Priorities

Going into college I expected to meet some nice people, have some fun, and get my degree.

I did not expect to make life long friends.

My brother and I have this conversation all the time. You make your priorities. You choose what goes before what. You find out quickly where you are as a priority in the lives of those around you.

My best friend Meggan and her husband came down for the weekend. 12.5 hours. With two children under two. So Trevor and Adam can cheer for opposing teams at the Vikings vs Colts game on Sunday. And so we can all just hang out together because we enjoy each other's company. (They even played Galaxy Trucker with me, which is my favorite game. And they don't really like boardgames.)

I am so grateful for them. They bring out the best in Adam and I. I love seeing how happy Adam is and how much fun he and Trevor have together. Meggan is a great listener and gives great advice, so conversation is always something I look forward to. They make us laugh and help us remember our dating life and the things we fell in love with each other in the beginning. Our kids are all around the same age so they stumble, whine, and slobber all over each other.

If you have friends that you feel are super important to you, you should tell them. You should show them. Make them a priority. It is totally worth it.

Kaylee's Kidbits

Miss Independent.She loves to do things by herself. If you start helping her, she will quickly say, "I would like to do it by myself please." If something is sitting out she will help herself to whatever it is without asking, not because she is being naughty, but because she thinks she is a big girl and does not need permission. (I am so glad our fridge is too hard for her to open.)

Her favorite band right now is For King and Country. If you have not heard of them, you should check them out because they are pretty fabulous. When we get into the van she wants to listen to her favorite songs in a special order. Fine Fine Life. Let it go. People Change. Right now. (Note - these might not be their official names. This is just how Kaylee would say them.)

Tangled has finally moved to the back burner, while Lion King has taken over as favorite movie. The music is great in both movies, so no complaints here.

Curious George is her favorite show.

She lives for routine. She wants to know everything we are doing during the day and she asks over and over if she forgets.

Can you believe she is old enough to be in Cubbies already? Cubbies just started up and she is learning Bible verses and the Cubbies motto. So grown up.

Blue is still at the top for favorite color.

Kaylee loves her sister. They play really well together and she is always trying to get Ella to come to her room with her to play.

She loves to facetime, skype, and talk on the phone.

I still think her love language is words of affirmation. She loves getting told that she is doing a great job. (Who doesn't - Right?!)

She does not wear diapers anymore. She still has accidents at night occasionally. We are working on that. So proud of her.

Shopping buddy. She loves going anywhere and is pretty good for the most part.

Naptimes are getting fewer and far between, but I still make her stay in her room and be quiet for some down time.

Kaylee is growing up too fast most days and not fast enough on others.

She makes me laugh a lot. She is silly and just full of energy.

I love that girl.

Recommendations?

So a while back I posted about my motivational dress. In June I was finally able to put it on and not feel fat and frumpy. Here I am in it during my prime work-out time. Felt fabulous about myself and was so glad to see my hard work pay off!

Sadly, I traveled a lot over the summer and the work-out regime went down the drain with the healthy eating and while I have not put much weight back on, I am feeling quite jiggly again. I want to feel good about myself again and now is as good of time as any. RIGHT?!? All of that to say, Adam and I started our competition/challenge back up on Tuesday of this week. We have added our own personal goals to be met at the end or we cannot receive the yet to be determined super awesome motivating prize.

With that being said, do you guys have any recommendations of good scales that our moderately cheap? I don't need one to tell me that I am 97% fat or anything. Just a simple, you weigh ###. By cheap I mean like in the $30 or less range.

Elanor's Endeavors

It has been a while since I have shared all things Ella. So here we go.

She is talking. A lot. Not so much real words even though she does say quite a few. She even already talks back. So if she doesn't want the green beans, but wants a banana she will shake her head and yell a bunch of gibberish at you that includes the word banana. (I try not to laugh because it is super cute. But one day when there are real words coming out, it won't be cute anymore.) Her vocabulary also includes a lot of grunting.

She is super cute. It is so hard, internet, to be upset with her. She knows when she is doing something wrong and she will look up at you with her big brown eyes and smile really big, dimples showing, hoping you won't punish her. Seriously, see for yourself.

