Merry Christmas to all..............

and to all a good night! What an amazing day! We have had a wonderful day and now we are exhausted. Merry Christmas to you all!

Blessed Beyond Belief

I have no words to tell you how blessed our family feels this holiday season. We have so many amazing friends and family members. Each day something happens in our life, on our front porch, or in our mailbox that reminds us how truly blessed we are.

Let me start my post by saying Jeremy is on what we pray is his final chemo treatment! I went with him on Tuesday for his regular treatment day and we will go early tomorrow morning to get his pump off. He is feeling like he normally does, so he is staying in bed and getting lots of rest. Luckily we worked in Santa's workshop before his treatment, so that is all stowed away! The next steps in Jeremy's treatment won't come until the first of the year. He is scheduled for a colonoscopy January 18, PET/CT scans January 20, and then we meet with Dr. B on January 26 for all results and long term treatment plan.

I titled this post blessed beyond belief because these past few months have definitely been a humbling experience and the holiday season has proved to be no different. I know I have already posted some on this and passed out many thank yous, but I just have to extend another thank you and extend appreciation from our family for all the blessing that we have received. Our tree is full of goodies! We have received meals, gift cards, money, and the list goes on. I have to be honest and tell you that yes this holiday season we knew would be difficult, but after much prayer God has provided. Through our amazing friends, family, strangers, and anonymous people :) our family has truly been blessed. From the bottom of our hearts thank you. On Christmas morning when the boys get up it will be a memory that Jeremy and I will cherish forever.(yes I am crying just so you know ;)

I am little behind on my posting, mainly because we have had a little internet glitch, but thanks to Uncle Bo we are back in business. Which means I now have some catching up to do. I have gotten so much done this week. The boys have been gone since Friday evening. We have never been away from them for more than 2 maybe 3 nights, so it has been very different and very QUIET around our house. On Friday night we met Jeremy's sister, Melanie and the boys went with her and her family for the weekend. They got to celebrate Christmas with Jeremy's family and also spend lots of fun time with their cousins Noah and Mallory. On Sunday morning they met Nana (my mom) and the boys went to my mom's family Christmas and after that they were off to Nana's house. They have been to the park, Chuck E Cheese, 2 movies, and bowling. They really show no signs of wanting to come home.......can't imagine why can you? However since it is Christmas Eve tomorrow we told them they have no choice..........Ian said you know we could stay until Christmas day! I had to put my foot down on that one, although once I told him if he stayed there Santa wouldn't be able to find them he decided it would be in their best interest to come home. So after lunch tomorrow our house will be back in the business of noise! I can honestly say the first few days they were gone I did enjoy the peace and quiet. I wouldn't turn the tv or anything on, I just enjoyed the quiet. However I am ready to hear their feet running across the hardwood floor and the loud MOMMA yells because they need something! Ask me in a few days though and I may have a different answer for you! A big thank you to Nana and Aunt Melanie! These few days of them away has allowed Jeremy to have his last treatment in a nice peaceful environment. It also allowed us to have 2 date nights! I mean we are lucky to get 1 date night, but 2 in a row was so nice!!!!

I know tomorrow will be super busy once the boys get home, but I want to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas! May you all have a blessed holiday season.

Pay It Forward

I have no words for the blessings we have received in the past week. I know many people have given to our family and we are so incredibly thankful for all the blessings that have been bestowed upon our family. Receiving is hard especially when you are used to being on the giving end. So many people have made sure that our family is going to have a wonderful Christmas and let me tell you, we are! Our boys are blessed beyond belief. We knew the holidays would not be easy with all that has gone on in the last 6 months, but we have continued to pray about this each and everyday. God has provided for us and answered our prayers in so many different ways. We have been touched by so many people. I just want to say that once we are over this speed bump in our life, we plan to pay it forward. Thank you to all of the amazing people in our life. Some we know exactly who you are and some of you remain anonymous. God is good and we are SO blessed!

Wordless Wednesday

Cousins........no worries in the world!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Well Sunday was Jeremy's 33rd birthday!!!!!! We started the day by going to church and from there we had family pictures done. Not one of Jeremy's favorite things to do, but he agreed. However who knew that it was going to be freezing cold and windy! I mean I know it is winter, but we have had so many mild days and then of course the one day we have family pictures it was miserable. We had a minisession with a great new found friend of mine Brandy(I work with her husband and they are a sweet family) who has Foshe Fotos. She is wonderful and if you need some family photos, she does a great job! I told Brandy if I can just get one good family pic I would be happy. We are going to do a full session next summer when all is done! If there are any pictures with out Carter screaming CHEESE at the top of his lungs, I will share them! He was quite the mess during the whole session. However I bribed with gum, so hoping for one decent one.

