Baby News & A Classroom Experience

I'm so excited for Nancy and Bob Weaver! Keri Hiatt Calhoun and husband Spencer became parents of Cameron Isaiah on Tuesday, December 8 at 11:02 a.m. Cameron weighed in at 6 lb. 2 oz and is 20" long.

My call came through while I was in Layla's kindergarten classroom teaching the children how to make Shredded Wheat Wreaths. Talk about having a fun time and helping to make a complete mess of a classroom. They will become little frames for the kid's pictures when they are completed. What fun to help Carolyn Smith who has been my friend for so many years and is now Layla's teacher! Who could have ever guessed!!! Someday, maybe I will be doing the same thing for Marley in her classroom. Who's to know!

The weather today is so cold and windy, choir has been cancelled as have many other activities all around the area. Winter came in with a blast (and it's still fall!!!)

Alexis is now a very happy 8 month old. Hard to believe! She is doing very very well and impressed the P.T. people last Monday. Nicholas went home after school today with a friend for the very first time. He was very excited. Blake went to preschool today but told me, on the phone, that he didn't go and then just continued to laugh. That's my Blakie!

Well...I'm about ready for Christmas....just waiting for the kids to arrive. Oh wait...that's not happening for another 2 weeks! Oh great...now what will I do?

SOLD!!!

Incredible! After being on the market for 1 year in poor Battle Creek, Mother's house sold today. I have aged a lot since the call from my brother on my birthday afternoon (Nov. 6) saying that they were moving from their apartment to Mother's vacant house. Long sad story but did it ever make my stomach ache! After lowering the price many many dollars, in a weeks time, we had a bid from a young couple. The realtor, Talia, called yesterday to tell me. I was thrilled. Then the call from my brother came last night telling us that they were going to make a bid due to full financing from his in-laws. I drove to BC this morning to be with Mother as she talked to Talia. Mother ended up selling the house to Brother Keith as is. No inspections!!!! This part is very, very good for us!!! The check will go into the bank on January 7, 2010. Once again, God was with us this weekend! I pray that this is a second (???) chance for my brother and that they can have yet another beginning in life.

Medicare Minus One!!!

What a weekend! Turning a year older never seems bad to me, especially when family members are so wonderful! The celebration began Thursday night when Brent and the girls and Tom took me to Between the Buns for supper. It's always fun with those silly little girls. Marley spent the night because Grandma Peg was going to be out of town on Friday. Tom and I kept her Friday.

Friday after Brent finished work, Tom, Brent and I headed for Noblesville because Brent and Ron were to run a half marathon on Saturday. Brent was very pleased with his 2:04.4 time. Ron had a very sore hip so only ran a short while. Tom and Heather cheered them on during the race.

Everyone had dinner together last evening at Logan's. For the first time in 2 years, I grazed my way through the entire day eating anything I wanted. I really did eat sugar all day and loved every bite: Dunkin Donuts were first on the agenda (with Kendra and Paula cheering me on!!!) and cake and margarita and more cake and chocolate ice cream....oh and the regular food!!!! It was wonderful! Today...back to reality!

The bad part of the weekend was the phone call on my birthday from my sister-in-law telling me that they had been forced to move into my Mother's empty (for sale) house. It is a terrible situation and very upsetting to my mother. Paula, Ron, Tom, Kendra and I spent hours analyzing the situation and calling Mother to talk to her about it. I will plan to go see her on Thursday. Very, very stressful!

Lexi turned 7 months yesterday which is such a delight! She is just precious. Nicholas and Blake just love her and she thinks that they are quite entertaining. Great little ones!

I've been thinking a lot of Rand and Gail Nilsson. Gail's dad, Ed Ogel, died on November 5th as Gail was driving to the Seattle airport to fly home to be with Mom at her dad's bedside. I picked her up on Friday morning to drive her to her Mother's. Very sad time for them. It has been a very difficult last few months with Gail being so far away and Ed getting worse by the day. Tomorrow is the visitation and Tuesday a.m. the funeral.

Boo!!!

This was a big weekend...Nicky's 6th birthday and Halloween! Wow! The Bowman house was buzzing once again! Brent and the girls, Jason's parents and sister and family, some friends of Kendra's and Tom and I were all at Ron and Paula's. Great fun. We did Nicky's bd party at noon and the kids went trick or treating at 5:00. There is a lot of room at Paula's for everyone to spread out so we all had a great time.

Here is a little description of each photo (as if you needed one):

1: Brent and Layla hanging out together

2: How long now has Blake been a "Pirate" fan??? It's been going on for a long, long time!

3: This is Lexi's 1st Halloween so she is our little "flower girl"

4: Marley got caught up in Blake's pirate obsession which was really cute!

5: This was a big 6th birthay for Nicky. He has gone from the "Monster Truck" phase to the "Transformer" phase. It's really fun watching them grow and change.

It's wonderful being a JoJo!

Nicholas, Blake and Lexi Lou Who

It was certainly a challenge getting these three to all look at me at the same time!!! Wow! I'm glad I did as well as I did!

It was a gorgeous day and since the weather has been so rainy and cold, today was a pleasant change. We took advantage and went for a walk and then came home to do photos.

Brent, Jeff Kamp and Tom headed home this morning after Brent and Jeff made the attempt to ride bikes to Noblesville on Friday. The weather was so stormy and windy, the weather won and Tom (who had followed) drove them on to Noblesville after they had biked 37 (?) miles. Yesterday, they biked for 20 miles around parts of Indy. They couldn't have chosen a worse weather day to ride Friday unless it had been in a winter storm.

The effects of my last surgery are nearly gone. I always feel some minor discomfort for a couple of weeks after Dr. Fretz has invaded my space but that "feeling" will be gone soon. Minor problem to contend with.

I will go see Barbara and Tom Rowlen on Tuesday morning. Barbara got home yesterday from seeing grandkids in Montana. She was suppose to come home last Wednesday but ended up in the hospital in MO with the swine flu!!! Good grief!

Tom is back in Elkhart blowing billions and billions of leaves. At the end of the day Thursday, the yard was relatively clear of leaves. Then the wind/rain storm hit on Friday. It's not a pretty picture!!! Wish he had a lawn mower with 4 wheels and a big engine! Thank goodness, Layla was there to help him rake on Thursday or he would have really been in trouble. Marley was home with a bad cold.

That's the update for this month. See you in the photo department at CVS.

Tiny Tiny Tumors are History!

They are gone...again! I was at River Pointe Surgery Center by 7:00 and home by 10:00 yesterday morning. Wow! I went from an overnight stay in June to a 3 hour stay for this surgery! I can deal with this! Now, I just have to use "common sense" and hang low for a couple of days and then Dr. Fretz will check again in 3 months to see if we do this again. Hope not but this is the nature of this cancer. Just keep those babies IN the bladder where they belong and I'm in business.

Tomorrow...tomorrow...

Makes me want to break into song! Well, tomorrow is surgery day...again! The 1st surgery was June 24th for 3 tumors and tomorrow is surgery for 3 "tiny" tumors that were found 2 1/2 months after the first surgery. Wish there hadn't been new ones so soon but that's life! The hard part is being patient and not lifting anything for 2 to 3 weeks but that certainly is better than having to go through chemo etc. So...no big deal! At least, this gives me something to blog about. I could blog about.....better not!