MRI Results

Yesterday we heard back from the Doctor regarding Camden's MRI. The MRI did not show the lump at all due to Camden being a "little person" and not getting as many "slices" to look at as an adults MRI would.

We still don't know what the lump is and maybe never will. The tissue and pathology surrounding the area appears normal and benign. His x-ray was also normal and with both of these pieces of information we will just watch and see if anything changes. He would like to see him back in 2-3 months for a follow-up and in the mean time we just look for any signs of pain, favoring his leg or growth.

Thank you for all of your prayers. God is good and we trust him and will follow his will.

My New Adventure

I did it!! I graduated from Cake Decorating class! This summer I had decided that I was going to take time and do something for myself, so I enrolled in course I of cake decorating. I enjoyed getting out by myself for a couple of hours each week and of course I had fun making and decorating the cakes. I have decided to go on and complete course II this next month and expand my decorating abilities.

Without further adieu, here is my very first cake...



Now, everyone has a bad cake and my next cake would "fall" into that category.


By the end of the night, my clowns who were sitting up just gave up and layed down! The rest of the cake gave up much earlier when it decided to slide to the right... right off the cake board!

And finally, I redeemed myself with the final cake...


I am proud of myself for going outside my comfort zone and trying something new. I had so much fun and am looking forward to making lots of cakes!

Baseball and Dinosaurs

This weekend we watched Noah play 2 baseball games. The kids have really come a long way since the beginning of the season. Most of the kids are now hitting pitches the coach is throwing, including Noah. They are also making plays on the field as well. Noah stopped the ball and tagged two runners out in his game on Sunday. He was so excited!

I took the boys to Fair Park on Saturday for a birthday party at The Museum of Natural History. What a neat place to have a birthday party. It is more geared for kids Noah's age and older but Camden was just as fascinated with the dinosaurs. All the kids were given a "dinosaur egg" that they had to open with a hammer. Inside they found a plastic dinosaur for each of them to keep. Included in the party was a free pass to spend the rest of the day at the museum.

Brian attended his family reunion on Saturday while the kids and I were at the museum. We are sorry we missed seeing everyone and all the good food! We will be there next year for sure.

This week looks to be a little slower pace for us which is good. We are all in need of a little down-time.

Family Get-Away

Gracie was so excited to go for a car ride! After about 15 mins. she had that "Are we there yet?" look.


Getting ready for a boat ride.


Swimming in the middle of the lake!



Caddo River Bayou boat ride, Alligator just up ahead!


Looking for the Alligator.


We enjoyed getting away for a few days this week and camping in East Texas at the lake house. We spent one night in the tent and realized that the middle of June is probably past the prime-tent-camping period in Texas. We went to sleep just drenched with sweat and didn't begin to cool down until about 3:00 a.m. Thank goodness we were at the lake house and were able to stretch an extension cord down to the tent and set up a fan to make the still night air move just a little bit. The second night a strong storm moved in and after checking to see how water-tight our tent wasn't we stayed in the house in the air-conditioning!

Peggy, the boys and I took a bayou boat ride on the Caddo river and enjoyed seeing God's beauty. We even had the privilege of seeing an alligator just ahead of our boat. He quickly swam below and was not seen again. He was pretty good size at about 6 feet long.

We all had fun swimming and cooling off in the lake. There were very few people on the lake during week and it felt like we had it all to ourselves. The neighbors gave the boys a small inflatable boat with an oar and they had a blast rowing their boat and then falling out of it into the water. We took Gracie down with us and she loved being in the water as well. Brian and I enjoyed taking another turn this summer at skiing and the boys found that they enjoyed jumping off the pontoon boat into the middle of the lake and swimming around.

Our trip was too short and we look forward to doing it again real soon.

Full Father's Day weekend

I have absolutely no pictures to show for our jam-packed weekend. We took the camera everywhere we went, we just never used it.

Saturday, after Camden attended a birthday party and Noah's baseball game was cancelled due to rain, yet again... we drove to a friends lake house to get away. The kids had more fun riding Wave Runners really FAST with Daddy. Brian even took them through a slalom course on the wave runner, weaving in and out of the buoys. The whole family also enjoyed getting out on the lake and watching Mom ski and Dad slalom. It has been several years since I last skied and my body is still telling me about it 2 days later. I have muscles that I never knew about that hurt! It also made me wish we still had our boat and longed for the day when we will have one again. The boys also showed they were fearless by sliding down a water slide from the second story deck of the dock with a 10 foot drop to the water. They LOVED it!!! We had a wonderful time relaxing in the evening after the kids went to bed, sipping Sangria and just hanging out.

Sunday, the rain came and kept us indoors. After lunch, we headed home and then to my parents house to spend Father's Day. The afternoon turned out to be a beautiful day to spend outdoors playing with the kiddos. They rode big-wheels through mud puddles, went to jail for breaking the law (all in fun), threw a Frisbee and ran through Nana's flowers. We had a home-made Mexican dinner per the Father's wishes, complete with home-made Spanish rice and Flan. Yum!

Today was spent doing laundry and getting ready for this next weeks adventure. We hope you have a great week!

Camden's MRI

Camden coming out of sedation.
Camden, doing good and just a little bit more awake.
Here is our Rock-Star leaving the hospital.

