The party!

I had to step away from my piano for a bit because the music that I am trying to learn for my SIL's wedding in November is making me a bit upset, BUT I am determined to learn it (even if it kills me!). Anyway....thought I would post pictures from Briana's little party the other night! It went well considering all the females we had in the house (not to mention Colby went and spent the night at a friend's house so that left poor Jason all alone with only females)! Things went well even if a couple of the girls didn't seem to get along all that well (guess that is to be expected considering they are GIRLS)! They had a cupcake eating contest (which proved to be FUNNY) so enjoy the pictures! They enjoyed themselves and the weather was nice! Not nice enough to have them sleep in the tent so they camped out in the basement. Typical girls! A couple pulled an all nighter (my daughter was one of them) and the others lasted as long as they could! Anyway....must get pics posted and then off to feed the kids before we head to the final night of T-ball for Colby (yeah)! After tonight 2 down only 1 to go! Enjoy!

Cathi

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

MY BABY IS A TEENAGER TODAY!!! You know you are getting older when your oldest hits the teen years! The last couple of years with her have been a struggle to say the least so I am not thinking that the teen years will be any different or any more difficult! Briana, happy birthday sweetheart! WE love you to the end of the earth and back! Keep your values high and your eyes focused on Christ and you will go far in this world! Always remember that no matter what you may go thru or what you may experience in your life that we will love you thru it all! Happy birthday and here is to many more!

Mom



Nothing like being caught off guard!!!!

Camping

Sorry I have slacked on posting but things have been crazy around here plus we had company here for the last couple of days. We have birthday's coming up and things are nuts! Anyway....our camping trip was EXCELLENT!!! The weather was beautiful (although the bugs weren't so beautiful, they were awful). There were 8 families in all for a total of 34 people. It was a good time. The kids really enjoyed themselves and we will be back camping again this fall (if dates work out and such). It was nice to get away but also nice to get home and away from the bugs. The kids were pretty bit up on their legs and arms but they didn't seem to mind. Anyway...here is a picture of our camping group! It was a fun time and really in the end that is what matters most! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Cathi



Aren't they cute?

Shocked!

I was reading this blog this morning and I was just shocked! I am pro-life all the way and can't even begin to imagine what these unborn babies must go thru. This is a remarkable story and it just cements it for me of where my vote will not go this November! I encourage everyone to read this blog and read this particular entry "Survivor of Late-Term Abortion Comments on Barack Obama". I know this is a controversial post but given my beliefs and my standing with Christ I feel I must speak up! We are humans from the moment of conception, we have a heartbeat and our bodies are developing! Here in South Dakota the abortion bill will again be on the ballot this November and I will be voting in favor of banning ALL ABORTIONS! These babies can't speak for themselves so we have to speak for them!

On a lighter note....we are getting ready to head out camping today for the weekend with our Adult Sunday School group and their families! We are very excited, the children are even more excited and not only that but when we return on Sunday my parents will be here for a visit for a couple of days before they return to Colorado, close on their house and move to Arizona all with a span of a few days! God has moved well in their lives and has brought things full circle for them and allowed things to fall into place for them! We hate to see them move farther away then they are now but we are no the less happy for them! The visit will be a good one! I will post pictures from camping on Sunday night (hopefully, I know some of you chomp at the bit when I don't post for a few days) :) Have a wonerful weekend and have @ 7:59 tonight have a fabulous first day of summer!

Cathi

Inheritance

And I am not talking the monetary kind! I am talking about our (ok MY GENE POOL). Let me tell you all a (funny) story!

I had to go see the dermatologist today per my surgeon because my hair has been falling out (and I mean falling out) by leaps and bounds for about a year now (hence the reason why I cut my hair so short this last time and next time it will probably go even shorter).

Anyway.....come to find out that yes I have inherited this unsightly dilemma from no other than my mother's side of the family, thanks, mom ;)! SIGH!!!

So not only is my hair loss possibly (and I say possibly because I am still waiting on blood tests to see if my hormones are out of wack or my thyroid is not functioning properly) from my genes but I also have many other things wrong with me because of my genes. Case in point.....

