They just keep growing and getting cuter and cuter each time I see them!
Hahahaha–Leah is going to get you Billy!!
First of all, hellooooooo snow day! I know, it's Saturday, Allyson. But THAT is the BEST part! Because neither of us is at all obligated to go out today! We can lounge around in jammies and walk from window to window, exclaiming, "Wow! look at that snow!" with no guilt or reluctance. I took this last night after driving home through the mess:
It looks a lot deeper this morning, with less tracks. Today's plan involves undecking my halls and then perhaps donning some gay apparel (aka: snowpants), and playing outside with Dr. Myles. Or maybe not. Maybe a fire and lots of tea. Or maybe both. Who knows? HA! It's a SNOW DAY.
As far as that auntie of mine, here is the latest:
Cynthia is going to have her surgery this coming Thursday. Meredith is coming home on Tuesday (yay!), so pray for her tender, wimpy, used-to-Hawaiian-temperatures self. It's going to be C-O-L-D when she's here! The doctors have told us that Cynthia will have a 1/2 inch papiloma scraped off her heart valve. If they need to, they will also replace the valve, but they won't know if they need to until they're in there. Recovery time varies, depending on what they actually end up doing.
Here is something I have found useful. Those Japanese have all the answers, and they are so kind and thoughtful about posting them on tags and things:
"lunch time will make everyone happy."
Isn't that the truth!
Somewhat good news on the Cynthia-front. This is copied directly from Heidi's blog, since she knows better what is going on than I do:
Ok. The doctor thinks she had a stroke. And it is related to the growth on the valve of her heart, which needs to be removed. But, he wants to consult with some other doctors and schedule the surgery in the next couple of weeks. They are releasing her from the hospital today, so she can take care of her bills and plants and figure out about fixing her car, and then they can concentrate about taking care of this heart problem. He doesn't think she needs to be in the hospital while they decide what to do and how to do it- and she is very happy to be going home!
So- thank you for your prayers- keep praying – and praising for this small respite between the discovery of the problem and the surgery and recovery. Cynthia will probably be staying here – at least until the really bad weather is over this weekend. I am very thankful for this lull – quiet time between the emergency room and surgery!
So that is a relief of sorts. If you can call having a stroke and putting off open-heart surgery a relief.
Many of you know that my aunt Cynthia has been in the hospital this week with stroke-like symptoms. The doctors have discovered a tumor on one of her heart valves that is causing the clots that are affecting her brain, and they have told us that she might need open-heart surgery to remove the tumor and possibly replace the valve. We are understandably very worried, as this is a major surgery. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors, peace for Cynthia and Heidi, who is Cynthia's main support and advocate at the moment, and that Meredith will be able to come home if she needs to be here for her mom.
I will post updates as I get them.
Thank you!
Sometimes, you just have to give in to your restlessness, the uncooperative weather, and your psycho hormones and have a cozy book day. I built the fire yesterday at 1:15, and by 11PM, three books were finished. I may have read myself out of my funk. Time will tell.
Remember: the Cozy Book Day remedy is only to be used as a last resort. Otherwise, we get lazy. 🙂
Edited to add (thanks for the reminder, Lilly!): I finished Bringing Up Geeks by Marybeth Hicks, and then I ploughed through Poison Study and Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder. They're books 2 and 3 in a fantasy trilogy I started reading on the way home from Hawaii. Not exactly high-brow, academic reading, but highly entertaining!
This girl seriously is the funniest person I know, and she doesn't even try. I took some videos of her singing while coloring today. I won't post them, because I don't want her to someday be embarassed by it, but I will tell you some key lines: (most of the song was about Christmas)
". . .it's Christmas Eve!
We had a little party and it was as fun as steve!
Steve, steve, steve, breakfast is the lunch!
Steve, steve, steve, breakfast is the lunch!"
