radiation

I'll write more tomorrow, but wanted to let you know that radiation begins tomorrow.  It's the pretty typical treatment, from what I understand.  I'll go everyday, Monday - Friday, and it will end the first week in January. 

I know this is short, but I'm tired and want to get some sleep - I promise I'll add more tomorrow (sometime).

thankful 16

Thankful 16 - For a lunch date with my husband!  I have loved Wednesdays for a few years now, because it is Brian's day off every week.  We often use it as a date day so that we don't have to pay a babysitter to watch the boys on a weekend night.  Even if we don't go anywhere and just stay home and mark things off the to-do list, it's so nice to have quiet, alone time.  Love you B!!

Thankful 15

Thankful 15 - For friends that I have made through my kids.  Tonight a friend of Elliott's came by to deliver some goodies that I had ordered from his Boy Scout troop.  I stood out on the driveway and talked with his mom for a long time.  I'm thankful that the boys have good friends and feel that we have been doubly blessed because I've gotten good friendships out of them also!

thankful 14

Thankful 14 - For the ability to go to the gym today.  It had been a few months since the treadmill and I had had a meetup.  I had actually only been there one other time since the beginning of May.  I had high hopes of getting there shortly after chemo ended, but my swollen legs had other plans.  My phone was nice enough to remind me every Monday, Wednesday and Friday that I was supposed to be at the gym:

It felt good to walk.  I am excited to try to run again soon, but for now I'm happy to walk and just get some sort of exercise and feel like things are getting closer to normal again!



thankful 13

Thankful 13 - For wide open spaces.  We love going over to Illinois.  Obviously we love going over there to see our family, but we also love it because there's a sense of peacefulness there for me.  There is quiet there.  There are wide open spaces for all of us - especially for the boys who need that.  Their new favorite activity over there is shooting the BB gun.  They were very excited about this - Mom even saved some more cans for them to shoot at.  And Elliott decided to shoot at some nests (empty) in the tree.  Made me nervous, but Dad assured me it was fine.  It was, and they had a great time!

thankful 12

Thankful 12 - This day was all about extended family.  So grateful that we are able to get together at least once a year.  We started celebrating the holidays a bit early with the Hosseltons this Saturday.



Loved getting to see my nephews.  Hadn't seen them in at least 6 months.  We even spent the night at their house, and the 3 oldest boys had a little slumber party in the living room - with not as much slumbering as I would have liked :)  My boys did make sure Eli had his coat on before they all ventured outside to play at 5:00 AM.  We're not sure if shoes and socks were included :)

Also got to see all of my aunts and uncles, cousins and spouses, and meet precious new babies.

Someone had the idea to remake a photo of "the cousins" from 1989 (I think).  I wish I had the original photo - I'll get it so that you get the full effect :)

thankful 11

Thankful 11 - This was Veteran's Day.  Thankful for anyone who has ever served in the military in any capacity.  Two Vveterans who are very close to our hearts are Brian's dad and my dad.  We were excited that my dad was able to come over for the Veteran's Day program at the boys' school.  Wish that Brian's dad could have been here, also, but we honored him with a poster and a picture in the slide show, also.

thankful 10

Thankful 10 - For Elliott's interest in piano and Rachel's gift of teaching it.  He just started lessons in August, and he really enjoys it!  I know that a lot of that is due to Rachel's enthusiasm and her patience and her talent. 



thankful 9

Thankful 9 - This day I was thankful for a friend's last day of chemo!!  She was just one round behind me, so she has been my chemo buddy since just right after my 2nd round of chemo.  We have the same type of cancer so we were on the same meds, same plan, which meant we have seen each other almost every Wednesday since the middle of July and that we will continue to see each other every 3 weeks until next summer.  I have enjoyed hanging out with her so much, and I think we must talk and laugh so much that a LOT of the other patients think that we're sisters at first!  She has truly been a bright spot in my Wednesdays, and I love that I'll still get to catch up with her every 3 weeks.   Congrats Jamie!!!!

Mom's Apple Crisp



This one is for you Rachel!  Guess where it came from?  Yep, my mom.  Not sure where she got it or if she just knew how to make it from her mom.  I often get recipes from her and from Brian's mom that say things like "bake until done" or "just enough salt" or "a little nutmeg".  I actually love those recipes cause it means that they're really GOOD!  Even though it means a little trial and error on my part to get them just right.  But this one actually had measurements with it AND it's really good - hallelujah!!

Mom's Apple Crisp

4 c. sliced and peeled tart apples (Granny Smith)
1/4 c. orange juice
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
dash of salt
1/2 c. butter

Preheat oven to 375.  Mound apples in buttered 9-inch pie plate or square pan; sprinkle with orange juice.  Combine sugar, flour, spices and salt in a separate bowl.  Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.  Sprinkle over apples.  Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is crisp.

Halloween 2011

Our Halloween started with Trunk or Treat at church.  This is our second year doing a trunk, and we tied for first place this year!  There were really great trunks there this year, and they inspired us to already start thinking about next year.

