Hello, September!

August went right on by. And I didn't write one single blog post. How did that happen?  Me? Quiet? Hahaha!  I've actually had things to say, but I wasn't feeling like anything I had to say was something anyone wanted to hear.

I finished chemo. Thank goodness! No more chemo! I still have to have Herceptin, which is just like chemo but not as bad. It's kind of hard to explain, let me try: Chemo is like Stone Arrogant Bastard and Herceptin is like Bud Light. I'm happy to get away from the harsh stuff. It's not only hard physically, but mentally it is rough. Guess that's why I haven't really been blogging about it. There just isn't anything nice to say.

School started up again and I'm super excited about that. I really thought about putting Gracie in the public school in our neighborhood so that she would have a more traditional experience and go to school five days a week instead of three. She would also have more kids to socialize with. But, she would probably still have the same amount of homework since the public school seems to dish out lots of that, so  that wouldn't solve anything as far as homework is concerned. I do think the traditional school structure would be good for her though. I finally decided to just leave her in the Montessori Charter School for several reasons. The most important is that she's stressed enough and I don't want to introduce a whole new school and new friends and new structure to her.  Her teacher at her school now is very loving and caring and has Gracie's best interests at at heart, so I am keeping her where she is already established and has a good support system. Also, I love that the two girls are in the same class! How awesome is that!  The flexible attendance thing swayed me to keep her in Montessori too. I don't want to worry about how many days she attends or misses. If she's sick, she stays home, why is that so hard?

With the girls back in school, Gracie in 3rd and Libby in 1st grades, they are together in the same classroom. I think this will be easier on me to only deal with one teacher. I'm glad they have each other every day too. It's only three days a week, but those three days that they are in school are so nice! Peace at last!

Charlie started preschool in August; he's on a different schedule than the girls but twice a week we have all three kids in school at the same time! 

Speaking of Charlie:  He's four now. He had a really fun birthday party. I wasn't so sure how well it was going to go, but it was fabulous! He wanted a movie night birthday party, which means a movie in the driveway, in the dark. Do you know what time dark is? It's kind of late for a birthday party! Charlie is probably the only four year old to ever have an 8pm birthday party, but it actually worked out well. His little friends stayed up way past their bedtimes and ate cake and pizza and popcorn. We ended up with ten kids in the driveway and several adults. It amazed me that such a late party was such a big hit! And now he's four. Hard to believe, but he's sure growing up fast!

We had a fun day with Katie and the boys recently. We went to the Safari Park and just spent half a day but it was fun to be together. Katie is  doing well. She's 21 weeks pregnant now, so she's passed the  halfway point!  Can't wait until this baby comes along. I will be stealing as many new baby snuggles as I can! Andrew deployed in August and I think he'll be back in 9 or 10 months. We'll see I guess.

I'm planning a roadtrip in September. Hopefully it will work out just right!  I have to time it between Herceptin treatments and pull the kids from school for a week, but if all goes well and the weather cooperates and nobody gets sick, and my brother can come along to help drive.... We are going to Wyoming to see my mom and grandma!  So excited!  Planning this roadtrip has been my motivation to feel better and stay positive. I'm really ready to take a break from all of this cancer and stress and just hit the road!