Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Holidays to all my friends and family in bloggy land!  I did not fall off the face of the earth, just been tending to our health issues, which are coming along pretty well, I just finished up my physical therapy and Mark is still going.  He ended up having a broken elbow after the fall, unfortunately they found it later and it had started to heal already.  We have been through alot these past few months, years, etc. but we are not going to complain, we are blessed in so many ways, especially to have each other, there is no one I would rather have by my side than him.  My leg is healing, it has been a long haul.  We are taking a break from the construction for a while so we can heal ( and save money for the rest).  But we are in our new bedroom, and the house is decorated for the holidays and it feels so cozy and warm here.  I promise to post some photos soon, the house has changed so much!  Even in a wheelchair I was cleaning the new additions, trying to get it done sooner!  We also just added a puppy to our lives, he is just precious and I never thought I would be so in love with a dog!!  He is a little Yorkie named Asher!  I never got my Christmas cards out this year, I have just not had the time or energy to do them. I did take these photos in the fall, balancing on one leg so I figured I had better share them, who knows maybe a New Years letter will get sent out, I can't promise anything!  Anyhow, I am off to get ready for the holiday celebration at my mom's house, it is certainly different being "home" for the holidays permanently.  No packing, driving, stopping to go potty, etc... it is nice!   I pray you all have a special holiday season with your loved ones,  we have so many wonderful things to look forward to in the new year, weddings, weddings and more weddings! Thanks so much for all of your kind words and prayers, the time I was laid up seemed to go pretty quickly thankfully, I still have a long way to go but I am taking it day to day, I will never take the ability to walk for granted again! 
Blessings my friends!!!  Love, Leslie

Prayers for Mom

Last week at Mom's second party, she received a letter from the Governor and everything!  We are so proud of her!  Mom was  a working woman before it was THE thing to be!  This is l-r: Me, Mom, Mel

Well, the time has come, mom's surgery is tomorrow.  She retired today.  Kind of hard to celebrate when you aren't allowed to eat anything other than clear liquids and spend the evening cleaning out your body (sorry but it is the truth).  We should be celebrating the fact that she has worked her last day in 32 1/2 years, that day will come.  Right now we need to focus on getting her well and getting the cancer out of her body.  It is so hard to live away, I am going to head up north tomorrow, bless everyone who is taking care of my children in one way or another so I can be with her and my sister.  Another reason we should be celebrating is because today is my sister Melanie's birthday, oh to be 38 again!!!  Instead of eating cake and drinking champagne I am packing, cleaning, donating a closests worth of clothes to charity, dropping my outdated magazines off at the library and my house will hopefully be spotless by the nights end.  I feel the need to get all my ducks in a row so to speak when I know life will be crazy.  I have been down this road so many times with our loved ones it is a shame that  I know so much about how to prepare for it.  Packing a larger purse to have up at the hospital, one that can hold a book and a few magazines along with anything I may need during the day.  Having extra food on hand for my kids to snack on while I am gone, setting outfits out so that my hubby doesn't have to guess at what "goes" together for Myah.  I know that all of this seems pretty trivial but it is what I have to do in order to feel better about everything. 

I pray that mom's cancer will be a part of her past, that we never have to bring it up again.  That she can start enjoying her retirement as soon as possible.  We can hardly wait.  Please pray for my mom Linda, she has never had a surgery of any kind, she is putting on a brave face for us girls but I am sure she is worried too.  The Dr's are removing a portion of her colon tomorrow and also her gall bladder, they found some polyps on that as well.  She feels great now, you would never know that anything is wrong with her, except that she is thin, so we hope that her strength will help in her recovery.  She has some pretty special angels watching over her.  It is expected to be a 4 hour surgery and she could be in the hospital anywhere from 4-7 days.  After that my sister has a gorgeous suite already prepared for mom's recooperation.
We have just gone from one surgery to the next around here, I am in my 5th month of playing nurse.  Dayton is doing much better, ( I know I keep forgetting to update on his condition), his second surgery went very well, the screws and plate are gone, he is starting therapy again and hopefully this was the answer to all of the unusual swelling. 
   I just had to add a few pictures from mom's retirement photos, her office put on two retirement parties for her, this was the last one, Mel and I gave a little speech and a few gifts.  I had to laugh, someone must have grabbed my camera for me (hence the quaility but I don't care!), ok, we are a family of many facial expressions!  If you know me you already know how quirky I can be, but it really shows in this sequence of photos of Me, Mom and my sister Melanie.  Thought you would get a giggle out of these!

