Collard Dreams And Black Eyed Wishes

 

New Years in the Hospital

Ringing in the New Year Hospital style.  This year of course was not at all how we expected.  We normal;y have a long list of traditions that we participate in.  Some may call them weirdo rituals I say I'm just southern and my family was too poor to buy fireworks on New Years so they decided to partake in every superstition known to man to ring in the New Year.

I was sooooooo worried about not having collard greens on New Year's Day and not being able to kiss a fool, AKA my husband at midnight I just knew 2011 was going to be doomed. Until a friend of mine said to me that I needed to just relax. She reminded me that every year since the day I popped out I have done the same thing.  Then she used the Dr. Phil method on me.  How's that workin' for you????? 

Everyone had to wear a mask while Mahala had her pic line changed.

Mahala's Pic line

Back to Normal....Almost

We are home and my sweet little darling is safe playing with her brothers. What a few weeks we have had. One can never truly prepare for a child having an unsuspected illness.
She was discharged and the plan is to have an ultrasound in a week and a half to see if the mass has grown. This week she will visit a pediatric gastro Dr. for her colitis. And will have an appointment with a pediatric OB Dr. next week. She still may loose her ovary and tube if the mass grows. We are not 100% comfortable yet, but she's home so we are more relaxed then what we were in the hospital.
Our home school group has blessed us with meals every night for the week. What a blessing too, I knew it would be helpful, but what a relief to not have to put together a dinner for the family when you are still so worried.
Today I made all of her appointments and organized what bills we have. I picked up the house a bit and looked through our calendar to figure out what outings we have coming up. We need to start doing some home school work by Wednesday, because her first appointment will be Thursday and I don't want to wait too long before we get back to some normalcy. I told her I wanted her to do reading and one other subject this first week.
I let Skylar go to the movies with one of his friends and then hang out with him all day. I know he has been under a lot of stress with watching over Kaden all this time. He was amazing, did more then I honestly imagined he could do.
Kaden has some kind of virus. I called his Dr. and he said if he's not better by Friday to bring him in. I tell you if our family doesn't get healthy in 2011 I'm going to screeeeeeaaaam!!!! It has to be better in 2011. Kaden is so happy having everyone home. I'm sure the virus he has is lingering because he's been stressed with everything that's been going on. Well, I'm going to try and hit the hay early tonight. Sleeping on a fold out chair in the hospital stinks!!!

Sit, Wait and Pray

How was your Holidays? I hope better then ours. My sweet girl has been sick and has now been in the hospital three days. Last Thursday we took her into the ER and they sent her home with so called constipation, but she did also have an elevated WB count.
Friday she was in so much pain it actually looked like child birth. She was throwing up with a high fever. We thought maybe it was a virus. On Christmas she couldn't even sit up, and you could tell she was dehydrated. We tried to get her to drink more and basically gave up on food. By Sunday I was terrified, because she looked so bad. After talking with her pediatrician he said keep pushing fluids, continue with the stole softeners that we were doing every day. Remember we thought it was constipation. On Monday I took her in and her WB count was extremely high and he sent us to the ER immediately. They did a ct scan and ultrasound and found a mass the size of a cantaloupe deep in her pelvis. It's pushing all her organs to one side and sucking the life out of her. It was also causing damage to her ovary and tube on the right side.
All day yesterday we have seen 4 specialists. They keep saying that they have never seen this in a child her age to this degree. They have decided to drain the infection around the abscess, in hopes that surgery will not need to be done or at least wont be so complicated.
All we can do now is sit, wait and pray. Sit, wait and pray.

Christmas Wish List

It has been a mad house here. I was sick for 5 weeks with bronchitis and pneumonia. And then right at the end I caught some kind of parasite.

Anyway here is a picture of Kaden on his dream toy. He swears up and down that Santa is going to hoist this truck off his sleigh and drag it thru our nonexistent chimney. And everyone that says hi to him or even turns his way gets an ear full of his Hopes and Dreams. So, since he is so adamant about this toy I have to say he is right. We bought it and have been hiding it so carefully, because not much gets past this little guy. He is like the eyes and ears of this family and he is only 3. So, he will see this big, ridiculously priced hunk of plastic early Christmas morning. It will make all the less expensive, but thoughtful presents look like dollar store rejects. But, I know the look on his face will smooth out the wrinkles of our credit card bill each and every month. Right?

