Sew Much Fun!

Madeline was SUPER excited to have Nana staying with us for a couple of weeks because she was able to get her first (of many I predict) sewing lesson!  This girl was literally BEAMING from ear to ear!  I absolutely love seeing her creative talent flourish and look forward to her beautiful fashion creations.  But until Granny or Nana come back for another lesson, she's stuck sewing "baby blankets" for her dolls.  This momma only knows how to sew a semi-straight line.  I never passed my mom's "rag class". LOL!

What's in a name????

Do you ever wonder what animals think about us humans???  Yeah, me neither.  LOL!  I've never really been a dog person, but I've grown up with cats my whole life.  After about a 6 year break we finally gave in to the kids and agreed to welcome a kitten into our home.  Back at the beginning of October we adopted "pumpkin" from our across-the-street neighbors.  I wasn't a fan of the name....they told us the kitten was a girl, and wow did she have the sweetest big blue eyes.  After some careful "encouragement" (ha!) the kids all agreed we should change her name to "Nala", conciendentally we were going through a Lion King revival in our household. 

Here is Chloe showing "Nala" where we got her name...

As time went on, Nala grew in her kitten-like fesity ways - especially perfecting the art of pouncing and nipping at the kids' heels!  Poor Chloe could never seem to understand the word "fiesty" and we got used to hearing, "Momma!!!!!!  Nala is being spicy!!!"  Unfortunately her personality wasn't the only thing that "grew"!  You see, as weeks went by I started to notice a tuft of fur near Nala's tail.  It didn't take long for my suspicions to be confirmed that yes, "Nala" was in fact a boy!  Oh the conversations we had that week in our home....priceless.  "How do you know???"  "Why did she change???"  etc, etc.  You get the picture.  So, after some quick thought we came up with a new (and very appropriate, I might add) name for our feline friend.

I would like to introduce to you..... our very own "SPICY" & orange

QUESO!!!!

Crazy how much he's changed in 3 months, and his name has only changed THREE times too!  LOL!!!!

Do you see what I see????

Two years ago I had the brillant idea to let the kids paint their self portraits.  They turned out so cute, I wanted to make it an annual thing and hang their artwork in the playroom.  We never got around to it last year, even though they were CONSTANTLY reminding me about it.  Something about getting paint out (that isn't washable) makes my skin crawl a little...I don't handle messes well - and especially permanent ones! LOL!

I've been feeling really guilty about not being able to do much with the kids lately since I've been laid up recovering from my surgery.  So, I took a deep breath, told the kids to put on play clothes, and got out the paints.  After I laid down the rules, said a tiny prayer, and took yet another deep breath, I set them loose!!

This is how my kids "see" themselves.

Everyone getting started with their heads!

This looks like serious business! LOL!

Here is Chloe! (just celebrated her 4th birthday!)

Colby, complete with a soccer ball & sun. (age 8)

Madeline, age 6 1/2 (& Queso! LOL!).  She didn't want to stop painting, so she kept adding things.



I can't get over how cute they all turned out!  They are my absolute new favorite things!!!  I'm so thankful I was able to resist the temptation to "help" them.  They picked everything themselves (with the exception that Chloe wanted me to paint the bow in her hair), and that to me makes them all the more special!  I can't wait to hang them in the playroom this evening!

Domestic Divas In Training

Over the past few months the girls have really taken an interest in some of my favortie (and not so favorite) chores.  Amazing how kids can always find "fun" in even the most mundane tasks... (aka ironing, blah!) - is such a thing even possible as "fun" ironing!?!?!  LOL!

Madeline trying her hand at cake decorating.

  This is her 2 tiered fondant covered cake with accent piping.  I'm lovin' this new interest...maybe one day I'll really have my "Momma K's" bakery and she can be my sous chef!  Sounds like a delicious dream to me!!

Ta Da!

She was beaming with pride!  Unfortunately Queso (our 5 month old kitten) got ahold of the cake and knocked it on the kitchen floor.  I've NEVER seen her so upset and angry!  Oh the D-R-A-M-A!!!  LOL!  Thankfully we calmed her down with the consolation prize of getting to eat the part that stayed on the counter.

And her newest passion is sewing!  She got a real sewing machine for Christmas!  Immediately after opening it she said, "Hey Mom, after I get Nana & Granny to teach me, I can teach you!"  LOL! (but alas, she's right!  I got a sewing machine for Christmas 4 years ago and it's STILL in the box!)

