Q & A

[Question] - Wait, did you get braces?
[Answer] - Um yes (with a fairly sarcastic tone considering my obvious brace face). Then I flash a big, metallic smile.

[Question] - Why, your teeth are straight?
[Answer] - Well, timing was just right with the kids in various stages of braces, ortho coverage at it's max and one last thing...I have 2 teeth that drive me crazy. You may not notice them, but I do!

[Question] - You are crazy, do you know how badly those are going to hurt?
[Answer] - I've always known I was crazy, didn't need braces to prove that and yes, I know the hurt like the dickens...I had them for 4 years in High School so I'm pretty much an expert.

[Question] - 4 years? Then why do you have them again?
[Answer] - Want the simple answer? - I'm dumb. Want the long answer? - When I became a mother, I decided I was too mature for retainers, then wisdom teeth in, wisdom teeth out and there you have...janked up teeth again.

[Question] - How long do you have to have them on?
[Answer] - 18 months...about 10 months longer than I expected (apparently, my bite is pretty messed up too).

[Question] - ok so the next response is not a question, but it's the typical closing thought to this conversation - Well you look cute, makes you look a lot younger.
[Answer] - Well, Thank You! Now you better promise to tell me if I have crap in my teeth...I hate that!

Feelin' Crafty

If you know Makinley, you know that she likes to be up on the

latest fashions & trends.

See what I mean?!?

The latest trend is flowers in the hair. She has millions- in all varieties, but we recently discovered a new technique that is simple and very cost effective. We use old t-shirts, fabric remnants, misc buttons and a glue gun.

So today, I ignored the dishes that were screaming my name, the family scavenged for their own dinner and Facebook/email sat idle. This is what we made:

This flower head band is made from an old white t-shirt and a remnant that cost only 37 pennies!

Want to make your own? Check out this tutorial for the templates and directions. http://blairpeter.typepad.com/weblog/2006/03/fabric_flowers.html
We have tweaked it a little (using glue gun in place of string)

I would be completely ungrateful if I didn't thank
Heather & Jackie for sharing this cool new flower idea with us.
Thanks a Bunch!

Today this sweet little chick-a-dee

is getting these precious little doobers (stem cells)

Can you believe they are infused over 30 minutes and wa-laa

- there you have it -

a stem cell transplant

Kind of unspectacular considering their fine purpose.

To celebrate the big event, Torie is having an un-birthday!

So Happy Un-Birthday to you Torie!

Our hope for you is the Best Happy Un-Birthday ever!

As promised...

My sweet dad with his freshly shaven head
in support of Torie as she undergoes chemo.

I may be a bit partial, but I think he is pretty darn cute with his bald head. He reminds me of my Grandpa Flake.

I {heart} my Dad!

"Chemo doesn't get to decide everything"

In preparation for a much needed stem cell transplant, Torie was admitted to the hospital today in Minnesota and will begin chemotherapy tomorrow.
This is the start of her fight and let me tell you, she is coming out swinging!

It is inevitable that Torie will lose her hair due to the chemo, but Torie and her "fans" have decided that "Chemo doesn't get to decide everything".
They took matters into their own hands and got matching hair-dos!

Here's the BEFORE of Torie and Grandma Cheryl:


and here's the AFTER:



Cutest baldies you ever did see!

Grandpa Tom (aka-my Dad) and Torie's Uncle Shaun also showed their support for Torie all the way in Colorado and are sporting freshly shaven heads as well.
(I am hoping to have pics of them to post soon).

Last night, when Chase saw what Cheryl and Torie had done, he soon decided that he too wanted to show support for Torie all the way in Arizona. We were so proud of his decision to support his cousin. While he already wears his hair quite short, he has been trying to grow out the top so a full on head-shaving was a good symbol of his love and support for others that are hurting or have trials.
He has always been super sensitive to that kind of stuff-
a trait that makes his momma proud!

Here's Chase BEFORE:


and here's Chase AFTER:


We think he looks pretty studly.

As a side note- Jason, Makinley and myself are not quite as brave, but we surely are thinking of Torie and praying for the very best over what will be a very tough next 5 months.

Daddy Bro-cone!

