December Update

I'm lucky if I have time to update the blog every month this year.  I hate it that I haven't just made myself put in weekly messages, but with work, the kids and Jordan's hospital visits, there just isn't time right now.  She had her lung surgery and is still at Children's.  We were really starting to get concerned that she might not get out in time for Christmas, but it looks like she will make it home by Monday, December 20, 2010.  She should be able to stay home until the 28th, if the oral medications control the swelling.  There is much to update, but today is not the time to go into details.  I got a prayer blanket in the mail today from Cheryl Williams.  She works in my Louisville office.  It is beautiful.  I am going to wrap it up along with all of her other gifts and give it to Jordan on Christmas Eve.  She will love it.  Cheryl is just amazing.  She is a survivor of uterine cancer.  She understands exactly how Jordan must be feeling.  Her ministry is to support people who are fighting this battle every day.  She received a message from Brad Harris, keeper of the DHL Global Prayer chain, and immediately reached out to me.  We will send her a picture of Jordan with her blanket.

I have completed almost all of our Christmas shopping this week.  I have one gift left to buy for Destiny, one for Jordan, and one for my mom and dad.  We finished up Peyton's last night.  I took the four oldest with me so they could all pick something out for him. 

I am trying to find the motivation today to take the kids to the mall for pictures with Santa.  I just can't seem to pull it off.  No matter what, I have to get Amelia to the store by Monday to have her pictures done.  She is almost a year old and I've never taken for pictures.  It is really unfair to her.   

Jordan's Lung Surgery

Jordan's surgery has been scheduled for December 3, 2010.  I am not looking forward to this day and I am sure she isn't either.  I know the surgery is going to be tough and the recovery even tougher, but I also know that Jordan can handle it.  She's been a real trooper throughout all of this and she just wants to get rid of the cancer.  The best way to do that is to go in and remove it.  She understands exactly what is going to happen.  She has had a long conversation with the doctor about the procedure and she knows what to expect.  I am hoping she is feeling better before Christmas and I'm really hoping that everyone is there tomorrow to celebrate Thanksgiving with her.  I am so thankful that my beautiful neice is alive.  I can't imagine what a different story this would be if we were just finding out now that the cancer was there.  I will never forget the moment Rustie called to tell me that she had been diagnosed with Osteosarcoma.  It was one of the worst moments of my life...maybe the absolute worst.  My heart breaks everytime I think about all of the pain that Jordan has endured.  I know that it has made her a stronger person, but that's such small compensation for the difficulty of her life.  The girls and I found several boxes of old pictures when we cleaned out the shed.  I think they were a little surprised at all of the pictures of Jo, but it became more obvious as we went through them that she has been a part of my life for a lot longer than they have.  She became my baby the day I found out her Mom was pregnant with her.  "If I Die Young" is moving up the charts this month and everytime it comes on the radio, I have to change the station.  I can't bear to listen to the words of that song.  Jordan posted it to her profile on Facebook this week and I cried for an hour after I saw it.  I know that she is going to survive this, but the thought that anything could happen is too much to bear...especially knowing that she feels it too.  And so we pray....

Halloween 2010!!!

I can't believe that I forgot to post Halloween pictures.  This was Amelia's first Halloween.  She was dressed as a kitty cat.  The outfit was so cute when she crawled around...her little tail and ears sticking up.  Sadly, Destiny did not get to go tricking or treating this year.  She had gotten herself into trouble for a week straight and I made this mistake of saying, "If you do that again you won't be able to go trick or treating on Sunday."  And wouldn't you know it, she turned around and did it again the next day.  Once it's out there, you have to stick to your guns, so she stayed home.  Michael sat at home with her, but only because at 17 he was more interested in watching scary movies than trick or treating.  Sabrina wore her costume from last year, she was a Charm School Witch.  Samantha wore one of Destiny's old costumes, Ninja Girl.  It was perfect.  We didn't have to shop for anything for Halloween this year.  They were too excited when they found the old costumes to even think about going out for new ones.  I went with Peyton to take the girls to a few houses and then Amelia and I came home so they could go to the big neighborhood close to downtown.  It was so nice to see our friends.  There are only a few houses that we care about visiting and they are never a dissapointment.  Pat and Jack had bags for all of the kids again this year.  I think Michael and Destiny ended up with as much candy as they would have if they had actually gone out trick or treating.  We took the kids to the Pumpkin Festival in Fayetteville again this year.  We haven't missed a year since we moved to Callaway.  The kids love it.  Peyton even dressed as a pirate for the event.  We really enjoyed ourselves and went to Wings and Things for lunch afterwards.  I also let the girls have a little Halloween spend the night party.  They invited Anna and Katelyn.  We had a house full of girls and I loved every minute of it.  It is so much fun to watch those cousins play together.  We really wish Riley, Kenna and Mary could have been here.  When I look back, we managed to have a very busy Halloween.  I even wore the old Danzas AEI Document Pouch costume that Mary and Rabun made for me NINE years ago.  It is still as cool as ever. 

