Two weeks ago Christiaan was a groomsman in his long time friend's Cody's wedding to Jennifer. Even though they live in Waco now, she grew up at a church here in Mesquite so that was convenient for us! How handsome is my man in his (brown! Cool!) tux?? Carter was beyond tired at this point. The rice throwing as Cody and Jennifer left totally freaked him out, as I guess he thought we were being mean to them or something.
The next day I helped to host Kasi's baby shower for Harper at our church. Holy kamoly at all the bows and tutus that child has now!! Here is the mama and aunties....(Bri, Chelsea, me)
Harper was kicking us while we took this picture!
And big sis Raygen
I also had this picture on my camera....Carter painted Nana a picture! Surprisingly though, he didn't want the paint on his hands, and yet he kept touching the end of the brush.
And this one too. Look closely to see that there are no less than 4 binkies in this picture. And there may or may not have been more elsewhere in the bed. Forget loveys or woobies, this child is fully comforted by handfuls of binkies. Whatever floats your boat! (And let me tell you what, unless we show up for the first day of kindergarten with a binky in his mouth, you can keep your opinions to yourself about breaking him of this habit, thankyouverymuch all you random people full of opinions!! I count my blessings that he will take it to soothe himself!)
Last Wednesday we maxed out capacity in a small conference room in the clinic Dad goes to for treatment to meet with the doctor about the game plan and what to expect for transplant. We were All Systems Go for transplant to begin next week, when God slapped us down with some blast cells appearing in bloodwork on this past Wednesday, causing immediate admission for chemo. So, transplant is on hold for now and Dad is on Day 3 of 5 days of chemo to get back into remission. Stink-o-la.
The next day we traveled to downtown Ft. Worth for Devin's dance recital. She is on company at her studio, and I swear I barely recognize her on stage anymore, she's become such a beautiful, mature dancer! Next year she will be on the JV drill team in high school! Oh my gosh I'm old! Um seeing as how I was a freshman in high school when she was born....
Miranda, Devin, and me. We all three are/were dancers. (Devin would want me to point out the the reason her face is pasty looking is that the finale routine was to Thriller, in which she was costumed as a zombie. So much costumed, that Carter was quite frightened by her and had no idea who she was.)
And bright and early the next day(Friday), we loaded up and headed to Lake Buchanan for our family reunion!! We were highly disappointed not to have several family members there, including my parents and Micah and Aly, and several cousins, but Christiaan's mom, Jason, and Jasmin and Julius met us there Saturday morning and stayed the night. It was so great to have them there!! Jazzy and Juju exclaimed that they had never been on a real life see saw before. Poor, deprived children.
And Libby got in plenty of swim time in the lake. Which was quite low again this year, but I was smart enough to not attempt to explore the "dried" lake bed this time.
Normally those rock walls are under a couple feet of water. So sad.
Carter did what he does best, and cheesed it up for anyone who would pay attention! He is such a mess!
And we got some good fishing in too. Christiaan made some sort of homemade bait consisting of Wheaties, vanilla flavoring, and some kind of seed from a podunk feed store. Whatever it was, it worked because we were pulling fish out of the water left and right! Christiaan and Julius were reeling something in...
Nice size catfish!
Christiaan caught this poor turtle by the shell or the foot!
Caleb caught a big one
And I caught several too! I think Christiaan was impressed with my mad fishin' skillz. And at the risk of sounding like a 60 year old man, I hooked 2 or 3 big ones, that naturally got away before I could reel them up on the dock to picture.
Libby was also in the mood to fish. She fell in no less than 3 times chasing after fish. I don't think she thinks far enough in advance to know what the heck she would do with it, because I don't really think she would eat it raw, but dangit she's gonna catch her one!
Another big catch
It was just too tempting for her
And bright and early the next day(Friday), we loaded up and headed to Lake Buchanan for our family reunion!! We were highly disappointed not to have several family members there, including my parents and Micah and Aly, and several cousins, but Christiaan's mom, Jason, and Jasmin and Julius met us there Saturday morning and stayed the night. It was so great to have them there!! Jazzy and Juju exclaimed that they had never been on a real life see saw before. Poor, deprived children.
And Libby got in plenty of swim time in the lake. Which was quite low again this year, but I was smart enough to not attempt to explore the "dried" lake bed this time.
Normally those rock walls are under a couple feet of water. So sad.
Carter did what he does best, and cheesed it up for anyone who would pay attention! He is such a mess!
And we got some good fishing in too. Christiaan made some sort of homemade bait consisting of Wheaties, vanilla flavoring, and some kind of seed from a podunk feed store. Whatever it was, it worked because we were pulling fish out of the water left and right! Christiaan and Julius were reeling something in...
Nice size catfish!