Here a few pics of Jeremy's birthday. Carter is obsessed with birthday cake! As soon as he sees any type of cake or desert he starts yelling, "we sing happy birthday NOW". Usually we just please him and sing it! However he knew on this particular day we needed candles! So we sang to daddy, blew out the candles NUMEROUS times, and then Carter stuck his finger right in the middle of the cake!

So after the family pics, we headed to Texas Land and Cattle for Jeremy's birthday dinner. It is so yummy. They have the best smoked sirloin ever! The boys were so well behaved and ate everything on their plates. From there we headed to Hibbett and got Jeremy some new tennis shoes for his birthday present. After that we decided to cruise through Target. We didn't really get anything, just walked and enjoyed all being out together. As we were leaving we decided to have a little treat from Starbucks and the boys had frozen cokes from Target snack bar. Everyone was happy! There was also a small prize for whoever was the best for our family pictures.....as you already know from reading above Ian won that by a landslide. So when we were in Target Ian reminded me that he won the 2 dollars and these wrestling cards conveniently cost 2 dollars, so I had to put my money where my mouth was!

Peppermint Mocha.....YUMMY!

Carter was tuckered out after all that celebrating!

Ok so this is payoff on a wedgie bet! Ian took the Redskins and Jeremy took the Saints. As you can see the Saints won and Ian is fixing to endure his wedgie. Yes I live with 3 boys!!!!!!!!!! That is obvious!

Jeremy is getting his 11th treatment right now. We saw Dr. B last week and got a good report. He said that all Jeremy's level continue to be good. Jeremy is still scheduled for his last chemo the week of Christmas. He will have his pump removed on Christmas Eve. From there Dr. B has put in orders for Jeremy to have a CT scan, PET scan, and colonoscopy the first week of January. After those are all complete we will meet back with Dr. Bradford and discuss results. We are praying for good results! Jeremy is praying that after that appointment he can schedule surgery to have his port taken out!

Thank yous to catch up on:

*Dave and Linnea took us to a wonderful dinner at the Country Club. We enjoyed it and the boys love going there and having dinner with them! Jeremy and I love to have the adult conversation with someone other than each other :)

*Thank you to some very sweet emails we have gotten over the last few weeks. It is so nice hear those constant reminders that you are still praying and cheering Jeremy on.

* I have to thank the Loenneke family for all the FUN times you have given to Ian. He not only has fulfilled his dream of getting to be a walker, but he enjoys spending time with your family so much. We are so blessed that Ian and Jett have become such good friends, which in turn has allowed us to become such good friends and coffee drinkers :)

*Thank you to Brandy for bringing me the new Carrie Underwood cd :) and also for the wonderful dinner and DELICIOUS cookies you brought! You are so sweet and always taking care of us.

*I am sure I am forgetting someone, but it will come to me I promise, maybe in the middle of the night, but I will remember!

Happy Tuesday to you all!!!!

Heaven on a Biscuit

Well here it is our delicious dinner we had on Wednesday night! Ian's dinner of choice.....breakfast. However, Daddy requested chocolate gravy just like his Grandma Dean makes, so out came the cookbook! I have made it a few times, but this time I think I have it mastered! It was so yummy!

Chocolate Gravy Recipe

2 1/4 cups milk

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons Cocoa

2 heaping Tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat milk in saucepan. In bowl mix sugar, cocoa, flour, and salt. Stir in enough milk to make a smooth paste. Pour into warm milk. Cook and stir over moderate heat until thickened. Add butter and vanilla. Ready to serve over biscuits!

Thankful on Thanksgiving

Well as you know we had our Thanksgiving a little early, so that Jeremy could enjoy all the food. If you are wondering if he enjoyed it.........I think he had 2nds, 3rds, and 4ths.......actually I caught him back in the kitchen again after everyone left. However I looked the other way because I knew that he would not get to enjoy the leftovers after that day! We had a great feast! I took over our families Thanksgiving dinner after Ian was born. I don't know why but I wanted to make sure that I knew all the family "secrets" to put on a successful holiday meal. I think my feast has gotten better and better each year. I know I was not near as stressed this year as I was the first time I did it 6 years ago! Here are Jeremy and Carter very patiently waiting for the turkey!





