Sweet Ali

My sweet little sister, Ali has been having a rough time health-wise lately and could really use some prayers.

About a month ago, she had a pretty bad kidney stone attack that landed her in the ER late one night with several stone in each kidney.  She was given some meds and sent home to let them pass.  She'd been doing OK until this week when she ended up in the ER twice on Wednesday with another bout of stones.  This time the dr. set her up to see a specialist today.  She ended up having another attack while waiting at the dr. this morning and it was so bad that she was curled in a ball, her blood pressure was through the roof and she was vomiting from the pain.  The dr. came in and sent her straight to the hospital.  They did emergency surgery tonight to remove a large stone that was lodged in her ureter and then placed a stent to allow it to heal.  He's sending the stone off to be analyzed to see what's causing it and to help her know what to avoid in order to prevent more.   She has to go back in a week to 10 days to have the stent removed.  It's pretty uncomfortable to have the stent in, so it's up to her how long she can bear to have it in, but the closer to 10 days she has it the better since the stone really "did a number" on her tube.  The dr. said there was no way that the stone would have come out on its own.

What makes this worse, is that 2 weeks ago today, Ali had her tonsils out and had a rough time with them.  So when she goes back to have the stent removed, it will be her third surgery in roughly 3 weeks.  She's a trooper, though!  And since she's in nursing school now, (her last semester), she's getting some lessons in being a patient and seeing things from their point of view. 

Love you, Ali!  We're praying for you!

Better today

After yesterday, today was much better.  Kate's still in a good amount of pain, and Motrin and Tylenol just don't cut it.  We had a rough moment today during the library program when it went longer than expected and she was due for more Motrin.  We had to scoot on home ASAP to get her next dose in.  Probably the hardest part is eating.  She can't chew because of the pain- even marshmallows and bread are unbearable for her.  And do you know how hard it is to find soft foods for a child that's allergic to dairy?  We went to IGA today to look for more stuff and all we came home with were more popsicles and some oyster crackers that she can "smash on the roof of her mouth."  She's went through an entire pint of her Tofutti dairy-free ice cream, and we can't buy it in town.  She hates jello, hates oatmeal- really, she's always had a strong dislike for anything with that texture.  I'm hoping she starts being able to eat more soon!

Other than her recovery, we're pretty much trying to survive record breaking temps and we're set to cross into severe drought within the week.  I was watching the forecast tonight and the lowest temp in the next week is 101, with absolutely NO chance of rain.  When I went to get the mail today, I noticed wide cracks in the yard and I was able to stick all of my fingers into the cracks up to my hand!  Everyone's lawn is crispy and brown, leaves are falling off of the trees.  It's absolutely crazy.  Dad, Annette and the girls are camping this weekend in the heat and we're invited out Saturday for dinner and I think we'll have to pass.  It was still over 100 tonight at 6:30 when I went to help Pa pick corn.  And with Preston's ear infection, getting in the lake isn't an option.  And on the upside of that, his ear hasn't drained in a few days, so it looks like the drops are doing their job!

So much for plan B

Folks, it's been a day.  A day I would much prefer to forget.  It was tooth pulling day, and it was not fun.  Valium apparently, does not work for my daughter.  NOT ONE BIT.  Didn't do anything to calm her so she cold sleep last night, and certainly didn't do anything to relax her today.  And of course, nitrous doesn't help much either.  I'll spare details, but rest assured that it was worse than last time, and I didn't think it could possibly be any worse.  But the two teeth are out and we are DONE!  No more need to come out unless her wisdom teeth bother her someday, but we'll cross that road then and we WILL be seeing an oral surgeon to have her completely put under.  I wish we'd done that this time.  Lesson learned.  Her bottom braces are now on, but because of the ordeal, they weren't able to even get gauze in her mouth let alone the wire between the brackets (they put them on before the pulling), so we have to go back tomorrow or Friday to have it put on.  I don't look forward to that appointment either...

