End of the Week

We've been kind of busy the past couple of days.

Reece and his wonderful teacher.

On Thursday there was a meeting at the school with Reece's teacher and the special ed teacher.  He is in a regular classroom, but they pull him out a few times a day to help him with different subjects.  I'm so pleased with the way everyone at the school cares about him and loves him.  Everyone seems to know him, from the office staff to the teachers to the kids.  They said that he is doing well, and has come so far socially since last year.  Last year he mostly stood back and watched the other children.  This year he engages with them and plays.  And he told his teacher that Blake is his best friend.  I think that is so sweet.

Aubrey thought field day was fun!

I hurried to Mom's at lunch time but didn't stay long because the kids had a doctor appointment in the afternoon, and I went along to help since we took all four of them at once.  They were good at the doctor's, and all of them got good health reports.  

Go Reece, Go!

Today, Friday, was field day at their school.  I took them in the morning and stayed to help Reece's teacher.  By 8 AM we were all outside the gym.  There were all kinds of activities.  Each grade had a different colored tee shirt, but it was so cold and windy that most of the kids wore their jackets.  Most of them had brought blankets, too.  

Reece and Blake, ready to race.

Reece was in a bouncy ball race and did the three legged race with his best buddy.  It was so cute!  Aubrey ran a 50 yard dash and the sack race.  She was so tiny in the big burlap sack, and was having trouble, so the coach picked her up and helped her catch up.  Adorable!  

I stayed all morning, until around 12:30, when Reece's class went inside to have lunch.  They had sack lunches today.  The cafeteria was closed.

Aubrey's teacher helps her get ready for the sack race. 

The older kids were still outside running relay races when I finally left.  I was so tired, but it was fun.

Josh went to Gran's for me, and I crashed.  Took a long nap and just rested.  I'm so glad the weekend is here.  

Friday Five

Our neighbor's orange tree a few days ago.

1.  We've been blessed with beautiful weather again this week.  It's supposed to rain this weekend, though, which is a good thing.  The sky is the most incredible blue, and not a cloud to be found.  The wrens are back.  I've seen one of them scouting around for a place to build a nest.  I need to clean out the wren house for them.  The old nest from last year is still in it.

2.  I had my dentist appointment yesterday.  It wasn't too bad, but I have to go back later this month.  I have a temporary filling on one tooth.

3.  The kids celebrated 100 days of school today.  Reece's class decorated tee shirts with 100 things.  This year he did pairs of googly eyes on a black shirt.  His mom helped him glue them on. It was cute, but he came home with some of them missing.  He had given them to his friends, or they had taken them off.  Wish I had gotten a picture of him in it before it was cannibalized.    

Aubrey's class made posters using 100 Q-tips.  Parents were to help.  Cyrise and Aubrey made a picture of a playground (a tree, swing set and slide), grass along the bottom, birds (bent Q-tips), little kids playing, clouds and a sun. It looked like a little kids drawing.  Aubrey colored it after it dried.  It was cute.  It said, "100 Days" at the top, and "...of fun," at the bottom.

4.  Kelly was going to come over this afternoon, but postponed it to tomorrow when Mike will be home to take care of the dogs.  I'm looking forward to seeing her.  She will go with me to Gran's.  

5.  I stopped by the thrift store after going to Gran's today, and found some jeans for Aubrey.  Her 4Ts are getting too short, so I got 3 pairs of 5Ts.  Didn't find anything else worth buying, so I only spent $3 plus tax.

Fun Friday Stuff and Hot Van

Mom and I went out to lunch today.  I think it will become a weekly tradition.  She enjoys getting out and about, and I enjoy her stories and conversation.  She always talks about her grandmother.  She's such a cutie. 

