The Very Hungry Caterpillar Says...

Happy Halloween!!!

He is actually wearing all black under the costume, and, due to the freezing cold weather, it will be several layers thick. But I thought you would enjoy this picture of the trial run because... well, because look how adorable he is!

  Real Halloween pictures of this Caterpillar and an adorable Minny Mouse coming soon!

Birthday Weekend

So my birthday weekend was all around awesome. Thanks for all the great birthday wishes! Between here on the blog, Facebook and twitter I felt very loved on my day. Which, is what a birthday is for, right? So good job all of you on making me feel special.  You all win at birthdays!

On Friday night Nick's cousin Matt and his girlfriend Blair came into town from South Carolina/Los Angeles (they relocated to LA, but were home in SC for several weeks and drove in from there to visit. I have no idea where to say they are from, but since over the last six years Matt is 'South Carolina Matt' on this blog I feel like it's confusing if he is now LA Matt. Longest pointless blog rant ever).

ANYWAY, we went out to a great dinner and then to a local bar for drinks.  Several friends and family came with us (Thanks Boo, Chris, Candice and Andy!).  While we were there Matt and Blair ran into his old roommate from LA.  Which... okay, was THE MOST RANDOM THING EVER.  Twenty five days before the roommate and his girlfriend got into a car to move to Maine and Blair said "Well... See you never again I guess.."  Then they ran into each other in Kentucky.  Mind=blown.

I took no pictures of Friday night, but Saturday we got up and went to brunch and then out to Keenland.
 

Boo and Missy met us at Brunch. Here we all are after consuming an insane amount of country style breakfast goodness.


And then it was on to Keeneland. Six years ago Matt came to Keeneland when he was here for our wedding. Since that day, he has been trying to schedule a visit so he can come back. It finally happened.
 
And then him and Blair both won on their very first race. It's like six years of waiting actually paid off. (with like $3)

Since it was Halloween weekend Keeneland ads this guy riding around the track. I find him rather creepy. Mainly the face pressed against the shirt front. I am sure you weren't really suppose to notice that, but to me it looks like is soul is trying to escape. (you are welcome for sharing that image. Sleep tight tonight!)

Hanging out waiting for the next race.
 
Cousins

Outside of the track. I really like this one.
 

And a last one of Matt and Blair that's adorable. Thanks for coming guys!

After Keeneland we had family dinner at Nick's mom's house and it was awesome. Chris and Nicole came and Aunt Brenda was also in town from SC...and she didn't even get mentioned in this post. So terrible of me...

but no worries because I have another entire post about that night and our Bob Ross painting experience! I know you can't wait!
 

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday!  And I have had some very special people sing to me already.

The best 22 seconds of my morning.


Followed by the best 29 seconds...

 It's been a really good minute of a birthday that  has already been great.  I have celebrated with two great birthday dinners this week and tonight we have family in town from South Carolina and Los Angeles so it will be an awesome couple of days.  I can't wait!

So happy birthday to me. For my birthday, you can leave me a comment if you like telling me something along the lines of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  YOUR BLOG IS AMAZING!"  (or just "happy bday" will do fine).  Maybe I will get one million comments (or maybe like 20) and it will make my birthday even better!

**Thank you so much for my sweet comments on my last post.  They mean more to me than I can say.  Things are going very well.  Your support and prayers are truly appreciated by my entire family.**
 

Missy

Over the past several weeks our family has quietly been struggling through very difficult days. We found out that Missy's cancer has started growing again and that her treatment plan was no longer working.  There was a trip to the NIH and a new plan was set.  We are now in the window of time where we wait.  We wait to see if this new medicine has an effect.  We wait to see what the future holds.  There isn't much more to say on it than that.  We are waiting.  Holding our breath while we see if this treatment is effective.  We are huddling together as a family, praying for healing and praying for peace in our hearts over this time of unknowns.  We are enjoying our time together, laughing and crying and trying to not spend too much time thinking of the unknown future, but enjoying the now.  All while praying, praying, praying...

I haven't mentioned this on here for several reasons, but mainly because this is all very personal for Missy, and I didn't want to talk about it until she was okay with me doing so.  I am not sure how much I will talk about the details of this battle here, but I will ask you if you can, to please pray with us. Please pray for Missy, for my parents, for all of us, as we wait and see.

