My own little Tasmanian Devil!!!

I mean this in the nicest way, but let me tell you Carter is like a tiny tornado that blows through the house each and everyday. You NEVER know what he is going to do or say for that matter. For some reason we have had numerous embarrassing and maddening experiences with him. Let me just start with what was the most embarrassing. Let me begin this story by saying that Jeremy and I are neither one big drinkers. I mean we have an occasional glass or wine or he may have a beer, but it is not something we come home every night to. It is usually when we have a night out or go out with some friends. So anywho the other day I took Carter with me to Harps to pick up a few things before one of those snow storms we had coming our way(so this tells you how busy the store was!). So as we are checking out Carter proceeds to yell at me quite loudly "Wait Momma we forgot the BEER!". This was followed with a HUSH from me and of course he had to say it yet again and then broke into the chant of "I want beer I want beer!!!". As I tucked my head and paid, I quickly drove our cart out of the store and called Jeremy. I mean it only seemed appropriate that he know why DHS would be beating me home that night! He of course laughed, I mean what else can we do besides of course explain that this is not appropriate and continue to wonder how he has picked up on this.

Then a few days later on Saturday we were at home relaxing. Relaxing was the keyword there. Midway through the afternoon I decide to do a little picking up downstairs in the boys room and in the playroom. I went in the bathroom and this is what I found..............................

I mean really where does he come up with this stuff! I mean what child just walks through the bathroom and thinks hey I am going to shove 30 washcloths in the toilet? Along with some wicker decorative balls, and a little loose change? I have thought long and hard about this and it could be one of 2 things, he could be super smart and possibly a genius or completely and utterly defiant and curious and possibly a criminal or scientist! Rules mean NOTHING to this child. The worst part is after he breaks them and gets into a lot of trouble he can bat his eyes and say oh momma I so sorry and his ever famous I love you so much. Nothing phases this child....NOTHING. I can honestly say we have tried everything: timeout, spanking, taking things away from him, making him help clean up messes, positive reward systems, and hear me when I say none of this works. So after doing what I thought was the fix I pulled all the washcloths and other paraphernalia out of the toilet and went on my merry way thinking the problem was solved. Except for the massive amounts of laundry I had to then do. The next night was Valentines day and Jeremy and I are not without both boys very often and we very rarely have a babysitter, but this particular night both boys were spending the night with their grandparents and Jeremy and I were so looking forward to a relaxing night home alone. After a wonderful quiet dinner out for sushi we returned home and I decided to go downstairs and take a relaxing bath while I was down their I flushed the potty and water started overflowing everywhere. No need for details, but Jeremy and I spent the rest of our nice Valentines evening fixing a toilet! I didn't known if I should laugh or cry! It was so bad that Jeremy broke our snake while trying to fix it and used all our Draino. We still don't know what all was down there, but the toilet is now working again.

Carter eating a bowl of cereal. I mean it is okay to stick your head in the bowl. Right?!?!

It amazes me how different 2 kids can be. Ian is our rule follower and can entertain himself and is very self sufficient. He would not think of doing something that is considered a "bad" choice. Then you have the Tasmanian 2 year old. He is scared of nothing, will try anything, and will not think twice about any of it. I thank God everyday for giving Carter to us 2nd because I am afraid he would have been an only child and there never would have been an Ian!

Sunshine, Olympics, and Taekwondo

Okay so our week has been made up of a little of each of these! The sunshine broke through today and it was glorious! You could tell everywhere you went that everyone had a little more pep in their step and was enjoying the beautiful day. It is so funny to me how even though it was only 30 degrees this morning, it seemed very warm. I mean when you have been living in a blizzard and below 0 temperatures it makes what we used to think was so cold feel warm! I mean Ian even busted out a short sleeve shirt, which he would wear everyday if he could.
So now that the Winter Olympics have started we find ourselves watching them every night. It is the like the one thing we all enjoy watching together, well besides Survivor and American Idol. However I seem to be the only one that will watch figure skating(go figure! I live with all boys!). Last night snowboarding was a big hit and tonight skiing. We love watching all the sports and of course the competitiveness in Ian he likes watching how many medals the USA has and if we are in the lead.
The other thing that has consumed our week is taekwondo. Tomorrow night Ian will be testing for his camo belt. I am so proud of how hard he has worked! I love that he is so eager to learn and compete. Then on Saturday we will be traveling to Conway for a taekwondo tournament. Ian will be competing in 3 things. He is doing his form(about 18 taekwondo moves), one step moves(where he is competing against another student), and weapons(he has been training in nunchucks). The best part is Jeremy took off on Saturday to go with us and 2 sets of grandparents have been asking lots of questions about when and where we will be, so thinking we will have some surprise cheerleaders! This is only Ian's 2nd tournament and the 1st one I was a nervous wreck! He however is so excited, cool, calm, and collective.
Jeremy is adjusting to the world of remission! A glorious thing to adjust to, however definitely a few unexpected bumps along the way. He went to the dentist yesterday which he thought would be a routine cleaning only to find out he isn't supposed to have any dental work done without taking a strong dose of antibiotics before he goes in. Needless to say they stopped mid cleaning. Live and learn that's our motto.
Hope you all are having a great February! Can you believe it is already mid February? Crazy to me! Where does time go?

I have a couple of prayer requests: A teacher I work with, her husband had a tumor removed. They are waiting on the pathology report this week. I pray that his results come back good. I know the scary roller coaster they are on right now and how they are holding their breath until they get some answers. I also am asking for prayers for a family member that is near and dear to us that is also waiting for some test results.

