Not how I planned my afternoon...

I lost about 6 hours of my life yesterday that I'll never get back thanks to computer issues, grrrrrrrrrrrr......

We switched to a new Internet Security Suite through our internet provider and when I thought I and done everything last week, apparently something went wacko so I spent my afternoon "chatting" with techs and trying to get it figured out. We're good to go now so today I get to play catch up with all the stuff I didn't get done yesterday.

Sorry...

Sorry I haven't been around the past week. I was busy trying to get ready to go up to Charlotte for my nephew and nieces birthday parties. It was a wild and crazy and sugar filled weekend. I'll post soon :) Right now I have to get Lucy and Ruby out the door to go and get a cake for Abby's teacher and take it to school to celebrate her birthday (the teacher's...not Abby's :p) I really wanted to make one but time was not on my side this past weekend.

Update on Sophie...

Remember when I posted about my niece Sophie and her enlarged lymph nodes (click here for that post if you haven't seen it).

Anyway, she headed back to the oncologist today for more bloodwork (she had a cough last time she was there so the dr. wanted her to come back). Anyway, her bloodwork came back clear! Praise God! The dr. did mention that upon looking at a smear of Sophie's blood she thinks she may have something called hereditary spherocytosis. Apparantly it is found in people of northern european descent (we're Irish and German). Anemia and gall bladder issues are symptoms of this and our mom has dealt with both of these. Sophie also had prolonged jaundice as an infant which is another sign. Check out my sister's blog for more info.

The dr. will have the official test done and if it's positive then she'll want to test my sister Shea and her other 3 kids. It isn't a serious matter but she wants them to know if they have it or not and what to look for.

We are all so grateful that Sophie is in the clear :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SOPHIE AND MACY ! March 23rd marks 3 years that these two sweet babies came into the world...10 weeks early :)

Also,

Today on Dr. Oz his show was about signs of cancer and questions people had about the different forms of cancer.
A coworker of my aunt Mary Jo wrote to the Dr. Oz show asking how people who have never smoked could get lung cancer (she was talking about my aunt). They showed a picture of my aunt on the screen. She was known as Sister Geraldine.

Check out the video clip from the Dr. Oz show .

Will Power!

Okay, so I've been going to Weight Watchers again and doing pretty good.

Yesterday was my Dad's 60th birthday and one thing that I get from him is a love of cooking (he was the cook in our house when we were growing up). So of course I love trying new recipes and cooking for my family.

(Just bear with me...I'm going somewhere with this...I promise).

For the past several years I have made a HUGE baking sheet of Rice Krispie treats for my dad for his birthday as his "cake". This year I was going to do something different and my mom said he really likes Boston Cream pie. Although I've never had it and certainly never made it before I figured I'd give it a shot. I mean, it's for my dad right? My sisters and I can call him and usually sweet talk him into making one of his specialties for us when we have a hankering for it (by the way dad...still waiting on that beef jerkey!).

Anyway, I checked on Food Network.com and got Sandra Lee's recipe for Boston Cream cupcakes. The other recipes for the Boston Cream Pies seemed a little more challenging and although I'm always up for a challenge...especially when it comes to cooking/baking...I figured I'd play it a little safer this time :)

(Okay, NOW, my point)...
These cupcakes are NOT Weight Watchers friendly but if you like rich chocolatey goodness (semi-sweet chocolate morsels melted into a cup of heavy cream) on top of a yellow cupcake filled with vanilla pudding (NOT MADE WITH WHOLE MILK...I had to draw the line somewhere), then try them out.

I had to allow myself to have one (had to make sure they tasted good enough to give to my dad don'tcha know). Now I have kicked my will power into high gear to avoid the extras I kept in the fridge for John and the kids to enjoy. I did send 2 of them with Max today to take to his teacher for Teacher Appreciation Week. She's a tiny thing...she can handle it :)

So, if I don't do well at Weight Watchers tomorrow night...we'll know why!

Happy Birthday to my Daddy!

Happy 60th Birthday to the bestest Dad in the whole wide world!

Love you Dad (aka Papa). Have a great one :)

Under Construction...

Please excuse the mess while I work to fix the blog up a little...

Well, at least she's not in Kindergarten yet!

Yes, I know Ruby just turned 3 months old this past Saturday (still working on THAT post). Yes, I know she has changed so much in those 3 months.
Yes, I KNOW the birth announcements should have gone out at LEAST 2 months ago.
Yes, I've been preoccupied with other things (like feeding/changing/carrying/bathing) the child (and the other 3).

YES, the birth announcements will go in the mail tomorrow!!!!! Once they go out and have time to reach their destinations I will scan and post it here on the blog.

Shrinking and Expanding...

Shrinking...

I haven't mentioned it here yet (only because I keep forgetting) but I have gone back to Weight Watchers. Ruby was 3 1/2 weeks old when she came with me as I walked through those doors again (for the third time starting over). I had lost about 25 pounds of pregnancy weight on my own in the first three weeks then decided to go back and get the weight loss ball rolling again.