I spoke too son

My mom would say in this case, that God has a sense of humor.  I think of it more along the lines of Him keeping me in check. 

Last week I mentioned that Preston and I both returned from our vacation without any ear infections.  That's major for us!  Well...  Last night Preston comes running downstairs in a panic, "I can't hear ANYTHING out of this ear, and stuff's coming out of it!"  Sure enough, it was draining quite a bit.  I thought maybe he'd gotten water in it despite his plugs, so I waited to see what this morning would bring and it was still draining.  I'll spare you the details of the color/smell, but rest assured that it's not pretty.  So we're doing his Ciprodex drops hoping to avoid a round of Biaxin, which isn't always the case.

This is his first infection with tubes since his last set, so he really doesn't remember his ears draining.  With his last set, they were infected every other month.  Then he got the monster of all infections that prompted a mrsa scare and was going to have to have them removed to let the infection heal (the ENT thought the infection had embedded in the tube itself) and then put back in.  But 3 weeks of oral antibiotics and drops that could have possibly caused permanent middle ear damage and hearing loss later, the infection was gone and he didn't have any more with that set of tubes.  And miraculously, he escaped with no further hearing loss.

Yes, it's been a trip folks.  A humbling trip.  A trip that isn't over yet.  But it's a trip that I've learned to live with, and Preston has, too.  And while we wish we didn't have to go down this road, we know there are a lot more roads that we'd really rather not take, so we'll take the one we're on and enjoy the scenery together.  What can I say, he's got my ears.

Summer's bounty

Our garden has been more than plentiful this summer and it's been wonderful!  Pa set up a fence around the main garden and it has helped to keep out the critters- that and the Christmas lights and the radio blasting Christian talk radio all night!  I told Granny the reason we have such an overabundance it because of the radio.  We have Holy veggies!

This is just part of what was picked tonight.  There was enough lettuce to fill 3 gallon ziplocks.  There are 4 bell peppers, several banana peppers, a few new potatoes for the green beans, and one of the zuchinni.  The green beans you see are just one gallon of two that we picked.

We've got green beans running out of our ears!  Pa and I both planted a row of beans (we like different varieties) about 25 feet long and they have both been producing beans like crazy- sometimes 2 gallons every other day!  We've both picked at least 15 gallons of beans from each row- that's 30 gallons of green beans!  I have 4 gallons in my deep freeze and have given the rest of them away.  I need to find a home for the ones from tonight!

Something else we have coming out of our ears are cucumbers.  I have to find a home for these.  Pa picked 20 yesterday alone!  In the past week, we've canned 12 pints of lime pickles and 12 pints of Claussen style pickles.  Granny's crisper is full of some waiting.  The plants have at least 10 that will be ready to pick tomorrow and close to 30 more blooms!  We're planning on making some more lime pickles this week.  It's crazy!  And to think, I almost planted more earlier when I didn't think any of our seeds would come up.  Glad I didn't!

I can't wait for the tomatoes to ripen!  Trust me, there are TONS!  I don't think I've seen that many before!  We'll be canning like crazy when they're ready!  And if we get any rain, our corn will be doing really well, too!  We're in the middle of a moderate drought and everything is so dry.  We haven't had rain in so long and there's no chance in the next week, plus it's supposed to be in the 100's already this week.  Pray for rain!  The only upside is that we don't have to mow, although our yard is brown and ugly- not too pretty.

Again

Wednesday is the day I've been dreading for 3 months- Kate gets her bottom 2 teeth pulled and the bottom braces put on.  I'm SO ready to have it over with- SOOOOOOOO ready, but I dread it entirely.  I've had two dreams (nightmares) in the past week in which we get to the dentist only to realize that we forgot to give her her valium.  If I didn't think that Kate would throw it away or flush it down the toilet like she did the appointment card, I'd tape it to the kitchen counter just to be sure.  And yes, she did flush the card (within minutes of getting home from vacation)...

