Summer 2014 Fun List

We are starting something new this summer where we make a summer fun list and try to as many things on there as we can.

Some of them will new things we have never done before and some will be things we do yearly ;)

1. Kure Beach Trip check
2. Emerald Pointe Water Park check
3. Night time outdoor glow in the dark bowling
4. Play with sparklers check still need to take pics
5. Camp (even if its just in the back yard)
6. make smore's check
7. have a bonfire check
8. attend an outdoor concert check
9. catch lightening bugs check!
10. go to the drive in
11. stargaze check!
12. sign up for flag football check
13. go night swimming check
14. putt putt check
15. go fishing check
16. water balloon fight check
17. watch fireworks check
18. go tubing
19. zoo check!
20. horse back riding
21. homeland creamery trip check
22. tie dye t shirts
23. melted crayon canvas


Some of these we have already crossed off and I plan to post this list again at the end of the summer with photos to go with what we did ;)

10 Things about Hensley Right Now!

I have always wrote monthly on the calendar about the things that you love, your favorite foods at the moment, activities we have done that you enjoyed, etc. Just to keep up with your current likes and dislikes since they are changing all the time. Its been fun to keep up with it and to go back and look at the calendars over time to see how things have changed. And plus we forget the "little things" without writing them down.

So something I thought I could start doing here on the blog was to periodically record your new likes and in your case obsessed (I say this because when you love something you really LOVE it).

Here goes :)

1. You are SO SO OBSESSED with Mario and everything that goes along with it. You love to watch it on YouTube, playing any game that includes Mario and playing with your plush Mario and Luigi. They go everywhere with you, even to school (you hide them in your backpack :)). You will wear your Mario suit you wore on Halloween ALL THE TIME!

2. Lego's are HUGE here right now. Building massive Lego sets, collecting mini figures (Your absolute favorite), going to see the Lego movie, and this weekend we are headed to LegoFest!!!! It's going to be a blast. It's so fun to hang out with you and do these Lego projects and see your imagination come out :)

3. You went through a HUGE growth spurt over the past 2 or 3 months. I am mean you literally would wear a pair of jeans to school one day and a week later they were 2 inches too short!! SERIOUSLY?! I am glad shorts weather is coming soon because your legs are getting SO long!!! I actually had a dream several weeks ago about you and in my dream you were all grown up. Same sweet freckles. Same beautiful blue eyes. But you were so incredibly tall!!! It was really surreal.  Anyways, stop growing!!!! Just kidding ;) It's very much bittersweet.

4. Ok so while I was doing this post you asked what I was writing about. When I explained that I was writing a list about you. You quickly responded:
I play with monster trucks.
I love to play in the snow with my friends.
My favorite food is lettuce, broccoli (SORT OF), celery, carrots, mushrooms and chocolate bars
My favorite color is blue.
My favorite show on tv is max and ruby, magic school bus, peppa pig and the Lorax.

You are very opinionated.

5. This is weird and very random but you love sandwiches. You request them all the time. Eat one everyday for lunch and love love love eating at Jimmy Johns. You have a very certain way you like your sandwich. Ham on first, cheese on second, lettuce on third, mayo on last. I have no idea where that came from but it's been like that since day one. It's pretty funny. We will see how long the sandwich kick lasts.

6. You are terrified of the dark and have been for a while. You won't even go into the bathroom without someone being near by to watch you turn on the light. I am sure this is just a phase but you currently use it to your advantage to not sleep in your bed!!!

7. By the way, you just flat out refuse to sleep in your bed. We have tried everything. We put up a new awesome loft bed with a slide!! Bought the comforter set you wanted. Bought endless night lights and dream lights. Nothing works. You are a cuddler and you just like to be next to us. It makes you sleep so much better. However the amount of space we have in our bed is shrinking with every inch you grow. It's a huge goal here to have you in your bed by the time school starts in the fall.

8. You are BOSSY! You have always liked things a certain way (your way) or else!! You love routine and things to stay in the same places. You are not a fan of change. We have adapted over time to know that you aren't going to sit in any chair to eat besides your green ones. You insist on having different silverware for each thing on your plate. The seat belt has to be just so in the car. The list goes on and on. We have learned your little quirks and your Dad finds it hilariously funny to do things out of the norm just to get a rise out of you. You have always been this way but as you get old more and more things seem to fall into the category of  "that's how Hensley likes it". You are very OCD about so much.....and bossy! You're friends know you are the boss and that's that. Hopefully that will change over time and be a phase you will outgrow but for now you control the games, you go first, no one is allowed to swing on the middle swing on the swing set, etc. You are quick to tell anyone that will listen that you are the BOSS!

9. Anything and everything that has to do with gun, zombies and Daddy are you favorite. You two play Call of Duty until your eyeballs hurt. You constantly have a toy gun or grenade in your hand and PawPaw recently let you shoot two of his real guns. I think come hunting season you will be so happy to venture out with Daddy and Pawpaw and see what it's all about.

10. Lastly you are independent. You are so ready for kindergarten. You have asked several times if you can ride the bus (not happening by the way). You are always telling us you are a big boy and that you can do it. I love that about you. I pretty much love everything about you :)

That's you for this moment anyway. :)

It's Summer Time, Ya'll!!

It's officially summer time :) Hensley's last year getting out of school a little earlier then most kids so we have enjoyed days at the pool where it's not so crowded, and trips to Backyard Paradise where we have the basketball court area all to ourselves.