She adores the cat. She actually pets Titus. She has never been rough with him. Every time she sees him she gets super excited. (She likes dogs too and usually barks at them.)

She is finally getting more teeth. I thought for sure the child would only have 4 teeth for the rest of her life, but was pleasantly surprised when 2 more broke threw on top.

She loves her Baby Ashley and her Bear. She sleeps with both of them and carries them around the house.

She enjoys talking on the toy phone as well as the real phone. She loves to facetime and usually gets upset when the call is ending.

She always wants to play with the dishes. Most days the dish set we have is all over the living room and the girls are playing with it because Ella asked Kaylee to open it.

She is a cuddly little bear. She gives the best hugs and really cute little kisses.

She rocks at dancing.

She hates shopping, but loves being outside.

She is persistent and definitely has a mind of her own.

I love her.

Has anyone invented a way to freeze time yet?

Because You Are

Today Momma starts radiation. 1 treatment of 25.

It has been interesting to see God move and stretch me through this whole situation.

Some days I struggle with doubt and frustration.  It was supposed to be a black and white situation. Mastectomy. Reconstruction. Pill. Gone. .9mm changed all that. Chemo recommended. Surgery recommended. Radiation promised. After all the debate, radiation is the answer. Will radiation really do the trick???

Some days I am indifferent and just simply do not want to think about it.

Some days I have peace and know that God will bring good from the situation. I just finished reading The Lion's Mark trilogy by Francine Rivers and it reminded me constantly of just that. God's love never changes and He is with me. I just need to seek Him and I will find Him.

There is a band called Everybody Duck. They have a song that really fits where I feel like I have been spiritually during this whole thing.

Here it is. Check it out.

Toothpaste and Sunscreen

When we were in Kansas for our college reunion a couple of months ago we had a situation with Kaylee and Ella involving sunscreen that was not fun to clean up. (Ella's outfit from that day still smells like sunscreen.)

And maybe you are one of my few wonderful followers that remembers this post from not long before that.

Well, that is not the end of Kaylee's little mess making nap times.

Last week we were in South Carolina for Adam's brother's wedding. We put the girls down for naps and turned on the monitor. Small noises here and there including some singing and laughing, but all somewhat harmless sounds when the girls are in the same room napping together. Adam's Mom graciously held down the monitor for us so that Adam and I could go play in the ocean for a short bit. When we came back, we rinsed off the sand in the back yard and as we were coming around to the front Kaylee started opening the door to our side of the beach house. She was covered in something white as well as wearing her pajamas. (She was dressed before the nap began.) As I push her back to survey the room, I am astonished to see the mess she has made. (Talk about having a flash forward to 14 years from now.) Both toy bags were dumped and toys were scattered everywhere. Both things of sunscreen are open and strewn about with the toys. WHITE STUFF WAS EVERYWHERE! The entire floor. The bed. The couch. Kaylee. The packnplay. Ella. And then there was a lone tube of toothpaste, empty. (was brand new)

Adam took Kaylee next door to deal with her while I cleaned up the mess. I don't have a picture of the over all mess because I did not think of taking a picture until I was finally able to make it over to Ella. Who looked so sweet as she was sleeping. Among the mess.

In the packnplay with Ella are some stale veggie straws, toys, sippy cup, pacis, her bear and blanket, and if you look closely under the food and toys you can see the stain from the Dr Pepper that I had leftover that was also dumped in there.

You can't see Ella's head from that picture so here is the view from when she was awake.

Thankfully, the white stuff was not the sunscreen but the toothpaste. It was surprisingly a lot easier to clean up than the baby sunscreen was. And it smelled better too.

Kaylee definitely keeps us on our toes.

Cancer Answer

After much prayer and debate, my Mom and Dad decided to only do radiation.

A board of specialists met on Thursday to look over and discuss my Mom's case and all agreed that she should have radiation and only two said that she should consider having chemo.

She met with her breast surgeon yesterday and after looking at Mom's diagnostic mammogram, she decided Mom does not need another surgery.

She starts radiation soon. The cool part is that since she opted for reconstruction instead of an implant, there will not be as much damage as there would have been. (Still some damage, but not as much.)

Thank you so much for praying for my parents! I really appreciate it!