Born on a Mountain Top in Tennessee...

Greenest state in the land of the free. Raised in the woods so he knew every tree, Killed him a bear when he was only three. Davy, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.

Here's the boys' latest themed costumes for Treats in the Streets. Alexander was Davy Crockett (compliments of Cousin Anna, who made his costume for a dance performance he did), Isaac was a Frontier Marshall making sure that the buffalos (Maxwell) were left alone to run free. We had a great time as usual with the exception of Maxwell begging to go home because he was tired. I think we pooped him out at Disneyland yesterday. I actually had to pick him up early from school because of it. He then got his second wind and was fine for a while gathering treats.

We saw this sign in one of the antique stores in the downtown area. Thought it was totally appropriate for a photo op. Can't be having any buffalo poached along the way!

So after an hour of getting tons of candy we headed home. Have to have some rest for more candy gathering tomorrow night at church. Okay, maybe I just need the rest....the kids are on a sugar high.

The Grandma Tours Kickoff

We are off and running with the Grandma Tours again. Isaac just finished up his first trimester at school and is now off for a month. We kicked off "The Grandma Tours" with a trip to Disneyland with the family. Annette, Cody, Shawna, Dexter and Anna were able to join us for a fun day at the park. The day was fantastic! The weather was cool and the lines were short. A tourist's dream come true. This was Dexter's first trip to the park. He seemed to enjoy himself as much as a 9 month old could. I kept seeing him just looking around at all the bright colors and people around us.

Maxwell picked his favorite ride to be the first on our list to go on. Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters is a fun interactive ride where you are put into a star cruiser that is equipped with astro blasters that fires a red laser. Your goal is to battle the Evil Emperor Zurg and save the universe. As you gather points from hitting the targets you are then ranked as a Space Ranger at the end of the ride. Both boys just love this adventure.

Isaac and Max were able to try their hands at playing music in Tomorrowland's Innoventions attraction. Maxwell was picked to play the drums and Isaac, the guitar. This section was hosted by Yamaha. The drum set was great. You could either play it and hear the music or plug in headsets and not hear it at all. The guitar could sound like a guitar, a piano, a japanese guitar, etc. The technology behind this is ingenious.

We went on one of Grandma's favorite rides "The Jungle Cruise". This is one of the original attractions at the park. The neat thing about this ride is that Grandma's father helped build it. He worked on the animals, particularly the elephants and the hippos. I have always loved this ride. The jokes still make me laugh and they always seem to come up with new ones. Check out the vandalism on the front of our boat. I can't believe Grandpa would have done that! Grandma must have a secret admirer there.

Third Place Winner!

He did it! Isaac got a trophy for coming in third place in popcorn sales for the Cub Scouts. Thanks to all of you who supported us, Isaac's total sales were $636. Parker, who is next to him, was the top seller with $2100 in sales. Wow! Talk about a salesman! We are seriously going to miss Parker when he bridges up to Boy Scouts in February.

The boys are laughing so much in this photo because their Cubmaster, Kevin, who made the trophies, attached a sound chip to the back of the popcorn cup that plays "The Popcorn Song". Their expressions are priceless. All in all our pack did a fantastic job in fundraising. We were able to sell $10694 in popcorn. We even came in higher than last year....amazing in this economy! Way to go Cubs!!

Facing Your Fears

I know, I know...not another hospital visit! My friend, Barbara, had to have an MRI done of her neck. They were suppose to put her under to do this because she is EXTREMELY claustrophobic and I was to drive her there and back because of the meds. Well Kaiser screwed up and didn't schedule her on the day that they actually do that and she had to face one of her biggest fears...being trapped in a skinny noisy tube. Not the best situation to be in. So I told her to "suck it up and hop on in". She kind of glared at me and said something I can't repeat but hopped on the bed or rather plank and slid in the tube. Now to keep her calm I had to sit with her. No big deal except that I had to remove my bluetooth, my phone, my keys, my belt and put in earplugs. Man, talk about noisy! So after 12 minutes of this, she was able to slide on out and looked very triumphant. Way to go, Barbara! Not everybody could face their fears like that.