I hate the fact that we have to drug our child to get her teeth pulled.  But her dentist agrees that it's the best thing for her and that he wouldn't attempt to do it without.  It's the best thing aside from rendering her completely unconscious.  At least I'm praying it doesn't knock her out because I have to get her in the dentist's office and there's no possible way I can carry her!

Then there's also the recent discovery of her teeth grinding from our little Springfield trip.  Folks, it was LOUD!  I don't even know how hard she had to have been grinding to make that much noise!  It definitely has to be addressed Wednesday before she ends up with cracked teeth and needs more dental work to repair them.  I can see that going over as well as pulling teeth!  It's never ending with my children.  I'm just thankful for good dental insurance!

If you could, please pray for Kate this week.  She's already nervous and any time something is said about it (or anything about dentists in general), she gets really agitated and angry.  I can see it getting worse the closer we get.  You may need to pray for me as well!  Thank you!

Lincoln Museum

Thursday morning the kids and I went on a little trip with my mom to Springfield to see the Abrahan Lincoln Presidential Museum.  We had a pretty fun time, and if you're ever in the Springfield area, you might want to check it out.  It's very nice, very detailed, and fun for kids, too.

See the clipboards the kids have?  They have a neat scavenger hunt type thing for the kids with questions that they have to answer by reading some of the major displays.  It was pretty easy for them and they get a certificate at the end.  This was their second time and the questions were different, so it's something you can do over and over if you wanted.  We didn't go across the street to the Presidential Library, but that probably would've been neat, too.

After the museum we had lunch and then went to Scheels to look around and ride the ferris wheel.  It was pretty neat, too.  The kids also rode this virtual car thing and Preston rolled their car way too many times to count.  I hope his driving improves by the time he gets behind the wheel for real!

Mom thought it wold be fun to stay overnight in a hotel so the kids could swim, so she had reserved us a room at the Hampton.  It was fun and the kids had a blast swimming.  They wanted to swim until the pool closed at 11:00 but by 8:30, we called it quits and headed upstairs.

I can't say that I slept well at all.  Between mom's snoring, Kate grinding her teeth (another issue to bring up Wednesday) and Preston sleeping right next to me the whole night, I barely got more than 4 hours.  But we had a good time, and as long as everyone had a good time, it more than made up for the lack of sleep!  Thanks, mom for a fun time!

Heading home

This sign was at the end of the road in our resort complex.  I certainly didn't want to leave, and neither did the kids!  But our week in Tennessee was over and it was time to head back to Illinois.  Thank goodness for the iPod and PSP.  I think they get tired of me telling them about when I was little and we didn't have electronic gadgets to entertain us.  We had to make our own entertainment.  Then again, we didn't have to be strapped in, either, and we pretty much bounced around in the backseat and honked semis the whole time, so it was a lot more fun!

 Keith and Dee, and Jess and Reid all wanted to stop at Patti's 1880's settlement on the way home and we thought it sounded neat, so we decided to stop, too.

We thought it would be a neat, preserved 1880's settlement.  Instead it was a restaurant with some shops and a turkey that just gobbled at us.  The rest of them ate, but we decided to go on.  Soon after getting back in IL, we hit roadwork.  One of the signs said the interstate was closed and there was a 30 minute delay.  We opted not to take the detour and of course, the interstate was closed right around Mt. Vernon, and we sat...

And enjoyed the classy scenery of someone in the car in front of us with their cigarette hanging out the window...  We called the others to alert them to take the detour so they'd avoid the mess.  We did finally make it back to town at 3:45 despite the traffic, and were glad to be back after 8+ hours in the car.  The cats were glad to see us, too!  Today is one week that we've been back and it doesn't even seem like we were ever there.  But we had a fantastic time!  And a bonus, Preston and I both avoided ear infections this time!  Yes!  Although I told Christopher that if we ever moved down there, I'd need to find a good ENT!