Amelia Updates

I have been horrible at adding updates on Amelia, but I have a few for tonight. I should start by saying that Peyton has been so busy at work that we literally haven't seen each other in a couple of weeks.  We went to lunch together today to catch up.  It was so nice to hang out with him for a little while.  He was two hours late, but we managed to fit it in. Of course our conversation quickly turned to our beautiful kids.  Neither of us can believe how quickly Amelia is growing. She's just amazing. She is beginning to stand for almost a full minute.  I believe she will walk before she's 10 months old.  The twins started walking on their first birthday.  She's just trying hard to keep up with her big sisters.  I put in a Bon Jovi concert video this weekend and the big kids and I spent an hour laughing at her as she danced.  She banged her head and shook her bottom and threw up her arms.  It was so funny.  Right now she is watching Glee with us and bouncing to the music.  I have so many pictures to add and updates on Jordan.  They are going to do the lung surgery in two weeks.  The week after Thanksgiving.  Her PET scan showed some growth to the lessions.  It's minimal, but any growth means they need to go in quickly.  She is being really positive about it all.  She's such a trooper. 

Amelia is 8 months old

 I can hardly believe that my baby is already nine months old.  She had her first black eye last month.  She tries to move from one piece of furniture to the other without hands.  It's very funny to watch her.  She just doesn't realize that she's a baby.  She thinks she's all grown up and that she can walk.  I actually think she might start to walk in the next month or so.  She isn't afraid to try.  Peyton had to put foam on all of our tables in the living room.  We are doing everything we can to make it safe for her.  I've really been trying to put her down in her own bed.  It's tough because I can't really let her cry it out during the week since she shares a room with Sabrina and Samantha.  They have to get up early, so we keep her in our room, but at least we can put her in the co sleeper. It's hard to put her in her bed when I haven't seen her all day.  I hate it that I have already missed so much of her life.  It's tough to be a working mom.  I bought a lottery ticket tonight for tomorrow's drawing.  Amanda sent some clothes over for Ameila this week and Jennifer gave us some of Mary clothes.  I almost cried when I pulled the little red velvet Christmas dress from the bag.  I will never forget the day I bought the dress for the twins.  I kept one and gave the other to Jessica.  She passed it on to Averi and now it's back home.  I took out the pictures from the girls' first Christmas.  These were really our first family photos.  My babies are so big now.  Amelia can wear the dress right now, but just barely.  I want to take a couple of pictures in it if it will still fit.  She will be ten months old at Christmas.  The girls were only five months old.  The dress is a 3 to 6 month dress.  No new teeth this week, but she is definately teething again. 