I will continue to blog like normal, because it is an outlet for me, and I enjoy it.  But know as blog posts go up about pumpkin patch trips, preschool, and things at work, that the major thing going on in my life right now is this.  And this is all very hard on our hearts.

 

Six Years Ago Today...

We were here

 Every single day since, both amazing days and heart breaking days, have been better because we are together. I am a lucky, lucky girl.

  Happy Anniversary to us!

Random Pictures

I am working on organizing family pictures for my parents for Christmas (MERRY CHRISTMAS MOM AND DAD!! SURPRISE!) (They are in the pictures, so they totally know about them. I didn't just ruin Christmas ) and because of that, I have been running around like a crazy lady trying to get outfits and make plans for this photo event. My amazing Aunt Donna is taking the pictures for us, and they will be outside at Waveland.  I can't wait to see how they turn out.

  Since my mind is consumed with family stuff and and these photos, so I am just going to cop out of any real post today. Rather than ramble on about how you feel about us all wearing different shades of the brown family ( too much brown or complementary and yet not matching?? TIME AND PHOTOGRAPHY WILL TELL! ) I will show you some random pictures from a picnic last week... also at Waveland, because apparently we are addicted to that historical site. I am not there (work. annoying) but Henry was and the pictures are adorable. And I enjoy posting enjoyable things on my blog. So enjoy the enjoyable pictures. 

 
Seriosuly. how sweet are they?

 

love.


The girls. Missy meeting baby Quinn.
 
Someone is amazed with Nanny's witch hat cookies!
 
I think everyone needs a place with a miniature log cabin playhouse


Waveland, we like you.  We will see you again on Saturday. We will be the family in brown.

A Day at the Pumpkin Patch

So I know my last post is all about how sick Henry was on Friday night, and now I am going to post a ton of pictures from the pumpkin patch on Saturday. And I bet you are like "I thought he was sick??"

 On Saturday afternoon I would have said "Man, this kid can boot and rally!" but on Sunday I would have hung my head in shame and told you that we POSSIBLY pushed him into doing too much too soon. The boy was awake a total of seven hours on Sunday. The rest of the day he slept. And if we asked if he was okay he would say 'My tummy is really tired...".  It was pretty pitiful.

 But we didn't know that on Saturday! Saturday was a simple day of fun at the patch! Want to see?
 
Don't they look excited?? (The really did have fun. I swear)

See, FUN! Especially when Papa lets you stand on a pumpkin!
 
Or when you play in the little playhouse
 
Or feed the goats!
 
Or ride a pony!!

Seriously, they have PONIES at the pumpkin patch... could it get cooler??
 
 Oh yeah, we also picked pumpkins. A key to a successful trip to the patch.

"I have decided I want all of these..."
 
"It's just so hard to decide.."

The Bio Girl family
 
Boo, Chris and Cici, also in the giant chair
 

All in all, a good day at the patch.

 

Preschool Plague #2 (yes, already)

And on the second Friday of Preschool, I will send upon you a plague of vomit.

~Somewhere in the bible I think

(if you don't like blog posts about vomit you might want to skip this one.  You have been warned)

We are two for two on Friday illnesses around here.  Henry only went to preschool one day this week.  Just Thursday.  How could he possibly pick up a new bug so fast?  But on Friday he put himself to bed for his nap time at Aunt Boo's house.  She jsut walked into her room and found him asleep in her bed.  And when she tried to wake him up a few hours later he just kept saying how tired he was.  He walked into the house and Nick realized right away something was off.   He was pale and had dark circles under his eyes.  He climbed up in Nick's lap and asked him to sing "Hush Little Baby".

You all... that is not normal.  Sickness alarm bells started sounding.


Nick sang to him, and about half way through the song he started holding his stomach and saying 'Ow... my tummy..."  Nick asked if he needed to throw up, Henry announced that yes, he thought that was a great idea.  Then he requested we take his shirt off so he doesn't get throw up on it.

God, my kid is awesome, even when sick.  He is thinking about the vomit laundry his Mama will have to do later and he is doing his part to keep it at a minimum.

The bug lasted about twelve hours, with around ten vomit events in it.  Every single one made it in a bowl or toilet. 

My kid=throw up rock star.

He is now in the tub playing with his boat.  He announced that his belly 'Feels REALLY REALLY BETTER!"  But we are still taking it slow.  Better safe than sorry.  But I have my fingers crossed that plague #2 is moving into the past.  At least the part that includes Henry throwing up.  Now we wait and worry if Mama and Papa might get this one too...

