Shrinking and Disappearing - Praise God

Granny has been taking chemotherapy, and on March 23rd she had a CT scan to see if the chemo was helping shrink the tumors. The doctor reported to her that the tumors are shrinking drastically, and some of them are gone only leaving behind a scar! We give all of the praise to God! We love Granny and want her to be back to normal soon. With Spring approaching she would love to be out working in her yards. I hope that she'll be able to do that this season. Of course, she's got someone that does the hard work, the mowing and edging, but I would love to see her able to plant flowers and take care of her roses like she loves to do so much.

On another note, when the storm came through last week and the schools closed at 1:00, I took the kids to stay with Granny. She was feeling good and wanted them to visit. I took a few movies over there so they would be occupied. Granny spends a lot of time in bed so she's got a t.v. and dvd player in her room. Before I left I put on a movie and made sure everyone was good to go. When I returned they were all still laying in the bed watching t.v., so I climbed in!



(Notice Rylan's "fake" sleeping!)

Welcome My Little Brother - Kolton Gage Turvin

On February 25, 2009 my family welcomed my little brother into the world. He is so sweet and precious.

My boys don't really understand how they have an uncle that's younger than them. When I told Rylan that he was his uncle he said, "Ya, if he was like 25 or something."

Daddy, Amanda, and Kolton came to visit us on March 28th, so Kolton was a month old. We couldn't believe how much he had grown. He is now 11 lbs. Rylan and Kaden both enjoyed the company.



But Kaden was a little more "stand-off-ish". He didn't really want to help feed him or hold him much. But Rylan did. He took the baby, laid him in his lap, fed him, and watched Kungfu Panda!



My daddy and Amanda are so blessed to have this little baby in their lives. He's happy and healthy and loved, especially by his Big Sister!

The Boys' First Helicopter Ride (3/21/09)

The boys had their first helicopter ride at Ft. Rucker on Saturday. I was actually going to ride with them, until I got up to the gate and realized that the helicopter didn't have doors, so I chickened out & let Robert ride instead. After they paid to ride we waited in line for about 2 hours.




We watched several helicopters take off and land, so I decided that it didn't look that scary, but by then Robert was excited and wouldn't let me ride in his place. So I watched as my 3 boys, Robert, Rylan, and Kaden, flew off in a helicopter.



And I was so thankful when they landed! They had a great time & Robert said I would not have liked the ride b/c the pilot made the helicopter go in reverse & take a nose dive! No, I wouldn't have liked that!! But the boys loved it!

Enuff Said

Smile Rylan. Hold Still!

This is what happens when you give your boys your cell phone for entertainment in the grocery store.

Daylight Saving Time

I know it's only been a couple of days, but I'm having a hard time adjusting to this time change. I love to stay outside late, actually until the sun goes down, walking or watching my kids play and ride their bicycles. Which, of course, leads to me having to stay up later to get everything done around the house. And then, it seems like I've just fallen asleep when the alarm clock sounds. Oh! and did I mention ~ it's still dark outside! Monday morning, the first day of school for the kids after Daylight Saving Time, when Robert went to wake them they said, "Why are you waking us up in the middle of the night?" Truly, it feels like I'm waking up in the middle of the night too. I can't wait until my body ~ and mind ~ gets used to this!

Girly Girl? Not at all. You can call me a Tomboy!

All of my life I have been a Tomboy. I spent the long summer days of my childhood riding my bike (barefoot, of course!), jumping on my trampoline, climbing trees, and playing in the ditch making mud pies. Don't get me wrong, I love make-up and getting my hair done and shopping for shoes and purses. But I'm just, deep down, not a girly-girl. I am so thrilled to have been blessed with two little boys. I don't know what I would do with a girl. Friday night I helped my dear friend, Jen, with a spa party for her little girl, Nyela, who is turning 9. She had a bunch of little girls with honey and oatmeal masks on their faces, cucumbers on their eyes, soaking their feet in a foot spa, and painting each others nails. Not the kind of birthday party we have at my house! I really enjoyed spending time with the girls and with Jen, but it was just so out of my element. That same day, Kaden had to bring an orange show-and-tell to school. Out of everything in his playroom, he chose to take my orange General Lee Matchbox car from the Dukes of Hazard. He thought it was awesome that it was a toy that his mama used to play with, and even cooler that the car was as old as his dad! Too bad I don't still have my big, yellow, metal dump truck. I really enjoyed using it to run over Mandy's Barbie dolls!

