Post Christmas Gingerbread Houses and other January Randoms

January 2012

First of all, I would like to say THANK YOU to the family that donated their table and chairs to us. We've never had a new table or chairs. Our first table was given to us by a church friend and we bought some slightly mismatched and scratched chairs for it at a going out of business sale. Throughout our nearly 12 years of marriage we've had to say goodbye to several of our chairs. Many slow motion falls have happened throughout the years resulting an a pile of wooden rubble beneath our not so skinny behinds. So for a family of six, down to three chairs, we've been using upside down laundry baskets and Oliver's shower chair for our family dinners and the like. A wonderful stranger heard of our need and gladly gave us her table and six chairs. Bringing to mind a line from the movie Robots 'See a need... Fill a need'. I'm in love with the table already because it has a leaf in it and is so much bigger than our other one. We do so much at our kitchen table that I am thrilled to have gotten it. It will be in good hands... well... crafty hands. It will be well used. :O) So... here are some pictures of us actually making Gingerbread Houses... er... Graham cracker... er... candy houses! I don't have the patience or time to make my own gingerbread so graham crackers it is! ENJOY!!!

GINGERBREAD HOUSES
We invited Ed's brother, Danny and his wife, Jamie over with their little ones.

I dyed the 'glue' pink this year. Eden getting ready to add some goodies!

Oliver putting his house together with dad.

Someone sent Oliver this awesome Cubs shirt with his name on the back!

Laughing at his house. Not sure if he liked it or not. I'm sure Ed was probably making fun of his own building skills.

Daddy helping Finny with our house.

"Yes, Finn... please wipe that frosting right on your jammies... go ahead."

Mine and Finny's finished house. I think he's saying "CHEESE!"

Eden would do a nice smiling pic for me so here she is in all her geeked out glory!

Carson, age 2, Jamie, Phineas, age 2

Kaylee and Daddy's house looks like it was condemned... hence the boo hoo look on Danny's face!

Darling pic of my nephew, Carson, who is 3 months older than my Phineas.

Ed showing us all the sweet houses. And no... we do NOT eat the candy off the houses.

JANUARY RANDOMS
The boys all fell asleep together on Ollie's bed in the living room. I love how Jaren's hand is ALWAYS in his pants...

Oliver sitting at the table drawing in a Harry Potter sketchpad I got him for Christmas.

Playing with play dough. Making pizzas.

A nice balloon bouquet someone sent Oliver.

Finn trying to do some pull ups with Daddy.

"Show me your muscles, Finny!!!"

Brotherly love...

Going for a walk with the boys on a beautiful, sunny January day where there is no snow on the ground or in the skies. Craziness.

This is what a glasses thief looks like. I LOVE his face in this picture!

Thursday, January 5th

Tonight Oliver ate dinner and then complained of some stomach pain. He went to the restroom and had a bowel movement, but we didn't know if it was impacted bowels, kidney stones or his appendix or what it was. We called Hospice, but I just wanted to get him to the ER immediately because you could tell that he was experiencing a lot of pain and the children's dose of Tylenol wasn't doing much to help. So Ed and I drove him to the ER where we waited in the waiting room at least 15 to 20 minutes watching him writhe and groan in pain. We held his hands, held a wet towel on his head and sang him some songs to try and help him get through the pain until they could get him in a room and see him. We got him into a room and they did blood work and vitals and such and then he had a CT scan to check for what was possibly causing his pain. After a bit, his pain went away with no meds and the doctor came in later and said that he's full of crap. They said it was impacted bowels, gave us a laxative drink to get into him and told us to take cover because it can go through ya fast! Anyways... I'll leave the nasty stuff out... he feels much better now. I can't hardly stand watching him in pain. When I was singing to him I couldn't hardly get through some of the words without choking up. I'm going to need a lot more strength to be able to deal with all the things that are lying ahead.


PLEASE KEEP PRAYING FOR NO PAIN FOR OLIVER, FOR HIM TO BE AT PEACE WITH THE REALIZATION THAT HE WILL MOST LIKELY BE DYING SOON. PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR FAMILY TO BE ABLE TO HANDLE WHAT COMES, EMOTIONALLY, PHYSICALLY, FINANCIALLY. THIS HAS BEEN EXHAUSTING IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS. THANK YOU FOR CONTINUING TO THINK OF US ALL IN YOUR PRAYERS.

