How I Spent My Spring Break Vacation, Part IV

I am finally getting the pictures from Phoebe's birthday party and Easter on the blog. You know how good intentions are...

We had the party at my parents house since most of my family lives in the Dallas area and they were the people I was inviting. The theme was "Pretty In Pink" because it seemed like everything we own for Phoebe is pink so it made sense. I had soooo much fun getting ready for the party the Saturday before Easter. I asked all the guests to wear pink and there was pink everywhere!!! Pink on the chairs, pink on the tables, pink on the cupcakes, pink on the light fixtures...I think my dad was a little overwhelmed. I wish I had gotten a really close-up picture of the cupcakes because they were pretty darn cute. Some were light pink with hot pink flowers and bright sugar sprinkles around the very edge and the other half was hot pink with light pink flowers and light pink sugar sprinkles. Sarah helped me decorate them...she's a great assistant decorator! Of course, Phoebe was completely spoiled and she loved every minute.

Sunday was Easter, and it was cold! I only took a few pictures, but my mom had made Phoebe's dress and it was beautiful. Eli looked pretty cute, too.

I Think Eli Might Need Glasses

Last night, as Eli and I were cuddled up watching Good Eats on the Food Network (Eli says it's his favorite show), the Jenny Craig commercial with Queen Latifah came on. You know, the one where she's wearing a green dress and talking about how her size has never mattered, but what's important is being a healthier you. It seems to air on that channel an awful lot...I wonder if there's a connection? Anyway, Eli looked at me and said, "Mom, that girl looks like you."

Hmmm...it makes me wonder if the boy needs glasses. I'm not sure if there is a woman alive that looks less like me than Queen Latifah. I asked him why he thought she looked like me, but he never did tell me. I guess the world will never know.


In other news, I think I broke my toe. The little next to the pinky toe on my left foot. I was getting the kids ready for bed last night and I stubbed it on the couch leg. I almost dropped Phoebe as I fell to the floor. Brad wasn't home so I spent the rest of my (rather short) evening limping around. It woke me up all night just throbbing and it hurts like fire this morning. I've broken all my toes (except for my big toe on my right foot) at one time or another so I know there is nothing you can do for it except limp around and take pain killers. Hopefully the weather will stay warm for a few more days so I can wear my flip-flops. What's really surprising is that this doesn't happen more often...considering how graceful and coordinated I am! :)

Footings and Such

The "footings" were dug last Thursday on our house. It would probably be very exciting if I knew what footings were, exactly. It has something to do with the foundation (I think), and it does show us where our house is going to be. We went out to see the land on Friday after my CT scan (and lunch at Logans...yum...it's my treat for having to drink barium for breakfast and stuck twice to give blood and four times to get the IV in my arm for the contrast).

This is a picture of Eli standing by the "fireplace." When we told him what it was, he said, "Oh, this is where I will sit when it's cold and Mom will be bring me hot chocolate to drink." Whatever, kid.



As you can see, it was pretty cold and windy and I pretty much stayed in the car. Here I am, waving (although I don't think you can tell), and the car is parked where the garage will be.



Eli standing in what we think is the kitchen. Please disregard the fact that his pants have a hole in them, and all of his clothes look almost too small. It is supposed to be spring, and I am not buying more winter clothes!



Brad took this picture from the "top" of our land (aka, the very back of the backyard) and it shows the whole outline of the future house. I'm pretty sure that while this is very exciting to us, everyone else is thinking that I had better come up with some better blog entries than this. :)



Phoebe was very impressed with the outing.

Another test day for Jordan

Brad here.

This morning Jordan has another round of exams. Yep, it has been three months since her last round. It is hard for us to believe how quickly the last three months flew by.

As always, thanks for praying for us. After we get the CDs, mail them off, wait for the oncologist in Boston to review and call, it likely will be another two to three weeks from now. Trust we will keep you informed.

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month, and here is a little poem to help celebrate.

My Little Sister
by William Wise

My little sister
Likes to eat.
But when she does
She's not too neat.
The trouble is
She doesn't know
Exactly where
The food should go!