When I first joined after Abby was born (almost 5 years ago!), I lost a whopping 46 pounds and reached my goal weight and was able to attain Lifetime status. I enjoyed this for a short while then found out little Lucy was on the way. What happened? Packed it all back on again! So after Lucy was born I headed back to start over. I was 7 pounds shy of reaching my goal weight again when...surprise, surprise...PREGNANT! Now that Ruby is here and we know we are definitely DONE having babies...it's time for Mommy to have her body back!!! :) As I lose the weight and make my way back DOWN through my "transition" clothes I am pitching them...goodbye/good riddance/adios/etc. They have been with me through 3 if not all 4 of my pregnancies and they are not fit to be worn by anyone else. They have earned their retirement :)

Anyway, I have been back for 10 weeks and as of last night I have managed to drop another 17.4 pounds! WooHoo! I plan on purchasing P90X sometime soon and see how much of my former self I can find underneath the sagging/drooping/stretched out self I now see in the mirror everyday. I hear P90X kicks your butt...not a problem as long as it will also lift it off the floor and tone it up for me too!

Expanding...

I mentioned before that we sold Old Bessie. The reason is that a car that seats five does not work well for a family of 6. It's just not fun travelling as a family...in 2 cars! So, since our family has expanded...so will our car. We have been searching high and low for a used mini-van that doesn't have a ginormous amount of miles on it and is cheap. We are looking for something to get us just throough the next couple of years then we can upgrade. John and I are trying to live the Dave Ramsey way and therefore do not want to finance anything. Cash Only Please :)

We think we have found our van. A friend of mine from "back in the day" is selling hers and we are thinking it may be ours. I have to giggle when I think about buying a mini-van because I think of my brother-in-law (also named John). At our wedding reception (9 years ago this Sept.), my BIL wrote a message to us. He wrote "Never, but never buy a mini-van!" Ha! Who woulda thunk it :)

So that's it peeps. I have a kitchen to clean up (I'm thinking of installing doors on the entrance to the kitchen so I can close them and not have to look at the mess) and I have to wrangle Max and Abby home from their friends' houses to eat dinner and get ready for Max's soccer game tonight (am I a bad mom for hoping it gets rained out so I don't have to stand out there with 3 little girls in the cold drizzle?)

Prayers please...

Remember this post? Well February was a little better but not by much and now March has been pretty rotten too. Why?

My 34 year old sister found out she had Stage 1 Endometrial cancer and had a hysterectomy on February 1st. Our prayers for her have been answered in that the doctors found out that the cancer was in a small area and had not spread anywhere else. She does not have to undergo any further treatments! (This was a highlight of the month...YEAH).

On February 2nd my aunt passed away from brain cancer. Our family lost a wonderful lady that day...she is missed.

The rest of the month was pretty good. My sisters and I presented our parents with their new baby "Buddy". I giggle everytime I think about how spoiled he is already. He does not stay in a crate during the day when my parents are gone...he stays in the Pack and Play!

Now, my sister who just dealt with cancer is dealing with some scary stuff with one of her babies. She found some swollen lymph nodes on one of her 2 year twin's chest under her arm. She took Sophie to the doctor to have her checked out just to be safe and the doctor found several more that concerned her. Sophie has had to have bloodwork done and a chest x-ray. The "cancer screen" came back negative and the chest x-ray was clear. They tested for mono and that was negative as well. The pediatrician recommended they make an appointment with an oncologist just to have everything checked out further.

The appointment is this Friday. Please say a prayer that everything is okay. I'm sure it will be since the other tests were negative but it's always nice to have the prayers and the doctors give you the all clear.

Also, I'd like to ask you to say a prayer for our little Abby as well. I took her to the doctor a couple of weeks ago because she gets this cough that she can't seem to shake for at least a month. It wakes her up at night and she will cough for at least an hour before she can get back to sleep. Based on a brief exam (at 6pm on a Friday evening), the pediatrician said he believes she has mild asthma. He prescribed a cough medicine and liquid albuterol to help get her through the current cough and said he wants to do furher testing to definitely diagnose the problem. The medicine has helped with the cough a lot so we'll see where we need to go from here.

Here's hoping the rest of the year brings happiness and good health!

So Long Old Friend...

Well, we finally did it! We sold Old Bessie :) That was what Max and Abby and I called my car. It was a 2000 Honda CR-V that was my only big purchase in my single adult life (besides 2 Masters degrees). I bought her brand new off the lot on September 30th and she only had 14 miles on her (about 10 of which were from my test drive).

When she left our driveway Monday night she had almost 197, 000 miles on her! I am glad that we will be getting a bigger vehicle to accommodate our family of 6 but I got a little misty seeing her go...we brought 3 of our 4 kids home from the hospital in her...heck, Abby was almost born in that car!!!!!



So farewell old girl. You were good to us and you kept us safe. Be good to your new owner.

A Smile to Melt Your Heart...

I finally caught it! Ruby has been smiling for awhile now and I have wanted to catch it on camera to share here but she is quick and...alas...my camera is not ;p

I spent about 15 minutes trying to get some video of her smiling because I didn't think I'd be able to catch a still shot but I did.

I can be having the worst day where nothing seems to be going right. I can be functioning on 3 hours of sleep, the house can be a wreck, and the kids can be whiny but I see this smile on this little cutie's face and I forget about the craziness and just have to giggle :)

Here's the video for you to enjoy...

Have a great weekend. My goal for next week is to get back to posting more regularly (and trying to catch up on the blogs I read...I miss them).