I love my brother, my brother loves me. My friend, my hero, he always will be.

Wish us luck!

Our high school football team won the Sweet Sixteen playoffs last Saturday so that puts us in the Elite 8 today. We are heading approx 2 hours south of here to play a team we have beat 3 years in a row however all the strong players were Seniors last year on our team and we are playing on their turf this year.

I would just like to see these Seniors go to state this year and play at the Memorial Stadium (where the Fighting Illini play) for their Senior year. It would mean so much to them.


Keep us in your thoughts today for a win and safe travels to the team and all parents/families who will make this trip.

I will update when we return tonight. Thanks!

Some Senior Pix

Proud older kid moment.......

Just wanted to share that Kris got his first award this past weekend at drills. This is what it says....

Illinois National Guard
First Sergeant Award
presented to Kristofer ------- the professionalism you
displayed reflects great credit upon your unit the
non commissioned offers corps
ILLINOIS NATIONAL GUARD

He was excited. He wasn't able to go down to receive it and salute the First Sgt tho because he was helping with the "Grog" ceremony for the newbies. I told him this will be the first of many he will receive and it will go for points in his next promotion.

Sept 1st High School football

Pictures

Kris, Josh, Hunter & Hannah's 1st day of school

Hannah & Hunter

Hannah's soccer picture

Hunter's football picture

Kris & Josh

Kid Rock

Last night we went to the Kid Rock/Lynard Skynard concert in Noblesville, IN. It was a very awesome concert. He sure can rock the house! Sheryl Crow came out to sing Picture with him also :) No cameras were allowed and I was just a little too far back to get pictures on my phone (which sucks!) We had a nice kid free night out with Dh's boss and his wife. Dh and his boss was feeling pretty good by the time we got there.

Kris swearing in for the National Guard 7/10/08

LOL--Knee pads

I was reading some blogs when Hannah came up to me and said...

When I'm a mommy I'm going to wear knee pads in my underwear. I was only half listening and asked to her to repeat that again because I wasn't sure I heard her right because before that she was talking about soccer. Yep I did hear right she's going to wear knee pads in her underwear when she's a mommy! The conversation was sparked by her playing in the bathroom with my panty liners. Please god don't let her grow up too soon!

That's my girl!

Joshua Update From Wed

We took Josh back down to St Louis for another MRI since he was having some issues. The good news is that the area hasn't gotten any bigger and that their isn't any new spots and we can repeat the MRI in 6 months. YAY! We have to go back down their again this Thurs to see the Neurologist because the Neurosurgeon thinks the episodes that Joshua was having were focal seizures. The neurologist wants to do an EEG and go from there to see if he needs to be put on any seizure meds at this time.

Tomorrow

I just bought Brickyard tickets on the spur of the moment this morning. So tomorrow DH & I are having a date and we are going to the race. WooHoo!

Canoeing

BUSY

We have been ubber busy with many activities this month.

Hannah had her party at school on the 3rd July and her family party at home on the 9th of July. We had a low key party this year.

Kris went to MEPS on 10 July and was sworn in and signed papers for the next 6 yrs with the Army National Guard. I'm so proud and scared at the same time for him. He will be leaving for basic at Ft Jackson, SC next June after he graduates from high school and then onto Ft Leonardwood, MO for AIT. He now participates with the guard for his weekends and gets paid for them so when he goes to basic he will have almost a year in already.

On the 12 July BJ found his brother that he hasn't seen since his dad passed away 24 years ago. It was weird because we had just started looking really hard on the internet the Thursday before and he takes a load down to where he grew up when he was little and living with his dad and Aaron was there. When I talked to BJ I found out we all have been around the same place around the same time but never connected.
Aaron and his wife Trish came up that Sunday to meet me and the kids and we all had a great visit with them. They are really nice people and we plan on staying in touch!

Josh's appointment with Children's has been moved up from the 20 Aug to the 30 July due to him having seizure like activities. We are hoping that the tests show no changes in his brain.

Veterns...It's about time!

Veterans Now Permitted to
Salute the Flag


We reported some months ago that U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) had praised the passage by unanimous consent of his bill (S.1877) clarifying U.S. law to allow veterans and servicemen not in uniform to salute the flag. Previous law (US Code Title 4, Chapter 1) states that veterans and servicemen not in uniform should place their hand over their heart without clarifying whether they can or should salute the flag.

The new legislation removes the confusion and makes it clear that veterans and service members not in uniform may render the military salute.

"The salute is a form of honor and respect, representing pride in one’s military service," Senator Inhofe said. "Veterans and service members continue representing the military services even when not in uniform.

