Friday's Favorite Five . . .

So many times in life we get focused on what's going wrong in our life, who's sick, why it's been a bad week. I know I fall culprit to this many times . . . more often than I care to think about.

Soooooooo - I've decided to start something new - Friday's Favorite Five. Five things that happened this week that stood out as great, amazing, wonderful, and true blessings.

Here goes it - Friday's Favorite Five: Volume 1

1 - I realized again that I have an amazing husband who is always there for us! He took care of the kids and me this week by cleaning, cooking, chauffeuring, doctoring, and cheering us on.

2 - Devin ran a great race in track Tuesday night. His 4x8 team took 1st place, and although his 4x4 team didn't place, Devin ran a personal best for the year of less than 60 seconds. He's such a funny kid about it though! I had to PRY the information out of him TONIGHT to even be able to post how well he did!

3 - Spring is . . . well, springing! Flowers are blooming everywhere and they're absolutely beautiful!!! Really lifts your spirits when you look outside and see the new colors that appear daily!

4 - Health!! We were very blessed to get a good report on my Dad's health this week! He's even able to participate in a Diabetes study now and his cardiologist feels he's doing great! AMEN!!

5 - And who can leave out Easter! A reminder to us that all of our blessings are because of our Savior, because he Loves us so!

And Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" John 11:25,26

Gonna Brag on My Daddy!!

Sorry Dad - Have to brag about your good report!!

Dad had his 3 month check in Ann Arbor with his cardiologist. According to him - as the doc walked in she said "Wow! You look great!". Heart sounds good, blood pressure is good, sugar is good (when he eats the way he's supposed to!), and he's at a good weight with no excess fluids (in other words - no CHF right now). She even told him he doesn't have to keep going every 3 months - he can now go every 6 months!!! This is way awesome news!!

He gets most of the credit for this good report - but there are others to credit too! His wife (my amazing step-Mom) does a great job of keeping the most stubborn man I know in line with his diet and exercise!! And of course my Mom - the Angel in Heaven that I know has been watching over and protecting him since the day she left this earth almost five years ago.

Love you Daddy!

Home Yet Again!

Today marks day 3 of staying home from work because of this flu, day 5 of not leaving the house! I do feel better and am slowly starting to rehydrate. I was able to stay up for most of the day yesterday in the recliner - dozing on and off while searching the blogs out of complete boredom!

I have an amazing husband! He has been able to keep the house in order, laundry done, kids fed, track meets met, school work done, work his own 8 hour a day job, and take care of me. I am Blessed! What a good man he is!

I miss my patients and my work though! Three of them have been discharged home since I was there last and I didn't get to tell them good-bye or good luck. In the back of my mind - I know that if I were to be there I'd be spreading these germies to even more people who don't have the immunity to fight it. But I miss them all!

So . . . Until tomorrow I sit back and rest some more! Ughh!

Thank you Nikki!!!

It was time for a personal look to our blog and I found the perfect person to help me do that!! I was struggling with making it look too femine (the boys hated that!) or to masculine (the girls hated that!). She did a great job! Thank you, Nikki!!!

For info on how to get your blog customized - click on the Blogs for a Cause link to the right!!

Blessings!

This Story Touched My Heart

Having a premature infant is a tough struggle to get through. Mike and I learned that the hard way with our daughter, Paige.

This blog is that of a friend of a friend. This family has faced many struggles that I cannot imagine. With their Faith they have made it soooo far. But - there is so much farther to go and so many prayers needed.

Please take some time out of your day and pray for this family. For healing, strength, and for a transplant opportunity to come soon. Also pray for the continued Faith in God to get through whatever comes their way!

http://www.cfhusband.blogspot.com/

Happy Easter 2008!!!

Kayleigh's Makeover by Mom!

(These are the Before Pictures)

Kayleigh asked me to cut her hair tonight. I asked if she was sure - and she said YEP! So . . . I did! It did end up a bit shorter than she hoped. But, after a few tears, a good shampoo and blow dry, it's definitely growing on her! I think it makes her look soooo much older!

As for Daddy - well - he's not home to see it yet. I may need a place to stay tonight though!! He's not gonna like it and he's not gonna like it even more when he finds out I'm the one who did it!

Here are some after pics!

We're Bleaching the Whole House!!!

