Kids' Quotes

Two quick quotes/conversations to start off your weekend.

Kimball called me a monster to which i responded, "well I guess you could call me worse." So she turned and yelled at me "WORSE!"

McKay telling me about her first day of school:
"There's a boy who sits by me and he's not very nice. He bonks me on the head. But don't worry mom there's a school nurse."

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Ugh

Just because I'm posting again doesn't mean you can ignore my bathroom post. Keep the ideas coming.

Now for my current predicament... We're going to Tucson on Friday to see my parents and siblings. We ALWAYS leave after Seth gets off work at around noon or 1pm. No traffic. We get to enjoy the evening with family. It's almost like an extra day. I just realized that McKay doesn't get home from school until 3:30!!! WHAT? This school thing is totally crimping my style.

Re-Bath

HELP! I need some input from my fashion-forward, design conscious friends out there. I really want to fix/update our main bathroom but can't even begin to think what color to paint it. Here are a few pictures of it's current state.

This is the wall color. Not only do I not like it but it doesn't match our shower curtain/towels/decor and it's got some mismatched spots where the previous owners tried to cover up the fact that they stole the fixtures.

I want to eventually re-stain or paint the vanity a darker brown but its an oak color for now.

I would paint the walls brown but my towels are brown and fairly new, I don't really want to buy all new towels.

So what do I do? Breanne? Anyone?

1000 Words

What's that saying? A picture says a thousand words. Well good because I don't have time for a thousand words and I really want to post some pictures.

First Day of Kindergarten

First Day of Pre-School

Luc Being Luc

This is the same look Seth gives me when he's trying to figure out where things go.

Well he was ready for church!

Steve and his donor Barbara

The difference between Kimball and McKay

Just happy to have our own lawn to mow!

Living Angel

I have a story to tell but I have a few concerns about my telling it. First and most overwhelming is that I won't do it justice. That I won't be able to express in words the magnitude of what we've felt and experienced. Second, I'm writing this mostly for me and my children (and possibly my children's children), I'm not sure why that concerns me, other than I don't know if this is the proper "medium" for putting it down on "paper" but it's what works for me. And lastly I'm quite sure it will end up being way too long.



So there are my disclaimers. And here is my story.



Ten years ago in a small town in Germany a little girl got very sick. I don't know the details of her illness, but as a mother I can imagine how horrifying it must have been. This special little girl needed a stem cell transplant. Her friends and family, along with numerous strangers set out to find her a donor. Stem cells are not easy to match. There are a number of criteria that have to be met in order to have a successful match. Radio and TV stations in the area began spreading the word of this little girl's need. A lot of people were tested in an effort to find a potential match. A generous young lady (Barbara) in a neighboring town thought nothing of her willingness to be tested. She sent in her sample and for the most part forgot about it. The sweet little girl in that town, unfortunately couldn't find a donor and lost her battle against cancer.



But that would not be the end of the story.



Six years later on the other side of the ocean a father of four and grandfather of six (Steve) started experiencing some health problems of his own. While training for a marathon he realized he couldn't keep up with his training partners and he just couldn't shake the "cold" he'd had for a few weeks. Then he noticed a lump on his neck. Shortly thereafter he was diagnosed with a rare form of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Stage four. If, they could get him into remission and if they could get him a stem cell transplant then maybe he could beat this. But the prognosis was pretty grim. (We truly believed that his only hope was a miracle.) It took three different types of chemo and nearly a year before the doctors could get him to the point where a stem cell transplant was possible. The problem was his body was very weak and they just couldn't get him to produce enough of his own stem cells to harvest and do the transplant. Steve would have to find a donor. His family members were tested. No match. They searched the national donor bank. No match.

On the other side of the ocean in a small town in Germany Barbara got a letter. She was needed to help save some one's life. Without thinking twice this amazing young woman who was in the middle of preparing for her own wedding answered the call. After the initial blood work, she got another letter saying she wasn't a close enough match but thank you. A few weeks later she again received a letter, no she wasn't a perfect match but apparently she was as close as they could find. The tranplant process needed to be started as soon as possible.

Donating stem cells isn't a very difficult process. There is very little danger in it for the donor but it does take time and we now know it can also make you very sick for a few days. Barbara stopped her busy life and quite literally saved someone else's.