Our menu consisted of:

Turkey

Ham

Crockpot dressing

Sweet potatoes with almonds

Macaroni Salad

Deviled Eggs

Hominy Salad

Macaroni and Cheese

Pretzel Jello Salad

Pumpkin Dump Cake

Pies from Spring Street Grill

Pecan Pie

We had a great day and great food!!!! I love the tradition of having Thanksgiving at our home. Ian helps me decorate and get the house ready. I am a sucker for traditions!!!!!!! One thing we do is each of get to choose one dish that I will fix for our dinner, so this year Ian picked turkey(which saved me because obviously we were going to have that anyway), Carter picked macaroni and cheese, Jeremy chose his mom's famous macaroni salad, and I picked hominy casserole(which is now a family favorite thanks to my aunt Donna!).

This picture is my bargain of the day! Our PTA cleaned out an old shed we had full of Fall and Winter decor from our carnivals we had years ago. We had a little mini sale at our last meeting, so I snagged all of the cute pumpkins, mums, and fall leaves. I got all of it for 10 bucks!!!! It was 5 pumpkins, 2 mums, and a big bunch of leaves. I was so excited! Ian helped me put it all out for our dinner! I snapped this pic when I put it all on the counter and I just loved it! Carter was so excited over it all! His expression in this pic is priceless to me!

Well I am slowly but surely catching up on my blogging after my hiatus I took! I hope you all had a wonderful time with family and friends and enjoyed your Thanksgiving feast as much as we did!

There's more than just a Tooth Fairy.............

Ok so yes I am behind. I know that, but when I decided to take a vacation this week I truly took a vacation from everything. It was much needed and very therapeutic for all of us. Jeremy had treatment and it was so nice to be home with him and be able to take care of him 24-7. However it was hard keeping the boys semi calm, so that he could rest. I have plenty of Thanksgiving pics and I will try and get them up in the next few days. First things first though, I have a couple fairies in my life I have got to publicly thank. No it is it is not the tooth fairy!

The first one we call the Trashcan Fairy. Now I have to tell you upfront I hate to do trash. I hate to collect it from around the house trash cans, I hate to take out the cans, and most of all I hate to bring them in after trash day. Well one of Ian's chores we added once Jeremy's treatment started was to collect all the trash and help mommy get it to the curb and bring in the cans on Friday nights. Well miraculously there is this amazing fairy that brings in our cans every single Friday. Sometimes they beat me to getting them to the curb on Thursday, but they are always put back up by the garage door by the time I get home from work on Friday. I have a sneaky suspicion I know who my Trashcan fairy is, so I want to publicly say THANK YOU. I promise not to blow your cover, but I do feel I have to let you know how much I appreciate see those cans sitting up by our garage every Friday evening when I get home from a long week. Once again we are truly blessed with amazing next door neighbors.

My next special fairy is who we call the Lunch Money fairy at our house. It is amazing to me that I put money in Ian's lunch count and it never seemed to run out, keep in mind I only put 20 dollars in it..................over a month ago! So to the Lunch Money fairy that I know probably chooses to remain anonymous I know who you are and you know I love you to pieces. You are always there for me and do those things that no one but you would ever think about. I am SO blessed to have you and so is my family.

Well Jeremy was down most of the week with treatment. We are so glad the 10th treatment is over. It was rough as usual, but he made it through. His treatment lasted about an hour longer this week because there is a med that has been added in his treatment that is supposed to help with the neuropathy. Jeremy said he couldn't really tell a difference, but it is worth a shot even if it helps a little bit. We see Dr. B on Wednesday this week, to schedule scans and discuss the last 2 treatments. We had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving, we now have our Christmas tree up and thanks to Nana there are even a few presents under it. No lights on the outside of the house this year, but we are going to put up our blow up Santa and Snowman tomorrow. Hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving with your families!!!!!

Alright!

My Heart Melted

Conversation on the car ride home from picking up Ian from taekwondo......

Mom: "Ian are you sure you will be okay doing the taekwondo tournament this weekend without Ms. Gray there? I don't want to drive all the way to Little Rock and then you get too nervous to compete."

Ian: "Will you be there mom?"

Mom: "Of course, I will be there the whole time."

Ian: "Mom you are all I need, I will be just fine as long as you are there."

