C Free!!!!!!

The title says it all. I may now sleep soundly for the first time in a year! Today was THE appointment post chemo/radiation when the MD's decided if any of their tests showed signs of cancerous activity and I just could not bring myself to go. The pessimist in me won the battle!! Besides, he had to get to work right after the visit and taking two cars seemed like another good excuse not to go. By dinner time I was well on my way to an ulcer with worry when the Diva casually says, "Oh yeah, Dad called while I was on the other line and he said to tell you the tests came out great."....btw, that had been two hours previous, ugh!! I got through to him at his break and he confirmed that he was now considered CANCER FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Baked a cake....and intend to eat every bit that they didn't finish. Would have had a margarita but Jose Cuervo evaporated during the chemo phase and I've never gotten around to replacing him.....................

Laughter Lives Tuesday!

Well this week's challenge from the Rigg's family is to tell our funny and/or cute ways in which we tell each other that we love them!I'm not sure any of ours fall into the funny camp...more like sweet. Mari has what we call "the sonar ping".... when she first got home at nearly three years of age there were a lot of separation anxiety issues. Countless times a day she would just randomly say, "Um, Mom?" and I would automatically respond, "What honey?".....followed by silence. She was just checking to make sure I was within earshot but one day the answer came, "Just I love you!" My reaction must have been positive because now her less frequent "pings" go like this, "Mom?", "Yes?", "Love you!", "Ditto!". Julia is usually my demonstrative one! Big hugs and tons of kisses daily...EXCEPT when we walked her to pre-school! The original PDA tsar here! I'm not sure exactly how it started but we developed a hand squeeze signal as a compromise. Even to this day as we walk anywhere holding hands she will squeeze my hand three times for "I love you" and I squeeze back four time for "I love you too. It shows up sometimes during church and even just this weekend at the big party she ran up and grabbed my hand giving the three squeezes. Will really miss this when it's no longer cool to hold Mom's hand.......

What a week!

Sorry to be so negligent with posting! Jusy got too caught up in the week's activities. The puppy love outfits are complete and off in the mail...that's for you Rhonda! The little Mardi Gras outfit I sold on eBay is complete and off in the mail. Two little girls have been measured for new Irish dance costumes and I'm in the 'fermenting' process of design for a new team costume for another dance school.

Spent lots of time meeting with educators at a couple of schools in anticipation of moving the girls to new learning environments...sigh. Hope that we have the insight to make the best choice!

Signed up another volunteer for the shoe drive!! She hopes to target the end of the school year in her grade school to get those outgrown gym shoes.

Celebrated the inauguration of our new president. Got a few chuckles with my friend Mariann who was on a roll with political humor....headline she created read, "America gets needed infusion of O+!" Also did up a pictogram which reads, "Sox fans go to the White House while Cubs fans go to the Big House".....hint Blago?!?

Ended on a happy note as we celebrated a momentous birthday! My fav SIL was SHOCKED to walk straight into the suprise party where several siblings and nieces from Ireland were in attendance as well!

One picture of the night that caught me as funny/sad....

only at an Irish party would you see the Guiness pint in the stroller cup holder!

The party was at our Irish Heritage Center and an itinerent artist had set up on the floor in the hallway. His drawing of his daughter caught my eye....

that and the fact that a gaggle of children had set up shop right at his feet! He was so good with them as he doled out paper and pastels for them all to try their hand at art.

I'll try to be more attentive to my blog this week!!....as you see I'm still struggling with the camera...get what you pay for I think!

Laughter Lives Tuesday!

The Riggs family have challenged us all to make Tuesday a day when smiles reign so here is my "Kids say the darndest things" submission: Our oldest daughter came home from Guatemala at nearly three years of age and was immediately initiated into "the gang" as we call all the 1997 cousins. Having just missed the automatic citizenship date by a couple of months we had to go through the whole citizenship application. It was another stressful paper chase but it was the FINAL step so when the real live, actual invitation to the initiation arrived there was more than a few shouts of joy! The ceremony was to be a big media affair at a local museum marking the LAST time adopted children would need to go through this step. Since we were all members of the museum a plan was made to have all of the "gang" come and witness "Mari becoming an American girl". All during the ceremony my nephew kept leaning over and peering at Mari. When we erupted into claps and cheers at the end he jump from his seat and planted himself right in front of her leaning in closer and closer. After a minute or two he turned to me and said, "When is she gonna be an American girl?" I assured him that she already was and he looked incredulous....."but she didn't turn white!" he exclaimed. Yes, the dear same lad who after a nine day tour of Ireland summed up the trip for his teacher with the statement, "I got to see a dead cow."