We got to meet Barbara this last week. She thinks nothing of what she did. She is so humble. My children know their grandpa because of her. My husband has a father that he can go to lunch with every week because of her. She gave so much by really doing something so small (in her mind). We will be eternally grateful for her selflessness.

I wonder about the family of that little girl. I wonder if they have any idea what has happened because of her. I am sure that they still grieve over their loss but I really wish they could know that a life was saved because of her. It certainly won't bring her back but I think it might just help the hurt just a little.

McKay's First Day

Today was McKay's first day of kindergarten. She made it super easy on us. She was itchin' to go from the moment she got up and had her backpack on for at least 45 minutes before we left. She even asked me to french braid her hair (usually I have to beg her to let me.) She left us in the dust as we followed her to her classroom and barely kissed us on the way out. I was feeling pretty darn good. No tears. I had a hint of guilt, which I expressed to Seth, when I realized that she was the only one in her class riding the bus. I've had people hint at the fact that they think kindergarten is too young to ride the bus but with only one car it's really our best option.

Seth and I went to lunch and I was relishing the thought of taking to Kimball to preschool tomorrow, knowing I'll only have one child for a few hours a day - 3 days a week.

Then I went to pick up McKay from the bus stop. The bus came. And went. Without stopping. I quickly followed in my mother-in-law's car. And when the bus finally stopped at the next stop - no McKay. And that's when I lost it.

It's all better now. I found her. She was completely unfazed and after a couple hours of unrelenting guilt, it relented. And I am now ready to go to bed and dream about how wonderful tomorrow will be when I take McKay to the bus, then drop Kimball off at preschool. Just me and Luc. And hopefully my sweet little McKay will come home to me without any problems. I got over the guilt today but if she doesn't make it home on the right bus at the right time tomorrow, Seth will be riding his bike to work.

Say Cheese!

I have been in serious need of some motivation to drop a few pounds. Last week my sister called and said "let's see if we can take off 10 lbs in the next month." Done. I'm in. Mostly. But now of course I need to gripe about my weight loss woes.

First off, having a skinny/eat-like-a-12-year-old-at-scout-camp-and-never-gain-a-pound husband is not easy. I tend to resent his eating habits. I watch him eat 12 otter pops in as many minutes and jealousy and envy well up inside me. I don't even like otter pops. They would be one of the last things I chose to eat if I had his metabolism but obviously that's not the point. I just wish I could eat without having thoughts about how it will effect me. Ugh.

I don't have much of a sweet tooth so that's not the issue. My issue is fat. Yep good ol' thick and greasy lard. I love lard. Ok that sounds a little gross but it's the truth. I would eat a block of cheese in one sitting if I could. And doesn't cheese make everything taste better? I'm pretty sure I could top off 90% of my meals with a nice slice of cheese and it would make it all that much better. Mmmmm. I love cheese.

So that brings me to exercise, or the lack there of. I am not a fan. I was really pretty active when I was younger but I don't love running and I abhor getting up any earlier than I have to, so those two "qualities" don't add up to me burning any extra calories. I really want a gym membership, mostly because I can appreciate the value of exercising if that means I get to drop the kids in the kidcare for an hour, for that I will exercise.

Regardless of my complaints, I do know that I need to get my butt in gear. Does this sound familiar? I'm pretty sure I could have pulled up a number of past posts and just re-posted one of them. C'est la vie. Here we go again.

Nevermind.

I should have a really good excuse for not blogging in a while but that would mean that all the boxes are completely unpacked and we're all settled in, which we aren't, so I don't really have an excuse. I just haven't had much to say or haven't had the motivation to sit down and make it sound "cute" or "funny" or "entertaining."

I was just about to say how much I love the age that Luc is at right now, when he wandered in and started whining at me and I completely forgot why I was so in love with him just a few moments ago. Whining has that effect on me.

Okay, now he's stopped. So let me tell you how cute he is before he starts whining again. He has very few words. Kimball was talking in sentances by this poi...

LUC JUST TURNED OFF THE COMPUTER! Maybe I'll try blogging about how cute he is while he's sleeping.