Katelyn got to spend the morning at her friend Anna's house. on the drive home after I picked her up we had this conversation

me: did you have so much fun playing with Anna

Katelyn: Yes mommy I love Anna (long pause) mommy, I want to be in Anna's family, I don't want to be in our family anymore, I just want to be in Anna's family.

Me: but that would make me so sad if you weren't in our family anymore.

Katelyn: oh... I'm just teasing.... well, not really......... well.... hum.... Maybe Anna can be in our family?

Katelyn's new adventure

Katelyn is starting Preschool on Monday, and truthfully I'm kind of emotional about it. I always imagined I would be excited for her to embark on this adventure but it makes me sad to think I won't get to hang out with her all day. we have a lot of fun together especially at nap time when we have one on one quiet time together. and now she will be in school every day from 7:45am-2:45pm,

I am heart broken and have kind of started planning when I'm going to pull her out. that's terrible, I know, but I got her sign up and registered before I realized it was all day by the time I realized Preschool was all day she had already gotten a cute little note from her teacher and now there's no turning back.

she is beyond excited, we met her teacher yesterday, Miss McDaniel's, she is young a cute and has been teaching for 3 years, Katelyn already loves her. and she already has her backpack packed and sitting by the front door so we don't forget it. Katelyn is going to Love school but we are sure going to miss her.

Dallin's philosophy on bugs

a little beetle/cockroach type bug landed on Cameron as he was reading the kids a story in their bed, Cameron killed it, Dallin wondered what all the commotion was about and Cameron said,

"it was just a bug, trying to tickle me"

Then Dallin stated matter of fact,

"but bugs don't tickle us, they bite us. that's why they don't have babies"

if only that were true...

Tidbits

I wanted to post something but we haven't had much excitement around here, unless you count potty training Grant. Yeah I know, give the kid a break, he's not even 2 yet. Really he's doing pretty good. He only has accidents multiple times a day... maybe we should work on taking away his pacifier first? Seriously though he is doing fine, He wakes up dry most mornings so I'll offer him a treat if he sits on the potty, he always has to clarify, "ruit nacks" He wants to be sure he is getting a whole bag of fruit snacks if he is going to spend his valuable time sitting on the potty.

Dallin thinks he deserves fruit snacks every time he goes potty too. we've told him that if he goes potty at the same time as Grant then he can have fruit snacks too. so we often find him encouraging Grant to drink more water so he can go pee pee on the potty. Dallin's pretty good at getting what he wants. (isn't that a funny pictures? he wanted to make some crazy faces and this was one of them.)

Katelyn doesn't care about fruit snacks or going potty, all she wants to do is swing. (not one of her best hair days)

Mammogram X3

Another mammogram, Thankfully not too many women my age have to deal with getting a mammogram. Actually, truthfully of the cancer screening options, Mammograms are probably my favorite, you don't have to be poked or cut open, you don't even have to be injected or drink anything radio active. Really, it could be worse.

after I checked in I sat in the first waiting room and sent Cameron a text telling him that I was in the same building as him, of course before he could actually get to where I was they called me and escorted me to the "women only" waiting room. Where I watched the room fill, and empty again, then fill with a whole new set of patients and then empty again, after watching this cycle three times, I pulled aside a nurse and after determining that I was here for "diagnostic" and not a "screening" she let me know I was next on the list.

my name was called and the technician took x-rays from 2 different angles and then asked me to go back to the waiting room while the radiologist looked at the film to see if we needed to take any more. So back I went, and soon she came again, this time with a look of concern that immediately tied a knot in my stomach. she explained that there we 2 spots the radiologist was concerned about and we needed more pictures, so she took 2 more and this time had me wait in the room while the radiologist looked over the film in another room, she returned and told me she needed to take more pictures. She did and sent me back to the waiting room. By this point I'm a little freaked out so I call Cameron to let him know what's going on, He's pretty calm about it, which makes me feel a little better until a new technician calls me and takes me to a new room that's fully lit, which can only mean one thing, consult.