What a week it has been around here! It all started Sunday with Chase's raging fever - by Monday night he had a horrible rash down his stomach and we immediately thought the worst fearing a relapse of Kawasaki. Turned out - he had strep but no sore throat. Very strange - but with that kid nothing surprises me anymore!

The next through the pediatrician's office was Kayleigh for a fever, constant cough, and stuffy nose. Picked her up from school and went straight to the pediatrician's office - turned out she had strep too!! She was actually MAD at me for taking her because it meant she couldn't go to school for a day!

Then - Wednesday night - Devin comes in at 2am "Dad I'm sick and throwing up, I need Pepto"!! Nice to know even nearing 15 he still needs Mommy and Daddy when he's sick! Well - today he woke up not only sick on his stomach, but sore throat and fevered!!! Off to the pediatrician for the 3rd time in a week!!

As for Paige - She's too hyper to be sick these days! We've been keeping her at pre-school all week and FAR away from her sick siblings!!!

I guess if they're gonna all get sick - it's better they do it all at once and get it over with . . . right???

Anyhow - Mike and I decided this weekend was spring cleaning weekend and we are sanitizing everything in sight!!!

Devin Drives for the First Time!!

"Uhh . . . How do I put it into drive again???"

I took Devin to the church parking lot this afternoon to drive for the first time! Paige decided she wanted to go as well. The parking lot has circle drives, one way aisles, a few cars were parked, and there are various types fo parking places - good place to go and learn! He did soooo well!! He was thrilled!

We left there and headed home - he thought he was done! Ha! After we turned onto Summerglen Drive - I pulled over and said - "OK - now take me home.". He yelled "No way! There's mailboxes here" to which I replied "Yep - and a dog on the side of the road right there too - better be careful"!

He cautiously drove the 1/2 mile down Summerglen towards our drive into the woods. I jumped out to move Paige's bike and told him to go ahead and pull in the garage - he looked terrified! Then - Mike comes out and looks just panicked!! Mike said "No Way! Don't Let Him!". But - he did - and he did it perfectly!

My baby boy is growing up sooooo quickly!! I'm so proud of all he does!!

"Holy Cow! I'm really doing this!!"

"Please Mom - Don't stand in front of me while I'm parking!!"

(if you look closely you can see Paige in her carseat smiling from ear to ear!)

Nurses, Pediatricians, and POISON CONTROL!

Chase woke up this morning feeling dizzy and burning up . . . 104.3 fever!!! I yelled for Mike to come help me get the ibuprofin and in his half awake state of mind - Mike grabbed the tablespoon medicine cup instead of the teaspoon medicine cup! So . . . Chase was supposed to get 2 teaspoons of ibuprofin and instead got 2 TABLESPOONS (or 6 teaspoons!!).

We called the nurse first, then she had us call the pediatrician, who in turn had us call poison control!! Fortunately - they said he'd be ok but we had to watch for certain things like an even higher fever, uncontrollable vomiting, and convulsions. As long as that didn't happen - we were good and told no more ipuprofin until after 5pm (duhh!!).

Mike felt sooooooo bad!!! The look on his face when he realized what he had done was awful! He kept a watchful eye on Chase while the girls and I went to Palm Sunday service at church. The nurse and poison control have both called a few times to check on things - very nice to know they follow up!

As for Chase - even with 6 teaspoons of ibuprofin - the fever only came down to 99.4 and now is back up in the 102/103 range. Looks like we'll be going to see the pediatrician in the morning!

Spring Snapshots

The kids and I went back into our woods today and snapped lots of pics. Here's a few of my favorites. To see them all you can click the "Spring Pictures" slideshow on the right side of the website.

Wind Damage!!

We came home this afternoon to find that a tree in the front yard had completely uprooted and was laying across power lines - as a result of 60-70 mph winds. Fortunately - it didn't take the lines down and we still had power!


Duke-Energy came out and had a rough time getting it all down safely. First - they tried the cherry picker - that was a no-go because of the location of the lines and where our driveway was. So - they used a long saw-stick type thing to manually saw branches off the top. Once the branches were clear they were able to use a rope from the cherry picker to hold it as a man on the bottom sawed through the base of the tree.

Finally - it was all down and we were left with a mess! Remember the pics of the front that we posted not long ago - we were so proud of cleaning it all up . . . yep . . . this is the same front yard and once again - Duke-Energy left us with a mess!