I am glad it was dark out because I teared up and thought to myself I want to remember this moment for the rest of my life.

Sluggish Sunday

Well I guess it was my turn to have the "bug". I knew at work on Friday I was feeling a little under the weather, but by the time I got home I was laying watching tv getting so tired and achey. I spent all day Saturday on the couch while the boys were being so wonderful playing downstairs. Then I spent all Saturday night and all day Sunday in the bed. Thank goodness Jeremy got home early on Saturday and was home all day on Sunday. Tata came and got the boys Saturday evening, so all Jeremy had to do was take care of me. Thank you Tata! I got some good rest and the house was so quiet and peaceful...........even though I know her house wasn't! Well that is what I heard anyway:)! Did I mention how sweet my husband is? Of course nothing has sounded good all weekend, so as he came home from work he stopped and got me some of my favorite soup. I felt so yucky and icky and didn't know what sounded good, I think I fell in love with my husband all over again because he knew what I wanted even before I did. I am sure by now you are wondering what my favorite soup is! It is Tom Kha Gai a.k.a. coconut milk soup. It is from my favorite Thai restaurant called Pad Thai.
Even though I have been in bed all weekend I have gotten a few things done. I got our Thanksgiving menu done and grocery list made, worked on the boys Christmas lists with all the catalogs and flyers they keep circling things in, caught up on my blog reading, finished my 3rd Yada Yada book, and started a new book called comeback.
Last week was rough on Jeremy. He ended up having to come home about lunch on Wednesday and wasn't able to go back to work until Saturday. Of course by the time he felt better I was in bed sick. Isn't that the luck? Poor Carter too he was so ready to go bowling and we didn't get to take him! Well we have chemo 9 behind us, so now on to 10, 11, and 12. Jeremy and I both dread them so much, but we both know we are that much closer to the end. Jeremy's CEA level continues to stay around 1.7, we are SO happy for this!!! What an answer to all our prayers!!!!
Well off to take some more meds, go to bed early all in hopes to survive work tomorrow, so that I can save my sick days that are quickly dwindling.
*Thank you to great parents that always make sure that we are taken care of and always know when we need a break for mental and/or physical healing.
*Thank you so much to the Lester family for providing us dinner Friday night. You have been SO good to us.

It's a Jungle in There!!!!!

Not sure if you have heard or not, but I LOVE my job! I teach kindergarten and this is my 10th year in education. I can remember when I started college I wanted to do education, then child psychology, then I questioned it and thought should I be generic and do business. I prayed and prayed for God to lead me in this decision and in the end I knew I was meant to pursue education, so off I went. Then I got hired to teach 1st grade and taught it for 6 years. I can remember saying to my coworkers, if I ever say I want to teach kindergarten just slap me because it will mean I have officially lost my mind. Who knew that I would end up in the wonderful wild jungle of kindergarten. I always thought there was no way I could teach kids to line up, wipe there noses, check their backpacks, and teach them how to function in school and become independent. Well I have to at this moment publicly eat crow! I now teach kindergarten and I LOVE it. My job is amazing! I love my students, my coworkers, and the ladies and gentleman I work with :)! However most of all I love those kiddos. The first day of school you always walk in and think oh my goodness it is going to be a long year and of course you think I may not be able to teach these kids anything! Then you get a few weeks under your belt and everyone settles in and the next thing you know you are settled into a wonderful routine and life is good. There is no feeling better than loving my life at home with my wonderful hubby and boys, but to get up every morning and go to a job I enjoy so much is such a blessing.
I keep promising to share a few pics of my classroom, so this week I took a few pics for you to see my daytime world. I mean while some people are getting to watch daytime tv, eat out for lunch, run errands, or sit behind a desk or at a computer.......I am here in this wonderful world of kindergarten. I am teaching students to read, write, count, and work with basic math skills. I am teaching students how to choose a topic and write a sentence about it. I am teaching students to work together, enjoy their friends, respect students and teacher around them. I am mending broken hearts, wiping noses, sending kids to the potty, sending notes home to parents, putting on Dora band aids. I am patting parents on the back, thanking parents for their help, meeting with coworkers on what we can do for those students that are struggling. I am creating centers activities, hosting university observers, writing lesson plans, grading papers. My job description could go on for hours, but please know that I am NOT complaining I love my job every single part of it. Yes there are days where there are more piles of paperwork than others, but when you see the kiddos learning and enjoying it, it is a blessed feeling. I have 2 kids at home and 22 kiddos everyday from 7:45-3:15. So here are a few pics of my daytime world!