"I look forward to seeing those who have served saluting proudly at baseball games, parades, and formal events. I believe this is an appropriate way to honor and recognize the 25 million veterans in the United States who have served in the military and remain as role models to other citizens. Those who are currently serving or have served in the military have earned this right, and their recognition will be an inspiration to others."

We're pleased to report that provision was included in the Defense Authorization Act of 2008, signed by President Bush in January. Here is the language, taken directly from the Act:

"SEC. 594. CONDUCT BY MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES AND VETERANS OUT OF UNIFORM DURING HOISTING, LOWERING, OR PASSING OF UNITED STATES FLAG.

Section 9 of title 4, United States Code, is amended by striking 'all persons present' and all that follows through the end of the section and inserting the following: 'all persons present in uniform should render the military salute. Members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute. All other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, or if applicable, remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Citizens of other countries present should stand at attention. All such conduct toward the flag in a moving column should be rendered at the moment the flag passes.'."

So there you have it. To many veterans and service members not in uniform, it "feels" disrespectful to not render the salute they are accustomed to when the flag is presented. The new legislation explicitly gives them the option to do so.

Now, when you are in a public place, such as a parade or ball game, and you see civilians saluting the flag, at the appropriate time, take a moment to thank them for their service.

Six Flags & Fireworks

On July 1st we took the kids to Six Flags and they had a blast! Hannah rode several roller coasters. I can't share all of our pictures as we went with my husbands boss and his family and I have a lot of pictures with their kids in them. Here's a few I can share..



.

Weekend Fun

Fri--Hannah put on her rain boots and was dancing/splashing in the rain under the umbrella before the big storms hit.

Sat--We planted flowers. They were getting dried out sitting in the store containers for a week, lol. We also bought another pop up camper so we cleaned the old one out and put everything into the new one and sold the older one to the neighbors and they are fixing it up. DH was too lazy to fix it and I was getting impatient after 4 yrs.

Sun--We had my grandpas 82nd birthday party/cookout at the park. Hannah just loves her poppy! He had all but 2 of his great-grandkids and all but 2 grandkids there. Then we went up to daddy's boss' shop and set up flooring and surround sound for the upcoming party on the 14th. Hannah loved dancing on the "stage" and she was acting like she was Hannah Montana I wish that I had thought to take some pictures at the shop!

Pictures of the weekend to follow shortly!

Pictures

When I have to discipline Hannah she will tell me that I'm not her best friend anymore :( I tell her thats OK I'm still your mommy. Here she is in a better mood....girls are so complicated!

Another Update

Josh did well for his follow up visit. He got cleared to do driver's ed this summer. The best part is we don't have to go back to see the Neurosurgeon until Aug and then we get an MRI and see the doctor the same day. If nothing has changed then we will just do the series of MRI's and just watch them. If it has grown or they see more lesions then they will have to do surgery again. So hopefully we won't have to go the surgery route because they will end up having a hard time getting Josh to do it again.

Leaving St Louis

http://www.myfoxstl.com/myfox/


This chase sped by us on I 55/70 on our way out of St Louis this afternoon. The dude about hit us in the rear because we couldn't pull over to the right with that many lanes of traffic so we pulled as far as we could go on the farthest left lane.

Where did my precious little girl go?

Today when I dropped Hannah off at school I got a bad report from Friday. Not one incident but 2!

1. She took paper towels and stuffed them in the toilet and flushed it....end results toilet backed up and they had to call the plumber in.

2. She bit her best friend on the arm. Now anyone who knows Hannah knows she has NEVER bit anyone ever.

I had to give her a talk in the hallway about her behavior and that it won't be tolerated at school or at home. Her incintative for today was if she had a great day and followed all the rules she would get to ride her bike in the street. She done well and got to go for a bike ride. I think her issues stem from everything going on at home.

Kris went for and EDG and they found an ulcer in his stomach. He had one when he was 18 months old but none since. The doctor said it was rare for a child his age to have one let alone to have had 2 in his life. They took several biopsy's and told him to continue with his meds he was given.

God sure is testing me this month!

DH took me out to eat for Cinco de mayo and my birthday at a local mexican restaurant. I got the clapping/singing birthday song, wore the silly hat and got ice cream. Hannah said mommy its your birthday---Happy Birthday!

Attitude & Bad case of Bed Head

Mushroom Hunting

Today we went mushroom hunting and actually came up with some mushrooms this time. Hannah thought she was picking up a rock and when the rock moved she took off running and screaming her head off...it ended up being a baby toad that jumped when she bent down to pick it up. LOL! My princess needs to get out in the woods more often. Here's also some pictures I took.....

