Forever Young

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

My Pap Paw

Yesterday morning around 12:30 am, my Pap Paw passed away. He had just turned 95 years old on August 5th. He was at home in his living room, and I think his heart just finally quit working. He has had some heart probems and had a pacemaker put in back in July of this year. He also had a heart attack just before his birthday and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. He had been a widower two times, and was blessed to live a long, full, active life. I will always remember him being outside working hard on some kind of project for his house or yard. He also loved to take us on a car ride and show us interesting places all around the area. He always enjoyed when we visited him, and we always wished we lived close enough to see him more often. These pictures are from his 94th birthday last year, and I believe it is the last time we saw him.



We'll be heading down to Ringgold, Georgia on Friday to attend his funeral on Saturday.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Quotes

I haven't put any quotes from the kids on here lately, so I thought I'd share what Bekah said today. Brandon was trying cottage cheese for the first time that he can remember today. He put some in his mouth and said it was disgusting! So Bekah said, "it's not as bad as going to Hell." Yes, Bekah, you are right, Hell will be much worse than cottage cheese!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Brandon's Glucose Monitor

At Brandon's last endocrinologist visit, his A1C numbers were a little high. His doctor recommended wearing a continuous glucose monitor to see if we could figure out why his numbers were high. The monitor will check his blood every 5 minutes so we will find out what is going on between the times when Brandon pricks his finger to check his blood. So, this past Wednesday, we went back to the doctor to have the monitor put on. Brandon had decided that he wanted to wear it on is belly, but they recommended him putting it on his back instead. They mentioned that it would be out of sight and out of mind back there. Also, they said some of the monitors that they have put on other people's stomachs have come off and had to replaced. Well, Brandon was already dreading this procedure, and when he found out he'd have it on his back he was very upset. But, we managed to get through all the tears and get the monitor put in place. It was about a 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch needle that inserted a tiny straw into him. Then the needle was pulled out through the straw. We had to wait 5 minutes for it to settle into place and see if it was getting blood readings. Well, it didn't work. So, we waited another 5 minutes and it still didn't work. So, they had to pull it out and try again. This time Brandon got his wish of having it in his stomach, and it worked this time! The straw is hooked up to a compter chip, and then it is covered with hard plastic. Then they put a piece of waterproof tape over the whole thing so he can take a shower or swim or whatever. He says it hurts every once in a while, but for the most part he goes on with normal life and forgets about it. He will wear it for a week and then we'll go have it taken out and find out the results. Here he is with his new robotic part....we tell him he's kind of like a transformer!



Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Back to School

On Monday, we started school! Here is my 4th grader!
And my 1st grader!

Bekah is watching a math video.

Bekah took over the camera and took a few pics. I thought her self portrait turned out pretty good!

We had our annual back to school party. This year we went to the Fun House for pizza and games.

Then we went to Dairy Queen for ice cream. (Thanks to the summer reading club at the library the kids got free ice cream cones.) Yes, Brandon has an eye patch on his head. That was one of the prizes he chose at the Fun House with the tickets he earned.

This is the cell model that the kids made on the 2nd day of school! It's really jello for cytoplasm in a ziplock bag for the cell membrane with a grape for a nucleus and peanuts for mitochondria.
Todd will also be starting back to school next week. He has 4 credit hours this fall, and then he'll be graduating in December! Yeah!! This will be his last official back to school party. But, I guess we'll let him come with us in future years!

No Kids

Last week our kids spent some time with Grandmom and Grandpa in Tennessee. Todd and I took the opportunity to have a belated week long anniversary celebration! We spent one night in Nashville, TN before coming home. We shopped at the Opry Mills mall and ate dinner in the Rainforest Cafe. We also wandered through the Opryland Hotel and visited the Nashville Zoo. On the way home we stopped in Bowling Green, KY and saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and did a little more shopping in the Bowling Green mall. Unfortunately, Todd still had to go to work each day but we enjoyed our evenings together. One night we drove over to Corydon, IN and ate at Culvers restaurant for the first time and then played a round of putt putt golf.

On our way to Corydon.

Putt putting...


They had a small arcade inside the place where we went putt putting. We also enjoyed a game of air hockey before heading home.

The kids got to do lots of fun stuff with the grandparents also, but we all enjoyed being reunited after a great week!