Alternate blog titles for this post: "Spaghetti Is SOOO yummy!" or "Why Phoebe Doesn't Wear A Bow When She Eats"

How I Spent My Spring Break Vacation, Part III

On Friday of Spring Break, we went to The Dallas Arboretum. It is a wonderful place (especially during Dallas Blooms) and the flowers were absolutely decadent! I went a little camera happy. We met up with my friend Jenny and her son, Colton. I think I was the only one who subjected her children to five million pictures...too bad I didn't get a really, really good one. :) If you are ever in the metroplex, I highly suggest you take a picnic lunch and enjoy the Dallas Arboretum. There isn't a whole lot to "do", but it is sooo worth the time and effort to just sit in the beautifulness of the gardens and enjoy being outside. I wish I could go back right now!

If anyone is still reading this blog, please know that there is only one more installment of "How I Spent My Spring Break Vacation, " and it is all about Phoebe's first birthday party. Then I promise to return to all the mundane and philosophical aspects of my life.

My Mom Has The Best Shoes

Phoebe seems to like my new shoes (that I haven't worn because my toenails aren't painted and it's too cold this week) and decided she needed to try them on. Sorry, Phoebolicious, it will be a little while!

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In other news, the Gleevec is kicking my rear this week. It seems like I'll have a two really good weeks where I feel almost normal and energetic and then I'll have two weeks or so where I feel like I'm 90 years old...literally. Last week and this week have been the former. I'm trying my hardest not to sweat the six (count 'em, six) loads of laundry that need to be folded, or the extremely dirty floors that I uncovered when I finally unpacked yesterday, or the disgustingly dirty bathrooms that I won't let Phoebe crawl in because of the grossness. Brad's been picking up some of the slack, especially with the kids, but not too much on the cleaning part because, you know, he already has a job. I could comfort myself if I were spending loads of quality time with Eli and Phoebe and even feel a little self-righteous about it if I were sacrificing my housecleaning to play with children or do fun things with them. Mostly it's because I'm freakishly tired and am using a lot of energy staying awake so they don't have something horrible happen to them while I'm napping. I think I wrenched my back this weekend, as well, playing tennis or bowling on Brad's new Wii and lifting Phoebe onto the slide at the park. That was truly an eye-opener. On Sunday, the weather was beautiful, so I took the kids across the street to play on the playground. It was the first time Phoebe has really experienced it and she loved sliding down the slide. It was humbling to realize that I'm so weak that it wore me out to lift her up to the top of the slide and catch her at the bottom. After about 10 trips, we sat down and played in the sand while Eli swung (swang?) on the swings. That's when I felt especially old...like the old women who are crippled from osteoporosis and a life of hard working...except that I'm thirty and I don't do much. Sigh. Enough of that pity party! I hadn't blogged about where we were in our cancer walk much lately so I thought I'd catch everybody up. We're fine. We'll get through it. Please don't feel like you have to call me or come fold my laundry or clean my house or whatever. It'll happen...eventually. The upside is, I should be heading into a few good days here pretty quickly. Hopefully my husband and my children and my house can make it until then. :)


Oh, and one more thing. I am going to (hopefully) have a blog makeover, but I can never think of catchy, thought-provoking, deep, funny slogans for our family. Anybody have any suggestions? I love quotes and words so be creative, borrow from some famous, smart, insightful people, and HELP ME OUT! I want it to capture everything our family is and make people think...I don't want much, do I?

How I Spent My Spring Break Vacation, Part II

On Thursday, it had finally dried out enough to go to the Dallas Zoo. It was a great idea...apparently shared by everyone else in the metroplex, as well. :) The Dallas Zoo is smaller than the Ft. Worth Zoo, and so it takes about half the time to see all the animals. We took our lunch and enjoyed the nice weather, the animals, and just being outside. Phoebe was unimpressed with all the animals. She cried every time she saw one...especially the really big goldfish that would swim up close to the "see-through" tank. In her defense, some of the goldfish were bigger than she was. Her day ended on a high note, though...the carousel was awesome! Instead of horses, it had different zoo animals. I love carousels. There is just something about the beauty in the animals and the nostalgia and the music that is mesmerizing. I could watch them for hours. Phoebe apparently felt the same. She squealed with delight through the entire ride! Everybody had a great time...even Carrie who was still doped up on painkillers from having her wisdom teeth removed. She's such a trooper!

More to come later on "How I Spent My Spring Break Vacation, Part III"...

