Juggling can be painful.............

Wow, how many balls can you keep juggling at once?  I personally can not juggle real balls, not a prayer!  With my vertical imbalance I'm lucky I can stay standing some days.  But apparently I'm quite adept at "juggling."  My skills will be seriously put to the test in the next weeks.
         2 weeks ago my Mom went in for her physical, she had mentioned a change in a old scar on her breast but just left it alone for the holidays. The mammogram was clear, but the doctor opted for additionally testing.  A ultrasound saw something, so then onto a biopsy.  The biopsy revealed it was cancerous.  Then started a whirlwind of appointments and testing.  A MRI confirmed there was a mass, over 6cm.  Ok, next step deciding on a single or double mastectomy.  Mom said "I have no attachment to these things, take them away." Ok, double it is.  So then came more waiting and finally surgery yesterday.  Well all said and done, there was cancer in both breasts.  The left one had just not been detected on any of the imaging.  THANK YOU ANGELS for helping push things in the right direction.  Now we head into recovery mode.  As Mom was laying in the hospital bed last night in and out of it, we knew she was going to be fine when she was still able to crack a one liner and flip me off.  Hoping today she will be more awake and coherent and able to get up and move a bit.  We will not know till the 6th of February if she will need chemo or not, but we will throw that ball into the air to juggle if necessary.  Its going to be a interesting few weeks as Mom enjoys sitting still, but isn't all about being the patient.  She will just have to accept this and enjoy it.  Shes earned it. 
             Juggling the tween, in 2 more days Linnea will officially be a teenager.  Officially she will be there, technically I think we have been there since September when school started.  She has her moments when I see glimpses of my little flower, giggly, sweet, silly, and just a plain goofball.  Then there's the days of her tough girl attitude, loud music and growing up.  She loves her 80's hard rock, her dark clothes, and hiding in her room.  Such a adjustment.....
           Juggling the preschooler............. Attitude Annika, so opinionated.  She knows what she wants and she is not afraid to tell you.  She has nothing wrong with calling you names to get it.  She is becoming very familiar with a kitchen wall!  I don't know if it is added stress at home or if something has changed with her kidney reflux.  We have had almost 1 or 2 accidents a day and this has not been a problem since she was potty trained.  I changed her appointment to sooner to meet with the doctor about surgery.  So throw another ball in the air, because its looking sooner then later.
            Juggling the boy, there 's not much to juggle here.  Other then his energy and want for yet another Skylander, Ulrik is such a easy keeper.  He is helpful, quiet, understanding.  He looks so forward to every moment he gets to play the Wii.  To run to the store with just me, to share a secret treat between us. He really enjoys when we get to sit and read before bed.  I feel badly when it doesn't work out to give him this quiet time together.  But yet he just keeps rolling along with it all.  Oh I hope HIS teenage years stay this easy!
         Juggling the husband............ We have been dealing with Thomas and his acid reflux for awhile.  It has gotten to be plain annoying!! He decided the other day to "screw it" if the medicine isn't working then fine I'm not going to take it.  So today it off to the "gag me with a spoon" doctor to see if things have changed.  So............am I looking at the possibility of a third surgery for the year?? I have a feeling definitely more doctoring. UGH!
I'm trying to keep sane, while juggling. I painted half the kitchen yesterday while waiting to hear how Mom was.  I think I might just have to go get the paint to finish the other half tomorrow.  Ive got the bathroom to paint still, but Ive been stalling on that one, so I can change things a bit.  New cabinet and light take a little extra time and money.  Annika and Ulrik especially love to craft with me.  I found a salad spinner for under 5 bucks at IKEA.  They have been patiently waiting to try to make some spin art crafts of sort.  I'm looking forward to it also.  We just made our donation for the upcoming IRIS fundraiser.  Ulrik and Annika had a blast helping to pick out fleece and stuff our "Hooters"  I hope everyone enjoys them. 
Juggling, I have Moms recovery and subsequent care.
Juggling, Linnea becoming a teenager
Juggling, Annika and her kidneys
Juggling, Time for Ulrik
Juggling, Thomas and the acid
Juggling, every ones schedules
Juggling, Zacharys 14th heavenly birthday
Juggling, Juggling, Juggling.


You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.
Eleanor Roosevelt

A couch full of Hooters

Our Pinterest snow balls

 

 

 

Happy Anniversary!



Yes that really is Mt. Rushmore!

Well 14 years ago I stood in front of family and friends and the head honcho upstairs and married this guy with a southern drawl, red hair and tattoos.  In redneck fashion we had us a shotgun wedding, with the knowledge that the little one inside me would be appearing in less then 6 weeks. We had originally planned on waiting until August of 1999 to get married and have the big party and wear the fancy clothes.  I woke up right after Thanksgiving in 1998 and had a feeling come over me that told me we needed to get married sooner then later.  I think back now this was probably Zachary chiming in.  So we looked at a calendar got days off work and had things planned, plotted and invitations in the mail in less then a week.  We looked through the closet found some dress clothes and we were ready. We picked a day that neither of us can forget the date.  Thomas can never use that excuse,
1-9-99, pretty damn easy!!! 