Samantha and Sabrina Read

Last night I watched my beautiful little girl read an entire page about Jack and Jilly.  She did not memorize.  I mixed up every word.  She read them in order, out of order....!!  I'm so proud.  Samantha was so proud of herself.  She was blushing the entire time.  She can't stand that attention.  Sabrina stood by and watched.  She was itching for her turn, but since she hadn't learned the same set of words that Samantha learned so she couldn't read the same book.  They are in different classrooms.  This afternoon, after learning the words, Sabrina read the same book.  Their learning styles are very different.  Sabrina anticipates order.  She is always thinking three words ahead and she gets very upset when there is a change in the plot.  She was really proud of herself too, but she didn't blush.  She wants everyone to know how that she can read.  They are so very different...but they are so very SMART!!!   All three of the girls had all A's and B's on their report cards!  Destiny wants to be a CSI agent when she grows up.  Peyton gave her a book tonight about what she needs to do to get there.  The first line was that you must graduate from high school.  I see where they get their intellegence from.  He jumped on the chance to remind her how important school is.  I keep hoping that we have not failed to get the same message to Michael, but he is really pushing it.  He has three F's...as close to four as you can possibly get and I am so sad about it.  I don't see any ambition.  I hope that he will change his mind in the next few weeks before it's too late to save his Junior year.  Today we will celebrate the three honor roll students and push the other to get there too.

Fall is in the Air

I am so excited to wake up to these crisp mornings.  I'm not looking forward to the cold ones, but crisp is nice.  Samantha is finally playing outside again.  I've convinced her all of the bees, wasps and hornets are gone.  She quit playing in the back yard about two months ago when she was stung.  She even boycotted the pool for the last month of swimming.  I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted, but life has been busy.  With the addition of two more sets of homework each night, it feels like we barely have time to think.  Amelia is being pretty needy at the moment too.  She thinks she needs to be held all the time.  Thank you Mema Shirley for this gift.  I love my little pumpkin.  When we walk in the door, she completely loses her mind for a few minutes.  She will smile and then burst into tears until we take her from whoever is holding her.  Last night she went through it with me coming in the door and then did it all over again when Peyton walked in.  She loves her Daddy so much.  I felt a little sorry for him last Sunday.  He had worked for two weeks straight and on his first day off, she would not let him walk through the room without crying to be held and crawling around after him.  She does get around the house really well.  We've installed the gate at the top of the stairs.  Aunt Rosie has rearranged the furniture twice this month in an effort to find the best way to block her in the living room so it's easier for my grandmother to not have to chase her.  It's working out for me because she cleans everything when she moves furniture so the house looks great.  Who cares where the couch is when it's clean?  Updates by topic:

Amelia:  Pulling up and walking along the furniture.  Follows us all around the house crawling.  Sings and goos all the time now.  Smiles bigger than any baby I've ever seen.  Giggles when she's tickled or when you kiss her neck.  Rode in the buggy at the grocery store for the first time.  Eats like a little piggy.  She will eat anything on my plate as long as I make it small enough for her.  She had cream of chicken soup and a turkey sandwich with me last night.  She is a delight and we are so lucky to have our little girl.  We plan to clean out the playground this weekend to have it ready to go next week since the weather has cooled off.  Her two bottom, front teeth are completely in now.  She bit my knee the other day and I thought I would jump off of the bed.  I had no idea how much it could hurt.  Little stinker.

Samantha:  Doing well in school.  Still doesn't really like to wake up in the mornings, but loves to visit her friends at school.  She has more guy friends than girl friends...does this surprise anyone?  She tells me every night how Luc and Roman are doing in school.  I haven't met these boys, but I think they must be the highlight of her days.  Sam went to her first book fair this week.  She bought a book about cats and a book about bats.  No kidding...this one really will be a vet.  She is blowing me away with her reading skills already.  She can actually pronounce out several words.  And once she learns to write a word, she writes it over and over again.

Sabrina:  Tells me daily how much she loves school.  Wants to go to school on Saturdays too.  Has lots of little girl friends...of which Carley is her favorite.  She loves her teacher, Ms. McClanahan.  She bought two books at her first book fair.  Two biographies:  Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber  Beanie also reads really well already.  She loves to do flash cards with site words.  I taught her to spell the word LOOK by making the O's look like eyes.  She still uses this word in her sentences because it's her favorite and I guess it's really the first word she learned to spell.

Destiny:  Brought home all A's and B's on her first progress report.  She really seems to be in tune this year with school.  She has a project to do for science this weekend and she already has her research ready.  I'm very proud of Destiny.

Michael:  Status qou in school.  Explained to me that it's okay to have F's on your progress report because it's JUST a progress report.  Gave him Webster's definition of PROGRESS.  I keep wondering when he is going to ask to take the driving test to get his license.  It seems like none of his friends are interested in driving...saving us all on car insurance I guess.  He picked up a soccer ball a couple of months ago.  I'm pleased that he's showing some interest in something besides the computer and basketball.  I can only hope his grades are good enough to try out in the spring.