She's Too Sexy for This Blog

That's right...she is too sexy for my blog. Well for those of you who do not know this sexy lady...this is the infamous and hilariously funny Tosha. Tosha has been my friend for the past 3 years and is in my Mom2Mom group. Yep...she has put up with me for 3 years. Her first impression of me was "Oh, Lord, please don't put me at that crazy girl's table!" And guess what? The good Lord did not listen to her little cry and stuck her with me. She has fallen in love with my crazyness...literally. Our first playdate together she fell and almost knocked herself silly at the park on a sliding pole. She was to say the least VERY graceful.

So....you want to know the secret to her sexiness? Oxygen...pure oxygen...and lots of it. Just kidding! Tosha has been struggling with not only an immune deficiency issue but also sarcoidosis. Sarcowhatsis? To put it simply, clumps of scar tissue that form in your organs. These are in her lungs...hence the oxygen. So every so often Tosha has a major problem breathing and needs to go to the hospital to get it under control. She just recently went to UCI rather than St Joseph's. And I now know the reason why...they brought her fresh baked cookies! How's that for treatment? So needless to say I highly recommend UCI over all the other hospitals that I have been to lately...and that has been a lot of them. This year so far I have clocked 39 emergency room hours alone. I think I am a seasoned hospital visitor. Tosha thinks so too...I came in to see her the other day dragging in a chair, kicking off my shoes, and resting my feet on her bed. She looked at me like "Been doing this often?" Yep. That I have. Please pray for Tosha and for the doctors to find a treatment that will get rid her of or at least put this stuff into remission. One can only handle the smell of a face mask so long.

Grandma Gets Gussied Up

Well this is a surprise for all of us...

Mom has made a miraculous turn around! We sprung Mom out of the hospital last night (again without knowing what is wrong with her) and placed her into her temporary residential care facility. After having a rough night there of not knowing exactly where she was, she got up early this morning, got all dressed up and had a big breakfast. Wow! Abigail stayed the night there so that she would have someone there she knows and ease her into her new home. Mom then proceeded to chat with the employees and other residents there and then had a big lunch. No vomiting at all....go figure.

The boys and I came over to eat our lunch with her and then kidnapped her to the park. Thankfully it is only a block away...it's hard to push Grandma in the wheelchair with Maxwell sitting on her lap as well. Lazy boy! The boys went off playing while Mom and chatted in the shade at the playground. The park has a really cool rock climbing wall. This will be good for the boys to build up their muscles while burning energy to keep them out of my hair. It's nice to know that they still love each other and play together without too many fights or tantrums. The fresh air always seems to make them play more nicely. Thankfully there was a nice breeze to cool the sweat off me. We are back to 90 degree days. What's up with that? Last weekend I nearly froze from the weather changing to 70 degrees. I can't wait for it to settle down.

My Corny Kids

These little kernels must be mine! They look just like me in my corn hat. Today we went on a play date with my Mom2Mom group to Irvine Regional Park. They had the pumpkin patch set up in the middle of the train track with lots of stuff to do. Besides plenty of photo locations like this one we were able to ride the train and see some of the historical aspects of the park. We rode past a large flock of peacocks and peahens and plenty of ducks. One of the buildings there has wood shingles that the woodpeckers hide acorns in. The squirrels, who watch them, then sneak up and tear off the shingles trying to get the acorns without getting attacked by the woodpeckers. Dangerous lifestyle if you ask me.

Isaac thought he'd try his luck at picking this pumpkin to go home with. I told him nice try. He couldn't even lift it! He and Maxwell then took off and went through the hay bale maze and haunted house. We ended our day with them jumping and playing in the bounce house with our friends.

Well it looks as though the boys are still growing. I don't know how they do it with how picky they are with what Jeff makes for dinners. Every night there is some kind of complaint about what they have to eat. You'd think we were poisoning them or something. I don't remember being this picky as a kid but then our family ate mostly meat and potatoes and Jeff is a lot more creative with our dinners. He deserves an award for some of his dishes. It's amazing how good they are with what he hides in them.