Do you know why I got breast cancer (besides the fact that it runs in my MOTHER'S side of the family, love you mom) but also because I carry both BRCA 1 AND BRCA 2 breast cancer genes, from non other than my mother's side of the family! (again I love you mom!!)

Then I come to find out today that my hair loss (and let me tell you my hair is very thin as of late) is also heriditary from my mom's side of the family!

But it doesn't end there.......my WONDERFUL dad has also contributed something to me also! His lovely BAD BACK!!!!!

To make a long story and potentially fatal story short...........

I still love my parents will all my heart and woulnd't trade them for the world even if it meant a better gene pool running thru my body.........

I will just have to accept my fate and run with it! Thinning hair and the dreaded breast cancer genes in all!!!!!!!

Hey on a brighter side of it....I have been bald once, and I lived and I could do it again! Besides......

HAIR IS SO OVERRATED ANYWAY........


NOTE: mom and dad don't take this post personally, I still love you bad genes and all!!!!

The Boot

Got back from the doctor this morning and let me tell you, Briana is one HAPPY young lady! She gets to take the boot off. She is to start slowly and wear a brace when she doesn't have the boot on. So we decided that she would go 2 hours on, 2 hours off for the first few days and then work our way up from there until she is finally not wearing the boot or the brace at all! She was excited this morning when the doctor told her she could get the boot off. The smile on her face was priceless! We will see how it goes for her. He did say that sometimes these things will flare up again and sometimes they heal and she won't ever have another problem with it again. Time will tell. For now she is glowing! Happy Monday!

Cathi

Beautiful day.....

Again I have been slacking on blogging but really nothing interesting has been going on in our lives as of lately! We had Jason's company picnic today and the weather was GORGEOUS!!!! We couldn't have asked for a better day. The sun was shining, the food was awesome and the company was nice! It turned out to be a wonderful day!!! We are now home and relaxing a bit and hoping that tomorrow will be another beautiful day for Father's Day! We have no plans except to go to church. We are just going to spend the day together and maybe do some odds and ends around our place! I remember when I was a kid, every year my dad would take my sister and I fishing at the local lake. It was fun, never caught anything but bullheads but it was always the thought of going and fishing with my dad. It was the highlight of our summers. I don't remember how old I was when we stopped doing that but even to this day at the ripe old age of 33, I still can remember those days as a kid! Good times, good times! Have a wonderful Saturday! Happy Father's Day (early)!

:)

Cathi

My garden part 1

Sugar Snap Peas


Pumpkin (There are 4 of these)


Green Peppers (I think I have 3 of these)


Lettuce


Sweet Corn (there are several rows of this but not sure how much will come of it)

My garden part 2

Squash (I have 4 of these)


Cantalope (I only have 2 left as we accidentally tilled the other 4 up oops!)


Potatoes (4 of those)


Cucumbers (I have about 4 rows of them)


Radishes (yum!)

My garden Part 3

Carrots

Green Beans


Spinach (they have really diappointed me and have not florished)


Tomatoes (I have 4 of these plants but this is the best by far)

My t-baller....

okay so I don't know if that is even correct grammer but who cares really? Here are some pics from Colby's t-ball game tonight! Enjoy the pics!

Cathi


Waiting his turn to bat!


Setting up to hit!


And he makes contact!!


He made it to first base, phew!!! :-)


Waiting to find out his position in the field

After......

And here is the after......

Enjoy! :-)

Before....

The girls and I got our haircuts this morning! It was much needed and I feel much better, not sure about the girls. They didn't take a chance and really cut some hair off but enough to get rid of the dead/split stuff. Anyway...here are our "before pics", I will post the after pics also!

Cathi

PS I don't do pictures can you tell? :-)

Weather again......