Busy Weekend

So I don't quite have the new camera under control!! Not the best quality but I promise to figure out all the dials and buttons soon!

Nothing like a few artic fronts to bring on early cabin fever! Really, it was just too cold to leave the house so here we all were for FOUR looooong days of togetherness. Probably could have gotten more done but the list is not too shabby.

Julia's seahorse habitat for the science fair was one of those super bonding experiences. She is a dedicated little worker and we had fun digging through my fabric scraps to find the "just right" sand, water, momma horse, brother horse, and sister horse...that's right I said horse because since "farm animals and pets" were disallowed we had to get creative!

Experimented with bread making....already do quick breads but decided to give yeast a try! Found a no knead recipe and did a whole wheat and a white version to mixed reviews. The texture and taste of the wheat was better but the crunch of the white's crust was preferred. Felt a lot like Henny Penny with this project as it seems the Disney channel is more alluring than a cookbook. BTW, it was all gone in less than 24 hours.

Since I didn't like the way the first little blouse looked with the Puppy Love outfits I redesigned a new option....and

did up a candy heart version as well.

If anyone out there knows of a little girl who wears a 4t and just needs to have a one of a kind Valentine's day outfit this one's available and will be listed on eBay as soon as I figue out this camera!! Stellaluna Style Studios now has labels....let's hope the lead law gets rewritten!!!

Checked a few heads for visiters! Seems the critters who first appeared in their school around Halloween are still hair hopping! Just the thought is grossing us girls out but our token male is bemused...seems it was not a rare event in rural Ireland in the 50"s. Leaves me wondering how any one of them survived that childhood when he tells you matter of factly that they'd just dust their hair and pillows with DDT powder!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So far we've been spared and let's just keep it that way!

FFF- Equine Radar

There really aren't too many words needed to describe today's Favorite Foto Friday! Simply our baby girl and her passion....

Starting to see the pattern? Anywhere we go she finds the horse!

Even if it's just a stuffed one in a museum....

Halloween costumes are telling too.....

In those periodic hypothetical discussions of what you would do if you won the lottery this lady is the only one who has been consistent! If it was up to her I would be writing this from a Tennessee estate with horsebarns bigger than the house , where little girls did not have homework or housework, where big sisters go away to boarding school and there's a pool with a slide to splash in after a long day of barrel racing.

Smack Down

There are days and then there are days!! Yesterday started our big freeze of January 2009 and it was cold, real cold! Today is even colder and the poor divas had to bundle up well for the short walk to school because it was -10, yes note the - sign, this morning!!! We've been juggling some weighty issues regarding their future schooling options, Patrick's post-radiation follow up appointment is approaching, there are 'issues' at both of our places of employment all of which have contributed to a less than joyous mood around here recently. By the time I wrapped up last evening and settled into Mommy's computer time I was so ready for some humorous updates from my sewing and adoption friends....but the very first blog reminded me of what else had happened yesterday! January 14th was a far worse day for another family who have far scarier issues...and God saw to it that I got the message. Firstly, I had almost 'forgot' them and my promise to offer up prayers. Secondly, I had lost perspective and needed a 'smack down' to push me out of the self-pity I had climbed into this past week! To my adoption friends, THANK YOU for remembering to post about Abby and to the rest of my friends and family an explanation.... Little four year old Abby was adopted from Guatemala and has been diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of leukemia coupled with a genetic disorder which significantly lessens her chances of surviving the most effective treatments. Yesterday was the beginning of the worst phase of the treatment!!!!!!!!!!!! There are very real odds that she may not be able to survive this stage and the family is asking for all the prayers that can be mustered for her at this scary time. So please join me in praying for Abby and the Riggs family. To read about Abby an her family you can go to www.riggsfamilyblog.com and feel free to spread the word!