Farewell, Middle School

When Josh finished elementary school and chose which middle school he wanted to attend (based solely on friends) we were told that the 2 years spent in middle school would fly by, and they weren't kidding! We enjoyed our time at Diegueno Middle School as well as his teachers and the administration which make it hard to leave, but we don't have a choice in the matter as these kids of ours won't stop growing up no matter how much I beg and plead with them to no avail.

And the day finally came where Josh promoted from Middle School and at this time he had just changed his mind and switched from SDA to LCC.

Wow, CLASS OF 2022!!

We arrived extra early as I wanted to get a seat at this extra casual promotion!

Hardly anyone was around when we arrived.

The band came out and started playing (and they were surprisingly good)!

All of the students walked in and I should add that this seemed like the hottest day of the year

My poor handsome son cooking away for an hour in the hot sun

Principal Copeland who after this school year has decided to return to teaching

You can see how packed in it got and what you can't see are the smart people in the tree shade way in the back or those who were in the shade behind me on the ramp down when this photo was taken!

First speaker was a very emotional girl and we could hardly understand her.

The second speakers were a team of girls who came through the Spanish language immersion program in the elementary school district and in a weird twist they had the Hispanic girl speak Spanish and the Caucasian girl speak English, which in my opinion should have been switched around!!

This kid did a great job of speaking to the students and remembering the fun times they all had! His last line is one I will never forget as we're in the gaming age with our boys..."PubG is better than Fortnite" and as my boys are obsessed with fortnite, this was music to my ears, lol!

My 4 munchkins who have all my heart!

Family photo on this hot, hot day!

Grandma and Grandpa Teffeteller made the trip up to see Josh's promotion!

As did Grandma and Grandpa Kabo

And Grammy who sat in the shade of the trees with Faith and Nicco for the ceremony (they are the smart ones in the family)!

Faith and her boyfriend Nicco and now you can see why they sat in the shade, wearing all black!

Mom and dad while we're still his favorite people!

So much love for my oldest boy and I am beyond proud of him for all of his efforts in middle school!

With his vice principal on the left and principal on the right, both of whom stepped down to take positions working directly with students instead of in administration!

Afterwards, my son picked Islands, his favorite restaurant (because of their veggie burgers) and his friends changed their plans and all joined us there!

Such a great day, had by all! So proud of you Josh for being such a good student, friend, son, and brother! Your grades were remarkable through middle school and we know you'll keep them up as you do the next 4 in high school! Welcome to the big leagues now, but you'll always be my baby in my heart!

Spring Break 2018

As our boys are in different schools, their breaks don't quite line up. Zach and Ben have 2 weeks of Spring break while Josh has only one which luckily is his brothers 2nd week.

A little while back, Sean and I decided that it would be good for Sean to bring one boy to Florida when he travels there as long as that boy is on a school break. So, here are photos of Zach and daddy in Florida during his first week of Spring break! Sean travels often to Florida and said he always wants to do the fan boat tours through the Everglades, but doesn't because he's traveling alone for work and can spend his extra time in his hotel room working uninterrupted (by me, lol). Now that Zach joined him he was able to do all those things and more.....

They started their trip out with renting a Mustang, the first surprise for Zach!

When in Florida, you've gotta do the Swap/Everglades/Fan Boat Tour

And of course that includes holding a young alligator

And having the ranger scare you with a huge scorpion 

And after wards, there's nothing like a good trip to the beach

My water baby, loves the beach and I'm sure the clear, warm waters of Florida were a much needed change from our still cold waters.

And you can imagine how well Zach slept that night!

Another day and another treat

Bike riding with daddy to find fancy cars in Miami and Ft Lauderdale areas

Just a bike ride isn't enough for these two on their adventure 

They rented and rode around on a moped for an afternoon. 

 Because Sean was there for business they had to do some work, which included a few boring inspections and marketing meals with the attorneys Sean is working for.

Let me just say that not only did Zach have a great time, but Sean did too. Now we have two more boys who want to do this and have a trip away with daddy. Hopefully Josh will be able to go sometime over the summer and Ben in another year or two, because he's too still little!

St Patrick's Day and the Sneaky Leprechaun

In my quest to celebrate EVERYTHING in life post cancer diagnosis, we started doing the "Leprechaun" every St. Patrick's Day. I think he's normally supposed to create messes, but I don't want to have to clean them up. In the past we have done green balloons on the kids bedroom floors, made green streamers hanging from doors, used washable paint to leave "footprints" on the toilet. The favorite of my children has been the scavenger hunts.

Sean along with Zach and Ben were camping over St. Patrick's Day weekend, so I wouldn't be able to do it for Zach and Ben, but didn't want them to miss it. Zach and I came up with a plan that he was going to do it in the motor home while I did Josh here at home. Another problem is that we usually do Rolo's for the candy, but now Josh has braces and can't eat that. So I made a brace friendly treat this year and made it easy so Zach could do it in the motor home!!

Josh's treat at home. 

Treats in the motor home and then a photo with the "mess"

Floor "mess" I simple purchased pre-cut clovers from amazon for around $5 as it was the easiest way for the leprechaun to make a mess that's easily cleaned up in the motorhome. After picking Sean, Zach, Zach and Ben up from their camping trip we made our way to Sean's high school BFF's house for their welcome baby party.