 Sad News

Jordan:  Guess this qualifies for sad and good.  Jordan's leg was amputated on September 10th.  By Septemeber 25th she was walking on her new leg and looking great.  She felt so much better the morning after surgery.  I felt like I was seeing a miracle unfold right before my eyes.  She had chemo again last week, but did not have to go through a blood transfusion...which was great news.  I haven't been able to see her since we've all had colds for the past week.  She just looks beautiful and she feels so much better than she did last month.  The "autopsy"/pathology report on her leg came back earlier this week and 97% of the cancer cells within the tumor were dead.  This is wonderful news.  It means the chemo was working in spite of the continued growth. 

Uncle Terry:  We lost Uncle Terry to ALS on September 9, 2010.  I have many fond memories of times at Terry and Sherry's house when I was growing up.  My Aunt Sherry spent 39 years with him and she is in so such deep mourning.  I know that her girls are surrounding her with love and her faith is so strong that she will be fine, but for now, she is heartbroken.  Uncle Terry was surrounding by family when he finally slipped away.  My mom discribed the scene to me.  She watched my aunt and my cousins sing his favorite hymn to him.  His angels on earth singing to him as his angels in Heaven welcomed him home.

Uncle Lamar:  Uncle Lamar has been in Atlanta Medical Center for two weeks.  He had an accident in his rig and nearly lost his life.  He has a broken back.  He's had surgery.  He can move his right foot and leg, but it remains to be seen if/when he will regain full mobility.  We are so hopeful that he will recover completely.  They took him off of the ventalitor yesterday and he is finally in a room instead of ICU.  My dad is so relieved to hear him talk.  This accident came so close to losing Terry.  We were all still unravelled and not at all prepared for another medical emergency.  Destiny is closer to Lamar than any of my kids.  She has been camping with him and Aunt Judy and she has been very concerned.  I am going to take her to the hospital to visit him this weekend.

Aunt El:  This one is almost too much for me.  Aunt El had open heart surgery Wednesday of this week.  She was doing well right after, but her heart stopped yesterday.  They were able to install an external pacemaker and they are taking her back into surgery this morning to put in the pacemaker permanently.  I am so grateful that she is still with us today, but it is very hard for me to not be there.  When she has had surgery in the past, I've been able to drive up to North Carolina to be with her.  This hasn't been possible with the kids.  If I wasn't sick today, I would drive up now.  I don't even think they would let me see her.

MacAlester Kenzie

Our beautiful little one eyed calico cat died last week.  I can't tell you how heartbroken I am over losing Mac.  She was a wonderul cat.  Peyton and I got her in 2000 right after Lingo died. Mac hasn't been the same since we lost Vegas last year.  They were so close.  I will never forget bringing Mac home and having her sleep with us every night.  She had a tiny little white spot on her right eye that grew over the first ten weeks that we had her.  Eventually her entire eye was white.  The vet said she had very little vision out of the eye, but she could still see motion and it wasn't hurting her, so we opted not to have it removed.  The surgery would have been painful.  After Vegas moved in, I never had to doctor the eye again.  He kept it clean for her.  When Destiny and Michael moved in, Mac began sleeping on Michael's bed every night and Vegas slept with Destiny.  I found Mac on my way to work.  I turned the car around and called Peyton to let him know I was coming home so we could bury our little Mac Attack.  We miss you girl!

Dingo

Dingo is still with us, but he's really getting old.  Peyton says we almost lost him a couple of months ago from an infection, but we treated him with antibotics and he bounced back.  He spent a couple of nights in doggy jail for the first time since he was adopted from the pound in 1998.  He disappeared last weekend.  Peyton put up signs and a neighbor called to tell us that she had called the pound on him when he showed up in her garage.  She could tell he was elderly and she was afraid he would get hit by a car.  He played with her kids until they picked him up.  I went down to pick him up on Wednesday.  We were so grateful to have him back.  I don't think he'll be with us much longer, but he should spend his last months with his family.  We had a heart to heart on the way home.  I told him how sorry I was that I moved into his life and brought all of these kids with me.  With each kid he got a little less attention.  I think he understands.  He put his head in my shoulder and let me pet him on the way home.  He got to stick his head out in the wind and for a minute he was in heaven. 