As they finished - we noticed a tree in the backyard uprooting as well. Sure enough - it's on its way. But - because it's not hitting an actual power line - they can't touch it yet. If these winds keep up tonight - I'm sure they'll be back!

Spring has Sprung!

These are blooming all over our yard right now! Penny tells me their daffodils (LOL! A gardener I am not!) They are absolutely gorgeous! The weather here has been consistently in the 60's and 70's all week. I think we've finally turned the corner! We even got some good rainfall (much needed) this week so everything is turning green and budding! My favorite time of the year!

Paige is Registered for Kindergarten!

Where does the time go?!? Seems just yesterday we were watching over Paige in the NICU isolette for weeks - praying for her to be stronger and bigger. Now - she's getting so big so quick that we're wishing we could down the days!

She and I went to the elementary school today and filled out all the paperwork to register her for kindergarten! She met the principal (I'm sure it won't be the first time!) and loved being there. I had a hard time getting her to leave! She's quite excited about being a big girl and even more excited about riding the school bus! She even told me that I'd have to leave her alone after school so she can do all her homework "cuz I'll have a whole bunch"!

She goes back in April for the developmental testing for placement - after that she's all set to be a kindergartener!!

70 Degrees and Lovin' It!

To all of our family and friends back home - today is the reason we moved to North Carolina! We did yardwork all day, played basketball and baseball with the neighbors, and at 7:00pm tonight we were still on the backporch grilling steaks without jackets on! Far cry from the foot of snow on the ground and 25 degree temps back home! Miss you! Come visit anytime!

Mike's Office Surprise

We've been talking and talking about making the HUGE storage room downstairs an office and study room for Mike - - - doing it has been another thing! The kids and I have schemed all week to do this for him today - just us! Last minute, Devin had to be out of town and I panicked! I didn't think we could do it without him - but we gave it a shot and look at the results!!


This was the before picture of the blank slate we started with. Originally it had boxes and boxes of stuff that we just hadn't gone through after we moved in!


And this was the finished product! We still don't have an area rug under the desk - Mike will pick that out on his own later this week.



And Mike loves it!! He was so surprised!! Each of the kids helped in some way with this project and we're so happy we could give him an office he loves!!!

And the Nail Fell Off . . .

Remember when Paige broke her finger on New Years Eve? Well, tonight she came downstairs with tears streaming down her face telling me her "finger was falling off". I couldn't help but laugh and the more I laughed the madder she got. What she meant was her finger NAIL was falling off! It was catching everything she rubbed her hand against!

I carefully cut it off with clippers as she sobbed on my lap. We then carefully coated it in Neosporin and covered it with a Band-Aid. As she walked away wiping her tears she said "thank you Mommy, you're good at that".

Bless her heart!

What a Week!! (for me anyhow!)

This has been the longest week in history . . . I'm sure! Work has been chaotic with one crisis after another. Many of my patients and colleagues have had the vomitting stomach flu. My two favorite patients were rushed to the hospital first thing Monday morning and one is now on a ventilator that will probably be discontinued tomorrow, the other is still unresponsive as of 3pm today and it's not sounding good. Tuesday I came home with a horrible headache and achiness all over just praying it didn't get worse! Wednesday I wasn't feeling much better, but made msyelf go through the daily routine of work and kids. Wednesday night Mike and I just passed eachother on the road as we picked up kids here, dropped a few there all at different times and across town from eachother. Thursday is the day I dread every week because I don't get to see my husband at all - I get home at 4, but he leaves around 2 and works until 4am to build movies for all you Friday night movie goers! I did get a phone call and an "I Love You" from him this afternoon. Tomorrow is end of the month - so it's paperwork all day long! I still have the headache and achiness - but so far that's all it is!

All I can say is . . .

Lots of Yardwork To Be Done!!

The above is the before picture - small front part of our yard. Duke Power came and cut a bunch of trees down that were "a danger" and just left it all in the yard. Add to that the storm that carried 50mph winds last week - and our yard was an absolute disaster! The wind was so strong it ripped the cover on the wood shack into threads! So - we spent the better part of the day cleaning it all up.

The kids each had their own job to do in this huge task! Chase and Kayleigh drug tree limbs down to the fire pit in the woods, Paige filled the wheelbarrow with the smaller pieces and Daddy would help her take that down to the firepit. Mike and Devin moved and cut up the chunks of tree left and got it all stacked in the wood shelter. I did all the raking of the leaves, pinecones, and super small branches (with a fractured wrist I might add!).