There was a lot more along those lines. She's really into rhyming these days. Anyways, right before her mama came home, Emma was eating an apple. All of a sudden, she gasped and looked up at me with a wide-eyed smile. Her tooth had fallen right out of her mouth, and she hadn't even known it was loose! One thing you need to know about me is that teeth gross me out more than anything. Don't show me your loose teeth. Don't show me how you can wiggle them back and forth. Don't ask me, go away. Yet, she was SO happy about losing the tooth that I picked it up off the carpet and gave her a tissue for her bleeding mouth. That shows my dedication to this family. Kristen, I hope you are noticing! I even took a picture of her proud, gap-toothed face. It's a bit icky, if you aren't into teeth. I have trouble looking at it myself.
Later, after safely placing the tooth in her tooth pillow thing and discussing the possibility of a visit from the Tooth Fairy, Emma looked at her apple. It was covered with bloody toothmarks. (shudder! ick!) She looked about as green as I felt. "Just go throw it away," I told her, weakly. It had already fulfilled its purpose.
The whole experience was as fun as steve.
The new year always begins so well. I am always so optimistic and rosy-cheeked about the whole thing. "This is THE year," I tell myself. "The year that I will finally pull myself together! The year that I will finally grow up and be mature! I will be serene, patient, disciplined, and compassionate." And then, five days into it, I realize that I am a roiling pit of unbridled anxiety, impatience, laziness, and apathy. It's always such a fun discovery. I KNOW that those things I want–serenity, patience, discipline, compassion–are not impossible. I know they are traits that can be learned, practiced, and made habitual. I know that God gives grace to those who seek Him, to those who ask for these good things. I am just too anxious, impatient, and lazy to do the work involved. I want to wake up and be different. Today has been a trial of sorts. One little thing set me off, and I spiraled down the path of negativity and disgruntledness.
Tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow, I will practice.
I promise. This is the last one!
SIGH. Ok. I'm done now.
I found some other forgotten pretties in my photo-files yesterday. Look at this little girl! I miss her so much!
And this stinker:
I love this one:
Oh Benny:
Leah's foot with Chad's thumb:
Mom and Dad picked up their new puppy in PA this past week. They stopped here overnight. OH MY GOODNESS. THAT'S a cute puppy!
And it's dangerous, because the farmer has four puppies left. And Chad and I keep looking at each other and saying, "We could get a puppy. We could." Then our rational minds return, and we realize how poor the timing would be. But oh! She is so freaking cute!
And it's not enough that she's that cute on her own. Look at her with Myles.
They are fast friends. I think Myles would like a puppy.
Someday
Actually, it was much better than the circus. Chad won tickets to a Cavs' game at his Young IT Professionals Christmas party (I know, doesn't thatsound riveting!), and they were loge seats. I love live basketball, but this game took the word "spectacle" to new heights.
Music!
Dancing!
Flashing lights!
Parachutes with Lotto tickets falling from the ceiling!
Flames shooting from the jumbo tron!
Armchair Recliner races across the court!
Trampolines!
Silly movie clips between every play!
Seriously, NOT the place for the easily distracted. I did manage to watch the game, and the Cavs crushed the Bulls.
I am deadly serious about the flames from the jumbo tron. We were up kind of high, and we could feel the heat:
I was hoping the Kiss Cam would land on Chad and me, but it didn't. 🙁
Oh well, good thing I can just kiss him anyways!
We had us a little New Year's party yesterday. These people were all here:
Kristen and I had both bought crackers. I paid under $4 for mine at World Market after Christmas. She paid $15 at Target before Christmas. As much as I hate to admit it, hers were way better. That flashlight Chad is holding is from the crackers she brought. Oh well. The biggest drama occurred because of my crackers: Ben got pirate tatoos in his, and Emma didn't. See that pouty face in their family snapshot? All because of no tatoos. We all enjoyed those hats!
Then we made pizza. The kids loved helping to make "their" pizza. They are so good in the kitchen!
I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday. I'm kind of sad that it's all over. I've enjoyed having Chad home on random days of the week, not working, and feeling like there's a good excuse to putz around. I guess it's back to real life now!
Ok, here is my resolution: KEEP UP WITH ALL THE PHOTOS ON MY HARD DRIVE! I've spent the entire morning organizing, sorting, saving to my external hard drive, renaming, deleting, not just photos from 2008, but photos from 2007! What have I been doing? What have I been thinking!? It's fun to look through them all, though, and find old favorites and new ones.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Happy 2009!
