Five in a hot tub!

The singsongy question at my house these days is, "Mooooommmm! Can we get in the pool now?"

Remember, this is only the end of May. What that really means is, "can we get in the pool, then in the hot tub, then in the pool, then in the hot tub until everything we own is wet and cold!"

I'm saying "yes" a lot these days!

Here's some pictures of Caleb, Jon, Ben, and our friends Annabelle and Isaac in the hot tub portion of that process.

Jonny's new teeth

My Jonny is finally growing permanent teeth! Here is a picture of his gap toothed smile!

Cross eyed Jonny!

HEHEHEHEHEHEHE!

That's our Jonny! A party every day!

Bargains

Went to UGO today. They had really good, fresh blueberries for $1.99 a quart. They are really good! We made blueberry jam this afternoon!

They also have 600 thread count sheets for $20 a set. They had king and full sized.

Happy shopping!

Stillhouse Hollow Falls

We have found a realy great place for hiking. It is Stillhouse Hollow Falls between MT. Pleasant and Summertown. It is on Highway 43.

It's a beautiful natural area! We hiked down to the falls on Saturday afternoon. The information about it says it is two thirds of a mile down, but I really believe it's a little farther than that. Although, coming up seems shorter! The falls is beautiful!!!!

None of us had any trouble making the hike although I did stop to enjoy the view and look at some trees a couple of times on the way back up. HEHEHEHEHEHE!

Anyway, if you're looking for a cool hike on a summer afternoon, this is the place!

Love to you all!

UPDATE 5-21-09

NO CHEMO!!!!!!!!!!

Another month of freedom!!

Went to the oncologist today. He said that we should give the Femara more time to work. He said that it takes time and that we shouldn't jump off it yet to something else.

The swelling is NOT cancer growing that quickly. It's swelling in the lymphatic system. Ie, if you sprain your ankle, it swells. The swelling is not the injury, just a by product of the injury. Same here.

So, I'm free again until my next appointment in June!

YIPPEEEE!!!!!!!!

What's for dinner

It's Sunday evening and here's what we are all up to.

Sam is at Patty's house, not eating chicken! (He's a vegetarian.)

It's 60 degrees outside here according to our thermometer and Jonny decided to get in the swimming pool. That lasted all of five minutes and he is in the hot tub now!

Caleb and Mike and Ben are throwing baseball in the back yard. Mr. Estes (Pa) gave the boys some money this weekend and Caleb spent his on a ball and bat. Jon wanted to buy swim fins but couldn't find any his size so he found last year's fins in the shed (motivation), thus the desire to swim in the pool on this chilly willy day.

I'm sitting outside surfing the web and warming dinner in the microwave. Tonight we're having homemade soup (hamburger, red beans, okra, corn, tomatoes, onions, green beans) that I found frozen left over from another meal back in the winter. I thought that rice would go good with it, so I pulled a bag of leftover rice out of the freezer as well. It's thawing in the steamer on the stove. I'm thinking I'll fry some tortillas to eat with it, but won't guarantee it.

I'm bored with our food these days, so I'd love to see some of your menus! I've been looking at a website today.......www.5dollardinners.com. I think I'll spend some more time there. She gives you dinner ideas based on the sales at your local stores! Includes WalMart, Kroger and Save a Lot. She got some good links to others blogs as well...........blogs for coupons, recipes and frugal living. Anyway, I'm motivated for this week!

Love to you all!

update 5/15/09

I spoke with the doctor yesterday about my biopsy results. Originally, they told me that the resuls would be ready in 2-3 weeks. it would take that long to grow out the cells to do the tests on them. It's been 2 1/2 weeks so I called to check on them.

They said that the cells were growing so slowly that it would be late next week before they would have results!!!!!! So, the cells are growing SLOWLY!!!!

That's good news! Now, if they'll stop growing altogether, we'll be set!

LITTLE BOYS, SUMMERTIME AND SNAKES

This is what homeschooling, having lots of boys and summertime is all about!

What better excuse to stop the housework than to see the snake!

First, we determined that it is not poisonous. It's head is shaped like your thumb instead of a triangle. Then, we determined to catch it! By the time we got that far into the process, it was very displeased with us! It struck at us repeatedly! But, with the aid of a shovel, I pinned him down (all snakes are boys, right?) and grabbed him behind the head.

The brave holder of the snake is our friend John. His brother Cotter was here for the adventure as well. My Jon found him and Caleb was involved in all aspects of the hunt! Benny didn't like it much, but he was willing to linger on the periphery.

Caleb, Jon and Ben!

I'd like to intoduce you to some more of my boys! Here is a picture of Caleb, Jon and Ben.

Caleb is 9. He loves playing sports. His best sport is soccer. His best subject is math. Right now he's reading Treasure Island.

Jon is 6. He loves to build with Legos and ride his bike. He is learning to read and learning his beginning math facts.

Ben is 4. He loves everything his brothers love and he will eat ANYTHING!

Sam'a Senior Night!

Tonight we went to Sam's Senior Night at the high school.

He won the National Scholar Athlete Award presented by the Army National Guard!!!! We were so PROUD!

Mother's Day chick!

Hello all!

We got home from church today to find ONE baby chick hatched out!!!!! We were all excited - our first birth on the farm!!!!!!!

It's a little turkey necked chick like his mama!

I hope she hatches out some more. She was setting on 15 eggs. At least one rotten one has busted. SHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEE!

Happy Mother's Day to all you other mother's out there!

dana

First post- cancer update

Today I'm gonna do aI amn update for where I am today. Maybe I'll come back another time and give my full history.......Maybe not!

Today, we are waiting the results from the chemo sensitivity test. Basically, they took the cancer cells, will grow them in dishes, then kill them with chemo to see which chemo will work the best. Hope it works as well INSIDE as it does outside!

Takes about 3 weeks to grow it out, so, it'll be a couple more weeks before we know anything.

Tuesday, May 12, I go for bloodwork and a shot to make sure the ovaries are not functioning at all to keep the estrogen levels as close to zero as possible. I'll get the results from the bloodwork when I get the results from the chemo sensitivity test.

On a lighter note, I've decided to get a good tan this summer! They're treating me for cancer anyway, so I figure I'm covered! WARNING FEMALE CONTENT AHEAD! Skipped the pap smear this week for the same reason!

I feel better when I don't do laundry, and Nanny is sick this week, so if you see me in dirty clothes it's because I feel good!!! NU NU NU NU NU NU NUH!

Keep praying for our Father to reach down with his healing hand into my life. HE has always healed me before, He will again. He's my healer --- yours too!