Fry Bread and Wojapi

We made Indian Fry Bread and Wojapi!

The girls monthly project for November/December was to research a culture (not one of your own) and report on a traditional or celebrational food item. The kids needed to then make the food and bring it to a Cultural Exchange Pot Luck, which was also when the kids performed their Winter Concert.

Our children are descendants of  European countries, so they decided to learn about food from a culture they have heard about but they aren't a part of: Lakota.  They chose to make Indian Fry Bread and Wojapi (jelly).

We looked it all up online and found the recipes and historical context in which the fry bread and wojapi are eaten. They were easily able to write out their reports and recipes. Then, we got to work making the treats.

I purchased frozen bread dough and we let it rise. I know, that's sort of cheating, not making the bread dough from scratch, so don't tell anyone! I'm swearing you to secrecy!  After it rose, the kids tore off pieces and made them into flat pancake shaped pieces. 

I fried the pieces of bread dough in hot oil. One recipe said to use Crisco and it really would make a difference, so I bought a fresh jug of Crisco vegetable oil.  Then I wondered if the recipe meant to buy crisco that looks like lard in a can. The vegetable oil seemed to work out just fine. 

I piled them up and layered the rows with paper towels to soak up the excess oil. When they cooled a bit, but were still nice and warm, we dipped them in the wojapi.  So delicious!

We made the Wojapi while the bread dough was rising. You are supposed to make it with chokecherries that you pick yourself.  Well... once again we cheated. I bought a bag of frozen strawberries at the grocery store. That is pretty close to the same thing, right? 

I figured strawberries would be a safe choice for the wojapi. The kids didn't like the sound of the word, and they had already some hesitation about how it would taste. They were concerned about the chokecherries. Would they choke? They didn't really want to try it. They love strawberries, so that would be a safe berry choice. Turned out, that was a good call. The strawberries were great!

First, we dumped about half the bag of strawberries into a soup pot. I think we had about 4 - 6 cups of strawberries. We added 2 cups of water and brought it to a boil, then added a cup of sugar.  The recipe also called for some cornstarch and I'm pretty sure I messed this part up. I think I added too much cornstarch because it seemed thin, but the next day it thickened up to an almost pudding consistency in the fridge, and my husband insisted that it should be more of a sauce texture. The recipes I found online varied. Oh well, the texture isn't nearly as important as the taste and it tasted amazingly good!

The girls put out their fry bread an wojapi on the cultural foods buffet table at school during their winter concert and it all disappeared pretty quickly. That's a good thing! They presented their reports in the classroom earlier in the day.

Got My Ears Pierced

Since I have uber short hair, my ears stick out.  I guess they did before, because I was always a pony tail or bun kind of girl, but now I feel like my hair looks so masculine that some earrings would offset the look and girl it up a bit. Why not!

When I was 12, I was kind of stupid and I got my ears pierced. I remember it well. I was scared but determined! I nearly passed out and had to stand on my head up against the wall after one ear was pierced, and then they did the other one and I had to repeat the headstand. In retrospect, a headstand was a strange thing to have me do, as if a person who is nearly fainting is coordinated enough to stand on their head.

When I was 19, I was taller but still kind of stupid and I got my ears pierced again. Two earrings on each side! So cool. No headstands this time, but I do believe there was some beer involved.

Now, I'm 49.  I'm no longer stupid but I still made the same decision to pierce my ears. Beer was involved. When my first baby learned to reach and grab, she always went for my earrings. No matter what, that kid wanted to pull them out of my ears.  I haven't worn earrings since and my holes closed up long ago.  It's odd that they would heal shut. I had pierced ears for years before I had any babies. Anyway, I had to get them pierced again if I wanted to wear earrings.

I went to Claire's in the mall. I heard "don't go to Claire's" but, they seem just fine. They use a little gun and the part that holds the earrings is disposable and clips into the ear gun, so no part of the gun touches your ear that wasn't sanitized and used only on you. Also, the earrings are sanitized. It's all good. I chose some fake diamond earrings and sat in the piercing stool. The lady attacked me with the gun and now they are pierced! The only downside was that I didn't get a lollipop. I really felt like I deserved one too.