Well, I am off to grade some workbook pages. The kids had it very easy the past few weeks. I did tell them that they will have to work right up until Christmas. They will get Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off of school. And they were okay with that. I will probably let them choose two subjects each day to complete during the week of Christmas. Oh, and they will have to do silent reading too.

Have a good night!

Look what Hala Did Mom

This is what happens when Mom is sick in our house. Kaden gets a makeover from Mahala. Poor boy sat there for nearly thirty minutes while she put those curlers in his hair. I was too sick to help him and impressed that she even got him to sit that long.

The P Word

I am sick of being sick. But, that wont get you well now will it. Finally went to the Dr. today after being sick since Sunday. He was shocked at how high my blood pressure was, but said it was probably due to being so sick. And this explains why I fell up the stairs today because I was so dizzy and nauseous. He said I definitely have bronchitis, which is what I thought it was. He prescribed antibiotic, 2 cough medicines, over the counter mucinex and my inhaler 2 times a day. Anything else?????

But, I was glad to hear he didn't think I had pneumonia. Someone with Lupus and lung problems always fears the P word.

So, now I am going to take my meds and crawl up the stairs and watch tv till the sound of my CPap machine lulls me to sleep.

Night Night

How We do the Homeschool Thing

Everyday is a new chapter in our Family Story. With each turn of the page you don't know what your going to get. I love it that way, it's never dull and the characters are kind of cute. So, I think I have a pretty good book going here.
I'll go into more detail later, maybe I will make a whole homeschool section to keep my ideas organized. But, our main focus is life skills and character. Those things are important to me, so we take every opportunity we can to teach about choices and skills needed out in the world. Math, Literature/English are next on our list. I love that my kids LOVE to read. And it's a good thing because this year alone they each have 15-17 books to read and reports for each one. We do not allow tv, video games or music Monday- Friday until school is done. I do this because in the past I have noticed the kids rushing to get their work done to watch tv or attitudes would get in the way when asked to do something in the evening. So, evenings here you will find even the Kaden who is three reading books.

History and Science around here is kind of a love hate relationship. They love it when it interests them. And make life harder on all of us when they hate it. That's all kids, you know you just have to except it and move on. I try to make it appeal to each child and their learning language. More on that later.

Extra things we do is keep daily journals, dictation, scripture reading, handwriting and copy work. Tons of educational games, regular family games, cooking/home training and manipulatives.

I feel like we are always doing some kind of work, but I enjoy it. We work when we want to work and play when we want to play. I'm not a schedule type person, so I don't have an hour by hour schedule that we keep daily. We do have 1-2 scheduled homeschool event weekly, sports and church. That way the kids do get a taste of what having a schedule is like and being on time. Having Lupus plays a huge part in why we don't allow stress to be apart in homeschooling. Even though right now Skylar is preparing for college so there is more stress then with the other two. He has requirements that need to be met before we head to the admissions department.

More later!

Home School day

What happened in our front room today? We started our Human Anatomy Unit Study. Skylar is studying Biology this year so he has just finished the intro and is now supposed to be doing Chemistry. But Mahala has started learning about the different systems in the body and I thought what the heck. Let's do it together!!! So, each of them have their own Invisible person kit. Mahala has the woman and Skylar has the man. I will post pics later this week when they start putting them together.
Mahala was working in the yard today and she helped me shop for everything we need for her Birthday party. She also decided that she wants to learn how to crochet. Okay, like this will be very interesting. We will follow this, everyone will want to see this unfold. HAHAHA I guess the only other subject that she completed today was Math. Today was kind of like your typical Monday. Which is funny, because yesterday(Monday) was very productive.
Skylar worked on his Team Logo all day long. Seriously he was on the computer drawing, reshaping, reformatting, sketching this, erasing that all day long. He didn't even eat lunch till almost 4pm. So, he took a personal day today. But we all need that, right? Sometimes I feel like I need a personal week! HAHAHA Actually I don't need to be away from my kids for a week I would just like to have a week with no fighting, complaining or loud voices. is that too much to ask? Is it?????????
Kaden worked on his words and writing. Yes, he is only 3. But, he does on average probably 5-6 hours of school related activities everyday. He is a machine that Never stops. He reminds me of a shredder. You know how you turn it on and it makes that humming sound. That's Kaden 1st thing in the morning. Good morning...I'm awake and ready to go. Then you put the paper in and it does it's business and shreds it. But, then there is that soft humming noise. waiting for the next paper. I always play a game and try to feed the paper through as fast as I can so that the machine doesn't make the hum noise.