Our lives forever changed the day we said "I do."  Little did we know how much our lives were going to change in less then 4 weeks after that.  We had our marriage seriously tested and we hadn't been married for a month yet!  We have been to hell and back together and survived the trip.  A little banged up but we are still standing.  I have been so blessed with my self proclaimed a-hole.  He continues to provide for our family and me.  He gets up every weekday to go to work, so I can continue to be a CLO(chief life officer) sounds sooooo much better then homemaker, wouldn't that make me a carpenter?! He puts up with my food, lack of fabric softener in his clothes, and my super corny sense of humor.  I put up with his attitude, video games, and his warped sense of humor.  Together we make a pretty good match.  We communicate, that is the most important thing we have. We also went into this relationship with the knowledge that we could not change each other(well Ididn't say waistlines) but we needed to change together to grow together(again I didn't say waistline).  We have maintianed our individual selfs, but have also melded into what I think is a pretty amazing couple(toot,toot, my own horn).  We have been blessed with 3 amazing children here on earth and 1 amazing angel upstairs.

Yup, im corny like my Mom!
Linnea 2002
 

Yup, I got my Dad's voice, Roar!
Ulrik 2004

Yup, I got Mom's cuddly nature, but Dad's firey red hair and attitude to match, the best of both worlds!
Annika 2009

Holy Moly this kid is crazy!!!
Ulrik and Linnea 2004

All our children together!
September 2008

 All these things wouldnt have ever come to fruition if he hadnt stayed late one night at work and offered up his pager number(dates us a bit) and I hadn't thrown caution to the wind and paged him a couple days later. Im forever grateful for whatever spirit picked up my hand and led it to the phone.  Thank you Thomas for a amazing 14 years, I'm looking forward to the next 14 and many more after that.  I love you!





Woo hoo 14 years!!!!


 

Our song. Louis Armstrong, What a wonderful world

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

.

Christmas Eve before Church

Wow how the time flies, another year.  In 7 days Thomas and I will be celebrating our 14th anniversary.  Then 23 days later our "little flower" Linnea will officially become a TEENAGER!!!  With those days counted comes another countdown, 35 days will be Zachary's 14th birthday in heaven.  In the words of Annika "holy wackamole" 14 years, 13 years, all these events feel like they just happened a few years ago not past the 10 year mark already.  To think, yes I already have a teenager who is a amazing part of our lives, and soon I will have a second one who can argue back, haha! I am praying for beautiful calm weather on both January 25 and February 6.  I will be setting the alarm and waking up Linnea to do something very special for her birthday.  At 2:12 am we will be awake celebrating her entrance into the teenage years!  Pictures to come.   

We had a wonderful Christmas. on the 22nd my brother, sister and their families came over and we demolished a crock pot of sloppy joes and desserts. The kids got to spend time together, annoying each other and playing. Christmas day was just ours. The kids didn't get up till after 7. I had the alarm set for 730 so Grandma had time to watch them open present before work. Santa brought some nice and needed items. Annika had the best line of the day with her first gift. "This isn't what I asked for!" She asked Santa for only 2 things, a nightie with her twin "Merida" from Brave on it and Meridas horse "Angus". The first present was a tshirt I had made. After being shown that there were more gifts she decided to wait and see if it was there. And yes the last present was indeed what she had asked Santa

Annika and Angus

Annika and her twin Merida

 

Ulrik and his knives

Ulrik received his first and second pocket knives, and Linnea received a pile of pens along with 700 sheets of paper in a binder.  That will hopefully save a few notebooks so we can make it to the end of the year. We spent the afternoon watching "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation" and the timeless classic "A Christmas Story" I think we watched 12 hours of the 24 hour marathon. 





Christmas break was relaxed with nothing to do but the daily house stuff.  I got to sleep in with the kids, lounge around all day, play outside, play referee, and spend time together.  On the 29th we went to Thomas' sister Tina's house and had another round of good food and good company.  So many memories have been made around the kitchen table.  Maybe its the food that gets everybody settled there or its just where so much live centers around that brings us there. 
We had snow over break which was great for the kids, but not for me.  Once again I'm on the injured list.  Maybe soon I'll find a way to get off of it.  Bonus part the kids shoveled the driveway......TOGETHER!!!!  No argument (gasp!) They were rewarded with Pizza Hut for dinner, again no argument! 

They did it together!

 

We all slept through the New Year. New Years Eve the kids were treated to a fireworks display in the neighbors backyard.  It was quite spectacular for about 15 minutes and then "BOOM" the yard lite up bright red and the show was done.  No firetrucks, no ambulance so it was all good. Thomas and I spent time watching "grown up" movies that had no animation in them.  I've got the instant que on Netflix down from 357 to 350.  I'm working my way there! 

Today everybody went back to normal.  Kids back to school, Thomas back to work and Annika and Piper storming the castle together, and after a week apart storming is exactly the way its been.  By Monday morning everyone, including me will be sliding back into our routine.  Lets hope we can infuse a little magic so it doesn't become so plain old day in day out the same.  I'm sure I can find a recipe on Pinterest for PIXIE DUST!  Everyone is slowly coming home, first Linnea and next will be Thomas and then the boys and Grandma.  Time for me to bring the clean kitchen to life and make a dinner for my family, here's some pictures of December at our house.

The boys in the hats I made them that actually FIT!!