obviously he's feeling much better, so I'm not sure what caused it. :(

And I JUST washed my comforter last week (at a friends', cuz my washer isn't big enough!)....so frustrating. :) Oh well...not like he did it on purpose! LOL

What a weekend...

Wow. Well, we went into Salem this weekend to help out with Janice and to be half-way to a birthday party for my cousin's baby (who isn't a baby anymore...he's 2!). We got into Salem after 11, then had to go to town to get a birthday gift, and by the time we got back to J's and got to bed, it was after 2. Well, at almost 3 I woke up to J coughing and sounding like she couldn't get her breath, so I woke Terry up to check on her. By the time he got to her door, she quit! LOL Anyway, with him jumping out of bed like that, he got a leg cramp that he needed rubbed. :( So by the time that was all said and done, it was after 330. So tired.

We went to the party, had a blast and ended up staying for dinner with the family. Had so much fun with baby J! :) Got home, got to bed around 12, but it was actually 1 with the time change.

Sunday morning, I got up and was getting ready to start the coffee when Janice called from her room that she needed to potty. She said, "I just need to sit on the pot". So I helped her up and was supporting her (with the walker) so she could go to the bathroom...when she stopped at her pot-chair in her room. Which was covered with things. I misunderstood where she was headed and so when I saw her reach over to take off a pillow that was up on the pot-chair, I moved my arms to move the rest of the stuff. Wrong move.... Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her tumbling to the floor. I moved quickly and was able to get my hand under her head to keep it from hitting anything, but she still ended up falling. I called out to Terry and he came and between the two of us, we got her up and all was okay. But Terry could tell I was not okay. He got her settled back in bed and came to find me. I asked if she was okay and he said, "Yes, but I came to check on you." I just lost it. I ended up crying this hysterical sobbing cry over what could have happened and how I felt so bad for letting her fall...it seems like when she starts to make progress (like she has...she's walking more with her walker this time!!), something happens to set her back, and this time I would have been the one at fault for that happening. I felt so bad. :( Of course, he reassured me that it wasn't my fault and the sister's told me later that it could have (and has) happened to ANY of us, and that it's no one's fault when it happens. Falls with older people are gonna happen. It took me a while to feel better, but Janice heard me crying and wanted to talk to me...she felt bad that I felt bad. She told me to laugh about it cuz it was silly. I'm still not quite there yet, but I'm getting there. At least now I can think of it without crying. So scary.

Well, we got home late last night, cuz yesterday morning just wiped me out emotionally....I HAD to have a nap yesterday. It was good for all of us to be able to visit some extra time, anyway. My arm is sore today (very sore) from trying to catch her, but I think it's just a pulled muscle or something. Oh the joys.... :)

I'm working on some school for the boys today and we have TKD tonight. I was told last week that they would most likely test this week for their next belt. :-) So exciting! :)

Up really late...

Okay, for me this is late. It's 11 PM. I've been working on our Ladies Bible Class (Revelations) for tomorrow night (since I'm teaching for M) since about 8 this evening. I finally finished and was just rechecking email, listening to some music, and looking at PBS. Had some messages to answer....and well, okay now it's after 11. Hmmm....

I must be really stupid. And then I made it worse by coming here and sharing it all with everyone! LOL

Think my brain has disappeared somewhere....

Too many things to keep track of....

Well, this past weekend we were able to get some rest. I say some, cuz the rest was only on Saturday. The weather was beautiful and the boys got to play outside for a couple hours....which they needed desperately! Well, and I needed for them to do it too! :)

Sunday was spent shopping and getting restocked on some items we were out of. Meat was one of them. Hamburger to be specific. And since we have our sealer machine, we just planned on letting them freeze like we normally do, then after church that evening we would vacuum seal it all. Well, it didn't turn out that way. First, Terry had some computer work that needed to be done and he had put it off all weekend. So while he was doing his computer work, I started 'making bags' with the sealer. When he got in there and cut the meat (mind you, these rolls of hamburger are 10 lb logs...and we have 8 of them), we started to seal it and it wouldn't seal. It never drew a vacuum. So, Terry worked with it a bit and got one to seal...only, it pulled juices from the meat up into the sealer (a big no-no) and didn't vacuum it properly, so it wasn't really sealed. Ugh.