When Chase was about 18 months old, he would say, “It’s bro-cone. Daddy peex it” with a surprisingly Hispanic accent. Translation, “It’s broken. Daddy fix it”- said when something broke and he wanted Daddy to put it back together again.

Well, in memory of Chase’s sweet words…

Daddy’s Bro-cone, but Daddy can’t peex it!

That’s right…Jason is “broken”! Remember a few posts ago, I highlighted Jason’s latest adventure of playing on a men’s indoor soccer team with other dads from Chase’s Arsenal team? They call themselves “Arsen-old”, quite simply because they are…well…OLD!

This Saturday, as I walked away to settle into my soccer viewing spot, ready to cheer on the old farts…um, I mean “Arsen-old”, I left Jason with simple instructions, “DON’T get hurt”. Simple enough right? The game was going well, Jason was trucking along nicely with 3 minutes left in the game. Then it happened. I watched as Jason blatantly disobeyed my simple instructions! He planted his left foot, but his knee didn’t get the message as it decided to bend in ways no knee should ever bend. Then he hit the floor.

Confession- As I saw him hit the floor, I must admit, I was just a little ticked at him. He disobeyed me…I hate when people disobey me! Thoughts went through my head like “what the heck was he thinking playing a kids game when he is so old” and “if he is really hurt, I am really going to kill him”.

Anywho, I sauntered over, stopping to get ice along the way. There I found my not-so-young husband- pale as a ghost, gasping in pain and starring at me with a look of “please don’t be mad at me”.

As of now- his knee hasn’t swelled to much, it hasn’t changed colors and it hurts like heck. We are hopeful it is just a sprain…perhaps we will see a doctor tomorrow.

For now he is enjoying a lot of this

and this

hanging out here

playing on this

and attempting to master these

Get Better Soon Jason!

I Love you even though you disobeyed me!

Dear Reality,

Lately, I feel like you really bite! Ya, you heard me right…you bite!

See this sweet little Torie. She looks pretty darn happy, healthy and strong, right?

In reality, during her 2 years of life, she has endured far more than I have in my 31 years. In fact, the reality is that she has already endured more than most will endure in an entire lifetime. Another sad reality is that she is only at the beginning of her big fight. While she has already been through a lifetime’s worth of pokes and prods, she is now embarking on another “adventure” that is going to require her to fight harder than she ever has before as she begins her stem cell transplant- now that’s unfair reality for you.

Despite all this reality, she is surprisingly, innocently unaware and happy. I guess that is one benefit to her age- no concept of the reality that faces her.

Unfortunately, reality only hides itself for a small innocent period of time in life. While Torie is still protected from the realities, her family is not. They have had to face them head on. That’s right, they are looking reality right in the eyes everyday they wake up.

In this situation, the reality is that bills have to get paid; insurance has to be in place. The mother of this sweet child is having to fight the fight from afar, as she does what she can to ensure opportunities are available to her baby girl.

So I will give you, reality, one bit of praise- the reality that a Grandma’s love overshadows all the hurt, that grammies are here to help us…now that is an awesome reality. Torie’s grandma and great grandma have knowingly thrown themselves into the realities of needles, pain, rashes and the pukes all because they love her so much. They have left their lives at home, they have left their realities one might say, to stand by sweet Torie in Minneapolis. They are there to fight the fight right alongside her knowing the reality of what is to come. You want to know the reality of it all, despite living in one room and having to see the pains of the process, I don’t think they would trade it for the world. They will have many good realities that they will get to remember forever, like seeing Torie smile as she watched Sesame Street Live on one of her last outings before it all begins…that’s a sweet reality.

So, reality, I guess you offer goods and bads and I suppose you don’t always bite, but as I think of life where children get sick, jobs get lost, feelings get hurt, hearts get broken…I have a hard time not thinking that sometimes, just sometimes...

Reality Bites!

So that’s reality for you reality…sometimes you really bite.

Love-Erin

If you want to face the amazing realties of Torie’s journey, they are being journaled at

www.toriebrady.blogspot.com

To Commit or Not to Commit, that is the question

Will we ever blog again? Not so sure. We did really well in the beginning, but have seriously failed as of late. I hate the feeling of "failing". Do I release myself from the feeling of guilt and give up the blog? I am strongly considering it...