3 Years Ago Today....

I lost my mom, my best friend! and Heaven gained an Angel! Pray for me today that I can be strong. I have a lot in life to be thankful for, and I am very thankful every day for my many blessings. This morning, as I was headed to take Kaden to school, the song "I Can Only Imagine" by MercyMe was playing on the radio. My cousin Tim sang this song at my mama's funeral. I have only heard the song maybe twice since then (and I turn it without listening to it every time). So, this morning, I felt like that was her way of saying "I'm still here!" Needless to say, I can't type this without tearing up, and I can't listen to that song without crying, but I know she's in a better place. A far better place than we are in. I want to live the longest life I can, but I am so thrilled that I will be able to see my mama again one day! Praise God!

Just Catching Up.....

I haven't blogged in a while, so it's time to catch up. Granny's home and doing great. She started her first round of chemotherapy yesterday. She's very optimistic, which is half of the battle. The boys finished up basketball for this season. They played with Covenant United Methodist Church. Of course, the team consisted of mostly friends, i.e. Troy and Trey.





This weekend was jam-packed with birthday parties. We went to one Friday night, two Saturday, and one Sunday. One was for Troy, but we went out to eat with him on Monday night to acknowledge his "actual" birthday. Here are the wild boys at Logan's:

And these are their silly faces:

Notice the wood slats behind them? This is known as the "cow pen" to me, Tracy H, and Melissa. This is the table we prefer to get at Logan's so we can trap the boys!

Oh, and I colored my hair brown this weekend. I haven't decided if I like it or not. But, I think I do.

But why is it that if you have a gray hair, it is gonna stick straight up?!

And, this is just a cute picture of Kaden this morning, on the way to school, wearing the glasses his daddy wore as Magnum P.I. at Halloween.

I hope all is well with all of you!!

Granny's Back Home

Granny got out of the hospital Tuesday, January 13th. She was so happy to be home. She is a little weak, but she is resting well. Of course we had to go to her house that night so that Kaden could make her "comfty". He tucked her in to bed and made sure she was o.k. before we left. Then he told her if she needed anything, just call him. Rylan told me that if Granny said she felt better it was because he prayed for her. He said that after their pledge at school they have quiet time, and he uses this time to pray for people. What wonderful boys I have!!

Slumber Party

My sweet friend Tracy had her tonsils removed before Christmas. To help her out one night, her son Troy, which is one of my boys' best friends, spent the night with us and I took them all to school the next day. Well, you can imagine what a chore it was to get 3 little boys to go to sleep at the same time. I let them veg-out in the living room and watch a movie thinking they would get sleepy. Well, they did, so I turned off the lights and left the room. Then I hear Troy calling me to tell me that he is afraid of the dark. After turning on several lights in the house to find one that was not too bright, I finally settled on turning back on the t.v. I turned it to a music channel that was playing some really boring Christmas music, which put them right to sleep. As you see in the picture, Kaden slept on the couch, Troy slept on the chair and ottoman, and Rylan got his pallet just as close to Troy as he could while sleeping on the floor. This was a fun night! Boys are great!!

CANcer

The week before Christmas my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. She has been having pain in her stomach for about 2 years, but never had a colonoscopy. Well, she finally had one and it revealed a mass that had to be removed. So, yesterday, Monday Jan. 5th, she went in for surgery. They removed the mass from her colon and the tissue surrounding the colon. Previous tests had indicated a spot on the liver, but the doctor did not find one on further inspection. So, now she's in the hospital waiting to recover from surgery, go home, and wait for tubes to be put in for chemotherapy, probably at the end of the month. I am hopeful that she will come through this with flying colors and I am relying on God to pull her through.