 Mom loving the new watch from Mel.

 Not sure what we are laughing about but this is soooo us!!!!  What is up with my cat that swallowed the canary grin?!!!

 Not sure what little ditty about Mom I was dishing about here but Mel must have agreed!

 Aren't we so attractive?!!! ha ha!!! I don't care, we know how to work a room!!! ha ha!! I think after mom retires we could be a traveling side show! We love being on stage!!

 This was at Mom's surprise retirement party, she was very surprised! Her coworkers loved working for her, they said she ruled with an " iron fist inside a velvet glove" I loved that!!!

 Grandma and her granddaughters.

Many friends came to celebrate with mom.

 Mom and her daughters

Mom and her cake, just in case you were wondering who she was standing by!  Ha ha!

Our family, minus Mel's hubby Chris, Dayton had just had his surgery two days before bless his heart he was a trooper to ride in the car for 4 hours!



Sorry this is such a heavy post but I know there is power in prayer, and we need it, all that we can get!!! Thank you so much!!!!

Finding Balance

I took this on Mackinac Island

I find myself doing a balancing act lately.  I really feel like this summer was a bummer for our family and that really upsets me.  I am trying to see the bright side of things, like getting to spend tons of quality time together under one roof while taking care of Dayton and his needs.  Just last week he had his last appt. with the surgeon and she lifted all of his restrictions, he was thrilled and wanted to go immediately to tennis practice.  This poor kid is going stir crazy!  Unfortunately, over the past few days he has developed quite a bump at the bottom of his 7 inch scar, we asked his physical therapist about it  and he told Dayton it was time to take a rest, grab a megaphone and pom poms and cheer from the sidelines, he was not happy about this at ALL!!  And as his momma my heart was broken too. The surgeon wanted to see him and she determined that he either has a stress fracture or that he has an infection due to irritation by the hardware (screws and plate).  She wants him to not do anything physical for 2 weeks, then we go back in and see what she says.  It has been 3 months since he broke it and had surgery.  To say he is frustrated is an understatement but he does not complain, EVER!  Bless his heart!  So please pray that after this next 2 weeks he will be able to resume to normal activity without any complications.  If we do then it looks like the plate will have to come out, something we had not planned on for about another year or so (if ever). 

So inspite of all of the medical issues we have dealt with this summer we are trying to squeeze in a few small activities before school starts next week.  I feel the need to clean and organize, a summer with all of us living here around the clock has taken its toll on the house but oh well, it can wait till the kiddos go to school!  I am going to have to adjust to not having any children at home, Myah will be going to all day kindergarten, except for Fridays, that is her day off.  I am really looking forward to some peace around here even though I will miss them terribly!  It has been a LOOOONG summer! 

Mom and I this past weekend

We have another situation in our family right now that has our family on our knees.  My mom has been working for 32 years and is retiring at the end of September!  We are so happy for her!  She has worked full time since I was 8 years old, I can't wait to make some memories with her finally!!!   As she puts it "her timing is impecable, unfortunately,  she went in for a colonoscopy and cancer was found.  She has had a few procedures in the past 2 months and we are awaiting a cat scan and an appt. with the surgeon to learn about everything going on and when the surgery will be.  Of course this all happens to be at a time when she should be celebrating, Why are things always so bittersweet?  I hate to see her retire under these circumstances but we are trying to see the bright side, she will be able to not use any sick time at work, or feel obligated to rush back, she can take all the time she needs to recover.    It does scare us but we have faith that they caught everything early but we will know more in a few weeks.  I ask that you please keep her in your prayers.   I really did not think that this is something we would have to deal with so soon after losing my Dad but we know that  our faith and trust will get us through.  These are the times when I wish I did not live 2 hours away.

So as my first month in my 40's has passed I realize how patient I have become over the summer.  I have discovered that I am much stronger than I ever imagined.  I have learned to just "let things go" and to "go with the flow" so much easier than I used to.  I can be content at home and just "be" without finding a million reasons as to why I need to be on the go.  I have learned that I have such a beautiful little family, my husband and children make me so happy ( so frustrated too at times), but I have been able to enjoy sweet time with them that I will never get back again, I loved staying up late at night watching tv with Dayton while we had to sleep downstairs.  I learned so much about him!  I think it gave him a new perspective on us too, he wrote me just the sweetest thank you note that made me cry. 