Chloe's favorite present this year came from her aunt & uncle.  It's an IRONING BOARD of all things!  LOL!  Oh how wonderful it would be if it really worked!  Maybe if I got a hot pink sparkly spray bottle I'd think ironing was more fun too!  Nah... I doubt it!  LOL!

And the Stone was Blown Away!

Finally, 6 months later and I'm FINALLY starting down the road to recovery!!!  You know how they say "hind sight is 20/20", well, whoever coined that phrase was right!  I still remember back in July, in the midst of my marathon training, having constant pain on my right side.  Little did I know I had a kidney stone (aka "el Jefe") brewing/on the move.  And to think, at the time I thought I was out of shape.  Ha! 

As I mentioned earlier in another post I've been to the emergecy room twice -once in November and once in December.  Unfortunately one visit only partially diagnosed me and the other grossly underestimated my condition.  Kind of scary that two emergency rooms at two different hospitals both messed up, but I suppose that's beside the point.  I was finally able to get an appointment to see a urologist this past Monday.  What I thought was going to be a quick "in & out/pee in a cup" kind of visit actually turned into a 5 HOUR ordeal resulting in surgery!  Who knew!?!?  I should have known something was up when my doctor came bounding in the room and his first words to me were, "Well hello!  Come with me!  You sure are an interesting case!!!"  So I followed him out of the exam room and into his office where he sat me down in his chair (for a better view he claimed) of my "impressive situation". 

Turns out I had a severly infected kidney and a kidney stone the size of a marble (10 mm)!!!! A far cry from the 1mm "bird seed" stone the emergency room claimed I had.  My doctor was so concerned for my condition he immediately handed me some antibiotics and a dixie cup of water.  Lovely.  He then went so far as to tell me that, "You must have REALLY good karma, because someone in your condition well, they shouldn't be walking around."  Seeing as my kidney was so infected he said it could very easily become septic and possibly fatal.  Just what everyone wants to hear!!!  I don't know if it was the shock or my red hair (well, that is my natural color...LOL!) that made me defiantly protest, "I don't have "good karma" sir, I have a good God!"  From  there my life was a whirl wind and I came home those 5 hours later completly deflated and terrified.  I absolutlely HATE needles, blood and anything of the sort.  Not to mention having to sign on the dotted line that YES I understood the risks involved with the procedure and NO I didn't have a living will.  I think I literally spent the rest of the day mourning my situation vegged out in the recliner.  Tuesday was a complete blurr and when Wednesday morning rolled around I had literally made myself sick with worry.  With LOTS of prayer I calmed myself down and Jarred and I arrived at the hospital at 5:25 AM for my 7:00 surgery.

Here I am all hooked up and ready to go!

Supposedly the doctor came to visit with me after the surgery, but I guess I was still under too much anesthesia to remember.  However, Jarred said the doctor came out and told him although he had to "work for his money", the surgery was a success.  He was able to use a laser to crush "el Jefe" and collect the majority of it for testing.  He also had to place a stint in that goes from my kidney to my bladder to help drain and decompress my kidney.  It is also supposed to help reduce the discomfort from further irritating the site of "el Jefe's former residence".  I have yet to feel a "reduction in discomfort" as I'm still nursing pain pills round the clock.  Thankfully, he also said that there was no permanent damage to my body from the stone - something he was pretty concerned about.  

 

Yeah!  All done!

  I dressed head to toe in my favorite color (pink) in hopes it would somehow make me feel better.  Well.... I tried at least!  Morphine definitely goes a lot further! LOL!

So, there you have it.  6 months of misery literally blown away in a little less than 2 hours of surgery.  I must say I had overly optimistic hopes of a "pain-free" recovery, but after 2 days and numerous phone calls to my doctor for what is "normal", reality has set in and I finally feel like I'm making progress.  I will be SO glad when this whole ordeal is just a memory, especially my "restricted diet"... I'm not supposed to eat dairy (aka ice cream), sugar, AND the worst... no CHOCOLATE!  I have to confess I haven't neccessarily followed all those restrictions..hey, a girl needs some comfort! LOL!  Hopefully my stone diagnosis will be back soon and I will have a better idea of what caused this whole mess in the first place!  I only have one thing left to say to sum up how I feel at this point...

"HASTA LA VISTA EL JEFE!!!"