This morning I had time to update the blog because I am in bed with bronchitus.  I haven't been this sick with a cold in years.  It's been like this since last Thurdsay, getting worse every day.  I made up my mind yesterday that I was never going to make it to work today.  I'm going to rest this morning and then go buy baby diapers, bigger bottles, Mary's birthday present, and new much bigger sleepers for my baby at Babies R Us tonight.  Peyton sounds worst than I do. He's really cute when he has a cold.  When we love someone, they are even cuter when they sound like a frog!!! 

All in all, I have so much to be thankful for.  Next weekend, my husband will celebrate his 45th birthday.  I can't wait to have his adults only party.  Sending the kids to the Grandmothers' houses.

Amelia Reagan: Six Months Old

My little girl is six months old.  She looks just like her daddy and has beautiful blue eyes.  Last month, she learned to crawl, learned to drink from a sippy cup, and cut two teeth (bottom, front).  She is a happy baby.  Just this week she has started crying for me to pick her up the minute I walk in the door from work.  She sees me and just dissolves into tears until I pick her up.  She did this with Peyton last night too.  She has learned to miss us when we are gone and can really let us know it now.  We have to go buy more big bottles  Those little 4 ouncers are not doing it anymore.  She loves sweet potatoes, corn, green beans and especially oatmeal with pears and squash.  She'll eat bananas, but unlike the twins, they are not her favorite.  She weighs 15 lbs and 14 ozs and is 26 inches long.  She loves her big sisters.  She gets really excited when they come home from school.  I feel so blessed to have this little girl in my life.

Broken Heart

There are so many good things that I need to post, but I have been so heart broken that I haven't even been able to blog about it.  Jordan's chemo treatments have not helped her leg.  She will have her right leg amputated just above the knee next Friday, September 10, 2010.  This past week has been the saddest week of my life.  I see my beautiful, bright neice suffering and I just want to take away her pain.  I couldn't have imagined a few months ago that we would ever be going through this.  She was so brave when we went in with the doctors to tell her the news.  I just told her I loved her and that I was going to leave so she could be alone with her mom.  Rustie and Momma are beside themselves with grief.  This is really like losing a member of the family.  We all know it's just her leg and that she will not survive if this operation does not happen soon, but it's so sad.  I've tried over and over again this week to imagine myself in her shoes.  What if I was going through the day today knowing that in one week I would not longer have a leg....an ankle...a foot.  She hasn't had the easiest life up to this point and this just seems like a cruel joke.  Destiny is not handling this very well.  She has really so afraid that she is going to lose her best friend.  We are all going to keep praying for a miracle.  We just need to get past the leg and move on through the rest of the chemo treatments with the hope that they are going to work and she is going to be cured.  I've never found myself at such a loss for words.  Two weeks ago when Jordan was visiting our house for the day, she was holding Amelia and Amelia was really laughing.  Samantha walked over and said:  "I think she likes you because you're a baldy like her."  That was the first time I had seen Jordan laugh in weeks.

****I finished this post and scanned to the bottom of the page and this was my Today in history message. I have never been so shocked or cried so hard.


Marathon of Hope

Terry Fox, The Marathon of Hope is a name given to the cross-Canada run undertaken by cancer patient Terry Fox in 1980. It is commemorated each year with the Terry Fox Run which is an international event that raises money for cancer research.
The initial goal of the run was to raise $1 million to be used for cancer research. After running through Port-Aux-Basques, Newfoundland, Terry changed his goal from raising $1 million to raising $1 for each person in Canada at the time ($24 million).
Beginning in Newfoundland Terry Fox was to run across the country ending on Vancouver Island - a distance of 5,000 km (3,107 miles) at a pace of 42 km (26.1 miles) a day. Unfortunately, Terry Fox's cancer returned while he was in Northern Ontario, and he had to stop the run on September 1, 1980, just outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario.
The goal of the run was to raise money and awareness for cancer research. In order to get the Canadian Cancer Society to support him he had to get corporate sponsorship for the run. Terry Fox sought no personal or financial gain for his efforts. His run was also a 'true' run across Canada; not taking the fastest route, he made sure that he would pass by the most populous regions of the country.