Our favorite place in the room! This is where we spend our learning time together!

Our word wall on my cabinets. My desk area and my Elmo. Our school is so blessed with technology. I have an Elmo, laptop, huge screen, projector, Smart Board and palm pilot.

Our 4 brand new computers!

Our Rhythm and Rhyme center

Our Home Living Center

This is my small group area where I pull small groups and work with kids one on one.

Reading Center

My student's tables where they work on activities.

I thank God everyday for steering me into education! This was the job for me! Even though I told those teachers many years ago to never let me go teach kindergarten, I can now honestly say that I am going to happily stay teaching in kindergarten as long as I can!!!!!!! Work for me just can't get any better than this! Well unless I could teach in my living room in my pajamas and slippers!

Super Saturday!

Ok a Super Saturday to me is one that we have NOTHING planned. I LOVE spending the day at home. We had NO where to go at all and it was glorious. Then as if the day couldn't get any better my grandparents came by and picked the boys up for a few hours. I got all the laundry finished up and our weeks worth of clutter put away. When the boys got home it was so GORGEOUS outside, so we hit the backyard to play in the leaves and swing. Did I mention that Carter and I took a 2 hour nap and the best part was waking up to smell my beans that I had cooking in the crockpot, so yummy! I whipped up some cornbread and fried some potatoes and served up a good ole southern meal for dinner. Then the grandparents came by for a visit and surprised us all by taking both boys home with them for the night. Okay I LOVE my boys with all my heart, but a little break never hurt anybody right? So we are relaxing big time! I am watching whatever I want on tv and I am on the laptop, the best part is no one is crawling on top of me or screaming at me to wipe their bottom or get them something to eat or drink! Jeremy is kicked back watching tv and relaxing as well! If you ask me I think it is mainly because he ate so much and he can't move :)! So let the Super Saturday continue! Hope you all have had a Super Saturday too! Bring on a Super Sunday!

Trick or Treat!

What a great Halloween it was!!! Let me begin by saying that every year since Ian was born he has been sick on Halloween. It has varied from the flu, stomach virus, bad cold, etc. He has never had a Halloween where he was completely healthy and could enjoy himself. Well this year he finally was healthy and on top of that the weather was wonderful!!!!! I know this had to be his best Halloween ever! Not only was it fun for Ian, but Carter is to the age where he could walk up to doors and yell out trick or treat! It was so cute! We started our Halloween day by taking Ian and his friend Jett to a lunch at ATA with the superhero Snake Eyes. They had a special workout and a pizza lunch. They had a great time! After that we came home and rested up for a fun night of trick or treating! The three of us dressed up and headed over to the grandparents for treats and pictures! Yes I did dress up.....you will just have to wait until you see the pics below! After that we came home and daddy had the 4 wheeler fired up because when we trick or treat he is our transportation service. We hopped on and headed around the circle where we live. Tyler, Ian's friend from across the street went with us. So we had an Everlast Boxer, an adorable pirate, and Ozzy Osbourne! The boys got a TON of candy. Carter would march right up there to the front door with them, just like he was as big as they were. I had worried it was going to be cold out, but the weather was perfect!

This is the boys Halloween morning!
My Everlast boxer and pirate

Proof that I did dress up! My good ol' faithful Raggedy Anne costume that my stepmom made for me years ago when I was in college. I love that costume now just as much as I did when she made it for me. Thanks Jannie! Carter did not know what to think of me in that wig! He said I no wear that hair!

Ozzy Osbourne and my tough boxer

Part of their loot!

A huge thank you to Mrs. Granbois for the bright blue monster cookies she got the boys!!!!! Carter was covered and it was demolished by the time he finished it!

So as you can see a good time was had by all. Jeremy's treatment last week was a ROUGH one. He was wore out, exhausted, and had a lot of pain until about Saturday. However on Saturday morning he was back up and at work. We were so happy that he was able to trick or treat with the boys. We went this morning and got his hair cut REALLY short, so now it is all blended together. One of the guys is getting really nervous that he is gonna have to end up shaving his head right in the middle of winter because of a promise he made to Jeremy when he was in the hospital! No meds, no dr. appointments this week, we are so happy and going to enjoy the nice break.