We went to a new Mexican place nearby, Mama Margies.  Mom likes Mexican food.  A lot.  :o)

The multicultural day at the kids' school was fun.  The children all loved the Cherokee fry bread, and so did the adults who were there.  Reece and I gave a little presentation about the Cherokees--just telling the class about Reece's heritage, and teaching them a few words in Cherokee.  They all shouted out the Cherokee words perfectly.  And I showed them my moccasins and told them that was how the Cherokee and other Indians made their shoes a long time ago.  But the fry bread was what they were most interested in.  :o)

Our "new" van has been getting hot the past couple of days.  Josh thinks it has lost some coolant--we have a spot on the driveway.  I hope we have not bought a lemon.  We really like it, though, so I hope it will be okay.  Josh is going to take a look at the hoses when he comes home from school.  He said one of them may have been blown loose when he hit the gas hard the other day, when he pulled out in front of a car he didn't see.  There is a definite blind spot, so you really have to look carefully before pulling out or changing lanes.

Friday Four

1.  I made Indian fry bread last night for Reece and Aubrey's classes.  They are having multicultural day today, and they were to take food or another item related to their culture.  We could have chosen Irish or Scottish, but we figured there would be plenty of kids with those cultures.  So we chose Cherokee.  My mom's father was a full-blood Cherokee, and her mother was part Cherokee.  I asked Reece this morning what kind of Indian he is, and he said he's a transformer robot Indian.  :o)

2.  I will go to the school around 9:30 this morning to help with the activities and take the fry bread.  I'll wear my moccasins.  :o)

3.  Ron will be home this evening.  He has been in Colorado all week.  It will be good to have him home again.  We've all missed him.

4.  We're still having warm weather for this time of the year.  We've not had much of a winter at all.  Wish we would get some rain!  Today's high is supposed to be 71 degrees.

That's about it for now.  Have a great Friday!

Friday Five

1.  Mom's application for her new apartment was accepted, so she will be moving in December.  It wasn't done without problems with her current apartment complex, and I'm more ready than ever to get her out of there.  I'm excited about her move.  She wants a new couch, and she needs a new telephone, so it will be fun to shop for those with her.  
2.  I've been busy with the kids this week.  Wednesday I went with Reece's class to see a play (Goldilocks and the Three Bears Thanksgiving).  It was kind of silly and unprofessional, but the kids didn't mind.  They had fun.  After the play we went to the park where they all had sack lunches and played on the playground.  I loved watching them all, especially Reece.  I enjoyed the day, but was pretty tired that night.

3.  Then yesterday morning Aubrey came into my room and asked if I would go to her Thanksgiving feast.  I didn't really want to, but I hated to tell her no since I went with Reece's class the day before.  So off I went to the school.  I enjoyed watching Aubrey and the other children during class time, and I liked helping with their feast.  I made fruit salad, and they had a lot of other goodies, too.  I stayed there for her entire class time, so tired again when I got home.

4.  This morning Reece's class has their Thanksgiving Feast, and I'll go to that, too.  If you're looking for me, I'll be at school.  :o)

5.  We had a fire in the fireplace Wednesday night for the first time this year.  Reece asked if we could have hot chocolate and sit by the fire.  That was nice, but now the house smells like wood smoke, even though the flue was open.  I don't mind it too much.

School Days

I tried to copy and paste an email I got from the Texas Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, but the format wouldn't work, so I deleted the post. So if you see a post titled Can You Help? in the reader, that's what it was all about.

I took Reece to school this morning, since his daddy is in Rockport. We got up at 6:30, and I dropped him off at school at 7:20. The school is only a couple of minutes away, which makes things easier.

Aubrey liked her first day of pre-school. She kept coming to me all morning, asking me to get her dressed and comb her hair so that she could go, but she doesn't go until 11:15. She was delighted when she finally got there, and when I kissed her good-bye and told her I would pick her up at 2:30, she just said "Okay," and started looking all around, paying no attention to me at all. :o) I looked back a couple of times as I left, and she was just fine. When I picked her up, she said she liked it, and the teacher (who was a substitute) said that she did great. Aubrey told me she got to "cut with scissors," and that she colored a gate that she drew. She said there was a TV at school. I asked what she watched on TV, and she said, "Little Bear." Not sure if that was true, or a made-up story.

I went to Mom's after leaving the school and spent a little over an hour there. It was another beautiful day so she went with me when I took Teddy for a walk. We heard on the news that we had a record low for this date last night--59 degrees! But it got up into the 90s this afternoon.