The run begins

Terry Fox began the marathon on a foggy April 12, 1980 from St. John's, Newfoundland. He started by dipping his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean. The beginning of the run was marked with little fanfare; only one camera crew from the CBC Television was there to witness his start. He was joined that first day by the mayor of St. John's, who ran for a portion of the marathon.

While running through Gambo, Newfoundland on April 21, Terry was quoted as saying:

"It was an exciting day in Gambo. People came and lined up and gave me ten, twenty bucks just like that. And that's when I knew that the Run had unlimited potential."

Two weeks later while in Port-Aux-Basques, Newfoundland, Terry's idea of raising $1 for each person in Canada was born. In less than 2 hours, the community of 10,000 people, raised $10,000, equal to one dollar per person. Several weeks after Terry left Newfoundland, he found out that this total increased by another $4,000.
The run enters Central Canada

On June 10th Terry entered the Province of Quebec. Still largely unknown, he found it difficult as rude drivers honked their horns or nearly ran him off the road. Some thought he was a hitchhiker and offered to give him a ride. Since he spoke no French, he found it difficult to communicate with Quebecers. As he made his way to Montréal, he garnered more attention from the media and the general public. In early July, Fox arrived in the national capital of Ottawa, where he met with Governor-General Ed Schreyer. On July 4, he met with Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, but the meeting was awkward because Trudeau had returned from a trip to Europe and was not briefed on Fox's situation.

Into Toronto

By the time Terry finally reached Toronto, he had become a media sensation. The streets of the city were lined with thousands of supporters, and a public rally at Toronto City Hall had a crowd of over 10,000. His achievements also began to gain international attention. He was interviewed (while running) by the then popular American current events show That's Incredible!.

The run ends
Statue of Terry Fox overlooking the Trans-Canada HighwayOn September 1, 1980, his run stopped just northeast of Thunder Bay. Poor breathing prevented him from running further; Terry visited a local hospital, where he discovered that his cancer had spread to his lungs. Due to his poor health, from both the return of the cancer and the grueling pace of his running, he had to stop his journey across Canada. By this point he had run for 143 consecutive days totalling 5,373 km.

He returned to British Columbia for further medical treatment. While in hospital, Terry received a telegram from Four Seasons hotel executive Isadore Sharp (who had recently lost his own son to cancer) telling him that his Marathon of Hope would be continued in his honour with an annual run, and that they would not stop until Terry's dream of beating cancer was realized.

Today, a life sized bronze statue of Terry Fox in motion is located in a memorial park along the Trans-Canada Highway, overlooking the spot where he had to end his run.

Happy Birthday, Michael!!

Michael turned 17 on Friday.  We had a little party with just the family Friday night.  He wanted cake, ice cream and Captain D's.  He got a new FIFA World Cup replica soccer ball, shorts and the new computer game he wanted.  I am hoping he will want to get his license soon.  Peyton took him to the shooting range.  They shot my dad's old 22 Ruger.  I looked back at old pictures tonight and I just can't believe how much he's grown.  He is taller than I am now.  He is so close to graduating high school.  He's not a little boy anymore. 

Tingle Twins go to School!!!

First Day of School

So hard to go to sleep the night before...

Our little girls are growing up so fast.  We took them to open house this morning.  I only cried for a few minutes in the parking lot.  They aren't even on the bus yet and I'm already crying.  So sad!!!  I am so proud of them.  They walked right in there and introduced themselves to their teachers.  They played with blocks and looked at books.  They are happy that school is starting.  I think they've been a little bored this year at home.  I have a funny feeling that getting up in the morning is not going to be easy for them.  I am not a morning person so it kills me and having to help gets kids ready is going to be a nightmare.  Peyton has always gotten Destiny ready for school.  I lay out her clothes at night and make sure she is ready, but he gets up and puts her on the bus while I get dressed for work.  This won't work with three girls to get ready so I am gearing up for the inevitable moment when we have crazy mornings.  No more throwing on my own clothes and sneaking out the door.  I've had it lucky till now.  To make today totally memorable, Samantha got a love note from a little boy in her class.  She is showing it to everyone and really freaks out if she can't remember where she laid it down at.  She told me she was going to save it forever.  Our first LOVE NOTE.  GAME ON!!!  Sabrina is really quite jealous about the whole thing.  Wow....what a mess we are going to have on our hands in a few years.