These are questions to myself- I am not looking for anyone to convince me to stay or go. Please don't even try.

I'm going to have to commit one way or the other...someday...

Girl-fest

Tonight, I shewed the boys out the door for another scouting campout. Before they even buttoned their scout shirts, we quickly jumped into girly mode. First on the list, pedicures for Kin and I. Now we have the cutest, sparkly, Christmas toes. Next, a little Pei Wei take-out with Grammy Bon. What better way to end a girl-fest but with a

My sister, Heather, even came over for the estrogen-o-thon. We all put on our finest PJs, grabbed random snacks and hunkered in for The Secret Life of Bees.

Perfect choice- a tear-jerker!

Now the house is quiet and all the chicas are tucked into bed…except me. I find myself delighting in one simple highlight of the night.

Heather brought over Oreo ball insides, ready for dipping. We giggled and teased as we, one-by-one, smothered the super balls of yum in chocolate. Makinley got the idea in her head that she wanted white chocolate drizzled over the top. She searched high and low- with no success. So her sweet, 10 year old mind came up with the next best thing. She scraped out the centers of several Oreos, heated it in the microwave and drizzled that in place of the white chocolate. We all found humor in her perseverance and ingenuity.

Grammy Bon let out a quiet giggle and a “That reminds me…” We all got ready to hear her story. She rarely reminisces about her past; it just isn’t her style, so we were eager to hear this. She shared a story of her childhood when her and a friend decided to make some sort of no-bake cookie dessert after school. Unfortunately, they did not have one main ingredient, powdered sugar. Much like Makinley, they searched for the next best thing and came across flour. My mom called her mom and asked if she thought 2 cups of flour would work in place of powdered sugar. My culinary savvy grandma of course told her that would not work. But again, much like Makinley as we teased her about her Oreo filling plan, my mom and her friend decided to execute their flour plan anyways. Low and behold, the no-bake cookies didn’t turn out so well.

It wasn’t anything momentous, but we loved hearing a story from her past. We have had the opportunity to have my mom, Grammy Bon, at our house for the last few weeks while she recoups. Never could we know the blessings that would come as we have had her at our dinner table, kissed her good-night and snuck in for a late night back scratchings.

We Love Grammy Bon

and

We Love Girls’ Night!

One Whole Decade!

Guess who hit the double digits today…

Makinley is 10 years old!

She started off her birthday as any true Birthday Girl would- with a big piece of cake for breakfast. Hey, it’s her birthday so she’ll do what she wants to….

Much like Chase, Makinley had a “Birthday Weekend”, chalked full of fun.

Friday night, we joined Aunt Heather, Brielle and some dance friends for the Tap Dogs Show at the Mesa Arts Center. Makinley is a big time tapper so she enjoyed watching the quick-footed skills of these atypical tappers.

Before the show, the girls took a few minutes to explore the grounds of the Arts Center, posing every chance they got.

Saturday was the actual birthday shindig. Both Chase and Makinley celebrated their big days with a combo party that spanned 7 ½ hours of the day. We started out by heading to Mesquite Groves Aquatic Center for a few hours of a-splishin’ & a-splashin’ (minus a few boys that had baseball games).

Then back to our house where the rest of the crew joined us for dinner, presents, cake, Paul Blart- Mall Cop on “big screen” and many moments of total chaos and silliness.

Having 2 birthdays in September is always hard to juggle, but this year, it worked like a charm. Chase and Makinley have so many friends and interests in common so it was easy and convenient to mesh the two into one birthday extravaganza

Makinley wrapped up her celebration of an entire decade of life with a pretty relaxed Sunday birthday. Cake for breakfast, church, games, nap time and an enjoyable dinner/dessert was the perfect way to finish out one hectic, yet very fun “Birthday Weekend”.

Happy 10th Birthday Makinley! We can hardly believe our baby girl is the big one-zero! Time flies when your having fun and you surely have made our life a blast. We can’t wait to join you on the adventures that come as you enter your “tween” years.
We love you Makinley!