Bad News that's Good to Know

I tested postive for the BRCA2 gene. Crap! and, Good to know.

Since my mother had breast cancer, and now I have it even though neither my mother or myself had a high risk factor (we live simple, clean lives, not the risk taking sort) I qualified for the genetic testing to see if I have the gene that causes breast cancer.

Honestly, I've been trying not to, but I've been wondering how I got breast cancer. Did I do something to cause it? Did I drink too much Coke? Did I not go to the Dr. often enough? Did I use the deoderant with the harsh chemicals? Did I not eat enough vegetables? Was there pesticide sprayed on my produce? Were there hormones in my hamburger? Am I too stressed out? Did I breastfeed too long? Haven't I been getting enough sleep? Maybe it's the second hand smoke from when I was a child and had a parent who smoked? Was it because I had an underwire bra? Is it Karma or Fate? Is God punishing me? Why did I get cancer? What did I do?  Now, I can stop asking myself that question. The answer is here: I was born this way.

According to some googling that I've been doing, the discovery of the breast cancer gene was pretty recent. One scientist found it in 1974 and they studied it until 1990 before coming forth with the information. 1990 wasn't that long ago. I was married and had an active toddler in that year. I worked as a part time bank teller, and had no worries about breast cancer. None.  Lucky for me, someone else was dedicated to breast cancer research! And those efforts are very much appreciated now, even if I didn't give it a thought back then.

Currently, not everyone can be tested for the gene and have it covered by insurance. The insurance companies only pay for it if they deem it necessary. And then they may only pay a portion, it's hard to say. I told my oncologist that I wanted the test, but only if my insurance covered it. Sure hope I don't get a bill for five grand and a note saying that's my co-pay. We shall see. To qualify to be tested, I had a mother with breast cancer and I have breast cancer, and I have six women with my genes, my sisters and daughters. So, I qualified for the test. Now that I've popped up positive, my sisters and daughters should be approved for testing as well.

There are two genes: BRCA1 and BRCA2.  #1 is apparently worse news than #2. But, really, you don't want either one of them. Turns out, I have the second gene. It's bad, but at least I don't have the first one.

According to the stats that Dr. Google has been throwing my way, Brca1 has a much higher percentage of patients with recurring cancer or other cancers popping up.  Brca2 is an increased risk for breast and ovarian cancer too, but not the "sure thing" that the #1 looks to be. I guess this means that I got the lesser of the two evils. Oh yay. I'll drink to that!

I have two sisters and four daughters. I am really hoping that this gene is recessive and my daughters didn't get it, but if my husband is a carrier, and we don't know that, well, that slims down their chances of escaping the gene.  I truly hope they do not have this gene! All four can be tested for it, but I am not sure when they would want to do that.  Elizabeth just turned 6 years old a couple of months ago. I honestly think she could wait a few decades. My oncologist recommends that my sisters and daughters go see their doctors and then have prophylactic mastectomies and oophorectomies - lop off their breasts and yank out their ovaries for prevention. Hopefully, by the time my daughters are in their mid-30s, there is a better prevention method than going under the knife.

This gene isn't just a breast cancer gene, it's also an ovarian cancer gene.

As for me, my oncologist wants an ultrasound peek at my overies now.  If they are messed up or showing any abnormal shape, lumps, or whatever, then he wants to yank them out now.  If they look good, then he wants to wait until I'm off the Herceptin and yank them out next summer.  Either way, he wants me to have them out. I'm not so sure about that. I have some questions about removing them and why and how much that stacks the cancer stats in my favor. The last thing I want to do is have another surgery, especially if it isn't necessary. I'll decide after I review more information about this situation and weigh my options.

That's all I really know for now.  I have this Brca 2 gene, and my sisters and daughters risk of breast and ovarian cancer just skyrocketed with this new information. To them, I'm sorry. Hope the stats are wrong!