Please don't think I have left poor sweet little Carter out of this post because that is not the case at all. I am just too tired to tell you the amazing adventures of this little man. I will be posting a LONG post soon about him that involves..................................................................................................

a toilet! I know you are not surprised at all! I have to get everything fixed and repaired before I can post about a funny story that at this point is still not quite so funny!

Little Catching up to do

Okay so obviously we got good news and I disappeared! Well I didn't really disappear, but then again actually I kind of did! The day after we got the good news I left to go to a kindergarten conference in Little Rock. Crazy I know! Jeremy told me I would get snowed in and I better go prepared, so I did. I was actually going for a specific speaker that I have ALWAYS wanted to hear speak.....well more about that in a few. So a coworker and I headed to the Embassy Suites in Little Rock. I know that many of you think aaww I hate that you got snowed in at Little Rock, well you can stop right there feeling sorry for me :) because it was actually very glorious. I did miss all my boys terribly however I had breakfast cooked to order every morning, bed made by some else, nap time whenever I wanted, Happy Hour, uninterrupted bubble baths, and 4 nights of uninterrupted sleep. So yes even though I did miss my boys the trip was wonderful and very relaxing. So Sunday we made the venture home and luckily by then the roads were pretty clear. The best news is that by the time I got home our house was still standing :), dryer fixed, laundry done, and of course 3 happy boys ready to see me!!!! So yes I do have a little catching up to do, but I had a great workshop, mini vacation, and made it home safe and sound. Now the bad news is that speaker I sacrificed my life for getting to hear..........yes you guessed it didn't make it! Go figure, isn't that the luck. He did try however, but the Little Rock airport had shut down and he could not fly in. I was so disappointed. I did learn a lot, but had looked forward to that so much. So Jack Hartman wherever you are I will hear you speak I promise, I am not giving up!!!!!

The WORD we have waited for............................

REMISSION!!!!

We got AMAZING news today when we saw the oncologist! Jeremy is officially in remission! We are so happy, relieved, emotional, thrilled, and I could go and on!!!

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is GOOD; for His loving kindness is everlasting

(Psalms 107:1)

Jeremy will go back in 3 months for bloodwork, 6 months for a PET scan, and another colonoscopy in a year. Dr. B was so pleased with all his results! Remission is one of those words we have longed to hear. 8 months ago I didn't know if we would ever hear those words. Not that we didn't have faith, not that we didn't believe the doctors, but we were scared and the journey seemed so long. Now here we are in a new year with a new start! God is good, God is faithful and so are all our amazing friends and family! Thank you for each and every one of you. If you are reading this, you know you are important to our family. You have given us the prayers, support, and love we have needed over the past 8 months.

Well what else is there to say, but we will now begin adjusting back to our regularly scheduled life ;).........................................

Snow Day!

For the first time in many years we had a white Christmas and then right after New Years we got another beautiful snow! Luckily this time it was cold, but not miserable. Jeremy and I decided it was a perfect Sunday afternoon to take the boys sledding! We headed over to Papaw and Tata's to sled on the hill I always sled on when I was a kid! This was Carter's first real snow day! He was too little last year and seemed to be sick most of the winter, not to mention that last year we had no snow only ICE! I am not sure who liked it better Ian or Carter, they both had a great time!

However Carter's first trip down resulted in a bit of a face plant! This is a picture of Papaw fixing his hats and gloves! He was a little scared after that, but didn't take him long to get over it!

Isn't it funny how it is so much fun going down, but much more work coming up! You can see Tata and I having to help everyone back up along with their sleds!

Papaw and Ian just beat every ones record on how far they went in the sled!

Did you know that playing in the snow is EXHAUSTING? Looking forward to our next Snow Day!

Thank you for riding our roller coaster......

I truly do hope we can let you get off soon :). Today we saw how faithful our loving God is! We got Jeremy's pathology reports back and the polyps came back as noncancerous. We are so incredibly happy, relieved, exhausted, elated, emotional, and overwhelmed. Jeremy had his PET scan today and I think it was kind of a comedy of errors because the tubing came out mid scan and sprayed this sticky gel all over him. He tried to settle up with them and call it even on the PET scan charge and the Houndstooth t-shirt replacement, but I am guessing they weren't interested......maybe they will contact us tomorrow and settle up :). We will get results from the scans at his appointment on Tuesday. However we can rest easier tonight knowing those pathology reports. A big thank you to Tata, Dr. H, and Peter for making sure we got the results today. Keep the prayers going, they are WORKING!!!!

Not the News we Expected

Well we got home a couple hours ago from Jeremy's colonoscopy. He is resting comfortably on the couch. How he sleeps with the tv blaring I will never know! We prayed for a clean colonoscopy and had high hopes of skipping home and enjoying our day. Well unfortunately the gastrenologist found 2 polyps that had already grown back within the 7 months of Jeremy's last colonoscopy. They removed both of them and have sent them off to pathology. We hope to get the results within 5 to 7 days. The waiting is always miserable. We are still hopeful and spending much time in prayer. The hardest part is that the polyps grew back in the exact same area of the colon resection. So basically in the same area as the first polyp that was cancerous. We are still pretty shell shocked, mainly because we were so hopeful that it would be completely clean. Many times we don't know the plan our Heavenly Father has for our life, but we are continuing to be strong and have faith. I promise to let you know the pathology report as soon as we know them. Please continue to keep our family in your prayers. Pray for healing, pray for a good report, and pray for us as we wait for the news.