Cancer

When I think of the word cancer all I visualize is a slow drawn out and even painful way to die. I've heard that throughout your life that in some way everyone is affected by this, whether it's someone they know or if that person has cancer. My father in law was diagnosed with lung cancer July 2010. CT scan showed a tumor about the size of a fist in the upper right lobe of the lung. He started out with chemotherapy and everything was moving right along. The tumor shrunk enough for the doctor to surgically remove it. The end....so we thought. About 6 months ago we found out it came back with a vengeance. He now has it in his shoulder and left hip. When we heard the news from the doctor we were devastated. Since the diagnosis there have been numerous chemotherapy and radiation treatments and hospital stays....this is the start of our journey.

Please keep my father in law and our family in your prayers, we are believing God for a miracle.
Thank you

Ava and Gran

When we go to visit Gran, Ava loves to go outside with her to water the plants. I know that as Ava grows, she will have so many fond memories of the times she spends with her Gran.

Second grade field trip

I had the privilege of volunteering to help with my son's field trip to the movies and the park. We watched Disney's African Cats. It was an amazing documentary narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. The movie spotlighted two different lion "tribes" and the life of a female cheetah raising her cubs. After the movie was finished, we went to the park for a picnic lunch and some playtime. I had fun watching all of the second graders running and having fun.

Rose Garden

My daughter loves to be outside. It was such a beautiful day and the weather was perfect; sunny and a nice cool breeze in the air. So I put my daughter in the car and headed towards the park, planning to let her run until her heart's content. When we arrived, the park was over crowded with school buses full of children playing. Ok, so let's go with plan B...we went to the rose garden instead. As she ran around looking at the roses and smelling them, I enjoyed watching her explore and taking pictures of her at the same time.
Here are some of the highlights of our day at the Rose Garden:

My son's dentist appointment

My son had his dentist appointment 2 weeks ago. He had his first cleaning and x-rays. I am so proud of him, the dentist said his teeth were developing well and that he didn't have any cavities.
Now my daughter had a different report. The dentist looked at her top front left tooth and saw that the nerve was exposed-NOT GOOD. Well, "it's only a baby tooth" he reassured me and advised that the best thing to do would be to pull it. She wouldn't be in any pain since the nerve was exposed and also to prevent and abscess. She will definitely remember this visit.

 Before her tooth was pulled



After her tooth was pulled

Happy moments

My daughter's first dentist appointment

I have heard that if you have more than one child that each of your children have different(almost) opposite personalities. My son is very passive, laid back and cautious. Especially when it involves trying new sport activities. Now my daughter is the opposite of her big brother. She is busy-constantly on the go and fearless. She loves to run, play and CLIMB. On the that note here is how she managed to have her very first dentist appointment at 22 months of age.
About 2 months ago my daughter and I were in the kitchen. She started climbing on one of the chairs and as I am heading in her direction to get her off the chair, she decides to take a "dive" and landed face first on the kitchen floor. As she's crying I'm inspecting her for any injuries-when I notice blood coming from he mouth and then I set it. She managed to chip her top left front tooth at a diagonal. So I call the dentist and they were nice enough to get her an appointment the next day.

My son's 8th birthday

It's hard to believe that eight years ago, my husband and I expanded our family and had a baby boy. When I first found out I was pregnant I REALLY wanted the baby to be a girl, but at the same time I was just so excited to be experiencing this miracle that it didn't matter in the end if I had a girl or a boy I just wanted the baby to be healthy. On April 21st my son, Lucas was born. Weighing  6 lbs 10 oz. and measuring at 19.5 inches long...since that day he has grown into a bright, compassionate and energetic boy.
Hubby and I had decided that since he was getting rather old for traditional birthday parties, that we would plan for our son to have a sleepover. He was allowed to invite five of his really good friends and we would have pizza, games, movies and of course cake and/or cookies. All of the kids had such a good time, there was alot of energy and excitement that night. At least hubby and I can say that we officially survived our son's first sleepover..LOL

 Eating birthday pizza

 Eating birthday dessert



 Opening gifts



Playing Just Dance on the Wii

Kickball

Saturday was my son's first kickball game. I think I was more excited about it than he was. His team did really well. The coaches didn't take score and all of the children on both teams were given a fair amount of chances to kick the ball and run the bases. There wasn't an offical score kept and my son said that the coach had told them that everyone was a winner...a good team building experience for my son.

Going to cheer for her bubba

Compassion

My son's school has a program called Early Act First Knights program. This is a program that teaches seven virtues of knightly character to all of the students at his school. These virtues will help the students to grow into becoming  good productive citizens in society. They are taught one virtue a month and every 3 months the school has a "Knighting ceremony". The teachers pick one student in their class that exhibits knightly behavior and then that student is recognized and receives a medal during the ceremony. Well, today my son was recognized (knighted) for the virtue of Compassion... I was surprised and proud of him all at the same time. As a parent my husband and I try to teach our son how to treat others with respect and use his manners, but sometimes I wonder if he's really listening or not. I get to see glimpses of how my son demonstrates compassion at home and when he is with his relatives. Today it was nice to hear from his teacher how he demonstrated compassion to others at school. I am sooo very proud you son, continue to be who you are and you will grow up to become an amazing man.

Medal for the Virtue of Compassion

The Paper Mama Photo Challenge week two: black and white

http://thepapermama.blogspot.com/

This is one of my dogs, Zena...she is such a sweet dog. Our family adopted her from the local animal shelter. She loves cuddling, kissing and having her back scratched. We were not sure how well of a guard dog she would be at the time because that's what we were looking for, but she has proven us wrong. She is such a good guard dog and she has one of the most intimidating barks I have ever heard. This bark would make anyone think twice about coming into our backyard.

Experiementing with Black and White

I am an amateur photographer, I have had my DSLR camera for almost two years now. As I have been reading books and researching photography on the internet, I have decided the best way to get "comfortable" with photography and with my camera is to just start taking more pictures and experiment with the settings. With all of that being said, I FINALLY found the monochrome setting on my camera the other day. Since then I have been switching back and forth between that setting and the regular color setting. Here are some of the pictures I have taken...

Highlights of My Day

I saw this at my father in laws house yesterday and it just took my breath away. It looks so real that at first I thought it was fake...but it truly is real and its very beautiful.

Another moment that really made my day yesterday...a late night snack with daddy.

My daughter LOVES her daddy ;)

Simplicity photo challenge entry: TWO

http://faith-simplicity.blogspot.com/

One of the things I look forward to here in South Texas during the spring time is the blue bonnets. I also enjoy looking at all of the wildflowers along the highway. This is such a sweet picture of my TWO children running in the blue bonnets. My daughter loves to be with her big brother aka "bubba".

Spring

It has officially been spring here in South Texas for about a month now and since the warmer weather has arrived all my daughter wants to do is go "outside"... She loves being outside playing and exploring. She loves to bring her "bubba" along for some outside fun and being a good big brother he obliges her wish. Here are some of the things that go on when they are "outside".

The weekend

I have family in town visiting us for the weekend. My son is so excited to see all of his cousins, it will be fun to watch them play together. I pray I have enough energy to keep up :)
Such a great time with the family....good food, good fun lots of laughter..it was awesome and the kids had a great time too!!!

Brand new

Hello everyone
I'm new to blogging, hopefully I will catch on really quick and publish some really interesting stuff...stay tuned!