If you find some useful information about BRCA2, breast cancer, or ovarian cancer, please post the link in the comments.

It's November? Wait? What? Already?

How did that happen?  However November got here so fast, I don't really care, I'm just happy to turn another page on the calendar!  Looking forward to the end of 2014 and we're getting closer to it! This year hasn't been a good one. I just want it done.

These past couple of months haven't been too bad though. I really can't complain much. Maybe the reign of bad luck is already over? Gosh, hope so!

The kids are doing great. Growing and doing well in school and having fun. We went to the zoo and we went to the Science museum in San Diego. We've had lots of trips to the local parks too, including the pumpkin farm. They are fun happy kids!

September was great because the girls and I went on vacation! We drove to Wyoming to see family and it was so very good for my heart and soul. It was good for the girls too! We all came home happier and well... happier! I can't go that long without a visit home again. It had been too long and I had a lot of stress to run away from. When we came home, that stress didn't seem nearly as bad. It was just a great get-away.  

Then, Libby turned six years old. Not sure how that happened so fast neither. Whoa. She's six! Toothless too. She lost a top tooth on the roadtrip and the other top center tooth came out on Halloween.

October was a bit more stressful for me with the breast cancer stuff. As everyone knows it was Breast Cancer Awareness month, and we're fully aware of it around here. More aware than we ever hoped to be, in fact. This whole plaster the world in pink thing got on my nerves fairly quickly. I tried to be a supportive participant in the pink thing, and I made a strong effort to post Breast Cancer awareness messages on Instragram and Facebook, but otherwise, it was depressing. I know why too: because I'm bitter. I'm angry that I have this and that I have to deal with it, and I'm angry that my family has to deal with this too. Daily. I'm mad that I'm in pain and that I'm constantly worried.  I decided that it's ok to be angry about this. I have every right to feel angry. In the meantime, the world is plastered in pink. There are pink Tshirts, mugs, ribbons, socks, people in tutus, healthy people running, events, parties, balloons, gifts, prizes... awareness. Yeah. Awareness. People are partying in the streets for breast cancer. Getting together with their friends and celebrating in matching outlandish pink outfits. Giving out pink prizes and giving shout-outs to long lost aunts and grandmas. This is not what I want to be sucked into. I don't want to party it up and carry a pink balloon or wear a pink ribbon or be happy to be "one of the girls".  So, October was kind of tough, emotionally. I was just mad all month. I tried not to be, but I was harboring a lot of resentment toward this whole Breast Cancer Awareness thing.  Now, don't worry, I've told myself that it's ok for me to feel this way and so I'm feeling it. But I've also told myself to be open to feeling differently next year.  Maybe next year, or another year, I'll feel like celebrating because I'll have a lot to be thankful for. Maybe I'll feel like wearing pink and carrying a balloon or wearing a tutu. Maybe I'll even walk a 5k! But this year, I felt the way I felt and October was  not easy.   Good thing I just had my vacation! Pretty sure that's what got me through October without losing my mind.

November is looking good. The month of my favorite holiday: Thanksgiving!  Yum! I'm really looking forward to the big meal this year because Keith remodeled the kitchen! We now have double ovens! I know he really got those double ovens so that he would have them for making the turkey dinner, but he pretended that it was for me. I know him too well! He got that convection oven and second oven for the holidays and he is the head chef for holiday meals.  I can't wait until he fills the house with all of his fine cooking. I'm drooling just thinking about it!

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!

Happy Birthday to my Blog!

I started my blog 7 years ago!  July 12, 2007.  Technically, almost 7 years ago since today is the 6th, but I noticed it today and there's no telling if I will remember by the 12th... so I'm saying Happy Birthday to my blog while I'm thinking of it.

Happy Birthday, Blog!

Here is a link to my very first blog post:  Dipping My Toes in the Great Blog Sea

I started by calling my blog Momathon, but then one day I decided that name wasn't right. Some people thought it was a blog about a mom who runs. Sure, I run, but only in the house. 