I have to say THANK YOU to a dear friend of mine Melissa. We have been friends since college. We both pledged Chi Omega and immediately hit it off. It is funny because we are the same, but different if that is possible. I am loud and goofy, she is quiet and shy. I am a risk taker, she is more on the conservative side. However when we pledged Chi O we immediately became best friends and have stayed that way even after we left college. I love that I can call Melissa and cry, scream, complain, or just visit. She is the person that can always say the right thing and know exactly what I need. There are no words to tell you how much her friendship means to me. The only wish that we both have is that we lived closer together, but the great thing is I know she would be here in a heartbeat if I needed her to and I would do the same. Melissa you know right when I need a pick me up, a special treat, phone call, or text. I don't know what I would do without you. I am so blessed that God put us in that pledge class together in 1996, I could have just easily pledge the year before you got there, but I didn't I waited. At the time I didn't know why I had waited, but it is very clear to me now. I won't go into detail only because I know you wouldn't want me to, but THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. I love you so much and thank God for your friendship everyday.

Well we are using today and our extra hour as recooperation from our week. Between trunk or treats, chemo, dr appts, Halloween, taekwondo, book club, etc. we are exhausted. Of course everyone here is munching on candy and will be all sugared up again by the end of the day! All the boys grab a piece every time they go by. I can resist most of the candy, but when they start giving out homemade cookies, brownies, etc. for Halloween that is when I will be in trouble!

Hope you all are having a Happy Fall!!! Now we go from costumes and candy to planning our turkey dinner!!!!

Treatment Tuesday

Well here we are for another week of treatment. Treatment number 8 is underway. It wouldn't be a treatment day if he wasn't grouchy right? :) Well no worries because he is! However he is taking it like a champ! Nothing new to report, but I have a week in review of pictures from all our exciting events last week. We had Pa Jack here for a visit, Ian had his Mega Party at school, and we went to a trunk or treat.

Mega Party

At Ian's school we do a Fall fundraiser every year and if the student's sell at least one item they get to go to a Mega Party. Then according to how many items they sell they get more prizes at the party. Ian, thanks to many of you was the top seller in the school! He got to build a tiger and choose an outfit, get tattoos, do all the bouncy slides, and got some cool prizes. Thank you so much to all of you that supported his fundraiser efforts! We now have a great new playground in the back of our school!!!!

Trunk or Treat

We went to a trunk or treat at Ian's taekwondo school ATA. It was so FUN! They had lots of games, costume parade, LOTS of candy, and of course trunk or treating. The boys had a good time. I will say this is the first time that I saw Carter a little nervous. He was a little confused at the costumes and seeing a witch in person and not on tv. He would just stand there and stare at all the people. Usually he is the "wild" child, so it was a little out of character for him. Mrs. Gray is so wonderful she had this HUGE spider on the ceiling and they knocked it down and candy went everywhere! It was like a HUGE pinata!

Ian drawing a pumpkin on a plate on his head!

Playing wrap the mummy with help from moms!

Ian and his friend Jordan

My adorable little pirate!!!!

Good Times with Pa Jack!!!! Pa Jack doesn't like getting his picture made, but I did get a few of him and Carter playing baseball with a flag as a bat! Carter was belly laughing, he was so tickled!!!!!

Well Carter is our kitty cat kid! Ian and Jeremy are dog lovers and I can go either way, I just love pets in general! However Carter loves kitty cats. He is begging for a kitty cat for Christmas and Jeremy was freaking out saying we are NOT getting another cat. I then explained to Jeremy that he doesn't want a real cat, he wants a Fur Real Cat stuffed animal that he saw on tv and he is determined that he is gonna get one! You think he will :)????? So this is Carter and our kitty cat Gabby. Gabby actually lives outside, but occasionally likes to make Jeremy really mad by slipping in the house! She is the biggest love bug ever and if Carter had it his way she would be indoor all the time!

My head is spinning!