I only had about an hour at home before it was time to go again to pick up Reece and Aubrey.

Talked to the guys earlier, and they were out on the pier getting ready to fish. They caught some little perch for bait this afternoon, and Josh got more bait by net casting. I can tell that they are enjoying being there, and being together. I think it is so good for them to spend time together like this.

Cyrise made pork tenderloin, roasted fingerling potatoes and peas for supper. We had brownies I baked yesterday for dessert.

Tired tonight, and ready for sleep.

Shopping, Cookies, Volunteering, and Bedtime Songs

Gran, Kelly and I had a really nice "girls day out" yesterday for Gran's birthday. We had lunch at Cheddars, then went shopping for clothes for Gran. It's always fun to be with them; they make me laugh. I think Gran enjoyed her birthday.

After being absent on Tuesday because of his cold, Reece is back at school. This morning I asked him if he wants me to bake some cookies while he is gone, or should I wait for him to get home to help me. He said he wants to help, so we will be baking later today.

Later...

Well, we baked and ate cookies. Aubrey and Camryn wanted to help, too, so I had three little helpers and one little watcher from the other side of the counter (Gina). It probably takes twice as long as it should to make a batch of cookie dough because every child wants his or her turn adding ingredients. And they all love to watch the mixer do its job, so we have to move step stools around so they all get a turn in front of the mixer.

We filled the cookie jar Ron made in 1974 with oatmeal cookies (after we all ate a couple). Reece gave me a big hug and said I'm the best cookie baker in the world. :o)

I went over to the school for the volunteer class at 6 PM. No one is allowed to be a volunteer at the school until they've been to the class. I was too sick from the radiation, chemo and transplant last year to volunteer, but I'm looking forward to helping out a little this year.

As I entered the school, a nice lady asked me if I was there for the volunteer class. When I told her I was, she said she was on her way there and would show me where to go. As we walked I asked if she was a teacher there, and she said that she was the school counselor. I introduced myself and asked her if she knew Reece, and she said, "Oh yes! He is such a sweetheart." :o)

The class only lasted about half an hour, and when I got home Josh had grilled the most delicious steaks. I ate on the patio while watching Reece and Aubrey play in the pool. They had dinner while I was gone.

All of the children fell asleep quickly tonight, after a story and some songs. They love the old folk song, Michael, Row The Boat Ashore. Cammy likes to sing and it's so fun to hear her sweet little voice singing along with me. Always makes me smile. My Favorite Things and Froggie Went A'Courtin' are a couple of other recent favorites.

Saw the tail end of Obama's speech. Not impressed. He's all talk, and we've heard it all before.

Have a good Friday.

Little Updates

I have some powerful prayer warriors out there praying for me. Thank you!!!!

My doctors let me come home from the hospital yesterday evening, which was a big surprise. They said that they could do what they were doing for me on an out-patient basis just as easily as they could do it there. I'll go back tomorrow morning to see if my platelets have stayed up. They went from 6,000 to 86,000 overnight, after I received a platelet transfusion Friday night. Made me feel much better.

I won't know whether they will go ahead with the ommaya reservoir surgery until we get the results of my lab tests in the morning. If they go ahead with it, it's scheduled for 10 AM.

Josh made spaghetti for dinner last night, and grilled chicken in raspberry marinade tonight, and I cleaned my plate both times, which is unusual for me lately. I've had very little appetite. But being home and Josh's home-cooking has been good for me. :o)

I got to spend quite a bit of time with Reece over the weekend, which is always a blessing. He just calms me and makes my heart happy.

We learned on Thursday that his whole class has been reassigned to different classes. The school had four kindergarten teachers, and fewer kindergartners than they expected. So they reassigned Reece's teacher to another grade and distributed her students among the other three teachers. We were all distressed about it because after three weeks he had settled in and loved Mrs. O and his classmates, but he doesn't seem to be upset about it. They went to their new classes on Friday, and he likes his new teacher, too. Some of his original classmates went with him. I'm sure he will adjust just fine, but I am sorry that he has to go through this change.