The Radiologist comes in and starts talking to me, I remember meeting him when we came out looking for housing and I met all the people that Cameron would be working with, nice guy. I totally don't remember anything he said except that everything looked fine, they just wanted to be sure because the first films had a few concerning spots but they were nothing... Thank Goodness.

I meet the Oncologist next week, when it will be continued.

It hasn't taken long to get back to the waiting room of yet another doctor's office. New but strangely familiar, the only difference is these doctors don't make me wear a wrist band or seem to be concerned with finding out my medical history, weird, don't you think?



my first visit was to the Ob-GYN. The nurse practitioner came in very cheerful. We chit-chat a little and she starts talking about how she loves my curly hair and asked if it has always been that curly. so I then go into the long explanation about going through treatments for breast cancer and the chemo making my hair grow in curly. It was only at this point that she did a history and physical on me. She immediately got me lined up with the oncology department and signed up for CT scans and Mammograms and it starts... again.

Home

much of my efforts these days has gone into creating a home where our family can be safe, comfortable, spiritually uplifted, and inspired.

so here it is, some before and after shots. It is still a work in progress, I haven't dedicated myself to any drapes, and we've been hesitant to hang pictures on the wall but I know if I wait to post this until my house is just the way I want it, it probably won't be posted until we were getting ready to sell the house, because that's the way it is.

The Kitchen

before-

after- the technique we used to paint the blue is called "Rag Rolling" I found a pamphlet about it as I was searching for paint color and decided to try it, they make it look much easier then it actually is.

we bit the bullet and bought new furniture with this move, we've always gotten our furniture at garage sales or good will and then we sell it or donate it when we move, this move was no different. We looked for furniture for a good few weeks but we didn't find anything that wasn't either too expensive or ugly, and I wanted something nice to go in our nice house. this table has a leaf that folds up into it to sit 8 comfortably. It was $600 it came with 4 chairs and we bought 4 more for $200, because we wanted to be able to invite people over, plus we hope to have a big family some day, so why not?

I LOVE having all this cabinet space, I love how open the kitchen is too.

The Living Room
before- messy, I know. but hey that's life.

we didn't have furniture for the first few weeks so when ever people came over we would pull in our camping chair from outside and pull out our folding chairs, it totally reminded me of being a newly wed. also you'll notice in the kitchen is a little tiny kids table, we ate most of our meals with all 5 of us gathered around that little table.

After- ok so we didn't do much to the living room besides adding furniture, but isn't it cute?

I love having these nice soft couches, I know you think I'm crazy to have such a light color with 3 kids but it cleans easily.

Some previous owner decided to paint the fireplace poop brown, it use to be the color of brick on the outside of our house, I think the brick would have looked better but it doesn't really bother me, but don't mention it to Cameron it makes him grumpy just thinking about it.

The Kids Room

Before

After- we love the colors, it makes the room more fun don't you think?

Katelyn and Dallin sleep on the same bed so we didn't see any sense in putting up both of the twin beds, it allows more space to play too. I'm sure you are wondering where we keep the toys, they have a good size walk in closet that fit their toys nicely.

making up for three flights of stairs....

There are a lot of thing I have missed about Tampa, hefting one or two small children up 3 flights of stairs, and then going back for the third who suddenly became limp after realized that she was the only one not being carried isn't one of them. but I have missed having those extra calories burn off doing this everyday activity. My children, ever concerned about my well being and not wanting me to waste away, or worse do the exact opposite among other things they insist on going for a "walk" everyday. I'm usually the only one actually walking, the children are all riding bikes. we found these bikes a various garage sales, Katelyn's princess bike for $15 Dallin's for $2, and Grants for $1. I love garage sales!

where did we go wrong?

not a day goes by when I don't hear frantic screams of "Grant made a mess, mommy come quick!" Today was much like every other day. I let the kids paint with watercolors and sure enough before long" Mommy, Grant made a mess!" Grant had indeed make a mess, He managed to spill the black water used to clean their brushes all over the table. no big deal. It cleans up easy enough. as I wiped up the mess Dallin turns to me and says "mommy, what did we do wrong with Grant?" I thought it was funny that I would be having this conversation about a one and a half year old.