By now it's midnight. The boys are still up. :( And we realized that we can't seal the meat until it's more frozen...but we don't' want to get back up at 3 AM to do this! So, Terry tells me that he can get a saw from the garage (which I can sterilize) and we can just let the logs freeze SOLID and he'd saw through them to be able to do it on Monday night. Well, last night, we eat supper and proceed to 'saw' through this meat. Oh, what a sight it was. We got through ONE log and Terry's arm was so tired that we had to quit...plus it took well over an hour to do one log.

I convinced him that at this point, I would rather have a major cooking day every week or two and thaw out the 10 lbs and just cook it and divide it into meals. Really, this is a good way to do the week since it will make cooking much easier on our busy nights. It's just more work up front. Anyway, it was just comical to see him with gloves on and a hack-saw making 'beef shavings' on my kitchen table. Oy.

Plus, we found out that Little Chase is having trouble eating.... He'd been doing so good and then stopped eating so well. They aren't sure why, but I think they were gonna run some tests and see if everything was alright.

We got another ice storm last night....our third in about as many weeks. I can handle snow...but ice really bums me out. I get stuck in the house and can't do anything. Plus it makes the boys CRAZY! And now it's snowing on top of the ice!

We got the van worked on yesterday. We have known for a few months that the brakes were making funny noises, but we just didn't have the time (or money) to sink into the van. Well, it was getting to a point that we knew we had to do something. So Terry made the appointment and when I got over there the guy wanted to ride around with me for a bit so I could explain to him what we heard. Well, he tells me (after hearing it) that it sounds like 'normal brake noise' to him. But, he'd look at it anyway if Terry wanted him to. We wait for an hour and a half to hear back from them (when they had said it would only be 30 minutes) and find out that yes, there was a problem and they need to replace the drum (?) and the pads. All told, it will be well over $300 for the whole thing. Ugh. We hadn't planned on spending THAT much. :(

Hopefully, life will slow down one day soon, but I'm not counting on it. LOL

FSA's are NOT worth the hassle!

I'm just in a venting mood right now! We have started using our FSA (Flexible Spending Account) card on our medical expenses. All the money that is put in the account is pre-tax, so we originally thought it would be a good thing. Well, now that we started using it, we have been getting these letters in the mail from the FSA people saying that they need to see copies of receipts for each of these things to verify what we used the money for, and apparently credit card receipts don't work: they aren't detailed enough. So I had to print off the EOB (Explanation of Benefits) from the insurance for each of these transactions (each one is like 3 pages long) and fill out the form for each one.

When I called the FSA person, I told her that we were told in their information that receipts would only be requested occassionally. But she tells me that that is true IF we don't use the preferred providers, which we were never given. So she tells me that it's on their website...and she guides me through the 8 steps of clicking to get to that list. !!! Well, I see this list is only major, nation-wide stores and pharmacies. So I asked her if that meant that for every time we went to the doctor's office we'd have to fill out this paperwork? And she said yes. She continued on saying that there is one other option: we could pay for the visit out of pocket and then get a detailed receipt and submit a claim form after the fact for reimbursement. I said, "Well, honestly, that doesn't help me much because either way I have to fill out paperwork to use the money that is in this FSA account." She said, "Yes, that's correct." Grrrrrr!!!

So, after looking through all of it, printing out the forms that I needed, printing out the EOB's, and filling out the forms, I wasted 2 1/2 hours of my day, and still didn't get them all done for a couple of reasons. One, I have to have Terry's signature on all forms for submission. And two, 3 of the claims haven't finished being processed by the insurance yet, so I don't have EOB's for them. Hopefully, they will finish soon, as we only have 30 days from the date of service to submit claims back to them.