This is the summer before Kindergarten and I plan to make it a great one with lots of new experiences and adventures :)

We bought season passes to the local water park this summer since Hensley is big enough to ride a lot of the rides. We spent this past Saturday there with our friends and I think it's safe to say that this is Hensley new favorite place!! I did not take one single picture but I'm sure there will be plenty from this summer :)

Every weekend so far as been spent outside watching little ones run around with grass stained feet, grilling our with friends, lots of laughs, glow sticks and sparklers :)

They were having a great time but they weren't willing to pose for picture time....except Katelynn of course. 

Hensley has been in heaven spending so much time with all this friends.

 Daddy's also had an unexpected week off and Hensley has been stuck to him like glue :) Two weeks in and we already have a lot of memories made :)

They have worked on aiming his new airsoft gun.

Learned how to play poker online.

And went fishing more then a few times :) 

We did manage to squeeze in some home projects we had been putting off too :)

Hensley got a new game this week which always brings a smile to his face.

On a side note: Andy had his vasectomy this week so I guess the decision is officially official!   

PawPaw taught him how to shoot a real gun since he is currently obsessed with all things guns.

It's going to be a great summer. I am looking forward to spending as much time as possible with my little man because life is going to continue to fly by and he will be in school so much longer come fall. Stay tuned for more adventures :)

Update on the Bumps in Road

A little update on this bump in road......Mom's first chemo treatment was no "bump". It was more like a massive jagged boulder in the road that took 7 hours to move. Her port that she had implanted did not want to work properly so her 4 hour chemo treatment turned into a 7 hour ordeal. It was a long stressful day for her and my dad.

Seven hours of treatment later and she still faced having to wear a pump home for 48 hours to continue the second type chemo she will be receiving. It was a long hard weekend for her and caused a lot of soreness, aches, and nausea. We are all hoping the next 11 treatments are not like this one at all!

Come Monday morning it was time yet again for doctors appointments. Nutritionist, radiation and labs. It's a never ending cycle. Radiation was something that was casually talked about with the initial meeting with her cancer doctor and we weren't really sure if she would need any or how much. We were a little taken back by her radiation doctor. (He has worms :) UUUMMMM!!! inside joke for my mom and I) He was very vague and seem to repeat the same information over and over again. We were absolutely stunned when he told us she needs radiation every day, Monday through Friday, for five weeks. It seemed like a lot but after some of our own research we understood that it can be very common. The side effects of it seem very mild compared to the chemo. It's def going to be hard and very trying time. Every day is A LOT! Her and I have had several talks about her getting strong mentally in order to get better physically. She has a lot of stuff to let go from losing my Grandma and I think she realizes that now and is a little better prepared mentally since the first chemo is behind her.

There is still so much uncertainty an a long road ahead with many more bumps, but we are ready to strap our seat belts on a little tighter and face each bump along the way :)

Welcome to the Cancer Center

Today was my mom's first appointment with her cancer doctor. She was a nervous wreck to say the least. She had been waiting and worrying about this day for a few weeks. I had spent countless hours at night going on websites and visiting blogs about people with the same kind of cancer as my mom and I was pretty positive I knew what the doctor was going to say. I had so many questions all written down ready to ask her doctor.

Entering the Cancer Center did not help ease the tension my mom had at all. So many people, surprisingly mostly women I assume because the breast cancer center is located here as well, and so many of them with no hair. One of the many fears my mom had. The loss of your hair was a big factor in letting the world know you are sick, which I don't think my mom is ready for at all.

Soon our pager was lighting up and it was time to face the truth. Everyone we met was so amazing and so nice. They nurses and other staff members were very great at taking their time and not making you feel rushed or like you were just another number on a chart. They really listened and took their time and that helped to ease my mind a lot. They made us all feel very comfortable, and by all I mean my grandpa, Brandon, my uncle James and my mom and I. She has so many people who love her and are thinking of her and praying for her daily but this group of people are always there. When something happens, or an appointment is scheduled we all are always there. I hope one day when this is all over my mom will see that  all those people who SAY they love her and are there for her will be seen for just that. Just words. I hope she will always remember the ones who always are there. No matter what needs to be done that day or where else they need to be that day the same few people are always there by her side encouraging her and loving her. Time after time. THOSE are her family and THOSE are the ones who are praying hard every night that she stays strong because deep down we all know one thing.....we need her just as much as she needs us.

Her doctor was a very polite, straight forward, and kind person. He really took him time to explain everything to us in a way we would understand and he was very open to all our questions and taking as much time as needed to explain them. He showed us diagrams and drew things out to show us the degree to which her cancer had made its way through her colon. I knew from all the research I had done that he was probably going to tell us it was stage 3 and I was right about that. He confirmed that because it had spread to her lymph nodes it was stage 3 and that she had probably had it in her body for the past 3 or 4 years. That was scary. It's scary to think any one, even me, could be walking around with something like this in our body and look and feel totally normal for so long. He also told us something we weren't expecting to hear, that the cancer was in 9 of the 10 lymph nodes that were removed. That was a huge relief because it meant that this chemo was really just taking place to kill any small cells that could be floating around.

She decided to take the option to do chemo in the office every two weeks and wear a pump home for 48 hours after each chemo with a second type of chemo call FOLFOX. They decided that these two types of chemo would be the best for her situation. Her doctor also told us that her case would presented at a conference for a few other doctors to look over and decide if radiation would be a good addition to her treatment plan. Her doctor assured us that she was young and other then the cancer she was very healthy so this should just be a bump in the road for her. He was very confident that the treatment that was going to take place would put her in good odds to be in remission from all this. Genetic factors were a big part of all this with the cancer my grandma had, my grandpa mother had, and now my mom. It is very important that I take it seriously and get checked very early which I plan to do.

She is very scared but I think after talking to the doctor and getting all of our questions answered we feel a little more at ease that she will have very good doctors looking after her. I pray it's just a "bump in the road" as they say.