The last day in their house, the movers were there packing.  Taylor, Lora and Rachel were left to clean up!

We also are bummed because Mark's older brother Scott and his family just moved to Iowa, he received a great promotion and decided to leave.  We are missing them so much already!!  I will miss Lora's sweet advice, she is an amazing Christian mother and wife, she has been a great role model for me!  We are learning how to Skype so that should help close the gap between us.  We can hardly wait to visit them! They just moved out there last week, Scott has been gone since May, Lora and Rachel were finally able to join them.  Myah told me last night that she misses Rachel, and that Rachel told her that whenever she misses her Myah can call her, she is so sweet!  Nate and Taylor are both at college now in two different states, I don't know how she balances everything the way she does. 

 I realize this post has become lengthy but I finally had time to put a few thoughts down.  I ask that you cover our family in your prayers, we have so many areas that need it right now.  Now I am off to enjoy the last week that is left of summer!!!

For some reason this picture cannot be removed!  Maybe it is a sign that I need to really find some balance,ha ha!

Aunt Penny and Uncle Ron- Can I Move In???

My Hubby's Aunt and Uncle have the most gorgeous home, I could literally move in and not change a thing!  They so graciously let me and my kiddos stop by unannounced for a quick visit.  Mind you this was our first trip past the county line in 8 weeks since Dayton's surgery and we were a little stir crazy.  We were willing to knock on just about anyone's door at this point! 

Meet Uncle Ron and Aunt Penny

This is their family room, so cozy and comfy and white!!!

I remember seeing this shelf at their home over 10 years ago and asking her where she purchased it, I bought the same one! 

She purchased the old pie safe from a friend years ago who said it was always in his way! 

I love how the new kitchen looks like it has been here forever!  So clean and fresh, loved the white marble countertops!

She even grows her own tiny little rosemary topiaries!

Loving the dining room, there is nothing like an old home with cool windows and window seats! 

and built in cabinets!

and a grand staircase!

Her "summer version" of the formal living room, she has black and white ticking striped slipcovers for the winter. 

When their boys were small they used to say Good Night Good House so she had this painted on the mantel. Such a special memory!

The tall chair was hers from her teens, she asked her mom to buy it for her from a neighbor's garage sale! 

Sweet comfy spot in the family room

She had the cabinet made for the tv!

It has some great bookcases for displaying all of their summer treasures!  You know I am loving this!

Ahhhhhh......

They have the most charming little foyer, all wallpapered in toile.

And then there is the outside of their home, just as beautiful as the inside!

She has some major gardening skills!

This is the neighbor's barn, how perfect

Just look at her hydranges!  I was having major hydranges envy!

Oh and let's just throw a gorgeous pool into the mix why don't we?!!!

So beautiful!

They live in a super cool neighborhood, gorgeous victorian homes nearby, she picked this up at one of their garage sales, Uncle Ron said it took 3 men and a boy to carry it!!

Isn't it just charming?!!!

Love all of her flower boxes!

Before I left she cut a beautful bouquet of these for me to take home, she is so lucky, she can cut hydranges any time she wants!!!

I remember the first time I went to their home it was several years ago, and their house just had this charm about it.  I fell in love with it way back then.  Aunt Penny had my kind of style before it was even in style.  She has great taste, a flair for finding great bargains and unlike me, has a green thumb.  I asked if I could please share some photos with you, keep in mind that I caught them off guard and they were preparing to leave on vacation , she said if she knew we were coming she would have "fluffed" the place up a bit, I told her we would not judge!  They raised two sons in this gorgeous home, Aunt Penny and Uncle Ron are newly retired, wouldn't this be a wonderful home to retire to?!!! I love her shades of whites, grays and occasional pops of black toile.  She said she has loved toile forever!  Classics never go out of style!  And you know I love how she has seashells scattered everywhere!  I seriously could live here and be happy as a lark! 

Thanks Uncle Ron and Aunt Penny for letting me and the kiddos stop by, wish I had brought my good lens with me (next time!)