It's all just so frustrating and really raised my blood pressure this morning. But I'm trying to remind myself that we're lucky that we even have insurance, cuz so many people don't. I should be able to handle some paperwork for the sake of having insurance. I just don't think it's worth the time simply for pre-tax money. We're not talking that much money saved in the long run if you figure in the value of my time.

Lord, please give me patience!

The weekend

Well, we ended up spending the weekend in Salem. I didn't think at first we would go anywhere with the roads like they were. But really everything ended up being completely dry! :)

Janice isn't doing so good. She's still so very weak and doesn't have the strength to stand or walk. Her appetite is better, and for that we're thankful. :) But none of us are sure how long she'll be able to stay at home before being forced to enter a nursing home. None of us want that, but feel we may have no choice.

Chase seems to be doing better. They were to remove the feeding tube yesterday and were hoping he would get to begin eating again by last night. ;) Praise the Lord for this! Hopefully this will lead to him gaining some weight back and being allowed to go home.

Not much else to tell! LOL

*****Newest update on Chase: He is getting to 'eat' again! :) He took about 2 ozs this morning and will get to eat again this evening. I was told that today during rounds, the nurse and doctor even mentioned the 'd' word: dismissal! :) (Just in passing about what is required for dismissal, but still...it's progress and we'll take it!!)

Report Card!

Well, it's not the normal time for report cards, but for us it is! :) Brent just finished Unit 3 in his workbooks yesterday and I got his latest grades inputted last night. So this is everything up until the end of Unit 3:

Phonics:
Unit 1 - 97% A
Unit 2 - 96% A
Unit 3 - 97% A

Reading:
Unit 1 - 95% A
Unit 2 - 97% A
Unit 3 - 98% A

Writing:
Fall Semester - 99% A

Math:
Unit 1 - 97% A
Unit 2 - 97% A
Unit 3 - 96% A

I haven't been keeping as good of track of Science and Social Studies, but it is there. Each week, we go to States Studies with our Homeschool group and they learn about 1 or 2 states per week. And on Science, we use science stuff from the MO Conservation Dept and from Apologetics Press. But those are more informational and not something I can really grade very easily at this time.

Family Updates

First, I'm so sorry it's been awhile since these updates. I have been doing the BASIC computer time that is required of me and just haven't had time for updating. So, just to warn you, this will be a bit longer than normal. I have many things to update you on! :)

CHASE
Since the last update so much has happened. First, I have a picture, which you can see. He made it through the weekend just fine; they got the seizures under control. Hannah had told me on Sunday night that they would be trying to take him off the seizure meds to see if things were getting better. However, on Monday morning about 7 AM, Chase started having blood in his diaper. Thankfully, he was in the NICU with constant nurse attention, so they caught it immediately. He started running a low-grade fever, but they were monitoring him. Well, on Tuesday morning he started vomiting and they ran a test and found a gas pocket near his colon and they would have to do surgery almost immediately. However, it wasn't emergency surgery, as he was still stable. But they were going to transfer him to a different hospital, cuz the specialist was over there that day. Well, after waiting a while, Chase went into surgery about 3:30.

During all of this, Terry and I decided to go up and visit with everyone that was up there. Things were so emotional and we just thought it would be nice to be up there. Well, when we got up there, we found out that Chase made it through surgery just fine. The colon had a small hole in it and they had to remove about 2 cm of it. However, due to the amount of infection in the colon they couldn't reattach the two ends and had to put in a colostomy bag. They said that he will be in the hospital for about 3 more weeks and have to have the colostomy for 6-8 weeks. :( So discouraging and scary for H&J.

So far this week, Chase has continued to do well and everyone seems to be adjusting. Terry and I just keep saying over and over that it's not fair and we wish we could take their pain/frustration from them, but we can't. I think that is the hardest part of all of this...we can't do anything. We feel helpless.