Christiaan caught this poor turtle by the shell or the foot!
Caleb caught a big one
And I caught several too! I think Christiaan was impressed with my mad fishin' skillz. And at the risk of sounding like a 60 year old man, I hooked 2 or 3 big ones, that naturally got away before I could reel them up on the dock to picture.
Libby was also in the mood to fish. She fell in no less than 3 times chasing after fish. I don't think she thinks far enough in advance to know what the heck she would do with it, because I don't really think she would eat it raw, but dangit she's gonna catch her one!
Another big catch
It was just too tempting for her
We decided to bring Carter's wagon with us because we knew that neither of us would want to lug a 20 lb child plus a bunch of random crap back and forth all weekend when it was approximately 537 degrees outside. Best. Decision. Ever. He would sit in that thing all day if you would pull him around!
This is a glimpse of how well we ate all weekend. Let me clarify that this is not my plate, but Caleb's, although mine may or may not have looked similar in size and portion.
Early morning nature walk
Driving from one cabin to the next. Notice how Carter knows exactly where you push to honk the horn. I guess some things little boys are born knowing! Or maybe he's seen Mama use hers a little bit....
This is a glimpse of how well we ate all weekend. Let me clarify that this is not my plate, but Caleb's, although mine may or may not have looked similar in size and portion.
Early morning nature walk
Driving from one cabin to the next. Notice how Carter knows exactly where you push to honk the horn. I guess some things little boys are born knowing! Or maybe he's seen Mama use hers a little bit....
After our fun weekend at the lake was over, we headed to Waco to stay with Christiaan's mom for a couple days. Christiaan was hosing down the dogs to cool them off, and the kids decided to play in it too.
Carter loved to hold the hose over his own head!
Carter loved to hold the hose over his own head!
Jason and Edna grilled some delicious meat and corn, and we had an absolute feast of a cook out for dinner!
The work of professionals!
We miss seeing all them so much! I am so very glad that Christiaan is in Dallas with us now, however we see his family significantly less due to his work schedule! As we were leaving, I wondered aloud to Christiaan why every time we left Waco I felt so sad, like I was leaving home, even though I have never lived there! We hope to be able to take a couple more short trips to see them since I am off for the summer, and that they can come visit us too!
So for the first 2 days Dad has been in the hospital(this time) I took Carter up to soak in as much Grand Dude time as he could before the chemo started doing its job and Dad couldn't be exposed to germs. He had a grand old time raising and lowering the beds, and pushing the IV pole around. How great does Dad look right now?? Everyone was commenting when they checked in on how awesome he looks, especially in comparison to how he looked when he last checked out!
This kid loves his Grand Dude! And Dad just loves to watch Carter run around and bounce off the walls. Keeps him young and his reflexes fresh. :)
Phew. I told you this one would be long! Aside from bouncing back and forth to the hospital, we don't have a whole lot on our calendar coming up. I am hoping to fit in some quality time with Brooke and some of our awesome girlfriends out there that I miss terribly! And I am also hoping to make a visit this coming week to my dear friend Chelcie who gave birth to baby Garrett almost 2 weeks ago, and has had a rough go healing from delivery. Why must most of my favorite people live on all ends of the metroplex and not next door to me?? When I'm a gozillionaire, I'll make everyone I love live on my street! :)
The work of professionals!
We miss seeing all them so much! I am so very glad that Christiaan is in Dallas with us now, however we see his family significantly less due to his work schedule! As we were leaving, I wondered aloud to Christiaan why every time we left Waco I felt so sad, like I was leaving home, even though I have never lived there! We hope to be able to take a couple more short trips to see them since I am off for the summer, and that they can come visit us too!
So for the first 2 days Dad has been in the hospital(this time) I took Carter up to soak in as much Grand Dude time as he could before the chemo started doing its job and Dad couldn't be exposed to germs. He had a grand old time raising and lowering the beds, and pushing the IV pole around. How great does Dad look right now?? Everyone was commenting when they checked in on how awesome he looks, especially in comparison to how he looked when he last checked out!
This kid loves his Grand Dude! And Dad just loves to watch Carter run around and bounce off the walls. Keeps him young and his reflexes fresh. :)
Phew. I told you this one would be long! Aside from bouncing back and forth to the hospital, we don't have a whole lot on our calendar coming up. I am hoping to fit in some quality time with Brooke and some of our awesome girlfriends out there that I miss terribly! And I am also hoping to make a visit this coming week to my dear friend Chelcie who gave birth to baby Garrett almost 2 weeks ago, and has had a rough go healing from delivery. Why must most of my favorite people live on all ends of the metroplex and not next door to me?? When I'm a gozillionaire, I'll make everyone I love live on my street! :)