Okay so this past week has been WAY busy and this upcoming week proves to be just about as busy. I always forget how crazy this Fall part of the year is. I mean with the everyday hustle and bustle of school and activities, you add in Halloween, parties, pumpkins, etc. This week has been a wonderful week for all of us! Everyone is pretty healthy again except for the occasional coughs here and there. Jeremy has felt great this week which has been SUPER nice especially for him.
We had our first Halloween extravaganza last night at ATA(Ian's taekwondo school). It was a trunk or treat and then a Halloween party with games and a TON of candy. The boys had a lot of fun! Ian had lots of friends there, so he jumped right in and had a big time. Carter on the other hand was a little unsure of all the costumes especially the grown people dressed up. He was so excited to see a witch, but only wanted to see her from afar! So needless to say we came home and pigged out on candy and it's not even Halloween yet!
Jeremy's sister is so sweet! She bought her dad a plane ticket to fly in and spend a few days with Jeremy. Jeremy and the boys picked him up from the airport on Thursday and he is flying back out today. It has been such a great visit for everyone. Jeremy and his dad have enjoyed their time together just hanging out and of course lots of eating! The boys have enjoyed Pa Jack being here because he likes to PLAY! They have wrestled, played ball, Playstation, and the list goes on and on. We will be taking him back to the airport today to fly back to Texas. Thank you Melanie for this visit! Jeremy has enjoyed it so much as well as me and the boys. You are a great little sister!
Tuesday is a chemo day and this will be Jeremy's 8th treatment. It is always so hard because right now he feels so good and then by mid week he knows he will feel so crappy. Keep sending those prayers that is what gets us through each week.
Be watching this week for pictures of a cute little pirate and a tough boxer!

Living with Karate Kid!

Ok maybe not Karate Kid, but taekwondo kid! Ian started taking taekwondo when school started this year and he LOVES it. He has counted the days until he could test for his orange belt and Saturday was the day. He of course passed with flying colors. So we are now officially living with an orange belt. He is breaking boards and everything.........scary I know! Ian loves to play baseball and basketball, but the thing I love about taekwondo is that it is all the time and he is very committed and dedicated to it already. I have to give a shout out to his wonderful instructor Ms. Gray. She is great with the kids and offers so many extra activities at ATA. So here are a few pictures of Ian from his ceremony! You can see in the first picture Ian is sitting like a black belt and the next picture is of Ian and Jett. Jett is actually who got Ian interested in taekwondo. Jett is also Ian's BFF! They have been inseparable over the past few weeks. They are actually very much alike and hysterical when they get together. A big thank you to the Loenneke family for all the fun Ian has had at your house the past few weeks and of course allowing his dream of being a walker after school :)

Okay so as many of you know I had to write War Eagle a letter asking them to please not tell my husband how much I spent at the craft fairs this past weekend! :) Here is a picture of a few of my goodies. Of course many are hidden until Santa comes on Christmas. Trust me I did buy quite a few things for myself and lots of Christmas goodies for others. My friend Brandy and I went and had a BLAST!!!! I have been counting down the days to this for weeks. I think Brandy and I will definitely make a tradition of taking off work and making a day of it! One of my favorite things I bought was my pot with Santa and the reindeer and also my set of granite wear bowls! I also got an adorable Kindergarten Rocks shirt, but I had to order it. Now don't think I just spent my money on craft goodies.......there was also a lot of food involved :)! We had pumpkin pancakes at Mimi's for breakfast, from there I had a big roasted ear of corn on the cob, corndog, tater twisters, and a lemonade. Very yummy and it was a special day so we went all out!!!

Ok so I have mentioned our saga with Carter's sleeping arrangement and so he has officially graduated to the big boy bed. Now I am definitely not saying that is an easy adventure nor am I saying that we are completely done with this transition however we are making baby steps. He has slept in the big boy bed for about 3 nights. However after we put him and Ian to bed he takes it upon himself to move to the stairway and lay there and listen to Jeremy and I watch tv. On Saturday I laid Carter down for a nap and came upstairs to get a few things done. I thought I heard him on the stairs, but then it got quiet. A few minutes later I went to the stairway and there he was sound asleep! The first night we had to send him back to bed like 30 times and every night the number has gone down. We will see how the week goes! The good news is the crib can now come down!!!!!! It's one of those things that is exciting and sad at the same time. My baby is growing up!

Ian is now feeling much better! The Tamiflu was a lifesaver for him and Jeremy both. Carter began getting very icky and snotty, so we started him on a z-pac and he is doing much better too. Thank goodness for great doctors!!!! Jeremy rested most of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. He was back to work on Saturday and we have enjoyed a great day at church and playing at home with the kiddos today. The good news we received this week was that Jeremy's CEA level went from 3.7 to a 1.7. Dr. B wanted the number to start going down and not up, so we are SO happy!!!!!!!! After getting good news form the PET scan this was definitely the news we wanted. Hope you all have a blessed and wonderful week!