Gatlinburg Day 6- Dollywood

Tuesday was our full day at Dollywood.  It was a lot of fun and we made it all the way around the park this time.  Preston loved the water rides- the log ride has long been his favorite.  Kate and I loved the Dizzy disk, but Preston prayed the whole time- "God, I promise never to ride this again!"  And I am officially old...  I nearly threw up on the teacups.  If it hadn't stopped when it did, I would've lost it. 

 After we got back from Dollywood, we had to start packing to leave in the morning.  We weren't much int he mood to pack, especially the kids.  They ran around and played 'horsie" with Abbie.

 They played a few more rounds of air hockey and pool.

Then we all headed to bed to rest up.

Gatlinburg Day 5

Monday was our planned day to go to Dollywood with the whole big family since they'd rented Grandma Shirley a scooter, but it was slated to rain all day so we switched it to Tuesday instead.  But of course, it didn't rain a drop!  The four of us headed out to hit the Titanic museum as it opened to avoid a long line.  Preston is obsessed with the Titanic, so this was something we knew he'd really enjoy.  It was really neat, although I wish we hadn't paid for the audio tour (an extra $20) because I couldn't read and listen at the same time.  Unfortunately, because of copyright laws, you can't take any pictures inside, but we took some outside.

Since it wasn't raining, we all decided to go to Dollywood after 3:00 because we'd get in free the next day, and it would be a little extra time there.  Keith said he knew of a shortcut taking a back road.  Long story short, we got lost- very lost, and what should've taken 20 minutes took an hour.  At one point we pulled up beside Reid to check directions and he told the kids we were in Kentucky.  They didn't like that!  But we did eventually make it and had about an hour and a half before we left to go to dinner at Bennett's BBQ.  Hands down, the best meal all week!

And this is just because the Smoky Mountains just amaze me.

Gatlinburg Day 4

The whole reason for our trip to Gatlinburg this summer was for Kelby and Tasha's wedding, but that fell through.  Everyone still had reservations, so the whole dang family still came and of course, we had to get together for a meal.  We figured that trying to get in a place with 17 people would be pretty rough, so we decided to have them all over for lunch since we had a grill.  But first things first, we had to get in a round of mini gold- the kids' favorite, and a vacation tradition.  We headed back to Davy Crockett's where we golfed the last trip.  It rained on us again this time, too, but we got more wet this time!  That didn't stop Kate from getting a hole in one!

After golfing, we headed back to the cabin to fix lunch.  We had a good time visiting the family and the kids played with Sarah and Gracie.

After lunch, the four of us headed out on our own.  The rest of the bunch had reservations for Dixie Stampede, but with the kids' food allergies and the eating with your hands notion, we decided we'd spend the rest of the day on our own.  We headed to the Titanic museum but the line was beyond crazy, so we went out to look at some shops.  It had poured most of the morning after our golf game, so the smoke on the mountains was pretty.

As we were heading back toward Gatlinburg, I had Christopher pull over so I could take the kids' picture by the Smoky Mtn Park sign.  Only Kate would get out of the car, and when we got back in she asked, "Did you even take my picture?"  We had a good laugh over that one!  No, Kate, I just had you go pose for the fun of it!

When we bought our aquarium tickets the day before, we bought a 3 attraction deal and the kids wanted another round at Davy Crockett's, so we went back again for the second time that day!  On one hole, Preston got a little carried away and hit his ball too hard.  See it airborne in the first pic?  He and Christopher had to go hunt for it!

 But the little stinker got a hole in one on the last hole and won a free game!  We were golfed out after that round and the ticket was good for a year, so we planned to go back another time.  Unfortunately, we didn't have time, so we still have a free game ticket! 

The Cabin...

 via

We were all very excited to reach our cabin once we got to Gatlinburg.  We were right in the middle of the Smoky Mountains and after the cabin we stayed at last time, I was ready for a daily view of the mountains and a nice place to relax.  We stayed at the Silver Creek cabin.  We quickly learned that what you see online isn't always what you get...  Take a quick look at the cabin in the top picture.  It's very evident now that the cabin was photoshopped into that background.  This was our view...