Then, I changed the name to Rufflebutts.  It was cute!  And I thought it sort of said that I raised girls, which is accurate.  But, after a while I got tired of that name since it implies that my girls are babies who wear ruffled bloomers, and they don't. They all grew out of the baby stage. Darn kids.

Finally, I changed the blog name to Schuworld.  This was the name of our web page that we had for years. We used to post family updates and photos on it to keep everyone updated. It wasn't a blog, but it was a good way of reaching out to family and friends. Of course, now we have Facebook. I think this name will stick!

I also started a blog recently called Mary Made It. It's just a sewing blog. I felt like my family blog was full of boring sewing posts and the sewing people who only want to read about sewing were also seeing my family updates, so I separated my sewing from the rest of the blog worthy stuff. There isn't a lot on it, but enough. And I can update it with my sewing stories and pictures as time goes on.

I also set up a blog, and I'll get around to writing it someday, that is a memoir sort of blog since it'll be written about the past. I want to document our Disneyland memories in it. I have a lot of pictures and lots of memories about taking the kids to Disneyland. Someday I will find the time to get it going and get all of those thoughts out of head and onto the blog, if I don't forget.  I'm sure I've forgotten a lot of it already. I probably should have done a Disneyland blog all along, but I didn't think of it. We had some really good times and I want to keep a separate place to ramble on about the good times we had.  It was great going to Disneyland time after time!  The kids are kind of Disney'd out now, but we really had a great time going. 

Speaking of "Blogworthy" - pretty much anything is blog worthy! I've written about the kids mostly, but also about our vehichles, dogs, food, and poop.  I've covered a lot of topics over the years.  Nothing is off limits it seems. It's my blog and I write whatever I want to.

Happy Blog Birthday! Thanks for reading all these years!

Just an update

This post is about nothing in particular, just an update:

Libby lost a tooth last night. I think it's her third tooth, but it might be the forth one. I've lost track!  She was pretty excited about it, and quite frankly, so am I. It's been loose for over a month and her breath has been terrible! I'm pretty sure the tooth was rotting in it's socket and stinking up her breath, but she has been too anxious about it coming out to pull it. And it hasn't been super dooper wiggly, so maybe it wasn't really ready to fall out. Finally, it came out! She was eating corn on the cob and it sort of got stuck in the cob and really loosened up. The next bite she took, it fell right out. It fell into her mouth and didn't get stuck in the cob so it didn't get lost.  She was super excited and ran to her room and put it in her tooth pillow right away. Before she went to bed, she checked to make sure it was all set up for the tooth fairy. We hoped that the tooth fairy wouldn't be too afraid of the fireworks to fly around. This morning, Libby found four quarters and one Sacajawea dollar coin in her tooth pillow! So exciting!

Bugs have been biting the kids at night and we are completely perplexed about what is going on. Gracie, Libby and Lexie are all waking up covered in big red welts. Nobody else seems to be getting them. The girls itch like crazy and look like they were quite the bug buffet. They don't have bedbugs and we don't have mosquitoes here, but something is eating my girls! I'm thinking we'll have to buy a can of Off and spray the girls before they go to bed.

Charlie and Libby took a Funk dance class. They had so much fun!  Dance class is nicely structured. Every kid in the class is participating at the same time, there isn't much in the way of waiting for your turn. Most of the class is participation time. And it's fun! Charlie did well in his first dance class. He listened, learned, and participated nicely. Such a well behaved boy! We're all very proud of his behavior.  He might enroll in a weekly dance class this fall. Libby certainly will, she loves dance class and she's very good at it!  The dance teacher wants her to move up to the classes for 6-9  year olds instead of the 3-5 year olds. She's close enough to age 6 I guess.