Camden had his first MRI today with sedation. Last night we explained that he couldn't eat breakfast or lunch today until after he had some cool pictures taken of his knee. To make the experience a bit more fun we decided to eat breakfast last night at 10:00 p.m. Camden is such a trooper, not once today before his test did he ever ask for food or even mention that he was hungry. He is one of the strongest kids I know!

He also did great with the sedation and insertion of his I.V. Once again, there were no tears and he was very brave through it all. I was allowed in the MRI room until he fell asleep and was able to witness just how fast the right medicine can knock you out. One minute he was full of pep and the next second the Dr. is saying "he will get the wiggles" and then Camden started to wiggle forward. The Dr. then said "he will yawn" and then Camden took a big yawn. The Dr. then said "he will go to sleep" and true to form, he fell right to sleep in my arms! The test took about 45 minutes and we were told Camden woke up "fighting". Once he was taken back to the recovery room (the pictures above) we got to witness what he will be like in about 15 years drunk. He was a very hungry boy and after he was released he was treated to his pick... Steak N Shake.

We are very proud of Camden and how he took all of the unknown and scary experiences today in stride. We will have to wait at least a week for the results. I will update when I hear.

Thank you for your prayers today!

Camden's Knee

Camden's MRI is scheduled for Friday around 1:00 p.m. We would covet your prayers. We will not have any results for at least a week.

How time flies

The boys are in week 2 of swim lessons and loving every minute of it. I heard them talking today about how much FUN they are having, and that is what it is all about! I no longer worry as much when we go to pool about watching Noah every minute. It is also getting easier now that Camden is a year older. He has caught on to diving under water and retrieving things and has even swum a few strokes by himself. It is so much more fun to play with them in the pool than to shadow them everywhere they go.

Noah is about half-way through with his baseball season. He is on a team that is Modified-Coach Pitch, meaning the coach throws 4 balls to hit and if they don't hit one then they get three chances to hit off the tee. The season got off to a rocky start, but seems to have improved some. Noah had his first hit from a coach pitch on Sunday and we were very proud of him. Noah played the Catcher position for the first time the other night and loved it. I'm not sure why, he just stood there and got hit by the ball about 21 times an inning. Oh well, maybe it didn't phase him because he is used to the "brotherly love" he experiences at home. Just kidding!

Camden had his follow-up appointment with the Orthopedic and it was determined that an MRI is needed to find out exactly what the lump in his knee is. We would appreciate your prayers in this situation for protection during his sedation and that the lump will be nothing of significance.

Brian has been busy this week doing "odd jobs" or handy-man work for the L.L.L's. It keeps him busy and gives us a little extra moola.

I went to a very hip, cool little Wine Bistro last Friday night with some blogger friends and new friends. It was tons of fun and I stayed out later than I had in a long time. Thanks Heather for setting that up, lets do it again! (Tutu... if Oahu doesn't have something like this, it would be right up your alley. New business venture, maybe?)

Well, I'm off to do the laundry and attend another baseball game. Tata for now!

I have tried several times to sit down and post about our adventures, but have always gotten sidetracked.

Last week was like a whirlwind around here. It was the first full week that Brian was home and we only stopped to sleep and eat.

I found a great deal for 4 tickets, 4 baseball hats & 4 free Value meals at Mickey D's for $27.50, so we took advantage and went to the Roughriders game. We had great seats, ate a few hot dogs, drank some sodas and had a blast. It was a cool beautiful night to be out and we only had about 5 minutes of a very light rain sprinkle to cool us down even more. The kids got to be up close and personal with the mascot and they enjoyed the Frisbee dog between innings.

Next up was Memorial day. We spent it at my parents house celebrating my brother's birthday. It was a rainy day, but it was time well spent. We played a new game called "Mad Gab" and had a whole lot of fun! Just in case there was any doubt, the girls won, hands down!!!

Noah had his first sleepover last week as well. The pictures above are him packing and walking to the neighbors house. Camden didn't know what to think and missed his brother while he was away. Brian and I got to spend some time with Camden, something that doesn't happen near enough. We had fun playing games, doing puzzles and just cuddling.

The all-time favorite, bowling alley, was a stop on our list last week as well. The boys had more fun bowling and watching the pins fall down. Noah is getting old enough to actually learn the proper way to throw the ball and he picked it up easily. Camden, Mr. independent, just did it his way and had a blast.

We also ventured to the neighborhood pool where the water was just a bit cold. The boys have talked all summer about "when will the pool be open?", and the time had come so we went. I know we will be spending lots of time there this summer.

I can't forget, we tent-camped in the back yard last week also. Always an adventure. Let's just say that the dog was the best camper of the bunch! What time was it that Camden feel asleep? I don't think anyone knows because we were all sound asleep.

Brian and I have had some projects going as well that got completed last week. We trimmed our hedges for the first time in about 4 years. MUCH NEEDED!!! We also, took EVERYTHING out of our garage, cleaned, organized and re-loaded the garage! Wow, that was a lot of work, and my body is still telling me about it. Noah got a cool new ceiling fan in his room and we de-cluttered our kitchen.

I have started a new adventure in my life and will blog about it once I get more fully into it. Sorry for the book, I will try to update more often.