 There were no mountain views whatsoever.  None.  It almost looks like our own backyard!  But that was small, and I even enjoyed rocking out on the deck one afternoon only to wake up with my mouth wide open, so that must mean that it was pretty relaxing!  But the lack of view was only our first of many issues.

When we got there, the A/C was off, so we turned it on before we headed out for dinner and groceries.  When we got back, the main level felt nice, but downstairs, it was FREEZING!  It was close to 60 degrees!  And of course, that's where our bedroom was.  The guys tinkered with the thermostat and tried to fix the problem but that didn't work.  On the 2nd day, we closed all of the vents and put pillows over them and that didn't help.  We had 3 extra blankets on our bed and we still froze all night.  On the third day, it got down to 58 degrees with the vents closed and we were about to call management when Christopher fixed the issuse.  When the main level cooled to it's temp, the heat would turn on in the basement and warm it back up.  What a blessing!!!!!  The rest of the week felt quite nice downstairs and we even spent a lot of time there playing pool!

We weren't the only guests in the cabin, though.  Right away we started seeing centipedes downstairs.  Most were little, but every one of them made me want to vomit (weak stomach).  But there were two that were big.  This one Christopher took a picture of next to his hairspray bottle for reference.  NASTY!

We also had mice.  We noticed when we were unpacking that there was mouse poop in our bathroom cabinets and we found a lovely poop-covered glue trap underneath the sink.  But we soon found out that we had a nightly visitor when we woke up each morning to poop in the kitchen sink.  One night it got into a plate of cookies and ate through the plastic wrap!  We did call management with that issue and they sent over an exterminator one afternoon and he replaced a poison trap under the stove.

Then I found a brown recluse spider in our bathroom.  I'm sure I scared everyone there when I screamed, "Christopher, get down here NOW!"  It was immediately squashed with a glass, and it officially creeped us all out and we were afraid we'd meet one in our bed, the couches, etc.  Thankfully, we didn't.

The cabin was also not clean at all.  The first night, Preston went to take a bath in our tub and when he turned on the jets, tons of mold came out.  Of course, he's allergic to mold, so he had to get out and then take a shower.  The carpet was stained badly.  Walking across it turned your socks/feet black in minutes. 

Overall, we were pretty disappointed with the quality of the cabin.  Every other place we've rented has been nice.  But really, we were just glad to have a cabin to ourselves as opposed to a condo, and a place to all enjoy our vacation together.  We had lots of fun times and made many more great memories.  We're thankful to have family that gathers and has a great time!

Gatlinburg Day 3

Our big plan for our third day was to go to Ripley's Aquarium at the Smokies.  We went there 3 years ago and none of us were overly impressed and had originally planned not to go this time, but everyone else was going so we decided we'd join them.  But first, the kids had to play pool, and Kate taught Abbie and Issie how to play air hockey.

Then we headed downtown to the aquarium.  We planned to get there right as it opened so we could eat an early lunch so we'd all be hungry for our big dinner at The Old Mill.  Before we went in, we had to take a group photo of the kids.  This was immediately before the twins went to cross each other to get to their strollers and plowed into each other in a heap on the concrete.  All was OK after a few tears and they were ready to see the fishies.

Again, we didn't find the aquarium impressive, but did enjoy seeing the jellyfish.  And before we left, we had to take a picture of the kids standing on the same spot in front of the aquarium as last time.  I say they've grown a little since last time, don't you agree?

After a light lunch at the cabin, we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and playing pool and watching tv while the girls napped.  The Old Mill in Pigeon Forge is one of our favorite places to eat there.  You get SO much food with your meal- corn fritters, corn chowder, salad, entree, rolls, mashed potatoes, green beans, and desert.  You always leave with leftovers!  Check out their corn fritter recipe  I like to make it from time to time and it's really good, especially with honey butter.  Mmmmmmmm!  If you're ever in the area, do plan to make this one of your meals!  Do try to go early as there is usually a wait.  While we waited, we enjoyed watching the ducks on the creek.