Its' the most Wonderful time of the Year!!!!

Christmas is FAST approaching! I love this time of year! It is sometimes stressful but I have tried really hard this year to just go with the flow and not try to please everyone. We are buying for our children this year and that's about it - times are hard on everyone and we are no exception to that! As long as my babies have a good Christmas that is all that is important. Christmas is about love and joy and all too often people get caught up in the gifting more than the real reason for the season. I hope everyone has a very MERRY Christmas!!

My work had a Christmas party for the children and they got to meet Santa! My little guy had so much fun. They had several stations set up where he made a Christmas Tree, a photo frame, sugar cookies, ornaments, and smores! He got to talk to Santa but he said he was too nervous to tell him everything he wanted.. this probably has to do with the fact that he was not on his best behavior earlier that day and I think he was scared Santa knew he was not being a good boy. He had his picture made with him and gave him a big hug.  I am thankful I work for a company who does so much for their employees.

Chance and Kalie

Chance with his Picture frame                     Daddy helping out!

Chance getting one last hug from Santa

Me and baby Cooper                                  Chance and his new little buddy

Chance's Birthday Party

Well it's hard to believe that my little man is almost 7 years old. Where does the time go? Is actual birthday isn't until December 24th, Christmas Eve; but we celebrated early so that it felt like a birthday and not part of Christmas. He was the best Christmas present I ever received!

We celebrated with a party at CiCi's pizza - his favorite place to eat!

He received some great gifts and money/gift cards- with that he bought him some new video games for his Wii and PS2.

He had a great time playing with his friends in the arcade area, I think this is the real reason he loves to eat there- the game room!

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate, we love you all!

Chance and a friend of mine's daughter Kalie- his future wife =). She adores him!

Chance with his best friend Logan.

Little Cooper is here!!

Little Cooper is FINALLY here!!! After much waiting (11 days past due!) and a very LONG labor he finally decided to grace us with his presence on November 24th at 2:52 am. He weighed 7lbs 6 oz and was 19 in long. He is absolutely adorable!!!

Poor Megan went through a lot to get him here. She had a very hard labor and I am so proud of her. She did an amazing job!! I was so excited to share in his birth, it is something I will never forget. I am so glad that mother and baby are doing great! I can't wait to spoil him!!

Christmas Traditions Dinner

We went to Christmas Traditions dinner at my Mom's church. Me and my girls, my sister and her girls, my sister-n-law and one of her girls, and our Mom. All of the ladies at the church do up a table in their favorite Christmas decor and the men of the church serve us! This is something my Mom's church does every year and has became a tradition for our family that we go with out Mom.

My beautiful girls.

Me and my sister.

Kaitlin, Linzi and Haleigh (my neices), Whitni

My sister, my cousins - Kira, Katrina, and Dwan and me.

Fall

Well it has been a while since my last post and a lot has gone on. I had to have another surgery! I had a hysterectomy and was out of work for about 5 weeks. I am SO GLAD I had this surgery. I feel better now than I have felt in years!!! I went for my last post op visit yesterday and everything looks great! My iron levels are at the highest they have EVER been in my life!! The time off from work did me and my body good. I feel like I needed that break to let my body heal from both surgeries that I have had in the past 6 months.

So enough about me! The kids are doing great! Kaitlin is active with friends and driving everywhere! No steady boyfriend yet but I am just fine with that!! She is focusing on school and friends and just having fun! Whitni is doing great in her first year of High School. She has adjusted well and is making great grades! Cody is the only one really struggling in school and he is determined he wants to go live with his mother but we can't seem to get her on board.. with anything!! Our little Chance man is loving first grade and is excelling in REACH! He is such a smart boy. I am so proud of our children, we are truly blessed!!!

Last week was Halloween and we just had Chance this year, the older kids were with their other parent. It was a little rainy and cold but that didn't stop our little Ninja from getting LOTS and LOTS of candy!! We still have a full bag of it!!

My best friend Megan is due any day now and I am SOOOO excited to meet little Cooper. I am going to get to be in the delivery room with them so that makes it even more special. I pray she has an easy labor!

So that is a little catch up on the goings on in our lives!

Back to School!

Well another year has started and I have to say I am not thrilled about it. The schedules, the homework, the early bed times - doesn't make any of us happy!

This year our oldest Kaitlin is a Junior - and driving!! The baby girl Whitni started High School and is a freshman - wow where does the time go??? Cody is in middle school in the 7th grade - he has his work cut out for him this year!! And our baby boy Chance is in first grade- he loves his teacher and his cousin Emma is in class with him. Let's hope they stay out of trouble!

I am hoping for a fun year for all of them!

New Surgery

So I have another surgery scheduled for September 23rd. I am having a hysterectomy. I am a little nervous, but not as nervous as I was with my thyroid surgery. I hope and pray after this surgery that I will get back to some kind of normal life. I just want to have more good days than bad.

Thyroid Surgery 5/21/2009

Well A LOT has happened since my last post. I had to have my thyroid removed, it was cancer. I had to undergo radiation therapy to remove any possible cells that were left. I had my second scan and something is still showing up as if the radiation didn't even do anything. This is so frustating and scary! The doctor just wants to "watch it" for the next 6 months and do another scan in January. I will post pics of my before and after surgery soon. Keep me and my family in your prayers as I continue to recover from this. I'm still trying to adjust to life without a thyroid and taking meds daily to try and make me feel somewhat normal.

Surgery

Well all of my tests have finally came back. My thyroid is shot - I have MANY nodules/masses on both sides. On the right are several smaller ones, but on the left side I have some small ones and 2 large masses. One is over 6 cm big the other is over 4 cm.
I went to the surgeon on Monday and I am scheduled for surgery on May 21st to have my entire thyroid removed. I am very nervous! They will not know if it is cancer or not until they remove it and send it to be tested. The surgeon said he is going to treat it as cancer when he operates to make sure he removes it all. He says that after all is said and done that I should feel like a teenager again (once they get the meds regulated), I sure hope so! For the past few months I have felt horrible. Praying for a successful surgery and quick recovery!

Megan & Josh's Wedding 5/2/2009

One of my dearest friends was married this past weekend. I was the MOH and was busy, busy, busy right up until they said I do.

My husband was a groomsman, and my little one was the ring bearer. He had the flower girls fighting over him.. literally it was too cute! He was soooo handsome! I am glad that Finally.. the wedding is over! Whew! Megan was a BEAUTIFUL bride! She was sooooo nervous! I am so glad everything turned out the way she wanted. I wish them both all the happiness in the world!