Happy Birthday Sabrina and Samantha!!

The girls celebrated their 5th birthday a couple of weekends ago.  They spent almost an entire week at Grandmother Tingle's house and then came home on the morning of their birthday.  On Saturday afternoon, we had a party.  We setup a taco bar and had cake and ice cream.  I made a Brazillian Black Bean soup and our famous Mexican Rice.  It was the perfect menu for the day.  I will post pictures an a countdown of gifts soon. 

New Book of Memories

I am going to order a new printed copy of the blog today.  It's so nice to have our lives in book form for the kids to read our story.  When there are moments that I forget how incredibly blessed I am to have the most amazing husband and five beautiful kids, I'll look back at these memories and smile.  My biggest dream is that one day I will be able to sit down with my grandchildren and read them the stories of their parents' lives.  They will know how much we were loved. 

P.S.  Happy 8th Anniversary to the best husband in the world.  I can honestly say that I have never met a man who loved his kids and his wife more than you do.  I love you!  I have always loved you!!

Fourth of July

I remember one year ago on July 4th, I had just learned I was going to be a mom again.  Peyton and I snuggled up together the night of the 3rd and talked about how much the news was going to change our lives. We had been trying to conceive for about 18 months, so it was big, happy news. We were right about a lot of our predictions.  Though it took me a long time to really believe we were having another little girl.  I had been so sure she would be a boy.  I just felt so different during her pregnancy than I did with the girls.  Peyton ran the Peachtree Road Race again this year.  We can't quite remember if this is five or six years, but I know he ran the year I was pregnant with the girls and I am pretty sure he ran the year before that too.  If we had been keeping the blog from the beginning, I could look it up.  I am always so proud of Peyton for sticking to this tradition.  We are going to make sure that next year we take the kids out to the fireworks, but this year, they did fireworks in the yard with their dad.   The fourth was also the 35th anniversary of my dad's death. It's so hard to believe that my mom was a widow at such a young age. 

Our Family

Destiny turned ten last month, Samantha and Sabrina will be five next week, and Michael will be seventeen next month.  I can't believe how fast our children are growing.  This morning, Amelia reached for me for the first time.  I just teared up immediately.  My little "Frankie Girl" is getting so big.  She's a chunky monkey.  We bought a small pool at the beginning of the summer and the girls have pretty much lived in it.  I rarely come home from work when they are not swimming.  Samantha and Sabrina have both learned to really swim this summer.  They turn flips in the air and underwater.  Destiny has been a fish since she was about four.  Amelia will let you dunk her under the water.  If you just quickly put her under and pull her right back up, she acts like she's about to freak out...shaking and then she starts laughing.  It's really funny to watch.  She loves playing in the pool with her big sisters. 

Peyton has been really busy at work.  The moving business has really picked up this summer.  It's a blessings, but I really miss him on the weekends.  He's still managing to be home one day each weekend for the most part. 

I don't have much to say about DHL for the moment.  I moved into the Air Export role in December and I'm still not comfortable.  I'm beginning to be confident in my ability to handle export freight, which is amazing to me.  I just can't seem to get the buy in of my group yet.  I hope they will eventually realize that I really believe they can be the best AE group in the country and I'm only looking out for their best interest. It was really a big leap for me to move from the area manager role into a much more localized role.  I miss my old work life and my old contacts, but I'm making big strides every week.

I am going to go color with girls now.  We still have to paint our nails today and bake our brownies.  I made a lot of promises today that I need to keep.  Busy..busy....

Second Round of Chemo

Jordan shaved the rest of her head last night.  She was losing a good bit of hair already and the rest would have come out quickly after Tuesday's round of Chemo.  This is round number two and it is expected to be a little more intense than the first round.  She did really well during one.  She was only sick a couple of days and her spirits are high.  The girls are praying for Jordan to feel better every night.  It's really hit home for my kids how seriously ill someone can be. 