 There's almost nothing as sweet as a new baby

However seeing my husband and son hold the baby, may be sweeter than holding him myself!

Recipe for Leprechaun treat:

It's so simple that I'm sure I don't need to add the recipe, but here it is.

I purchased one can of Wilton Color Mist in gold and followed the directions to spray it on golden oreos. (Yes I know they're already gold, but I wanted them really gold and regular oreos just don't color as well). I sprayed it on the Oreos which were placed on parchment paper.

The color mist is fairly pricey ($4-$5 a can) and doesn't last very long, but I was able to completely cover 15 cookies. Which worked out to 5 each for my 3 boys!

Then I made a rainbow out of MnMs because skittles which I usually use are an off limits food for Braces! The brown MnMs even looked like purple in the rainbow, and one of my boys asked how I got purple MnMs!!

Plain golden oreos, if you do regular oreos plan on using at least 2 cans of color mist

Directions are also on the color mist bottle. I purchased mine at Walmart, but have seen them at craft stores as well.

And after one coat, then I flipped them and sprayed the other side.

Happy Half Birthday!!

Two days ago, on day 3 of this 4th chemo round, it hit me that the day before (March 9th)was Zach’s half birthday and that Josh and Faith’s were 4 days away (March 14th) when Sean would be out of town in Florida for work. Feeling like a horrible mom for forgetting, I decided we could celebrate by going to the movies as I could sleep and then out to lunch where we could buy them each a dessert after wards and “celebrate” it that way. Our usual way is for them to pick what they want us to make for dinner and to celebrate with a mini cake or large cupcake bought from the store. This year, on chemo, my getting all that done was impossible. So we made do with the movies and lunch at BJs with pazookies.

I know what you’re thinking...”half birthdays,” so let me explain. In my attempt to live life to its fullest we celebrate everything and the way I see it is by celebrating half birthdays, that’s more birthdays I’ll be able to celebrate with them. Knowing you’re not going to live a long full life like most really puts things into perspective and is what makes me want to get busy living!!

I’ll admit that I pushed myself way too hard. It breaks my heart that I lay in bed the 5 days a month that I’m on chemo. I really don’t want my kids to remember me like that. That thought breaks my heart and brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. Thank God I have such an amazing husband to care for them when I can’t.

All 3 boys at the movies to watch Black Panther. It was PG-13 and we almost never let Ben see those movies and are just now starting to allow Zach to watch them as Josh started in 6th grade. It was definitely too intense for Ben, but the other 2 really enjoyed it. Faith has already seen it twice (and this was actually Josh's 2nf time).

Josh and Zach were the only ones to go to lunch with us, but Faith is eating super healthy currently so she isn't eating out and no desserts. Both Josh and Zach ordered a Pazookie from BJs, but Ben and I finished them as they were stuffed!!

Once home, I got a photo of my 3 half birthday kids. and then one of all of them! I love how much they love each other!!

My 4 babies!!

And, just so you know...round 4 is complete!!! Only 2 more chemo rounds to go!

Half Way Baby!!!

My 3rd round of chemo was delayed because my platelets were low. They were 96k when they had to be at least 150k, so I had to wait a week and start chemo after they went back up. Waiting that week worked!!

For those who don't know, my chemo is 5 days of oral chemo (no having to go to the hospital and sit in a chair for hours) and 23 days off. Each session is 28 days or basically a month. I am not allowed to touch the pills, because they're a strong poison, but I swallow them, so they sit in my stomach, which has always seemed strange to me.

As my chemo was delayed this round, it ended up working out perfectly because Sean went to Mexico fir the weekend with his high school best friend, Victor and Victor's family. So, I wasn't home alone with the kids on the weekend of my chemo. I also have a half marathon I want to run on March 4th, so this will push back next month's chemo and I won't have to cancel my half marathon!!! Win-win, right there.

So I started my chemo a week late and got through it again without getting the flu this time, like I did last month. As this is my 3rd round of chemo, I am now HALF WAY BABY!!! SO happy for this little milestone and to finally feel like I'm counting down!

This is how good (ok awful) I am at blogging and how well my brain works...I am half way through round 4 and just realized that I never “published” this one. So much for one a week!! I’ll try to be better. I have several blog posts in my head now.

First scan of the year!

I had a mini vacation with my family at the Great Wolf Lodge, which I'll write about time when I have a chance. Anyhow I left in the afternoon on our last day to drive up to LA while Sean drove home with the kids. Once at Cedars Sinai for my MRI, the President's State of the Union Address came on, and I missed in as I was called back right after.

Admitted into the hospital and waiting for my MRI. First time I had an MRI the night before seeing my oncologist and there was so much scanxiety!!

This was the first time they gave me pants to wear for my MRI. And they were knotted so loose that I felt like I was in a weight loss ad. #ChemoDiet, lol!! Only I gain weight on chemo...

And here are the images of my MRI. The two photos on the left are on my most recent scan and the two on the right are of my post surgery scan. You can see the far left and the far right scans are similar and the two he compared the most. The white "margins" are where the tumor lies and there is more in the recent scan on the left. That is definitely scary to me, but he assured me that it was a good thing because it has to do with scar tissue and radiation.

Overall, it was a good visit and he said everything looks good. So, I'm happy with this and trying not to think about the scar tissue.