Loving life

I realize that it's been a while. but we are doing well and loving life. here's a little update.

(our computer is having a hard time downloading our pictures and somehow it has deleted all of the good pictures we have taken since being here so this is as good as it gets)

I'll start with the newest member of our family... our van, yes we do still own a van and it has been running for 3 consecutive days, a record. it's a very long story but it has been to the shop and back 3 times, 3 different shops and only towed there twice... yeah we have developed a personal relationship with the tow truck driver, unfortunately they don't offer frequent towing discounts. tomorrow it will have been in our family for three weeks... we'll let you know how long it stays...

Cameron has started residency off pretty easy in vascular surgery, He is at the hospital from 5am to 5pm but he doesn't do much during the day so he gets a lot of time to study for his next board exam. he has also developed an addiction to craigslist as he searches for yard equipment and a bike.

I am forever busy getting our house in order, I've also started making bows again. so fun. I love having a yard and pretending that I know what I'm doing as I mangle every plant we own in the name of "pruning." I've already been to see a doctor and am all lined up for CT scans and mammograms, Everything looks good so far but I'll keep y'all updated on that. my hair is getting longer and is crazy curly, we are talking out of control curly, it's about 3 and a half to 4 inches now... I wish I had a picture.... I'll have to work on that.

Katelyn is a great big sister, she loves to hold Grant's hand when we go on walks and she plays so nicely with Dallin... that is as long as Dallin is willing to do whatever she says, and for the most part he is. Her favorite thing to do is to play outside on the swings, that is to say, to have us push her on the swing. so we spend a lot of time outside, despite the 105 degree weather. Katelyn is missing all of her friends, she tells me daily that she wants to move back to Tampa. We all miss you guys in Florida.

Dallin enjoys doing whatever Katelyn is doing, she and he love to play babies together, they take their dolls and hang out in Grant's closet which usually becomes their house, spaceship or bus depending on their mood. He has developed a "baby" voice where he talks very quietly and blurs his words together. We don't really understand anything he says while he is using this voice but that seems to be okay because he doesn't really expect us to. He loves to ride bikes, we found him a two wheeler with training wheels and he LOVES it. we go on a lot of walks so he can ride it up and down the sidewalk. it's fun.

Grant is growing way too fast. He copies everything the kids do, especially if they come to tell me something, he will run up to me and mimics their voice inflections,and then run away, it's really cute. He is learning about using the potty... kind of, he can hold it really well and he goes when we put him on the potty but he has no problem whatsoever making a mess anywhere else in the house so usually a few times a day, I'll take off his diaper and let him sit on the potty, then the diaper goes back on. he thinks he is so big, and he is. He is very content to play by himself or he enjoys playing with the other kids too, unfortunately they have designated Grant as the monster or bad guy and spend most of their playtime running away from him or capturing him. He's a good sport about it for a little while but it gets old quickly. he is a happy little guy. He loves dogs. and will seek out all dogs in the area. Our street is a popular street for people to go walking on so their are lots of dogs waling past our house everyday and Grant can't get enough of it. He is a cute kid.

to the shop and back again... hopefully...

This Post was going to be dedicated to the joys of owning a van, a real actual van with 7 seats, power windows,CD player, rear air (not to be confused with flatulence... sorry I couldn't help myself).
Cameron found a "great Deal" in Austin on a Kia Sodona 2005, It cost almost half as much as what we could find at the other places we looked so on Saturday we went for it. Cameron test drove it and it seemed to be running well. so we bought it. The kids were thrilled, I mean THRILLED they were more excited about this van then they were about moving into a house with a garage... and believe me that was exciting!
about half way home the dreaded check engine light came on... and it starts...
we'll take it in on Monday we thought, We being ME and the three kids of course as Cameron would be spending the say at the hospital going through orientation.
The kids begged us to dive it to church the next day, so despite our better judgement we did, What's 3 extra miles on a check engine light going to do anyways... 2 and a 4th miles later the engine died and we rolled to a stop, Cameron tried to restart the car to no avail so he got out in his white shirt and tie and started pushing the van with his entire family in 105 degree heat... I know what you're thinking, "Why didn't you get out and help?" and I would have but someone had to steer and we didn't trust Katelyn to get it where we needed to go. plus I was wearing heels. Thankfully our plight attracted attention and before lone we had two other guys huffing and puffing behind the car as I steered it to the nearest parking lot which also happened to be a Cadillac dealership. Which happened to be closed Sundays.