Holy cow! ... What the heck is that?!?

Okay, well today did not go as I had planned it to go. Mom ended up in the ER again because she was extremely weak this morning and couldn't even stand up. Abigail called me and I told her meet me at the hospital. We were able to sit in the ER room with Mom most of the day which was a great surprise. Normally you're only allowed one person to visit. It made the time pass by faster. The nurses pumped her up with fluid and did some xrays. I left the ER for 10 minutes and next thing I know Mom has this wonderful thing going up her nose and down to her toes.

Well I just started laughing because for some reason it just struck me as funny. Poor Mom...apparently it was extremely painful to put in. They were prepping her to pump her stomach to see if there was something in there not passing through and causing all this trouble. I tried to get them to do a scope of her upper g i but they wouldn't. I am so frustrated with Kaiser right now. The best thing that happened today was that the aunt of my mom's weekend caregiver was working and got mom a private room with a sitter to watch her. Thank you Lord! One less worry on my mind. So tomorrow I will try again to get her moved to her new home. Above is our beloved Abigail. She has been the best caregiver a mom could have. We are going to miss her when Mom settles in to her new home.

Grandma C and Aunt Shirley

Funny how age makes you look more like your siblings. Mom and Shirley are practically twins! We were able to get our Aunt Shirley and Uncle Freeman out here early for vacation to see Mom. For a while there we weren't sure if they would make it in time. Thankfully Mom has turned for the better and looks to be on the road to recovery. Aunt Shirley was able to just hang out and relax with Mom and even go to the doctor's appointment with us. Nothing like taking 6 people to Mom's appointment. I'm sure her doctor was surprised to see four of us in his little patient room. We were able to get a few answers and a referral to see if we can get more.

Sorry this photo isn't clear. Kind of hard to hold a camera still while you are laughing. Charlotte took Aunt Shirley and Uncle Freeman up to Simi Valley to meet Tim. They went to a chinese restaurant for dinner. They had asked for two teas "to go". This is what they ended up with. Aunt Shirley almost wet her pants from laughing! That is one big "to go" container! I guess they had run out of cups and put both teas in a big soup container. Pretty funny!

Down Time at Disneyland

After a couple of weeks of craziness from running back and forth to take care of Grandma C, we needed some down time and decided to go spend the day at Disneyland. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed all the fall and halloween decorations. We could have, however, picked a better day...it was 90 degrees there! Yuck!

Our first stop was to go on the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. Now the subs have been shut down for 8 years and I totally forgot how sick I get on them. The windows have little fans that blow air in them so I sat up close to get some air but by doing that the window distorted my view. Not a good combination. I thought I was going to be joining Grandma C with a barf bucket. Eww!

Maxwell wanted to go on the Haunted Mansion which was decorated with the Nightmare Before Christmas theme. Of course he whined the whole way in because he is still afraid of the dark but once we were off the elevator he started to have fun. My favorite part is the busts of the 5 old men done up as pumpkins. I just love the song "Grim Grinning Ghosts".

Our Terrific Kid!

Yep, that right...we have a terrific kid! Isaac received the Terrific Kid award last week from his teacher, Mrs. Bigler. He was so excited to be called up to receive it. Mrs. Bigler said that Isaac has really bloomed and come out of his shell this last month. Way to go Isaac!

Carl & Yvonne's Visit

Carl & Yvonne made a trip out here to drop their youngest daughter, Anna, off for college. Anna was accepted to FIDM - Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in L.A. Yay! Anna is an extremely talented seamstress and I'm sure she'll excel in her classes. She has already won several awards for costume design. Our boys have even had her make their halloween costumes. I'm sure she'll be making more in the future.

The "Fabulous Five" sisters were able to meet for dinner at a local diner in Long Beach near Mom's. We were able to discuss Mom's health needs and just catch up with each other and laugh. Later that weekend we were able to go to Philippe's French Dip Restaurant (our absolute favorite place) for dinner. We should have called ahead...they had run out of lamb. We were so bummed! Had to settle for beef sandwiches. At least they had our pickled eggs!