Gracie is healed up from her bike wreck!  We think; we really don't know how her skull fracture is doing but assume it is healing and doing fine. There is still a small bump on her forehead and slight bruising under her eye, so she has a little healing to do yet. She seems just fine though. The fracture in her wrist healed and she got her cast off. She enjoyed wearing her cast since it was comfortable and it brought her a lot of extra special attention, but she was pretty happy to get it off too. We still haven't fixed her bike because she wants to ride it again and I want her to heal up completely before she plows up the road with her face again.

All three kids are in swimming lessons this session. Libby and Charlie took swimming lessons while Gracie was still in her cast so they are on their second session now. They took "Level T" last session which is the Toddler class. It is set up for four students between the ages of 3 - 5. That was nice that they could be in the same class and they both did really well!  This round, I put them both in Level I.  The child must be 5 years old to be in Level I, and Charlie is still three years old but there was no room in any of the Toddler classes for him by the time I registered. I called the City and requested that he be allowed to be in Level I since it is basically the same skill level, just with bigger kids. The lady who heard my plea transferred my phone call to the pool and I spoke with a lifeguard there. The guy I spoke with remembered Charlie and asked when his birthday is and I told him it's in August and he said that was ok to put Charlie in Level I. So I told him, well, he'll be 4 in August, he's still 3 for another month. The guy was surprised but said that is still ok since Charlie did really well in Toddler class and looks like he is 5 years old already. Sure enough, he's doing great! He might even pass the class!  Libby is doing great too! They are both very brave little swimmers. Gracie is loving her class, she is in Level II. This year she is tall enough to stand up easily in the 4' part of the pool with her head above the water. That seems to make a big difference for her. She might actually pass to the next level too!

I've been sewing up a storm. Not anything special, just trying to use up my fabric stash with little projects. The small simple projects have been fun. I'm running low on zippers now, but I made a bunch of snack bags and larger wet bags.  The wet bags are great for cloth diapers and trips to the beach and so forth, really anything wet can be tossed in them. And I've been making hats for myself. I finally figured out how to wear a scarf so that it doesn't slip and slide and fall off: wear a cotton hat underneath. I made a bunch of them so that I can refresh my hat and match the colors to the scarves. I haven't been embroidering much, but I want to. My embroidery machine is giving me a headache. The colored thread goes on top and the bobbin thread is white, but the bobbin thread is showing on the top of the fabric more than the colored thread! So my embroidery machine is obviously having tension issues and I have not figured out how to fix it yet. I'm trying!

Keith has had shoulder problems for quite some time now, literally, months!  It's called Frozen Shoulder. It's very painful and limits his movement. Poor guy is having a hard time with it and so he went to the doctor and got a cortizone shot deep into the joint. It helped for a few hours and then he was back to having a lot of pain. So much for that!  He's been going to physical therapy weekly too, and it's helping but not much. The doctor then told him that he's an older guy now, over 50, and so he needs a colonoscopy. He's scheduled for that sometime later in the month, but I find it funny that because his shoulder hurts, he's having a colonoscopy. I don't think it'll help his shoulder much but I'm not a doctor.

One of our frankenputer laptops died. The other one is not doing as well as it should, so I expect it could die any day too. Who knows! But that is why there has been such a big slow down with the blog posts and posting of photos. I am hoping that Keith will get the kids a computer, an actual computer, not a laptop or a tablet, but a real sit at a desk computer. They need it for their homework for school; they can't use these half-baked frankenputers!  And then I'll be able to use the desktop for blogging and whatnot. Just have to talk Keith into buying or building one.

We all had the stomach flu. It wasn't pretty. It was awful! Libby and Gracie started it, and then I joined in. Keith had a terrible belly ache but he was able to contain himself. It lasted a few days for each of us and we were a mess! Lexie and Charlie survived the ordeal, but they had to take care of the rest of us and do all of the cleaning and nursing and all. Lexie was exhausted after a few days of providing night and day care. We're all better now and Lexie and Charlie never did get it, whew!