Janice
Janice is now home, with full time nursing care. It was a tough decision to make, knowing that her Medicare coverage had run out and figuring out which would be cheaper for her to pay for: home care or paying for hospitalization. Home care ended up being the better way to go, in all areas. Emotionally and financially. We were supposed to go in and 'relieve' Donna for the weekend (with Darlene in St Louis and us down here, she's been at J's house each night). But we're stuck here with all the ice and snow...just like last weekend. :( SO! Depending on what happens in the next 12 hours, we MAY go to Salem tomorrow or we may have to put it off another week.

Mom and Dad
Dad has known for a couple weeks that he was changing jobs...but I haven't been able to tell anyone cuz of not wanting it to 'leak' to the wrong people about where he was going. But, now that he's started the job (this week!) I can share: Dad is now a counselor at Pathways, which is a substance abuse place for adolescents. He is LOVING it so far and we're so excited and happy for him (and mom!). I pray that he continues to love his work!

Mom had an interesting situation at work this week. The center had decided to make a blanket policy and mom decided to not sign the policy paper. Well, since she refused to sign it and since she took a stand against a really stupid policy, she was suspended for 3 days. And they told her that if she didn't come back in and sign that policy within that 3 day time frame, she would have 'abandoned' her job. SO, since she had no intention of changing her mind (and dad was in full agreement with this), she packed up all her stuff and left. For good. It was so weird for her to not have to go back to work on Thursday. Of course, now she has to start looking for a job, but hopefully and prayerfully, she will be getting a job that is much better (and for a much better company) that what she had before. :)

Ice, Ice, and More Ice
We had an ice storm last week....and now we have another one this week! We are now iced in again....things are even more slick this time than last week, but this one isn't causing the power outages that some had last week. (Fortunately, we even avoided the power outage!)

I'm getting pretty 'cabin feverish', as this will make the 3 week in a row that the boys and I have been stuck in the house with no outside diversion (except for being able to go to worship on Sunday). Of course, we've had some diversion if you count Chase, Janice, and Mom and Dad...but for some reason it just isn't the same! LOL

Latest on Chase...

I just got a phone call to let me know that Baby Chase has had about 3 more seizure's today. It's so very scary and we're hoping to know more this afternoon. They are doing a test to find out if the blood-bruise is on the inside of the skull or outside of the skull.

Hannah is being released this morning and is going down to Cardinal Glennon to be with Chase...

Plesae keep praying.

Chase update

I have more news about Chase...no pictures yet, cuz everyone has been so busy with things (you'll see why in a moment).

Terry told me this morning that Chase was 8 lbs 12 oz, just a few ounces smaller than Brent was when he was born, and that they were all exhausted.

Around noon, I hadn't heard from anyone (no pictures or anything) and thought I would call Darlene to see how things were. I coudln't get her, so I called Hannah's cell to see if Jeremy had it and I could talk to the proud Daddy. Well, Hannah answered and she sounded very sad. I asked if she was okay and she told me that Chase had had a seizure last night about 1:30 and they flew him over to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. Apparently, they found he had a bruise on the brain (blood on the brain) that they think was caused from delivery and that at this point they don't think there would be any lasting damage. Hannah said he was fighting the nurses and didn't like to have his blood drawn! But she is still in the hospital and wouldn't be released for another day due to her own complications.

Then later this afternoon I talked more with Darlene and found out that they also see now that they broke Chase's collarbone during delivery. She said that Hannah had been ready to push and they made her wait last night for 15 mintues cuz the doctor wasn't there yet! Apparently they squirt some fluids back up on the birth canal to relieve the pressure off of Chase while they waited! Then when they finally let her push, the dr had to twist and pull on Chase's head to get him out...hence the broken collarbone! Good grief! And Darlene said his little forehead was all deformed cuz he kept hitting the pelvic bone...he was just too big. We're still trying to figure out why they didn't go ahead and do a C-section long before this time...there is no reason for Hannah (or Chase) to have had to go through all that!