Katelyn went into super panic mode and was sure we were going to be stranded in our green van forever. the boys slept peacefully in the back... gotta love 1 o'clock church.... after 40 minutes of making phone calls and trying to figure out what to do we decided to walk the rest of the way to church. and get a ride home with someone there and then take care of the van when the dealership opened in the morning. It promised to be a long, hot tiresome walk but fortunately before we even got passed the dealership someone stopped and offered us a ride, what a blessing!

to make a long story shorter, it's Monday now the car has been towed to a mechanic, who it turns out has never worked on a Kia Sodona before but fortunately he can plug the van into a nifty little machine that will diagnose the problem so we know what's wrong with it, but before we get it fixed we are waiting to hear back from the guys we bought the van from to see if they want to fix it themselves, they are of course "out" and will call me when they "get back" I'm sure they have a "you bought it, you fix it" policy but we will see. so I'm just here sitting by the phone waiting for their phone call so I can tell the guys at the shop to go ahead... or not.

whose house is this anyway?

we signed the papers to close on our house today at 9am and as we drove over to do a walk through with Cherri our realtor we noticed a huge moving truck sitting in the driveway and the seller came out to greet us all in a fluster wondering if we were flexible on the moving in time, We said we could work with him how much time did he need? He thought he could be done about 5:30pm, Then Cherri asked if we could do a quick walk through, he went inside to check with his wife and came back asking if we could come back in an hour because his family was still sleeping.Still sleeping? at 10am when the house was suppose to be ready to move in at 9am? We didn't say that of course, we just agreed and came back at 11:30am.

The house was a mess, they are most of the way moved out but there are still things in each room needing to be packed and then the house has to be cleaned, he had some relatives there to help with the move but they were all standing around staring at us as we walked through OUR house. anyways to say the least it's been frustrating, we thought we could move in this morning after closing and we had the missionaries lined up to help us unload the truck at lunch time and now I don't think they will even be out of there until late tonight, and they need to have the placed cleaned and the carpets will be wet until morning so we will be staying another night in a hotel. I think it will all work out fine in the end, it's just frustrating.

I wish they would have called to let us know they were running behind. It would have been nice to know before we got all of our help lined up. anyways that's what's happening in our life, it was a good drive, the kids were good, we invested in a portable DVD player and the kids were captivated, except Grant who wanted to be the driver and was very put out each time we bucked him into his car seat.
we are all ready to be settled, I'm pretty sure my kids think we are going to live in a new hotel every night for the rest of our lives, this is our 4th one in 4 days. they love it.

Doctor Smith

It's official, Cameron is a Doctor. I am so proud of him. He has worked hard and done well in school, there have been countless times when I have thought that it's a good thing he's the one in school and not me, if it were me the entire household would be in complete chaos with each approaching exam. With Cameron I had to keep reminding myself that he is in school and we can't play all day with him. on occasion I would ask him when his next exam was and he would shrug and say, "oh tomorrow morning at 8" seriously... if that were me, everyone and their mother would know when all my tests were based on my level of stress and beastliness. Thankfully he is so smart, and calm about everything, and I lOVE that about him. Now don't get the wrong idea, this is not to say that he didn't study or that I didn't spend countless nights putting the kids to bed on my own, I'm just saying that he is amazing and because of him over all we have loved the student life and will look back with fondness at this time period. I could go on and on talking about how incredible my husband is but I wont... this time...

