what a great weekend

This was a really great weekend. Friday night we went on a double date with Blake & Stephanie, first enjoying dinner at Primo's and then coming back to our house for drink & games. Well, Stephanie and I kicked the boy's butts in Turbo Cranium AND Scattergories - it was GREAT!!! Saturday started off with soccer games. Kayden and Bella are both playing soccer this year and both had games on Saturday morning so I decided to go watch. I only made a little bit of Kayden's game, but they were so cute out there! Bella began her game by scoring a goal. She has never played before and has now scored 1 goal in each of her 2 games so far! After the games I went with my parents to talk remodel. They are getting ready to remodel their kitchen and wanted my opinion on the granite, backsplash, appliances and all that good stuff. I totally LOVE shopping for that kind of thing when it is for someone else and with their money - I should've been a personal shopper! After shopping and lunch we went back to my parent's house and my dad taught me to drive his MGB!! I was so excited, I've always wanted to learn to drive a stick and we didn't have one, but now that my dad has his MGB I've gotten the chance. I had such a great time that I told him I am going to have to take it for a drive every time I come over from now on - I think that made his day! Today has been spent organizing the shed and working on the garage. Greg is supposed to get his new company car on Wednesday so he wants to have a garage spot for his car too - I always get one because he's sweet like that! Now it's just off to bed and back to the daily grind. This is going to be a BUSY week!

I'll never understand His plan......

Here is the latest news on our niece Kate, not good......please continue the prayers, we all certainly appreciate them!!

Posted on CarePages 9-19-08 12:00 pm:
"Hello friends, Just another update, I am beginning to not like sitting down to this screen because I seem to post bad news more than good news. Kate and I left Wednesday morning at 3:00 am to head to Houston for a day of chemo, scans and consultation. Our original plans were to have a 3 day trip and take care of all the scans we needed, but hurricane Ike changed that for us by leaving power shortages everywhere, so we had no place to stay. Dr. Anderson wanted to have a chest CT done now and get started on the new chemo. This chemo is an IV infusion lasting 3 hours and it does not make her sick. It can have a side effect of a rash\burn on the palms of your hands and bottom of your feet, so they put hands & feet on ice for the 3 hours you get your chemo - not to the point of frostbite, but uncomfortably cold. We then met with the Dr. to go over scan and were told the cancer continues to metastasize and is now in both lungs with 6 small tumors that we could see. She has 3 on her left and 3 on her right. For the next couple of months we will continue with oral chemo at home and once a month chemo at MD Anderson followed with another chest CT and the MRI and PET scan next month. Kate handled the news just like all the other news, just fine. She is doing out patient therapy 3 times a week and continues to get stronger in the legs but still cannot walk without holding on to something. She is still in a wheelchair and is very independent in it. She is such a blessing to me. It may be hard to imagine how much we laugh together through such crap. We truly enjoy each day. I know this is the love of the Lord shinning through and giving us strength. I will close for now, Kate's calling. Love, Julie"

let's go out to the movies...

So my hub and I went out on a date last night and went to go see Burn After Reading. Here's my review: Don't waste your money. We both enjoy black comedies and expected it to be funny but it had absolutely no flow to it and it just wasn't funny. Brad Pitt can play a pretty funny goofball but they showed all of his best parts on the commercials so that sucked. The best part was J.K. Simmons (Chief Pope from The Closer) and he was only in 2 or 3 scenes. Very disappointing.

life or something like it

I feel like a lot should have happened since my last post, but that really isn't the case. It's kinda strange, we've been really busy but I guess just not with any noteworthy events. Let's see - since my last post here is a little recap of the main things that have happened....my BIL bought a house & moved in (freeing up the parts of our house/garage that were his storage units!!), my dad had a birthday (62 - wahoo!), Greg & I celebrated our 2nd anniversary as a legal version of "us", I hosted bunco and I managed to go yet another month with no progress in the family department. If the measures being taken would only make something happen I could deal with us not holding up our end of things, but so far it's not working at all and that is a bit frustrating. Enough of that.....

On a brighter note, Kate is doing better. She is home (for now) and is using a wheel chair/walker to get around. The damage is most evident in that she cannot get her legs to go where she wants them to - which I'm sure is terribly frustrating for a 16 year old girl! She did good through the PT, chemo & radiation and managed to keep her spirit strong and disposition happy! The doctors said they will not know how extensive the spinal cord damage is and if this is permanent for possibly up to a year and a half because it is a delicate area of the spine. She is continuing with outpatient therapy at home and will go back to MD Anderson for a new infusion of chemo in about a week. Please continue to keep her in your prayers!

Our anniversary was really nice and low key. We decided to go celebrate on Sunday night (2 days early) and have dinner at the Melting Pot. We picked Sunday because we'd heard that an evening there will take a while. They seated us in a secluded area and even gave us a card that the staff signed wishing us a happy anniversary. Our waiter was phenomenal and we enjoyed our meal, but especially dessert! Banana's Foster fondue - it was incredible!! Neither of us are fans of the cheese fondue, but the Coq Au Vin cooking style for our main course was so delicious!! It was just a wonderful evening all around. Then for our actual anniversary we did Chinese takeout and cuddled up on the couch to watch a movie - it was a perfect anniversary!!

That's about it in my world! My allergies are getting the better of me this week, but other than that no major complaints!