May 3rd---Bless Her

I was using the bathroom this afternoon and Hannah comes in and sits on the side of the tub and I see her cock her head and stare at me while I'm doing my business. I ask Hannah what she's doing and she tells me "mom, me tinks your butt is too big for the toilet." Well thank you Hannah for that wealth of information that you felt you needed to share with me. Bless her!

May 2nd

It's the end of the school year and it seems to me by the boys' progress reports that they are slacking off on their work. It also seems like they can't put in that little extra umphhh to make it until the end of the year and this really irks me to no end that they want to be lazy about it.

Lately Hannah has been having this little attitude going on. I know there has been a lot of change here at home with Josh's medical issues and BJ changing his driving/home time schedule and to add that she's almost 4 going on 16 and about to drive me nuts. I also feel that my patience is running thin and she knows how to test me. Bless her! I do love her and wouldn't change her for ANYTHING in the world. Her favorite saying right now is "Us girls have to stick together" while doing the dawg sign (knocking knuckles together using one hand) She's been asking me more and more that she wants a baby sister or I want that baby. I tell her I can't have any more babies and she tells me "the doctor can fix it mommy" That's my girl!

May 1st---Random Thoughts

I'm going to try to post something everyday----thats my new goal and we will see how long that will last :)


DH is back to driving a semi locally and he runs while we are sleeping. This change has really confused Hannah with her dad being home the last week with Joshua. She really misses her dad when he's not around so this will work well for all of us. Besides she loves to sleep in our bed and it gets VERY crowded with all 3 of us in it.


State surveyers left our building yesterday and we had NO nursing tags. YAY! Our building has come a long way and we have all worked hard for this to happen.

I really need to get to studying my American History 2 so I can CLEP out of it. I'm taking classes for my BSN and it will be a long road for me to travel. I'm really only doing this for ME and its a goal I want to achieve for myself.

When I started driving I can remember when the gas prices were only 79 cents a gallon and now my son is driving and its up to 3.65 a gallon. Isn't this ridiculous??? I can also remember rushing to the gas station to get gas at 99 cents because it would soon be over a dollar. What I wouldn't do for gas to be that cheap again especially traveling so much to St Louis and back.

Pictures

Pictures

Kristofer--Meps & Josh update

Tomorrow I'm putting Kris on the bus to head down to St Louis for MEPS. Since he has a tentative date for basic on the 28th May and its approaching soon---I'm just wondering if it will be as bad as the day I sent him off to kindergarten and high school (both of those days were rough for me). I can't believe he's old enough to make his own choices for his journey into the big bad world. I'm so very proud of him tho!


Josh is doing well after his surgery. He's still having headaches but I don't think that has anything to do with surgery--more so migraines. We are heading back to St Louis on 6 May (Happy Birthday to me!) for a follow up exam. We got the results back that he has NO tumor cells present--YAY! His brain lesions are a part of a demylating disease and we will keep an eye on them through MRI's. The MD wants to do another one in a month to watch for any changes.

Home

We got home late last night and Josh is doing well. We won't get the results of the biopsy back until Wed. and he goes back for a post surgery check up in 2 weeks.

Josh Update Part 2

Josh is in a regular room on the Peds floor now. He had a rough start this morning with more nausea/vomiting. He was able to eat some lunch and keep it down and is also up getting a bath. His pain is better under control now and he's getting IV ATB's still. He *might* be able to go home tomorrow if all goes well.

Josh Update

Just a small update. Josh is out of surgery and is in PICU . He has about a 2 inch incision where they removed 4 samples of tissue to biopsy. He didn't bleed very much so he didn't have a transfusion and they didn't have to open him up all the way either. He did end up getting sick in Recovery and once he was up in the PICU unit and he also is still having a lot of pain --a 9 on the scale of 0-10 :( We don't know much more until rounds in the morning.

Heading back to St Louis on Thurs

We are heading back to St Louis on Thurs to meet with the neurosurgeon and to have another MRI done before surgery on Fri. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
He's starting to get scared of what awaits him. I took last Thurs off work and took him shopping and out to lunch while the other kids went to school. I will update as soon as I can.

Earthquake in Illinois

Yep these 2 slept through the earthquake this morning! (Don't mind the no pillow cases--we actually use them!)

Hannah and Butt cracks :)

On the way back from St Louis on Wed Hannah was sitting in the back seat when a truck driver pulled up next to us (mind you we just dropped daddy off at his semi at the truck stop after Josh's appointment)

Hannah: Ewww thats gross
Me: What's gross?
H: Hims butt crack mom I seen his butt crack and its gross amongest many ewww and giggles from Hannah. I saw hims underwear gross, gross!
Me: I'm trying to stiffle a giggle because 3 y/o's noticing a butt crack is just as funny as a fart to them.
Me: Yep Hannah his butt crack is gross

Now we are almost to the turn to get back on the interstate and I still hear her giggling and ewwws coming from her. Then I hear... Mom you know hims butt crack was berry berry disgusting!!!