The kids were.... well... kids during the graduation. Grant was the easiest, he was content to play with Grandma Net, then he noticed Grandma Louise sitting down the row and hustled over to her lap to promptly fall asleep, and he slept the entire time. Grandpa Bob tried to keep the other two entertained by folding origami boxes, cranes and bow ties for them, they were thrilled, but it was a two hour ceremony and my kids can't play with anything without loud sound effects so I tried to encourage them to just hold the "paper toys" and that's just not very fun. they attacked the diaper bag and scarfed down three granola bars each and were still asking for more before it was all said and done.

It was fun to have so much family come for his graduation,

From left to right, Bill (Cameron's Dad), Louise (Cameron's mom), Katelyn, Amy (my sister, poking her head over Dallin) Dallin, Cameron, Becky (my tall sister who doesn't need to poke her head over anyone because she is generally a few inches taller then everyone else), Grant, me, Lynette, (my mom), Bob, (my dad).

Cameron's cousin Jenny and her Husband Blake and Cameron's Uncle Bruce and Aunt Jean where there also, they had to leave before we could get a picture with them.
If you didn't get invited and wanted to come, I am so so sorry! we had a crazy couple of weeks leading up to graduation so the awesome graduation party never got planned, or at least didn't get planned far enough to be carried out.

as we were driving I was talking to the kids about how daddy is a doctor now. I explained how he is all done learning about being a doctor and now he is a doctor. Katelyn was impressed, Dallin thought about it for a while and then piped up, "I want to be a Dragon!" so I said, "well, then you better start studying."

Thanks for all the love and support.

Soon to be our House

I know you have all been dying to see pictures of the house we are buying, and here it is in all it's full housey glory. We are excited to leave the apartment style living behind and have a back yard with a fence and a front yard with a sidewalk, talk to me in a few weeks when I realize that I haven't taken care of a yard in.... hum.... forever and I might be singing a different tune, but for now we are excited.

Front ViewBackyard

it's 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1600 square feet, it has beautiful roses, and it's own mailbox. apparently Temple TX is big on cluster, mailboxes like an apartment complex. Truthfully it wasn't a major selling point but hey its something.

It's near one of the best schools in Temple, and 2 miles away from Scott and White Hospital where Cameron will be living. We thought it would be nice to be close so he would feel welcome to visit us every once in a while.

I completely forgot to take picture of the inside while we were walking through it so we did a drive by shot the morning after we made an offer, we were heading to the airport so we didn't have time for much else. but I've downloaded some pictures from the Internet, or I should clarify, Cameron downloaded some pictures from the Internet, I've never actually done that before, so I'm not even going to pretend that I know how it's done so don't ask me.

This is the kitchen, obviously, they will be leaving the fridge and a play set in the backyard, very exciting!



Dining room or I guess it would be classified as the eat in kitchen... I think.

living room, the bright door leads to the back yard and the red room in the back is the master bedroom, we are planning to take out the carpet in this room and put in wood flooring to match the kitchen, I'm really excited about that.

cute huh? we'll take pictures when we move in with our furniture, or what we bring of it, we will need a table and couches... so if you happen to know anyone......

plus I would really like to replace the kids beds and dresser but it's not totally necessary so more then likely it wont happen.

Things are getting kinda hairy

Katelyn, loves having her hair done, the more elaborate the better, she's willing to sit for hours and hours as I find creative ways to do her hair, and she loves everything I create.... ok so the truth is, she hates it. ok "hates" is a strong word, she has a strong dislike for it. In fact she runs away screaming if I so much as glance her way with a hair brush in my hand, she really really really doesn't like having her hair brushed, but least you think that I am an insensitive mom who takes no consideration for the thoughts and feelings of my 4 year old, it's only the actual brushing out that she hates, um, "dislikes" once that is over with I can play with her hair as much as I please.... as long as there is a movie playing and I finish before the movie becomes uninteresting. and since there is no way that I would let my daughter out of the house without her hair at least brushed, I don't think I am ruining our relationship forever by trying out cute styles. hopefully we don't both end up in counseling because of this train of thought.

so here are some pictures of some of her cutest, and um, most "creative" hair styles.