Then trick or treating on Halloween.  The boys were sooooooo excited! 

We had Albert Einstein.....

and this fierce ninja roaming around the neighborhood.

Well, not really roaming since Elliott had spent part of the afternoon drawing up this map for the night's journey.  The whole excursion was very well thought out!

I always want to get pictures of all the kids, but it seems like everyone is in a rush once they all come out, and I'm usually in chaos-mode trying to get everything together to get everyone out the door, and I typically only get one or two.  I was lucky to get these this year.  Ethan plays a lot with the girls in the middle.  He races them in their little jeep, they play ball, whatever.  And they're so cute and sweet!  Wish I could've gotten pictures of some of the other kids, too.

Brian walked around with the boys this year.  Amber and I handed out candy (well, she actually handed out most of the candy - I mostly sat and talked).   He wore this ensemble to work that day - wouldn't you love to see your pharmacist in that?!  I think they looked awesome in their costumes!  They came home with tons of candy.  They had walked all of the courts in our area of the neighborhood and had walked up to one side of the front of the neighborhood.  They were pretty tired once they got home!



They each got over 5 lbs of candy!  I know this, because we took most of it to our dentist's office to trade it in for money and they weighed it there.  They were happy to get $5 for it and that the candy went to the troops.  And I am also happy not to have all of that candy calling to me from the pantry :)

Thankful 7 & 8

Thankful #7 - That my doctors are only about 20 minutes away.  Every once in a while I unexpectedly have to drive over there.  I'm thankful to have the flexibility to do that, and I'm thankful that it's not any farther than it is! 

Thankful #8 - For a day at home today.  I'm behind on everything here - laundry, cleaning, paperwork, etc.  I'm thankful for no commitments or appointments most of the day so that I can catch up on some of it.

Thankful 5 & 6

Thankful #5 - For the opportunity as a family to serve others.



Our church collects shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child every year.  The boys each do a box, and then we go to the annual "Packing Party" where many people from our church get together and pack as many boxes as we can with items that have been donated throughout the last few months.  This is the stash of boxes from the Packing Party yesterday.  There were around 170 in all!  We let the boys pick out most of the items that go in their boxes, and we talk about who might get the boxes.  Then they write a little note for whoever opens the box.   I always wish that we could see who actually does receive the boxes that we pack for them.  This year I saw that you can donate online and track your box.  Not sure how that works, but we're going to do it and see what happens. 

I'm thankful for our friend, Toni, who does a great job of organizing this every year - what a job!  And I'm thankful for our friend, Elena, who just a few years ago was a recipient of a shoebox and last year got the priveledge of delivering shoeboxes to children in Uganda.  She had talked to me about some of her experiences before, but today she had the courage to speak about them in front of hundreds of people at church.  Her testimony was so moving, and she is a beautiful inspiration.

Thankful #6 - Thankful today for a cloudy, dreary day.



I typically prefer warm and sunny, but every once in a while I love that we are blessed with a day like this.  It usually makes me want to stay inside and slow down, which we all need sometimes.  It makes me want to curl up with a blanket.  It makes me want to create something, craft, scrapbook, etc.  It makes me want to sip some hot soup.  Today I took advantage of it by editing and tagging photos and catching up a bit on the blog.

(and I think it's funny that the Hibiscus still wants to bloom)

Thankful 4

Thankful #4 - Browsing through pictures that I uploaded today (weren't they supposed to automatically do that with iCloud?  Still trying to figure that out), found this one and was immediately reminded of how much we enjoy where we live. 

Love that we get to experience a definite change of seasons.

Love that many of the coolest things to do here are FREE.

Love that there are really awesome places to explore like Forest Park.

Love that it's small enough to navigate easily yet big enough to attract sporting and cultural events.

Love that I live 2 minutes from Walmart (it's important to me).

Love that we are only a few hours from half of our family (hate that we're 18 hours from the other half).

Love that it's such a big sports town and just a week ago you couldn't go anywhere without talking about the Cardinals and how excited and proud everyone was - seriously such fun!

Love that people are generally really nice and friendly.

So today I'm thankful that we get to live in such a great place.

Thankful 3

Thankful #3 - Today I am thankful for the ladies in my Bible study group, their candidness, their willingness to share, their love for each other, and their ability to laugh together.  For Carmen who lovingly uses her gift to lead the group and is willing to dig even deeper into the study and to share with us her findings.  And for talented people like Beth Moore who share their gifts of teaching and writing to help lead us into a deeper understanding of God's Word.



Thankful #3.5 - Thankful that my husband forgot to grab his leftovers from Kitaro this morning so that I could enjoy them for lunch!  (I don't have a picture cause I've already eaten it all - thanks B - hope you enjoy your Subway!)

Thankful 1&2

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I'm going to try to post something that we are thankful for each day this month.  And wouldn't you know that I'm already behind?

Thankful #1 - Yesterday I was thankful (and still am) for my family. 

Thankful #2 - Today I am thankful that I only had to have Herceptin today, on a day that would have normally been a big chemo day, and can look forward to the weekend knowing that I will be feeling good!