Below is the "after" picture - after 2 hours of all of us working together! Take note in the before picture - the red bush and the three big treese in the front yard - how the actual yard itself was full of branches, leaves, and chunks of tree. In the after picture below is that same red bush and three big trees - the center yard section is completely clean!! Yeahh!!

Next weekend we'll do another section of the yard. We have 2 acres of this sort of mess! So - baby steps to get it all looking nice again!! Gotta love living in the woods!

Devin Passes Drivers Ed!!!

Devin's been taking the book part of drivers ed for the last few weeks. It's had it's ups and downs - many quizzes, tests, and "silly rules" according to Devin! In the end - he passed with flying colors. Next up - the actual driving! He's been begging Mike and I to take him to our church's parking lot to practice . . . I'm just not that brave.

So - I was thinking as a gift I'd get him a Flintstone's car. At least I know he'd be safe because his legs can't go more than a few miles per hour! Right?

Congratulations Devin!

Introducing: Jeff and Sheri McMahon

(Uncle Jeff, Tyler, Aunt Sheri, Samantha)

Kayleigh, Chase, Paige, and I (Michelle) drove to Wheeling, WVa yesterday for my Uncle Jeff's wedding. It was a quick trip there and back because of obligations at church tomorrow, but we're glad we went! We were able to see lots of my Mom's family that we haven't seen in a few years. Paige and Chase had fun with cousins they had never even met before!

Congratulations Uncle Jeff and Aunt Sheri!

Scenic Overlook in the Mountains

We pass a scenic overlook along the West Virginia turnpike every trip home we make - but we've never stopped. The kids and I needed to stretch our legs - so we decided to see what it was. What a beautiful overlook!!! We'll definitely be stopping when the trees are all green in the spring and again in the fall when it's all full of colors!


This second picture was taken straight out in front of us over the valley. You can see the top of the mountains - and i fyou look close in the sky you can see the moon above the clouds. It was so cool!

Anyhow - if you ever get a chance to stop along the overlooks - do it! Glad we finally did it!

It's Snowing!!!!!

This is absolutely insane! We were at 60 degrees in the Winston Triad today - and tonight it's snowing . . . snowing hard! There's about an inch or so on the ground already - with snow continuing over the next 2-3 hours. It is quite beautiful - but I'll be glad to see it go!

Mom Finally Gets Her Hair Cut . . .

Much to Michael's dismay . . . I finally went and go my hair cut off again! Kayleigh insisted on taking a picture and me putting it on our website.

Andra (at Allure Day Spa) tried to cut it so that Michael wouldn't notice how MUCH she really cut off! Off the back went just more than 4 inches and off the front sides about 2 inches. I absolutely love it and I got the approval of the kids. As for Michael . . . . he'll get over it!!!

Andy Gets A Bath . . . and so do we!!!

(This is Devin's attempt at not getting wet and holding Andy still!)

It's beautiful here in North Carolina today - right around 70 degrees and sunny. So - Devin and I decided we'd try to bath Andy outside instead of taking him to the groomer like we've been doing over the winter - maybe save $75. HA! Boy was the joke on us! Andy did not care for the cold water coming out of the hose, let alone it being sprayed in his face! Devin and I ended up as wet as Andy was and we really didn't do that good of a job! Now I know why the groomer charges so much . . . but we've definitely decided it's worth it!

( Poor guy finally gave in and let us do our thing!)

Mr Groundhoug Has GOT To Be Wrong!!

Is spring coming?

According to all the news reports, our friendly groundhog claims we have another 6 weeks of winter coming . . . . Then explain why today was 65 degrees and gorgeous!

We were able to spend time outside with the kids and even get a little yard work done. Mike decided to try playing basketball for the first time since his shoulder surgery in November. The boys blasted him in games of HORSE multiple times! Actually, Chase beat out his Dad AND his brother Devin! Man that kid's got an arm!! Paige decided to take up skateboarding with the help of Kayleigh!

As for me . . . I just ran around taking all the pictures!

And he shoots! But doesn't score!!

Wow Dev! Look at that follow through!

Chase grins at yet another victory!

Mike will NOT give in!!

An Accident Waiting to Happen!!