Amelia is 4 months old

My baby is four months old.  She had her checkup today.  She's 13lbs and 13ozs (52nd percentile).  She's 24 inches long....only 29th percentile.  This makes me wonder if I finally have my shorty!  Will this little girl look like a real Dennis?  She sure does look like a chunky monkey.  The doctor thought I was kidding when I told her that my grandfather was less than five feet tall and that my dad was almost as short.  She should see Aunt Betty, Uncle Gary and Uncle Charles.  I don't know how our generation didn't end up short.  I guess a few of them did, but most of us are average height. 

We have the okay to start with food this week.  So we are adding veggies to the list of foods.  I've never been good at one at a time so I hope she doesn't have alergies.  I'm going to give her peas tonight to see how she likes them.

She's really a beautiful little girl.  Yesterday, I dunked her right under in the water...twice!!!  She came up smiling and licking her lips both times.  She loves the water and she is not afraid of it at all.  Water baby!!!

Father's Day and Vacation June 2010

j

Last June we spent our vacation week in the mountains at Jo and Zac's cabin.  We knew we wanted to have another baby and I felt like time was running out.  The break was just what we needed.  We left a family of six and came home a family of six with one on the way.  This year, we rented Barry's house on Lake Lanier.  Peyton spent Father's Day out on his sailboat.  I know it was the best present we could have gotten him.  We also bought him new running shoes and running clothes for the Peachtree Road Race next weekend.  We looked everywhere for a new fish finder, but there were none to be found up here.  I think so many dad's have boats on Lanier that they sold out of them everywhere.  The kids are out in the lake, swimming with their daddy, and our little Amelia is lying on the floor taking a nap.  She's a real blessing.  It's been a tough vacation having a baby again.  The freedom that we had last year to do "big kid and adult" things is gone.  It's been replaced with bottles and diapers and midnight feedings.  I'm exaughsted and I feel like I need a vacation, but I'm also re-energized from my one on one time with my kids.  Samantha and I have played games together for two days.  She's got a great personality and she's not a sore loser at all.  Sabrina and I can't play games together.  I try, but I get really frustrated with her competitiveness. She has to win all the time.  There is no way around it.  She will change the rules in order to win.  Beanie and Destiny have formed an alliance on this trip.  Beanie wants to be a big girl like her big sister.  I bought the kids another karaoke machine.  We are going to sing again tonight before we leave.  Peyton and I took the boat out last night.  We left Michael in charge long enough to sail for an hour.  It was so great.  I couldn't believe how much I remembered.  I even brought the boat in to dock without the motor...which is really hard to do.  I had the perfect tact and just glided right in.   We have enjoyed the house on the lake.  All of the kids have had a chance to fish, swim and sail.  The girls shared a bedroom overlooking the lake on the main level.  Michael had the room next door to them.  Peyton and I had an upstairs master that was huge.  It was complete with a sitting room and a walk in closet that we used as a changing room.  Amelia has really grown this week.  I'm so thankful that I've gotten to spend this time with her.  I watched her roll completely over for the first time on Father's Day.  The whole week has been about watching her do new things.  She started holding her bottle on Tuesday.  She won't let you prop it for her at all.  This can be very frustating when she's sleepy, but she pushes it away trying to pull it towards her.  She's very fussy because she wants to do so many things that she can't do right now.  She wants to put her toys in her mouth, but she can't....so she screams.  Poor thing....trying to be a big girl already.  She seems to be a mix of Samantha and Sabrina. When she smiles, it melts my heart.  I finished an entire book this week...The Castaways.  I had no idea it was about a couple who drowns on their sailboat....until I started reading it.  And then I head out on the sailboat the next night...too funny! Kim and Chris came by to visit yesterday for a couple of hours.  They were looking at campsites in the area to decide where to put their boat and camper for a week later in the summer.  The girls are going to start school in a little over a month.  They are not babies anymore.  And soon, Amelia will be past all of the baby stuff too and we'll be doing "big kid" vacations again.