life around here

I've spent the rest of the week laying around and recovering.

I really did think I would be able to do more by now. 

It's been hard to not do anything or go anywhere!

My church mentor sent me these beautiful flowers!

 We have some SILLY children!

 Sweet Sissy girl

 This boy was not feeling well on Friday, so Tim picked him up from school. 

He had to miss a field trip. He has not felt well all weekend. He even had some vomiting :-(

 She is a good helper..... sometimes!

 I've been really missing white chocolate, so I bought some dairy free white chocolate chips off of Amazon. I'm so excited about this!

We've already made white chocolate mochas!!!

We decided to start decorating for Christmas during this week and before Thanksgiving so we wouldn't be stressed about it this coming weekend. 

Since I can't do a lot, most of the work will fall to Tim and the kids.  

C Girl is a big helper with this kind of stuff! 

She has such a sparkle in her eye!

Happy Thanksgiving week!

post surgery update

hello everyone!

I'm on the other side of surgery.

I went in last Wednesday morning for a partial hysterectomy.

My doctor came by to speak with me before he did my surgery.

He mentioned that I could possibly have endometriosis that had been causing a lot of my continual pain even after being treated for my Crohn's.

If that was the case, then he might have to take more out during surgery.

During surgery, they called Tim in the waiting room to let him know that they found severe endometriosis and they would be removing my right ovary and both Fallopian tubes along with my uterus.

I'm still kind of shocked that they found endometriosis, but I'm also thankful.

I'm very hopeful that my life will have dramatically less pain now.

The food in the hospital was surprisingly good!

I was able to go home the day after my surgery.

This cat was by my side from the moment I got home!

I love the flowers that Tim brought home for me after a trip to Walmart.

On Saturday, the Razorbacks defeated LSU!

We were so excited!!!

It's too difficult for me to sit up straight since the surgery, so I had to miss my girlie singing in main service with the regular choir at church on Sunday morning.

She had a big Indian project for school and made a diorama of a Cherokee Indian dwelling.

The kids have been making their own lunches while I've been recovering (yes, I still make their lunches!)

C Girl had to come and show me what she made!

I didn't get to go to the school Monday morning either. She was given her Celebration book. (We buy it for the library and they decorate the inside cover with a picture of her and a tribute to her from us!) 

It's a sweet way to commemorate her time at the school and give another book to the school.

I've been resting and watching a lot of Gilmore Girls!

We have had friends and Tim's co-workers bringing us meals and that has been a HUGE blessing!

Tim took the kids to basketball duty last night and took B Boy to a birthday party tonight.

I'm so, so thankful of everything that he does for us. We are so lucky to have him and love him SO much!!!

Recappin' {August 26-Sept 10}

The day of B Boy's surgery, friends from school brought cards, coloring book and chocolate shake by that evening. It was so kind and thoughtful!

 We just hung at the house and took care of the boy the rest of the week.

 He started to go downhill on Sunday. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty tough.

Wednesday, I took him to school to have his yearbook picture made but then brought him back home.

C Girl picked out her school picture outfit. She is very independent and opinionated lately, more so than usual!

 I sent B Boy back to school on Thursday. C had an ortho appointment. They removed her bottom expander and then added a few more brackets.

B Boy did great and made it through the entire school day!

He had to miss recess until this week and that was a little hard on him.

 The kids were out of school on Friday and Monday for the holiday. They were thrilled that I wanted to clean out the playroom. Ha ha.

 Saturday morning, the kids were up bright and early and excited about the Razorbacks season opener game!

The Hogs crushed UTEP and we are No. 18 in the country!

I drove to Ft. Smith to meet Jessica so that we could have a friend day! We haven't had one of these in a very long time and it was much needed! We got pedicures, had lunch and then did some shopping! So fun!!!

 We laugh so much!

 Sunday morning, the whole family was back at church! B Boy is now in the same children's church group as C Girl.

 Monday was Labor Day and we had a nice day at home. 

We grilled yummy burgers for dinner. 

B Boy finally started getting his appetite back!

 I pulled out the DSLR this week.

Tuesday was the start of fall Bible study at church.

I'm doing Fight Back with Joy by Margaret Feinberg.

I was glad to get to hear from her recently and I'm reading the book that goes with this. 

I know that I could definitely use some more joy in my life.

I will be looking for #joybombs!

My joybomb for Tuesday was getting to know a new lady that came to our Sunday school class. 

We chatted after Bible study and she is so sweet!

Margaret Feinberg commented on my blog! What!!!

 I'm so very happy to see this sweet boy back to his normal self again!

He is doing a Mad Scientist unit at Trec this semester and he is very excited about that!

Wednesday morning, I met with my mentor, Susan. We have the best time talking and discussing the book we are going through. It almost feels like a counseling session every two weeks. I love her so much!

After meeting with her, I headed to school for a PTO meeting. I'm going to be more involved at school this year, hopefully!

 Wednesday night, Awana started up again at church. Again, B Boy is now in the same group as C Girl. They are both such big kids now. [tear]

Thursday morning, I had a BPTO meeting and then I rushed over to be with C Girl on her field trip to the Peel Mansion. I missed a few stations but I really enjoyed the time I did get to spend with her there! I also got to know another mom in her class. I'm trying really hard to be involved more this year and to get to know other moms better. The past couple of years I haven't done this as well. My health took such a toll on everything :-(

Learning about pioneer life.

 Racing with potatoes on spoons!

 Bobbing for apples!

 The Peel Mansion is so beautiful and has so much history!!!

the surgery

B Boy was scheduled to get his tonsils and adenoids on Wednesday morning, August 26th.

My sweet cutie the night before surgery.

I survived waking up at 4:30 am to be at the hospital by 5:45. The first words out of B Boy's mouth were- "I'm nervous." He's nine, and smart and very curious. A day before the surgery, I found him reading the pre-op paperwork. He was satiated with the news that any IV would be started after he was sedated.

He was in pretty good spirits for the super early morning.

We checked in, got situated in our room and got him dressed in his surgery gear.

We had some downtime before the surgery. We loved on our boy and he played on the phone and watched TV.

Soon, it was time for them to come in and get him ready for surgery time. It was hard watching them wheel him away

During the surgery, we waited in the Ronald McDonald house in our hospital. It is amazingly nice! The surgery took about 30 minutes and then we had to wait about 20 more minutes before we got to see him.

I cried seeing him waking up in pain. It took awhile for the anesthesia to wear off. Once he was pretty awake, we started trying to get him to eat a popsicle and a slush.

After an hour or so, he seemed to be doing really good so they got us ready to discharge.

He loved riding in the wheel chair!

We got him a chocolate shake on the way home.

More on the recovery later.