Regina's 40th Birthday

Sassy Garden Gnome

Garden Gnome

Dane & Courtney as a Gangster and Flapper

Regina made her own birthday cake. It was nicer than a lot of wedding cakes!

Rick cutting Regina's cake

Hannah & Sarah

Dede, Amanda, Regina and Codi

Betty and Wilma (Amanda and Codi)

Luke and his wife Ashley

Luke and Christina

Dede and Liss

Liss' 29th Birthday & paling around w Regina

A week before my birthday, Regina wanted to spend the day with me, to celebrate early. We ran errands together at Hobby Lobby, Walmart, and; Michaels, then she bought us Taco Bell for lunch.  We ate our food and worked on editing down the music playlist for her upcoming birthday party. It would be a dance party, so the music planning was very important.

Meanwhile, Regina's hubby (my friend & employer) received a call from the doctor's office saying that they had his newest scan results. Rick gets scanned every 4 months, because his chemotherapy is on a 4-month rotation. He tends to get great results for 3 or 4 months, like tumors shrinking up to 50%! Then the chemo works less and he has to switch prescriptions again.

 Well, Regina got a call from Rick saying he had to talk to her. The radiologist knew it was not good news, but they wouldn't get to talk to his doctor for the full scoop for another week. 

It had been 4 months and sure enough, right on schedule the chemo wasn't helping. They had a morning appointment to speak with the doctor and learned Rick has 6 new tumors, all on the left side of his body. He had tumors on his spleen, butt, shoulder, arm, leg muscle and lower abdomen. Please keep praying for our friend Rick. They are switching his meds again to see if a different prescription helps again.

My birthday fell on a Wednesday, which is my normal day off. When Regina realized I'd be home all day alone, while the kids were at school and Jim was working, she decided we should hang out again. She picked me up to take me to lunch after their appointment with the doctor. Jenna met us at Applebees. Courtney tried, but couldn't make it. After lunch, we went by the costume store and blew up some balloons for my birthday. Then we worked on editing her birthday music some more at my house. We whittled 9 hours of music down to 2 hours of her favorite dance songs. During this time, I also cooked my breadcrumb stuffed artichokes. :)  Rick had never tried them before, so he came by before they left for church and tried my cooking. Elaine and I ate our artichokes later that night (the boys don't like them).

Italian breadcrumb stuffed artichokes

 Strawberry cheesecake

She couldn't wait to get some of my cake.

The kids and I

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Easter 2012

Spring Break and Cub Scouts

    Our friend Regina texted me that she would watch our kids for Spring Break, all week, no charge. She ended up keeping the kids for a few hours on Monday (since I didn't work until 2pm and Jimmy was home by 5pm), and all day on Tuesday. They played 'Wheel of Fortune' on the Wii, made Regina her own Wii character to look like her, and watched cartoons. 

    Wednesday I was off from work, so I had the kids. Thursday Regina's allergies gave her a migraine-like headache. So after a walk to the playground, half-way through the day, she called her husband for backup.  He brought my kids to me, at work, so she could let her sinus headache go away. Friday, Jim and I each took a child with us to work, which worked out fine.

   To help her pass time in the breakroom at my job, I got Elaine a set of those hat or scarf looms for her yarn. She's been eye-balling them at stores for months & I had a 40% Off coupon. :)  She enjoys playing with yarn more this way than just with a traditional crochet hook, because she's getting faster results.

*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_ Cub Scouts _-*-_-*-_-*-_-*

In other news: Allan is now a cub scout. He's a Tiger cub. They meet once a week and it's mandatory that his father (or a guardian) attend these meetings with him. Allan's personality makes him shine in his pack. Allan's first week at the meetings, they told each boy to learn a song they could sing the following week for the whole pack. On the night with the singing, most the boys sang "Twinkle twinkle little star" or "Jingle Bells"... something short and simple. Allan sang a full 3minute song from popular radio (he actually knows it from playing "Just Dance" on Wii). The other parents asked Jimmy if he had coached Allan. Jim's confirmed that Allan had memorized the lyrics on his own. :) When they got home from the meeting and I heard about him singing, I set up the webcam to record him singing it again. He's such a ham!

 
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150620944278621

Allan's performing isn't the only way he stands out. He's just a sweet heart. The scouts had a patch ceremony. Each boy received a patch and shook a woman's hand. When it was Allan's turn, he accepted the patch, then gave the woman a huge bear hug! Everyone laughed, including the woman. This last week the boys marched. Allan was carrying the pack's flag. When someone yelled "Halt!", Allan was the only boy to keep marching. He hadn't ever heard the word, 'halt', before! :)

 

Jimmy was reading Allan's cub scout manual with him the other night.