I ended up in the hospital for a day because of it. If I get a fever over 100 degrees, I have to go to the ER. So, I did. I hit 100.9 and couldn't get it under 100.5 so I conceded and did as I'm supposed to. I was terribly dehydrated anyway and they admitted me. I received 4 bags of IV fluid and lots of medicine of various sorts. I sure felt better when I was discharged, but I needed to still rest and hydrate when I got  home for a few days. I'm really not a fan of being in the hospital! But, they took good care of me and I thank them for that.

I did find out that my port needs to be adjusted. Which is another way of saying I have to be sliced open and poked around in again. The doctor has to fix my port because a stitch holding it in place is now poking out of me and bacteria could get in and infect the whole thing. According to the doctor, the problem is that I am too skinny. Well... in that one spot maybe! I'm not exactly happy about this, but I have to keep the port in until next May so I guess I better get it fixed. I don't know when the surgery will be, the surgery schedule lady that does a terrible job is the one arranging it, so I don't expect that it will be any time soon. 

I'm doing ok. I am going for all of my chemo and herceptin treatments. I'm dealing well with the side effects and my family is very supportive of all of my naps and lack of energy. They are all pitching in and helping me get through it day by day.  I just take it one day at a time, that seems to be the easiest way to cope with the cancer and treatments and side effects. I'm getting a lot of the expected side effects, but not all of them. I have a plentiful supply of pharmaceuticals to keep the side effects from getting the best of me, which really  helps. I'm halfway through chemo, only three more to go! My last chemo will be at the end of August, after that I'll only have to get herceptin infusions once a month to finish out the year and then I will start taking Tamoxifin (pills) for five years.

Lexie and Charlie's custody court date was moved to August. We really hoped the case would be closed in June, but they extended it for no apparent reason. She has full custody, but she is receiving "services" which are a giant pain in the ass. At her next court date, we hope she is awarded full custody and an end of services. She's so sick of having to take parenting classes and having the social worker "visit" all the time. I am sick of them inspecting our house and constantly telling me that it isn't good enough. I googled this health and safety program that they have Lexie doing, which is the home inspection protocol that they use too. I found a training page for it and it says that the social worker is supposed to find safety infractions so that the parent can improve and learn, and then the social worker can mark those items off as improved. They had stats and all sorts of information about how many parents they've helped improve the health and safety of their homes. The page I found listed some examples of infractions that could be pointed out including that bathtubs and sinks are drowning hazards. Well, no wonder our infraction list is ridiculous and impossible to fix! That's what their goal is! We don't have enough real hazards in our  home, so they have to find something, even if it is the most basic things. Now that I have a better understanding of what they are doing, I feel better about my home. Anyway, we're sure hoping that in August it is all over and we can go back to normal and stop worrying about what they will say next or when they will just pop in and inspect. It's nerve wracking!

Keith has arranged for a little get-away for the family. We're all going up to the mountains and stay in a cabin that belongs to a teacher friend of his. We get to get away and have a "camping" experience in the pine trees while still having all the comforts of a house! So nice! I'm excited to do something fun and not too taxing on my depleted energy supply. The kids can run around and collect pine cones or chase squirrels or something. It'll be fun!  And it'll be something to break up the boredom that the kids are experiencing. They are like caged squirrels right now; we must set them free in the woods!

I saved the best news for last:  Katie and Andrew are expecting baby #3!!!  We're super excited for them! And for us, we just love them and their boys so much. Can't get enough of the little guys! I told Katie that I can't help her in many ways, so I will help by naming her baby for her and then she won't have to worry about that task. I told her to have a boy and I shall name him Winston. I love it!  She doesn't, in fact, I'm having a hard time selling her on the name. It's the least I can do to help her out though, right? I've chosen the gender and the name, all she has to do is have the baby!  I might have to wait and see if the baby is a boy or a girl and let them choose the name. I'm not much help so far. I'll have to see what the baby needs and sew something adorable for little Winston (or whatever they name #3).

That's about it for the updates. In general, we're all doing ok and hanging in there but we all have issues. This isn't turning out to be a great summer, but there is enough good stuff in it to save it. I think we'll all welcome the fall though. It'll be nice to have this summer behind us and move on to better times.