Our extended weekend was a whirlwind of activity interspersed with moment of complete slacksidasial (<= my own new word) non-activity.
Friday was a fantastic day with Rachael. Peter and I got to take mass amounts of cookies and juice in for her class and there is just something special about handing out sugar to first graders and then walking out to leave the teacher with these hopped up kids. Our work here is done! The evening was spent opening presents and eating at her favorite restaurant of all times, Chili’s. She was just fantastically the center of the day and loved every minute of it.
Saturday night Peter and I were treated to a date night, including dinner AND a movie! In the past 10 years Peter and I have made opening weekend on 4 movies…we are proud to add Indiana Jones to that esteemed list. It was ok, but it’s hard to enjoy an action flick where you’re constantly concerned that the hero is going to fall and break a hip and not be able to reach his medical alert alarm and let anyone know “I’ve fallen in a 4000 year old cave and I can’t get up!” Pete and I had a great time together though, we’re lucky like that, we enjoy each other’s company even when there’s not much thrilling going on. We make our own party!
Sunday we were treated to a phenomenal outing, one I would highly recommend for anyone who gets the chance. A friend watched Peyton so that we could take the two older kids and join Peter’s mom for the Broadway show “The Lion King”. It was flat out amazing, the kids were enthralled, the adults were equally impressed. We just loved it, the music was tremendous and the costumes were out of this world. Peyton would have loved the first hour of it and then been ready to hit the road, especially when the scenes got darker and scarier. I’m so grateful to my mother in law for offering us this chance to take the kids to such an incredible event, it’s something we’ll all remember for a long time.
Today Peter had to leave to head back to work, we were all so sad, it doesn’t seem to be getting easier. The nice thing is that we have the summer ahead and we have a lots of time to go up and spend with Daddy.
The kids have their last day of school on Wednesday, although Nathaniel will be continuing the school experience for a lot longer than most. He’s had what we’ll refer to as “A ROUGH WEEK”. Let’s see…
Monday – he got in trouble for failing to get work done at school (that he had all the time in the world to finish, and by his own admission he “forgot to finish it”) and then didn’t bring home the supplies he would need to do his homework.
Tuesday – Senator Rhonda Storms came in to talk to his class, and Nathaniel and his gang of merry men got in trouble for not paying attention and finding, when I’m positive, were much more amusing ways to spend that time.
Wednesday – He was involved in a….prepare yourself…a FOOD FIGHT! It wasn’t an Animal House type food fight, really more of a tossing of snack bars, but still…he got in trouble for a food fight.
Thursday – My future lawyer got in hot water because he and his food fight compadres had to eat their lunch in solitary. I don’t know if this was the brightest plan in the history of punishments…let’s take a group of kids who have way too much fun together, so much fun they are constantly getting in trouble and let’s sit them all at a table together…but that’s just my opinion. They were told to “eat their lunch and NOT speak!” Nathaniel got in trouble for using sign language to circumvent that order. Not speaking!
Friday – All I asked was that he didn’t burn down the school or hold up a liquor store and I would consider it a good day.
So, to this point, his punishments are:
1. He was grounded from all video games, to include but not limited to gaming systems, both stationary and handheld, computer games of all sorts, any gaming located at home, school, a friend’s house, the CCC, even the demos at Best Buy…he’s not even allowed to WATCH other people play, because he gets a lot of enjoyment out of that as well. In case you thnk that’s a bit overkill, please read #2.
2. He lost his IPod privileges, which was not as clearly defined….causing my future lawyer son to try to find a loophole…at dinner with his sisters and Grandma, he tried to pull one over on Grandma. Using the argument that he could listen to Peyton’s Ipod because it wasn’t HIS IPod, he came up against the brick wall that is “Let’s take that one up with your mother when she gets home”.
3. He was given 3 options for the food fight punishment…he chose to do homework over the summer. Every weekday, he has to complete a yet undecided amount of school work before he is allowed to do anything else. Homework all summer. You know the other two options were pretty bad for THAT to be his preference.
He only has 1 ½ days left of school for the year. I pray that he’s going to make it without a flogging or starting a gang riot. He’s such a 10 year old boy it’s ridiculous, pushing his boundaries and finding that his friends are more fun than anything school could offer. It’s hard to argue with that, because I remember the 4th grade, I remember all the good times I had with my friend, the sleepovers, the lunchtime laughs….I DO NOT, however, remember the capitals of the 50 states, I DO NOT remember all the counties of Indiana, and everything I know about the War of 1812 was learned on the History Channel in the past couple of years. But I’m crossing my fingers that he’ll be smarter than me and take advantage of his education and use that stellar brain of his to go along with his overdeveloped sense of humor and ability to logic his way out of most situations. Staying one step ahead of this kid is getting harder every day.
Tomorrow Peyton and I head to the clinic for her fingerpoke and counts. With the restart of chemo two weeks ago, I’m hoping her counts have stayed steady. She’s doing really well post-sickness. Every sore is gone, her energy is back up, she looks great and besides her hair still falling out…not as much and not as fast, but still definitely thinning…she is the picture of cancer health. She ate like a farmhand the week following her steroids, lots of eggs, broccoli and blueberry muffins. Her constipation issues are finally and totally a thing of the past! YEAH!!!! However, we have gone over to the opposite end of that spectrum, but that’s so much better than the pain she’s been in for almost a month.
Thursday the kids and I will be heading down to the Clear Channel radio studio to tape a “something” for the upcoming All Children’s Radio-telathon. Last year we did the Miracle Network telethon that ran on the tv, this year it’ll be via radio. I’m not sure exactly what we’ll be saying or how it’ll come about, but we were invited by Tammy, who was our personal chauffer for the Day of Pampering for the Fashion Funds the Cure show Peyton was a part of. She is a tremendous lady and when she found out we were an All Children’s family she immediately asked us if we’d come be a part of it. We love our hospital! We have always felt well taken care of, I have so much confidence in the team that leads Peyton’s care, and I feel blessed that we have this fantastic facility available to us. We know far too many people who spend months apart from their families to receive treatment and Peyton is able to get everything she needs here at the hands of some fabulous nurses and doctor that she adores.
Following that, I’m taking the kids on a road trip to Daytona to see my mom and dad and our friends, the Garcias (owners of the offending GIRL PANTS) for a couple of quick days.
It’s starting off to be a busy and fun summer, we are looking forward to some great trips north and a lot of fun locally. I wish we had the time and ability to do some big family vacation, but these days, just getting to be together is a treat.
We continue to ask for prayers for so many:
the Gunn family,
the Deal familiy….so many in need of our faithful prayers.
f.r.o.G….fully relying on God
–Anissa