Oliver's 10th Birthday!

Monday, July 11, 2011 - "HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY, OLIVER!!!"

Today was Oliver's 10th birthday! I honestly didn't think we would make it to this day. It is so hard to think and plan for the future because you just don't know if and when the tumor will start growing again. However, you still need to plan and hope for the best. Hope that the tumor that is just sitting inside of his brain won't grow, that it will shrink and be gone forever. Unfortunately this doesn't happen with DIPG. Maybe it has and I just haven't heard about it. Most of the parents I talk to are either on the same road battling or are speaking as grieving parents. Speaking of their sweet babies in the past tense. It's hard not to think about them, about how this same disease took their lives. I have to keep following these stories because their lives still need to be talked about, their stories still kept alive through other people. Their faces still burn in my memory. We just keep moving forward... there is no other choice.

Oliver had planned most of his party on his own. I may have a budding party planner on my hands! He wanted an Incredible Hulk party, but I couldn't find anything around here, so he decided on having a baseball themed party! We went to the party store together and found lots of baseball themed stuff. He wanted to grill hot dogs, have popcorn and baseball decorated cupcakes. A sweet friend dropped off some baseball sugar cookies as well while I was out getting last minute birthday items before his party.

So, we went to Ollie's grandparents (Ed's parents) to grill out and let the kids play in the sprinkler. As I watched his friends running around their back yard chasing each other through the sprinkler with their toned little 10 year old bodies, I glanced over at Oliver just sitting in the yard watching them. My heart completely sank. He used to be so active. He played baseball, ran and jumped and used to spin on his head. He was once like these little boys, and this tumor has taken that all away. His body has changed so much, which I realized before, but not in such stark contrast with his 'healthy' friends. It just made me so sad to see him sitting there not being able to play and wondering what thoughts were running through his mind. He eventually got up and tried playing, but I noticed that he was stumbling around the yard and would have to stop and rest. It was seriously like a punch in the gut. He's been doing well in the DIPG world -- it's been nearly 19 months since his diagnosis which is wonderful. In the real world -- he is not doing well at all. It was a real eye opener for me and Ed.

Oliver's brother - Jaren, age 4

This picture of Finny reminded me so much of Oliver at his age!

Oliver and Uncle Bryan

Opening presents

Finny getting crazy with the bubble wand. Watch out boys!!

Grandma trying to give Finny some loves.

Ollie

Jaren sneaking into Ollie's gifts!

Just playing

Ollie's cousin, Carson

They played for a while and after dinner Oliver opened presents. It was certainly a superhero birthday! He got a Thor hammer and Captain America mask and shield, along with nun chucks and an Indiana Jones bullwhip. Well, I suppose no one is gonna mess with Ollie now. He's got all his bases covered! I actually got the bullwhip and hat when we went to the party store and he can crack that whip like nobody's business! He actually googled different ways to crack the whip! After presents we loaded the kiddos in the van and drove home. The boys then wanted to play Rock Band on the Wii. I thought it would be hilarious to root through the Halloween basket downstairs for some wigs they could wear and look like real rockers! They wore them for a while and then were like "Is real hair THIS itchy!" and ripped the wigs off! Oh man... it was a riot!

Rocker Ollie

The newest rock group... I think they have all shades of hair color covered! ;o)

Later we sang to Oliver and they ate some cupcakes and popped a movie in. "Master of Disguise", a Dana Carvey comedy is one of Oliver's favorite movies which he quotes all the time and never ceases to make me laugh. The boys were all laughing as well, which I loved to hear!

Although it was hard to see him with his friends, it was nice to see him interacting and having fun with them later. I kept wondering if this would be his last birthday party with his buddies. I hope not. I hope for many more crazy sleepovers with his friends in our home. :O)

Atlanta Braves tableware (Oliver's little league team was the Braves) and of course some Big League Chew bubble gum! Oliver even helped me make his cupcakes from scratch.

I love Oliver's mid laugh pictures!