How I Spent My Spring Break Vacation, Part I

I really did mean to get this posted earlier in the week, but we had a pretty bad "Gleevec" week around here and I kept telling myself that I needed to unpack, pick-up, do dishes, etc. before I blogged. Well, I've given up. I'm not unpacked, my house is a wreck, and there is laundry everywhere. Sigh. I love to go out of town, but I don't particularly enjoy the first week home.

We had a GREAT week! My dad flew down the Friday night before Spring Break and we drove to Abilene where his first every "Cousins Reunion" was being held at one of his cousins houses there in Abilene. It was at dinner with my dad when Eli finally admitted why his room was starting to smell like a kennel. I was convinced it was his pull-ups that were leaking and so I was changing sheets and spraying the mattress wtih Febreze...all to no avail. I kept asking him why his room smelled like pee, but he would always just shrug his shoulders. At dinner he finally told us it was because he was peeing in his room...on the floor! He told me it was too far from his room to the bathroom and he had to go around the corner to make it to our bathroom. I was mortified!! I told him if he continued to pee on the floor, he was going to sleep in the bathtub. I would like to go on record to say that boys are disgusting. Absolutely animalistic. That's why I had to rent a Rug Doctor on Monday when I got home. By the way, it didn't work. I googled "how to get urine out of the carpet" and was told about "Nature's Miracle." It's technically for dog urine, but for some strange reason, there is nothing for human pee...maybe because humans don't pee on the carpet repeatedly. I tried it...it's not very miraculous. I'm going to try vinegar and baking soda next. It that doesn't work, we will be replacing the carpet. Boys are gross. I'll talk a girl out of a catfight any day over teaching a boy not to pee in his room. Even after that terrible start to my Spring Break, we had a good time at the reunion. My Grandfather was one of seven children and is now the only one still living. I forget how many cousins my dad had, but it was a bunch so it was fun to reconnect with some of them. My dad's brother (who also lives in Abilene) brought his children and Eli just adores the "big boys and Bethany" who are my cousins. We drove on into Dallas that afternoon...Phoebe only screamed for two hours so it wasn't too bad. :) My sister had her wisdom teeth removed Saturday so we spent most of Sunday just kind of bumming around. Well, my mom and I did sneak down to Fair Park for Buchanan's Vintage Market. Lots of junk...so much fun. Monday and Tuesday were spent just kind of hanging out. It rained some on Monday and A LOT (think building an ark because of the flooding) on Tuesday so we mostly entertained the kids inside. Thank goodness for Nena's toys and DVD's! It finally cleared up on Wednesday and we headed up north to meet Ben and Sarah for lunch and to see my brother's office. He works for a graphic design firm and it's very cool and young and artsy. When we walked in, there was a guy riding a scooter to his desk. There's a basketball court next to the accounting department. Ben fits in so well there! My friend, Steph, came in on Wednesday afternoon. We did some fun stuff the rest of the week, but I'll have to end this post now because otherwise it would be way too long.

I'm sure you'll all be waiting with bated breath to get the next installment of "How I Spent My Spring Break Vacation, Part II." We'll just see how the rest of my weekend goes.

My Little House On The Prairie

Last Friday, they started moving dirt on the house we are building. It is very exciting! (And nerve-racking, and worrisome, and hopeful, and fun...you get the idea.) Brad went yesterday morning to tell the guy where to put the driveway and took some pictures for me. We looked at them last night and I was struck by how BIG and OPEN it looks. Not a tree or shrub in sight. It really is going to be a house on the prairie.

I'm not really sure what we are looking at here, except that it is where the driveway will go. I know this because of the big ditch running alongside the right of picture. Brad calls it an arroyo, but I think it's really a ditch. Whichever it is, there will be a culvert over it and then a driveway.


This is a picture from the back of our lot. Brad was standing at the very top of our property looking down at where the backyard and then the house will be. If you look waaaaay off in the distance, you can see the Amarillo skyline.


Again, I have no idea where this is, but I thought the sky was really pretty. Kinda wants to make you sing a verse of "Home On The Range."


I think this is another picture from the back our lot. I just thought the lovely lines in the dirt were very calming...like those tiny sand gardens with the tiny rakes you see in doctors' offices. Maybe the dirt guys do that so the wives won't freak out about actually building the house they've been dreaming about for five years. Very thoughtful of them.