And me, well, I planned our invitation for the home school group's Teen Christmas party. Worked on Mahala's Birthday party, played games with Mahala and educated Kaden off and on all day. We also did some reading, baking and of course there is dinner. Let's not forget Dinner folks!
Thanh doesn't come home until 7:30-8:00pm so my day lasts for a long, long time. Hopefully I will get Kaden to bed by 9pm and then the other 2 go down between 9-10pm. The rest of the night is mine!!!!!!!!!! Yipeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Weekend Family Breakfast

Here is a picture of my pancakes that my family & I enjoy just about every Sunday morning. Pancakes with hot syrup and peanut butter. Yummmmmmmmmmy! My secret ingredient is a dash of Cinnamon and a drop of vanilla. On Saturday I make homemade biscuits, eggs and bacon or sausage. It's a lot to make every single weekend, but if I don't the family moans and groans like a bunch of animals. Here's a pic of Skylar and his evil eye.


Just kidding......but he is waiting for his breakfast. Isn't he cute?

Now don't think that they don't help, because they do. They both know how to make the eggs, biscuits and pancakes. They haven't tried bacon or sausage, but I don't want the house to burn down either. HAHAHA They just say everything taste better when I cook it. Got to enjoy that. And during the week breakfast is all on them. They either make their own eggs or have cereal, oatmeal or whatever they find. And they also bless me by getting Kaden dressed and feed too.
I think weekend Family Breakfast is sooooo important. It's a time to relax and just be together. I get grumpy when we can't have our Family Time, we all do.
I wonder if Mahala will do the same for her family. And will Skylar and Kaden find wives that find it just as wonderful as I do to do the same for their family. Who knows, only time will tell!

Hugs are Beautiful

The most amazing thing happened while we were reading yesterday. Mahala was reading out loud and Kaden was in my lap while I was in the rocking chair. I could feel the glare on me and I turned to the side and noticed Skylar starring at me. About that time Kaden said he wanted to go watch T.V. Skylar jumped up and put the T.V on for him in my room. He came back in and plopped down in my lap. Hold me Mommy he said. He is such a big baby, but I feel it's important to feel loved and cherished, even if your a 15 year old boy. The amazing thing that happened though didn't happen with him. After Mahala was done reading Skylar got up and then she plopped down on me. And then it happened. After several minutes all of a sudden her tensed body just relaxed and I could feel her melt into my arms. It was beautiful to me because my little darling is so stubborn and such a worrier that it takes an act of God to derail her long enough to even sleep most days. She starts cleaning or doing some other chore when Thanh and I fight. She will do extra homework if she thinks shes running behind. She makes cards and letters and art projects for everyone in the family for every illness, crisis or any celebration we have. She worries about money, her taxes, health, school and just growing up period. she is always on guard waiting to be there at any given moment. So, to feel her release herself and let go was beautiful to me. I held her as tight as I could. She is not an affectionate person and is totally not a touchy feely kind of girl. So, I took that moment to show her that I too can be strong and take care of her. Skylar finished and then it was my turn to read. They all decided I should move to the couch so they could share me. And then we saw Kaden peek around the corner. He too wanted a piece of the action. How awesome that I am able to spend this kind of time with my kids every day. I am so Thankful!!!!

Belated Birthday

On Halloween this year we celebrated Mahala's Birthday this year. It was so fun to play with the Halloween Carnival theme.

Of course I went all out, like every other party. It's like a sickness.

This was our center piece....are you hungry yet?

We had this & that to snack on.

We had tons of decorations, a fog machine and special guest appearances. For activities we had a pumpkin decorating contest and a costume contest. We had 3 different crafts to pick from. We had 6 different games that you could win prizes.

The special part of the party was the cake. Mahala has always wanted a tower of donut holes as a cake. Well for her 10th Birthday that's what she got. We had a tower of not one, not two, but 24 dozen donut holes! Yummmmmmmmmmy!

Mahala had a great time with her friends, we had 14 girls total. And then after the party We all went trick or treating at our church and then around our neighborhood.

Well I can't get anymore pics up, so this will have to do for now. I will post more later!

Night-Night!