I laughed and agreed with her and then had to call her daddy to tell him next time he climbs up into his semi to remember that even 3 y/o notice nasty butt cracks showing!

Another Update

Josh is having his biopsy done in St Louis on 25th April. He will be in ICU 1-5 days. We will go down on the 24th and stay until he's released.

Another Update

I called the nurse today to find out why they want to do an MRI of the spine and she told me that they found another spot this time being on his right side that wasn't there on the previous MRI that was done less than a month ago. So she prepared me that the next step will most likely be a biopsy.

Another Update

Not much to post...



The only thing that was done today was an MRI spectroscopy.
We got done with the tests about 1030A so we headed to the zoo for some fun but the weather was a tad nippy so we cut that short. It was nice that it wasn't crowded tho and that we can do the zoo a little at a time.

We also stopped at the outdoor market thats supposed to be a historic landmark called Soulards market. Not sure what the history of it was but it was pretty nice and cheap so we got some fresh veggies and fruit. I have never been to one.

While we stopped to get supper we got a call (I left my cell in the van) and a message was left for us to be back down to St Louis this Wed for an MRI of the spine and to meet with a neurologist there. Not sure what they found or what they are thinking and the nurse said that she would be in her office Mon morning and I can call and they will discuss the test results.


Thanks for thinking of us and sending prayers and many thoughts our way! You ladies are awesome!

Josh Update

His appointment went well yesterday and he didn't feel the need to admit him to the hospital.

They do an exam and history and physical to get an idea of his background and what some of his problems have been. They tell us that they will have a meeting tomorrow with several of the neurosurgery and radiology team and most likely he will see us in June. He's thinking the wait and see approach is the best option right now because he's still not showing any negative signs except constant headaches.

Well early this afternoon I get a call at work and they want us to bring him back to St Louis tomorrow and have another MRI done there on their machines. Not sure if we just have the scan done or we get to see the doctor too. I was just surprised that they wanted to see him back there again so soon.

So we will be back on the road at 3 am.

Hannah

Josh

Josh has an appointment with a Pediatric Neurosurgeon at the Children's Hospital in St Louis on April 2nd.

Josh update

Josh is now home and we have to go back on the 7th for an MRS (like an MRI just more define) and they only come in once a week to do this test. They are still leaning more to MS but she did say its still a possibility that it could still be a tumor but most likely its not.

We still are no better off understanding exactly what it is and this test will put more pieces to the puzzle for the right diagnosis. The lumbar puncture came back with no organisms but the other aspects of the test still is pending and the EEG said he has ischemic changes but no seizure activity (which happens in this lobe thats affected)

We only found this lesion by chance as he doesn't show any signs of illness.

Josh

Josh my 15 y/o was taken to the ER last night and they found a spot on his CT scan and MRI. The spot is located on his Left Temporal lobe deep inside.

Early this morning he was finally admitted to the Peds ward to follow up with the Neurologist and the Neurosurgeon. Josh had an EEG and a lumbar puncture done to see if their is anything in the fluids that will help solve what this mass is on his brain.


Will update when I find anything further out. Right now Josh is in good spirits playing the Wii, watching new movies, playstation 2 in their room and the internet availability. Oh what more could a 15 y/o want but room service and he gets that 3 times a day. I joke with him that he's staying at the Carle Hilton because he doesn't visibly look sick.

About us

Hannah's finally feeling better after battling a virus for 2 weeks that turned into a double ear infection and bronchitis. I just hate it when your little one is sick :( She's still going to preschool/daycare and loves it. She tells me her best friend is Emily.

I'm trying to fight a sinus infection and a chest cold. I still have a love-hate relationship with work.

Not much to update on Joshua.

Kristofer is now working at McDonalds. He also spent last weekend with the National Guard on drills and loved it so he's going back in March.

Hunter is doing well in school.

BJ is driving a semi again and he pretty much likes it. He only drives to KY, WI, MO, IN, IL. He's making pretty decent money so we are getting some bills paid off that was much needed.

Book Meme

Find the nearest book, turn to page 123, start at the fifth sentence and type out the next three sentences.

Not on this page yet but here it goes....

We're using three-hundred-year-old teeth to get the baseline DNA. I'm too stunned to speak. "Impressed?" He asks.

the book is Blood Memory by Greg Iles.

I tag Wendy, Angelique, and Sara.