Screw you Preshcool.  Again.

An Endo Update

Hey, you know that endometriosis I have and used to talk about all the time, and now never talk about? Let's go ahead and talk about that today.  Sound good? 

Over the last few weeks I have had several people ask how I am feeling, how I am doing, what's going on with the endo thing we used to talk about ALL THE TIME? And with the questions I realized that I really haven't talked about it in months.  MONTHS.  And that alone is an update in and of itself.  My endomteriosis hasn't had to be a topic of conversation on the blog since my second surgery back in May.  It blows my mind.

Not to say it isn't still a subject in our house. It does still bother me.  The last two days in particular have actually been pretty rough, which is funny since my mother in law asked about it on Tuesday and I was like "I am fine! "  Then that night I thought I had food poisoning or something and then it hit me, "Oh damn... this terrible cramping is my endo...".  So I took medicine and I felt a little better.  Yesterday it was worse, but I took a hot bath, I tried to take it easy, and this morning I am feeling a closer to normal.

The IUD is magic.  Like, I cannot tell you enough about how much of a difference it has made.  Mainly because I no longer have periods. At all.  And for a girl with endometriosis who had two week long periods full of nothing but misery, that is AWESOME.  I still spot sometimes.  More than sometimes, several times a month I randomly start spotting, and with that spotting comes endo pain.  But it usually lasts less than 48 hours and it is NOTHING like what I used to deal with.  I am not sure I would like this IUD at all if I didn't have endo.  I wouldn't suggest a random person go out and get one, because the unexpected spotting is annoying, but for ME, it has been magic.

Over the last few weeks I have started having a sharp pain on my left side during the spotting.  And that feels worrisome due to the lack of an ovary on that side.  What is it that's hurting?  But I am trying to not spend too much time worrying about it. I am trying to enjoy this pain free(ish) time.  I am trying to enjoy feeling as close to normal as I have felt in years in the female reproductive organ department.  So I am not talking about it, because the struggles are just so minimal compared to what I was dealing with six months ago .  And for now, I will take it and stay quite, with the hopes to not jinx anything...

 

Nieem's Minecraft 8th Birthday Bash!

This past weekend we got to celebrate our nephew Nieem's 8th birthday! His mom and Chris had him an amazing Minecraft themed party, which was absolutely incredible!  I don't really know a lot about Minecraft except for what Nieem has told me (It's REALLY AWESOME, and SO SO FUN and you can make snowmen, but they are square, but that's okay because EVERYTHING is square.), but even I could tell this party was pretty great

 The birthday boy with his  Minecraft t-shirt and his gold sword. How sweet is this boy?

Apparently in the game minecraft you collect items like diamonds, sticks and string, then you can take them to a shop and trade them in for items. So Nicole had a scavenger hunt in the back yard (Here is Henry finding a diamond. SCORE! )...

Then she had a shop set up inside where they could trade in their scavenger hunt treasures for awesome items. Like this torch...

 Or this diamond sword.
 
Henry really liked his sword.
 
Then the kids got to attack this... thing. It's something to do with Minecraft. I am sure of that... a Minecraft monster? I think he is pretty important to the game.

The Minecraft monster was no match for a group of 8 year olds with swords and torches. Really nobody would have stood a chance.

They also had pinata, which is always awesome. (and will sometimes land you on America's Funniest Home Videos, which I might watch too often because it was all I could think of when the kids started swinging that stick, but everyone at the party was safe and the pinata was great)

Henry liked it a lot (The pinata was too heavy to stay tied up, hence it sitting on the grill)
 
Pinata madness!
 
They had other adorable decorations, which I will share just in case you are looking at this post because you googled 'Minecraft Birthday Craft Ideas'. Hello there! I doubt you are even reading, but if you are, welcome to Bio Girl!

Minecraft is all done in blocks, so this is exactly what a tree looks like in the game. So cute.

Kinda creepy with the red eyes, but awesome!  They had several and are leaving them up for Halloween. 
 
Steve, the pinata mask
 
Birthday cake
 
Can you tell that Nieem loved it??
 
 Just a good shot of our family. I sorta love it
 

And a final one of the birthday boy with Chris and Nicole. Adorable!

 Happy Birthday to Nieem!!

Great job to Nicole and Chris. Is was all perfect and we loved being a part of it!