I went to his school on Thursday for Grandparent's Day. I took a book to read to his class. When I got there they were doing the cutest little dance, and Reece was watching his classmates more than he was participating. He had a big sweet smile on his face as he watched them, and now and then he would do one of the actions along with them. It was so typical of him. When they finished and turned around, I was sitting in the rocking chair and he looked so surprised to see me. I had told him I'd be there, but he must have forgotten.

I read to the class and they were all very cute and responsive. After that Reece and I went to the library together for juice and doughnuts. It was fun. I was afraid he would get upset when I left to go home, but he didn't. By then there was another grandmother in the rocking chair, so when we got back to his room I told him to go sit on the carpet and hear the story, and he did. He gave a little smile and wave and settled right down.

Hope you've all had a good weekend, and that the upcoming week will be a great one.

A Good First Week of School

Reece is still enjoying school very much, eager and excited to go every day. I'm so happy that he likes it!

He usually joins me in my room after school. He talks, has a snack, we watch videos and play, and he rests. So far he hasn't had much "homework."

When Papa gets home from work, Reece leaves me to go swimming and play outside. Then there's dinner, bath and bedtime. The day goes quickly!

Josh and I have had a little break from taking Gran's meds to her since Wednesday (Kelly is doing is it Wed-Fri), so we stopped on the way home from the hospital to have breakfast at Cracker Barrel yesterday. That was fun.

I'm off to shower and get ready for the day. Not sure what the weekend will bring, but I hope you have a great one!

A Day In My Life

Another day of school for Reece. He was so tired this morning, but managed to go off to school cheerfully and full of excitement again. When he got home, he rested on my bed with me while we watched videos and snuggled. He got to bed earlier tonight, and I'm sure he will feel much better in the morning after a good night's sleep.

Another day of radiation, doctor visits, pharmacy pick-up and a stop at Gran's on the way home for me and Josh. Gran was still in her PJs at noon, but she was up and about and ate the leftover breakfast tacos we took to her with gusto. :o)

Kelly is coming tomorrow. She will take over Gran's med deliveries for a few days. Gran will be happy to see her smiling face. Kel's finally getting over that darn summer virus.

Early next week I'll have a MUGA scan and probably have a picc line or port inserted for the chemo to come. My radiation oncologist wants to give me 3 more days of radiation on the lower part of my spine Monday through Wednesday next week, so hopefully I can wait on the line until after that.

My afternoons are usually spent in my room, napping, surfing the web, watching a little TV, knitting, reading. I move around from bed to chair to sofa now and then, just to change things up a bit. :o) I have a little stash of snacks beside my bed, and a shoebox full of meds and stack of books on my dresser.

The past two days when Reece gets home, he stays with me, snuggling together on my bed and watching videos or playing with playdoh or toys. He might run out to see the puppies for a bit, but he always comes back. But when Papa gets home from work, he is ready to swim and play outside and spend time with his Papa. I love that.

The little girls come in to entertain me now and then with their grinning faces and busy little hands, but they don't usually stay long. I often put them down at bedtime, reading stories, telling nursery rhymes and singing songs to them. They love the special time and attention, even though they never want to go to sleep.

All of a sudden my room and bath has the look of an invalid's room--the shoebox of meds on my dresser, shoes with braces on the floor, a walker constantly at hand, a high-rise toilet seat and a shower chair--all things that make life easier for me. I certainly have a better appreciation of the handicapped!

So, that's a day in my life right now. Still praying that someday things will return to normal, but meanwhile we are coping and things are not so bad. I thank God for all of you and your prayers. God bless you!

Here He Goes!

Reece is stepping out into a whole new world this morning. It's his first day of kindergarten!

He was so excited when he woke up, knowing that he would go to school today. He met his teacher and saw his classroom last week. He knew where he would sit. He was happy about new supplies, a backpack and new clothes.

I keep trying to imagine what he must be doing "right now." I'm praying that he will like school and do well. I can't wait until 2:30 when he can come home and tell us all about it!