Gr....the medical profession aggravates me sometimes!

Please pray for Hannah and Chase (and Jeremy). They are all exhausted and torn as to where their place should be. Hopefully this will all be over within a few days and Hannah and Chase will both be home!

Baby Chase has arrived!

We are so very thrilled that Chase Kenneth Collins has made his way into this world! :) We've waited so long to meet him....and now due to weather, we'll have to wait a bit longer. LOL

Mommy and baby are doing well....

Is it possible??

Wow. Okay. So I now realize just how many days it's been since I last updated this blog. Way too many! The boys did FABULOUSLY at their tournament and I will have a separate post (complete with pictures) in a day or two. :) (Just dangling that carrot for you...)

This past week we've been hammered/smacked/way-layed/bombarded by the flu bug that has been so mercilessly passed around. Monday night Clayton started it all off by saying his tummy wasn't hungry for supper...okay, no prob. But while we were eating, I asked him to come over to me and he said, "I can't mom...my legs hurt too much." Strange. So by the time I finished eating, I went to check him and he was asleep (at 7:30) and I could tell by just touching him he was burning with fever. So I took it anyway and it was well over 102. So I gave him a breathing treatment, some cough meds, and some tylenol and he went to bed. He woke up at about midnight and was still burning with fever. So I took him to the living room, got him more meds, some water (which he asked for....a major oddity for him in the middle of the night) and snuggled in with him on the couch. The cough just kept getting worse and we were concerned with pneumonia (due to Clayton's history of everything going straight to his bronchial/lung area) and so I took him to the dr Tuesday morning. The nurse took one look at me and Brent and said, "How have you two kept from getting all this??" (Shoulda known she was jinxing me!)

Well, lo and behold, that very afternoon, Brent and I both ended up coughing and going downhill very quickly. By the nighttime, I was feverish and Brent was on his way. Then on Wednesday mid-morning, I talked to Terry on the phone and he was pretty sure he had a fever too and would be leaving work early...did we all want to go to the doctor together? LOL So we all went and the nurse just laughed when she saw us in the room together. Course, then she looked at Brent (who by then was asleep on the exam table) and just went to work. So after all that, we're all on meds and came home to drink TONS of liquids (we had NO appetite) and get as much rest as we could. We were all in bed asleep by about 6:30 Wednesday night!

This flu is just awful.....we are all so achy and hurting all over! Argh! The pains that comes with this are nothing to sneeze at, that's for sure. No way that I layed, stood or sat made a difference. I was in pain regardless. We were all simply sleeping in 45-90 minutes increments but doing this for 12 hours at a time. What a few days it's been! But now we're on the mend! :)

Oh, before I forget! I was SO bummed last weekend. I was informed by Armchair Interviews that they no longer need me as a reviewer. Apparently, I wasn't reviewing enough books often enough or something like that. I was really upset at first. Mad, too. I truly enjoyed reviewing books for people. It was fun and gave me some new genres to check out. But the more we looked at things, the more we realized that perhaps this is God's way of letting me know I have too much on my plate right now and need some things to back off...so He helped me with one of them. :) So much as I would like to, I haven't sought out another reviewing site to sign up for yet. I'm gonna give it some time and see where things are in a few months. Maybe I need a break with everything else we have going on. Ya think?? LOL

Janice is back in MoBap....she had fluid on her heart so they took her back up there. Hopefully she'll get to go back to Salem right after this is dealt with..... :)

Terry had a follow up appointment in St Louis today. The dr thinks that he's healing well and has scheduled another followup appointment for the middle of April. I have to say I was a bit disappointed in this...I was hoping that she would schedule the surgery...but no luck. But she said that by April he should be scarred over to the point that we can make some more definitive decisions. LOL

Okay....off to check my healing babies. One I know is asleep in my bed (Clayton!) and the other is waiting for me to finish with the computer! :)