August Adventures

Since David's chemo is every 4 weeks, we've been starting our month off with trips to NYC for treatment. Unfortunately they haven't been able to schedule the MRI the same day as the treatment lately, so it's been two trips...which is annoying. Oh well, no snags this time at least...and we haven't had to leave crazy early...lol :) Everything went fine and he was able to get his treatment...which as he says, is the only reason he makes the trip!

Takes about an hour and a half to do all the different IV drips for his current chemo.

starving!

One of the movies all my mom friends had been wanting to check out was Bad Moms...so a group of us got together, went for dinner and then the movie. Oh my goodness, I haven't laughed that hard in a while! It was hysterical! and so relatable...a bit raunchy, but we got a kick out of it overall! And I was totally surprised my favorite NFL player, JJ Watt, made an appearance!!! I had no idea he was in it. It was seriously hilarious...you should have heard all the moms in the theater laughing and cheering! haha

Texas Roadhouse! Great food, better company!

Buddy lost his first tooth! on the bottom, which is a little odd, it's usually the top front. It was hurting him so much at dinner...probably didn't help that we were having corn on the cob...lol...but after dinner he just popped it right out and gave it to me! lol

Mumsie and I and the girls got a kick out of watching the Olympics...mainly the women's gymnastics! Those girls were phenomenal!!! Something about watching someone at the peak of their talent just killing it! It was incredible! The whole team was so strong, but Simone Biles was just on another level...I couldn't believe her!

via GIPHY
hahaha...but seriously!

And then Buddy lost a second tooth! Bankrupting me kid! lol

My dad had his side of the family reunion coming up in New Jersey, so he flew out to our neck of the woods and picked up my mom so she could go with him. The kids managed to get some fun playtime with him in though.

Glitter was invited by Clever Bell and her mentor to a day at the lake! They had so much fun!!! These two are just so cute! and they have so much fun together!

August brought back one of my favorite times of the year...when I get to be mostly kid-free for almost a week! lol...no, but seriously, it was time for Camp Kesem!!! And Buddy was finally old enough to go too! So I was REALLY kid-free! The camp ran from Tues-Sun...I have to admit, I was a tad concerned with how Buddy would do. 6 is pretty young for overnight camp (and he still wakes up and climbs in our bed sometimes)...but I had asked the counselors the year before how the young ones really did...and they were so positive...so I took the plunge and let him go. He was actually excited about it until he realized it was overnight...but we talked about it and made it sound really fun, and then he started getting excited about it.

Daddy came for drop-off! (but it was only because he wanted some fish and chips! lol)

and he's totally fine, not caring that I'm leaving! lol

He picked out his camp name all by himself...and came up with Samurai! It's a pretty awesome camp name! lol...he was showing off to all the counselors at his cabin...and was excited when he saw Sarah's boys...was showing off to them too! lol

Here's what I posted on FB...and it's so true! Today we dropped off all FOUR of our kids at camp until Sunday. Thanks to the completely incredible students at Yale (Camp Kesem at Yale) who fundraise and work all year long preparing, my kids are able to attend a week long free camp for children of past and present cancer patients. This is their third year attending (Buddy's first time!) and they've loved the experience every time! I am so grateful for these young people who dedicate so much effort so that kids like mine can spend a week getting away from the stress and daily life...and can just be kids. Camp Kesem is an amazing organization and I can't express how much I appreciate these students who sacrifice part of their summer and much of their free time throughout the year to make my kids (and hundreds like them...all over the country) feel so special.

After drop off, we met up with Sarah for dinner at a seafood joint down on the shoreline. Like I said, that's why David came with us...lol...he was just in it for the grub! It was pretty good though.

While the kids were gone I was able to get a few things done around the house. Earlier my mom and Buddy had both gotten stung while bringing the trash outside. Oh my, when Buddy came upstairs screaming and holding his arm, David and I just knew he had broken it again or something! But thankfully, it was just a couple of stings...which is awful, but not serious...lol...anyways, I was looking for the wasp nest, I knew they were in the recycling bin, but couldn't find the nest. I finally found it way up the overhang of it. Man, there is just something primally terrifying about those suckers. I could hear the buzzing in the can, but couldn't find it at first, but that sound right by my ear made me want to run and hide as fast as I could! lol...I think it took like 4 cans of wasp spray, but I think I finally got all of them plus the nests. lol...the queen was buzzing around for a couple of days...but I finally downed her too! My driveway was littered with bodies...made me feel a bit proud! lol