Talk about a nasty night for storms, last night was it. There were tornados, thunderstorms and all of that around here. One tornado was very close to us. Of course woudn't it figure that when it storms, I am left home alone with 4 kids to protect on my own. Jason was in Brookings last night dropping stuff off and get setup for my rummage sale today! All 4 of the kids were huddled in the tub with pillows over their heads because the storm was right over us at that point and I didn't want to take any chances. Finally things settled down enough for them to get out of the tub and go to bed (it was about 9:15), but the two little ones I put to bed in our basement spare bedroom and moved them when I went upstairs to go to bed. It was not very cool. Mikayla was by far scared the most. You could tell by the look on her face. Pray I told her, pray! Prayers seemed to help calm me down and be strong for my kids. It was not a very good night. The tornado did take out power for awhile in Baltic and Dell Rapids, (BTW those two towns are within 7 miles of us) seem what I mean by close? I don't want to experience that again! I am off to get my kids up, they are going to be BEARCATS because they are so tired but we have to get up to Brookings and get set up for our rummage sale that runs today from noon to 8pm. I will try to post again this weekend! Have a great Friday and have a wonderful weekend!

Cathi

Slacking.....

I have been slacking the last few days and haven't been blogging. I have been busying with everything around here, plus we have our rummage sale tomorrow. It has been a weird week! I did get a great report from my doctor and told me that my pain was probably associated w/ scar tissue. Also on that front, my oncologist is retiring next month so I will be seeing a new doctor in 6 months and going forward until they "cut me loose" as Dr. Nelimark told me. I LOVE to hear those words. If I still have the pain in a few weeks I will be seeing my surgeon and getting to the bottom of it even more. As for us, we are just trying to get by each day and hope to not either get blown away or flushed away. Today it has been storming so we have spent the majority of the afternoon in the basement. We spent the morning in Sioux Falls for Briana's yearly eye exam to see how the double vision thing is doing. Still no improvement but thankfully it is not worse. He is still talking eye therapy but we are going to try the exercises at home to strengthen the eyes and see where that gets us next year at this time. Anyway....I better get going and try to get more stuff done around here. I have a list a mile long (of course it is in my head should really get it on paper) of all the things that I want to get done this summer before school starts for all of us again. Where does one even begin. I don't think I have completed one thing yet and we have been out of school for 3 weeks. UGGGG!!!!!!! Have a good day and for those of you around the Sioux Falls area, STAY SAFE as another storm is suppose to bear down on us tonight!!!!

Cathi

Today

Today is my 6 month check-up with my oncologist! As with every appointment with your cancer doctor, nerves take over! I am especially more nervous today than any other time as I have been experiencing some unexplainable pain. So I am sure that today he (my doctor) will put all my worries to rest and tell me that I am still free and clear! I hate the blood work part but I know that if my cancer was to come back it will show up in my blood work, so at that I will gladly open my arm and say "here have some of my blood". Think of me during this time. My appointment is in an hour, so I will be leaving here shortly as it is a 1/2 hour drive into Sioux Falls. I am sore and sunburned from yesterday, so I didn't sleep very well last night and I am tired today! So it was a rest from my treadmill this morning maybe this afternoon I will be more willing to get on it! Anyway....I must get off my computer now and tend to my children. Have a blessed day!

Cathi

Another new edition to our family.......

Yesterday we went to Minneota, MN to visit Jason's uncle and to pick up something that he has at his place. Two female goats. The children have not named them yet and they of course could possibly be pregnant. Leo didn't know for sure. We decided to get the goats because for one his uncle has many of them and for two it will save me about 2 hours of mowing. Today was spent trying to put their area up but of course that didn't work with just two of us trying to do it. So they are still in a make shift area until we can get their area all taken care of. They are very skitish of us but we are hoping over time they will get used to us. We told the kids to take their time with the goats and let them get used to them. Don't make any sudden moves but to just be calm around them. Colby loves them and is always wanting to be in the pen with them. It is funny. We took lots of pictures of the kids with the goats. So enjoy the pics. Oh and another thing.....our tom cat has come back around our place since all the kittens have died. So I am sure that it is just a matter of time before she is pregnant again. This time we WILL be ready. Thanks Barb for the comment, we will definetly be watching the area were we buried the dead kittens. I am hoping that the next time she will be a better mama. Anyway...for now enjoy the pictures.

Cathi

Feeding the goats at Leo's house!



The lucky ones that got to go home with us!!!

Their make shift home for now!

More pictures from yesterday.....

They really liked the kid (this was just one of a few kids)!

Briana's favorite one!

Mikayla's too!!

Checking things out!

Not really sure what to think?