Epic

Although the weather was so supposed to be rainy all day,  it actually turned out to be a very nice, sunny day. The weather was perfect for Christian's "Read Out" at school where all the classes invited families to come read with their child on the front lawn. We had a great time and even enjoyed a few freeze pops while we read!  It was a great way to spent one on one time with Christian.  

This evening we grilled out with Grandma and Grandpa before taking the kiddos to see Epic in 3D!

The movie was very cute and entertained Christian very well.  On the other hand, Bryleigh was quite the handful. She did much better the 1st time we took her to the movies.  Tonight, she refused to keep her glasses on, sit still, and stop talking. I was able to pay attention only sporadically while trying to keep her calm so that we didn't make too much of a scene in the theater! I'm thinking that come June 21 when we go to see Monster University in 3D, Bryleigh will have to miss that one!  But overall, we had a fun eating and you can't beat movie theater popcorn! 

More importantly, Grandma was released from the hospital. She is doing well enough that she can recover at home now until she starts the next phase of treatment!  Praise the Lord, she is on the road to recovery! 

Update!

Grandma had the surgery to remove the brain tumor yesterday.  The surgery took about 2 hours and the neurosurgeon was able to remove 75% of the tumor. Although, she has not been seen by the neuro-oncologist yet, most likely she will receive radiation and chemotherapy to treat the remaining tumor.  Unfortunately, the tumor is malignant but we are continuing to pray for healing!

Grandma has been so calm and relaxed throughout this whole journey.  As she puts it, "If I am unable to be here on earth with my family, then I will be in Heaven with my family."  I can only pray that my faith continues to develop as strongly as hers!  I visited Grandma in ICU yesterday and she was doing great! She looked fabulous for just having had brain surgery and she had her usual spunk.  She was even cracking jokes!  Today,  she was moved out of ICU to the Neurology floor. She is in quite a bit of pain today but that is to be expected.

Our prayers were answered that she successfully made it through surgery. She will have a long journey ahead of her but her strength is never ending so we know that she is fighter!  We love her so much and the kids love their Great Grandma so we would love it if she could be with us for more years to come!

The kids have been so well behaved during visits!  Leap pad's have been a blessing :)

And on another note, Christian has his first baseball practice for the season!  It was a short practice since the weather didn't want to cooperate but we are still excited to watch the Cubs play this summer!

Memorial Weekend

We had a long camping weekend planned for a few months now.  After we received the devastating news about my Grandma last week, we were going to cancel our weekend.  On Friday, I went to the hospital to visit Grandma after work and they informed us that Grandma could come home for the holiday weekend if family  was available at all times to help if needed. So since her 6 sisters and brothers and 2 kids rallied around her to help out, my mom insisted that we go on our camping weekend. So we headed out Friday evening to Wild West Campground in Amherst.

The campground was a small campground but it was perfect. We thought that the place would be packed due to the holiday weekend but it was not at all. It was a great family friendly place with unique events to keep us all entertained.  Although the weather was a bit chilly, we were just happy that it didn't rain! A few of the fun activities included a playground, hayrides, horses to feed and horseback riding which we didn't partake in  on this camping trip but maybe next time, an all you can eat BBQ rib dinner (delicious!), and lot of of food, family, and fun!

This girl likes her coffee!

Our little explorer!

Grandpa made a zip line :)

My new lights :)

Overall, we had a great weekend. It was nice to get away, although it was tough to know that Grandma will be undergoing brain surgery tomorrow. We are praying all goes well and I'm glad that we got to spend all afternoon with her today!  I will keep everyone updated on her surgery tomorrow!  God Bless , especially to all our veterans on this Memorial Day!

Prayers Needed

The past few days have been a blur with everything that has been going on.  My grandma has been having abnormal behaviors the past few months and we have been noticing how she has been confused more often and just acting a bit strange.  On Monday, my sister, mom, and I decided that we needed to take her to the Emergency room to find out what was going on.  She was admitted overnight and they found that she was mixing a combination of medications which was causing her behaviors.  We stopped by to visit on Tuesday night and she appeared to be doing much better as she was starting to walk around independently and hold conversations again. We received a call from Grandpa this morning that Grandma had been laying on the floor for hours and was too weak to get up. We immediately went to their house and called for a non-emergency ambulance to take her back to the ER.  Well after more tests, it was determined that she has a large cancerous mass in her brain. The tumor is located in the frontal lobes which affects behavior and memory.

We are all just in shock right now.  We could all use some prayers right now! And thanks to my hubby watching all 4 kiddos the past few days, Mom, Katie, and I have been able to be by Grandma and Grandpa in this difficult time.

 Grandma was having her MRI when I left the hospital for the night so we are hoping to have an idea of what their treatment plan will be in the morning!  In the meantime,  we will continue to pray!

Year 1 Complete!

I'm so very excited to say that I've finished my first year in the Master's of Social Work Program at UW-Madison!  Only 3 more years to go :)  Phew, it was a long 9 months but I did it. Bryan has been so supportive in this journey and I can't thank him enough.  It has been very tough not having my Saturday's to spend with my family but in the end, it will all be worth it!  I'm excited to be able to to spend the next 3 months of uninterrupted weekend time with my family before starting Year 2 of the program which is the hardest of all the years.  I will definitely enjoy not hearing, "Mommy, do you have to work on your paper again?"

I spend part of the day with my sister, mom, and nieces today enjoying the hot and humid weather!

Denali

Phoenix

Denai and Christian

How many people does it take to carry a baby?

Always happy Ducati!

After lunch, the rest of my day was spent spending quality time with my hubby doing what we dread most...cleaning!  As much as I did not want to clean today, the household chores had taken a backseat the past couple of weeks during final paper crunch time so today we got our house all clean!  Now this week will be spend getting the camper ready for our first camping trip of the season! We can't wait!