I've been missing a good part of my fence for probably like two years now...ever since David thought it would be a great idea to knock down the admittedly rotten wooden fence before actually having a replacement for it. And then getting sticker shock looking at prices and not doing anything. yeah...so the dog loves to run outside the yard...run around the neighborhood, then if she sees you coming, she runs back in super fast...what a stinker! My mom was going to be watching Freckles while we went away, and the dog doesn't like to listen to her that much, so I knew I needed to do something. Light bulb moment! I was like, chicken wire! or whatever similar thing Lowe's has...so I went there, grabbed a bundle of some sort of wire fence for like thirty bucks and put it up! I mean, it ain't perfect...and now the silly thing has figured out how to wriggle out underneath it (that reminds me, I need to fasten it down at the bottom...) but it works pretty well...and doesn't look too bad. WAY better than nothing, that's for sure! Yay me!

Here's another of my posts from FB with some big news...August 17 · 

Nothing like waking up to a paycheck (well, pension check, and the smallest, still waiting on disability which is next month! but you know, yay!) after having zero income for six months!!! (february!) I feel like I can relax a little bit. Certainly makes you appreciate it so much more! If I'm being honest, not having any income and having to rely totally on God's provision was super tough! It was for me anyways, almost harder than all the other stuff going on (which was still a lot! lol)...I was really struggling with what's going to happen to us, how long can we survive. Will God actually provide money, you know, that's so concrete, it's easier to believe in healing than cold hard cash, for me...But let me tell you, He has never failed!!! We are here, we still have our house, my kids were fed and clothed...bills got paid somehow...and I know that he knocked down the doubt in my heart a good bit. Not that it isn't still hard to totally surrender and trust...but, making progress ;) I want to say thank you to all of you wonderful people who were so generous with love, gifts, money, support...walking with us on this difficult journey...we never would have made it without all of you! Thank you for being God's hands to us. <3 span="">

It's hard to express what a feeling that is, after months of stress to get that relief from knowing, we made it! I mean, it's still stressful, who am I kidding...but we're almost out of the financial woods...so I'm just totally thrilled about that! 

I was also finally able to get together with my ladies group from church again...we took most of the summer off...but we started back up. It's always nice to have the support and just get out of the house! lol...not to mention delicious food and lots of chatting, encouragement, and prayer.

So Miss Fluffernutter (who decided to change her camp name this year to Castiel from Supernatural...but I told her, I'm not changing it on the blog!) was freaking out because her rock band,  The Royals, had a gig while she was at camp...they're depending on me, I can't miss it...etc, etc, etc...so I wound up picking her up a day early from Camp Kesem so she could make it to her gig! I'm very proud of her work ethic...even if it did make more work for me! lol...they did great...sounded awesome! She's been improving so much!

Todd came over that night to fly his copter drone in our backyard...it was pretty cool! It has a camera so we got a video of the flight! Kim and her family stopped by...and my parents were back in town. It was pretty fun to watch! I'm trying to upload the video, but it's taking forever...so y'all might not get to see it.

Welp...that didn't work...you'll just have to take my word for it...it was cool.

Then Sunday I picked the rest of the kids back up! The counselors were so great! They were posting pictures on the FB page all week long, showing all the fun the kids were having.

Buddy's costume hoodie

Buddy breakdancing! Apparently, he breakdanced for the talent show...and everybody was raving about how good he was. All the counselors were coming up to me and telling me about it...and he won't show me! I've been asking him ever since he came home, and nope. :(

I was looking for pics of Shift, but there are hundreds and I got tired of looking...not to mention, she's usually hiding...lol

Yay, there she is!

Castiel aka Fluffernutter and Acorn

Samurai and Sparky

Samurai and Jadu

Froggy and Samurai

Buddy loved his counselors! They made him feel so comfortable (and kept him busy! lol) so he didn't get too homesick...plus it helped having his sisters there too. Fluffernutter said she never got so many hugs from him as she did that week at camp! hahaha! The kids all had such a wonderful time...and I am so grateful for these awesome young people who dedicate so much time and effort to give our kids a break from the real world!  

Then it was off to bring Grandpa to the airport for his flight back to Colorado. Got a nice shot of them with the grandkids.

 

I'll leave you with this masterpiece Buddy made that he wanted me to take a picture of. I believe there's butter, pepperoni, maybe cheese, on bread...I dunno...but he ate it all! lol